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1 Corinthians 14:4 — Word Study

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N1904 λαλῶν γλώσσῃ ἑαυτὸν οἰκοδομεῖ, δὲ προφητεύων ἐκκλησίαν οἰκοδομεῖ.¶

BSAThe [one]ho speakinglaleō [in an unknown language, with a tongue] in a tongueglōssa [a language] himselfheautou [themself] edifies,oikodomeō [builds up, strengthens] the [one]ho howeverde prophesyingprophēteuō [speaks under God's inspiration, tells forth God's message] [the] churchekklēsia [the assembly, the community of believers] edifies.oikodomeō [constructs, builds up]

Word
Listen & take away1 Corinthians 14
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 4 is in this chapter.
Greek ↓ Download MP3 Nestle 1904 — the very text on this page — read by Andy Martin in Erasmian pronunciation.
Say the word Each Greek word carries its transliteration (oikodomeō) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
1 Corinthians 14:4quick helps
In a sentenceSpeaking in a tongue builds up the speaker, while prophesying builds up the church.
Who is speakingThe Apostle Paul is addressing the Corinthian church about the use of spiritual gifts.
Where we areThis verse is part of Paul's teaching on the proper use of spiritual gifts in the church.
The hard wordοἰκοδομεῖ
Take awayBuilding up oneself is good, but building up the community is better.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause subject verbλαλέω The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
How rare are these words?in the New Testament

Every word here is used elsewhere in the New Testament.

Bars are logarithmic — , the commonest word in the Greek New Testament, stands 19,867 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.

Deep Study — 1 Corinthians 14:4

Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.

Context — Guidance on Spiritual Giftsgenerated

3But he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, encouragement, and comfort.
4The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.
5I wish that all of you could speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be edified.
6Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

1 Corinthians 14:4 is situated within Paul's broader discussion about the use of spiritual gifts in the church. He emphasizes the importance of prophesying, which benefits the whole community, over speaking in tongues, which primarily benefits the individual. This guidance aims to promote order and edification within the church body, as seen in the surrounding verses.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
11 Corinthians 14:3–18But he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, encouragement, and comfort.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 1 reference, hung on the phrase they belong to


The Key Word οἰκοδομεῖ, oikodomeōgenerated

The verb οἰκοδομεῖ (i.e., *oikodomeō*) means 'to build' and can refer to both physical and spiritual construction. In this context, it indicates the act of strengthening or edifying others within the church.

The present active indicative form shows that this action is ongoing and performed by the subject. The focus is on the communal aspect of faith, highlighting that while personal edification is valuable, the edification of the church is paramount.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The primary translation used for comparison is the Berean Standard Bible, which states that the one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, while the one who prophesies edifies the church.

The KJV and ASV also emphasize the distinction between speaking in tongues and prophesying, using similar wording. However, the YLT and WEB provide slightly different nuances, with the YLT emphasizing the act of speaking in an unknown tongue and the WEB referring to speaking in another language.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main clause is governed by the verb οἰκοδομεῖ, edifies, which has two subjects: the one who speaks in a tongue and the one who prophesies. Each subject is followed by its respective object, indicating who is being edified.

The structure shows a clear contrast between the two actions: speaking in tongues versus prophesying, with the first action benefiting the speaker and the second benefiting the church.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

ἐκκλησία (i.e., *ekklesia*) appears in the Septuagint as a translation for the Hebrew term for assembly, indicating a gathering of people for worship or communal purposes. This connection underscores the communal aspect of the church mentioned in this verse.

The term οἰκοδομεῖ also has roots in the Septuagint, where it is used to describe building or establishing something significant, reinforcing the idea of spiritual growth and community building.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

1 Corinthians 14:4 explains that speaking in tongues is beneficial for the individual, but prophesying is more beneficial for the church as a whole. This highlights the importance of using spiritual gifts to build up the community of believers.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean to speak in a tongue?

Speaking in a tongue refers to speaking in a language that is not understood by the speaker, often seen as a spiritual gift in the early church.

Why is prophesying considered more valuable than speaking in tongues?

Prophesying is seen as more valuable because it communicates God's message to the community, providing edification, encouragement, and comfort.

How can someone edify themselves?

Someone can edify themselves through personal spiritual practices, such as prayer, meditation, and speaking in tongues, which can strengthen their faith.

What is the role of the church in relation to spiritual gifts?

The church plays a vital role in fostering an environment where spiritual gifts can be used for the common good, promoting unity and growth among believers.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. In what ways have I experienced personal edification through spiritual practices?
  2. How can I contribute to the edification of my church community?
  3. What are some examples of how prophecy has encouraged or strengthened others in my life?
  4. How can I better understand and appreciate the spiritual gifts of others in my church?

The early church on this verse — how the Fathers read it

Early church Fathers have commented on this verse, emphasizing the importance of prophesying and the role of spiritual gifts in the church.

John ChrysostomHomily on 1 Corinthians 35 c. 347–407
What then? Did they edify no man? "Yes," saith he, "themselves alone:" wherefore also he adds, "He that speaketh in tongue edifieth himself." And how, if he know not what he saith? Why, for the present,
Early Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 14 →
AmbrosiasterCOMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES fl. c. 366–384
Paul is saying that prophets are interpreters of the Scriptures.
Early Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 14 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on 1 Corinthians 14:4 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He that speaketh its an unknown tongue,.... Be it the Hebrew language, or any other; some copies, and the Ethiopic version, read, "with tongues": edifieth himself; his heart may be warmed, his

Read John Gill on 1 Corinthians 14 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. Edifieth himself - as he understands the meaning, of the particular "tongue;" but "the church," the congregation, does not.

Read Robert Jamieson on 1 Corinthians 14 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible

He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; knowledge or understanding of the things that any man speaketh, is necessary to the improvement of them, by their being a means to promote faith and love; for how shall what men say in the least promote, either my faith in God or Christ, or my love to him, if I understand not what they say? How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? . So that, though he that speaketh in an unknown tongue may (if he understand what he says) have his own heart affected with what he saith, yet it is not possible he should affect another. But he that prophesieth edifieth the church; but he that preacheth in an intelligible language and…

Read Matthew Poole on 1 Corinthians 14 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

4 He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. Ver. 4. Edifieth the Church] Therefore prophecy is the more worthy, because profitable. Prodesse melius quam praeesse.

Read John Trapp on 1 Corinthians 14 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) He that speaketh in an unknown tongue.—Better, He that speaketh in a tongue. The introduction of the word “unknown” destroys the whole force of the passage. All tongues—as distinct from languages—were unknown, i.e., unintelligible. The gift of prophecy is superior in usefulness to that of tongues, and therefore to be preferred. The use of the word “edify,” as applied to an individual solely, as distinct from the individual as a part of the whole Church, is unusual with St. Paul (see Note on 1 Corinthians 8:1), but is introduced so as to make the antithesis verbally as well as logically more striking.

Read Charles John Ellicott on 1 Corinthians 14 →
AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

Verse 4. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue] In the Hebrew for instance, the knowledge of the depth and power of which he has got by a Divine revelation, edifieth himself by that knowledge. But he that prophesieth] Has the gift of preaching. Edifieth the Church.] Speaketh unto men to edification, exhortation, and comfort, 1 Corinthians 14:3.

Read AdamClarke on 1 Corinthians 14 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself] Not necessarily because he understands what he is saying, but because his spirit, stirred up by the Spirit of God, is led by the experience of the inward emotion to praise God. Estius. See 1 Corinthians 14:14.but he that prophesieth edifieth the church] The profit of the brethren is ever St Paul’s object. Cf. 1 Corinthians 14:6; 1 Corinthians 14:12; ch. 1 Corinthians 6:12, &c. Prophecy is to be preferred to the gift of tongues because it is more directly useful. See note, ch. 1 Corinthians 12:28.

Read Cambridge on 1 Corinthians 14 →
Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Edifieth himself - That is, the truths which are communicated to him by the Spirit, and which he utters in an unknown language, may be valuable, and may be the means of strengthening his faith, and

Read Albert Barnes on 1 Corinthians 14 →

The verse in English, compared — 16 translations, and where they part company

Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.

Modern formal

BSBBerean Standard Bible2020

The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

He who speaks in another language edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the assembly.

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.

NETBNew English Translation2006

The one who speaks in a tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

He that speaketh in a tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

RVARevised Version, American1894

He that speaketh in a tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

NWBWebster's Bible1833

He that speaketh in an unknown language edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

GNVGeneva Bible1599

He that speaketh strange language, edifieth himselfe: but hee that prophecieth, edifieth the Church.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

He that speaks with a tongue edifies himself; but he that prophesies edifies [the] assembly.

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

he who is speaking in an [unknown] tongue, himself doth edify, and he who is prophesying, an assembly doth edify;

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

he who is speaking in an [unknown] tongue, edifies himself, and he who is prophesying, edifies the Assembly;

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

He that speaketh in a tongue, edifieth himself: but he that prophesieth, edifieth the church.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

Those that speak in a tongue only build themselves up, but those who speak God's message build up the church. I would like it if you all spoke in tongues, but I'd prefer if you could speak God's message.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

He who makes use of tongues may do good to himself; but he who gives the prophet's word does good to the church.

Word by word, the decisions they made

λαλῶνlaleō speaking G2980 5 different renderings
speaksBSB MSB NETB ULB WEB
speakingLSV YLT
with a tongueDBY
in an unknown languageNWB
spokeFBV
γλώσσῃglōssa in a tongue G1100 4 different renderings
in a tongueASV BSB DRA FBV MSB NETB RVA ULB
tongueKJV LSV YLT
a tongueDBY
tonguesBBE
οἰκοδομεῖ,oikodomeō edifies, G3618 4 different renderings
edifiesBSB DBY LSV MSB WEB
builds upNETB ULB
edifyYLT
buildFBV
ἐκκλησίανekklēsia [the] church G1577 3 different renderings
churchASV BBE BSB DRA FBV GNV KJV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB
assemblyDBY YLT
the assemblyLSV WEB
οἰκοδομεῖ.¶oikodomeō edifies. G3618 4 different renderings
edifiesBSB DBY LSV MSB WEB
builds upNETB ULB
edifyYLT
buildFBV

Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.


The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the Nestle 1904 treebank

This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.

clausenoun phrase · subjectThe [one]clauseverbλαλῶνspeakingadverbialγλώσσῃin a tongueobjectἑαυτὸνhimselfverbοἰκοδομεῖedifiesclauseδὲhoweverclausenoun phrase · subjectthe [one]clauseverbπροφητεύωνprophesyingobjectἐκκλησίαν[the] churchverbοἰκοδομεῖedifies

Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.


The earliest translations — Latin and Syriac

Every translation is an argument about meaning made by someone who had to commit to one. These two were made while the Greek was still a living language, and they are the oldest opinions we have about what this verse says.

Latin VulgateAD 382–405

Qui loquitur lingua, semetipsum ædificat : qui autem prophetat, ecclesiam Dei ædificat.

Jerome revised the Old Latin against the Greek from AD 382; the Latin west read this text for a thousand years.

Syriac Peshittaby AD 400

ܕܡܡܠܠ ܒܠܫܢܐ ܢܦܫܗ ܗܘ ܒܢܐ ܘܕܡܬܢܒܐ ܥܕܬܐ ܒܢܐ

The Bible of the Syriac-speaking church, in the language nearest to the Aramaic Jesus spoke.

Shown verse by verse rather than word by word: aligning a Greek word to its Latin or Syriac counterpart automatically would be guesswork, and a wrong alignment is worse than none.


The Greek editions compared — what the manuscripts actually say

Eight printed editions of the Greek New Testament, side by side. Where they agree the wording is settled; where a word is missing from an edition it is marked, so you can see the difference rather than take it on trust.

Nestle-Aland 28th edition2012 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

λαλῶν γλώσσῃ ἑαυτὸν οἰκοδομεῖ, δὲ προφητεύων ἐκκλησίαν οἰκοδομεῖ.¶

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

λαλῶν γλώσσῃ ἑαυτὸν οἰκοδομεῖ, δὲ προφητεύων ἐκκλησίαν οἰκοδομεῖ.¶

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

λαλῶν γλώσσῃ ἑαυτὸν οἰκοδομεῖ, δὲ προφητεύων ἐκκλησίαν οἰκοδομεῖ.¶

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

λαλῶν γλώσσῃ ἑαυτὸν οἰκοδομεῖ, δὲ προφητεύων ἐκκλησίαν οἰκοδομεῖ.¶

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

λαλῶν γλώσσῃ ἑαυτὸν οἰκοδομεῖ, δὲ προφητεύων ἐκκλησίαν οἰκοδομεῖ.¶

An independent critical text built from the oldest witnesses then known.

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

λαλῶν γλώσσῃ ἑαυτὸν οἰκοδομεῖ, δὲ προφητεύων ἐκκλησίαν οἰκοδομεῖ.¶

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

λαλῶν γλώσσῃ ἑαυτὸν οἰκοδομεῖ, δὲ προφητεύων ἐκκλησίαν οἰκοδομεῖ.¶

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

λαλῶν γλώσσῃ ἑαυτὸν οἰκοδομεῖ, δὲ προφητεύων ἐκκλησίαν οἰκοδομεῖ.¶

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

Every witness on this verse all agree
Critical editions
Nestle-Aland 28th edition2012Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993SBL Greek New Testament2010Westcott–Hort1881Tregelles1857–1879Tyndale House Greek NT2017
Byzantine / Majority
Byzantine majority text2018
Received Text
Textus Receptus1550/1894

A witness that read differently would show its variant word here, marked.

Word by word, across the editions

Every edition agrees. All 8 printed editions — Nestle-Aland 28, Nestle-Aland 27, SBLGNT, Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, Tyndale House 2017, Textus Receptus (KJV), Byzantine majority — carry every word of this verse, in the same order, with no difference that any translator would render differently.


The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with

This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Greek New Testament — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.

