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James 3:8 — Word Study

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N1904τὴν δὲ γλῶσσαν οὐδεὶς δαμάσαι δύναται ἀνθρώπων· ἀκατάστατον κακόν, μεστὴ ἰοῦ θανατηφόρου.

BSAtheho butde tongueglōssa [language, speech] no [one]oudeis to subdue [subdue, control] is abledunamai of men;anthrōpos [none, nobody] [it is] an unruly evil,kakos [harm, wickedness] fullmestos [filled, complete] of poisonios [venom, rust] deadly.thanatēphoros [fatal, poisonous]

Word
Listen & take awayJames 3
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 8 is in this chapter.
Say the word Each Greek word carries its transliteration (thanatēphoros) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
James 3:8quick helps
In a sentenceJames explains that no one can control the tongue, which is a source of chaos and harm.
Who is speakingJames, addressing believers about the challenges of speech.
Where we areThe verse fits within a discussion on the power of speech in the broader context of taming the tongue.
The hard wordδαμάσαι
Take awayThe tongue is powerful and often uncontrollable.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause subjectοὐδείς verbδύναμαι The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
How rare are these words?in the New Testament

1 of 12 occurs nowhere else in the New Testament — a word chosen on purpose.

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 — James 3:8

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 Power of the Tonguegenerated

7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man,
8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.
10Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, this should not be!

James 3:8 emphasizes the difficulty of controlling speech, illustrating the tongue as a restless force filled with potential harm. This verse is part of a larger discussion about the impact of words, where James contrasts the ability to tame animals with the challenge of taming one's own speech. The surrounding verses highlight the dual nature of the tongue, capable of both blessing and cursing, as seen in James 3:9.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
1James 3:6The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
2Psalm 55:21His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.
3Psalm 57:4My soul is among the lions; I lie down with ravenous beasts— with men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
4Psalm 59:7See what they spew from their mouths— sharp words from their lips: “For who can hear us?”
5Psalm 64:3–4who sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their bitter words like arrows,

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 11 references, hung on the phrase they belong to


The Key Word δαμάσαι, damasaigenerated

The verb δαμάσαι means to tame or subdue. It is used in contexts where control is exerted over something wild or unruly, like animals or, in this case, speech.

This word suggests a struggle against something that resists control, highlighting the inherent difficulty in managing what we say. The context of this verse shows that while humans can tame many creatures, the tongue remains a unique challenge.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The Berean Standard Bible (BSB) states, "but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison." This is echoed in the KJV and ASV, which also emphasize the inability to tame the tongue.

The Young's Literal Translation (YLT) offers a slightly different phrasing, stating, "and the tongue no one of men is able to subdue," which maintains the same meaning but varies in structure.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main verb of the verse is δαμάσαι, to tame, which governs the subject οὐδεὶς (no one) and is followed by a noun phrase that describes the tongue. The structure highlights the contrast between the ability to tame animals and the inability to control the tongue.

The phrase ἀκατάστατον κακόν (a restless evil) serves as a predicate describing the tongue, emphasizing its chaotic nature.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

The word γλῶσσα appears in the Septuagint, often translating the Hebrew word לָשׁוֹן (lashon), which also means tongue. This connection underscores the significance of speech in both the Old and New Testaments.

In the LXX, δαμάσαι does not have a direct equivalent but relates to the broader theme of control over speech and actions found in various contexts.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

James 3:8 explains that no one can control the tongue. It is described as restless and full of deadly poison, illustrating the destructive power of words.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean that the tongue is 'restless'?

The term 'restless' indicates that the tongue is difficult to control and often leads to harmful speech, reflecting instability and unpredictability.

Why is taming the tongue so challenging?

Taming the tongue is difficult because it reflects our inner thoughts and emotions, which can be chaotic and unrestrained, leading to harmful words.

What are the consequences of an untamed tongue?

An untamed tongue can lead to conflict, misunderstandings, and harm to others, as it can easily express negativity or malice.

How can we work towards controlling our speech?

We can work towards controlling our speech by being mindful of our words, seeking wisdom, and practicing self-control in our conversations.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. In what situations have I struggled to control my words, and how can I improve?
  2. What steps can I take to ensure my speech reflects kindness and truth?
  3. How does understanding the power of the tongue change the way I communicate?
  4. What are some practical ways I can practice taming my tongue in daily conversations?

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

Early church Fathers have commented on the challenges of speech as described in this verse, providing insights into its moral implications.

