Menu

Hebrews 8:7 — Word Study

Depth

N1904εἰ γὰρ πρώτη ἐκείνη ἦν ἄμεμπτος, οὐκ ἂν δευτέρας ἐζητεῖτο τόπος.

BSAIfei forgar [explaining, introducing a reason] theho firstprōtos [agreement, testament] that [one]ekeinos [specific, previously mentioned] waseimi [existed as] faultless,amemptos [blameless, free from defect] notou [absolutely not] then wouldan for a seconddeuteros was being soughtzēteō [existed as, looked for] a place.topos [location, position]

Word
Listen & take awayHebrews 8
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 (topos) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
Hebrews 8:7quick helps
In a sentenceThe author argues that if the first covenant had been perfect, there would be no need for a second.
Who is speakingThe author of Hebrews, explaining the nature of covenants.
Where we areThis verse is part of a discussion about the superiority of the new covenant over the old.
The hard wordἄμεμπτος
Take awayThe first covenant had flaws, necessitating a new agreement.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause subject verbεἰμί 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 — Hebrews 8:7

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 — The Superiority of the New Covenantgenerated

6Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises.
7For if that first covenant had been without fault, no place would have been sought for a second.
8But God found fault with the people and said: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
9It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not abide by My covenant, and I disregarded them, declares the Lord.

Hebrews 8:7 indicates that the first covenant was not without its faults, which is why a second covenant is necessary. The author emphasizes that the new covenant, mediated by Jesus, is based on better promises and is superior to the old covenant, as outlined in the surrounding verses.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
1Hebrews 8:6Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises.
2Hebrews 7:11–18Now if perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on this basis the people received the law), why was there still need for another priest to appear—one in the order of Melchizedek and not in the order of Aaron?
3Galatians 3:21Is the law, then, opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come from the law.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 3 references, hung on the phrase they belong to


The Key Word ἄμεμπτος, amemptosgenerated

The adjective ἄμεμπτος means 'blameless' or 'faultless.' It is derived from a negative particle and a verb meaning to blame, indicating that something is free from defects or moral failings.

In this context, it describes the first covenant as having faults, which justifies the need for a second covenant. Its use here highlights the inadequacies of the original agreement.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

This study reads the verse in the Berean Standard Bible, which uses the term without fault. The KJV and ASV also use faultless, maintaining the idea of perfection.

Where translations differ is in the rendering of πρώτη. The BSB and others use first, while some versions like BBE and GNV opt for agreement or testament.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main verb is ἦν, was, which governs the entire sentence. It connects the subject, ἡ πρώτη διαθήκη (the first covenant), to the predicate, ἄμεμπτος (faultless).

The structure includes a conditional clause introduced by εἰ (if), leading to a conclusion about the necessity of a second covenant, indicated by the phrase οὐκ ἐζητεῖτο (no place was sought).


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

ἄμεμπτος does not have a direct equivalent in the Septuagint but is conceptually linked to terms describing moral integrity and completeness, such as תָּם (tam) in Hebrew, which means complete or blameless.

The use of πρῶτος in the LXX often corresponds to the Hebrew רִאשׁוֹן (rishon), indicating the first in rank or sequence, reinforcing the idea of the first covenant's significance.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

Hebrews 8:7 explains that if the first covenant had been perfect, there would have been no need for a second one. This highlights the flaws in the original agreement and sets the stage for the introduction of a new covenant through Jesus.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean that the first covenant was without fault?

It means that the first covenant had imperfections that made it inadequate, which is why a new covenant was necessary.

Why is the new covenant considered better?

The new covenant is considered better because it is based on superior promises and is mediated by Jesus, offering a more complete relationship with God.

How does this verse relate to the concept of covenants in the Bible?

This verse illustrates the transition from the old covenant, which had faults, to the new covenant, emphasizing God's ongoing plan for redemption.

What implications does this have for understanding God's promises?

It shows that God's promises are progressive and that He provides a way for His people to have a more intimate relationship with Him through the new covenant.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. What aspects of the old covenant do I find inadequate in my own understanding of my relationship with God?
  2. How can I appreciate the significance of the new covenant in my daily life?
  3. In what ways can I reflect on the promises of God and how they are fulfilled in Christ?
  4. How does understanding the flaws of the first covenant enhance my gratitude for the new covenant?

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

Early church Fathers comment on the superiority of the new covenant over the old, as seen in their interpretations of this verse.

John ChrysostomHomily on Hebrews 14 c. 347–407
Whence does appear? In that this the one was cast out, and the other introduced in its place: for it is therefore of force because it is better.
Early Church Fathers on Hebrews 8 →
OecumeniusThe Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews 6th c.
Behold the order! He said that the covenant according to Christ is superior to the old one. And how is this evident? Because, he says, it is established on better promises.
Early Church Fathers on Hebrews 8 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on Hebrews 8:7 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

For if that first covenant had been faultless,.... Not the covenant of works; that was made in paradise, this on Mount Sinai; that was made with Adam and his posterity, this with the Jews only; that

Read John Gill on Hebrews 8 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. Same reasonings as in Hebrews 7:11.

Read Robert Jamieson on Hebrews 8 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible

This proves the gospel covenant better than the Mosaical, for if it had not, there would have been no second. For if that first covenant had been faultless: that first covenant, of which Moses was the mediator, as to the administration of it, (as to the matter of it, it was the same from Adam throughout all ages), was faulty; not because God made it, though it was a less perfect good than what succeeded it; it was able to save those who would rightly use it, and come unto Christ by it, ; but accidentally, by reason of the priests’ faults, and people’ s sinfulness, it became wholly ineffectual to them for saving them; therefore the blame and fault of it is charged on them, . Then should no…

Read Matthew Poole on Hebrews 8 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. Ver. 7. Had been faultless] Such as had not been weak and unprofitable, Hebrews 7:18; see the note there. If the people could have performed it, and have been perfected by it. If it could have conveyed grace, as Hebrews 8:10. The law may chain up the wolf, the gospel only changeth him; the one stops the stream, the other heals the fountain; the one restrains the practice, the other renews the principles. God therefore gave the law after the promise, Galatians 3:19, to advance the promise.

Read John Trapp on Hebrews 8 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) For the second.—Rather, for a second. This verse connects itself with the words, “a better covenant” in Hebrews 8:6. The form of expression used clearly points to the intended inference—that covenant was faulty, and a place was sought for a second; this makes plain the connection with Hebrews 8:8. The failure of the first covenant was manifest (Hebrews 7:11; Hebrews 7:18) to God, who, whilst the first still existed, “sought” and found place for a second.

Read Charles John Ellicott on Hebrews 8 →
AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

Verse 7. If that first had been faultless] This is nearly the same argument with that in Hebrews 7:11. The simple meaning is: If the first covenant had made a provision for and actually conferred pardon and purity, and given a title to eternal life, then there could have been no need for a second; but the first covenant did not give these things, therefore a second was necessary; and the covenant that gives these things is the Christian covenant.

Read AdamClarke on Hebrews 8 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7–13. Threefold superiority of the New to the Old Covenant, as prophesied by Jeremiah; being a proof that the “promises” of the New Covenant are “better”

Read Cambridge on Hebrews 8 →
Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For if that first covenant had been faultless - see the note on Hebrews 7:11. It is implied here that God had said that that covenant was not perfect or faultless.

Read Albert Barnes on Hebrews 8 →

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

For if that first covenant had been without fault, no place would have been sought for a second.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

For if that first covenant had been without fault, no place would have been sought for a second.

NETBNew English Translation2006

For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one.

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second.

RVARevised Version, American1894

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second.

NWBWebster's Bible1833

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for the second.

GNVGeneva Bible1599

For if that first Testament had bene vnblameable, no place should haue bene sought for the second.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

For if that first was faultless, place had not been sought for a second.

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

for if that first were faultless, a place would not have been sought for a second.

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

for if that first were faultless, a place would not have been sought for a second.

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

For if that former had been faultless, there should not indeed a place have been sought for a second.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

If that first agreement had been perfect, then a second wouldn't have been necessary.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

For if that first agreement had been as good as possible, there would have been no place for a second.

Word by word, the decisions they made

πρώτηprōtos first G4413 3 different renderings
firstASV BSB DBY KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
agreementBBE FBV
testamentGNV
ἦνeimi was G1510 2 different renderings
wereLSV YLT
wasDBY
δευτέραςdeuteros for a second G1208 3 different renderings
for a secondASV BBE BSB DBY DRA LSV MSB NETB RVA ULB WEB YLT
secondGNV KJV NWB
a secondFBV

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.

clauseγὰρforclauseεἰIfclausenoun phrase · subjectnoun phrasetheπρώτηfirstἐκείνηthatlinking verbἦνhad beenpredicateἄμεμπτοςfaultlessclauseἂν-clauseadverbialοὐκnotnoun phrase · subjectδευτέραςfor a secondτόποςa placeverbἐζητεῖτοwould have been sought

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

Nam si illud prius culpa vacasset, non utique secundi locus inquireretur.

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

ܐܠܘ ܓܝܪ ܐܝܬܝܗ ܗܘܬ ܩܕܡܝܬܐ ܕܠܐ ܪܫܝܢ ܠܝܬ ܗܘܐ ܐܬܪܐ ܠܗܕܐ ܕܬܪܬܝܢ

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

εἰ γὰρ πρώτη ἐκείνη ἦν ἄμεμπτος, οὐκ ἂν δευτέρας ἐζητεῖτο τόπος.

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

εἰ γὰρ πρώτη ἐκείνη ἦν ἄμεμπτος, οὐκ ἂν δευτέρας ἐζητεῖτο τόπος.

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

εἰ γὰρ πρώτη ἐκείνη ἦν ἄμεμπτος, οὐκ ἂν δευτέρας ἐζητεῖτο τόπος.

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

εἰ γὰρ πρώτη ἐκείνη ἦν ἄμεμπτος, οὐκ ἂν δευτέρας ἐζητεῖτο τόπος.

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

εἰ γὰρ πρώτη ἐκείνη ἦν ἄμεμπτος, οὐκ ἂν δευτέρας ἐζητεῖτο τόπος.

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

εἰ γὰρ πρώτη ἐκείνη ἦν ἄμεμπτος, οὐκ ἂν δευτέρας ἐζητεῖτο τόπος.

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

εἰ γὰρ πρώτη ἐκείνη ἦν ἄμεμπτος, οὐκ ἂν δευτέρας ἐζητεῖτο τόπος.

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

εἰ γὰρ πρώτη ἐκείνη ἦν ἄμεμπτος, οὐκ ἂν δευτέρας ἐζητεῖτο τόπος.

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

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

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

Word by word, across the editions

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


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

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

Hebrews 8:7εἰIfIfεἰγάρforforγάρthetheπρῶτοςfirstfirstπρῶτοςἐκεῖνοςthat [one]that [one]ἐκεῖνοςεἰμίwaswasεἰμίἄμεμπτοςfaultless,faultless,ἄμεμπτοςοὐnotnotοὐἄνthen wouldthen wouldἄνδεύτεροςfor a seconfor a secondδεύτεροςζητέωwas being swas being soughζητέωτόποςa place.a place.τόποςεἰ δὲ μήNeg.prt. bNeg.prt. but ifεἰ δὲ μήἐκεῖAdv there,Adv there, yondἐκεῖἄλφαletter theletter the firsἄλφαπρόPrep. befoPrep. beforeπρόμήNeg.prt. nNeg.prt. not, lμήἐάνCond. ifCond. ifἐάνδύοAdj. & IndAdj. & Indec.nuδύοπυνθάνομαιv. I ask, v. I ask, inquiπυνθάνομαιχώραn.f. region.f. region, laχώραδυνατόςAdj powerfAdj powerful, aδυνατόςὥσπερAdv just aAdv just as, asὥσπερτοιοῦτοςDem.pr. ofDem.pr. of suchτοιοῦτοςχείρωνAdj worseAdj worseχείρωνἔσχατοςAdj last, Adj last, at thἔσχατοςὥραn.f. an hon.f. an hour, sὥραἡμέραn.f. a dayn.f. a dayἡμέραἄξιοςAdj worthyAdj worthy, worἄξιοςγίνομαιv. I come v. I come into γίνομαι
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 Hebrews 8:7

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.

If for the first that [one] was faultless, not then would for a second was being sought a place.
εἰei If G1487 Conditional particle
501× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Hebrews as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means 'if' and is used to express conditions or questions. It appears in many Bible verses, such as Matthew 11:14 and Romans 8:25, introducing a condition or hypothesis.
Tyndale gloss
if
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word εἰ, transliterated as ei, is a primary conditional particle meaning 'if' or 'whether.' It is used in various contexts, including conditions, indirect questions, and expressions of wishes. In the New Testament, it appears frequently, often followed by different verb tenses to indicate various conditions. The lexicons do not present significant disagreement on its usage.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

εἰ,

conjunctive particle, used in conditions and in indirect questions.