1 Corinthians 14:4The [one]The [one]λαλέωspeakingspeakingλαλέωγλῶσσαin a tonguein a tongueγλῶσσαἑαυτοῦhimselfhimselfἑαυτοῦοἰκοδομέωedifies,edifies,οἰκοδομέωthe [one]the [one]δέhoweverhoweverδέπροφητεύωprophesyingprophesyingπροφητεύωἐκκλησία[the] churc[the] churchἐκκλησίαοἰκοδομέωedifies.edifies.οἰκοδομέωπροφήτηςn.m. a pron.m. a prophet,προφήτηςλέγωv. I say, v. I say, speakλέγωἐκPrep. fromPrep. from out,ἐκκαλέωv. I call,v. I call, inviκαλέωπύργοςn.m. a town.m. a tower, fπύργοςἀποδοκιμάζωv. I rejecv. I reject aftἀποδοκιμάζωγλῶσσαn.f. the tn.f. the tongueγλῶσσαπαρρησίαn.f. freedn.f. freedom, cπαρρησίαἑρμηνείαn.f. transn.f. translatioἑρμηνείαφυλήn.f. a trin.f. a tribe, rφυλήταπεινόωv. I humblv. I humble, huταπεινόωσυνίστημιv. I commev. I commend, pσυνίστημιἨσαΐαςn.m. Isaian.m. IsaiahἨσαΐαςσόςPoss.pr. yPoss.pr. yours,σόςὅδεDem.pr. thDem.pr. this heὅδεἀσπάζομαιv. I greetv. I greet, salἀσπάζομαι
meets it a little oftener than chancemeets it far oftener than chancebuilt from the same roottwo words of the verse share ita word of this versea related word

Lexicons — every word in 1 Corinthians 14:4

One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Greek lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.

Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. Imported from the CrossWire SWORD modules — Abbott-Smith, the full Liddell-Scott-Jones, Strong's, Dodson, the Intermediate LSJ, Robinson and Packard on the Greek, Webster and Cawdrey on the English the translators were using. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.

The [one] speaking in a tongue himself edifies, the [one] however prophesying [the] church edifies.
ho The [one] G3588 Article · nominative · singular · masculine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 Corinthians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The definite article — the commonest word in the Greek New Testament at 19,867 occurrences. Greek uses it more freely than English does and can drop it deliberately, so its presence and its absence both carry weight for a translator; but no single occurrence carries a message of its own. Here it simply gathers “the things” into one definite bundle.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

the prepositive article (ἄρθρον προτακτικόν), originally a demonstr. pron. (so usually in Hom.), in general corresponding to the Eng. definite article.

As demonstr. pron.

As freq. in Hom., absol., he (she, it), his (etc.): Ac 17:28 (quoted from the poet Aratus).

Distributive, ὁ μὲν . . . ὁ δέ, the one . . . the other: I Co 7:7, Ga 4:22; pl., Ac 14:4, 17:32, Phl 1:16, al.; οἱ μὲν . . . ἄλλοι δέ, Mt 16:14, Jo 7:12; οἱ μεν̀ . . . ὁ δέ, He 7:21, 23.

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Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

ὁ 435 ὁ tives of quantity, ὅλος, πᾶς, πολύς, see each in its own place. d. What has been said concerning adjectives holds true also of all other limitations added to substantives, as ἡ κατ᾽ ἐκλογὴν πρόθεσις, Ro. ix. 11; ἡ παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ διαθήκη, Ro. xi. 27; 6 λόγος 6 τοῦ σταυροῦ, 1 Co. i. 18; ἡ εἰς Χριστὸν πίστις, Col. ii. 5; on the other hand, ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν ἡ πρὸς τὸν θεόν, 1 Th. i. 8; τῆς διακονίας τῆς εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους, 2 Co. viii. 4; see many other exx. of each usage in W. 131 (124) sqq.; [B. 91 (80) sqq.]. e. The noun has the article before it when a demonstrative pronoun (υὗτος, ἐκεῖνος) belonging to it either precedes or follows [W. § 18, 4; B. § 127, 29-31]; as, ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτος, Jn. ix. 24 [οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρ. 1, Tr mrg. WH); Acts vi. 13; xxii. 26; ὁ λαὸς οὗτος, Mt. xv. 8; 6 vids σου οὗτος, Lk. xv. 30; plur. Lk. xxiv. 17, and numberless other exx.; οὗτος 6 ἄνθρωπος, Lk. xiv. 30; οὗτος ὁ…

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Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

ὃ, ἡ τό. (1) Apart from connexion with μέν or δέ (see below) the demonstrative use of the art. in the NT is confined to a poetical quotation Ac 1778, but it is not uncommon in the papyri, e.g. P Par 45® (B.C. 153) (= Witkowski®, p. 85) τὰ (for ἃ) πράσεις (Δ πράσσεις), P Oxy VIII. 1160! (iii/iv A.D.) Ta (for ἃ) σεσύλληχα (for συνείληχα) δὲ κέρμα {ταν τηρῶ αὐτὰ εἰς τὴν δίκην, “1 am keeping for the trial the money that I have collected” (Ed.). For the distributive Opéev.. - 6 8€, as in 1 Cor7’, cf. P Lond 535 (B.c. 161) (=I. p. 19, U.P.Z. i. p. 239) kal τὰ μὲν ἡμῶν ἐληφότων εἰς τὴν γινομένην ἡμῖν συντάξειν, τὰ δ᾽ ἔτι διὰ τὴν τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων {(.. ... > παρελκομένων. (2) The use of the art. as a relative, of which there is no trace in the NT, may again be illustrated by the following papyrus citations from ¢c. A.D. 346—P Lond 414® (= II. Ῥ. 292) γεινῴσκιν oe θέλω περὶ τοῦ βρεουίου…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

__C in Epic dialect, the so-called postpositive Article, = relative Pronoun, ὅς, ἥ, ὅ.—The nominative masculine and feminine singular and plural, ὁ, ἡ, οἱ, αἱ, have no accent in codices and most printed books, except when used as the relative; but ὁ, ἡ, οἱ, αἱ differ only in writing from ὃ, ἣ, οἳ, α; the nominative forms of the article are said by Hdn.Gr.1.474 to be oxytone, and by [Refs 2nd c.AD+] in Aeolic dialect accusative to [Refs 8th c.BC+] genitive and dative dual τοῖιν [Refs 8th c.BC+]— In Doric dialect and all other dialects except Attic dialect and Ionic dialect the feminine forms preserve the old ᾱ instead of changing it to η, hence Doric dialect etc. ἁ, τάν, τᾶ; the genitive plural τάων contracts in many dialects to τᾶ; the genitive…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

in all their inflections; the definite article; the (sometimes to be

supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom):--the, this, that, one,

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

the prepositive article, answering, to a considerable extent, to the English definite article; but, for the principle and facts of its usage, consult a grammar; ὁ μὲν ... ὁ δέ, the one ... the other, Phil. 1:16, 17; Heb. 7:5, 6, 20, 21, 23, 24; pl. some ... others, Mt. 13:23; 22:5, 6; ὁ δέ, but he, Mt. 4:4; 12:48; οἱ δέ, but others, Mt. 28:17; used, in a poetic quotation, for a personal pronoun, Acts 17:28

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

in epic, the relative Pronoun, when it is written with the accent ὅ, ἥ, τό ῀ ὅς, ἥ, ὅ. Besides the common forms, note epic gen. sg. τοῖο for τοῦ; pl. nom. τοί, ταί; gen. fem. τάων [α^], dat. τοῖσι, τῇς and τῇσι; dual gen, and dat. τοῖιν:— in Trag. we find τοὶ μέν . . , τοὶ δέ . . , for οἱ μέν . . , οἱ δέ . . ; dat. pl. also τοῖσι, ταῖσι: the dual has commonly but one gender, τώ for τά, τοῖν for ταῖν.

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

joined with a Subst., not as the Art., but like Lat. ille, ὁ Τυδείδης Tydeus's famous son, Il.; Νέστωρ ὁ γέρων Nestor— that aged man, id. Il.; τιμῆς τῆς Πριάμου for honour, namely that of Priam, id. Il.

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Art-NSM — Article · nominative · singular · masculine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-NSM Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

wun.

See NUMBER.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
64%the
the64% · 13160×<the>28% · 5846×those3% · 597×other renderings4% · 788×other renderings1% · 294×

20,685 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 83 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject34%adverbial32%object24%predicate5%indirect object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 19,783 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existἐγώ
ἐν
καίand, even, also,αὐτόςArticle the
εἰς
αὐτόςεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come inἔρχομαιI come, go
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakδέbut, on the otheπρός
εἰμίI am, exist
οὗτοςσύἐγώ
The [one]19783×
what comes after →
θεόςGod, a god
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
ἸησοῦςJesus
λέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
ἐγώἸησοῦςJesusArticle the
πατήρfather, Father, ance
ἐγώσύαὐτός

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

Concordance · 19,783× in the New Testament
Matthew Acts Luke John Revelation Mark Romans 1 Corinthians Hebrews 2 Corinthians Ephesians 1 John

40 inflected forms — one of the commonest words in the New Testament. Full distribution →

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 1c. AD 40

Τῶν ἄλλων νομοθετῶν οἱ μὲν ἀκαλλώπιστα καὶ γυμνὰ τὰ νομισθέντα παρ’ αὐτοῖς εἶναι δίκαια διετάξαντο, οἱ δὲ πολὺν ὄγκον τοῖς νοήμασι προσπεριβαλόντες ἐξετύφωσαν τὰ πλήθη μυθικοῖς πλάσμασι τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐπικρύψαντες.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.argc. AD 75–95

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.1c. AD 100

Χαίρετε, υἱοὶ καὶ θυγατέρες, ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντος ἡμᾶς, ἐν εἰρήνῃ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 1st c. AD 3rd c. BC 6th c. AD
P.Stras. 2 89Pathyris100 BC

r βασιλεύοντος Πτολεμαίου τοῦ ἐπικαλουμένου Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Βερενίκης τῆς ἀδελφῆς θεῶν Φιλομητόρων ἔτους ιε, ἐφʼ ἱερέων καὶ ἱερειῶν

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

ιζ Θῶυθ κη ἀπέδοτο Πετεσοῦχος Φίβιος καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ τὸ ὕπαρχον αὐτοῖς ἥμισυ περιστερῶνος τοῦ ὄντος ἐν τῶι ἀπὸ βορρᾶ μέρει Παθύρεως χαλκοῦ Γ. ἐπρίατο Ὧρος Νεχούτου.

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

βασιλευόντων Πτολεμαίου τοῦ ἐπικαλουμένου Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Βερενίκης τῆς ἀδελφῆς θεῶν φιλομητόρων ἔτους ιϛ, ἐφʼ ἱερέων καὶ ἱερειῶν

The [one] speaking in a tongue himself edifies, the [one] however prophesying [the] church edifies.
λαλῶνlaleō speaking G2980 Verb · present · active · participle · nominative · singular · masculine
298× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To speak or talk, as in Matthew 9:33 and 12:46, where Jesus speaks to the crowds. It can also mean to utter words, like in Revelation 4:1. This word is often translated as preach, say, or tell in the KJV.
Amplified meaning
in an unknown language, with a tongue
Tyndale gloss
to speak
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

λαλέω (laleo) means to talk or speak, often implying a vocal utterance. It can refer to both human speech and the sounds made by animals or inanimate objects. The New Testament uses it in various contexts, such as to convey messages or make declarations (e.g., Matthew 9:33). Notably, it differs from λέγω (lego), which focuses more on the meaning of what is said.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — λαλέω, λέγω, λαλιά, λόγος from a scan

In dealing with synonyms of the N. T. we plainly need not concern ourselves with such earlier, or even contemporary, uses of the words which we are discriminating, as lie altogether outside of the N. T. sphere, when these uses do not illustrate, and have not affected, their Scriptural employment. It follows from this that all those contemptuous uses of λαλεῖν as to talk at random, as one ἀθυρόστομος, or with no door to his lips, might do; of λαλιά, as chatter («Kpacia λόγου ἄλογος, Plato, Defin. 416)—for I cannot believe that we are to find this at John iv. 42—may be dismissed and set aside. The antithesis in the line of Eupolis (Meineke, /ragm. Com. Gr. p. 174), Λαλεῖν ἄριστος, ἀδυνατώτατος λέγειν, does little or nothing to illustrate the matter in hand. The distinction which indeed exists between the words may in this way be made clear. There are two leading aspects under which speech…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

λαλέω, -ῶ,

[in LXX chiefly for דּבר pi., also for אמר, etc.;]

to utter: of inanimate things, Re 4:1 10:4; metaph., He 11:4 12:24.

to talk, speak, say: absol., Mt 9:33 12:46, Mk 5:35, Lk 8:49; seq. ὡς, I Co 13:11, Re 13:11; εἰς, I Co 14:9; ἐκ, Mt 12:34; c. acc. rei, Mt 10:19, Mk 11:32, Jo…

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Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

λαλέω, -@; impf. 3 pers. sing. ἐλάλει, plur. ἐλάλουν; fut. AaAjow; 1 aor. ἐλάλησα; pf. λελάληκα; Pass., pres. λαλοῦμαι; pf. λελάλημαι; 1 aor. ἐλαλήθην; 1 fut. λαληθήcopa; [ἴτ. Soph. down]; found in bibl. Grk. much more freq. than in prof. auth., in Sept. times without number for 739 or 135, more rarely for V8; prop. to uller a sound (ef. [onomatop. /a-/a, ete.] Germ. lallen), to emit a voice, make one’s self heard ; hence to utter or form words with the mouth, to speak, haying reference to the sound and pronunciation of the words and in general the form of what is uttered, while λέγω refers to the meaning and substance of what is spoken; hence λαλεῖν is employed not only of men, esp. when chatting and prattling, but also of animals (of birds, Mosch. 3, 47 ; of locusts, Theoer. 5, 34; λαλοῦσι μέν, οὐ φράζουσι δέ, of dogs and apes, Plut. mor. ii. p. 909 a.), and so of inanimate things (as…

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Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

λαλέω. In P Amh II. 1315 (early ii/A.D.) a brother writes to his sister with reference to the management of certain family property, stating that he will remain where he is until he learns that all is safely settled, and adding—eédml{w δὲ θεῶν θελόντων ἐκ τῶν λαλουμένων διαφεύξεσθαι Kal μετὰ τὴν πεντεκαιδεκάτην ἀναπλεύσειν, “ but I hope, if the gods will, to escape from the talking and after the fifteenth to return home.’”’ See also P Oxy I. 1198 (ii/iii A.D.) (= Selections, p- 103) where the naughty boy writes to his father— οὐ θέλις ἀπενέκκειν μετ᾽ ἐσοῦ els ᾿Αλεξανδρίαν, od μὴ γράψω σε ἐπιστολήν, οὔτε λαλῶ σε, οὔτε υἱγένω σε εἶτα, “if you refuse to take me along with you to Alexandria, I won’t write you a letter, or speak to you, or wish you health henceforth,” P Fay 1264 (ii/iii A.D.) ἤκουσα φίλον Tod πατρός μου λαλοῦνTos περὶ σοῦ ὅτι πεμψεν (/. ἔπεμψεν) ἐπὶ τὴν πενθερά (/.—pav) σου…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

λαλέω (laleō) — to speak.