John ChrysostomCATENA c. 347–407
The tongue is a piercing sword. But let us not wound others with it; rather let us cut off our own gangrene.
Early Church Fathers on James 3 →
Augustine of HippoON NATURE AND GRACE 15 (16) 354–430
I do not believe that this passage can bear the interpretation which Pelagius wants to put on it. He says that this is stated as a reproach,
Early Church Fathers on James 3 →
Hesychius of JerusalemCATENA d. after 451
Just as a sword, if it is sharpened, is more easily able to kill, so the tongue, which has great difficulty in keeping itself quiet and cannot easily be controlled, becomes more insolent if it learns from bad people how to deceive,
Early Church Fathers on James 3 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on James 3:8 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

But the tongue can no man tame,.... Either his own, or others; not his own, for the man that has the greatest guard upon himself, his words and actions; yet, what through pride or passion, or one

Read John Gill on James 3 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. No man - literally, no one of men: neither can a man control his neighbour's nor even his own tongue. Hence, the truth of Jas 3:2 appears.

Read Robert Jamieson on James 3 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible

But the tongue; not only other men’ s tonges, but his own. Can no man tame; no man of himself, and without the assistance of Divine grace, can bring his tongue into subjection, and keep it in order; nor can any man, by the assistance of any grace promised in this life, so keep it, as that it shall never at all offend. It is an unruly evil; or, which cannot be restrained, and kept within bounds: wild beasts are kept in by grates and bars, but this by no restraint. Full of dead poison; the wickedness of the tongue is compared to poison, in respect of the mischief it doth to others. It seems to allude to those kinds of serpents which have poison under their tongues, , with which they kill…

Read Matthew Poole on James 3 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Ver. 8. But the tongue, &c.] Where then are our justiciaries with their pretended perfection? David’ s heart deceived him Psalms 39:1; "I said, I will look to my ways, I will bridle my tongue." But presently after, he shows how soon he brake his word. "My heart was hot," &c., and "I spake with my tongue." Pambus, in the ecclesiastical history, could never take out that one lesson read him out of Psa 39:1. There is one Bennus celebrated in the same ecclesiastical history for this (but I can hardly believe it), that he was never seen of any man to be angry, never beard to swear, or lie, or utter a vain word.…

Read John Trapp on James 3 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly (or, restless) evil, full of deadly poison.—Mortiferous, bringer of death, like a poisoned dart or arrow; and therefore most suggestive of envenomed flights at the fame of others. St. James does not mean that no one can tame his own tongue, for so he would hardly be responsible for its vagaries; and lower down it is written expressly, “these things ought not so to be.” The hopeless savagery of the tongue, excelling the fury of wild beasts, must be that of the liar, the traducer, and blasphemer. (Comp. Psalms 140)

Read Charles John Ellicott on James 3 →
AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

Verse 8. But the tongue wan no man tame] No cunning, persuasion, or influence has ever been able to silence it. Nothing but the grace of God, excision, or death, can bring it under subjection. It is an unruly evil] ακατασχετονκακον. An evil that cannot be restrained; it cannot be brought under any kind of government; it breaks all bounds. Full of deadly poison.] He refers here to the tongues of serpents, supposed to be the means of conveying their poison into wounds made by their teeth. Throughout the whole of this poetic and highly declamatory description, St. James must have the tongue of the slanderer, calumniator, backbiter, whisperer, and tale-bearer, particularly in view. Vipers…

Read AdamClarke on James 3 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. but the tongue can no man tame] There is a special force in the Greek tense for “tame”, which expresses not habitual, but momentary action. St James had learnt, by what he saw around him, and yet more, it may be, by personal experience, that no powers of the “nature of man” were adequate for this purpose. He had learnt also, we must believe, that the things which are impossible with man are possible with God.an unruly evil] Literally, uncontrollable. Many of the better MSS., however, give the adjective which is rendered “unstable” in ch. James 1:8, and which carries with it, together with that meaning, the idea of restlessness and turbulence. So in the Shepherd of Hermas (11.2) calumny…

Read Cambridge on James 3 →
Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But the tongue can no man tame - This does not mean that it is never brought under control, but that it is impossible effectually and certainly to subdue it.

Read Albert Barnes on James 3 →

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

but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

but no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

NETBNew English Translation2006

But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

but the tongue can no man tame; it is a restless evil, it is full of deadly poison.

RVARevised Version, American1894

but the tongue can no man tame; it is a restless evil, it is full of deadly poison.