Conditional, if;

c. indic., expressing a general assumption;

pres.: seq. indic, pres., Mt 11:14, Ro 8:25, al.; seq. imperat., Mk 4:23 9:22, Jo 15:18, I Co 7:9, al.; seq. fut. indic., Lk 16:31, Ro 8:11, al.; seq. pf. or aor., with negation in apodosis, Mt 12:26, Ro 4:14, al.; similarly, seq. impf., Lk 17:6, Jo 8:39; seq. quæst.,

Read the full entry →
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

εἰ 109 εἰ WH, s0 Trin Mt. xii. 41; Ὀζείας L T Tr WH; Πειλᾶτος T WH; Σεμεείν T Tr WH; Ταβειθά WH; Χερουβείν 1, T Tr WH (-βίμ RG); Χοραζείν T Tr WH; ἀφείδεια L; εἰδέα T Tr WH; ἐπαρχεία T WH; ἐπιπόθεια WH; ἡλεί T ; πανοικεί TWH; ῥαββεί T WH; ῥαββουνεί WH; σαβαχθανεί Tr WH; ταλειθά WH; τάχειον WH; τραπεζείτης T WH.| el, is first a conditional particle, ἐγ (Lat. si) ; secondly, an interrogative particle, whether, (Lat. an, num, ne). I. εἰ CoNDITIONAL (on the difference between it and ἐάν, see ἐάν, I. 1 b.) is connected, according to the variety of conditions, with various tenses and moods; viz. ἘΣ with the Indicative of all tenses, when anything is simply and generally assumed to be, or to be done, or to have been done, or to be about to be, (W. § 41 b., 2; ef. 42, 2; [Β. 220(190)]). a. withthe Ind. Present; a. foll. in the apodosis by the ind. pres.: Mt. xix. 10 (εἰ οὕτως ἐστὶν ἡ αἰτία...…

Read the full entry →
Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

ΕἸ , J ἐκπλησσω γὰρ τὸ ἀγαθὸν τοῦ ἀστέρος καὶ εἰς τὸ ἐναντίον ἐκπίπτει. See also Michel 827 A (mid. 11,8.0.) τό τε νόμισμα τὸ ἐκπεπτωκὸς ἀριθμῶι, of coins that have fallen out of use. The verb is not infrequent with reference to crops that “fall to be included”’ in the produce of a particular year, eg. BGU II. 5915" (A.p. 56-7) βουλόμεθα μισθώσασθαι τοὺς ἐκπεπτωκότας εἰς τὸ τρίτον ἔτος Νέρωνος. . . φοινεικίνους καρπούς, P Fay ο115 (A.p. 99) ἐϊλαϊκοὺς καρποὺς ἐκπεππτωκότας (/. ἐκπεπτωκ --Ἰ εἰς τὸ ἐνεστὸ(ς) τρίτον ἔτος. Cf. P Hib I. γ810 (B.c. 244--3) a letter requesting that two persons should be released from some public service—81a τὸ μὴ ἐκπεσίεῖν αὐτοῖς τὸ viv λειτουργῆσαι, ‘because it is not at present their turn to serve,’’ where the editors point out that éxmec[et]v, which has been corrected in the papyrus, is practically equivalent to προσπέσηι in 1.4 of the same document. For the…

Read the full entry →
Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

εἰ (ei) — if.

εἰ,

Attic dialect-Ionic dialect and [Refs 4th c.AD+] ἤ [Refs] in Epic dialect:— Particle used interjectionally with imperative and to express a wish, but usually either in conditions, if, or in indirect questions, whether. In the former use its regular negative is μ; in the latter, οὐ.

__A INTERJECTIONALLY, in [Refs 8th c.BC+], come now! with imperative, εἰ δὲ.. ἄκουσον [Refs 8th c.BC+]

__A.2 in wishes, with optative, ἀλλ᾽ εἴ τις.. καλέσειεν [Refs]; so later, εἴ μοι ξυνείη μοῖρα [Refs 8th c.BC+]; of unattained wishes, in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; later with past tenses of indicative, εἰ γάρ μ᾽ ὑπὸ γῆν.. ἧκεν [Refs 4th c.BC+]; εἰ γὰρ τοσαύτην δύναμιν εἶχον ὥστε.. [Refs 8th c.BC+]infinitive (compare the use of infinitive in commands), αἰ γὰρ τοῖος ἐὼν.. ἐμὸς γαμβρὸς καλέεσθαι…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

εἰ

ei

a primary particle of conditionality; if, whether, that,

etc.:--forasmuch as, if, that, (al-)though, whether. Often used in

connection or composition with other particles, especially as in 1489,

1490, 1499, 1508, 1509, 1512, 1513, 1536, 1537. See also 1437.

see GREEK for 1489

see GREEK for 1490

see GREEK for 1499

see GREEK for 1508

see GREEK for 1509

see GREEK for 1512

see GREEK for 1513

see GREEK for 1536

see GREEK for 1537

see GREEK for 1437

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

εἰ

Cond.

if

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

εἰ ei 502x

if, Mt. 4:3, 6; 12:7; Acts 27:39, freq.; since, Acts 4:9; whether, Mk. 9:23; Acts 17:11; that, in certain expressions, Acts 26:8, 23; Heb. 7:15; by a suppression of the apodosis of a sentence, εἰ serves to express a wish; O if! O that! Lk. 19:42; 22:42; also a strong negation, Mk. 8:12; Heb. 3:11; 4:3; εἰ καί, if even, though, although, Read the full entry →

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
COND — Conditional particle
conditional particle — it marks the clause as a condition.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

COND CONDitional particle or conjunction

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
74%if
if74% · 388×only17% · 89×whether3% · 14×lest3% · 14×other renderings3% · 17×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial7%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 501 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
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakδίδωμιI offer, giveἐπερωτάωI interrogate, q
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςἄρτοςbread, a loaf, fδίδωμιI offer, give
ὅτιthat, since, because
ΒηθσαϊδάPropγινώσκωI come to know, σύ
σύ
ἐνλέγωI say, speakἐπερωτάωI interrogate, q
λέγωI say, speak
καίand, even, also,αὐτόςἐγώ
εἰIf501×
what comes after →
δέbut, on the other ha
τὶςArticle theεἰ δὲ μήNeg
μήNeg
Article theἐνεἷςone
τὶς
θέλωI will, wish, deδοκέωI think, seem, aἔχωI have, hold, po
γάρfor
Article theπιστεύωI believe, have διά
Article the
θεόςGod, a godΣατανᾶςan adversary, Saδεξιόςon the right han

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

Concordanceεἰ · 501× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians Matthew Luke John Romans 2 Corinthians Acts Mark Galatians Hebrews Revelation 1 Peter

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament25 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 307 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.

If for the first that [one] was faultless, not then would for a second was being sought a place.
γὰρgar for G1063 Conjunction
1,038× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Hebrews than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
For is a word used to explain or give a reason, often introducing a justification or clarification, as seen in Matthew 4:18 and Romans 7:1. It's a conjunction that connects ideas and provides additional information.
Amplified meaning
explaining, introducing a reason
Tyndale gloss
for
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word γάρ (gar) is a coordinating particle primarily used to introduce reasons or explanations, similar to 'for' in English. It can serve various functions, including causal, explicative, and conclusive, and is often placed after the first word in a clause. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts that clarify or justify preceding statements, aligning with its classical usage.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

γάρ,

co-ordinating particle, contr. of γε ἄρα,

verily then, hence, in truth, indeed, yea, then, why, and when giving a reason or explanation, for, the usage in NT being in general accord with that of cl.;

explicative and epexegetic: Mt 4:18 19:12, Mk 1:16 5:42 16:4, Lk 11:30, Ro 7:1, I Co 16:5, al.

Conclusive, in questions, answers and exclamations: Mt 9:5 27:23, Lk 9:25 22:27, Jo 9:30, Ac 8:31 16:37 19:35,

Read the full entry →
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

γάρ, a conjunction, which ace. to its composition, γέ and dpa (i. 4. ἄρ), is properly a particle of affirmation and conclusion, denoting truly therefore, verily as the case stands, “ the thing is first aflirmed by the particle yé, and then is referred to what precedes by the force of the particle dpa” (Klotz ad Devar. ii. 1, p. 232; οἵ. Kiihner ii. p. 724; [Jelf § 786; W. 445 (415) sq-]). Now since by a new affirmation not infrequently the reason and nature of something previously mentioned are set forth, it comes to pass that, by the use of this particle, either the reason and cause of a foregoing statement is added, whence arises the causal or argumentative force of the particle, for (Lat. nam, enim; Germ. denn) ; or some previous declaration is explained, whence γάρ takes on an ex plicative force: YP Sor, the fact is, namely (Lat. videlicet, Germ. ndmilich). Thus the force of the…

Read the full entry →
Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

γάρ (gar) — for.

γάρ

(γε, ἄρα), causal conjunction, used alone or with other Particles.

I. introducing the reason or cause of what precedes, for, τῷ γὰρ ἐπὶ φρεσὶ θῆκε θεὰ λευκώλενος Ἥρη· κήδετο γ. Δαναῶν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; but frequently in explanation of that which is implied in the preceding clause, πολλάων πολίων κατέλυσε κάρηνα.. τοῦ γὰρ κράτος ἐστὶ μέγιστον [Refs]

I. b in simple explanations, especially after a Pronoun or demonstrative adjective, ἀλλὰ τόδ᾽ αἰνὸν ἄχος κραδίην καὶ θυμὸν ἱκάνει· Ἕκτωρ γ. ποτε φήσει [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ὃ δὲ δεινότατον.. ὁ Ζεὺς γ... [Refs 5th c.BC+]; frequently in introducing proofs or examples, μαρτύριον δέ· Δήλου γ. καθαιρομένης.. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τεκμήριον δέ· οὔτε γ. Λακεδαιμόνιοι.. [Refs 4th c.BC+]; in full, τεκμήριον δὲ…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

γάρ

gar

a primary particle; properly, assigning a reason (used in argument,

explanation or intensification; often with other particles):--and, as,

because (that), but, even, for, indeed, no doubt, seeing, then,

therefore, verily, what, why, yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

γάρ

Cj.

for

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

γάρ gar 1x

for; it is, however, frequently used with an ellipsis of the clause to which it has reference, and its force must then be variously expressed: Mt. 15:27; 27:23, et al.; it is also sometimes epexegetic, or introductory of an intimated detail of circumstances, now, then, Mt. 1:18

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

γάρ for, Lat. enim, and like it, regularly placed after the first word of a sentence: to introduce the reason:

ARGUMENTATIVE, to introduce the reason for a statement, which usually precedes:—when it precedes the statement, it may be rendered since, as, Ἀτρείδη, πολλοὶ γὰρ τεθνᾶσιν Ἀχαιοί, χρὴ πόλεμον παῦσαι Il.

the statement of which γάρ gives the reason may be omitted, οὐ γάρ τί μοι Ζεὺς ἦν ὁ κηρύξας τάδε [yes], for it was not Zeus, etc., Soph.; ἔστι γὰρ οὕτω [yes], for so it is, i. e. yes certainly, Plat.; οἵδ᾽ οὐκέτ᾽ εἰσί: τοῦτο γάρ σε δήξεται [I say this], for it will sting thee, Eur.: —in Conditional Propositions, where the Condition is omitted, it may be transl. for otherwise, else, οὐ γὰρ ἄν με ἔπεμπον πάλιν, (sc. εἰ μὴ ἐπίστευον)…

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

for (ki (conjunction), le, from 'el (preposition), and various other words. In the New Testament also the words are various, chiefly gar, kai gar, hoti (conjunctions); anti apo eis dia (accusative), epi (dative and accusative), peri (genitive), pros (genitive and accusative), huper (genitive) (prepositions)): the English Revised Version and the American Standard Revised Version give in many cases more literal or more accurate renderings than those in the King James Version.

In the New Testament the most important preps. from a doctrinal point of view are anti, "face to face," "over against," "instead," "on behalf of," peri, "around," "about," "concerning," huper, "over," "on behalf of." The first has been claimed as stating the substitutionary nature of Christ's sacrifice as contrasted with huper and peri, more frequently used of it. But, although anti in the New Testament often means…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
97%for
for97% · 1050×other renderings3% · 33×

1,083 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 11 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
adverbial3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,038 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
αὐτόςἐγώσύ
οὐNeg
οὐδείςno one, none, noαὐτόςλαλέωI speak, say
εἰμίI am, exist
θάλασσαthe sea, lakeλυπέωI pain, grieve, καθεύδωI sleep, am slee
οὗτος
εἰςαὐτόςδιά
καίand, even, also, nam
εἰμίI am, existκύριοςlord, Lord, mastἐγώ
γάρfor1038×
what comes after →
Article the
πατήρfather, Father, θεόςGod, a godArticle the
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theσύἐν
σύ
ὅτιthat, since, becἐνοὐNeg
αὐτός
Article theοὗτοςλέγωI say, speak
ὅτιthat, since, because
Article theδιάἐν

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

Concordanceγάρ · 1,038× in the New Testament
Romans Matthew 1 Corinthians Luke Hebrews Acts 2 Corinthians John Mark Galatians 1 Thessalonians Revelation

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

Across the New Testament27 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 The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 4c. AD 40

καὶ γὰρ λόγον καὶ ἀκοὴν ὑπερβάλλει μείζω καὶ σεμνότερα ὄντα ἢ ὡς θνητοῦ τινος ὀργάνοις ἐναρμοσθῆναι.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.2c. AD 75–95

τινὲς μὲν γὰρ ἐπιδεικνύμενοι λόγων δεινότητα καὶ τὴν ἀπʼ αὐτῆς θηρευόμενοι δόξαν ἐπὶ τοῦτο τῆς παιδείας τὸ μέρος ὁρμῶσιν, ἄλλοι δὲ χάριν ἐκείνοις φέροντες, περὶ ὧν τὴν ἀναγραφὴν εἶναι συμβέβηκε, τὸν εἰς αὐτὴν πόνον καὶ παρὰ δύναμιν ὑπέστησαν·

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.7c. AD 100

ἐγνώρισεν γὰρ ἡμῖν ὁ δεσπότης διὰ τῶν προφητῶν τὰ παρεληλυθότα καὶ τὰ ἐνεστῶτα, καὶ τῶν μελλόντων δοὺς ἀπαρχὰς ἡμῖν γεύσεως, ὧν τὰ καθ̓ ἕκαστα βλέποντες ἐνεργούμενα, καθὼς ἐλάλησεν, ὀφείλομεν πλουσιώτερον καὶ ὑψηλότερον προσάγειν τῷ φόβῳ αὐτοῦ.