λᾰλ-έω,

talk, chat, prattle, ἕπου καὶ μὴ λάλει [Refs 5th c.BC+]: with dative, talk to one, λαλῶν ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς σεαυτῷ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; opposed to λέγω, λαλεῖν ἄριστος, ἀδυνατώτατος λέγειν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; λαλῶν μὲν.., λέγων δέ.. [Refs 4th c.BC+]

__b generally, talk, speak, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. talk of, τινα [Refs 3rd c.BC+]:—passive, πρᾶγμα κατ᾽ ἀγορὰν λαλούμενον [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. in later writers, ={λέγω}, speak, λαλεῖ οὐθὲν τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων πλὴν ἀνθρώπου [NT+5th c.BC+]; χειρσὶν ἅπαντα λαλήσας, of a pantomime, [NT+3rd c.BC+]passive, λαληθήσεταί σοι ὅ τι σε δεῖ ποιεῖν it shall be told thee.., [NT]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

λαλέω

laleo

a prolonged form of an otherwise obsolete verb; to talk, i.e. utter

words:--preach, say, speak (after), talk, tell, utter. Compare 3004.

see GREEK for 3004

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

λαλέω

v.

I speak, say

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

λαλέω laleō 296x

to make vocal utterance; to babble, to talk; in NT absol. to exercise the faculty of speech, Mt. 9:33; to speak, Mt. 10:20; to hold converse with, to talk with, Mt. 12:46; Mk. 6:50; Rev. 1:12; to discourse, to make an address, Lk. 11:37; Acts 11:20; 21:39; to make announcement, to make a declaration, Lk. 1:55; to make mention, Jn. 12:41; Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

λαλέω λαλός to talk, chat, prattle, babble, Ar., etc.:—generally, to talk, say, Soph.

c. acc. to talk of, Theocr.

in late Gr., just like λέγω, to speak, NTest., Thuc.:—Pass., λαληθήσεταί σοι it shall be told thee, NTest.

the proper sense, to chatter, is sometimes opp. to articulate speech, as of monkeys, λαλοῦσι μὲν φράζουσι δὲ οὔ Plut.; of locusts, to chirp, Theocr.

of musical sounds, αὐλῶι λαλεῖν id. Theocr.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAP-NSM — Verb · present · active · participle · nominative · singular · masculine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAP-NSM Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: Participle Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Nave's Topical Bible

→ EVIL Ex 22:28; Job 19:18; Ps 10:7,8; 12:3,4; 34:13; 35:21; 41:5-9; 52:2-4; 59:12; 64:2-5; 69:12,26; 70:3; 102:8; 106:33; 119:23; 120:1-7; 140:3,11; Pr 4:24; 6:16-19; 8:13; 10:11,19,31,32; 11:11; 12:5,6,13,17-19; 13:3; 14:25; 15:1,4,28; 16:27,28; 17:4,9,20; 18:8,21,23; 19:1,22,28; 24:2; 25:23; 26:20-23,28; Ec 7:22; 10:11,20; Isa 6:5; 32:6,7; Jer 20:10; Mt 5:22,37; 12:34-37; Ac 23:5;

Across the New Testament23 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 661 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Ignatius of Antioch The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 3.101c. AD 40

διὰ τοῦτο Μωυσῆν ἀνακέκληκε καὶ ἐλάλησεν αὐτῷ ὁ θεός.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 5.349c. AD 75–95

καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ φθεγξαμένου πάλιν ἀκούσας ἠξίου λαλεῖν ἐπὶ τοῖς χρωμένοις·

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.4c. AD 100

πεπεισμένος οὖν τοῦτο καὶ συνειδὼς ἐμαυτῷ, ὅτι ἐν ὑμῖν λαλήσας πολλὰ ἐπίσταμαι, ὅτι ἐμοὶ συνώδευσεν ἐν ὁδῷ δικαιοσύνης κύριος, καὶ πάντως ἀναγκάζομαι κἀγὼ εἰς τοῦτο, ἀγαπᾶν ὑμᾶς ὑπὲρ τὴν ψυχήν μου, ὅτι μεγάλη πίστις καὶ ἀγάπη ἐγκατοικεῖ ἐν ὑμῖν ἐπ’…

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 6th c. AD 4th c. AD 7th c. AD 3rd c. AD
BGU 3 822ArsinoitesAD 105

ἀπαιτεῖς τὴν ἐνμένουσαν ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ σου τὸ ἐνοίκιον. ἵνα εὕρωμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς εὔλογον λαλῆσαι αὐτῇ, γράψον Κουπανηοῦτι ἐπιστολήν, προστάξας, ἵνα εὕρῃ εὔλογον πρὸς αὐτὴν λαλῆσαι. θερμῶς ἀσπάζεταί σε

P.Mil.Vogl. 1 24Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 117

περὶ ἀργυρωματίων σὺν Κέρτῳ. εὔχομαί σε ἰσχύειν. περὶ Πτολλαρίωνος ἡ μήτηρ μέμφεται. οὐκ ἐμοὶ λαλεῖ, ἀλλὰ καὶ φεύγει με ἐὰν ἴδῃ, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἐμοῖς ἀπομέμφεται αὐτόν. ἐγὼ ἐπιτιμῶ Πτολλαρίωνι·

P.Wisc. 2 73OxyrhynchitesAD 122–AD 123

περὶ τῶν ὀσπριδίων. περὶ τούτου οὐδὲν τετέλεσται. τὴν γὰρ ἀτιμίαν Θέων σοι κατʼ ὄψιν λαλήσει. ταχέως οὖν σπεῦσον, ὡς ἔγραψας, πρὸς ἡμᾶς γενέσθαι. ἀσπάζονταί σε οἱ ἐν οἴκωι πάντες.

The [one] speaking in a tongue himself edifies, the [one] however prophesying [the] church edifies.
γλώσσῃglōssa in a tongue G1100 Noun · dative · singular · feminine
50× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The tongue refers to the organ of speech, as seen in Mark 7:33 and 35. It can also mean a language, such as in Acts 2:11. The Bible talks about the tongue as a powerful tool for communication and expression.
Amplified meaning
a language
Tyndale gloss
tongue
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

γλῶσσα refers primarily to the tongue as the organ of speech, but it also denotes language and, in some contexts, a group of people defined by their language. The New Testament uses it in various ways, including references to speaking in tongues (Acts 2:11) and the metaphorical use of the tongue in discussions of speech and communication. Notably, it appears in contexts related to spiritual gifts and the expression of praise.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

γλῶσσα, -ης, ἡ,

[in LXX chiefly for לָשׁוֹן ;]

the tongue, as the organ of speech: Mk 7:33, 35 Lk 1:64 16:24, Ac 2:26 (LXX), Ro 3:13 (LXX) 14:11 (LXX), I Co 14:9, Phl 2:11, Ja 1:26 3:5, 6, 8, I Pe 3:10 (LXX), I Jo 3:18, Re 16:10; of a tongue-like object, Ac 2:3.

a tongue, language: Ac 2:11; joined with φυλή, λαός, ἔθνος, freq. in pl., Re 5:9

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Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

γλῶσσα, -ns, ἡ, [fr. Hom. down], the tongue ; 1. the tongue, a member of the body, the organ of speech: Mk. vii. 88, 35; Lk. i. 64; xvi. 24; 1 Co. xiv. 9; Jas. i. 26; iii. 5, 6, 8; 1 Pet. iii 10; 1 Jn. iii. 18; [Rev. xvi. 10]. By a poetical and rhetorical usage, esp. Hebraistic, that member of the body which is chiefly engaged in some act has ascribed to it what belongs to the man; the tongue is so used in Acts ii. 26 (Πγαλλιάσατο ἡ γλῶσσά pov); Ro. iii. 13; xiv.11; Phil.ii. 11 (the tongue of every man) ; of the little tongue-like flames symbolizing the gift of foreign tongues, in Acts ii. 3. 2. a tongue, i. 6. the language used by a particular people in distinction from that of other nations: Acts ii. 11; hencein later Jewish usage (Is. Ixvi. 18; Dan. iii. 4; v. 19 Theod.; vi. 25; vii. 14 Theod.; Jud. iii. 8) joined with φυλή, λαός, ἔθνος, it serves to designate people of various…

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Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

γλῶσσα. Most of the occurrences of this noun, which retains both form and meaning in MGr, need no particular comment. P Oxy I. 138 (A.D. 183 or 215) saefe, the monthly meat bill of a cook, tells us that ‘*‘tongue”’ was a favourite article of diet ; so also the numerous passages in inscrr. where in the ritual of sacrifice the victim’s tongue is mentioned as a special perquisite. The word figures prominently in magical documents. P Lond 1245} (iv/v A.p.) (=I. p. 122) βάλλε εἰς αὐτὸ γλῶσσαν βαθράκου shows whe frog’s tongue playing the same part as ‘‘ tongue of dog” in the witches’ spell in Macbeth: so also τό. 46°84 (iv/a.p.) (=I. p. 74). There are niany curses which ‘*‘ hind” the tongue of their object : thus Syd/ $08 (Corcyra) Σιλανοῦ τὸν νόον kal τὰν γλῶσσαν τουτεῖ KaTaypadw—Silanus himself and three witnesses who enabled him to win a suit are cursed with this leaden tablet in mind and…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

γλῶσσα (glōssa) — tongue.

γλῶσσα,

Ionic dialect γλάσσα, [Refs 3rd c.BC+], Attic dialect γλῶττα, ης, ἡ, tongue, [Refs 8th c.BC+]

__b γ. λάρυγγος, ={γλωττίς}, larynx, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

2. tongue, as the organ of speech, γλώσσης χάριν through love of talking, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; γλώσσῃ δεινός, θρασύς, [Refs 5th c.BC+] by frankness of speech, [Refs 6th c.BC+], of fraud opposed to violence, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; also, by word of mouth, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὰ γλώσσης ἄπο, i.e. our words, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἀπὸ γ. φράσω by heart, opposed to γράμμασιν, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; οὐκ ἀπὸ γλώσσης not from mere word of mouth, but after full argument, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; μὴ διὰ γλώσσης without using the tongue, [Refs 5th c.BC+] —phrases: πᾶσαν γλῶτταν βασάνιζε try every art of tongue, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; πᾶσαν ἱέναι γλῶσσαν let loose one's whole tongue, speak…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

γλῶσσα

glossa

of uncertain affinity; the tongue; by implication, a language

(specially, one naturally unacquired):--tongue.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

γλῶσσα, ης, ἡ

n.f.

the tongue, a language, nation

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

γλῶσσα glōssa 50x

the tongue, Mk. 7:33, 35, et al.; meton. speech, talk, 1 Jn. 3:18; a tongue, language, Acts 2:11; 1 Cor. 13:1, et al.; meton. a language not proper to a speaker, a gift or faculty of such language, Mk. 16:17; 1 Cor. 14:13, 14, 26, et al.; from Hebrew, a nation, as defined by its language, Rev. 5:9, et al.; lit. a tongue-shaped flail, Acts 2:3

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

γλῶσσα deriv. uncertain the tongue, Hom., etc.

the tongue, as the organ of speech, γλώσσης χάριν through love of talking, Hes., Aesch.; ἀπὸ γλώσσης by word of mouth, Hdt., Thuc.; οὐκ ἀπὸ γλώσσης not by word of mouth, not from mere hearsay, Aesch.; so, οὐ κατὰ γλῶσσαν Soph.; ἱέναι γλῶσσαν to let loose one's tongue, speak without restraint, id. Soph.; pl., κερτομίοις γλώσσαις, i.e. with blasphemies, id. Soph.:—for βοῦς ἐπὶ γλώσσηι, v. βοῦς.

a tongue, language, Hom., Hdt., etc.

the tongue or mouthpiece of a pipe, Aeschin.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-DSF — Noun · dative · singular · feminine
dative — to, for, with — the one it is done to or by.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-DSF Part of Speech: Noun Case: Dative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

tung: Almost invariably for either lashon, or glossa the latter word with the cognates heteroglossos, "of strange tongues" (1Co 14:21), glossodes, "talkative," English Versions of the Bible "full of tongue" (Sirach 8:3; 9:18), glossotomeo, "to cut out the tongue" (2 Macc 7:4), diglossos, "double-tongued" (Sirach 5:9; 28:13). In 1Ti 3:8, however, "double-tongued" is for dilogos, literally, "two-worded." Where "tongue" in the King James Version translates dialektos (Ac 1:19; 2:8; 21:40; 22:2; 26:14), the Revised Version (British and American) has "language," while for the King James Version "in the Hebrew tongue" in Joh 5:2; Re…