NWBWebster's Bible1833

But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

GNVGeneva Bible1599

But the tongue can no man tame. It is an vnruly euill, full of deadly poyson.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

but the tongue can no one among men tame; [it is] an unsettled evil, full of death-bringing poison.

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

and the tongue no one of men is able to subdue, [it is] an unruly evil, full of deadly poison,

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

but no one of men is able to subdue the tongue—[it is] an unruly evil, full of deadly poison;

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

but no one can tame the tongue—it's an evil thing, hard to control, full of deadly poison.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

But the tongue may not be controlled by man; it is an unresting evil, it is full of the poison of death.

Word by word, the decisions they made

ἀνθρώπων·anthrōpos of men; G444 3 different renderings
manASV BBE BSB DRA GNV KJV MSB NWB RVA
menDBY LSV YLT
nobodyWEB

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.

clauseγὰρforclauseclausenoun phrase · subjectπᾶσαAllnoun phraseφύσιςkindsnoun phraseτεbothθηρίωνof beastsκαὶandπετεινῶνof birdsτεbothἑρπετῶνof creeping thingsκαὶandἐναλίωνthings of the seaverb phrase · verbδαμάζεταιis subduedκαὶandδεδάμασταιhas been subduednoun phrase · adverbialτῇby thenoun phraseφύσειracenoun phraseτῇof theἀνθρωπίνῃhumanδὲbutclauseclause · objectnoun phrase · objectτὴν-γλῶσσανthe tongueverbδαμάσαιto subdueverbδύναταιis ablenoun phrase · subjectοὐδεὶςno oneἀνθρώπωνof menclauseadjective phrase · predicateἀκατάστατον[it is] an unrulyκακόνeviladjective phraseμεστὴfulladverb phrasenoun phraseἰοῦof poisonθανατηφόρουdeadly

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

linguam autem nullus hominum domare potest : inquietum malum, plena veneno mortifero.

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

ܠܫܢܐ ܕܝܢ ܐܢܫ ܠܐ ܐܫܟܚ ܕܢܟܒܫܝܘܗܝ ܒܝܫܬܐ ܗܕܐ ܕܠܐ ܡܬܬܟܣܐ ܡܠܐ ܗܘ ܣܡܐ ܕܡܘܬܐ

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

τὴν δὲ γλῶσσαν οὐδεὶς δαμάσαι δύναται ἀνθρώπων· ἀκατάστατον κακόν, μεστὴ ἰοῦ θανατηφόρου.

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

τὴν δὲ γλῶσσαν οὐδεὶς δαμάσαι δύναται ἀνθρώπων· ἀκατάστατον κακόν, μεστὴ ἰοῦ θανατηφόρου.

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

τὴν δὲ γλῶσσαν οὐδεὶς δαμάσαι δύναται ἀνθρώπων· ἀκατάστατον κακόν, μεστὴ ἰοῦ θανατηφόρου.

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

τὴν δὲ γλῶσσαν οὐδεὶς δαμάσαι δύναται ἀνθρώπων· ἀκατάστατον κακόν, μεστὴ ἰοῦ θανατηφόρου.

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

τὴν δὲ γλῶσσαν οὐδεὶς δαμάσαι δύναται ἀνθρώπων· ἀκατάστατον κακόν, μεστὴ ἰοῦ θανατηφόρου.

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

τὴν δὲ γλῶσσαν οὐδεὶς δαμάσαι δύναται ἀνθρώπων· ἀκατάστατον κακόν, μεστὴ ἰοῦ θανατηφόρου.

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

τὴν δὲ γλῶσσαν οὐδεὶς δύναται ἀνθρώπων· κακόν, μεστὴ ἰοῦ θανατηφόρου.

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

τὴν δὲ γλῶσσαν οὐδεὶς δύναται ἀνθρώπων· κακόν, μεστὴ ἰοῦ θανατηφόρου.

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

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

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

Word by word, across the editions

WordEditions carrying itMissing from
δαμάσαι to subdueNA28, NA27, Tyn, SBL, WH, TregTR, Byz
ἀκατάστατον [it is] an unrulyNA28, NA27, Tyn, SBL, WH, TregTR, Byz

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.