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

ἀποκαταστῆναι , ἔτι καὶ νῦν καλῶς ποιήσεις παρακαλῶν σαυτὸν καὶ τοὺς παρʼ ἡμῶν· προσπέπτωκεν γὰρ Παῶν ἀναπλεῖν ἐν τῶι Τῦβι μηνὶ μετὰ δυνάμεων ἱκανῶν πρὸς τὸ καταστεῖλαι τοὺς ἐν

P.Grenf. 1 37Thebais109 BC

ἀλλʼ ἀποστερέσαι … ησας ἀλλά … τας κατὰ κοινόν … ἐπίσκεψιν ποιησάσθαι. … τούτων γὰρ γενομένων ἐσόμεθα βεβοηθημένοι ὑφʼ ὑμῶν. ἔρρωσθε. ἔτους θ Φαρμοῦθι κζ, ἐπιλέγματος ἀναγνωσθέντος τοῦ ὑπομνήματος

P.Bad. 2 16Pathyris89 BC

ποιήσετε συνγεινόμενοι εἰς τοῦτον τόπον ἐν ἀσφαλείαι ὑπάρχοντα συντηρηθῆναι τοῦτον τῶι κυρίωι βασιλεῖ· οὕτω γὰρ πράσσοντες καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὰ πράγματα εὔνοιαν διατηροῦντες … ε … παρὰ τῶν ἐπάνω

If for the first that [one] was faultless, not then would for a second was being sought a place.
ho the G3588 Article · nominative · singular · feminine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Hebrews 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…

Read the full entry →
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…

Read the full entry →
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…

Read the full entry →
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.

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Art-NSF — Article · nominative · singular · feminine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-NSF Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Nominative 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

If for the first that [one] was faultless, not then would for a second was being sought a place.
πρώτηprōtos first G4413 Adjective · nominative · singular · feminine
98× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Hebrews than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for first or foremost, used in Luke 14:18 and 1 Corinthians 14:30. It can refer to the first in a sequence, like the first day of the week, or the most important thing, like the first commandment.
Amplified meaning
agreement, testament
Tyndale gloss
first
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

πρῶτος (protos) is an adjective meaning 'first' in terms of time, order, or importance. It appears in various contexts in the New Testament, often denoting rank or precedence, such as in Matthew 20:27 and Luke 14:18. The word can also function adverbially, as seen in John 1:42. Notably, it is sometimes used interchangeably with the comparative form πρότερος.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

B. Superl., πρῶτος, -η, -ον,

[in LXX chiefly for רִאשׁוֹן, also for אֶחַד, etc.;]

first,

of Time or Place;

absol., as subst., ὁ π.., Lk 14:18, Jo 19:32, I Co 14:30; ὁ π. καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος, Re 1:17 2:8 22:13; neut., τὸ π., opp. to τ. δεύτερον, He 10:9; τὰ π., opp. to τ. ἔσχατα, Mt 12:45, Lk 11:26, II Pe 2:20; anarth., Mt 10:2; pl., Mt 19:30,

Read the full entry →
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

πρῶτος, -7, -ov, (super. of πρό, contr. fr. πρόατος, whence the Doric πρᾶτος ; the compar. πρότερος see in its place), [fr. Hom. down], Sept. for }}W8 and often for ἽΝ and wer, first; 1. either in time or place, in any succession of things or of persons; a. absolutely (i. e. without a noun) and substantively ; a. with the article: ὁ πρῶτος καὶ 6 ἔσχατος, i. 6. the eternal One, Rev. i. 17; ii. 8; xxii. 13; ὁ πρῶτος, sc. τῶν κεκλημένων, Lk. xiv. 18; the first of two (cf. W. § 35, 4 Ν. 1: [B. 32 (28}7), Jn. xix. 32; 1 Co. xiv. 30; plur. opp. to οἱ ἔσχαtot, Mt. xx. 16, on which see ἔσχατος. 3 ἃ. Neut. τὸ πρῶτον, opp. to τὸ δεύτερον, Heb. x. 9; τὰ πρῶτα, opp. to τὰ ἔσχατα, one’s first state, Mt. xii. 45; Lk. xi. 26; 2 Pet. ii. 20; the first order of things, Rey. xxi. 4. B. without the article: Mt. x. 2 (πρῶτος, sc. of the apostles to be mentioned); plur., Mt. xix. 80; Mk. x. 31; Lk. xiii.…

Read the full entry →
Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

πρῶτος. In the LXX regularly (Thackeray Gr. i. p. 183) and in the Kow7y frequently, especially in the Ptolemaic period, πρῶτος stands for πρότερος, so reversing the usual Hellenistic rule that the comparative does duty for both degrees of comparison. For an ex. almost contemporary with the NT we may cite P Oxy II. 2979 (A.D. 54), where a man asks for information for a supplementary return of lambs born since the first or former return for the year had been made— παρὰ τὴν πρώτην ἀπογραφήν. No stress can, therefore, be laid on the use of πρῶτος in Ac 1, as if Luke meant to write a third treatise (cf. Ramsay Paz/, p. 28). To illustrate Jn 125, 1518, we may quote P Leid W*# 49 τερον ἀντέστη αὐτῷ, λέγων᾽ σοῦ πρῶτός εἶμι, “‘ prior sum quam tu.” Abbott (ολ. Gr. p. 510f.) suggests that the Leiden papyrus may have been dependent on Jn 1, and translates the latter passage ‘‘my Chief” (76. p. 11…

Read the full entry →
Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

πρῶτος (prōtos) — first.

πρῶτος, η, ον,

see at {πρότερος} [Refs 5th c.BC+]

πρῶτος (prōtos) — first: previous.

πρῶτος, η, ον,

see at {πρότερος} [Refs 5th c.BC+]

πρῶτος (prōtos) — first: chief.

πρῶτος, η, ον,

see at {πρότερος} [Refs 5th c.BC+]

πρῶτος (prōtos) — first: best.

πρῶτος, η, ον,

see at {πρότερος} [Refs 5th c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

πρῶτος

protos

contracted superlative of 4253; foremost (in time, place, order or

importance):--before, beginning, best, chief(-est), first (of all),

former.

see GREEK for 4253

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

πρῶτος, η, ον

Adj

first, before

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

πρῶτος prōtos 95x

first in time, order, etc., Mt. 10:2; 26:17; first in dignity, importance, etc., chief, principal, most important, Mk. 6:21; Lk. 19:47; Acts 13:50; 16:12; as an equivalent to the compar. πρότερος (G4754), prior, Jn. 1:5, 30; 15:18; Mt. 27:64; adverbially, first, Jn. 1:42; 5:4; 8:7

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Adj-NSF-S — Adjective · nominative · singular · feminine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

A-NSF-S Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine Degree: Superlative

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

furst ('echadh, ri'shon; proton, to proton, protos):

Of these words, which are those most frequently used for "first," ri'shon is from rosh, "the head, and is used for the highest, chief, etc.; also of time, the beginning, e.g. Ge 8:13, in the first month"; in Isa 44:6; 48:12, it is used of Yahweh as Eternal and solely Supreme--the First and the Last (compare Isa 41:4). Special usages are in connection with "firstborn," "first- fruit," etc.; proton is used of that which is first in order; but also of that which is first or chief in importance, etc. (Mt 6:33; Jas 3:17). In

Across the New Testament15 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 121 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 13c. AD 40

τῶν τε γὰρ ἀπὸ μονάδος πρῶτος τέλειός ἐστιν ἰσούμενος τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μέρεσι καὶ συμπληρούμενος ἐξ αὐτῶν, ἡμίσους μὲν τριάδος, τρίτου δὲ δυάδος, ἕκτου δὲ μονάδος, καὶ ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ἄρρην τε καὶ θῆλυς εἶναι πέφυκε κἀκ τῆς ἑκατέρου δυνάμεως ἥρμοσται·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.19c. AD 75–95

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

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 6.13c. AD 100

λέγει δὲ κύριος: Ἰδού, ποιῶ τὰ ἔσχατα ὡς τὰ πρῶτα.

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 1st c. AD 7th c. AD
P.Cair. Zen. 3 59346Philadelphia? (Arsinoites)247 BC

Ἐφάρμοστος δέλφακας β οὓς Ἰναρῶς ἀπήγαγεν αὐτῶι εἰς Φιλάδελφον καὶ τούτων α ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης λογείας καὶ ἄλλος τῆς ἐσχάτης … δέλφακες β οὓς ἀπήνεγκε παρʼ Ἰμούθου εἰς Φιλάδελφον

P.Grenf. 1 32Pelusion103 BC

καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἱεροῦ πρώτου λεπτοῦ χ … καὶ … σοῦχος ἡγεμὼν καὶ … υχος οὐραγὸς καὶ Πανεχῶτις

P.Amh. 2 112Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 128

Νήσῳ τῆς Ἡρακλείδου μερίδος τοῦ Ἀρσινοείτου νομοῦ. ὁμολογεῖ Πακῦσις Στοτοήτεως πρεσβυτέρου τοῦ Πανεφρίμεως ἱερεὺς πρώτης φυλῆς Σοκνοπαίου θεοῦ μεγάλου μεγάλου ὡς ἐτῶν μα οὐλὴ βραχίωνι ἀριστερῶι τῷ ἑαυτοῦ ὁμοπατρίωι

If for the first that [one] was faultless, not then would for a second was being sought a place.
ἐκείνηekeinos that [one] G1565 Demonstrative pronoun · nominative · singular · feminine
244× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Hebrews as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means 'that one' or 'that thing', as in Luke 18:14. It's used to point out a specific person or object. In the Bible, it helps distinguish between different things or people.
Amplified meaning
specific, previously mentioned
Tyndale gloss
that
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἐκεῖνος is a demonstrative pronoun meaning 'that one' or 'that person or thing,' often implying remoteness compared to οὗτος ('this'). It can be used absolutely or as an adjective with nouns, and it appears in various contexts throughout the New Testament, including Luke 18:14 and James 4:15. The lexicons note its use for emphasis and its contrast with nearby subjects.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐκεῖνος, -η, -ο

(< ἐκεῖ),

[in LXX chiefly for הַהוּא ,הוּא, and cogn. forms ;]

demonstr. pron.,

that person or thing (ille), implying remoteness as compared with οὗτος (hic);

absol., emphatic he, she, it: opp. to οὗτος, Lk 18:14, Ja 4:15; ἡμεῖς, He 12:25; ὑμεῖς, Mt 13:11, Mk 4:11; ἄλλοι, Jo 9:9; ἐγώ, Jo 3:30; to persons named, Mk 16:[10, 13, 20], Jo 2:21; of one (absent) who is not named, contemptuously (Abbott, JG, §§2385, 2732), Jo 7:11 9:28; with respect, of Christ, I Jo 2:6 3:3, al.; referring to a

Read the full entry →
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

ἐκεῖνος, -7, -o, (fr. ἐκεῖ, prop. the one there, οἵ. Germ. dortig, der dort), demonst. pron., that man, woman, thing (Lat. ille, illa, illud); properly of persons, things, times, places somewhat remote from the speaker. 1. used absolutely, a. in antithesis, referring to the more remote subject: opp. to οὗτος, Lk. xviii. 14; Jas. iv. 15; ὑμῖν . . ἐκείνοις, Mt. xiii. 11; Mk. iv. 11; ἐκεῖνοι - - . ἡμεῖς, Heb. xii. 25; ἄλλοι . . . ἄλλοι. . . ἐκεῖνος, Jn. 1x. 9; ἐκεῖvoy... ἐμέ, JN. iii. 30; οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι... ἐκεῖνος δέ, In. ii. 20 sq.; ὁ μὲν κύριος ᾿Ιησοῦς [RG Τ' οπι. Ἰ. WH Tr mrg. br.] . .. ἐκεῖνοι δέ, Mk. xvi. 19 sq., ete. b. of noted persons (as in classic Grk.): in a bad sense, that notorious man, Jn. vii. 11; ix. 28; in a good sense, —of the Lord Jesus, 1 Jn. ii. 6; iii. 3, 5,7, 16; iv. 17; of the Holy Spirit, with an apposition added, ἐκεῖνος, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, Jn. xvi. 18. c.…

Read the full entry →
Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐκεῖνος (ekeinos) — that.

ἐκεῖνος, ἐκείνη, ἐκεῖνο,

also κεῖνος (regular in Epic dialect, Ionic dialect (as [Refs 5th c.BC+] only where the metre requires,[Refs 5th c.BC+], etc.; but not in Attic dialect Prose, and in Comedy texts only in mock Trag. passages): Aeolic dialect κῆνος [Refs 7th c.BC+]: Doric dialect τῆνος [Refs 3rd c.BC+]: in Comedy texts, strengthened ἐκεινοσί [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐκεινοσίν [Refs 2nd c.AD+]: (ἐκεῖ):—demonstrative pronoun the person there, that person or thing, [Refs 8th c.BC+]: generally with reference to what has gone immediately before, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; but when οὗτος and ἐκεῖνος refer to two things before mentioned, ἐκεῖνος, properly belongs to the more remote, in time, place, or thought, οὗτος to the nearer, [Refs 5th c.BC+] sometimes = the latter, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἆρ᾽ οὗτός ἐστ᾽ ἐκεῖνος ὅν..; [Refs 5th c.BC+]: also…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐκεῖνος

ekeinos

from 1563; that one (or (neuter) thing); often intensified by the

article prefixed:--he, it, the other (same), selfsame, that (same,

very), X their, X them, they, this, those. See also 3778.

see GREEK for 1563

see GREEK for 3778

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐκεῖνος, η, ο

Dem.pr.

that, that one there, yonder

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐκεῖνος ekeinos 265x

demonstrative adjective or noun, that, this, he, etc., Mt. 17:27; 10:14; 2 Tim. 4:8; in contrast with οὗτος, referring to the former of two things previously mentioned, Lk. 18:14

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐκεῖνος in attic strengthd. ἐκεινοσί ἐκεῖ Demonstr. Pron.: the person there, that person or thing, Hom., etc.: when οὗτος and ἐκεῖνος refer to two things before mentioned, ἐκεῖνος, ille, belongs to the more remote, i. e. the former, οὗτος, hic, to the nearer, i. e. the latter.

like ille, to denote well-known persons, ἐκεῖνος Θουκυδίδης Ar.

with demonstr. force, Ἶρος ἐκεῖνος ἧσται Irus sits there, Od.

in attic the Subst. with ἐκεῖνος properly has the Article, and ἐκεῖνος may precede or follow the Subst., ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ: when the Art. is omitted in Prose, ἐκεῖνος follows the Subst., νῆες ἐκεῖναι Thuc.

adv. ἐκείνως, in that way, in that case, id. Thuc.

dat. fem. ἐκείνῃ as adv.,

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Dem-NSF — Demonstrative pronoun · nominative · singular · feminine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

D-NSF Part of Speech: Demonstrative pronoun Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

wun.