→ Language Ge 10:5,20; Isa 66:18; Re 7:9

→ Confusion of Ge 11:1-9

→ Gift of Ac 2:1-18,33; 10:46; 19:6; 1Co 12:10,28,30; 14

→ Loquacious Pr 10:8,19

→ Restrained by wisdom Pr 17:27; 21:23; Ec 3:7

→ Hasty Pr 29:20

→ An evil

See SPEAKING, EVIL

→ See SLANDER

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
50%tongues
tongues50% · 25×tongue40% · 20×a tongue10% · 5×

50 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 3 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial50%subject30%object18%predicate2%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 50 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
καίand, even, also,ἅπτωI touch or handlδεσμόςa bond, chain
λαλέωI speak, say
Article theαὐτόςγάρfor
καίand, even, also, nam
φυλήa tribe, raceλαόςa people, the crἔθνοςa race, people,
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
καίand, even, also,μήNeg
γένοςoffspring, family, r
ἕτεροςanother, differeκυβέρνησιςgoverning, gover
γλῶσσαin a tongue50×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
λαόςa people, the crἔθνοςa race, people, μεγαλύνωI enlarge, magni
αὐτός
καίand, even, also,δολιόωI act deceitfullἐκ
λαλέωI speak, say
καινόςfresh, newμήNegτίςIrg
Article the
μεγαλεῖοςgrand, magnificeἄνθρωποςa man, one of thπνεῦμαwind, breath, sp
ἐγώ
ὅτιthat, since, becἔτιstill, yet, even

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

Concordanceγλῶσσα · 50× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians Revelation Acts James Mark Luke Romans 1 John 1 Peter Philippians
Across the New Testament10 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 69 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Clement of Rome The Shepherd of Hermas Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 104c. AD 40

ἑπτὰ δὲ νοῦν καὶ γλῶσσαν ἐν ἑβδομάσιν μέγ’ ἄριστος ὀκτώ τ’, ἀμφοτέρων τέσσαρα καὶ δέκ’ ἔτη·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.108c. AD 75–95

ταῦτα δʼ ἔλεγον πρὸς ἀλλήλους οὐχ ἡγούμενοι τὸν Ἰώσηπον γλώσσης τῆς αὐτῶν συνιέναι.

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 15.4c. AD 96

καὶ πάλιν λέγει: Ἠγάπησαν αὐτὸν τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν καὶ τῇ γλώσσῃ αὐτῶν ἐψεύσαντο αὐτόν, ἡ δὲ καρδία αὐτῶν οὐκ εὐθεῖα μετ̓ αὐτοῦ, οὐδὲ ἐπιστώθησαν ἐν τῇ διαθήκῃ αὐτοῦ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 3rd c. AD 3rd c. BC 4th c. AD
P.Petr. Cahier 69Arsinoites261 BC–237 BC

Μενεμάχωι ὅτι οὐκ ἐγδείρας ἀποστέλλει πρὸς σὲ αὐτούς. τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ ὅσα κατὰ τὴν γλῶσσαν παρακαλεῖν ἐκέλευέν σε κ … εἶναι πρὸς τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς παρὰ σοὶ εὐτονώτερον

P.Oxy. 1 108OxyrhynchosAD 215

rColumn 1 Θὼθ δ κδ ἔτους, κρέως μναῖ δ, ἄκρα β, γλῶσσα μία, ῥυγχίον α. ϛ, γλωσσοπωγώνιον. ια, κρέως μναῖ β, γλῶσσα μία, νεφρία β. ιβ,

SB 5 7872AD 306–AD 337

θῆναι … … ου γλωσση … … διὰ20 στόματος … … ἐν καμίνῳ … … ἐγκώμια … ι

The [one] speaking in a tongue himself edifies, the [one] however prophesying [the] church edifies.
ἑαυτὸνheautou himself G1438 Reflexive pronoun · third person · accusative · singular · masculine
320× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 Corinthians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This reflexive pronoun means 'themself' or 'themselves', referring back to the subject of a sentence, as in Matthew 27:42 and Luke 23:35.
Amplified meaning
themself
Tyndale gloss
themself
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἑαυτοῦ (i.e., *heautou*) is a reflexive pronoun meaning 'of himself, herself, itself,' and is used primarily in the third person. It appears in various contexts throughout the New Testament, often indicating actions done by a subject to themselves or emphasizing possession. Additionally, it can serve as a reciprocal pronoun in plural forms, indicating mutual actions among individuals.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἑαυτοῦ, -ῆς, -οῦ, dat. -ῷ, etc., acc. -όν, etc., pi. -ῶν, etc. (Att. contr. αὑτοῦ, etc);

reflex pron.;

prop, of 3rd person (Lat. sui, sibi, se), of himself, herself, itself, etc.: Mt 27:42, Mk 15:31, Lk 23:35, al.; added to a middle verb, διεμερίσαντο ἑαυτοῖς, Jo 19:24; to an active verb, Ac 14:14 (M, Pr., 157); ἀφ’ ἑαυτοῦ, Lk 12:57 21:30, Jo 5:19, al. (v.s. ἀπό); δι’ ἑαυτοῦ, Ro 14:14; ἐν ἑ., Mt 3:9, Mk 5:30, al.; εἰς ἑ., Read the full entry →

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἑαυτοῦ (heautou) — themself.

ἑαυτοῦ, ῆς, οῦ, ἑαυτῷ, ῇ, ῷ, ἑαυτόν, ήν, ό,

plural ἑαυτῶν, ἑαυτοῖς, ἑαυτούς άς, ά: Ionic dialect ἑωυτοῦ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; also ωὑτῆς [Refs 3rd c.BC+] in Papyrus and Inscrr., as [Refs 1st c.BC+]: Attic dialect contraction αὑτοῦ, etc., which is the usual form in Trag., though ἑαυτοῦ, etc., are used (though rarely) when the metre requires, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; Cretan dialect ϝιαυτοῦ Kohler-Ziebarth Stadtrecht von Gortyn [Refs]; Doric dialect αὐταυτοῦ, αὐσαυτοῦ (which see); Thess. εὑτοῦ (dative), [Refs]: genitive plural ηὑτῶν [Refs]:—reflexive pronoun of 3rd pers., of himself, herself, itself, etc.; first in [Refs 7th c.BC+], and Attic dialect [Refs 8th c.BC+] itself by itself, absolutely, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; αὐτὸ ἐφ᾽ αὑτοῦ[Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτῶν, ἑαυτοῦ, of themselves, himself, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ, see at…

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Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἑαυτοῦ, ῆς, οῦ

Refl.pr.

himself, herself, itself

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἑαυτοῦ heautou 319x

himself, herself, itself, Mt. 8:22; 12:26; 9:21; also used for the first and second persons, Rom. 8:23; Mt. 23:31; also equivalent to ἀλλήλων, Mk. 10:26; Jn. 12:19; ἀφ’ ἑαυτοῦ, ἀφ’ ἑαυτῶν, of himself, themselves, voluntarily, spontaneously, Lk. 12:57; 21:30; of one’s own will merely, Jn. 5:19; δι’ ἑαυτοῦ, of itself, in its own nature, Rom. 14:14; ἐξ ἑαυτῶν, of one’s own self, 2 Cor.…

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Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἑαυτοῦ reflex. Pron. of 3rd pers., Lat. sui, sibi, se, of himself, herself, itself, etc.; first in Hdt. and attic; Hom. has ἕο αὐτοῦ, οἷ αὐτῷ, ἑ αὐτόν:—αὐτὸ ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτό itself by itself, absolutely, Plat.; so τὸ ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτόν Thuc.; αὐτὸ καθ᾽ αὑτό Plat.;— ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ of himself, Thuc., etc.; ἐν ἑαυτοῦ, ἐντὸς ἑαυτοῦ, Lat. sui compos: — παρ᾽ ἑαυτῷ at his own house, Xen.; often with comp. and Sup., ἐγένοντο ἀμείνονες αὐτοὶ ἑωυτῶν they surpassed themselves, Hdt.; πλουσιώτεροι ἑαυτῶν, i. e. continually richer, Thuc.

in attic αὑτοῦ, sometimes for 1st or 2nd pers., Aesch., Soph.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
F-3ASM — Reflexive pronoun · third person · accusative · singular · masculine
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

F-3ASM Part of Speech: reFlexive pronoun Person: third Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
34%himself
himself34% · 111×themselves20% · 67×yourselves14% · 48×his own7% · 24×their own6% · 21×ourselves6% · 20×itself3% · 11×other renderings5% · 18×other renderings3% · 11×

331 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 21 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
object53%adverbial36%indirect object8%subject3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 320 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
θάπτωI buryεἰςἕκαστοςeach, every one
ἐν
λέγωI say, speakδιαλογίζομαιI reason, debateαὐτός
ἐπί
βασιλείαkingship, sovereἐκβάλλωI throw, cast, pοἰκίαa house, househo
πρός
λέγωI say, speakκρατέωI lay hold of, oδιαλογίζομαιI reason, debate
μετά
ἔχωI have, hold, poπαραλαμβάνωI take, receiveλαμβάνωI receive, take
ἑαυτοῦhimself320×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
αἴρωI raise, lift upεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come inμερίζωI divide, part,
Article the
ἱμάτιονouter garmentἐκοἰκονόμοςa steward
λέγωI say, speak
ὅτιthat, since, becἐάνCondαὐτός
οὐNeg
δύναμαιI am powerful, aἵστημιI cause to standκρίνωI judge, decide,
ἀλλάbut, except
πρόσκαιροςtemporaryArticle theὅσος

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

Concordanceἑαυτοῦ · 320× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew 2 Corinthians John Mark Acts Romans 1 Corinthians Ephesians Hebrews Revelation Galatians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament25 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 9c. AD 40

τὸ δὲ παθητὸν ἄψυχον καὶ ἀκίνητον ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ, κινηθὲν δὲ καὶ σχηματισθὲν καὶ ψυχωθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ νοῦ μετέβαλεν εἰς τὸ τελειότατον ἔργον, τόνδε τὸν κόσμον·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.19c. AD 75–95

ἰστέον οὖν, ὅτι πάντων ἐκεῖνος ἀναγκαιότατον ἡγήσατο τῷ καὶ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ μέλλοντι βίον οἰκονομήσειν καλῶς καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις νομοθετεῖν θεοῦ πρῶτον φύσιν κατανοῆσαι καὶ τῶν ἔργων τῶν ἐκείνου θεατὴν τῷ νῷ γενόμενον οὕτως παράδειγμα τὸ πάντων ἄριστον…

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.1c. AD 100

Ἡμερῶν οὖν οὐσῶν πονηρῶν καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἐνεργοῦντος ἔχοντος τὴν ἐξουσίαν, ὀφείλομεν ἑαυτοῖς προσέχοντες ἐκζητεῖν τὰ δικαιώματα κυρίου,

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 1st c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 2nd c. BC
P.Grenf. 1 30Pathyris104 BC

καὶ ἡμῖν δὲ γράφοντες ὑπὲρ ὧν αἱρεῖσθε ὡς πᾶν προθυμότερον τελεωθησόμενον, ἐπιμελόμενοι δὲ καὶ ἑαυτῶν ἵνʼ ὑγιαίνητε. ἔρρωσθε. ἔτους ιδ τοῦ καὶ ια, Παῦνι ιε

P.Grenf. 1 33Thebais104 BC

κζ μέση μελίχρως λεύκωμα ὀφθαλμόν, μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύρριν αἱ τρεῖς τῶν Ψεμμίνιος μετὰ κυρίου τοῦ ἑαυτῶν ἀδελφοῦ Παχνούβιος τοῦ προγεγραμμένου καὶ συνπωλουμένου, ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπαρχούσης αὐτοῖς πατρικῆς γῆς ἠπείρου σιτοφόρου

P.Grenf. 1 35Ptolemais - Akko (Syrien)103 BC

πυρὸν τοῖς παρʼ ἡμῶν. διʼ ἄλλων γεγράφαμεν ὑμῖν ὑπὲρ ὧν βουλόμεθα μηδεμιᾶς προσφωνήσεως προσπεπτωκυίας. ἑαυτῶν δὲ ἐπιμελόμενοι ἵνʼ ὑγιαίνητε, — ἔσμεν ἐν Πτολεμαίδι. ἔρρωσθε. ἔτους ιϛ, Θωῦθ η.

The [one] speaking in a tongue himself edifies, the [one] however prophesying [the] church edifies.
οἰκοδομεῖ,oikodomeō edifies, G3618 Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · singular
41× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To build or construct something, like a house, is the meaning of this word. In Luke 11:48 and 1 Peter 2:7, it refers to building or confirming something, whether physical or spiritual.
Amplified meaning
builds up, strengthens
Tyndale gloss
to build
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word οἰκοδομέω (i.e., *oikodomeō*) means 'to build' and is derived from the noun for 'builder.' It encompasses both literal construction, such as building houses or cities, and metaphorical senses, like building up Christian character or faith. The New Testament uses it in contexts like building the church (Matthew 16:18) and edifying others (1 Corinthians 14:4).

