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2 Timothy 4:7 — Word Study

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N1904τὸν καλὸν τὸν ἀγῶνα ἠγώνισμαι, τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα, τὴν πίστιν τετήρηκα·

BSATheho goodkalos [fair, beautiful] <the> fight I have fought,agōnizomai [striven, contended with] theho racedromos [course, career] I have finished,teleō [completed, executed] theho faithpistis [trust, confidence in God] I have kept;tēreō [observed, watched over]

Word
Listen & take away2 Timothy 4
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 7 is in this chapter.
Say the word Each Greek word carries its transliteration (tēreō) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
2 Timothy 4:7quick helps
In a sentencePaul reflects on his life, declaring he has fought, finished, and kept.
Who is speakingPaul, writing to Timothy, summing up his ministry.
Where we arePaul's farewell address — a final testament to his faithfulness.
The hard wordἀγῶνα
Take awayThe journey of faith is a contest, and Paul has completed his.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause verbἀγωνίζομαι 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 — 2 Timothy 4:7

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 — Paul's Final Charge to Timothygenerated

6For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8From now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but to all who crave His appearing.
9Make every effort to come to me quickly,

2 Timothy 4:7 captures Paul’s reflections as he nears the end of his life. He emphasizes the struggles he has faced, the race he has run, and the faith he has upheld. This passage serves as a powerful conclusion to his letters, encouraging Timothy to remain steadfast in his own ministry. Paul’s words echo the sentiments found in other letters, such as 1 Corinthians 9:24, where he likens the Christian life to a race.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
11 Timothy 6:12Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession before many witnesses.
2John 4:34Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.
3Acts 13:25As John was completing his course, he said, ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not that One. But He is coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’
4Acts 20:24But I consider my life of no value to me, if only I may finish my course and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus—the ministry of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
51 Corinthians 9:24–27Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 14 references, hung on the phrase they belong to

have thought1 Timothy 6:12

The Key Word ἀγῶνα, agōnagenerated

The word ἀγῶνα is derived from ἄγω and denotes a struggle or contest. In this context, it refers to the challenges faced in the Christian life, akin to an athletic competition.

Paul uses this term to convey the intensity of his efforts in serving God, highlighting the perseverance required in faith. It reflects the broader biblical theme of endurance in the face of trials, as seen in passages like Philippians 1:30.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The verse is rendered in the Berean Standard Bible as: 'I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.' This wording is closely matched by the ASV and KJV, which also emphasize the 'good fight' and 'race'.

Where translations diverge is primarily in the rendering of specific terms. For instance, δρόμον is translated as 'course' in the KJV and 'race' in the BSB. Similarly, ἠγώνισμαι is rendered as 'I have fought' in most versions, while YLT opts for 'striven'.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The structure of the verse is composed of three main clauses, each with a finite verb: ἠγώνισμαι (I have fought), τετέλεκα (I have finished), and τετήρηκα (I have kept). Each clause expresses a completed action in Paul's life.

The verbs are followed by their respective objects: 'the good fight', 'the race', and 'the faith', creating a rhythm that emphasizes Paul's achievements and commitment.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

The word καλὸν (kalos), meaning 'good', appears in the Septuagint 131 times and is often used to translate the Hebrew word טוֹב (tov), which carries the connotation of being pleasant or agreeable. This choice emphasizes the quality of the fight Paul refers to as not just any struggle, but one that is commendable and virtuous.

The term πίστιν (pistis), meaning 'faith', is used 24 times in the LXX, commonly translating the Hebrew אֱמוּנָה (emunah), which denotes firmness and steadfastness. This connection highlights the reliability and loyalty that Paul maintains in his spiritual journey.

Additionally, the word τετήρηκα· (tēreō), meaning 'I have kept', aligns with the Hebrew שָׁמַר (shamar), which means to keep or preserve. This choice underscores Paul's commitment to guarding his faith throughout his life.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

2 Timothy 4:7 summarizes Paul's life as he states that he has fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith. This verse encapsulates his dedication to God and the struggles he has faced in his ministry.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does Paul mean by 'the good fight'?

Paul refers to the struggles and challenges he faced in his ministry and faith, likening them to a contest that requires effort and perseverance.

How does this verse reflect Paul's life?

This verse serves as a testament to Paul's dedication to his calling and the completion of his mission, emphasizing his faithfulness to God.

What is the significance of 'I have finished the race'?

Finishing the race signifies completing the journey of faith and fulfilling God's purpose in his life, much like an athlete completing a race.

Why is it important that Paul kept the faith?

Keeping the faith highlights Paul's unwavering trust in God throughout his life, serving as an encouragement for others to remain steadfast in their own faith.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. What struggles have I faced in my own faith journey that require perseverance?
  2. How can I ensure that I am running my race well, as Paul describes?
  3. In what ways can I support others in their spiritual fights and journeys?
  4. What does it mean for me to keep the faith in my daily life?

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

Early Church Fathers have commented on this verse, reflecting on Paul's life and the nature of his struggles.

Basil of CaesareaHOMILIES 22 c. 330–379
“Turn, O my soul, into your rest: for the Lord has been bountiful to you.” The brave contestant applies to himself the consoling words, very much like to Paul, when he says: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course,
Early Church Fathers on 2 Timothy 4 →
Ambrose of MilanOn the Duties of the Clergy 1.15.58 c. 339–397
For in a contest there is much labor needed. After the contest victory falls to some, to others disgrace. Is the palm ever given or the crown granted before the course is finished? Paul writes well when he says,
Early Church Fathers on 2 Timothy 4 →
JeromeAgainst the Pelagians 1.16 c. 347–420
For I am of the opinion that no creature can be perfect according to true and consummate justice. Moreover, no one denies that one individual differs from another individual.
Early Church Fathers on 2 Timothy 4 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on 2 Timothy 4:7 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

I have fought a good fight,.... The fight of faith; the same as in 1 Timothy 6:10 [See comments on 1 Timothy 6:10]: I have finished my course, or race; the race of life set before him, his course of

Read John Gill on 2 Timothy 4 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 'I have striven the good strife of faith' [ eegoonismai (G75)], includes, besides a fight, any competitive contest-ex.

Read Robert Jamieson on 2 Timothy 4 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible

I have fought a good fight; my life hath been a military life, but I have not fought the evil fights of ambitious or quarrelsome men: my fighting hath been the good and noble fight of faith, a fight with the world, the flesh, and the devil, a contending for the faith delivered to the saints, a maintaining the lustings of the Spirit against the flesh, a warring with spiritual wickednesses in high places. I have finished my course; God appointed me a race to run, as a Christian, as an apostle and minister of Christ; I have now finished it. I have kept the faith; I have kept the doctrine of faith, upholding and maintaining it in and by my ministry; and I have lived in the exercise of the grace…

Read Matthew Poole on 2 Timothy 4 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Ver. 7. I have fought a good fight] The nearer anything is to the centre, the more strongly and swiftly it moveth. The wine of the Spirit is strongest in the saints, when they are drawing to an end. His motions are quickest when natural motions are slowest, most sensible when the body begins to be senseless, most lively when the saints are dying. See this in Moses’ swanlike song; David’ s last discourse to his son Solomon and his nobles; our Saviour’ s farewell to the world in that last sweet sermon and prayer of his, John 13:1-38; John 14:1-31; John 15:1-27; John 16:1-33; John 17:1-26, wherein there is more…

Read John Trapp on 2 Timothy 4 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) I have fought a good fight.—More accurately, more forcibly rendered, the good fight. St. Paul changes the metaphor, and adopts his old favourite one, so familiar to all Gentile readers, of the athlete contending in the games. First, he speaks generally of the combatant, the charioteer, and the runner. “I have fought the good fight,” leaving it undetermined what description of strife or contest was referred to. The tense of the Greek verb—the perfect—“I have fought,” is remarkable. The struggle had been bravely sustained in the past, and was now being equally bravely sustained to the end. His claim to the crown (2 Timothy 4:8) was established. I have finished my course.—Or “race,” for…

Read Charles John Ellicott on 2 Timothy 4 →
AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

Verse 7. I have fought a good fight] Every reader will perceive that the apostle, as was his very frequent custom, alludes to the contests at the Grecian games: Τοναγυνατονκαλονηγωνισμαι· I have wrestled that good wrestling-I have struggled hard, and have over come, in a most honourable cause. I have finished my course] I have started for the prize, and have come up to the goal, outstripping all my competitors, and have gained this prize also. I have kept the faith] As the laws of these games must be most diligently observed and kept, (for though a man overcome, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully,) so I have kept the rules of the spiritual combat and race; and thus, having…

Read AdamClarke on 2 Timothy 4 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. a good fight] the good fight, see 1 Timothy 6:12, where the metaphor is discussed; the second clause here, ‘I have finished the course,’ certainly suggests that the foot-race is to be the chief thought in the ‘games contest,’ ‘the fair race—’tis run; the course—’tis finished; the faith—’tis kept’ may represent the perfect tense used: ‘per effectus suos durat,’ Poppo. The aspirations of Act 20:24, Philippians 3:12, have now been realised; the Christian athlete is all but ‘emeritus.’ ‘He stands almost alone under the shadow of an impending death; but it is the last effort of a defeated and desperate cause: the victory is already gained.… With the assured conviction that the object of his…

Read Cambridge on 2 Timothy 4 →
Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I have fought a good fight - The Christian life is often represented as a conflict, or warfare; see the notes on 1 Timothy 6:12.

Read Albert Barnes on 2 Timothy 4 →

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

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

NETBNew English Translation2006

I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith!

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith:

RVARevised Version, American1894

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith:

NWBWebster's Bible1833

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

GNVGeneva Bible1599

I haue fought a good fight, and haue finished my course: I haue kept the faith.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

I have combated the good combat, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

the good strife I have striven, the course I have finished, the faith I have kept,

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

I have striven the good strife, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

I have competed in the good contest; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept my trust in God.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

I have made a good fight, I have come to the end of my journey, I have kept the faith:

Word by word, the decisions they made

ἠγώνισμαι,agōnizomai I have fought, G75 2 different renderings
i have foughtASV BSB DRA FBV KJV MSB NWB RVA WEB
strivenLSV YLT
δρόμονdromos race G1408 2 different renderings
courseASV DRA GNV KJV LSV NWB RVA WEB YLT
raceBSB DBY FBV MSB NETB ULB
τετέλεκα,teleō I have finished, G5055 2 different renderings
i have finishedASV BSB DBY DRA FBV KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
finishedGNV
πίστινpistis faith G4102 2 different renderings
faithASV BBE BSB DBY DRA GNV KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
trustFBV
τετήρηκα·tēreō I have kept; G5083 2 different renderings
have keptASV BBE BSB DBY DRA FBV KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
keptGNV

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.

clauseclausenoun phrase · objectτὸνThenoun phraseκαλὸνgoodἀγῶναfightverbἠγώνισμαιI have foughtclausenoun phrase · objectτὸνtheδρόμονraceverbτετέλεκαI have finishedclausenoun phrase · objectτὴνtheπίστινfaithverbτετήρηκαI have kept

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

Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consummavi, fidem servavi.