See NUMBER.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
46%that
that46% · 118×those16% · 41×he14% · 37×they4% · 9×that one3% · 8×same2% · 6×them2% · 6×other renderings9% · 22×other renderings4% · 9×

256 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 25 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
adverbial43%subject43%object8%indirect object3%predicate3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 244 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
ἐν
θηλάζωI give suck, sucκαίand, even, also,σύ
ἡμέραa day
Article the
δοῦλος (II)
Article theκακόςbad, evil
ἄνθρωποςa man, one of the hu
Article the
πόλιςa city
Article the
ἐκεῖνοςthat [one]244×
what comes after →
Article the
ἡμέραa dayὥραan hour, seasonκαιρόςfitting season,
καίand, even, also, nam
οὐNegArticle theλέγωI say, speak
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theοὐNegγινώσκωI come to know,
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theὅςγνωστόςknown, an acquai
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςκύριοςlord, Lord, mastὑπάγωI go away, depar

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

Concordanceἐκεῖνος · 244× in the New Testament
John Matthew Luke Mark Acts Hebrews 1 John 2 Timothy 2 Corinthians 1 Corinthians Romans James

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 348 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 Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 6c. AD 40

ὡς γὰρ τῶν κολοσσιαίων μεγεθῶν τὰς ἐμφάσεις καὶ ἡ βραχυτάτη σφραγὶς τυπωθεῖσα δέχεται, οὕτως τάχα που καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀναγραφείσης ἐν τοῖς νόμοις κοσμοποιίας ὑπερβάλλοντα κάλλη καὶ ταῖς μαρμαρυγαῖς τὰς τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων ψυχὰς ἐπισκιάζοντα βραχυτέροις…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.2c. AD 75–95

τινὲς μὲν γὰρ ἐπιδεικνύμενοι λόγων δεινότητα καὶ τὴν ἀπʼ αὐτῆς θηρευόμενοι δόξαν ἐπὶ τοῦτο τῆς παιδείας τὸ μέρος ὁρμῶσιν, ἄλλοι δὲ χάριν ἐκείνοις φέροντες, περὶ ὧν τὴν ἀναγραφὴν εἶναι συμβέβηκε, τὸν εἰς αὐτὴν πόνον καὶ παρὰ δύναμιν ὑπέστησαν·

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.9c. AD 100

αἰσθάνεσθαι οὖν ὀφείλομεν, μὴ ὄντες ἀσύνετοι, τὴν γνώμην τῆς ἀγαθωσύνης τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν, ὅτ̓ ἡμῖν λέγει, θέλων ἡμᾶς μὴ ὁμοίως πλανωμένους ἐκείνοις ζητεῖν, πῶς προσάγωμεν αὐτῷ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. AD 6th c. AD 3rd c. BC
P.Cair. Zen. 3 59368Memphis (?)242 BC

Σώστρατος παρεπιδημῶν, ὅτε ἐπὶ τὸν ὀπισμὸν ἀνέπλευσεν, ἐντυχὼν Διονυσίωι τῶι παρὰ Ζηνοδώρου ἐνεφάνισεν, καὶ ἐκεῖνος φοβηθεὶς ἀφῆκε τοὺς μελισσουργούς. ὁ δʼ αὐτὸς οὗτος καθʼ ὃν χρόνον μετὰ τοῦ βασιλέως

ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν ἔπιπλα τάς τε προκτήσεις τῶν ἐγγαιδίων ἐξιδιασάμενοι ἀπηνέγκαντο καὶ ἀπʼ ἐκείνου διὰ παρευρέσεως ἀεί ποτε ἀντιποιούμενοι τῶν ἡμετέρων παρʼ ἕκαστον καταβλάπτοντες διασείουσιν. ἐνήλικοι δὲ γενόμεναι

πάντων ὧν κεκράτηκεν ὁ πατὴρ ἡμῶν ἐφʼ ὅσον περιῆι χρόνον, ἡμῶν δὲ μετὰ τὴν ἐκείνου τελευτὴν τῶν λοιπῶν κρατουσῶν, Ἀρίστων Ἀθηνοδότου τῶν ἀπὸ Διὸς πόλεως τῆς μεγάλης βιαιότερον ἐμβατεύσας

If for the first that [one] was faultless, not then would for a second was being sought a place.
ἦνeimi was G1510 Verb · imperfect · active · indicative · third person · singular
2,457× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Hebrews as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To be or exist, a basic verb used to describe something or someone, like God saying 'I am' in John 8:58.
Amplified meaning
existed as
Tyndale gloss
to be
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

εἰμί is a Greek verb meaning 'to be' or 'to exist.' It serves various functions, such as a substantive verb for persons and things, and as a copula linking subjects and predicates. The New Testament frequently uses it in passages like John 1:1 and Matthew 24:3. Notably, it can also express possibility, as seen in Hebrews 9:5.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

εἰμί,

with various uses and significations, like the English verb to be.

As substantive verb.

Of persons and things, to be, exist: Ac 17:28, Jo 1:1 8:58 17:5, al; ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν (for past ptcp.), Re 1:4, 8 4:8 11:17 16:5 (v. Swete, Ap., 5; M, Pr., 228); τὰ (μὴ) ὄντα, Ro 4:17, I Co 1:28.

Of times, events, etc., to be, happen, take place: Mt 24:3, Mk 14:2 15:42, Lk 21:23, Jo 4:6, 23 5:10, al.

Read the full entry →
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

εἰμί (fr. ἔω, whence ἐμέ in inscriptions [7]; Aeol. ἐμμὲ (Curtius (yet ἔμμε, so G. Meyer) 8 564; Veitch p. 2287), impv. ἴσθι, ἔστω, less usual ἤτω, 1 Co. xvi. 22; Jas. v.12; Clem. Rom. 1 Cor. 48,5; [1 Mace. x. 31; Ps. ciii. (civ.) 31]; Plat. rep. 2 p. 361 ¢. [here it has given place to ἔστω (or ἴτω), see Stallb. ad loc.; Veitch p. 200 sq.; 3 pers. plur. ἔστωσαν, Lk. xii. 35; 1 Tim. iii. 12], inf. εἶναι ; impf. —ace. to the more ancient and elegant form, ἦν, 2 pers. ἦσθα (Mt. xxvi. 69; Mk. xiv. 67), rarer form ἧς (Mt. RKV. 1235 dn ΧΙ: 9]. 92); xxI LS. Reyna 15 G@ ΕΣ Tr WH), 3 pers. ἦν, 1 pers. plur. jer, — ace. to the mid. form, com. in later Grk. [ef. Veitch p. 226], ἤμην (Mt. xxv. 35sq.; [on Acts xi. 11 ef. WH. Intr. § 404]; Gal.i.10, etc.), plur. ἤμεθα (Mt. xxiii. 30 G L T Tr WH; Acts xxvii. 37 L T Tr WH; [Gal. iv. 3 TWH Tr mrg.; Eph. ii. 3 T Tr WH; Bar. i. 19]); cf. Lob. ad Phryn.…

Read the full entry →
Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

εἰμί. Middle forms in the flexion of εἰμί other than the present tense (cf. however MGr εἶμαι, -σαι, etc.) begin to appear very early in the dialects and are well established in the papyri. Thus the Ist sing. impf. ἤμην, which always takes the place of the class. ἢ in the NT (but see Ac 2018 D) may be illustrated from PSI IV. 36274 (B.c. 251-0) ἤμην δὲ πρὸς τῶι λαμβάνειν τὸν χαλκόν, P Magd 65 (B.c. 221) ἤμην γυμνός, P Par 57 (B.c. 129) ὧν ἤμην δι᾽ αὐτῶν [π]αραμε[μετ]ρηκ[υῖα, P Oxy IIT. 526% (ii/A.p.) οὐκ ἤμην ἀπαθὴς ἀλόγως σε καταλείπιν. For ist plur. ἤμεθα see P Petr IT. 4 (7)° (B.C. 255-4) τεθλιμμένοι ἤμεθα : cf. Ac 2737, Eph 23, as contrasted with the act. ἦμεν in Ac 111 (NB), 1612, Rom 7° a/.: the two forms are found together in Gal 4% (SDFG). The non-classical ἧς (Lob. Phryx. p. 149) is found sefzes in the NT as compared with ἦσθα (from an old perf. form ἤησθα), which is confined…

Read the full entry →
Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

εἰμί (eimi) — to be.

εἰμί

(sum), Aeolic dialect ἔμμι [Refs 7th c.BC+]; Cretan dialect ἠμί [Refs]; 2nd pers. singular εἶ, Epic dialect and Ionic dialect εἰς [Refs 8th c.BC+], Epic dialect and Doric dialect ἐσσί [Refs 8th c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. singular ἐστί, Doric dialect ἐντί [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. dual ἐστόν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; 1st pers. plural ἐσμέν, Epic dialect and Ionic dialect εἰμέν (also in [Refs 5th c.BC+], Doric dialect εἰμές [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. plural εἰσί (-ίν), Epic dialect and Ionic dialect ἔασι (-ιν) [Refs 8th c.BC+], Doric dialect ἐντί [Refs 5th c.BC+], Epic dialect and Lyric poetry also in middle form ἔσσο [Refs 8th c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. singular ἔστω (ἤτω [LXX+5th c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. plural ἔστωσαν, but ἔστων [Refs 8th c.BC+], and early Attic dialect Inscrr., [Refs 2nd c.BC+]subjunctive ὦ, ᾖς, ᾖ, Epic dialect ἔω [Refs 8th c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. singular ἔῃ [Refs…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

εἰμί

eimi

the first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a

primary and defective verb; I exist (used only when emphatic):--am,

have been, X it is I, was. See also 1488, 1498, 1511, 1527, 2258,

2071, 2070, 2075, 2076, 2771, 2468, 5600.

see GREEK for 1488

see GREEK for 1498

see GREEK for 1511

see GREEK for 1527

see GREEK for 2258

see GREEK for 2071

see GREEK for 2070

see GREEK for 2075

see GREEK for 2076

see GREEK for 2771

see GREEK for 2468

see GREEK for 5600

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

εἰμί

v.

I am, exist

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

εἰμί eimi 2x

to be, to exist, Jn. 1:1; 17:5; Mt. 6:30; Lk. 4:25, freq.; ἐστί[ν], it is possible, proper, Heb. 9:5; a simple linking verb (“copula”) to the subject and predicate, and therefore in itself affecting the force of the sentence only by its tense, mood, etc., Jn. 1:1; 15:1, freq.; it also forms a frequent circumlocution with the participles of the present and perfect of other verbs, Mt. 19:22; Mk. 2:6

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

εἰμί The whole of the pres. ind. (except 2nd sg. εἶ) may be enclitic when εἰμί is the Copula; but the 3rd sg. is written ἔστι in certain cases of emphasis, e. g. ἔστι μοι, I have: when used as Verb Subst., it retains the accent in all persons. as Substantive Verb, to be, to exist, οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ οὗτος ἀνήρ, οὐδ᾽ ἔσσεται Od.; τεθνηῶτος, μηδ᾽ ἔτ᾽ ἐόντος id. Od.; οὐκέτ᾽ ἔστι he is no more, Eur.; θεοὶ αἰὲν ἐόντες Il.; ἐσσόμενοι posterity, id. Il.; ζώντων καὶ ὄντων Ἀθηναίων Dem.:—so of cities, etc., ὄλωλεν, οὐδ᾽ ἔτ᾽ ἔστι Τροία (cf. Troja fuit), Eur.

of things, to be, exist, εἰ ἔστιν ἀληθέως [ἡ τράπεζα] Hdt.; ἕως ἂν ὁ πόλεμος ἦι so long as it last, Thuc.

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-IAI-3S — Verb · imperfect · active · indicative · third person · singular
imperfect active indicative — a continuing action in past time.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
26%is
is26% · 619×are9% · 228×was7% · 176×being6% · 138×it is5% · 112×will be4% · 87×am3% · 80×were3% · 67×other renderings37% · 901×

2,408 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 139 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
linking verb87%verb13%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 2,457 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
οὐNeg
ὅτιthat, since, becκαίand, even, also,ὅς
οὗτος
ὅτιthat, since, becλέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,
ὅς
ἐνἄνθρωποςa man, one of thθεόςGod, a god
ἐγώ
ὅτιthat, since, becλέγωI say, speakμετά
σύ
ἐνλέγωI say, speakαὐτός
εἰμίwas2457×
what comes after →
Article the
υἱόςa son, descendenΧριστόςanointed, the Meβασιλείαkingship, sovere
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theοὐNegγάρfor
ἐν
Article theσύαὐτός
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theτὶςἐκεῖthere, yonder, t
ἐγώ
εἰςἄξιοςworthy, worthy oὧδεhere

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

Concordanceεἰμί · 2,457× in the New Testament
John Luke Matthew Acts Mark 1 Corinthians Romans Revelation 1 John 2 Corinthians Hebrews Galatians

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

Across the New Testament27 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 The Shepherd of Hermas Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome
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 1.2c. AD 75–95

τινὲς μὲν γὰρ ἐπιδεικνύμενοι λόγων δεινότητα καὶ τὴν ἀπʼ αὐτῆς θηρευόμενοι δόξαν ἐπὶ τοῦτο τῆς παιδείας τὸ μέρος ὁρμῶσιν, ἄλλοι δὲ χάριν ἐκείνοις φέροντες, περὶ ὧν τὴν ἀναγραφὴν εἶναι συμβέβηκε, τὸν εἰς αὐτὴν πόνον καὶ παρὰ δύναμιν ὑπέστησαν·

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.2c. AD 100

Μεγάλων μὲν ὄντων καὶ πλουσίων τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ δικαιωμάτων εἰς ὑμᾶς, ὑπέρ τι καὶ καθ̓ ὑπερβολὴν ὑπερευφραίνομαι ἐπὶ τοῖς μακαρίοις καὶ ἐνδόξοις ὑμῶν πνεύμασιν: οὕτως ἔμφυτον τῆς δωρεᾶς πνευματικῆς χάριν εἰλήφατε.