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

οἰκοδομέω, -ῶ

(< οἰκοδόμος),

[in LXX chiefly for בּנה;]

to build a house, to build: absol., Lk 11:48 14:30 17:28; οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, the builders (as Ps 117 (118):22, הַבּוֹנִים), Mt 21:42, Mk 12:10, Lk 20:17, I Pe 2:7(LXX); ἐπ’ ἀλλότριον θεμέλιον οἰ., proverb., Ro 15:20; c. acc. rei, Ga 2:18; πύργον, Mt 21:33, Mk 12:1, Lk 14:28; ἀποθήκας,

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Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

οἰκοδομέω, τῶ: impf. ὠκοδόμουν ; fut. οἰκοδομήσω ; 1 aor. φκοδόμησα [οἷκ. Tr WH in Acts vii. 47; see Tdf. ad loc. ; Proleg. p. 120; WH. App. p. 161; Lob. ad Phryn. p. 153; W. § 12, 4; B. 34 (30)]; Pass., [pres. οἰκοδομοῦμαι (inf. -μεῖσθαι, Lk. vi. 48 Treg.); pf. inf. οἰκοδομῆσθαι (Lk. vi. 48 T WH)]; plupf. 3 pers. sing. ὠκοδόμητο ; 1 aor. dxodoμήθην [οἰκ. T WH in Jn. ii. 20]; 1 fut. οἰκοδομηθήσομαι ; (οἰκοδόμος, q- ν.) ; fr. Hdt. down; Sept. for 733; to build a house, erect a building; a. prop. a. to build (up from the foundation): absol., Lk. xi.48 GT WH Trtxt.; xiv. 30; xvii. 28; of οἰκοδομοῦντες, subst., the builders [οἵ. W. § 45,7; Β. § 144, 11]. Mt. xxi.42; Mk. xii. 10; Lk. xx. 17; Acts iv. 11 Rec.; 1 Pet. ii. 7, fr. Ps. exvii. (exviii-) 22; ἐπ᾿ ἀλλότριον θεμέλιον, to build upon a foundation laid by others, i. 6. (without a fig.) to carry on instruction begun by others, Ro: xv. 20…

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Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

οἴκοδομέω in the literal sense of ‘“‘build” is seen in such passages as—P Magd 27% (B.c. 218) θεμέλιον σκάπτων ὥστε οἰκοSopetv, P Ryl II. 2483 (B.c. 162) τῆς ἐν αὐτῆι οἰκίας ὠικοδομημένης, P Grenf IT. 35° (B.c. 98) παστοφόριον (cf. Jerem 42! al.) ὠκοδομημένον καὶ δεδοκωμένην, ‘a priest’s chamber built and furnished with beams,” P Ryl II. 13338 (A.D. 33) ἔμβλημ(α) οἰκοδομημένον pera δαπάνης οὐκ ὀλίγων κεφαλαίων ἀργυρικῶν, ““4 dam (Ὁ) built at the expense of no small sums of money” (Edd.), and the interesting P Giss I. 201° (beg. ii/A.D.) (= Chrest. I. p. 224) with its reference to a private shrine, built in honour of the Dioscuri—wkoSepnrar αὐτῶν ὁ τόπος. See also Logion 7 (= P Oxy I. 11°) λέγει *Incots, πόλις ὠκοδομημένη ἐπ᾽ ἄκρον [d]pous ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐστηριγμένη οὔτε πείσ]εῖν δύναται οὔτε κρυ[β]ῆναι. the augment see Moulton 677. ii. p. 191. The metaphorical use of the verb, with which…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

οἰκοδομέω (oikodomeō) — to build.

οἰκοδομ-έω,

future -ήσω: aorist ᾠκοδόμησα (not οἰκ- in Attic dialect): perfect ᾠκοδόμηκα [Refs 5th c.BC+]: but later Attic dialect perfect passive οἰκοδομημένοι [Refs]:—build a house: generally, build, νεὼν καὶ βωμόν [Refs]; νηόν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; γέφυραν[Refs 5th c.BC+] —also in middle, οἰκοδομέεσθαι οἴκημα build oneself a house, have it built, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: —passive, to be built, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὰ -ούμενα[Refs 4th c.BC+]

__b generally, fashion, καταπέτασμα [LXX]

2. metaphorically, build or found upon, ἔργα ἐπί τι [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. metaphorically, build up, edify, [NT]; οἰ. εἰς τὸν ἕνα [NT] will be emboldened, [NT]; compare ἀνοικοδομέω.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

οἰκοδομέω

v.

I build, build up, edify

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

οἰκοδομέω οἰκοδόμος to build a house: generally, to build, οἰκίαν, γέφυραν, τεῖχος Hdt.:—Mid., οἰκοδομεῖσθαι οἴκημα to build oneself a house, have it built, id. Hdt.:—Pass. to be built, id. Hdt.

metaph. to build or found upon, ἔργα ἐπί τι Xen.; οἰκ. τέχνην ἔπεσιν Ar.

metaph., also, to build up, edify, NTest.:—Pass., οἰκοδομηθήσεται εἰς τὸ ἐσθίειν will be emboldened to eat, id. Ar.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAI-3S — Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · singular
present active indicative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAI-3S Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: third Number: Singular

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
18%building
building18% · 7×built15% · 6×build10% · 4×edifies5% · 2×i will build5% · 2×you build5% · 2×will you build3% · 1×being edified3% · 1×other renderings38% · 15×

40 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 23 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
verb93%adverbial5%object2%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 41 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
ἀποδοκιμάζωI reject after tσύ
καίand, even, also, nam
ληνόςa winepressὑπολήνιονa pit under the ναόςa temple, shrine
ὅστις
φρόνιμοςintelligent, pruμωρόςstupid, foolish
ὅτιthat, since, because
ὑποκριτήςa hypocrite, disσύ
ἡμέραa day
τρεῖςthree
οἰκοδομέωedifies,41×
what comes after →
αὐτός
Article theὥστεso that, therefoοἶκοςa house, househo
Article the
τάφοςa tomb, burial-pμνημεῖονa tomb, sepulcheναόςa temple, shrine
οὗτος
γίνομαιI come into bein
καίand, even, also, nam
συνάγωI gather togetheοὐNegπορεύομαιI travel, journe
ἐγώ
Article theλέγωI say, speak

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

Concordanceοἰκοδομέω · 41× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew 1 Corinthians Acts Mark 1 Peter 1 Thessalonians Galatians John Romans
Across the New Testament10 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 176 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.48c. AD 40

ὅτι πρέπει τῷ θεῷ φυτεύειν καὶ οἰκοδομεῖν ἐν ψυχῇ τὰς ἀρετάς.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.115c. AD 75–95

Τὸ δὲ πλῆθος πρόθυμον ἦν τοῖς Ναβρώδου ἕπεσθαι δόγμασι δουλείαν ἡγούμενοι τὸ εἴκειν τῷ θεῷ, καὶ τὸν πύργον ᾠκοδόμουν οὐδὲν ἀπολείποντες σπουδῆς οὐδὲ πρὸς τὸ ἔργον ὀκνηρῶς ἔχοντες·

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 6.4c. AD 100

λέγει δὲ πάλιν ὁ προφήτης: Λίθον ὃν ἀπεδοκίμασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, οὗτος ἐγενήθη εἰς κεφαλὴν γωνίας.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 2nd c. AD 3rd c. BC 7th c. AD 4th c. AD
P.Tebt. 2 488 descr.Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 121–AD 122

ϛ Ἁδριανοῦ Καίσαρος τοῦ κυρίου. Ναωμσᾶτι Ταπιεσιῆς Ὥρου Ἰούλιος Κυαδρᾶτος· ἠξίου πρὸ πόσου χρόνου οἰκοδομῆσαι; Ἱέραξ· πρὸ τριετίας. Ἰούλιος Κυαδρᾶτος χιλίαρχος· ἔδει σε τότε κεκωλυκέναι ὅτε ᾠκοδόμει, ἐπὶ δὲ

P.Mil.Vogl. 3 188Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 125

Π … εσιω τιμῆς οἴνου κεραμίων ν δραχμαὶ σ ἐπισκευῆς θυρίδων ὀβολοὶ ϛ ζύτου οἰκοδόμῳ ὀβολοὶ δ ἄρτοι β ὀβολοὶ β λαχανίων καὶ βαλανείου ὀβολὸς α ι τυμπανιστῇ ὀβολοὶ

P.Tebt. 2 402Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 172

Σαραπίωνος γενομένου ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων. ἔστι δέ· Ἐπεὶφ κϛ, μετεβλήθη ἀπὸ τοῦ πλινθουργίου καὶ οἰκοδομήθη πλίνθου Βσ. κθ, μετηνέχθη καὶ οἰκοδομήθη πλίνθου Βσ. Μεσορὴ α, μετηνέχθη καὶ οἰκοδομήθη πλίνθου

The [one] speaking in a tongue himself edifies, the [one] however prophesying [the] church edifies.
ho the [one] G3588 Article · nominative · singular · masculine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 Corinthians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The definite article — the commonest word in the Greek New Testament at 19,867 occurrences. Greek uses it more freely than English does and can drop it deliberately, so its presence and its absence both carry weight for a translator; but no single occurrence carries a message of its own. Here it simply gathers “the things” into one definite bundle.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

the prepositive article (ἄρθρον προτακτικόν), originally a demonstr. pron. (so usually in Hom.), in general corresponding to the Eng. definite article.

As demonstr. pron.

As freq. in Hom., absol., he (she, it), his (etc.): Ac 17:28 (quoted from the poet Aratus).

Distributive, ὁ μὲν . . . ὁ δέ, the one . . . the other: I Co 7:7, Ga 4:22; pl., Ac 14:4, 17:32, Phl 1:16, al.; οἱ μὲν . . . ἄλλοι δέ, Mt 16:14, Jo 7:12; οἱ μεν̀ . . . ὁ δέ, He 7:21, 23.

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Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

ὁ 435 ὁ tives of quantity, ὅλος, πᾶς, πολύς, see each in its own place. d. What has been said concerning adjectives holds true also of all other limitations added to substantives, as ἡ κατ᾽ ἐκλογὴν πρόθεσις, Ro. ix. 11; ἡ παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ διαθήκη, Ro. xi. 27; 6 λόγος 6 τοῦ σταυροῦ, 1 Co. i. 18; ἡ εἰς Χριστὸν πίστις, Col. ii. 5; on the other hand, ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν ἡ πρὸς τὸν θεόν, 1 Th. i. 8; τῆς διακονίας τῆς εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους, 2 Co. viii. 4; see many other exx. of each usage in W. 131 (124) sqq.; [B. 91 (80) sqq.]. e. The noun has the article before it when a demonstrative pronoun (υὗτος, ἐκεῖνος) belonging to it either precedes or follows [W. § 18, 4; B. § 127, 29-31]; as, ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτος, Jn. ix. 24 [οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρ. 1, Tr mrg. WH); Acts vi. 13; xxii. 26; ὁ λαὸς οὗτος, Mt. xv. 8; 6 vids σου οὗτος, Lk. xv. 30; plur. Lk. xxiv. 17, and numberless other exx.; οὗτος 6 ἄνθρωπος, Lk. xiv. 30; οὗτος ὁ…

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Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

ὃ, ἡ τό. (1) Apart from connexion with μέν or δέ (see below) the demonstrative use of the art. in the NT is confined to a poetical quotation Ac 1778, but it is not uncommon in the papyri, e.g. P Par 45® (B.C. 153) (= Witkowski®, p. 85) τὰ (for ἃ) πράσεις (Δ πράσσεις), P Oxy VIII. 1160! (iii/iv A.D.) Ta (for ἃ) σεσύλληχα (for συνείληχα) δὲ κέρμα {ταν τηρῶ αὐτὰ εἰς τὴν δίκην, “1 am keeping for the trial the money that I have collected” (Ed.). For the distributive Opéev.. - 6 8€, as in 1 Cor7’, cf. P Lond 535 (B.c. 161) (=I. p. 19, U.P.Z. i. p. 239) kal τὰ μὲν ἡμῶν ἐληφότων εἰς τὴν γινομένην ἡμῖν συντάξειν, τὰ δ᾽ ἔτι διὰ τὴν τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων {(.. ... > παρελκομένων. (2) The use of the art. as a relative, of which there is no trace in the NT, may again be illustrated by the following papyrus citations from ¢c. A.D. 346—P Lond 414® (= II. Ῥ. 292) γεινῴσκιν oe θέλω περὶ τοῦ βρεουίου…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

__C in Epic dialect, the so-called postpositive Article, = relative Pronoun, ὅς, ἥ, ὅ.—The nominative masculine and feminine singular and plural, ὁ, ἡ, οἱ, αἱ, have no accent in codices and most printed books, except when used as the relative; but ὁ, ἡ, οἱ, αἱ differ only in writing from ὃ, ἣ, οἳ, α; the nominative forms of the article are said by Hdn.Gr.1.474 to be oxytone, and by [Refs 2nd c.AD+] in Aeolic dialect accusative to [Refs 8th c.BC+] genitive and dative dual τοῖιν [Refs 8th c.BC+]— In Doric dialect and all other dialects except Attic dialect and Ionic dialect the feminine forms preserve the old ᾱ instead of changing it to η, hence Doric dialect etc. ἁ, τάν, τᾶ; the genitive plural τάων contracts in many dialects to τᾶ; the genitive…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

in all their inflections; the definite article; the (sometimes to be

supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom):--the, this, that, one,

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

the prepositive article, answering, to a considerable extent, to the English definite article; but, for the principle and facts of its usage, consult a grammar; ὁ μὲν ... ὁ δέ, the one ... the other, Phil. 1:16, 17; Heb. 7:5, 6, 20, 21, 23, 24; pl. some ... others, Mt. 13:23; 22:5, 6; ὁ δέ, but he, Mt. 4:4; 12:48; οἱ δέ, but others, Mt. 28:17; used, in a poetic quotation, for a personal pronoun, Acts 17:28

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

in epic, the relative Pronoun, when it is written with the accent ὅ, ἥ, τό ῀ ὅς, ἥ, ὅ. Besides the common forms, note epic gen. sg. τοῖο for τοῦ; pl. nom. τοί, ταί; gen. fem. τάων [α^], dat. τοῖσι, τῇς and τῇσι; dual gen, and dat. τοῖιν:— in Trag. we find τοὶ μέν . . , τοὶ δέ . . , for οἱ μέν . . , οἱ δέ . . ; dat. pl. also τοῖσι, ταῖσι: the dual has commonly but one gender, τώ for τά, τοῖν for ταῖν.

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

joined with a Subst., not as the Art., but like Lat. ille, ὁ Τυδείδης Tydeus's famous son, Il.; Νέστωρ ὁ γέρων Nestor— that aged man, id. Il.; τιμῆς τῆς Πριάμου for honour, namely that of Priam, id. Il.