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

ܐܓܘܢܐ ܫܦܝܪܐ ܐܬܟܬܫܬ ܘܪܗܛܝ ܫܠܡܬ ܘܗܝܡܢܘܬܝ ܢܛܪܬ

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

τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα ἠγώνισμαι, τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα, τὴν πίστιν τετήρηκα·

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα ἠγώνισμαι, τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα, τὴν πίστιν τετήρηκα·

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα ἠγώνισμαι, τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα, τὴν πίστιν τετήρηκα·

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα ἠγώνισμαι, τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα, τὴν πίστιν τετήρηκα·

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα ἠγώνισμαι, τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα, τὴν πίστιν τετήρηκα·

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα ἠγώνισμαι, τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα, τὴν πίστιν τετήρηκα·

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

τὸν ἀγῶνα ἠγώνισμαι, τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα, τὴν πίστιν τετήρηκα·

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

τὸν ἀγῶνα ἠγώνισμαι, τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα, τὴν πίστιν τετήρηκα·

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

Every witness on this verse they differ
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

WordEditions carrying itMissing from
τὸν TheNA28, NA27, Tyn, SBL, WH, TregTR, Byz
καλὸν goodNA28, NA27, Tyn, SBL, WH, TregTR, Byz
τὸν <the>TR, ByzNA28, NA27, SBL, WH, Treg, Tyn

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.

2 Timothy 4:7TheTheκαλόςgoodgoodκαλός<the><the>ἀγώνfightfightἀγώνἀγωνίζομαιI have fougI have fought,ἀγωνίζομαιthetheδρόμοςraceraceδρόμοςτελέωI have finiI have finishedτελέωthetheπίστιςfaithfaithπίστιςτηρέωI have keptI have kept;τηρέωἀγώνn.m. a conn.m. a contestἀγώνἀγαθόςAdj goodAdj goodἀγαθόςἄγωv. I leadv. I leadἄγωτέλοςn.n. an enn.n. an end, puτέλοςπείθωv. I persuv. I persuade, πείθωτρέχωv. I run, v. I run, exercτρέχωφυλάσσωv. I keep,v. I keep, guarφυλάσσωκουστωδίαn.f. a guan.f. a guardκουστωδίαποιμήνn.m. a shen.m. a shepherdποιμήνκαρπόςn.m. fruitn.m. fruit, resκαρπόςἀγωνίζομαιv. I strivv. I strive, coἀγωνίζομαικαλόςAdj beautiAdj beautiful, καλόςκοπιάωv. I grow v. I grow wearyκοπιάωἐγώPers.pr. IPers.pr. IἐγώχίλιοιAdj a thouAdj a thousandχίλιοιἄχριAdv as farAdv as far as, ἄχριἀκροβυστίαn.f. foresn.f. foreskinἀκροβυστίαδικαιόωv. I make v. I make rightδικαιόω
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 2 Timothy 4:7

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 good <the> fight I have fought, the race I have finished, the faith I have kept;
τὸνho The G3588 Article · accusative · singular · masculine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 2 Timothy 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.

Read the full entry →
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-ASM — Article · accusative · singular · masculine
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-ASM Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

English usagewhat the translators’ English meant
Webster's Dictionary (1828), Webster's Unabridged (1913), Webster's Dictionary (1806)

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

1. This adjective is used as a definitive, that is, before nouns which are specific or understood; or it is used to limit their signification to a specific thing or things, or to describe them; as the laws of the twelve tables. the independent tribunals of justice in our country, are the security or private rights, and the best bulwark against arbitrary power. the sun is the source of light and heat.

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

2. the is also used rhetorically before a noun in the singular number, to denote a species by way of distinction; a single thing representing the whole. the fig tree putteth forth her green figs; the almond tree shall flourish; the grasshopper shall be a burden.

3. In poetry, the sometimes loses the final vowel before another vowel.

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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
The19783×
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 good <the> fight I have fought, the race I have finished, the faith I have kept;
καλὸνkalos good G2570 Adjective · accusative · singular · masculine
101× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Timothy than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Something or someone that is kalos is fair, beautiful, or good, like the stones in Luke 21:5 or the fish in Matthew 13:48.
Amplified meaning
fair, beautiful
Tyndale gloss
Fair (Havens)
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word καλός (i.e., *kalos*) means beautiful or good, often referring to outward appearance or moral quality. It encompasses a range of meanings from physical beauty to ethical goodness, as seen in various contexts like good deeds or excellent qualities. The New Testament uses it frequently to describe things that are valuable or virtuous, such as in Matthew 13:8 regarding good soil. There is a distinction noted between καλός and another word for good, ἀγαθός, with καλός emphasizing goodness as it appears to others.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

καλός, -ή, -όν,

[in LXX chiefly for טוֹב, טוֹבָה, also for יָפֶה, etc.;]

primarily, of outward form ("related to . . . ἀγαθός as the appearance to the essence," Cremer, 339), fair, beautiful: λίθοι (EV, goodly), Lk 21:5.

In reference to use, of that which is well adapted to its ends, good, excellent: of fish, τ. καλά (opp. to σαπρά), Mt 13:48; σπέρμα, Mt 13:24, 27, 37, 38; καρπός, Mt 3:10 7:17-19 12:33, Lk 3:9 [WH] 6:43; δένδρον (opp. to σαρπόν), Mt 12:33, Lk 6:43; γῆ,

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

καλός, -7, -dv, [ prob. primarily ‘ sound,’ ‘ hale,’ ‘ whole ;’ ef. Vaniéek p. 140 sq. ; Curtius § 51], Sept. for 75

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

καλός. Hort in his note on 1 Pet 212 has pointed out that while ἀγαθός ‘ denotes what is good in virtue of its results,” καλός “denotes that kind of goodness which is at once seen to be good.” It may not be possible always to press the distinction, but what we may call this self-evidencing power of καλός, a goodness as it appears to, and is realized by, others comes out generally speaking in the citations that follow. Thus in its application to persons the adj. is united with πιστός in the well-known early Christian letter of Psenosiris, where Psenosiris writes regarding Politike —t]atitny παραδέδωκα Tots καλοῖς καὶ πιστοῖς ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν νεκροτάφων (“‘grave-diggers’’) eis τήρησιν (P Grenf II. 731" (late iii/A.D.) (= Selecttons, p. 118) ). And so in the Silco inscr., OGIS 201® (vi/A.D.), the King announces—érlotevoa τὸν ὅρκον αὐτῶν, ὡς καλοί εἰσιν ἄνθρωποι, ‘‘ quia honesti homines sunt”…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καλός (kalos) — good.

καλός, ή, όν,

Aeolic dialect κάλος (see. below), α, ον, Boeotian dialect καλϝός [Refs 6th c.BC+]:—

__A beautiful, of outward form, frequently of persons, κάλλιστος ἀνὴρ ὑπὸ Ἴλιον ἦλθεν [Refs 8th c.BC+] usually in the phrase κ. τε μέγας τε [Refs 8th c.BC+]; μέγας καὶ κ. [Refs 8th c.BC+]; καλὸς δέμας beautiful of form,[Refs 5th c.BC+]; Χορῷ καλή beauteous in the dance, [Refs 8th c.BC+]: with infinitive, καλλίονες καὶ μείζονες εἰσοράασθαι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἐσορᾶν κ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]: frequently of parts of the body, fair, shapely, κ. πρόσωπα, ὅμματα, παρήϊα, σφυρά, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; of clothes, εἵματα, φάρεα, Χιτών, Χλαῖνα, πέδιλα, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; of arms and armour, κνημῖδες, ἀσπίς, σάκος, κόρυς, φάσγανα, ἔντεα, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; of buildings, manufactured articles, etc., αὐλὴ κ. τε μεγάλη τε [Refs]; κ. δώματα, τεῖχος, πόλιες,[Refs…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καλός

kalos

of uncertain affinity; properly, beautiful, but chiefly (figuratively)

good (literally or morally), i.e. valuable or virtuous (for appearance

or use, and thus distinguished from 18, which is properly

intrinsic):--X better, fair, good(-ly), honest, meet, well, worthy.

see GREEK for 18

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καλός, ή, όν

Adj

beautiful, good, worthy

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καλός kalos 101x

pr. beautiful; good, of good quality or disposition; fertile, rich, Mt. 13:8, 23; useful, profitable, Lk. 14:34; καλόν ἐστι[ν], it is profitable, it is well, Mt. 18:8, 9; excellent, choice, select, goodly, Mt. 7:17, 19; καλόν ἐστι[ν], it is pleasant, delightful, Mt. 17:4; just, full measure, Lk. 6:38; honorable, distinguished, Jas. 2:7; good, possessing moral excellence, worthy, upright, virtuous, Jn. 10:11, 14; Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

καλός καλός, ή, όν beautiful, beauteous, fair, Lat. pulcher, of outward form, Hom., etc.; καλὸς δέμας beautiful of form, Od.; so, εἶδος κάλλιστος Xen.; καλὸς τὸ σῶμα id. Xen.; c. inf., κ. εἰσοράασθαι Hom.

τὸ καλόν, like κάλλος, beauty, Eur., etc.: τὰ καλά the decencies, proprieties, elegancies of life, Hdt., etc.

in reference to use, beautiful, fair, good, κ. λιμήν Od.; καλὸς εἴς τι Xen.; πρός τι Plat.; c. inf., κάλλιστος τρέχειν Xen.;—esp. in the foll. phrases, ἐν καλῷ [τόπῳ] in a good place, Thuc.; ἐν καλῷ τοῦ κόλπου, τῆς πόλεως Xen.; ἐν κ. (sub. χρόνῳ), in good time, in season, Eur.:—so, καλόν ἐστι, c. inf., Soph.

of sacrifices, good, auspicious, Aesch., etc.

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

A-ASM Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

good (Tobh, Tubh, yaTabh; agathos, agathon, kalos, kalon): In English "good" is used in various senses, most of which are represented in the Bible.

(1) In the Old Testament the commonest word is Tobh, occurring very frequently and translated in a great variety of ways. Of the different shades of meaning, which frequently run into each other, the following may be distinguished:

(a) Possessing desirable qualities, beneficial, agreeable, e.g. "good for food" (Ge 2:9); "We will do thee good" (Nu 10:29); Who will show us any good?" (Ps 4:6); "good tidings of good" (Isa 52:7).