James 3:8thetheδέbutbutδέγλῶσσαtonguetongueγλῶσσαοὐδείςno [one]no [one]οὐδείςδαμάζωto subdueto subdueδαμάζωδύναμαιis ableis ableδύναμαιἄνθρωποςof men;of men;ἄνθρωποςἀκατάστατος[it is] an [it is] an unruἀκατάστατοςκακόςevil,evil,κακόςμεστόςfullfullμεστόςἰόςof poisonof poisonἰόςθανατηφόροςdeadly.deadly.θανατηφόροςοὐδέNeg.cj. neNeg.cj. neitherοὐδέἄλφαletter theletter the firsἄλφαἀνήρn.m. a maln.m. a male humἀνήρὀπτάνομαιv. I appeav. I appear, amὀπτάνομαιπονηρόςAdj evil, Adj evil, bad, πονηρόςθάνατοςn.m. deathn.m. deathθάνατοςφέρωv. I carryv. I carry, beaφέρωἑρμηνείαn.f. transn.f. translatioἑρμηνείαφυλήn.f. a trin.f. a tribe, rφυλήὠφελέωv. I help,v. I help, beneὠφελέωτολμάωv. I dare,v. I dare, enduτολμάωἐνάλιοςAdj livingAdj living in tἐνάλιοςδουλεύωv. I am a v. I am a slaveδουλεύωσῴζωv. I save,v. I save, healσῴζωκοινόωv. I make v. I make uncleκοινόωυἱόςn.m. a sonn.m. a son, desυἱόςἀντίPrep. instPrep. instead oἀντίἀποδίδωμιv. I give v. I give back,ἀποδίδωμι
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 James 3:8

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

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

the but tongue no [one] to subdue is able of men; [it is] an unruly evil, full of poison deadly.
τὴνho the G3588 Article · accusative · singular · feminine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in James as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

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

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

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

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

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

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

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

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

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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

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

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

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existἐγώ
ἐν
καίand, even, also,αὐτόςArticle the
εἰς
αὐτόςεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come inἔρχομαιI come, go
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakδέbut, on the otheπρός
εἰμίI am, exist
οὗτοςσύἐγώ
the19783×
what comes after →
θεόςGod, a god
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
ἸησοῦςJesus
λέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
ἐγώἸησοῦςJesusArticle the
πατήρfather, Father, ance
ἐγώσύαὐτός

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

the but tongue no [one] to subdue is able of men; [it is] an unruly evil, full of poison deadly.
δὲde but G1161 Conjunction
2,787× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in James as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This is a conjunction that means and, but, or then, used to connect ideas like in Matthew 1:2 and 2 Corinthians 6:15.
Tyndale gloss
then
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

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

post-positive conjunctive particle;

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δέ (de) — then.

δέ,

but: adversative and copulative Particle,

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

II. without preceding μέν,

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

II.2. copulative,

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

δέ

de

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

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

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δέ

Cj.

but, on the other hand, and

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δέ de 2x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

δέ is often redundant,

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

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

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

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

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existσύ
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςκύριοςlord, Lord, mastπεντακισχίλιοιfive thousand
εἰCond
παλαιόςold, ancient, woσύεἰμίI am, exist
εἰμίI am, exist
περιπατέωI walk, conduct ἀναπίπτωI lie down, reclμνημεῖονa tomb, sepulche
οὗτος
δίδωμιI offer, giveθεόςGod, a godπίστιςfaith, belief, t
δέbut2787×
what comes after →
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusθεόςGod, a godκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
αὐτός
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐπί
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςArticle theσύ
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theοὗτοςἸωάννηςJohn
τὶς
Article theαὐτόςὄνομαname, character,

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

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

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

Across the New Testament26 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
the but tongue no [one] to subdue is able of men; [it is] an unruly evil, full of poison deadly.
γλῶσσανglōssa tongue G1100 Noun · accusative · singular · feminine
50× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in James than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The tongue refers to the organ of speech, as seen in Mark 7:33 and 35. It can also mean a language, such as in Acts 2:11. The Bible talks about the tongue as a powerful tool for communication and expression.
Amplified meaning
language, speech
Tyndale gloss
tongue
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

γλῶσσα, -ης, ἡ,

[in LXX chiefly for לָשׁוֹן ;]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

γλῶσσα (glōssa) — tongue.

γλῶσσα,

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

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

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

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

γλῶσσα

glossa

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

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

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

γλῶσσα, ης, ἡ

n.f.

the tongue, a language, nation

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

γλῶσσα glōssa 50x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

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

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

the tongue or mouthpiece of a pipe, Aeschin.