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Art-NSM — Article · nominative · singular · masculine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-NSM Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

wun.

See NUMBER.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
64%the
the64% · 13160×<the>28% · 5846×those3% · 597×other renderings4% · 788×other renderings1% · 294×

20,685 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 83 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject34%adverbial32%object24%predicate5%indirect object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 19,783 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existἐγώ
ἐν
καίand, even, also,αὐτόςArticle the
εἰς
αὐτόςεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come inἔρχομαιI come, go
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakδέbut, on the otheπρός
εἰμίI am, exist
οὗτοςσύἐγώ
the [one]19783×
what comes after →
θεόςGod, a god
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
ἸησοῦςJesus
λέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
ἐγώἸησοῦςJesusArticle the
πατήρfather, Father, ance
ἐγώσύαὐτός

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

Concordance · 19,783× in the New Testament
Matthew Acts Luke John Revelation Mark Romans 1 Corinthians Hebrews 2 Corinthians Ephesians 1 John

40 inflected forms — one of the commonest words in the New Testament. Full distribution →

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 1c. AD 40

Τῶν ἄλλων νομοθετῶν οἱ μὲν ἀκαλλώπιστα καὶ γυμνὰ τὰ νομισθέντα παρ’ αὐτοῖς εἶναι δίκαια διετάξαντο, οἱ δὲ πολὺν ὄγκον τοῖς νοήμασι προσπεριβαλόντες ἐξετύφωσαν τὰ πλήθη μυθικοῖς πλάσμασι τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐπικρύψαντες.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.argc. AD 75–95

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.1c. AD 100

Χαίρετε, υἱοὶ καὶ θυγατέρες, ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντος ἡμᾶς, ἐν εἰρήνῃ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 1st c. AD 3rd c. BC 6th c. AD
P.Stras. 2 89Pathyris100 BC

r βασιλεύοντος Πτολεμαίου τοῦ ἐπικαλουμένου Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Βερενίκης τῆς ἀδελφῆς θεῶν Φιλομητόρων ἔτους ιε, ἐφʼ ἱερέων καὶ ἱερειῶν

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

ιζ Θῶυθ κη ἀπέδοτο Πετεσοῦχος Φίβιος καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ τὸ ὕπαρχον αὐτοῖς ἥμισυ περιστερῶνος τοῦ ὄντος ἐν τῶι ἀπὸ βορρᾶ μέρει Παθύρεως χαλκοῦ Γ. ἐπρίατο Ὧρος Νεχούτου.

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

βασιλευόντων Πτολεμαίου τοῦ ἐπικαλουμένου Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Βερενίκης τῆς ἀδελφῆς θεῶν φιλομητόρων ἔτους ιϛ, ἐφʼ ἱερέων καὶ ἱερειῶν

The [one] speaking in a tongue himself edifies, the [one] however prophesying [the] church edifies.
δὲde however G1161 Conjunction
2,787× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 Corinthians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This is a conjunction that means and, but, or then, used to connect ideas like in Matthew 1:2 and 2 Corinthians 6:15.
Tyndale gloss
then
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

δέ (de) is a post-positive particle in Greek, primarily used as a conjunction to connect clauses. It can express contrast (but, on the other hand) or continuation (and, also), and is often used to transition between ideas or to add emphasis. In the New Testament, it appears frequently in various contexts, such as contrasting statements or resuming interrupted discourse, with notable examples in Matthew and 2 Corinthians.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δέ (before vowels δ’; on the general neglect of the elision in NT, v. WH, App., 146; Tdf., Pr., 96),

post-positive conjunctive particle;

copulative, but, in the next place, and, now (Abbott, JG, 104): Mt 1:2ff., II Co 6:15, 16, II Pe 1:5-7; in repetition for emphasis, Ro 3:21, 22, 9:30, I Co 2:6, Ga 2:2, Phl 2:8; in transition to something new, Mt 1:18 2:19, Lk 13:1, Jo 7:14, Ac 6:1, Read the full entry →

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

δέ (related to δή, as μέν to μήν, ef. Klotz ad Devar. ii. 2 p. 355), a particle adversative, distinctive, disjunctive, but, moreover, (W.§ 53, 7 and 10, 2); it is much more freq. in the historical parts of the N. T. than in the other books, very rare in the Epp. of John and the Apocalypse. {On its general neglect of elision (when the next word begins with a vowel) cf. Tdf. Proleg. p. 96; WH. App. Ῥ 146; W.§5,1a.; B. p.10sq.] It is used ἘΠ ΟἹ δὲ univ. by way of opposition and distinction; it is added to statements opp. to a preceding statement: ἐὰν yap ἀφῆτε... ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀφῆτε, Mt. vi. 14 sq.; ἐὰν de ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς κτλ. Mt. vi. 23; ἐλεύσονται δὲ ἡμέραι, Mk. ii. 20; it opposes persons to persons or things previously mentioned or thought of, —either with strong emphasis: ἐγὼ δέ, Mt. v. 22, 28, 32, 34, 39,44; ἡμεῖς de, 1 Co. i. 23; 2 Co. x. 13; σὺ δέ, Mt. vi. 6; ὑμεῖς δέ, Mk. viii. 29; of δὲ…

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Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

δεῖ. For the conjunctive, as in Mt 26%, cf. P Fay 109° (early i/A.D.) ἐάν σε δῇ (for δέῃ) τὸ εἱμάτιόν σου θεῖναι ἐνέχυρον. “even if you have to pawn your cloak” (Edd.). In P Tebt I. 585° (B.c. 111) we have ἐάν followed by the indicative— ἐὰν δεῖ σε συνπεσεῖν τῶι ᾿Ανικήτωι, σύνπεσαι, ‘if you must meet Anicetus, meet him” (Edd.): cf. Mayser G7. p. 325. Other examples of the verb are l’ Par 461® (B.C. 153) διὸ Kal ἡγούμενος δεῖν ἐπ᾿ ἄλλου μὲν μηθενὸς αὐτῶι διακριθῆναι» P Lille I. 267 (iii.B.c.) περὶ (corr. from πεερὶ) δὲ τούτου τοῦ μέρους δεήσει ἐπισχεῖν, P Tebt 11. 3414 (A.p. 140-1) δεήσι ἐπισταλῆναι εἰς δάνε[ι]α σπέρματα κατασπίο]ρᾶς KTA., “ΕἼ will be necessary to send on account of loans of seedcorn for the sowing,” etc., AécheZ 1001" © (Theran Doric —c. B.C. 200) no one may bring forward a proposal ὡς δεείσῃ διαλῦσαι τὸ κοινὸν εἰ τὰς θυσίας, P Flor II. 133" (A.D. 257) ἔδι μὲν ὑμᾶς μηδὲ…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δέ (de) — then.

δέ,

but: adversative and copulative Particle,

I. answering to μέν (which see), τὴν νῦν μὲν Βοιωτίαν, πρότερον δὲ Καδμηίδα γῆν καλουμένην [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. without preceding μέν,

II.1. adversative, expressing distinct opposition, αἰεί τοι τὰ κάκ᾽ ἐστὶ φίλα.. μαντεύεσθαι, ἐσθλὸν δ᾽ οὔτε τί πω εἶπας[Refs 5th c.BC+]; so in Prose, οὐκ ἐπὶ κακῷ, ἐλευθερώσει δέ.. [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II.2. copulative,

II.2. a in explanatory clauses, ξυνέβησαν.. τὰ μακρὰ τείχη ἑλεῖν (ἦν δὲ σταδίων μάλιστα ὀκτώ) [Refs 8th c.BC+]: when a substantive is followed by words in apposition, Ἀρισταγόρῃ τῷ Μιλησίῳ, δούλῳ δὲ ἡμετέρῳ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; so in answers, διπλᾶ λέγειν. —Answ. διπλᾶδ᾽ ὁρᾶν…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

δέ

de

a primary particle (adversative or continuative); but, and,

etc.:--also, and, but, moreover, now (often unexpressed in English).

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δέ

Cj.

but, on the other hand, and

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δέ de 2x

a conjunctive particle, marking the superaddition of a clause, whether in opposition or in continuation, to what has preceded, and it may be variously rendered but, on the other hand, and, also, now, etc.; καὶ δέ, when there is a special superaddition in continuation, too, yea, etc. It sometimes is found at the commencement of the apodosis of a sentence, Acts 11:17. It serves also to mark the resumption of an interrupted discourse, 2 Cor. 2:10; Gal. 2:6

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

δέ but: conjunctive Particle, with adversative force: it commonly answers to μέν, and may often be rendered by while, whereas, on the other hand, v. μέν:— but μέν is often omitted, δέ being used merely to pass on from one thing to another; ὣς Ἀχιλεὺς θάμβησεν, θάμβησαν δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι Il.; etc.; κινεῖ κραδίην κινεῖ δὲ χόλον Eur.

δέ is often redundant,

to introduce the apodosis, where it may be rendered by then, yet, εἰ δέ κε μὴ δώωσιν, ἐγὼ δέ κεν αὐτὸς ἕλωμαι if they will not give it, then I will take it, Il.; so at in Lat., si tu oblitus es, at Dii meminerint Catull.

to resume after interruption caused by a parenthesis, where it may be rendered by I say, now, so then, Hdt.

POSITION of δέ: properly second, being often put between the Art. and Subst., the prep. and case.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Conj — Conjunction
conjunction — it joins clauses, and never changes form.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
33%now
now33% · 974×however27% · 780×then21% · 620×and12% · 360×but5% · 154×other renderings2% · 49×

2,937 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 15 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 2,787 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existσύ
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςκύριοςlord, Lord, mastπεντακισχίλιοιfive thousand
εἰCond
παλαιόςold, ancient, woσύεἰμίI am, exist
εἰμίI am, exist
περιπατέωI walk, conduct ἀναπίπτωI lie down, reclμνημεῖονa tomb, sepulche
οὗτος
δίδωμιI offer, giveθεόςGod, a godπίστιςfaith, belief, t
δέhowever2787×
what comes after →
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusθεόςGod, a godκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
αὐτός
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐπί
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςArticle theσύ
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theοὗτοςἸωάννηςJohn
τὶς
Article theαὐτόςὄνομαname, character,

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

Concordanceδέ · 2,787× in the New Testament
Acts Luke Matthew 1 Corinthians John Mark Romans 2 Corinthians Hebrews Galatians James 1 Timothy

2 inflected forms — one of the commonest words in the New Testament. Full distribution →

Across the New Testament26 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The [one] speaking in a tongue himself edifies, the [one] however prophesying [the] church edifies.
προφητεύωνprophēteuō prophesying G4395 Verb · present · active · participle · nominative · singular · masculine
28× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To prophesy means to speak under inspiration from God, as seen in Matthew 7:22 and Mark 14:65. It involves telling forth God's counsels or foretelling events.
Amplified meaning
speaks under God's inspiration, tells forth God's message
Tyndale gloss
to prophesy
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

προφητεύω (propheteuo) means to prophesy or foretell events, primarily conveying divine messages rather than merely predicting the future. It is derived from προφήτης and is used in the New Testament to describe speaking under divine inspiration, as seen in verses like Matthew 11:13 and Acts 19:6. The lexicons note that its primary function is to declare God's counsel, while the aspect of foretelling is considered incidental.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — προφητεύω, μαντεύομαι from a scan

Προφητεύω is a word of constant occurrence in the N. T.; μαντεύομαι occurs but once, namely at Acts xvi. 16; where, of the girl possessed with the “spirit of divination,” or “ spirit of Apollo,” it is said that she “ brought her masters much gain by soothsaying ” (μαντευομένη). Theabstinence from the use of this word on all other occasions, and the use of it on this one, is very observable, furnishing a notable example of that religious instinct wherewith the inspired writers abstain from words, whose employment would tend to break down the distinction between heathenism and revealed religion. Thus εὐδαιμονία, although from a heathen point of view a religious word, for it ascribes happiness to the favour of some deity, is yet never employed to express Christian blessedness ; nor could it fitly c2 22 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. ὃ νι. have been thus employed, δαίμων, which supplies its…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

προφητεύω

(< προφήτης),

[in LXX chiefly for נבא ni., hith.;]

to be a προφήτης (q.v.), to prophesy: in the primary sense of telling forth the Divine counsels, Mt 7:22 26:68, Mk 14:65, Lk 1:67 22:64, Ac 19:6, I Co 11:4, 5 13:9 14:1, 3-5, 24, 31, 39, Re 11:3; with the idea of foretelling future events (an idea merely incidental, not essential; v. Lft., Notes, 83 f.), Mt 11:13, Ac 2:17, 18(LXX) 21:9; seq. περί,

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Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

προφητεύω ; fut. προφητεύσω ; impf. mpoepnrevov (Acts xix. 6 RG) and ἐπροφήτευον (ibid. LT Tr WH; [1 K. xxii. 12]; Jer. [ii. 8]; xxiii. 21; xxv. 13); 1 aor. προεφήτευσα (RG in Mt. vii. 22; xi.13; xv.7; Mk. vii. 6; Lk. 1. 67; [Jn. xi. 51; Jude 147) and ἐπροφήτευσα (which form cod. Sin. gives everywh., and T Tr WH have everywh. restored, and Lchm. also with the single exception of Jude 14; add, Sir. xlviii. 13; 1 Esdr. vi. 1; Jer. xxxiii. (xxvi.) 9, 11, 20; xxxv. (xxviil.) 8; xxxvi. (xxix.) 31; the Alexandrian translators more com. use the forms προεφήτευον, προεφήτευσα, pf. ptcp. προπεφητευκώς, Eus. h. 6. 5, 17; pf. pass. int. προπεφητεῦσθαι, Clem. Alex. strom. p. 603; on the forms used by Justin M. see Otto’s prolegg. to his works, I. i. p. xxv. ed. 3; ef. [WH. App. Ῥ- 162; Veitch 8. v.]; W. § 12,5; [B. 35 (30sq.)]; ef. Fritzsche on Mk. p. 268; [Soph. Lex. s. v.]); (προφήτης, 4: v-)…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

προφητεύω (prophēteuō) — to prophesy.