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
78%good
good78% · 80×better8% · 8×right4% · 4×other renderings10% · 10×

102 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 13 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
object42%predicate33%adverbial16%second object4%subject4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 101 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
γῆthe earth, soil,ποιμήνa shepherdσύ
καρπόςfruit, result, gain
ποιέωI do, makeἀγαθόςgoodσαπρόςrotten, useless,
αὐτός
ἀποκόπτωI smite, cut offκαρπόςfruit, result, gἐκβάλλωI throw, cast, p
ὅτιthat, since, because
νόμοςa law, the Mosaiἀνάγκηnecessity, constδέbut, on the othe
εἰμίI am, exist
οὐNegγάρforοὗτος
καλόςgood101×
what comes after →
ἔργονwork, labor, action,
προΐστημιI ruleκαίand, even, also,ἐργάζομαιI word, trade, d
καίand, even, also, nam
δίδωμιI offer, giveArticle theἀγαθόςgood
εἰμίI am, exist
ἐγώαὐτόςσύ
Article the
ἅλαςsaltποιμήνa shepherdψυχήthe soul, life,
ποιέωI do, make
Article theκαρπόςfruit, result, gἐγώ

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

Concordanceκαλός · 101× in the New Testament
Matthew 1 Timothy Mark Luke John 1 Corinthians Hebrews Romans Titus 1 Peter 2 Timothy Galatians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament16 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 131 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 Josephus Clement of Rome The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 8c. AD 40

Μωυσῆς δὲ καὶ φιλοσοφίας ἐπ’ αὐτὴν φθάσας ἀκρότητα καὶ χρησμοῖς τὰ πολλὰ καὶ συνεκτικώτατα τῶν τῆς φύσεως ἀναδιδαχθεὶς ἔγνω δή, ὅτι ἀναγκαιότατόν ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς οὖσι τὸ μὲν εἶναι δραστήριον αἴτιον, τὸ δὲ παθητόν, καὶ ὅτι τὸ μὲν δραστήριον ὁ τῶν ὅλων…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.9c. AD 75–95

τούτῳ δὴ πειθόμενος ὡς αἰεὶ τοῖς χρήσιμον ἢ καλόν τι πράττειν δυναμένοις συμφιλοκαλοῦντι καὶ ἐμαυτὸν αἰσχυνόμενος, εἰ δόξαιμι ῥαθυμίᾳ πλέον ἢ τῷ περὶ τὰ κάλλιστα χαίρειν πόνῳ, προθυμότερον ἐπερρώσθην, ἔτι κἀκεῖνα πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις λογισάμενος οὐ…

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 6.12c. AD 100

καὶ εἶπεν κύριος, ἰδὼν τὸ καλὸν πλάσμα ἡμῶν: Λὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθυνέσθε καὶ πληρώσατε τὴν γῆν.

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 7th c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD
P.Fay. 116Euhemeria (ArsinoitesAD 104

ἢ κορακίνους τριάκοντα καὶ ταριχεύσας πέμψεις μοι εἰς τὴν πόλιν καὶ ποίησον … τας καλοὺς τεσσαράκοντα , ἐπεὶ βουλεύομαι εἰς πόλιν ἀπελθεῖν χάριν τοῦ μικροῦ καὶ χάριν ἐκείνου τοῦ

P.Rein. 1 52Theadelphia (Arsinoites)AD 250–AD 264

ἐγράφη τὴν περιποίησιν τοῦ σίτου καὶ τὴν ἀναπομπὴν δηλῶσαι· ὑμεῖς δὲ ἠμελήσατε ἴσως οὐ καλῷ συνειδότι χρώμενοι· ὃ καὶ νῦν ποιήσατε ἵνα μὴ μετὰ στρατιώτου ἀναγκάσθητε τοῦτο ποιῆσαι. ἐρρῶσθαί

P.Fay. 133Theadelphia (Arsinoites)AD 260

ἡμερῶν δύο καὶ τριῶν ἵνα καὶ τὰ κοῦφά σοι συνδράμῃ ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ οἶνος καλὸς γένηται, οἶδας γὰρ ὅτι ὁ καιρὸς νῦν ἐστιν ὀψιμώτερος, καθὼς καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις

The good <the> fight I have fought, the race I have finished, the faith I have kept;
τὸν <the> G3588
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 2 Timothy 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
English usagewhat the translators’ English meant
Webster's Dictionary (1828), Webster's Unabridged (1913), Webster's Dictionary (1806)

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

1. This adjective is used as a definitive, that is, before nouns which are specific or understood; or it is used to limit their signification to a specific thing or things, or to describe them; as the laws of the twelve tables. the independent tribunals of justice in our country, are the security or private rights, and the best bulwark against arbitrary power. the sun is the source of light and heat.

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

2. the is also used rhetorically before a noun in the singular number, to denote a species by way of distinction; a single thing representing the whole. the fig tree putteth forth her green figs; the almond tree shall flourish; the grasshopper shall be a burden.

3. In poetry, the sometimes loses the final vowel before another vowel.

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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>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 good <the> fight I have fought, the race I have finished, the faith I have kept;
ἀγῶνα fight G73
6× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Timothy than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means a struggle or fight, like the challenges of the Christian life. It appears in Philippians 1:30 and 1 Timothy 6:12.
Tyndale gloss
fight
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

ἀγών is derived from ἄγω and primarily refers to a gathering or assembly, especially for contests like athletic games. It encompasses meanings related to struggle, trial, and anxiety, particularly in the context of the Christian life as a contest (Philippians 1:30, 1 Timothy 6:12). The term can also denote a place of contest or a metaphorical struggle for one's highest interests.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἀγών, -ῶνος, ὁ

(< ἄγω),

[in LXX: Is 7:13 (לאה), Es 4:17, Wi 4:2 10:12, II Mac6, IV Mac5*;]

a gathering, esp. for games.

a place of assembly.

a contest, struggle, trial; metaph. (MM, VGT, s.v.),

of the Christian life as a contest and struggle: Phl 1:30, I Th 2:2, I Ti 6:12, II Ti 4:7 He 12:1;

solicitude, anxiety: Col 2:1.†

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

ἀγών, -ὥνος, 6, (ἄγω); 1. a place of assembly (Hom. Tl. 7, 298; 18,376); spec. the place in which the Greeks assembled to celebrate solemn games (as the Pythian, the Olympian); hence 2. a contest, of athletes, runners, charioteers. In a fig. sense, a. in the phrase (used by the Greeks, see τρέχω, b.) τρέχειν τὸν ἀγῶνα, Heb. xii. 1, that is to say ‘ Amid all hindrances let us exert ourselves to the utmost to attain to the goal of perfection set before the followers of Christ’; any struggle with dangers, annoyances, obstacles, standing in the way of faith, holiness, and a desire to spread the gospel: 1 Th. ii. 2; Phil. i. 30; 1 Tim. vi. 12; 2 Tim. iv. 7. b. intense solicitude, anxiety: περί τινος, Col. ii. 1 [ef. Eur. Ph. 1350; Polyb. 4, 56,4]. On the ethical use of figures borrowed from the Greek Games οἵ. Grimm on Sap. iv. 1; [Howson, Metaphors of St. Paul, Essay iv.; Conyb. and Hows.…

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

ἀγών. The ethical meaning of ἀγών is requent in late Greek, e. g. P Flor I. 3628 (iv/A.b.) τ[ὸ]ν περὶ ψυχῆς ἀγῶ[ν]α. In Col 2}, however, Field (Votes, p. 195) prefers to think of outward, rather than of inward, conflict, and compares Plut. ΚΔ. Flam. XVI. πλεῖστον δ᾽ ἀγῶνα καὶ πόνον αὐτῷ παρεῖχον αἱ περὶ “Καλκιδέων δεήσεις πρὸς τὸν Μάνιον, where Langhorne translates, ‘‘ but he had much greater difficulties to combat, when he applied to Manius in behalf of the Chalcidians.” In a petition of B.c. 5, BGU IV. 11397", we find διὸ ἀξιοῦμέν [σε] τὸν πάντων σωτῆρα Kal avTiAnp Tropa ὑπὲρ σπλάγχνου τὸν ἀγῶνα ποιούμενοι to compel restitution of a stolen daughter. For the literal meaning, see Sy// 524 where various τῶν τε παίδων καὶ τῶν ἐφήβω[ν] ... ἀγώνες in reading, music, etc., are enumerated; BGU IV. 1074%° (iii/A.D.) of great games at Oxyrhynchus, etc.…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἀγών (agōn) — fight.

ἀγών [ᾰ], ῶνος, ὁ,

Aeolic dialect ἄγωνος, ου, ὁ, [Refs 7th c.BC+]; Elean dative plural ἀγώνοιρ[Refs]: (ἄγω):—gathering, assembly, ἵζανεν εὐρὺν ἀ.[Refs 8th c.BC+]: especially assembly met to see games, frequently in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Ὑπερβορέων ἀ. Pi [Refs 4th c.BC+]

2. place of contest, lists, course, βήτην ἐς μέσσον ἀ.[Refs 8th c.BC+] out of the lists or course, i.e. beside the mark, [Refs 8th c.BC+]

II. assembly of the Greeks at the national games, ὁ ἐν Ὀλυμπίῃ ἀ.[Refs 5th c.BC+]:— hence, contest for a prize at the games, ἀ. γυμνικός, ἱππικός, μουσικός, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἀ. τῶν ἀνδρῶν contest in which the chorus was composed of men, opposed to to παίδων or ἀγενείων (which see), [Refs 4th c.BC+]; ἀ. στεφανηφόρος or στεφανίτης contest where the prize is a crown, [Refs 5th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀγών

agon

from 71; properly, a place of assembly (as if led), i.e. (by

implication) a contest (held there); figuratively, an effort or

anxiety:--conflict, contention, fight, race.

see GREEK for 71

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀγών, ῶνος, ὁ

n.m.

a contest

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀγών agōn 6x

place of contest, race-course, stadium; a contest, strife, contention; peril, toil

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἀγών ἄγομαι a number of people brought together, a gathering, assembly, like ἀγορά, ἵζανεν εὐρὺν ἀγῶνα, λῦτο δ᾽ ἀγών, ἐν ἀγῶνι νεῶν Hom.: esp. an assembly met to see games, id. Hom., etc.

a place of contest, the arena, id. Hom., etc.; βήτην ἐς μέσσον ἀγῶνα Il.

an assembly of the Greeks at their great national games, ὁ ἐν Ὀλυμπίῃ ἀγών Hdt.; ὁ Ὀλυμπικὸς ἀγών Ar.

the contest for a prize at the games, ἀγὼν ἱππικός, γυμνικός Hdt., etc.; ἀγὼν τῶν ἀνδρῶν, in which the chorus was composed of men, opp. to τῶν παίδων, Dem., etc.:— hence, ἀγῶνα ἄγειν, καθιστάναι, τιθέναι, προτιθέναι, ποιεῖν, to hold or propose a contest; ἀγῶν or ἐν ἀγῶνι νικᾶν, to win one or at…

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

See WAR; GAMES.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
33%conflict
conflict33% · 2×fight33% · 2×struggle17% · 1×race17% · 1×

6 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
object83%adverbial17%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 6 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
καλόςbeautiful, good, wor
Article the
αὐτός
Article the
ἡλίκοςof what size, how mu
οἶδαI know, remember
πολύςmuch, many, often
ἐν
ἐγώ
πρόκειμαιI am set before
ἀγώνfight
what comes after →
ἔχωI have, hold, posses
οἷοςὑπέρ
Article the
πίστιςfaith, belief, t
ἀγωνίζομαιI strive, contend
Article the

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

Concordanceἀγών · 6× in the New Testament
1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Colossians Hebrews Philippians
Across the New Testament6 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 33c. AD 40