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 3rd c. BC 4th c. AD 6th c. AD
P.Stras. 2 89Pathyris100 BC

Βερενίκης τῆς ἀδελφῆς θεῶν Φιλομητόρων ἔτους ιε, ἐφʼ ἱερέων καὶ ἱερειῶν καὶ κανηφόρου τῶν ὄντων καὶ οὐσῶν, μηνὸς Ἐπεὶφ κε. ἐν Παθύρει, ἐφʼ Ἑρμίου τοῦ παρὰ Πανίσκου ἀγορανόμου. ἀπέδοτο

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

Βερενίκης τῆς ἀδελφῆς θεῶν φιλομητόρων ἔτους ιϛ, ἐφʼ ἱερέων καὶ ἱερειῶν καὶ κανηφόρου τῶν ὄντων καὶ οὐσῶν, μηνὸς Τῦβι ιη ἐν Παθύρει ἐφʼ Ἑρμίου τοῦ παρὰ Πανίσκου ἀγορανόμου. ἀπέδοτο

If for the first that [one] was faultless, not then would for a second was being sought a place.
ἄμεμπτος,amemptos faultless, G273 Adjective · nominative · singular · feminine
5× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Hebrews than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Blameless, free from fault, as in Luke 1:6 and Philippians 2:15. It describes someone with a good reputation and moral integrity. This term is used to describe the character of Jesus and other biblical figures.
Amplified meaning
blameless, free from defect
Tyndale gloss
blameless
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἄμεμπτος (i.e., *amemptos*) means blameless or faultless. It is derived from a negative particle and a verb meaning to blame. This term is used in the New Testament in passages such as Luke 1:6 and Philippians 2:15. It also appears in various ancient texts, often in contexts related to contracts or moral character.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἄ-μεμπτος, -ον

(< μέμφομσι),

[in LXX chiefly for תָּם;]

blameless, free from fault (in π. of a marriage-contract; M, Th., I, 3:13; cf. MM, VGT, s.v.): Lk 1:6, Phl 2:15 3:6, I Th 3:13 (WH, mg., -ως) He 8:7.†

SYN.: ἄμωμος, ἀνέγκλητος, ἀνεπίλημπτος, q.v. (Tr., Syn., § ciii).

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

ἄμεμπτος. In a private letter of the time of Augustus the writer ν θέλων remarks κἀγὼ Ti[s] φιλίαν σου [θέλωι} ἄμεμπτ[ον)] ἐματὸν ἐτήρησα (BGU IV. 114135). For the adjective in a marriage contract see CPR I. 27% (A.D. 190) αὐτῆς δὲ τῆς O. ἄμεμπτον καὶ ἀκατηγόρηϊτον ἑαυτὴν παρ]εχομένην (szc) It is common in sepulchral epitaphs in conjunction with χρηστός. OG/S 443° (i/B.c.) has τήν τε TOV... νεανίσκων ἐνδημίαν εὔτ[ακτ]ον mlapéxerar καὶ dpepm)|rov—Dittenberger’s supplement is at least plausible. For the adverb see P Giss I 98° (ii/A.n.) τὰ τέσσερα οὖν κολοφώνια τὰ ἐπιβάλ.λοντά μοι δότε αὐτῇ ἀμέμπτως, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τάχει, P Lond 9245 (Α.Ὁ. 187-8) (Ξ: 1ΠΠ|. p. 134) & mAnpovpévmv—little more than ‘‘duly paid,” P Oxy III. 473" (a.p. 138-60), 26. 4968 (A.D. 127) συμβιούτωσαν οὖν ἀλλήϊλο]ις ἀμέμπτωϊς of γ]αμοῦντες, and IV. 724} (A.D. 155), a contract of apprenticeship to a shorthand writer, where…

Read the full entry →
Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἄμεμπτος (amemptos) — blameless.

ἄμεμπτος, ον,

blameless, without reproach, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἄ. χρόνου in regard of time, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἄ. ἐκείνῃ without blame to her, [Refs 1st c.AD+]: comparative -ότερος less blameworthy, [Refs 1st c.AD+]

2. of things, perfect in its kind, δεῖπνον[Refs 5th c.BC+]. adverb -τως irreproachably, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. active, not blaming, well content, ἄμεμπτόν τινα ποιεῖν or ποιεῖσθαι, [Refs 5th c.BC+]adverb -τως, δέχεσθαί τινα[Refs]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἄμεμπτος

amemptos

from 1 (as a negative particle) and a derivative of 3201;

irreproachable:--blameless, faultless, unblamable.

see GREEK for 1

see GREEK for 3201

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἄμεμπτος, ον

Adj

blameless

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἄμεμπτος amemptos 5x

blameless, irreprehensible, without defect, Lk. 1:6; Phil. 2:15; 3:6; 1 Thess. 3:13; Heb. 8:7*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἄμεμπτος μέμφομαι not to be blamed, blameless, Eur., Dem.; ἄμεμπτος χρόνου in regard of time, Aesch.; ἀμεμφής Aesch.

of things, perfect in its kind, Xen.; ἄμ. ἐκείνηι without blame to her, Plut.: comp. ἀμεμπτότερος, less blameworthy, id. Plut.:—adv. -τως, so as to merit no blame, right well, Soph., Xen.

act. not blaming, content, ἀμεμφής Plut., ἄμεμπτόν τινα ποιεῖσθαι Xen.:—so adv., ἀμέμπτως δέχεσθαί τινα without censure, id. Plut.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Adj-NSF — Adjective · nominative · singular · feminine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

A-NSF Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
60%blameless
blameless60% · 3×faultless40% · 2×

5 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
predicate60%adverbial20%second object20%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 5 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
γίνομαιI come into being, a
ἵναin order that, sνόμοςa law, the Mosai
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
Article the
καρδίαthe heart, inner lif
Article the
εἰμίI am, exist
ἐκεῖνος
ἄμεμπτοςfaultless,
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀκέραιοςsimple, unsophis
ἐν
ἁγιωσύνηa holy or sancti
οὐNeg
ἄνDisj

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

Concordanceἄμεμπτος · 5× in the New Testament
Philippians 1 Thessalonians Hebrews Luke
Across the New Testament4 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 13 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 Clement of Rome Polycarp
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Posterity of Cain 181c. AD 40

εἰ τὸ ἴδιον πορίζεις λυσιτελές, πάνθ’ ὅσα ἄριστα καταλύσεις, ἐὰν μηδὲν ἐξ αὐτῶν ὠφεληθῇς, τιμὰς γονέων, ἐπιμέλειαν γυναικός, παίδων ἀγωγάς, χρήσεις ἀμέμπτους οἰκετῶν, ἐπιτροπὴν οἰκίας, πόλεως προστασίαν, βεβαίωσιν νόμων, φυλακὴν ἐθῶν, τὴν πρὸς…

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 17.3c. AD 96

ἔτι δὲ καὶ περὶ Ἰὼβ οὕτως γέγραπται: Ἰὼβ δὲ ἦν δίκαιος καὶ ἄμεμπτος, ἀληθινός, θεοσεβής, ἀπεχόμενος ἀπὸ παντὸς κακοῦ.

PolycarpPolycarp to the Philippians 5.3c. AD 110

ὁμοίως καὶ νεώτεροι ἄμεμπτοι ἐν πᾶσιν, πρὸ παντὸς προνοοῦντες ἁγνείας καὶ χαλιναγωγοῦντες ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ παντὸς κακοῦ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. AD 3rd c. BC undated
P.Cair. Zen. 3 59493276 BC–227 BC

ντε … τι τὰ τέλη ἡμῖν διαπίπτη, … ἡμῖν, εὖ εἰδὼς ὅτι οὐθείς ἐστιν ἄμεμπτος. πρὸς τ … οὐκ ἀναγράφουσιν τὸν γόνον π … … α ἀπόλωλεν καὶ νομὴν

πρωινῶς ὑμᾶς ὑπηρετήσω, ἤδη ἐγὼ διυπέχω ἐμαυτὸν μὴ ἀμελῆσαι πως, ἐὰν δὲ μὴ διαπέμψητε, ἄμεμπτος ὢν ἐφάνην. ἀσπάζομαι ὑμᾶς πάντας κατʼ ὄνομα καὶ μήπως ἀνθρώπινόν τι συνέβη τῇ μητρὶ

PSI 4 361date unknown

περὶ Δημητρίου, ἵνα τὰς χρείας σοι παρέχηται ἐν πόλει μετά σου· ἔσται γάρ σοι ἄμεμπτος. ἐὰν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἑτέρων υἱῶν χρείαν ἔχεις, καὶ τούτους σοι ἀποστελῶ· λειτουργήσουσιν γάρ

If for the first that [one] was faultless, not then would for a second was being sought a place.
οὐκou not G3756 Particle · negative
1,622× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Hebrews as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This is a strong 'no', used to deny something completely. It appears in the New Testament, such as in Matthew 13:29 and John 1:21. It is a negative answer to a question.
Amplified meaning
absolutely not
Tyndale gloss
no
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word οὐ (transliterated as ou) is a primary negative particle meaning 'not' or 'no.' It is used to negate verbs or statements, often appearing in various forms depending on the following sound. In the New Testament, it frequently serves to deny facts and is distinct from another negative particle, μή (transliterated as ), which is used for prohibitions or wishes.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

οὐ, before a vowel with smooth breathing οὐκ, before one with rough breathing οὐχ (but improperly οὐχ ἰδού, Ac 2:7, WH, mg.; cf. WH, Intr., § 409; M, Pr., 44, 244),

[in LXX for לֹא, אַיִן, אֵין;]

neg. particle,

not, no, used generally c. indic. and for a denial of fact (cf . μή);

absol. (accented), οὔ, no: Mt 13:29, Jo 1:21 21:5; οὒ οὔ, Mt 5:37, Ja 5:12.

Most freq. negativing a verb or other word, Mt 1:25 10:26, 38, Mk 3:25 9:37, Jo 8:29, Ac 7:5, Ro 1:16, Phl 3:3, al.; in…

Read the full entry →
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

οὐ before a consonant, οὐκ before a vowel with a smooth breathing, and ody before an aspirated vowel ; but sometimes in the best codd. οὐχ occurs even before a smooth breathing; accordingly LT WH mrg. have adopted οὐχ ἰδού, Acts ii. 7; LT οὐχ ᾿Ιουδαϊκῶς, Gal. ii. 14 (see WH. Introd. § 409); L οὐχ ὀλίγος, Acts xix. 23; οὐχ ἠγάπησαν, Rev. xii. 11; and contrariwise οὐκ before an aspirate, as οὐκ ἕστηκεν, Jn. viii. 44 T; [οὐκ ἕνεκεν, 2 Co. vii. 12 T]; (οὐκ εὗρον, Lk. xxiv. 3; [οὐκ ὑπάρχει, Acts iii. 6] in cod. x [alsoC*; ef. cod. Alex. in 1 ἔβαν. iv. 2,12; Job xix. 16; xxxviiil. 11, 26]); cf. W. $5, 14d. 14; Β. τ; [A. v. Schiitz, Hist. Alphab. Att., Berol. 1875, pp: 54-58 ; Sophocles, Hist. of Grk. Alphab., 1st ed. 1848, p- 64 sq. (on the breathing); Tdf Sept., ed. 4, Proleg. pp: Xxxiii. xxxiv.; Scrivener, Collation ete., 2d ed., p. lv. no. 9; id. cod. Bezae p. xlvii. no. 11 (ef. p. xlii.…

Read the full entry →
Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

ου to make the voyage” (Edd.), and P Amh II. 78?! (a.p. 184) τοιαύτης ο[ὖ]ν αὐθαδίας ἐν αὐτῷ οὔσης οὐ δυνάμενος [ἐν]καρτερεῖν ἐπιδίδωμι, ‘“ his audacity having reached this pitch I can endure no longer and present this petition.” See further Proleg. p. 231 f. In support of the translation ‘‘ I determined not to know” in 1 Cor 2, we may cite P Par 2657 (B.c. 163) (= UPZi. Ρ-. 248) οὐκ ἐκρίναμεν καταχωρῆσαι, ‘we determined not to record,” P Tebt I. 124° (c. B.c. 118) οὐκ (ἐκδρίναμεν ἐξαρ[ιθ]μεῖ[σθαι, “we determined not to be counted,” and the classical formula in P Hamb I. 27° (B.c. 250 (249)) οὐκ ἔφη εἰδέναι, ‘he said that he did not know.” The origin of the double negative οὐ μή is fully discussed by Moulton Pro/eg. p. 187 ff. When we pass to its actual occurrences in the NT, we find that these for the most part are found in passages derived from the OT and in the Sayings of our Lord…

Read the full entry →
Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

οὐ (ou) — no.