προφητ-εύω,

Doric dialect προφᾱτ- [Refs 5th c.BC+] —in imperfect and aorist 1 the augment is sometimes placed after the preposition, προ-εφήτευον, -εφήτευσα[LXX+NT]:— to be a προφήτης or interpreter of the gods, μαντεύεο, Μοῖσα, προφατεύσω δ᾽ ἐγώ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τίς προφητεύει θεο; who is his interpreter? [Refs 5th c.BC+]; οὐκ ἔστιν ὅστις σοι προφητεύσει τάδε will be thy intermediary in asking this, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἡ μανία.. προφητεύσασα with oracular power, [Refs 5th c.BC+] —passive, τὰ προφητευθέντα [Refs 8th c.BC+]

II. expound, interpret, preach, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, [NT+4th c.AD+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

προφητεύω

propheteuo

from 4396; to foretell events, divine, speak under inspiration,

exercise the prophetic office:--prophesy.

see GREEK for 4396

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

προφητεύω

v.

I foretell, prophesy

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

προφητεύω prophēteuō 28x

to exercise the function of a προφήτης; to prophesy, to foretell the future, Mt. 11:13; to divine, Mt. 26:68; Mk. 14:65; Lk. 22:64; to prophesy, to set forth matter of divine teaching by special faculty, 1 Cor. 13:9; 14:1

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

προφητεύω doric προφα_τεύω fut. -εύσω aor1 ἐπροφήτευσα to be an interpreter of the gods, μαντεύεο, Μοῖσα, προφατεύσω δ᾽ ἐγώ Pind.; τίς προφητεύει θεοῦ who is his interpreter? Eur.; ὅστις σοι προφητεύσει τάδε who will give thee this oracular advice, id. Eur.

in NTest. to expound scripture, to speak and preach under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAP-NSM — Verb · present · active · participle · nominative · singular · masculine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAP-NSM Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: Participle Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
25%prophesying
prophesying25% · 7×prophesied14% · 4×prophesy11% · 3×do prophesy11% · 3×they will prophesy7% · 2×you may prophesy7% · 2×he prophesied7% · 2×will prophesy4% · 1×other renderings14% · 4×

28 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 12 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
verb93%subject4%object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 28 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
ἐγώἅγιοςset apart, holy,σάρξflesh, body
καλῶςwell, nobly, rightly
ὑποκριτήςa hypocrite, disαὐτός
λέγωI say, speak
ἐπερωτάωI interrogate, q
Disj
προσεύχομαιI pray, pray for
ἵναin order that, so th
δέbut, on the othe
προφητεύωprophesying28×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
Article the
περί
σύ
ἐγώ
Χριστόςanointed, the Me
ἨσαΐαςIsaiah
περί
λέγωI say, speak

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

Concordanceπροφητεύω · 28× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians Acts Matthew Luke Mark Revelation 1 Peter John Jude
Across the New Testament9 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 78 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Epistle of Barnabas The Shepherd of Hermas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Migration of Abraham 114c. AD 40

τοῖς γὰρ πολεμίοις φησὶν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ μισθῷ συνταχθέντα μάντιν γενέσθαι κακὸν κακῶν, ἀρὰς μὲν ἐν ψυχῇ θέμενον χαλεπωτάτας γένει τῷ θεοφιλεῖ, εὐχὰς δὲ ἀναγκασθέντα διὰ στόματος καὶ γλώττης ὑπερφυεστάτας προφητεῦσαι·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 6.115c. AD 75–95

ἀκούσας δὲ τὸν υἱὸν καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ τὸν ὁπλοφόρον ἀπεῖναι κελεύει τὸν ἀρχιερέα λαβόντα τὴν ἀρχιερατικὴν στολὴν προφητεύειν αὐτῷ περὶ τῶν μελλόντων.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 5.6c. AD 100

οἱ προφῆται, ἀπ̓ αὐτοῦ ἔχοντες τὴν χάριν, εἰς αὐτὸν ἐπροφήτευσαν: αὐτὸς δέ, ἵνα καταργήσῃ τὸν θάνατον καὶ τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν δείξῃ, ὅτι ὲν σαρκὶ ἕδει αὐτὸν φανερωθῆναι, ὑπέμεινεν,

The [one] speaking in a tongue himself edifies, the [one] however prophesying [the] church edifies.
ἐκκλησίανekklēsia [the] church G1577 Noun · accusative · singular · feminine
114× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
An assembly refers to a group of people gathered together for a common purpose, like a church or community, as seen in Acts 19:32 and Hebrews 2:12. This term is used to describe both Jewish and Christian communities.
Amplified meaning
the assembly, the community of believers
Tyndale gloss
assembly
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἐκκλησία (i.e., *ekklesia*) means an assembly or congregation, originally referring to a gathering of citizens called for public affairs. In the New Testament, it primarily denotes the Christian church, encompassing both local congregations and the broader body of believers. It is also used in the Septuagint for the assembly of Israel. The term reflects a progression from civic assembly to a spiritual community.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — Ἔκκλησία, συναγωγή, πανήγυρις from a scan

THERE are words whose history it is peculiarly interesting to watch, as they obtain a deeper meaning, and receive a new consecration in the Christian Church; words which the Church did not invent, but has assumed into its service, and employed in a far loftier sense than any to which the world has ever put them before. The very word by which the Church is named is itself an example—a more illustrious one could scarcely be found—of this progressive ennobling of a word.' For we have ἐκκλησία in three distinct stages of meaning—the heathen, the Jewish, and the Christian. In respect of the first, ἡ ἐκκλησία (ΞΞἔκκλητοι, Euripides, Orestes, ‘ Zezschwitz, in his very interesting Lecture, Profangrdcitét und Biblischer Sprachgeist, Leipzig, 1859, p. 5, has said excellently well, ‘ Das Christenthum wiire nicht als was es siegend iiber Griechenthum und Romerthum sich ausgewiesen, hitte es zu…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐκκλησία, -ας, ἡ

(< ἐκ-καλέω),

[in LXX chiefly for קָהָל, otherwise for one of its cogn. forms ;]

prop., an assembly of citizens regularly convened (in Thuc., ii, 22, opp. to σύλλογος, a concourse): Ac 19:32, 39, 41.

In LXX of the assembly, congregation, community of Israel (De 4:10 23:2, al.): Ac 7:38, He 2:12 (LXX).

NT, esp. of an assembly or company of Christians, a (the) church;

of gatherings for worship: I Co 11:18 14:19, 34, 35;

of local communities: Ac 8:3, I Co 4:17; with name…

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Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

ἐκκλησία, -as, 7, (fr. ἔκκλητος called out or forth, and this fr. ἐκκαλέω) ; prop. a gathering of citizens called out

Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

ἐκκλησία. For the Biblical history of the word ἐκκλησία, which meant originally any public assembly of citizens summoned by a herald, it is sufficient to refer to Hort, Zhe Christian Ecclesia, p. τ ff. It is the LXX term fer the community of Israel, whether assembled or no. In the Gospels the word is confined to Mt 1618, 1817, where it denotes Christ's new ἐκκλησία, as distinguished from the old. Deissmann (ZAZ p. 112 ff.) has emphasized the significance of the fact that the Latin-speaking people of the West, to whom Christianity came, did not translate the word, but simply borrowed it, and cites an interesting bilingual inscr. of A.D. 103-4, found in the theatre of Ephesus, which refers to the gift by a Roman official of a silver image of Artemis (cf. Ac 19*4) and other statues—tva τίθηνται kat’ ἐκκλησίαν (cf. Ac 14%) ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ ἐπὶ τῶν βάσεων, or, in the parallel text, z/a wt…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia) — assembly.

ἐκκλησί-α, ἡ,

(ἔκκλητος) assembly duly summoned, less general than σύλλογος, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; applied to the Homeric Assemblies, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; to the Samian Assembly, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; to the Spartan, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; to the meeting of the Amphictyons at Delphi, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; at Athens, ἐ. κύριαι, opposed to σύγκλητοι, Arist.[Refs 2nd c.AD+]; κυρία ἐ., at Amorgos, [Refs]; ἐ. συναγείρειν, συνάγειν, συλλέγειν, ἀθροίζειν, call an assembly, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐ. γίγνεται an assembly is held, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐ. διαλύειν, ἀναστῆσαι, dissolve it, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐ. ἀνεβλήθη was adjourned, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐκκλησία

ekklesia

from a compound of 1537 and a derivative of 2564; a calling out, i.e.

(concretely) a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation

(Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or

saints in heaven or both):--assembly, church.

see GREEK for 1537

see GREEK for 2564

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐκκλησία, ας, ἡ

n.f.

an assembly, congregation, church

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐκκλησία ekklēsia 114x

a popular assembly, Acts 19:32, 39, 41; in NT the congregation of the children of Israel, Acts 7:38; transferred to the Christian body, of which the congregation of Israel was a figure, the Church, 1 Cor. 12:28; Col. 1:18; a local portion of the Church, a local church, Rom. 16:1; a Christian congregation, 1 Cor. 14:4

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐκκλησία ἐκκλησία, ἡ, ἔκκλητος an assembly of the citizens regularly summoned, the legislative assembly, Thuc., etc.:—at Athens, the ordinary Assemblies were called κύριαι, the extraordinary being σύγκλητοι, ap. Dem.; ἐκκλ. συναγείρειν, συνάγειν, συλλέγειν, ἀθροίζειν to call an assembly, Hdt., etc.; ἐκκλ. ποιεῖν "to make a house, " Ar.; ἐκκλ. γίγνεται, καθίσταται an assembly is held, Thuc.; ἐκκλ. διαλύειν, ἀναστῆσαι to dissolve it, id. Thuc., etc.; ἀναβάλλειν to adjourn it, id. Thuc.

in NTest. the Church, either the body, or the place.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-ASF — Noun · accusative · singular · feminine
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-ASF Part of Speech: Noun Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

church:

I. PRE-CHRISTIAN HISTORY OF THE TERM

II. ITS ADOPTION BY JESUS

III. ITS USE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

1. In the Gospels

2. In Acts

3. In the Pauline Epistles

IV. THE NOTES OF THE CHURCH

1. Faith

2. Fellowship

3. Unity

4. Consecration

5. Power

V. ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH

1. The General and Prophetic Ministry

2. The Local and Practical Ministry

LITERATURE

The word "church," which is derived from kuriakos, "of or belonging to the Lord," represents in the English Versions of the Bible of the New Testament the Greek word ekklesia; Latin, ecclesia. It is with the signification of this word ekklesia as it meets us in the New Testament, and with the nature of the society which the word is there used to describe, that the present article is concerned.

I. Pre-Christian History of the Term.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Church

Derived probably from the Greek kuriakon (i.e., “the Lord’s house”), which was used by ancient authors for the place of worship.

In the New Testament it is the translation of the Greek word ecclesia, which is synonymous with the Hebrew kahal of the Old Testament, both words meaning simply an assembly, the character of which can only be known from the connection in which the word is found. There is no clear instance of its being used for a place of meeting or of worship, although in post-apostolic times it early received this meaning. Nor is this word ever used to denote the inhabitants of a country united in the same profession, as when we say the “Church of England,” the “Church of Scotland,” etc.

We find the word ecclesia used in the following senses in the New Testament: (1.) It is translated “assembly” in the ordinary classical sense (

The Greek word translated church signifies generally an assembly, either common or religious; and it is sometimes so translated, as in Ac 19:32,39. In the New Testament it usually means a congregation of religious worshippers, either Jewish, as Ac 7:38, or Christians, as Mt 16:18 1Co 6:4. The latter sense is the more common one; and it is thus used in a twofold manner, denoting,

1. The universal Christian church: either the invisible church, consisting of those whose names are written in heaven, whom God knows, but whom we cannot infallibly know, Heb 12:23; or the visible church, made up of the professed followers of…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
65%church
church65% · 75×churches30% · 35×assembly3% · 3×other renderings2% · 2×

115 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 4 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial35%indirect object23%object20%subject12%predicate10%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 114 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
ἐνλέγωI say, speakπᾶςall, the whole,
ἐν
σύἀλλάbut, exceptσιγάωI keep silent
ἑπτάIndec
Article theἑπτάIndec
αὐτός
οἶκοςa house, househo
οὖνtherefore, then
μένDisj
ἐκκλησία[the] church114×
what comes after →
Article the
θεόςGod, a godἐννικάωI conquer, overc
καίand, even, also, nam
πύληa door, gateἐπίδιδάσκωI teach
γράφωI write
ὅδε
κατά
Article theὅλοςall, the whole, δικαιοσύνηjustice, justnes
ἀσπάζομαιI greet, salute, pay
ἘπαίνετοςEpaenetusσύ

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

Concordanceἐκκλησία · 114× in the New Testament
Acts 1 Corinthians Revelation 2 Corinthians Ephesians Romans Colossians 1 Timothy 3 John Galatians Matthew 1 Thessalonians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament17 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 43 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Ignatius of Antioch Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 3.8c. AD 40

5, 2), καὶ τοὺς θλαδίας καὶ ἀποκεκομμένους τὰ γεννητικὰ τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ πόρνους τὴν ἑνὸς ἀρχὴν ἀποδιδράσκοντας, οἷς ἄντικρυς ἀπείρηται εἰς ἐκκλησίαν θεοῦ φοιτᾶν (Deut.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 3.84c. AD 75–95

ἐπὶ τούτοις οὖν συγκαλεῖ τὸ πλῆθος εἰς ἐκκλησίαν ἀκουσόμενον ὧν ὁ θεὸς εἴποι πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ συναθροισθέντων στὰς ἐπὶ ὑψηλοῦ τινος, ὅθεν ἔμελλον πάντες ἀκούσεσθαι, ὁ μὲν θεός, εἶπεν, ὦ Ἑβραῖοι, καθάπερ καὶ πρότερον εὐμενὴς προσεδέξατό με καὶ βίον τε…