ἔμελλε γὰρ γειτνιῶντα σύγχυσιν ἀπεργάζεσθαι τῷ περὶ δυναστείας ἀγῶνι κατὰ πολλὴν καὶ ἄπαυστον φιλονεικίαν ἐπαποδυόμενα, εἰ μὴ μέσοι παγέντες ὅροι διέζευξαν καὶ διέλυσαν τὴν ἀντεπίθεσιν.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.315c. AD 75–95

σὺ δὲ οὔτε τῆς μητρὸς τῆς σαυτοῦ καὶ ἧς ἔχεις πρὸς ἐμὲ συγγενείας οὔτε γυναικῶν ἃς ἔγημας αἰδῶ ποιησάμενος, οὐδὲ τέκνων ὧν εἰμι πάππος φροντίσας, ἐχρήσω μοι πολέμου νόμῳ, κτῆσιν μὲν ἄγων τὴν ἐμὴν θυγατέρας δὲ ἀναπείσας ἀποδρᾶναι τὸν γεγεννηκότα,

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 2.4c. AD 96

ἀγὼν ἦν ὑμῖν ἡμέρας τε καὶ νυκτὸς ὑπὲρ πάσης τῆς ἀδελφότητος, εἰς τὸ σώζεσθαι μετ̓ ἐλέους καὶ συνειδήσεως τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν αὐτοῦ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. AD 2nd c. AD 3rd c. BC 4th c. AD 2nd c. BC
P.Iand. 4 52Theadelphia (Arsinoites)AD 96

Σεβαστοῦ Γερμανικοῦ καὶ λελογχέναι τὸν μὲν Μύσθαν εἰς τὸ ἐπιβάλλον αὐτῷ ἥμισυ μέρος τὸ Ἀγῶνα λεγόμενον ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐνόντος διαβάτου εἰς τὸν νότον μέχρι παλαιοῦ ἐκβλύσματος λεγομένου Φ

P.Customs 194Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 145

τετελώνηται διὰ πύλης Σοκνοπαίου Νήσου ἐρημοφυλακίας Στοτοῆτις ε … άγων πρὸς ἀπεργασίαν ὄνον ἕνα . ἔτους ὀγδόου Ἀντωνίνου Καίσαρος τοῦ κυρίου Μεσορὴ εἰκάδι, κ.

P.Stras. 7 650Philadelphia (Arsinoites)AD 158

τετελώνηται διὰ πύλης Φιλαδελφίας ἑκατοστῆς πεντηκοστῆς Ε … … άγων πυροῦ … … … ἀρτάβας πέντε τέλος δραχμὴ μία ὀβολὸς ἡμιωβέλιον . ἔτους εἰκοστοῦ

The good <the> fight I have fought, the race I have finished, the faith I have kept;
ἠγώνισμαι,agōnizomai I have fought, G75 Verb · perfect · no voice stated · indicative · first person · singular
8× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Timothy than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To struggle means to fight or contend with someone or something, like in 1 Corinthians 9:25 where Paul competes for a prize. It can also mean to strive or endeavor to accomplish something, as in Colossians 1:29.
Amplified meaning
striven, contended with
Tyndale gloss
to struggle
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἀγωνίζομαι (agonizomai) is built from the root ἀγών and means to struggle or contend, often for a prize or in a contest. It covers a range of meanings from fighting and striving to metaphorically contending in various contexts, including public games and legal battles. The New Testament uses it in verses like 1 Corinthians 9:25 and 2 Timothy 4:7.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἀγωνίζομαι

(< ἀγών),

[in LXX: Da TH 6:14 (שׂוּם בָּל), Si 4:28, I, II, IV Mac5*;]

to contend for a prize: I Co 9:25,

to fight, struggle, strive: Jo 18:36; metaph. (MM, VGT, s.v.). Col 1:29 4:12, I Ti 4:10 6:12, II Ti 4:7; c. inf. (Field, Notes, 66), Lk 13:24 (Cremer, 609).†

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

ἀγωνίζομαι is very common in the inscriptions, 6. σ. Sy// 213°% (ii/B.C.) ἀγωνιζόμενος ὑπὲρ τῆς κοινῆς σωτηρίας, where the reference is to warfare. So 26. 163}8 (B.c. 318-7) πρ]οείλετο τελευτῆσαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἐναντίων aylwvitdpevlos ὑπὲρ τῆς δημοκρατίας : 7%. 1997 (iti/B.c.) and 198!9 (B.c. 281) ἀγωνιζόμενος ὑπίὲρ αὐτοῦ], etc. Cf. an Athenian inscription of B.c. 268-6, Sy// 214), ἐπειδὴ πρότερομ μὲν ᾿Αθηναῖοι καὶ «Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ οἱ σύμμαχοι οἱ ἑκατέρων φιλίαν καὶ συμμαχίαν κοινὴν ποιησάμενοι πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς πολλοὺς: καὶ καλοὺς ἀγῶνας ἠγωνίσαντο per ἀλλήλων πρὸς τοὺς καταδουλοῦσθαι τὰς πόλεις ἐπιχειροῦντας. The phrase here hardly differs from 2 Tim 47, and when taken along with the preceding inscription makes it decidedly less clear that the figure there is drawn from the games, as Deis-mann thinks (2.4.2, Ὁ. 312), illustrating the passige from a ii/A.D. inscription from the theatre at…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἀγωνίζομαι (agōnizomai) — to struggle.

ἀγων-ίζομαι,

future -ῐοῦμαι[Refs 5th c.BC+], etc. (in passive sense, see infr. B); -ίσομαι only in late writers, as [Refs 3rd c.AD+] -ισθήσομαι [Refs 2nd c.AD+]: aorist ἠγωνισάμην[Refs 5th c.BC+], etc.: perfect ἠγώνισμαι (in active sense) Id [Refs 5th c.BC+] (passive, see infr. B): aorist ἠγωνίσθην in passive sense, infr. B: active form ἀγωνίσας[Refs] —

__A contend for a prize, especially in the public games, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; περί τινος about a thing, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἀγῶνα.. τόνδ᾽ ἠγωνίσω thou didst provoke this contest, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. fight, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. contend for the prize on the stage, of the rhapsode, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of the playwright, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of the actor, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; of the choragus…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀγωνίζομαι

agonizomai

from 73; to struggle, literally (to compete for a prize), figuratively

(to contend with an adversary), or genitive case (to endeavor to

accomplish something):--fight, labor fervently, strive.

see GREEK for 73

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀγωνίζομαι

v.

I strive, contend

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀγωνίζομαι agōnizomai 8x

to be a combatant in the public games; to contend, fight, strive earnestly

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἀγωνίζομαι as Dep. to contend for a prize, esp. in the public games, Hdt.; πρός τινα Plat.; τινί id. Plat., etc.; περί τινος about a thing, Hdt., etc.: c. acc. cogn., ἀγ. στάδιον id. Hdt.; ἀγῶνα περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀγ. Dem.

to fight, Hdt., Thuc.; περὶ τῶν ἁπάντων ἀγ. id. Thuc.; πρός τινα id. Thuc.: c. acc cogn., ἣν [μάχην] ἀγωνίζεσθε Eur.

to contend for the prize on the stage, both of the poet, Hdt., etc., and of the actor, Dem.: generally to contend for victory, καλῶς ἠγώνισαι Plat.

of public speaking, Xen.

to contend against, as law-term, Antipho; c. acc. cogn., ἀγ. δίκην, γραφήν to fight a cause to the last, Dem.; ἀγ. ψευδομαρτυριῶν (sc. γραφήν) id. Dem.; ἀγ. ἀγῶνα Andoc., etc.; but ἀγ. φόνον to fight against a charge of murder…

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-RNI-1S — Verb · perfect · no voice stated · indicative · first person · singular
perfect no voice stated indicative — a past action whose result still stands.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-RNI-1S Part of Speech: Verb Tense: peRfect Voice: middle or passive depoNent Mood: Indicative Person: first Number: Singular

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
25%striving
striving25% · 2×struggling13% · 1×strive13% · 1×do fight13% · 1×i have fought13% · 1×do strive13% · 1×they were fighting13% · 1×

8 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 7 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
verb100%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 8 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
ἐμός
Article the
Article the
δέbut, on the othe
κοπιάωI grow weary, toil
καίand, even, also,
πάντοτεalways, at all times
ἸησοῦςJesus
καίand, even, also, nam
κοπιάωI grow weary, to
ἀγωνίζομαιI have fought,
what comes after →
Article the
καλόςbeautiful, good,δρόμοςa running, cours
εἰσέρχομαιI go in, come in, en
διά
ἵναin order that, so th
μήNeg
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
ἐγκρατεύομαιI exercise self-
κατά
Article the

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

Concordanceἀγωνίζομαι · 8× in the New Testament
1 Timothy Colossians 1 Corinthians 2 Timothy John Luke
Across the New Testament6 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Clement of Rome Philo of Alexandria
Philo of AlexandriaOn Noah's Work as a Planter 175c. AD 40

ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐδεὶς καθ’ αὑτὸν ἀγωνιζόμενος ἀναγράφεται νικῶν, εἰ δὲ ἀγωνίζεται, σκιαμαχεῖν μᾶλλον ἂν εἰκότως δόξαι, ἀνάγκη καὶ τοὺς τὸ ἐναντίον κατασκευάζοντας λόγους εἰπεῖν, ἵνα δικαιοτάτη γενηθῇ κρίσις, μηδετέρου μέρους ἐξ ἐρήμου καταδικασθέντος.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.159c. AD 75–95

Ἰούδας μὲν οὖν πάντα ὑπομένειν ὑπὲρ τῆς τἀδελφοῦ σωτηρίας ἡδέως ἔχων ῥίπτει πρὸ τῶν Ἰωσήπου ποδῶν ἑαυτόν, εἴ πως ἐκμαλάξειε τὴν ὀργὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ καταπραΰνειεν ἀγωνιζόμενος, προύπεσον δὲ καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ πάντες δακρύοντες καὶ παραδιδόντες ἑαυτοὺς ὑπὲρ…

Clement of RomeSecond Clement 7.4c. AD 96

εἰδέναι ἡμᾶς δεῖ, ὅτι ὁ τὸν φθαρτὸν ἀγῶνα ἀγωνιζόμενος, ἐὰν εὑρεθῇ φθείρων, μαστιγωθεὶς αἴρεται καὶ ἔξω βάλλεται τοῦ σταδίου.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. AD 8th c. AD

οὐ γὰρ ζητῶ τὸν ἀριθμόν, ἀλλʼ εἰ οὗτοι λῃσταὶ ἦσαν. … εἶπεν, περὶ ψυχῆς ἀγωνίζομαι δύο φίλων τολμησάντων … κα α … … … ναγκη … … ρ

P.Oxy. 79 5209OxyrhynchosAD 267

χαίρειν. ἐπεὶ συνέθετο τῷ υἱῷ μου Αὐρηλίῳ Νικαντινόῳ ὁ ἐγγυησάμενος ὑφ’ ὑμῶν Αὐρήλιος Δημήτριος ἀγωνιζόμενος τὸ τῶν παίδων παλαιστῶν ἀγώνισμα πεσεῖν τρὶς καὶ παραχωρῆσαι λαμβάνων δι’ ὑμῶν ἀργυρίου παλαιοῦ

P.Lond. 4 1349Aphrodites Kome (Antaiopolites)AD 710

συνάγοντος ποσὸν χρυσίου ὀφείλων δεῖξαί σε ἱκανὸν παρʼ ἡμῖν τοῦτο ἀπόστειλον ἐν τῇ σακέλλῃ ἀγωνιζόμενος εἰς τοῦτο ἐντρανῶς καὶ ἐμπιεσμένως. ἀρτίως γὰρ τῶν τῆς χώρας ἀποτελεσάντων τὴν κατασπορὰν ὥστε

The good <the> fight I have fought, the race I have finished, the faith I have kept;
τὸνho the G3588 Article · accusative · singular · masculine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 2 Timothy 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-ASM — Article · accusative · singular · masculine
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-ASM Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

English usagewhat the translators’ English meant
Webster's Dictionary (1828), Webster's Unabridged (1913), Webster's Dictionary (1806)

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

1. This adjective is used as a definitive, that is, before nouns which are specific or understood; or it is used to limit their signification to a specific thing or things, or to describe them; as the laws of the twelve tables. the independent tribunals of justice in our country, are the security or private rights, and the best bulwark against arbitrary power. the sun is the source of light and heat.