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

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

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

→ Confusion of Ge 11:1-9

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

→ Loquacious Pr 10:8,19

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

→ Hasty Pr 29:20

→ An evil

See SPEAKING, EVIL

→ See SLANDER

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

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

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

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
καίand, even, also,ἅπτωI touch or handlδεσμόςa bond, chain
λαλέωI speak, say
Article theαὐτόςγάρfor
καίand, even, also, nam
φυλήa tribe, raceλαόςa people, the crἔθνοςa race, people,
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
καίand, even, also,μήNeg
γένοςoffspring, family, r
ἕτεροςanother, differeκυβέρνησιςgoverning, gover
γλῶσσαtongue50×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
λαόςa people, the crἔθνοςa race, people, μεγαλύνωI enlarge, magni
αὐτός
καίand, even, also,δολιόωI act deceitfullἐκ
λαλέωI speak, say
καινόςfresh, newμήNegτίςIrg
Article the
μεγαλεῖοςgrand, magnificeἄνθρωποςa man, one of thπνεῦμαwind, breath, sp
ἐγώ
ὅτιthat, since, becἔτιstill, yet, even

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

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

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

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

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.108c. AD 75–95

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

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 15.4c. AD 96

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

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

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

P.Oxy. 1 108OxyrhynchosAD 215

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

SB 5 7872AD 306–AD 337

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

the but tongue no [one] to subdue is able of men; [it is] an unruly evil, full of poison deadly.
οὐδεὶςoudeis no [one] G3762 Adjective · nominative · singular · masculine
235× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in James as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means 'none' or 'nobody', used in Luke 4:24 and Romans 8:1 to emphasize the absence of something or someone. It's a strong way to say that nothing or no one is present or available.
Tyndale gloss
none
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

οὐδείς is built from the negation οὐ (not) and εἷς (one), meaning no one or none. It appears in various contexts in the New Testament, often emphasizing the absence of people or things, such as in Matthew 5:13 and John 1:18. The word can also be used adverbially to mean not at all or nothing.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

οὐδείς, -δεμία, -δέν (also in WH, txt., the Hellenistic forms -θείς, -θέν, Lk 22:35 23:14, Ac 15:9 19:27 26:26, I Co 13:2, II Co 11:8; cf. Bl., § 6, 7; M, Pr., 56n, Thackeray, Gr., 58), related to μηδείς as οὐ to μή,

no, no one, none: with nouns, Lk 4:24, Jo 10:41, Ro 8:1, al.; absol., Mt 6:24, Mk 3:27, Lk 1:61, Jo 1:18, Ac…

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

οὐδείς. P Alex 4° (iii/B.c.) (= Witkowski’, p. 52), οὐδείς σε ἀνθρώπων μὴ ὠφειλήσηι. For a similar use of οὐθείς, cf. P Petr 11. 13(19)!8 (B.c. 258-3) (= Witkowski?, p. 20) τοῦτο {δ᾽ ἔχε τῆι δια[νοία]ι, ὅτι οὐθέν σοι μὴ γενηθῆι λυπηρόν, ἀλλὰ πᾶν ἐμοὶ ἔστ]αι πεφροντισμένον τοῦ σε γενέσθαι ἄλυπον, ‘‘but hold this fact in your mind, that nothing vexatious may happen to you, but that I have used every forethought to keep you free from trouble’’ (Ed.). Another ex. of the neut. οὐδέν is the illiterate BGU II. 380" (ili/A.D.) (= Selections, p. 105) οὐδὲν περισότε[ρ]ον ext σε. οὐδ΄ ποτε “there is nothing so much the matter with you.’’ The stronger οὐδέν is sometimes used for οὐ : see Epict. iv. ro. 36 οὐδὲν κωλύονται ἀθλιώτατοι εἶναι Kal δυστυχέστατοι (cited by Radermacher G7. p. 26), and possible NT exx. in Ac 18! (but cf. Blass Gr. p. 104), Rev 377, The usual accumulation of negatives may be…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

οὐδείς (oudeis) — none.

οὐδείς,

feminine οὐδεμίᾰ (never nominative accusative -μίη, -μίην, since οὐδεμιῇ is probably in [Refs], rarely οὐδ᾽ ἴα [Refs 7th c.BC+], not one, i.e. no one, none, used by [Refs 8th c.BC+], except in the phrase τὸ ὃν μένος οὐδενὶ εἴκων [Refs 8th c.BC+]; οὐδείς is found in [Refs 5th c.BC+]: rare in plural, no set of persons or things, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; οὐδένων εἰσὶ βελτίους, i.e. οὔ τινων ἄλλων, [Refs 5th c.BC+] —In _Ionic dialect_ the _plural_ is usually οὐδαμοί.