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 6.16c. AD 100

λέγει: Ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ ἀδελφῶν μου, καὶ ψαλῶ σοι ἀνάμεσον ἐκκλησίας ἁγίων.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 7th c. AD 5th c. AD 4th c. AD 8th c. AD
P.Lond. 2 p. 279-280 no. 412Berenikis Aigialu (Arsinoites)AD 351

ἀξιῶ, πραιπόσιτε κύριε, ἀπραγμόνως ἃ ἀφήρπασέν μου παρασχεθῆναί μοι· διάκων γὰρ τετύχηκα τῆς καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας. καὶ τούτου τυχὼν εἰσαεί σοι εὐχαριστήσω. διευτύχει. μετὰ τὴν ὑπατείαν Φλαουίων Σεργίου καὶ Νειγρεινιανοῦ

P.Prag. 1 33ArsinoitesAD 391–AD 392

διάκονος καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀπὸ κώμης … Νικήτῃ Σαρμάτου ἐπιμελητῇ κάστρου τῆς … ἐπὶ τῆς παρελθούσης τετάρτης ἰνδικτίονος

P.Oxy. 72 4901OxyrhynchitesAD 408

τῇ θειοτάτῃ οἰκίᾳ διὰ Μαρίνου προνοητοῦ Αὐρήλιος Παμοῦν Μούιτος ἀπὸ ἐποικίου Κινήας διάκονος καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας χαίρειν. ὁμολογῶ ἐσχηκέναι παρὰ σοῦ ἀπὸ λόγου τῆς συμπεφωνημένης πρὸς ἀλλήλους τιμῆς οἴνου διπλῶν

The [one] speaking in a tongue himself edifies, the [one] however prophesying [the] church edifies.
οἰκοδομεῖ.¶oikodomeō edifies. G3618 Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · singular
41× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To build or construct something, like a house, is the meaning of this word. In Luke 11:48 and 1 Peter 2:7, it refers to building or confirming something, whether physical or spiritual.
Amplified meaning
constructs, builds up
Tyndale gloss
to build
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word οἰκοδομέω (i.e., *oikodomeō*) means 'to build' and is derived from the noun for 'builder.' It encompasses both literal construction, such as building houses or cities, and metaphorical senses, like building up Christian character or faith. The New Testament uses it in contexts like building the church (Matthew 16:18) and edifying others (1 Corinthians 14:4).

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

οἰκοδομέω, -ῶ

(< οἰκοδόμος),

[in LXX chiefly for בּנה;]

to build a house, to build: absol., Lk 11:48 14:30 17:28; οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, the builders (as Ps 117 (118):22, הַבּוֹנִים), Mt 21:42, Mk 12:10, Lk 20:17, I Pe 2:7(LXX); ἐπ’ ἀλλότριον θεμέλιον οἰ., proverb., Ro 15:20; c. acc. rei, Ga 2:18; πύργον, Mt 21:33, Mk 12:1, Lk 14:28; ἀποθήκας,

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Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

οἰκοδομέω, τῶ: impf. ὠκοδόμουν ; fut. οἰκοδομήσω ; 1 aor. φκοδόμησα [οἷκ. Tr WH in Acts vii. 47; see Tdf. ad loc. ; Proleg. p. 120; WH. App. p. 161; Lob. ad Phryn. p. 153; W. § 12, 4; B. 34 (30)]; Pass., [pres. οἰκοδομοῦμαι (inf. -μεῖσθαι, Lk. vi. 48 Treg.); pf. inf. οἰκοδομῆσθαι (Lk. vi. 48 T WH)]; plupf. 3 pers. sing. ὠκοδόμητο ; 1 aor. dxodoμήθην [οἰκ. T WH in Jn. ii. 20]; 1 fut. οἰκοδομηθήσομαι ; (οἰκοδόμος, q- ν.) ; fr. Hdt. down; Sept. for 733; to build a house, erect a building; a. prop. a. to build (up from the foundation): absol., Lk. xi.48 GT WH Trtxt.; xiv. 30; xvii. 28; of οἰκοδομοῦντες, subst., the builders [οἵ. W. § 45,7; Β. § 144, 11]. Mt. xxi.42; Mk. xii. 10; Lk. xx. 17; Acts iv. 11 Rec.; 1 Pet. ii. 7, fr. Ps. exvii. (exviii-) 22; ἐπ᾿ ἀλλότριον θεμέλιον, to build upon a foundation laid by others, i. 6. (without a fig.) to carry on instruction begun by others, Ro: xv. 20…

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Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

οἴκοδομέω in the literal sense of ‘“‘build” is seen in such passages as—P Magd 27% (B.c. 218) θεμέλιον σκάπτων ὥστε οἰκοSopetv, P Ryl II. 2483 (B.c. 162) τῆς ἐν αὐτῆι οἰκίας ὠικοδομημένης, P Grenf IT. 35° (B.c. 98) παστοφόριον (cf. Jerem 42! al.) ὠκοδομημένον καὶ δεδοκωμένην, ‘a priest’s chamber built and furnished with beams,” P Ryl II. 13338 (A.D. 33) ἔμβλημ(α) οἰκοδομημένον pera δαπάνης οὐκ ὀλίγων κεφαλαίων ἀργυρικῶν, ““4 dam (Ὁ) built at the expense of no small sums of money” (Edd.), and the interesting P Giss I. 201° (beg. ii/A.D.) (= Chrest. I. p. 224) with its reference to a private shrine, built in honour of the Dioscuri—wkoSepnrar αὐτῶν ὁ τόπος. See also Logion 7 (= P Oxy I. 11°) λέγει *Incots, πόλις ὠκοδομημένη ἐπ᾽ ἄκρον [d]pous ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐστηριγμένη οὔτε πείσ]εῖν δύναται οὔτε κρυ[β]ῆναι. the augment see Moulton 677. ii. p. 191. The metaphorical use of the verb, with which…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

οἰκοδομέω (oikodomeō) — to build.

οἰκοδομ-έω,

future -ήσω: aorist ᾠκοδόμησα (not οἰκ- in Attic dialect): perfect ᾠκοδόμηκα [Refs 5th c.BC+]: but later Attic dialect perfect passive οἰκοδομημένοι [Refs]:—build a house: generally, build, νεὼν καὶ βωμόν [Refs]; νηόν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; γέφυραν[Refs 5th c.BC+] —also in middle, οἰκοδομέεσθαι οἴκημα build oneself a house, have it built, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: —passive, to be built, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὰ -ούμενα[Refs 4th c.BC+]

__b generally, fashion, καταπέτασμα [LXX]

2. metaphorically, build or found upon, ἔργα ἐπί τι [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. metaphorically, build up, edify, [NT]; οἰ. εἰς τὸν ἕνα [NT] will be emboldened, [NT]; compare ἀνοικοδομέω.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

οἰκοδομέω

v.

I build, build up, edify

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

οἰκοδομέω οἰκοδόμος to build a house: generally, to build, οἰκίαν, γέφυραν, τεῖχος Hdt.:—Mid., οἰκοδομεῖσθαι οἴκημα to build oneself a house, have it built, id. Hdt.:—Pass. to be built, id. Hdt.

metaph. to build or found upon, ἔργα ἐπί τι Xen.; οἰκ. τέχνην ἔπεσιν Ar.

metaph., also, to build up, edify, NTest.:—Pass., οἰκοδομηθήσεται εἰς τὸ ἐσθίειν will be emboldened to eat, id. Ar.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAI-3S — Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · singular
present active indicative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAI-3S Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: third Number: Singular

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
18%building
building18% · 7×built15% · 6×build10% · 4×edifies5% · 2×i will build5% · 2×you build5% · 2×will you build3% · 1×being edified3% · 1×other renderings38% · 15×

40 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 23 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
verb93%adverbial5%object2%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 41 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
ἀποδοκιμάζωI reject after tσύ
καίand, even, also, nam
ληνόςa winepressὑπολήνιονa pit under the ναόςa temple, shrine
ὅστις
φρόνιμοςintelligent, pruμωρόςstupid, foolish
ὅτιthat, since, because
ὑποκριτήςa hypocrite, disσύ
ἡμέραa day
τρεῖςthree
οἰκοδομέωedifies.41×
what comes after →
αὐτός
Article theὥστεso that, therefoοἶκοςa house, househo
Article the
τάφοςa tomb, burial-pμνημεῖονa tomb, sepulcheναόςa temple, shrine
οὗτος
γίνομαιI come into bein
καίand, even, also, nam
συνάγωI gather togetheοὐNegπορεύομαιI travel, journe
ἐγώ
Article theλέγωI say, speak

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

Concordanceοἰκοδομέω · 41× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew 1 Corinthians Acts Mark 1 Peter 1 Thessalonians Galatians John Romans
Across the New Testament10 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 176 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.48c. AD 40

ὅτι πρέπει τῷ θεῷ φυτεύειν καὶ οἰκοδομεῖν ἐν ψυχῇ τὰς ἀρετάς.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.115c. AD 75–95

Τὸ δὲ πλῆθος πρόθυμον ἦν τοῖς Ναβρώδου ἕπεσθαι δόγμασι δουλείαν ἡγούμενοι τὸ εἴκειν τῷ θεῷ, καὶ τὸν πύργον ᾠκοδόμουν οὐδὲν ἀπολείποντες σπουδῆς οὐδὲ πρὸς τὸ ἔργον ὀκνηρῶς ἔχοντες·

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 6.4c. AD 100

λέγει δὲ πάλιν ὁ προφήτης: Λίθον ὃν ἀπεδοκίμασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, οὗτος ἐγενήθη εἰς κεφαλὴν γωνίας.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 2nd c. AD 3rd c. BC 7th c. AD 4th c. AD
P.Tebt. 2 488 descr.Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 121–AD 122

ϛ Ἁδριανοῦ Καίσαρος τοῦ κυρίου. Ναωμσᾶτι Ταπιεσιῆς Ὥρου Ἰούλιος Κυαδρᾶτος· ἠξίου πρὸ πόσου χρόνου οἰκοδομῆσαι; Ἱέραξ· πρὸ τριετίας. Ἰούλιος Κυαδρᾶτος χιλίαρχος· ἔδει σε τότε κεκωλυκέναι ὅτε ᾠκοδόμει, ἐπὶ δὲ

P.Mil.Vogl. 3 188Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 125

Π … εσιω τιμῆς οἴνου κεραμίων ν δραχμαὶ σ ἐπισκευῆς θυρίδων ὀβολοὶ ϛ ζύτου οἰκοδόμῳ ὀβολοὶ δ ἄρτοι β ὀβολοὶ β λαχανίων καὶ βαλανείου ὀβολὸς α ι τυμπανιστῇ ὀβολοὶ

P.Tebt. 2 402Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 172

Σαραπίωνος γενομένου ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων. ἔστι δέ· Ἐπεὶφ κϛ, μετεβλήθη ἀπὸ τοῦ πλινθουργίου καὶ οἰκοδομήθη πλίνθου Βσ. κθ, μετηνέχθη καὶ οἰκοδομήθη πλίνθου Βσ. Μεσορὴ α, μετηνέχθη καὶ οἰκοδομήθη πλίνθου

Sources on this page. Lexicons and dictionaries imported from the CrossWire SWORD modules — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, Dodson, the Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones, Robinson and Packard, Webster and Cawdrey. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Harper, 1889 — Grimm’s Wilke’s Clavis Novi Testamenti, translated, revised and enlarged by Joseph Henry Thayer) is public domain and is set here from the Internet Archive page scan greekenglishlex00grim; it is uncorrected OCR, marked as such on the entry itself, and the Strong’s numbers — which Thayer’s own edition does not carry — were matched by lemma against the other modules on this page. Trench’s Synonyms of the New Testament (Macmillan, 1880) and Moulton and Milligan’s Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (Hodder & Stoughton, 1930, which entered the United States public domain on 1 January 2026) are set from Internet Archive page scans synonymsofnewtes00treniala and vocabularyofgree00mouluoft, and are likewise uncorrected OCR matched to Strong’s numbers by lemma. Trench treats a group of words at once, so the same essay stands on the page of each word it compares. The Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary is © 1993 and is used here by permission for non-commercial use, www.teknia.com/greek-dictionary. The full Liddell-Scott-Jones and the Hebrew word data (TAHOT) come from STEPBible.org, CC BY 4.0. Brown-Driver-Briggs is the OpenScriptures digitisation, public domain. Syntax analysis is the Nestle 1904 Lowfat treebank (biblicalhumanities.org); the concordance and morphology are built from the tagged Nestle 1904 text. Septuagint occurrences use the Open Scriptures Septuagint lemma index, derived from CCAT (University of Pennsylvania) and the Rahlfs 1935 dataset by Eliran Wong, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — used here on a non-commercial ministry site. Greek of Josephus and Barnabas from the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0. Commentaries and the Ante-Nicene Fathers are public-domain texts hosted on this site. Everyday Greek from the Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri, CC BY 3.0, with dates and provenance from the Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis. Philo and the Apostolic Fathers from Open Greek and Latin (First1KGreek), CC BY-SA 4.0. The apparatus and the fifth Greek column are the SBL Greek New Testament, © 2010 SBL and Logos Bible Software, CC BY 4.0. The Latin is the Clementine Vulgate (public domain); the Syriac New Testament is the ETCBC edition (MIT licence). The Hebrew behind the Greek is computed here from the Septuagint index and TAHOT, not taken from any aligned edition. The translation spread and the per-word edition marks come from the Translators Amalgamated Greek NT (STEPBible, CC BY 4.0); clause roles from the Nestle 1904 Lowfat treebank (CC BY-SA 4.0); place identifications and their confidence from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding (CC BY 4.0), with map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Gospel parallels are computed here from shared uncommon vocabulary, not taken from any printed harmony. Cross references are the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and the subject headings are Nave’s Topical Bible, both public domain. Works under Creative Commons licences are used unchanged apart from markup removal.

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