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

2. the is also used rhetorically before a noun in the singular number, to denote a species by way of distinction; a single thing representing the whole. the fig tree putteth forth her green figs; the almond tree shall flourish; the grasshopper shall be a burden.

3. In poetry, the sometimes loses the final vowel before another vowel.

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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
the19783×
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 good <the> fight I have fought, the race I have finished, the faith I have kept;
δρόμονdromos race G1408 Noun · accusative · singular · masculine
3× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Timothy than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
A race or career, like a path in life, as seen in Acts 13:25 and 20:24, describing a person's life journey or ministry.
Amplified meaning
course, career
Tyndale gloss
racecourse
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word δρόμος (i.e., *dromos*) means a course or race, derived from the verb for running. It encompasses various contexts, including a physical racecourse, a metaphorical course of life or ministry, and quick movements. In the New Testament, it is used figuratively to describe one's career or journey in faith, notably in Acts and 2 Timothy.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δρόμος, -ου, ὁ

(< δραμεῖν, v.s. τρέχω)

[in LXX chiefly for מְרוּצָה ;]

a course: fig., of life or ministry, Ac 13:25 20:24, II Ti 4:7.†

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

δρόμος, -ov, ὅ, (fr. APAMQ [q. v.]; cf. νόμος, τρόμος, and the like), a course (Hom. et sqq.); in the N. Τὶ fig., the course of life or of office : πληροῦσθαι τὸν δρόμον, Acts xiii. 25; τελειοῦν, Acts xx. 24; τελεῖν, 2 Tim. iv. 7.

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

δρόμος in NT keeps the older sense as omen aclionts, ---τὸ δραμεῖν. For this cf. Wiinsch 47 313 rivals in a race are vigorously cursed—kata8yoov αὐτῶν τὰ σκέλη καὶ τὴν ὁρμὴν Kal τὸ πήδημα καὶ τὸν δρόμον. So of (Carthage, imperial), where ἔχειν τακτούς. denote a place where running might no doubt take place, In Egypt it had become specialized to though the possibility is no more remembered than in some of our modern -advome compounds. See Wilcken Os¢v. i. p. 771, Dittenberger on OG/S 1784, and Otto Preesteri. p. 284. It was the area in front of the entrance to a temple, paved with stones—cf. P Flor I. 50%? (A.p. 268) ἐπὶ τοῦ λιθοστρώτου δρόμου “Eppod—and often adorned with Sphinxes: it often became a central point in the business life of the city: see Strabo 17, p. 805, 28 cited ad P Hamb I. 518. BGU IV. 1130" (B.c. 4) ὧν [yelrovjes νότωι δρόμος τοῦ ἱεροῦ “Χ[νο]ύβεως θεοῦ μεγίστου will…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δρόμος (dromos) — racecourse.

δρόμος, ὁ,

(δραμεῖν) course, race, in Il.mostly of horses, ἵπποισι τάθη δρόμος [Refs]; οὐρίῳ δρόμῳ with prosperous course, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἅπαντι χρῆσθαι τῷ δρόμῳ at full speed, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]: of any quick movement, e. g. flight, [Refs 4th c.BC+] a day's running, i. e. the distance one can go in a day, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; δρόμῳ at a run, frequently with Verbs of motion, δρόμῳ διαβάντας τὸν Ἀσωπόν [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. foot-race, as a contest, [Refs] to run for one's life, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: generally, contest, πλαγᾶν δρόμος, i. e. a pugilistic contest, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. lap in a race, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

4. in speaking, rapid delivery, [Refs 3rd c.AD+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

δρόμος

dromos

from the alternate of 5143; a race, i.e. (figuratively)

career:--course.

see GREEK for 5143

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δρόμος, ου, ὁ

n.m.

a running, course, career

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δρόμος dromos 3x

a course, race, race-course; met. course of life or ministry, career, Acts 13:25; 20:24; 2 Tim. 4:7*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

δρόμος ndrom os_ou masc δραμεῖν a course, running, race, Hom. (v. τείνω); ou)ri/w| dro/mw| in straight course, Soph.:—of any quick movement, e. g. flight, Aesch.:—of time, ἡμέρης δρ. a day's running, i. e. the distance one can go in a day, Hdt.:— δρόμῳ at a run, id. Hdt., attic

the footrace:—proverb., περὶ τοῦ παντὸς δρόμον θεῖν to run for one's all, Hdt.; τὸν περὶ ψυχῆς δρόμον δραμεῖν Ar.

the length of the stadium, a course or heat in a race, Soph.

a place for running, a run for cattle, Od.

a race-course, Hdt.: a public walk, Lat. ambulatio, Eur., Plat.:—proverb., ἔξω δρόμου or ἐκτὸς δρόμου φέρεσθαι, Lat. extra oleas vagari, to get off the course, i. e. wander from the point, Aesch., Plat.; ἐκ δρόμου πεσεῖν Aesch.

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

N-ASM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ras (merox; agon, dromos).

See GAMES, I, 2; II, 3.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

[GAMES]

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Ps 19:5 Ec 9:11. Various games were instituted among the Greeks and Romans, in honor of their gods, and with the design of training young men to personal vigor and activity, and to intrepidity and skill in war. These games were celebrated at stated places and times, with great pomp; renowned statesmen, legislators, and kings engaged in them; and it was deemed the highest of all honors to be crowned with a simple chaplet of laurel, olive, pine, or parsley, in the presence of the vast assemblage of witnesses who delighted to honor the victor.

The preparatory training was very severe, and every weakening indulgence was forbidden. Among the most famous games were those celebrated on the isthmus of Corinth, hence called the Isthmian games; and to these Paul alludes in his letters to…

Nave's Topical Bible

1. Human

Unity of Ge 3:20; Mal 2:10

2. FOOT RACE

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
67%course
course67% · 2×race33% · 1×

3 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 2 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
object100%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 3 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
ἸωάννηςJohnτελειόωI complete, accoἀγωνίζομαιI strive, conten
δρόμοςrace
what comes after →
λέγωI say, speak
τίςIrg
ἐγώ
καίand, even, also,
τελέωI end, accomplish, p
Article the

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

Concordanceδρόμος · 3× in the New Testament
Acts 2 Timothy
Across the New Testament2 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 88c. AD 40

οἱ μὲν γὰρ ὑστερίζοντες τῶν ὑποζυγίων καὶ κατόπιν αὐτῶν ἐξεταζόμενοι ᾗ ἂν ἐθέλωσιν αὐτὰ ἄγουσι τῶν ἡνιῶν ἐνειλημμένοι καὶ τοτὲ μὲν ἐφιέντες πρὸς ὀξὺν δρόμον τοτὲ δ’ ἀναχαιτίζοντες, εἰ φορᾷ τοῦ δέοντος πλείονι θέοι·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 6.188c. AD 75–95

ὁ δὲ Παλαιστῖνος ὑπὸ βάρους τῶν ὅπλων εἰς ὠκύτητα καὶ δρόμον ἐμποδιζόμενος βάδην ἐπὶ τὸν Δαβίδην παραγίνεται καταφρονῶν καὶ πεποιθὼς γυμνὸν ὁμοῦ καὶ παῖδα ἔτι τὴν ἡλικίαν ἀπόνως ἀναιρήσειν.

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 6.2c. AD 96

διὰ ζῆλος διωχθεῖσαι γυναῖκες Δαναΐδες καὶ Δίρκαι, αἰκίσματα δεινὰ καὶ ἀνόσια παθοῦσαι, ἐπὶ τὸν τῆς πίστεως βέβαιον δρόμον κατήντησαν καὶ ἔλαβον γέρας γενναῖον αἱ ἀσθενεῖς τῷ σώματι.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. BC 1st c. BC 2nd c. AD 1st c. AD 2nd c. BC
BGU 4 1130 [108]Alexandria5 BC

τόπους ἐν οἷς οἰκία καὶ βαλανεῖον δημόσιον πρότερον Διογένους τοῦ Ἰσιδώρου, ὧν γείτονες νότωι δρόμος τοῦ ἱεροῦ Χνούβεως θεοῦ μεγίστου βορρᾶι προβατιῶνες τοῦ Ἀμενώθου ἀπηλιώτηι ὕδρευμα λιβὶ κοινὴ εἴσοδος

CPR 6 72HermopolitesAD 1–AD 100

ὅλων νότου δημοσία ῥύμη βορρᾶ Ψόις Χενύριος ἀπηλιώτου τοῦ προγεγραμμένου υἱοῦ Φίβιος Φίβιος λιβὸς δρόμος Ἑρμοῦ Θότου τοῦ μεγίστου τῆς αὐτῆς κώμης Πέσλα. κυρία ἡ διαθήκη. ἓξ οἵδε μάρτυρες.