οὐ,

the negative of fact and statement, as μή of will and thought; οὐ denies, μή rejects; οὐ is absolute, μή relative; οὐ objective, μή subjective. —The same differences hold for all compounds of οὐ and μή, and some examples of οὐδέ and οὐδείς are included below.—As to the Form, see infr. G. USAG[Refs 5th c.BC+]

I. as the negative of single words,

II. as the negative of the sentence.

I. οὐ adhering to single words so as to form a quasi-compound with them:—with Verbs: οὐ δίδωμι withhold, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; οὐκ εἰῶ prevent, [Refs]; οὐκ ἐθέλω refuse, [Refs]; οὔ φημι deny, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; but sometimes οὐ is retained, εἰ δ᾽ ἂν.. οὐκ ἐθέλωσιν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἐάντε.. οὐ (variant{μή}) φῆτε ἐάντε φῆτε [Refs 8th c.BC+] —On the use of οὐ in contrasts, see below [Refs 5th…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

οὐ

ou

ouk ook, and (before an aspirate)

ouch ookh

a primary word; the absolute negative (compare 3361) adverb; no or

not:--+ long, nay, neither, never, no (X man), none, (can-)not, +

nothing, + special, un(-worthy), when, + without, + yet but. See also

3364, 3372.

see GREEK for 3361

see GREEK for 3364

see GREEK for 3372

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

οὐ

Neg.prt.

no, not

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

οὐ ou 1x

negative adverb, originally the gen. of ὅς, spelled οὐκ if followed by a word beginning with a vowel and a smooth breathing, οὐχ if followed by a vowel and rough breathing, not, no, Mt. 5:37; 12:43; 23:37; for the peculiarities of its usage (especially as distinct from μή) consult a grammar

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Particle-N — Particle · negative
particle — a small word colouring the clause; it does not decline.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

PRT-N PaRTicle, disjunctive particle Negative

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
82%not
not82% · 1383×certainly6% · 96×surely4% · 70×no longer3% · 50×no2% · 39×other renderings3% · 51×

1,689 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 17 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
adverbial82%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,622 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
εἰμίI am, existἐγώαὐτός
ὅς
ἐγώθερίζωI reap, gatherδέbut, on the othe
ὅτιthat, since, because
σύαὐτόςἐγώ
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakἐνἐπί
σύ
λέγωI say, speakγάρforὅς
οὐnot1622×
what comes after →
εἰμίI am, exist
ἐκArticle theἐγώ
μήNeg
παρέρχομαιI pass byεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come inπίνωI drink, imbibe
οἶδαI know, remember
ὅτιthat, since, becArticle theτίςIrg
γάρfor
εἰμίI am, existθέλωI will, wish, deArticle the
δύναμαιI am powerful, am ab
ἔρχομαιI come, goσῴζωI save, healArticle 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

Concordanceοὐ · 1,622× in the New Testament
John Matthew Luke 1 Corinthians Romans Mark Acts 2 Corinthians Revelation Hebrews 1 John Galatians

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

Across the New Testament26 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 6c. AD 40

ὡς γὰρ τῶν κολοσσιαίων μεγεθῶν τὰς ἐμφάσεις καὶ ἡ βραχυτάτη σφραγὶς τυπωθεῖσα δέχεται, οὕτως τάχα που καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀναγραφείσης ἐν τοῖς νόμοις κοσμοποιίας ὑπερβάλλοντα κάλλη καὶ ταῖς μαρμαρυγαῖς τὰς τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων ψυχὰς ἐπισκιάζοντα βραχυτέροις…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.11c. AD 75–95

ὁ δὲ τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν ἀρχιερέων οὐδενὸς ἀρετῇ δεύτερος Ἐλεάζαρος τῷ προειρημένῳ βασιλεῖ ταύτης ἀπολαῦσαι τῆς ὠφελείας οὐκ ἐφθόνησε πάντως ἀντειπὼν ἄν, εἰ μὴ πάτριον ἦν ἡμῖν τὸ μηδὲν ἔχειν τῶν καλῶν ἀπόρρητον.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.8c. AD 100

ἐγὼ δὲ οὐχ ὡς διδάσκαλος, ἀλλ̓ ὧς εἰς ἐξ ὑμῶν ὑποδείξω ὀλίγα, δἰ ὧν ἐν τοῖς παροῦσιν εὐφρανθήσεσθε.

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 3rd c. BC 4th c. AD 6th c. AD

δὲ γενόμεναι κατὰ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον κληρονομήσασαι ταξάμεναι τὰ καθήκοντα τέλη θεᾶι Βερενίκηι κυριεύομεν. ὅθεν οὐκ ἀποδιδόντων τὰ ἡμέτερα ἐπεδώκαμεν ἐν τῶι λ ἔτει προσανγελίαν Ἡρακλείδει γενομένωι ἀρχιφυλακίτηι τοῦ Παθυρίτου

C.Erbstreit16Diospolis Magna (Theben)135 BC

ι ἀρουρῶν πρόκτησιν … ένου αὐτὸν ἐν συνεδρίωι καὶ συγχώρησιν … ειν, ἐν ἧι οὐκ εὐδοκεῖ ὁ πατήρ. ὅθεν καταβεβραβευμένοι … ήρου συνεριου ἀξιοῦμεν, ἐὰν φαίνηται, συντάξαι γράψαι, οἷς

P.Adl. 2Pathyris125 BC

ὠνῆς ἐν πίστει διὰ τῶν περὶ τὸν Πανεβχοῦνιν ἐκτελειωθεῖσαν τῶι … ἔτει ἀντὶ ὀφειλημάτων, οὐκ ἐπελευσομένους τὸν Πανερέα καὶ τὴν Σενενοῦπιν περὶ ὀφειλημάτων μηδὲ περὶ ἄλλου μηδενός. ταῦτα δὲ

If for the first that [one] was faultless, not then would for a second was being sought a place.
ἂνan then would G302 Particle
164× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Hebrews as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'if' is used to show a condition. It appears in Luke 7, where Jesus says what would happen if a certain condition were met.
Tyndale gloss
if
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἄν, a conditional particle, indicates supposition or possibility and is often untranslatable in English. It is used in various grammatical constructions, particularly in hypothetical sentences, to express what would occur under certain conditions. The New Testament employs it in verses like Luke 7:39 and Galatians 1:10, illustrating its role in conditional statements.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἄν,

conditional particle,

which cannot usually be separately translated in English, its force depending on the constructions which contain it (see further, LS, s.v.; WM, §xlii; M, Pr., 165 ff.; MM, VGT, s.v.).

In apodosis,

c. indic, impf. or aor., expressing what would be or would have been if (εἰ c. impf., aor. or plpf.) some condition were or had been fulfilled: Lk 7:39 17:6, Jo 5:46, Ga 1:10, Mt 12:7 24:43, I Co 2:8, Ac 18:14, I Jo 2:19, al. The protasis is sometimes understood (as also in cl.): Mt 25:27, Lk…

Read the full entry →
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

ἄν, a particle indicating that something can or could occur on certain conditions, or by the combination of certain fortuitous causes. In Lat. it has no equivalent ; nor do the Eng. haply, perchance, Germ. wohl (wol), etwa, exactly and everywhere correspond to it. The use of this particle in the N. T., illustrated by copious exx. fr: Grk. writ., is shown by W. § 42; [ef. B. 216 (186) 544. Its use in classic Grk. is fully exhibited (by Prof. Goodwin) in L. and S. s. v.]. It is joined 1. in the apodoses of hypothetical sentences 1. with the Impf., where the Lat. uses the impf. subjunctive, e. g. Lk. vii. 39 (ἐγίνωσκεν ἄν, sciret, he would know) ; Lk. xvii. 6 (ἐλέγετε ἄν ye would say) ; Mt. xxiii. 80 (non essemus, we should not have been); Jn. v. 46; vili.42; ix. 41; xv. 19; xviii. 36; 1 Co. xi. 31; Gal. i. 10; iii. 21 [but WH mrg. br.]; Heb. iv. 8; viii. 4, 7.. 2. with the indic. Aor.…

Read the full entry →
Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

ἊΝ ἢ το Teil i., von E. Mayser. Berlin u. Leipzig, 1926. Meecham Lefters...... = Light from Ancient Letters. By Henry G. Meecham. London, [1923]. Meisterhans Gy....... = Grammatik der attischen Inschrifzen, von K. Meisterhans. Dritte Auflage von E, Schwyzer. Berlin, 1900. Meél, Chatelain........ = Mélanges offerts ἃ M. Emile Chatefain. Paris, 1910. πα ECOL Cen nesac ene = Mélanges... offerts a Jules Nicole. Geneva, 1905. = Comicorum Atticorum Fragmenta, Ill. Ed. Th. Kock. Leipzig, 1888. Selections = Selections from Menander, edited Menander Fragm. ... ” by W. G. Waddell, M.A. Oxford, 1927. Menandred...........6. = Menandrea ex papyris et membrants vetustissimis. Ted. A. Korte. Leipzig, 1912. WEAN EZ τοῦτος = Griechtsche Grammatik®, von Gustav Meyer. Leipzig, 1896. Meyer Heerwesen.... = Das Heerwesen der Plolemder und Romer in Agypten, von Paul M. Meyer. Leipzig, 1900. Jur, Pap. ..... =…

Read the full entry →
Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἄν (an) — if.

ἄν, [ᾰ],

Epic dialect, Lyric poetry, Ionic dialect, [Refs 4th c.AD+], Attic dialect; also κεν) Epic dialect, Aeolic dialect, Thess., κᾱ Doric dialect, Boeotian dialect, El.; the two combined in Epic dialect (below [Refs 4th c.BC+], εἰκ ἄν[Refs 4th c.BC+]:—modal Particle used with Verbs to indicate that the action is limited by circumstances or defined by conditions. In [Refs 8th c.BC+] κε is four times as common as ἄν, in Lyric poetry about equally common. No clear distinction can be traced, but κε as an enclitic is somewhat less emphatic; ἄν is preferred by [Refs 8th c.BC+] in negative clauses, κε (ν) with the relative.

__A In Simple Sentences, and in the Apodosis of Compound Sentences; here ἄν belongs to the Verb, and denotes that the assertion made by the Verb is dependent on a condition, expressed or implied: thus ἦλθεν he came, ἦλθεν…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἄν

an

a primary particle, denoting a supposition, wish, possibility or

uncertainty:--(what-, where-, wither-, who-)soever. Usually

unexpressed except by the subjunctive or potential mood. Also

contracted for 1437.

see GREEK for 1437

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἄν

Disj.prt.

an untranslatable word that makes a statement contingent

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἄν an 166x

For the various constructions of this particle, and their significance, consult a grammar. At the beginning of a clause, it is another form of ἐάν, if, Jn. 20:23

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Particle — Particle
particle — a small word colouring the clause; it does not decline.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

PRT PaRTicle, disjunctive particle

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
55%maybe
maybe55% · 101×then would19% · 35×when16% · 29×would3% · 6×then2% · 4×other renderings2% · 4×other renderings2% · 3×

182 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 9 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
subject20%adverbial11%object8%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 164 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
ὅς
καίand, even, also,λέγωI say, speakὅτιthat, since, bec
δέbut, on the other ha
ὅςὅστις
ἕωςuntil, as far as
θάνατοςdeathἐγώμένωI remain, abide
οὐNeg
ὧδεhereθυσίαa sacrificeἐγώ
τίςIrg
Article theἀλλήλωνπυνθάνομαιI ask, inquire
ἄνthen would164×
what comes after →
λέγωI say, speak
Article theσύμωρόςstupid, foolish
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theαὐτόςμέγας
τὶς
χρείαneed, necessity,πέμπωI sendαἰτέωI ask, request,
μήNeg
δέχομαιI take, receive,ἔχωI have, hold, poτὶς
Article the
ἐμόςσυκάμινοςa sycamore treeἴδιοςone’s own, priva

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

Concordanceἄν · 164× in the New Testament
Matthew Luke John Mark Acts Romans 1 Corinthians Hebrews 1 John 2 Corinthians Galatians Revelation

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament13 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
If for the first that [one] was faultless, not then would for a second was being sought a place.
δευτέραςdeuteros for a second G1208 Adjective · genitive · singular · feminine
44× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Hebrews than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Secondly refers to something that happens after something else, as in John 3:4. It can also mean a second time or in second place.
Tyndale gloss
secondly
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

δεύτερος (deuteros) means 'second' in order, time, or rank. It can be used as an adjective or adverb, indicating a sequence or repetition, such as 'second time' or 'in the second place.' The New Testament uses it in various contexts, including Matthew 22:26 and Acts 7:13. The lexicons do not show significant disagreement on its meanings.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δεῦτερος, -α, -ον,

second in order, with or without idea of time: Mt 22:26, 39, al.; θάνατος, Re 2:11 20:14 21:8; χάρις, II Co 1:15. In neut. as adv., secondly, a second time; opp. to πρῶτον: Jo 3:4 21:16, I Co 12:28, Re 19:3; τὸ δ., II Co 13:2, Ju 5; ἐν τ. δ., at the second time: Ac 7:13; in later usage (as I Mac 9:1), ἐκ δ., Mk 14:72, Jo 9:24, Ac 11:9, Read the full entry →

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

δεύτερος, -έρα, -epov, [fr. Hom. down; Curtius § 277], second: Mt. xxii. 26; Mk. xii. 21; Lk. xii. 38; Jn. iv. 54; Rev. iv. 7, etc.; the second, the other of two: Mt. xxii. 39; Mk. xii. 31; 1 Co. xv. 47; Tit. iii. 10; 2 Pet. iii. 1; Heb. viii. 7; x. 9; δεύτερος θάνατος (see θάνατος, 3), Rev. ii, 11; xx. 14; xxi. 8; δευτέρα χάρις in 2 Co. i. 15 is not a double benefit, but a second, opp. to the former which the Corinthians would have had if Paul in passing through Achaia into Macedonia had visited them πρότεpov, [WH txt. Trmrg. read δευτ. χαράν, q. ν.]. The neuter δεύτερον is used adverbially in the second place, a second time [cf. W. § 37,5 Note 1]: Jn. iii. 4; Rev. xix. 3; πάλιν is added, as often in Grk. writ. (see ἄνωθεν, fin.): Jn. xxi. 16; also τὸ δεύτερον, 2 Co. xiii. 2; Jude 5; ἐκ δευτέρου (1 Mace. ix. 1), Mk. xiv. 72; Jn. ix. 24; Acts xi. 9; Heb. ix. 28; ef. W. § 51, 1d.; with…

Read the full entry →
Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

δεύτερος. For δεύτερον = “‘in the second place,” as in 1 Cor 12°, ef. P Tebt 1. 562° (late ii/B.c.) καλῶς οὖν ποήσῃς εὐχαριστῆσαι πρῶτον μὲν τοῖς θεοῖς δεύτερον δὲ σῶσαι ψυχὰς πολλάς KTA., “please therefore in the first place to give thanks [?—see s. τ. εὐχαριστέω] to the gods and secondly to save many lives, etc.”’ (Edd.) In P Tebt 11. 2977® (c. A.D. 123) we find ἐγ δευτέρου = “ἃ second time,’’ as in Mk 147 αἱ OGZS 299%? (c. B.C. 170) τῆι δεύτερον ἡμέραι is defended by Kaibel αὐ. Dittenberger z ἤθε... appealing to TMAe 1. 155% tar δεύτερον apépar μετὰ τὰ ἱερά, and the analogy of τῷ ὕστερον ἔτει and ἡ σήμερον ἡμέρα. In MGr δευτέρα is “ Monday”’ (ἡ δεύτερη = 2nd, fem. of δεύτερος and sharing its…

Read the full entry →
Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δεύτερος (deuteros) — secondly.