P.Bagnall 34Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites) bzw. MemphisAD 1–AD 200

δρόμου … . Κομοάπιος τοῦ Ἁρμάχιος, ἧς γείτονες· νότου … νος υἱῶν, βορρᾶ δρόμος Ἀφροδίτης , λιβὸς … Γαλάτου υἱῶν, ἀπηλιώτου υἱῶν … τῆς μητρικῆς τῆς Ἀθίνιος οἰκίας

The good <the> fight I have fought, the race I have finished, the faith I have kept;
τετέλεκα,teleō I have finished, G5055 Verb · perfect · active · indicative · first person · singular
28× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Timothy than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To finish means to complete or execute something, like finishing a task or paying a debt. This concept is seen in the Bible, such as in Matthew 7:28 and 2 Timothy 4:7, where it refers to completing a journey or a mission.
Amplified meaning
completed, executed
Tyndale gloss
to finish
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

τελέω is a verb meaning to complete, fulfill, or execute. It encompasses a range of actions from finishing a task to paying debts. In the New Testament, it is used in various contexts, such as fulfilling the law (Romans 2:27) and completing a journey (Matthew 10:23). The entries do not show significant disagreement.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

τελέω, -ῶ

(< τέλος),

[in LXX for כָּלָה, pi., etc. ;]

to bring to an end, complete, finish: τ. δρόμον, II Ti 4:7; τ. λόγους, Mt 7:28 19:1 26:1; τ. παραβολάς, Mt 13:53; τ. πόλεις, Mt 10:23; pass., Re 15:8 20:3, 5, 7; c. ptcp., Mt 11:1.

to execute, perform, complete, fulfil: Lk 2:39, Ac 13:29, Ro 2:27, II Co 12:9, Ga 5:16, Ja 2:8,

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

τελέω, -@; 1 aor. ἐτέλεσα [cf. W. § 13, 3 c.]; pf. τετέλεκα (2 Tim. iv. 7); Pass., pres. 3 pers. sing. τελεῖται (2 Co. xii. 9 L TTr WH); pf. τετέλεσμαι ; 1 aor. ἐτελέσθην; 1 fut. τελεσθήσομαι; (τέλος) ; fr. Hom. down; 1. to bring to a close, to finish, to end : ἔτη, pass., passed, finished, Rev. xx. 3, 5, 7, ({so fr. Hom. and Hes. down; Aristot. h. a. 7, 1 init. p. 580°, 14 ἐν τοῖς ἔτεσι τοῖς δὶς ἑπτὰ τετεNeopevots]; τριῶν τελουμένων ἡμερῶν, Leian. Alex. 38); τὸν δρόμον (Hom. Il. 23, 373, 768; Soph. Electr. 726), 2 Tim. iv. 7; τοὺς λόγους, Mt. vii. 28 LT Tr WH; xix. 1; xxvi.1; τὰς παραβολάς, Mt. xiii. 53; [ἄχρι τελεσθῶσιν ai πληγαί, Rey. xv. 8]; a rare use is τελεῖν τὰς πόλεις, 1. 6. your flight or journey through the cities [R. V. ye shall not have gone through the cities, ete.], Mt. x. 23 (similar are ἀνύειν τοὺς τόπους, Polyb. 5, 8, 1; τὰ ἕλη, 3, 79,5; consummare Italiam, Flor. 1…

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

τελέω, (1) ‘complete, accomplish,” ‘‘ fulfil”: P Oxy VII. 10611" (B.C. 22) ἕως μοι τοῦτο τελέσητε, ‘ until you accomplish this for me,” 2.17 ἕως ὅτου τελεσθῆ[ι, ‘until it is accomplished,” P Giss I, 991} (ii/iii A.D.) θυσίαι τεϊλοῦνταιThe verb = ‘‘ produce ” in Chrest. I. 2365 (iii/A.D.) τελοῦσαι ἀν[ὰ πυροῦ ἀ]ρτ[άβην] μί[αν. (2) “pay”: P Petr III. 59(4)3 (census paper—iii/B.c.) ἀφ᾽ ὧν ἐστὶν τῶν μὴ τελούντων ἱερὰ ἔθνη, ‘from this are to be GG subtracted those priestly corporations which are exempt from the tax’’ (Mahaffy), P Oxy IX. 1210+ (i/B.c.—i/a.p.) τελοῦντες Aaoypadlay ᾿Οξυρυγχίτου dv8(pes), ‘‘ men paying poll-tax in the Oxyrhynchite nome,” P Fay 361} (A.D. 111-2) ὑφίσταμαι τελέσειν φόρον ἀργυρίου δραχμὰς ὀγδοήκοντα, “ΕἼ undertake to pay as rent eighty drachmae of silver”’ (Edd.), P Oxy VII. 1037'% (A.D. 444) τελέσ[ὡ] σοι ὑπὲρ ἐνοικίου, ‘* I will pay you for rent,” 72. VIII. 113077…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

τελέω (teleō) — to finish.

τελέω,

Epic dialect also τελείω, both in [Refs 8th c.BC+] (τελέοντες [Refs 8th c.BC+]: Epic dialect imperfect τέλεον [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Ionic dialect τέλεσκον [Refs 3rd c.BC+]: future τελέσω [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Epic dialect also τελέω, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Attic dialect τελῶ [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist (ἐ) τέλεσα [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Epic dialect τέλεσσα and ἐτέλεσσα [Refs 8th c.BC+] (infinitive τελέσσαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Attic dialect ἐτέλεσα [Refs 5th c.BC+]: perfect τετέλεκα [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—middle, future (see. below): aorist ἐτελεσάμην [Refs]; perfect τετέλεσμαι [Refs 3rd c.BC+]:—passive, Epic dialect imperfect ἐτελείετο [Refs 8th c.BC+]: future τελεσθήσομαι [Refs 4th c.BC+]; future middle in this sense, τελεῖται [Refs 8th c.BC+]; participle τελεόμενος [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist ἐτελέσθην [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Aeolic dialect infinitive τελέσθην [Refs 7th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

τελέω

teleo

from 5056; to end, i.e. complete, execute, conclude, discharge (a

debt):--accomplish, make an end, expire, fill up, finish, go over,

pay, perform.

see GREEK for 5056

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

τελέω

v.

I end, accomplish, pay

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

τελέω teleō 28x

to finish, complete, conclude, an operation, Mt. 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; to finish a circuit, Mt. 10:23; to fulfil, to carry out into full operation, Rom. 2:27; Gal. 5:16; Jas. 2:8; to pay dues, Mt. 17:24; pass. to be fulfilled, realized, Lk. 12:50; 18:31; of time, to be ended, elapse, Rom. 15:8; 20:3, 5, 7

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

τελέω to complete, fulfil, accomplish, and, generally, to execute, perform, Lat. perficere, Hom.: —Pass., id. Hom.; ἅμα μῦθος ἔην, τετέλεστο δὲ ἔργον "no sooner said than done, " Il.

to fulfil one's word, Hom.: to grant one the fulfilment of anything, τί τινι id. Hom.; τ. νόον τινί to fulfil his wish, Il.; τελέσαι κότον, χόλον to glut his fury, wrath, id. Il.: c. inf., οὐδ᾽ ἐτέλεσσε φέρειν he succeeded not in bringing, id. Il.; ὅρκια τελεῖν, like ὅρκον τελευτᾶν, to complete or confirm an oath, id. Il.

to make perfect, ἀρετάν Pind.; τ. τινα to bless him with perfect happiness, id. Pind.; so, τελεσθεὶς ὄλβος Aesch.:—also, to bring a child to maturity, bring it to the birth, Eur.

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-RAI-1S — Verb · perfect · active · indicative · first person · singular
perfect active indicative — a past action whose result still stands.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-RAI-1S Part of Speech: Verb Tense: peRfect Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: first Number: Singular

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
21%finished
finished21% · 6×may be completed7% · 2×may have been completed7% · 2×they had finished4% · 1×fulfilling4% · 1×pay you4% · 1×you may gratify4% · 1×i have finished4% · 1×other renderings46% · 13×

28 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
verb100%

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
ὅτεwhen
γίνομαιI come into bein
ἄχριas far as, up to, un
ναόςa temple, shrineθηρίονa wild beast, anἔθνοςa race, people,
μήNeg
οὐNeg
καίand, even, also, nam
ἹεροσόλυμαPropσαλπίζωI sound a trumpe
νόμοςa law, the Mosaic La
Article theμέντοιindeed, yet, how
τελέωI have finished,28×
what comes after →
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusχίλιοιa thousandπόλιςa city
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
Article the
δίδραχμονa double-drachma, tw
ἐν
ἐγώ
ἵναin order that, so th
τελειόωI complete, acco

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

Concordanceτελέω · 28× in the New Testament
Revelation Matthew Luke John Romans 2 Corinthians 2 Timothy Acts Galatians James
Across the New Testament10 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 Ignatius of Antioch The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 82c. AD 40

ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐναντία φύσει τό τε φθαρτὸν καὶ τὸ ἄφθαρτον, εἴδους ἑκατέρου τὸ κάλλιστον ἀρχῇ καὶ τέλει προσένειμεν, ἀρχῇ μὲν οὐρανόν, ὡς ἐλέχθη, τέλει δὲ ἄνθρωπον.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.7c. AD 75–95

ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ μείζων ἦν ἡ τοῦδε τοῦ λόγου περιβολή, κατʼ αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον χωρίσας ταῖς ἰδίαις ἀρχαῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ τέλει τὴν γραφὴν συνεμέτρησα·

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 7.3c. AD 100

γεγραμμένης ἐντολῆς: Ὃς ἂν μὴ νηστεύσῃ τὴν νηστείαν, θανάτῳ ἐξολεθρευθήσεται, ἐνετείλατο κύριος, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπὲρ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἁμαρτιῶν ἔμελλεν τὸ σκεῦος τοῦ πνεύματος προσφέρειν θυσίαν, ἵνα καὶ ὁ τύπος ὁ γενόμενος ἐπὶ Ἰσαὰκ τοῦ προσενεχθέντος…

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 7th c. AD 2nd c. AD 4th c. AD
P.Mich. 5 338Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 45

Πτολέμιος Πτολεμίου Κρονίωνι νομογράφῳ Τεβτύνεως χαίρειν. ὁμολογῶ ἐσχηκέναι παρὰ σοῦ ᾓ ἐτέλεσαν διὰ σοῦ ὁμολογίαν ἐκστάσεως υἱῶν Ἥρωνος Λαβίωνος διὰ τὸ ἐμὲ καταλελοχίσθαι διὰ τῶν καταλοχισμῶν

P.Rein. 2 95Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 49

Φανίας ὁ πρὸς τῇ πύλῃ Νήσου Σοκνοπαίου ἑκατοστῆς πεντηκοστῆς ἐρημοφύλαξι καὶ δεκανοῖς χαίρειν. τετέλεσται Σαταβοῦς εἰσάγων καμηλους κ μυριάδα α σ καὶ εἰσάγων ὄνους Α μυριαδας ε δ

P.Vind.Worp 1Arsinoites (?)AD 90–AD 96

περὶ Ἀπύγχιν διὰ Ἑρμαίου ῥήτορος φαμένων ἀνατεθεῖσθαι τῷ θεῷ τὴν κώμην καὶ μηδὲ ἐν τέλει Σποτοῦν πατέρα Θέωνος τοῦ τελώνου ὧν ἐπὶ τῆς κώμης ἐώνηται τέλος μὴ δεδωκέναι προστιθέντων

The good <the> fight I have fought, the race I have finished, the faith I have kept;
τὴνho the G3588 Article · accusative · singular · feminine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 2 Timothy 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-ASF — Article · accusative · singular · feminine
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-ASF Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

English usagewhat the translators’ English meant
Webster's Dictionary (1828), Webster's Unabridged (1913), Webster's Dictionary (1806)

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

1. This adjective is used as a definitive, that is, before nouns which are specific or understood; or it is used to limit their signification to a specific thing or things, or to describe them; as the laws of the twelve tables. the independent tribunals of justice in our country, are the security or private rights, and the best bulwark against arbitrary power. the sun is the source of light and heat.

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

2. the is also used rhetorically before a noun in the singular number, to denote a species by way of distinction; a single thing representing the whole. the fig tree putteth forth her green figs; the almond tree shall flourish; the grasshopper shall be a burden.

3. In poetry, the sometimes loses the final vowel before another vowel.

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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
the19783×
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 good <the> fight I have fought, the race I have finished, the faith I have kept;
πίστινpistis faith G4102 Noun · accusative · singular · feminine
243× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Timothy than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Faith is the meaning of this word, which involves trust and confidence in God or Jesus Christ. It's used in Matthew 8:10 and Romans 1:8, showing reliance on God's power and promises.
Amplified meaning
trust, confidence in God
Tyndale gloss
faith
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

πίστις (pistis) is a feminine noun meaning faith, belief, or trust, derived from the verb πείθω (to persuade). It encompasses a range of meanings, primarily focusing on religious faith in God or Christ, and includes concepts of fidelity and assurance. In the New Testament, it appears in various contexts, often linked to salvation and the Christian faith, as seen in verses like Matthew 8:10 and Romans 1:8.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

πίστις, -εως, ἡ

(< πείθω),

[in LXX chiefly for אֱמוּנָה;]

in active sense, faith, belief, trust, confidence, in NT always of religious faith in God or Christ or spiritual things: Mt 8:10, Lk 5:20, Ac 14:9, Ro 1:8, I Co 2:5, II Co 1:24, I Ti 1:5, al.; c. gen. obj., Mk 11:22, Ac 3:16, Ro 3:22,

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

πίστις, -ews, 9, (πείθω [q-v-]), fr. [Hes., Theogn., Pind. ], Aeschyl., Hdt. down; Sept. for 93308, several times for Ax and IDR; faith; i.e. 1. conviction of the truth of anything, belief, (Plat., Polyb., Joseph., Plut.; θαυμάσια καὶ μείζω πίστεως, Diod. 1, 86); in the N. T. of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervor born of faith and conjoined with τὸς: Heb. xi. 1 (where πίστις is called ἐλπιζομένων trdcraces, πραγμάτων ἔλεγχος οὐ βλεπομένων) ; Opp. to εἶδος, 2 Co. vy. 7; joined with ἀγάπη and ἐλπίς, 1 Co. xiii. 13. a. when it relates to God, πίστις is the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ: Heb. xi. 6; xii. 2; xiii. 7; πίστις ἐπὶ θεόν, Heb. vi. 1; ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν ἡ πρὸς τὸν θεόν, by which ye…

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

πίστις. In accordance with its common NT usage, πίστις is used of ‘faith,’’ ‘‘ confidence” in a person in such passages as P Strass I. 4138 (c. A.D. 250), when in a legal process a witness is charged—as πρεσβύτης Kal πίστεως ἄξιος εἰπὲ ἃ οἶδας ἐν τῷ πρά[γματ]ι, and P Oxy XIV. τό27} (a.D. 342) διὰ τὴν περὶ ἡμᾶς μετριότητα καὶ πίστις (/. πίστιν), ‘owing to your clemency to us and confidence in us’’ (Edd.). In P Lond 233! (a.D. 345) (ΞΞ 11. p. 273, Chrest. I. p. 68) the editor translates τῇ σῇ πίστ(ε)ν as apparently = ‘‘at your discretion” or ‘“‘on your own credit.” P Tebt II. 418% (iii/A.D.) shows 5. ἀπολάβῃς παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ καλῇ πίστει, “‘receive it back from me in good faith’’ (Edd.): cf. P Oxy 1. 711: 11. (a.p. 303) νομίζουσα τούτους τὴν καλήν μοι πίστειν ἀποσώζειν, ‘thinking that they would preserve my good name” (Edd.). With the conjunction of πίστις and ἀλήθεια in τ Tim 27 cf. P Oxy I.…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

πίστις (pistis) — faith.

πίστις, ἡ,

genitive εως, Ionic dialect ιος [Refs 5th c.BC+]; dative πίστει, Ionic dialect πίστῑ [Refs 5th c.BC+]: (πείθομαι):—trust in others, faith, first in [Refs 8th c.BC+]: generally, persuasion of a thing, confidence, assurance, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἡ βεβαιοτάτη π., ἀταραξία καὶ π. βέβαιος, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; σωφροσύνης π. ἔχειν περί τινος to be persuaded of his probity, [Refs 4th c.BC+]

2. in subjective sense, good faith, trustworthiness, honesty, [Refs 6th c.BC+]

2. b of things, credence, credit, τὰν π. σμικρὰν παρ᾽ ἔμοιγ᾽ ἔχει [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. c καλῇ π., = Latin bona fide, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; αἱ κατὰ πίστιν γεινόμεναι κληρονομίαι, = Latin hereditates fideicommissariae, [Refs]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

πίστις

pistis

from 3982; persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious

truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially

reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, constancy in such

profession; by extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth

itself:--assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.

see GREEK for 3982

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

πίστις, εως, ἡ

n.f.

faith, belief, trust

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

πίστις pistis 243x

faith, belief, firm persuasion, 2 Cor. 5:7; Heb. 11:1; assurance, firm conviction, Rom. 14:23; ground of belief, guarantee, assurance, Acts 17:31; good faith, honesty, integrity, Mt. 23:23; Gal. 5:22; Tit. 2:10; faithfulness, truthfulness, Rom. 3:3; in NT faith in God and Christ, Mt. 8:10; Acts 3:16, et al. freq.; ἡ πίστις, the…

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Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

πίστις πίστις, ιος, ἡ, πείθομαι trust in others, faith, Lat. fides, fiducia, Hes., Theogn., attic; c. gen. pers. faith or belief in one, Eur.:— generally, persuasion of a thing, confidence, assurance, Pind., attic

good faith, trustworthiness, faithfulness, honesty, Lat. fides, Theogn., Hdt., attic

in a commercial sense, credit, trust, πίστις τοσούτων χρημάτων ἐστί μοι παρά τινι I have credit for so much money with him, Dem.; εἰς πίστιν διδόναι τί τινι id. Dem.

in Theol. faith, belief, as opp. to sight and knowledge, NTest.

that which gives confidence: hence,

an assurance, pledge of good faith, warrant, guarantee, Soph., Eur.; πίστιν καὶ ὅρκια ποιεῖσθαι to make a treaty by exchange of assurances and oaths, Hdt.; οὔτε π. οὔθ᾽ ὅρκος μένει Ar.; πίστιν διδόναι to give assurances, Hdt.; διδόναι καὶ λαμβάνειν to…

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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

fath:

1. Etymology

2. Meaning: a Divergency

3. Faith in the Sense of Creed

4. A Leading Passage Explained

5. Remarks

6. Conclusion

In the Old Testament (the King James Version) the word occurs only twice: De 32:20 ('emun); Hab 2:4 ('emunah). In the latter the Revised Version (British and American) places in the margin the alternative rendering, "faithfulness." In the New Testament it is of very frequent occurrence, always representing pistis, with one exception in the King James Version (not the Revised Version (British and American)), Heb 10:23, where it represents elpis, "hope."

1. Etymology:

The history of the English word is rather interesting than important; use and contexts, alike for it and its Hebrew and Greek parallels, are…

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Faith

Faith is in general the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true (Phil. 1:27; 2 Thess. 2:13). Its primary idea is trust. A thing is true, and therefore worthy of trust. It admits of many degrees up to full assurance of faith, in accordance with the evidence on which it rests.

Faith is the result of teaching (Rom. 10:14-17). Knowledge is an essential element in all faith, and is sometimes spoken of as an equivalent to faith (John 10:38; 1 John 2:3). Yet the two are distinguished in this respect, that faith includes in it assent, which is an act of the will in addition to the act of the understanding.…

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The assent of the understanding to any truth. Religious faith is assent to the truth of divine revelation and of the events and doctrines contained in it. This may be merely historical, without producing any effect on our lives and conversation; and it is then a dead faith, such as even the devils have. But a living or saving faith not only believes the great doctrines of religion as true, but embraces them with the heart and affections; and is thus the source of sincere obedience to the divine will, exhibited in the life and conversation. Faith in Christ is a grace wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit, whereby we receive Christ as our Savior, our Prophet, Priest, and King, and love and obey him as such. This living faith in Christ is the means of salvation-not meritoriously, but instrumentally. Without it there can be no forgiveness of sins, and no holiness of life; and they who are…

Nave's Topical Bible

→ General scriptures concerning 2Sa 22:31; Ps 2:12; 5:11; 7:1; 9:9,10; 18:30; 32:10; 33:18,19; 34:1-8,22; 36:7; 40:4; 64:10; 78:5-7; 84:5,12; 112:5,7,8; 118:8,9; 125:1; 147:11; Pr 3:5; 14:26; 22:19; 28:25; 29:25; 30:5; Isa 10:20; 14:32; 26:3; 30:15; 57:13; Jer 17:7,8; 39:18; Na 1:7; Mt 9:22; 21:21,22; Mr 9:23,24; 11:23,24; Lu 7:50; 8:48-50; 17:5; 18:8; Joh…

Across the New Testament24 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 24 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 Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 57c. AD 40

τὸ δὲ μέγεθος τῆς περὶ τὸν ἥλιον δυνάμεως καὶ ἀρχῆς ἐμφανεστάτην πίστιν ἔχει τὴν λεχθεῖσαν ἤδη·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.14c. AD 75–95

τὸ σύνολον δὲ μάλιστά τις ἂν ἐκ ταύτης μάθοι τῆς ἱστορίας ἐθελήσας αὐτὴν διελθεῖν, ὅτι τοῖς μὲν θεοῦ γνώμῃ κατακολουθοῦσι καὶ τὰ καλῶς νομοθετηθέντα μὴ τολμῶσι παραβαίνειν πάντα κατορθοῦται πέρα πίστεως καὶ γέρας εὐδαιμονία πρόκειται παρὰ θεοῦ·

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 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 5th c. AD
P.Fay. 122Euhemeria (Arsinoites)AD 100

Σισόιν τὸν τέκτονα ἀποτεῖσαι καὶ πέμψεις εἰς Χαλῶθιν ἐάν τινα εὕρῃς κατὰ παρόντας ἔχοντα πίστιν πολλήν, πέμψεις δὲ τὰ πρὸς τὴν ρο … … πρὸ ἡμερῶν τριῶν … ες.