δεύτερος, α, ον,

second, (perhaps from δύο with comparative termination):

I. next in Order (with a notion of Time), in [Refs 8th c.BC+] of one who comes in second in a race,[Refs]next, [Refs]; οὔ μ᾽ ἔτι δ. ὧδε ἵξετ᾽ ἄχος no second grief, i.e. none hereafter like this, [Refs]; as comparative, with genitive, ἐμεῖο δεύτεροι after my time, [Refs]; σοὶ δ᾽ οὐκέτι δ. ἔσται no second choice will be allowed thee, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; in Attic dialect and Trag. with Article, ὁ δ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; αἱ δ. πως φροντίδες σοφώτεραι second thoughts are wisest, [Refs 5th c.BC+] the next best way, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

I.2. of Time, next, later, δ. χρόνῳ in after time, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; δ. ἡμέρῃ on the next day, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; δ. ἔτεϊ τούτων in the year after…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

δεύτερος

deuteros

as the compare of 1417; (ordinal) second (in time, place, or rank;

also adverb):--afterward, again, second(-arily, time).

see GREEK for 1417

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δεύτερος, α, ον

Adj & Adv.

second, in the second place, for the second time

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δεύτερος deuteros 43x

second, Mt. 22:26; τὸ δεύτερον, again, the second time, another time, Jude 5; so ἐκ δευτέρου, Mt. 26:42; and ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ, Acts 7:13

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

δεύτερος second, being comp. of δύο:

in point of Order, of one who comes in second in a race, Il.: in attic with Art., ὁ δεύτερος Soph., etc.; αἱ δεύτεραι φροντίδες second thoughts, Eur.; proverb., τὸν δ. πλοῦν to try the next best way, Plat.

of Time, δευτέρηι ἡμέρηι on the next day, Hdt.: c. gen., ἐμεῖο δεύτερος after my time, Il.; δευτέρωι ἔτεϊ τούτων in the year after this, Hdt.: in neut. as adv., δεύτερον αὖ, δεύτερον αὖτις secondly, next, afterwards, a second time, Hom., attic; in Prose also δεύτερα:— with Art., τὸ δεύτερον Hdt., Aesch., etc.; τὰ δεύτερα Thuc.; ἐκ δευτέρου for the second time, NTest.

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Adj-GSF — Adjective · genitive · singular · feminine
genitive — of, from, belonging to.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

A-GSF Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Genitive Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
67%second
second67% · 31×second time24% · 11×secondly4% · 2×a second2% · 1×afterward2% · 1×

46 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 5 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
adverbial46%subject36%object11%predicate7%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 44 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
καίand, even, also,δέbut, on the otheθάνατοςdeath
ἐκ
πάλινagain, further, εὐθέωςimmediately, sooἄνθρωποςa man, one of th
καίand, even, also, nam
φυλακήa watching, guarεἷςone
πάλινagain, further, on t
δέbut, on the otheαὐτός
αὐτός
μήτηρa mother
δεύτεροςfor a second44×
what comes after →
λέγωI say, speak
ὡσαύτωςlikewiseArticle the
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theἄπειμι (I)I am absent
ἀπέρχομαιI come or go away fr
προσεύχομαιI pray, pray forὁράωI see, look upon
ζῷονan animal
ὅμοιοςlike, similar toλέγωI say, speak
ὅμοιοςlike, similar to
αὐτός

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

Concordanceδεύτερος · 44× in the New Testament
Revelation Acts Hebrews John Matthew Luke Mark 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians 2 Peter Jude Titus
Across the New Testament12 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 124 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 The Shepherd of Hermas The Didache Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 37c. AD 40

ὀνομάζει δὲ καὶ ἡμέραν μετὰ τὴν γένεσιν αὐτοῦ δευτέραν, ὅλον ἡμέρας διάστημα καὶ μέτρον ἀνατιθεὶς οὐρανῷ διὰ τὴν ἐν αἰσθητοῖς ἀξίωσίν τε καὶ τιμήν.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.10c. AD 75–95

Εὗρον τοίνυν, ὅτι Πτολεμαίων μὲν ὁ δεύτερος μάλιστα δὴ βασιλεὺς περὶ παιδείαν καὶ βιβλίων συναγωγὴν σπουδάσας ἐξαιρέτως ἐφιλοτιμήθη τὸν ἡμέτερον νόμον καὶ τὴν κατʼ αὐτὸν διάταξιν τῆς πολιτείας εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα φωνὴν μεταβαλεῖν,

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 13.5c. AD 100

Καὶ ἐποίησεν Ἰακὼβ ἐναλλὰξ τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπέθηκεν τὴν δεξιὰν ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν Ἐφραίμ, τοῦ δευτέρου καὶ νεωτέρου, καὶ εὐλόγησεν αὐτόν.

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 1st c. AD 3rd c. AD 7th c. AD
ZPE 14 (1974), p. 146-151Ptolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites)11 BC

ν αἰγων β ἔτους ἑνὸς καὶ εἰκοστοῦ τῆς Καίσαρος κρατήσεως Θεοῦ υἱοῦ Σεβαστοῦ Δείου δευτέρᾳ καὶ εἰκάδι Θὼθ δευτέρᾳ καὶ εἰκάδι ἐν Πτολεμαίδι Εὐεργέτιδι τοῦ Ἀρσινοίτου νομοῦ. ἐμίσθωσεν Γάιος

P.Amh. 2 113Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 157

κη οὐλὴ μετώπῳ μετὰ κυρίου τοῦ ἀνδρὸς Στοτοήτεως Πακύσεως ὡς ἐτῶν λε οὐλὴ δακτύλῳ δευτέρῳ χειρὸς ἀριστερᾶς, ἀπέχειν παρʼ αὐτῆς τὸν ὁμολογοῦντα παραχρῆμα διὰ χειρὸς ἀπὸ ἀργυρίου δραχμῶν τριακοσίων

P.Amh. 2 90ArsinoitesAD 159

ἐκφορίου τοῦ παντὸς ἀσπερμεὶ τῷ μὲν πρώτῳ ἔτει πυροῦ ἀρταβῶν τριάκοντα δύο τῷ δὲ δευτέρῳ ἔτει ὁμοίως πυροῦ ἀρταβῶν τεσσαράκοντα καὶ θαλλοῦ κατʼ ἔτος ὁμοίως πυροῦ ἀρτάβης μιᾶς πάντων

If for the first that [one] was faultless, not then would for a second was being sought a place.
ἐζητεῖτοzēteō was being sought G2212 Verb · imperfect · passive · indicative · third person · singular
117× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
rarer in Hebrews than elsewhere in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To seek something means to look for it or try to find it, like when Jesus teaches to seek first God's kingdom in Matthew 7:7. It can also mean to worship or plot against someone.
Amplified meaning
existed as, looked for
Tyndale gloss
to seek
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

ζητέω means to seek or search for something, whether literally or figuratively. It can also imply a desire or striving after something, such as God or knowledge. The New Testament uses it in various contexts, including seeking the life of another (e.g., Mt 2:20) and seeking the kingdom of God (e.g., Mt 6:33). The entries show a range of meanings from inquiry to demand.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ζητέω, -ῶ,

[in LXX chiefly for בּקשׁ pi., also for דּרשׁ, etc.;]

to seek, seek for: Mt 7:7, 8, Lk 11:9, 10; c. acc. pers., Mk 1:37, Lk 2:48, Jo 6:24, al.; id. seq. ἐν, Ac 9:11; c. acc. rei, Mt 13:45, Lk 19:10; seq. ἐν, Lk 13:6, 7; ψυχήν, of plotting against one's life (Ex 4:19, al.), Mt 2:20, Read the full entry →

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

ζητέω, -d; impf. 3 pers. sing. ἐζήτει, plur. ἐζήτουν ; fut. Qyrngw; 1 aor. ἐζήτησα; Pass., pres. ζητοῦμαι: impf. 3 pers. sing. ἐζητεῖτο (Ileb. viii. 7); 1 fut. ζητηθήσομαι (Lk. xii. 48); [fr. Hom. on]; Sept. for w73, and much oftener for wpa; to seek, i. 6. 1. to seek in order to find; a. univ. and absol. : Mt. vii. 7sq.; Lk. xi. 9 sq. (see εὑρίσκω. 1 a.); τινά, Mk. i. 37; Lk. ii. [45 R Lmrg.], 48; [iv. 42 Ree.]; Jn. vi. 24; xviii. 4,7; Acts x. 19, and often; foll. by ἐν νυ. dat. of place, Acts ix. 11; w. ace. of the thing (μαργαρίτας), of buyers, Mt. xiii. 45; something lost, Mt. xvili.12; Lk. xix. 10; τὶ ἔν τινι, as fruit on a tree, Lk. xiii. 6 sq.; ἀνάπαυσιν, a place of rest, Mt. xii. 3; Lk. xi. 24; after the Hebr. (“3 wa3-ns wp3 [ef. W. 33 (32); 187) ψυχήν τινος, to seek, plot against, the life of one, Mt. ii. 20; Ro. xi. 3, (Ex. iv. 19, ete.); univ. τί ζητεῖς; what dost thou seek?…

Read the full entry →
Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

ζητέω ἦν ὁ θάνατος τῷ θ(ε)ῷ ἢ ζημία ὅπερ ἀδύνατον, which Harnack (Chron. ii. p. anderes fiir Gott als Strafe, was unmoglich ist,’’ adding in a note that the meaning may be, ‘‘ Ware Gott der, 181) renders, ‘‘so ware der Tod nichts welcher den Tod verhangt, so ware er ein strafender Gott, was unmoglich ist.” The subst. ζημίωμα is found in P Flor II. 1507 (Δ... 267) οὐχ ὀλίγον ζημίωμα εἰς τοῦτο γεινίόϊμενον ἡμῖν, BGU ΤΙ. 41013 (A.D. 276-7) τὰ περιγινόμενα λήμματα καὶ ζημίωμα [π]ρὸς σὲ ἤτω.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ζητέω (zēteō) — to seek.

ζητ-έω,

Doric dialect participle ζάτεισα [Refs 3rd c.BC+]imperfect ἐζήτουν, Epic dialect 3rd.pers. singular ζήτει [Refs 8th c.BC+]: aorist 1 ἐζήτησα [Refs 5th c.BC+]: perfect ἐζήτηκα [Refs 4th c.BC+] —middle, aorist 1 ἐζητησάμην (ἀν-) [Refs 3rd c.AD+]:—passive, future ζητηθήσομαι [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; but ζητήσομαι in passive sense,[Refs 2nd c.AD+]:—seek, seek for, ἐμὲ δ᾽ ἔξοχα πάντων ζήτει Il.[same place]; ζ. πημάτων ἀπαλλαγάς [Refs 5th c.BC+]; μὴ ζητῶν without seeking, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὸ ζητούμενον ἁλωτόν what is sought for may be found, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. mquire for, τὰ πινάκια καὶ τὰ γραμματεῖα [Refs 5th c.BC+]

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

ζητέω

zeteo

of uncertain affinity; to seek (literally or figuratively); specially,

(by Hebraism) to worship (God), or (in a bad sense) to plot (against

life):--be (go) about, desire, endeavour, enquire (for), require, (X

will) seek (after, for, means). Compare 4441.

see GREEK for 4441

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ζητέω

v.