P.Mich. 3 188Bakchias (Arsinoites)AD 120

ὁμολογῶν Ἑρμᾶς ἀποδοῦναι τὸ προκίμενον ἀργύριον ἀποδότω σὺν καὶ τῶι προκιμένωι ἀργυρίῳ … τῆς πίστεως περὶ αὐτὴν τὴν Ταπεκῦσιν οὔσης. ὑπογραφεὺς τῆς Ταπεκύσιος καὶ τοῦ αὐτῆς κυρίου Ἀμμώνιος Διοσκύρου

P.Fam.Tebt. 27Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 132

δούλην Ἀθηνάριον ταύτην τοιαύτην ἀναπόρριφον πλὴν ἐπαφῆς καὶ ἱερᾶς νόσου τῆι ἰδίᾳ αὐτοῦ Οὐαλερίου πίστει ἧς ἐὰν εὕρῃ τιμῆς τοῖς προσελευσομένοις ἀγορασταῖς, τῆς βεβαιώσεως πάσῃ βεβαιώσει ἐξακολουθούσης τῇ Ἡρακλείᾳ,

The good <the> fight I have fought, the race I have finished, the faith I have kept;
τετήρηκα·tēreō I have kept; G5083 Verb · perfect · active · indicative · first person · singular
71× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 2 Timothy as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means to keep or observe something, like watching over it to keep it safe. Jesus uses it in John 17:11-12 to ask God to keep his followers safe. The Bible translates it as 'hold fast' or 'keep'.
Amplified meaning
observed, watched over
Tyndale gloss
to keep: observe
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

τηρέω is a verb meaning to watch over, guard, or keep. It encompasses a range of meanings including observing, preserving, and maintaining, often with a sense of careful attention. The New Testament uses it in various contexts, such as keeping commandments (e.g., Mt 19:17) and guarding one's faith (e.g., 2 Tim 4:7). It is related to the idea of custody and protection.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

τηρέω, -ῶ

[in LXX for שָׁמַר, נָצַר, etc. ;]

to watch over, guard, keep, preserve: Mt 27:36, Ac 16:23, al.; ἑαυτόν, II Co 11:9, I Ti 5:22, Ja 1:27, Ju 21; seq. εἰς, Jo 12:7, Ac 25:21, I Pe 1:4, II Pe 2:4, 9 3:7, Ju 6; ἐν, Jo 17:11, 12, Ju 21; ἐκ, Jo 17:15, Re 3:10; τ. πίστιν, II Ti 4:7, Re 14:12; τ. ἑνότητα τ. πνεύματος, Read the full entry →

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

τηρέω, -ῶ; impf. ἐτήρουν; fut. τηρήσω; 1 aor. ἐτήρησα; pf. τετήρηκα, 3 pers. plur. τετηρήκασιν (Jn. xvii. 6 RG) and τετήρηκαν (ibid. LT Tr WH, [see γίνομαι, init.]) ; Pass., pres. τηροῦμαι; impf. ἐτηρούμην ; pf. τετήρημαι; 1 aor. ἐτηρήθην ; (τηρός, found only once, Aeschyl. suppl. 248, where it is doubtful whether it means ‘ guarding’ or ‘watching ’), fr. Pind., Soph., Thuc. down; Sept. several times for Dv, 1¥i, etc.; to attend to carefully, take care of; i.e. a. prop. to guard: twa, a prisoner, Mt. xxvii. 36, 54; Acts xvi. 23; pass., Acts xii. 5; [xxiv. 23]; xxv. 4, 21 ["]; ri, xii. 6; of τηροῦντες, [(R.V.) the watchers] the guards, Mt. xxviii. 4 (Cant. iii.3). Ὁ. metaph. to keep: τινά, one in that state in which he is, τὴν ἑαυτοῦ παρθένον, his own virgin daughter, sc. as a Virgin i. 6. unmarried, 1 Co. vii. 37; ἑαυτόν, himself such as he is, i. 6. begotten of God, 1 Jn. v. 18 [but…

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

τηρέω (1) lit. “watch,” ‘‘observe”: P Tebt II. 2784% (early i/A.D.) τηρῖ ple] γάρ, “for he watches me (?)” (Edd.). (2) “‘cuard,” ‘ protect”: PSI III. 168° (B.c. 118) τηροῦντός μου σὺν ἄλλοις ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐμ Iloxpiper βασιλικοῦ χώματος, P Oxy VI. 985 (accounts—2"¢ half i/a.D.) ἐργάτηι τηροῦντι τὸν οἶνον... (δραχμαὶ) δ. (3) “keep,” ‘‘preserve”: BGU IV. 114125 (B.c. 13) κἀγὼ τὴν φιλίαν σου θέλων ἄμεμπτίον] ἐματὸν ἐτήρησα (cf. 1 Thess 5"), P Oxy XIV. 175725 (ii/A.D., after Hadrian) κόμισαι παρὰ Θέωνος μάνια (‘‘ vessels?) δύο kal τήρησόν por αὐτὰ ἕως ἀναβῶ, 20. IIT. 53315. (ii/iili A.D.) ἵνα τηρήσωσι αὐτῶν τὴν δεξιάν, ““{Παΐ they should keep their pledge,” 2. VIII. 11601® (iii/iv A.D.) τὰ σεσύλληχα δὲ κέρμα {ταῦ τηρῶ αὐτὰ εἰς τὴν δίκην, “I am keeping for the trial the money that I have collected” (Ed.), and 75. X. 12987 (iv/A.D.) ἐγὼ μόνος (1 μόνον 9) πάνυ ἐμαυτὸν τηρῶν imp τὸν ἀσφαλήν, “I have…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

τηρέω (tēreō) — to keep: observe.

τηρ-έω

(τη- also in Doric dialect, [Refs 7th c.BC+], perfect τετήρηκα [Refs 4th c.BC+]:—watch over, take care of, guard, δώματα [Refs 5th c.BC+]; rarely of persons, δαιμόνων.., αἵτινες τηροῦμεν ὑμᾶς [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τ. τὴν ἀρχήν maintain it, [Refs 2nd c.BC+] —passive, τὸ ἔξωθεν [τεῖχος] ἐτηρεῖτο was constantly guarded, [Refs 5th c.BC+]future middle τηρήσομαι in passive sense, [Refs]

2. τ. ὅπως.. ἔσται take care that.. , [Refs 4th c.BC+]; τ. μὴ.. cavere ne.. , [Refs 5th c.BC+]: also in middle, τηρώμεσθ᾽, ὅπως μὴ.. αἰσθήσεται [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. τηρεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ πυρός protect them from the fire, i.e. cook them slowly, Bilabel Ὀψαρτ.[Refs]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

τηρέω

tereo

from teros (a watch; perhaps akin to 2334); to guard (from loss or

injury, properly, by keeping the eye upon; and thus differing from

5442, which is properly to prevent escaping; and from 2892, which

implies a fortress or full military lines of apparatus), i.e. to note

(a prophecy; figuratively, to fulfil a command); by implication, to

detain (in custody; figuratively, to maintain); by extension, to

withhold (for personal ends; figuratively, to keep unmarried); by

extension, to withhold (for personal ends; figuratively, to keep

unmarried):--hold fast, keep(- er), (pre-, re-)serve, watch.

see GREEK for 2334

see GREEK for 5442

see GREEK for 2892

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

τηρέω

v.

I keep, guard, observe

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

τηρέω tēreō 70x

to keep watch upon, guard, Mt. 27:36, 54; 28:4; Acts 12:6; to watch over protectively, guard, 1 Jn. 5:18; Rev. 16:15; to mark attentively, to heed, Rev. 1:3; to observe practically, keep strictly, Mt. 19:17; 23:3; 28:20; Mk. 7:9; Jn. 8:51; to preserve, shield, Jn. 17:15; to store up, reserve, Jn. 2:10; 12:7; Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

τηρέω τηρέω, φυτ. -ήσω

τῆρος to watch over, protect, guard, Pind., Ar.:—Pass. to be constantly guarded, Thuc.; fut. mid. τηρήσομαι in pass. sense, id. Thuc.

to take care that . . , Arist., Ar., Plat.

to give heed to, watch narrowly, observe, Ar.; τὰς ἁμαρτίας Thuc.

to watch for, c. acc., Soph., Ar.; παραστείχοντα τηρήσας having watched for him as he was passing by, Soph.

absol. to watch, keep watch, Arist.:—c. inf. to watch or look out, so as to . . , Thuc.

to observe or keep an engagement, Isocr., etc.; τ. εἰρήνην Dem.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-RAI-1S — Verb · perfect · active · indicative · first person · singular
perfect active indicative — a past action whose result still stands.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-RAI-1S Part of Speech: Verb Tense: peRfect Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: first Number: Singular

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
15%keep
keep15% · 11×keeping15% · 11×do keep7% · 5×kept3% · 2×be kept3% · 2×will keep3% · 2×may keep3% · 2×being kept3% · 2×other renderings49% · 36×

73 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 40 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
verb100%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 71 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
ποιέωI do, makeἐγώτηρέωI keep, guard, o
Article the
καίand, even, also,σείωI shakeαὐτός
αὐτός
ἐντολήan ordinance, inμετάδιδάσκωI teach
ἐγώ
λόγοςa word, speech, ἐνταφιασμόςembalming, prepaἐντολήan ordinance, in
σύ
παράδοσιςan instruction, ἐλάσσωνless, smaller, iλόγοςa word, speech,
τηρέωI have kept;71×
what comes after →
Article the
ἐντολήan ordinance, inλόγοςa word, speech, ἑαυτοῦ
αὐτός
ἐνἐκεῖthere, yonder, tἐκεῖνος
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theγίνομαιI come into beinμένωI remain, abide
ἐν
Article theοὐρανόςthe sky, the hea
κατά
δέbut, on the othe

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

Concordanceτηρέω · 71× in the New Testament
John Revelation Acts 1 John Matthew Jude 2 Peter 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians James 1 Corinthians 1 Peter
Across the New Testament16 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 18 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 The Shepherd of Hermas Philo of Alexandria Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 3.65c. AD 40

αὐτός σου τηρήσει κεφαλήν, καὶ σὺ τηρήσεις αὐτοῦ πτέρναν“ (Gen.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.129c. AD 75–95

οὐ γὰρ ἐπιχώριος ἡμῖν ὁ τοιοῦτος αὐτῶν τύπος, ἀλλʼ ἕν τε αὐτῶν σχῆμα καὶ τελευτὴ μία, Νῶχός τέ τοι Νῶε καλεῖται καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τύπον ἐπὶ παντὸς τηρεῖ σχήματος.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 10.11c. AD 100

κολλᾶσθε μετὰ τῶν φοβουμένων τὸν κύριον, μετὰ τῶν μελετώντων ὃ ἔλαβον διάσταλμα ῥήματος ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ, μετὰ τῶν λαλούντων τὰ διδαιώματα κυρίου καὶ τηρούντων, μετὰ τῶν εἰδότων, ὅτι ἡ μελέτη ἐστὶν ἔργον εὐφροσύνης, καὶ ἀναμαρυκωμένων τὸν λόγον 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 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 1st c. AD 1st c. BC
SB 3 6823AD 41–AD 54

Καπίτων Τήρῃ τῷ φιλτάτῳ πλεῖστα χαίρειν. πρὸ μὲν πάντων ἐχάρην μεγάλως λαβών σου ἐπιστολήν, ὅτι ὑγιαίνεις

P.Tebt. 2 302Tebtynis (ArsinoitesAD 71–AD 72

ἀξιοῦμέν σε βεβαιῶσαι ἡμῖν τὴν γῆν τὴν ἀντὶ συντάξεως ἡμῖν ἐκ διαδοχῆς τῶν γονέων τετηρημένην … ἐκ πολλοῦ χρόνου αὐτουργούντων ἡμῶν σὺν γυναιξὶ καὶ τέκνοις ὅπως δυνώμεθα … ηναι

Aegyptus 67 (1987), p. 60-61 no. 55Talei (Arsinoites)AD 111–AD 112

ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ … … … υ εἰς χρείαν … ι … δ τηρεῖν. ἔτους ιε Τραιανοῦ Καίσαρος τοῦ κυρίου

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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