I seek, search for, desire

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ζητέω zēteō 117x

to seek, look for, Mt. 18:12; Lk. 2:48, 49; to search after, Mt. 13:45; to be on the watch for, Mt. 26:16; to pursue, endeavor to obtain, Rom. 2:7; 1 Pet. 3:11; to desire, wish, want, Mt. 12:47; to seek, strive for, Mt. 6:33; to endeavor, Mt. 21:46; to require, demand, ask for, Mk. 8:11; Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ζητέω to seek, seek for, Il., Aesch., etc.; μὴ ζητῶν without seeking, Xen.; τὸ ζητούμενον ἁλωτόν what is sought for may be found, Soph.

to enquire for, Xen.: to ask about a thing, id. Xen.

to search after, search out, Soph., Thuc.

to search or inquire into, investigate, Plat., etc.; ζ. τὰ θεῖα Xen., etc.

to require, demand, παρὰ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ λόγον ζητοῦντες Dem.

to seek after, desire, ἀμήχανα Eur.

c. inf. to seek to do, Hdt., Aesch., etc.

to have to seek, feel the want of, Lat. desidero, Hdt.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-IPI-3S — Verb · imperfect · passive · indicative · third person · singular
imperfect passive indicative — a continuing action in past time.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-IPI-3S Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Imperfect Voice: Passive Mood: Indicative Person: third Number: Singular

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
36%seeking
seeking36% · 43×do seek8% · 10×you seek7% · 8×they were seeking6% · 7×seeks6% · 7×he was seeking4% · 5×seek3% · 4×seek you?3% · 4×other renderings26% · 31×

119 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 33 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 117 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
γραμματεύςa scribe, town-cἡμέραa dayδίδωμιI offer, give
τίςIrg
αὐτόςλέγωI say, speakκλαίωI weep, weep for
σύ
δίδωμιI offer, giveλέγωI say, speakτίςIrg
μήNeg
γυνήa woman, wife, mσύἐγώ
Article the
καίand, even, also,γάρforεἰμίI am, exist
ζητέωwas being sought117×
what comes after →
Article the
ψυχήthe soul, life, δέbut, on the otheἀρχιερεύςhigh priest, chi
αὐτός
κρατέωI lay hold of, oArticle theἐν
ἐγώ
καίand, even, also,οὐNegἀποκτείνωI put to death,
σύ
λαλέωI speak, sayλιθάζωI stone
καίand, even, also, nam
εὑρίσκωI findσημεῖονa sign, miracle,σῴζωI save, heal

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

Concordanceζητέω · 117× in the New Testament
John Luke Matthew Acts Mark 1 Corinthians Romans 1 Peter 2 Corinthians Galatians 1 Thessalonians 2 Timothy

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 132 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 Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 104c. AD 40

πέμπτῃ δ’ ὥριον ἄνδρα γάμου μεμνημένον εἶναι καὶ παίδων ζητεῖν ἐξοπίσω γενεήν·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.295c. AD 75–95

Ἰάκωβος δὲ πᾶσαν αὐτῷ τὴν αἰτίαν διηγεῖτο λέγων Ἰσάκῳ γενέσθαι παῖδας διδύμους αὐτόν τε καὶ Ἡσαῦν, ὃν ἐπεὶ τῶν τοῦ πατρὸς εὐχῶν διήμαρτε σοφίᾳ τῆς μητρὸς εἰς αὐτὸν γενομένων, ἀποκτεῖναι ζητεῖν αὐτὸν ὡς ἀφῃρημένον τῆς παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ βασιλείας καὶ…

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.9c. AD 100

αἰσθάνεσθαι οὖν ὀφείλομεν, μὴ ὄντες ἀσύνετοι, τὴν γνώμην τῆς ἀγαθωσύνης τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν, ὅτ̓ ἡμῖν λέγει, θέλων ἡμᾶς μὴ ὁμοίως πλανωμένους ἐκείνοις ζητεῖν, πῶς προσάγωμεν αὐτῷ.

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.Tebt. 2 286Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 138

αὐτοψίας ἣν ἐγὼ ἐπεῖδον, ἡ οἰκία τῇ Πτολέμᾳ προσήκει. περὶ γὰρ τῆς νομῆς οὐδὲν ζητεῖν δεόμεθα προσκυνεῖν ὀφείλοντες τὰς ἀναγνωσθείσας τοῦ θεοῦ Τραιανοῦ καὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἁδριανοῦ Καίσαρος

P.Bas. 1 2Arsinoites ?AD 190

δὲ πταίσῃ τι ἐξ αὐτῶν κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν, οἴσομεν ὑμῖν τὴν σφραγῖδα καὶ οὐδὲν ζητηθήσεται πρὸς ἡμᾶς. ἔτους λα Μάρκου Αὐρηλίου Κομμόδου Ἀντωνίνου Καίσαρος τοῦ κυρίου Θώθ κη

PSI 8 930 VoTheadelphia (Arsinoites)AD 251

ἵνα ἀπὸ τῶν καλαμειῶν φέρωσιν κάλαμον εἰς τὸ ἐποίκιον· οἱ γὰρ πωλήσαντες ἡμῖν ἐνοχλοῦσιν ζητοῦντες … ιμελ … ἑαυτῶν τὰς καλαμείας. εὐθὺς οὖν αὐτὰ ἀποπέμψατε ἐκεῖ, ἵνα μὴ δοκῆτε

If for the first that [one] was faultless, not then would for a second was being sought a place.
τόπος.topos a place. G5117 Noun · nominative · singular · masculine
95× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Hebrews as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for place or location, used in the Bible to describe a specific spot or area, such as a home or a tract of land, as seen in Matthew 24:15 and Luke 10:1. It can also refer to a condition or opportunity. In Acts 12:17, it describes a specific location where Peter went.
Amplified meaning
location, position
Tyndale gloss
place
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

τόπος (i.e. *topos*) means 'place' and refers to a specific location or position, whether inhabited or uninhabited. It can also denote metaphorical concepts such as opportunity or condition. The New Testament uses it in various contexts, including physical locations (e.g., Luke 4:37) and metaphorical meanings (e.g., Romans 12:19). The lexicons note its use in both literal and figurative senses without significant disagreement.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

τόπος, -ου, ὁ,

[in LXX chiefly for מָקֹום ;]

place: Lk 4:37 10:1, 32, Jo 5:13 6:10, Ac 12:17, I Co 1:2, al.; τ. ἅγιος (cf. Is 60:13), Mt 24:15; ἔρημος, Mt 14:13, al.; πεδινός, Lk 6:17; ἄνυδρος (pl.), Mt 12:43, Lk 11:24; κατὰ τόπους (EV, in divers places), Mt 24:7, Mk 13:8; τραχεῖς τ.…

Read the full entry →
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

τόπος, -ov, 6, in Attic fr. Aeschyl. and his contemporaries on; Sept. DIP; place; i.e. 1. prop. any portion of space marked off, as it were, from surrounding space ; used of a. an inhabited place, as a city, village, district: Lk. iv. 37; x. 1; Acts xii. 17; xvi. 3; xxvii. 2,8; 1Co.i.2; 2Co. ii. 14; 1 ΤῊ. 1. 8; Rev. xviii. 17 [GLT Tr WH]; τὸν τόπον καὶ τὸ ἔθνος, the place which the nation inhabit, i.e. the holy land and the Jewish people, Jn. xi. 48 (cf. 2 Mace. v. 19 sq.) ; τόπος ἅγιος, the temple (which the Sept. of Is. Ix. 13 calls ὁ ἅγιος τόπος τοῦ θεοῦ), Mt. xxiv. 15. of a house, Acts iv. 31. of uninhabited places, with adjectives: ἔρημος, Mt. xiv. 13,15; Mk. i. 35; vi. 31 sq.; Lk. iv. 42; ix. 10 RGL, 12; medwos, Lk. vi. 17; ἄνυδρος, plur., Mt. xii. 43; Lk. xi. 24. of any place whatever: κατὰ τύπους, [R.V. in divers places] i.e. the world over [but see xara, ΤΙ. 3a.a.], Mt. xxiv.…

Read the full entry →
Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

τόπος, (1) “ἃ place”: P Cairo Zen If. 591935 (B.c. 225) ἱππῶνα (‘‘stable”) οὐκ ἔχει ὁ τόπος, P Oxy IV. 7425 (8.6. 2) θ[ἐ]ς αὐτὰς εἰς τόπον ἀσφαλῶς, and BGU II. 5958 (c. A.D. 70-80) elva φιλάνθρωπον (‘reward’’) εἰς δύο τόπους μὴ χορηγῆι Θέων. With τόπος as a ‘‘sitting-place” in Lk 141°, Deissmann (LS, p. 267) compares erg 618, where τόπος means “seat in a theatre” (for further exx. see the editor’s note). See also J/agz. 237 where between the pillars of the temple of Artemis there have been scratched on the marble floor the words—6 τόπος τρικλείνου ἱερῶν αὐλητρίδων καὶ ἀκροβατῶν (cited by Thieme p- 32, comparing 1 Cor 1418). Τόπος is also frequent in Christian (and pagan) sepulchral inserr. as in C. and B. ii. p. 554, No. 426 Τόπος Φιλοθέου], where Ramsay compares the corresponding use of the Lat. locus, Or locudus. With Jn 1148 cf. MGr use of τόπος = “country,” “nation.” (2) ‘a…

Read the full entry →
Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

τόπος (topos) — place.

τόπος, ὁ

(feminine by attraction τόπον τὰν καλειμέναν Δαματρείαν [Refs 2nd c.BC+], place, region, first in [Refs 4th c.BC+], afterwards frequently in all writers; periphrastic, χθονὸς πᾶς τ., i.e. the whole earth, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; ἐν Ἑλλάδος τόποις in Greece,[Refs]; πρὸς ἑσπέρους τ. towards the West, [Refs]; πρόσθε Σαλαμῖνος τόπων before Salamis, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: so in Prose, district, ὁ τ. ὁ Ἑλληνικός [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὁ τ. οὗτος, ἐν τούτοις τοῖς τ., [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὅλος τ. a whole region, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; οἱ τῆς χώρας τ. the places of a country, [Refs] the geographical position, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; region, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὁ ἅγιοστ., of Jerusalem, [LXX]; the universe divided into three τόποι, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; οἱ κοινοὶ τ. public sites or buildings, [Refs 2nd c.BC+]; οἰκίαι καὶ τόποι houses and sites, [Refs 2nd c.BC+]; so ψιλοὶ τ. sites not…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

τόπος

topos

apparently a primary word; a spot (general in space, but limited by

occupancy; whereas 5561 is a large but participle locality), i.e.

location (as a position, home, tract, etc.); figuratively, condition,

opportunity; specially, a scabbard:--coast, licence, place, X plain,

quarter, + rock, room, where.

see GREEK for 5561

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

τόπος, ου, ὁ

n.m.

a place

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

Πόντος Pontos 1x

Pontus, country of Asia Minor, Acts 2:9; 1 Pet. 1:1*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

τόπος τόπος, ὁ, a place, Lat. locus, Aesch., etc.; periphr., χθονὸς πᾶς τόπος, i. e. the whole earth, id. Aesch.; Πέλοπος ἐν τόποις in Peloponnesus, id. Aesch., etc.; ὁ τόπος τῆς χώρας the local circumstances of the district, Dem.

place, position, Aeschin.

a place or passage in an author, NTest., etc.

a topic, Aeschin.: a common-place in Rhetoric, Arist.

metaph. a place, occasion, opportunity, Thuc.

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

N-NSM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

plas: Normally for maqom, Old Testament, and topos, New Testament, but in the King James Version "place" represents a great number of Hebrew and Greek words, often used with no difference in force (e.g. 2Ch 35:10,15). the Revised Version (British and American) has made few changes, but occasionally has attempted to specialize the meaning (Ge 40:13; Job 37:8; Ac 8:32; Jas 3:11, etc.).

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
85%place
place85% · 81×places9% · 9×opportunity2% · 2×other renderings3% · 3×

95 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 6 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
adverbial53%object19%subject16%predicate13%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 95 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
εἰςἐνεἰμίI am, exist
ἔρημοςdeserted, desolate,
εἰςἐπίἐν
εἰς
ἔρχομαιI come, goβῆμαthe space covereδέbut, on the othe
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
ἐνεἰς
κατά
σεισμόςan earthquake, sκαίand, even, also,
τόποςa place.95×
what comes after →
Article the
καλέωI call, invite, περίχωροςneighboringπόλιςa city
ὅπουwhere, whither
κεῖμαιI lie, recline, τίθημιI put, placeπροσκυνέωI worship
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theἀναπαύωI make to rest, ἤδηnow, already
αὐτός
πᾶςall, the whole, καίand, even, also,ἐάνCond
οὗτος
Article theκαίand, even, also,πᾶςall, the whole,

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

Concordanceτόπος · 95× in the New Testament
Luke Acts John Matthew Mark Revelation Hebrews Romans 1 Corinthians 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians
Across the New Testament14 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 274 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 Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 17c. AD 40

Τὸν δ’ ἐκ τῶν ἰδεῶν συνεστῶτα κόσμον ἐν τόπῳ τινὶ λέγειν ἢ ὑπονοεῖν οὐ θεμιτόν·

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

ὡς πύργος, ὃν οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ ἐφ' ὕβρει τοῦ θεοῦ ᾠκοδόμησαν, καὶ ὡς τὰς φωνὰς αὐτῶν μετέβαλε καὶ ὁ τόπος, ἐν ᾧ τοῦτο γέγονε, Βαβυλὼν ἐκλήθη.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 16.2c. AD 100

λέγει κύριος: Ὁ οὐρανός μοι θρόνος, ἡ δὲ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου: ποῖον οἶκον οἰκοδομήσετέ μοι, ἢ τίς τόπος τῆς καταπαύσεώς μου;

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 2nd c. BC 6th c. AD 1st c. AD
P.Adl. 20Poinkoris (Diopolites)99 BC

γῆ Ὥρου τοῦ Νεχούθου τοῦ ὠνουμένου· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτοῖς ψιλῶν τόπων ἐν τῶι ἀπὸ λιβὸς μέρει κώμης Μούχεως ἑπταρούρων πήχεις στερεοὺς μέτρῳ βασιλικοὺς τριακοσίους ὧν

P.Bad. 2 16Pathyris89 BC

r … ἐπαινῶ … … τὰ ὑφʼ ὑμῶν κεχειροτονημένα. καλῶς ποιήσετε συνγεινόμενοι εἰς τοῦτον τόπον ἐν ἀσφαλείαι ὑπάρχοντα συντηρηθῆναι τοῦτον τῶι κυρίωι βασιλεῖ· οὕτω γὰρ πράσσοντες καὶ τὴν πρὸς

P.Bour. 10Pathyris89 BC

τὸ συμφέρον τοῖς πράγμασι καὶ γεγραφότες τοῖς κατοικοῦσι συγγίνεσθαί σοι. καλῶς ποιήσεις συντηρῶν τὸν τόπον καὶ προιστάμενος· τοὺς δʼ ἐπιχειροῦντας μὴ ὑπακούειν σου … υτέραι στάσει ἐχομένους ἀσφαλισάμενος μέχρι

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.

Everything we make is available for free because of a generous community of supporters.

Donate