2. οὐ. ὅστις οὐ every one, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; οὐδὲν ὅ τι οὐ every, [Refs]; this came to be regarded as one word, so that οὐδείς passed into the same case as ὅστις, οὐδένα ὅντινα οὐ κατέκλασε [Refs 5th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

οὐδείς οὐθείς

oudeis

oudemia oo-dem-ee'-ah, and neuter

ouden oo-den'

from 3761 and 1520; not even one (man, woman or thing), i.e. none,

nobody, nothing:--any (man), aught, man, neither any (thing), never

(man), no (man), none (+ of these things), not (any, at all, -thing),

nought.

see GREEK for 3761

see GREEK for 1520

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

οὐδείς, οὐδεμία, οὐδέν

Adj

no one, none, nothing

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

οὐδείς oudeis 227x

latter form, οὐθείς (G4032), not one, no one, none, nothing, Mt. 5:13; 6:24; 19:17; met. οὐδέν, nothing, of no account, naught, Jn. 8:54; Acts 21:24

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

οὐδείς never οὐδεμίη and not one, i. e. no one, none, as Lat. nullus, for ne ullus, Hom., etc.:—rare in pl. (οὐδαμοί being used instead), Xen.; πρὸς οὐδένας τῶν Ἑλλήνων Dem.; v. infr. II. 3.

οὐδεὶς ὅστις οὐ, Lat. nemo non, every one, Hdt., attic; οὐδὲν ὅ τι οὐ, Lat. nihil non, every, Hdt.; this came to be regarded as one word, so that οὐδείς passed into the same case as the relative, οὐδένα ὅντινα οὐ κατέκλασε Plat.

naught, good for naught, Ar.

in neut. of persons, οὐδέν εἰμι Hdt.; πρὸς τὸν οὐδένα Eur.; οὐδὲν εἶναι to be good for nothing, Ar.

in pl., οὐδένες ἐόντες being nobodies, Hdt.; ὄντες οὐδένες Eur.; ὁ μηδὲν ὢν κἀξ οὐδένων κεκλήσομαι id. Eur.

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

A-NSM-N Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine Negative

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

wun.

See NUMBER.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
90%no
no90% · 212×none5% · 12×other renderings3% · 7×other renderings2% · 4×

235 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 8 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
subject46%object32%adverbial12%predicate8%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 235 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
ἐγώαὐτόςεἰμίI am, exist
ὅτιthat, since, because
σύαὐτόςΠιλᾶτοςPilate
αὐτός
ὀφθαλμόςthe eyeφοβέωI fear, am terriλέγωI say, speak
ὅς
ἐπίγράφωI writeαὐτός
σύ
λέγωI say, speakκατήγοροςa prosecutor, acχαράjoy, gladness
οὐδείςno [one]235×
what comes after →
εἰμίI am, exist
ὅςἐκἀλλάbut, except
δύναμαιI am powerful, am ab
ἔρχομαιI come, goδύοἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
γάρfor
εἰμίI am, existδύναμαιI am powerful, aτὶς
ὁράωI see, look upon, ex
Article theεἰCondἀλλάbut, except
ἐγώ
μισθόωI hire out, hireδύναμαιI am powerful, aδιαφέρωI carry through,

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

Concordanceοὐδείς · 235× in the New Testament
John Luke Acts Mark 1 Corinthians Matthew Revelation 2 Corinthians Galatians Hebrews Romans 1 Timothy

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament19 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 113 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 Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 4c. AD 40

τὸ μὲν οὖν κάλλος τῶν νοημάτων τῆς κοσμοποιίας οὐδεὶς οὔτε ποιητὴς οὔτε λογογράφος ἀξίως ἂν ὑμνῆσαι δύναιτο·

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 4.9c. AD 100

διὸ προσέχωμεν ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις: οὐδὲν γὰρ ὠφελήσει ἡμᾶς ὁ πᾶς χρόνος τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν, ἐὰν μὴ νῦν ἐν τῷ ἀνόμῳ καιρῷ καὶ τοῖς μέλλουσιν σκανδάλοις, ὡς πρέπει υἱοῖς θεοῦ, ἀντιστῶμεν, ἵνα μὴ σχῇ παρείσδυσιν ὁ μέλας.

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 1st c. AD
P. Grenf. 1 12Latopolis151 BC

Φιλωτέρειον Δρύτωνι Παμφίλου ὄντα συγγενῆ, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Ἐσθλάδου τοῦ Ἐσθλάδου. Ἀλλωι δὲ οὐθενὶ οὐθὲν καταλείπω οὐδε δίδωμι. Μαρτυρες … … … … δεξι … … μελίχρως τετανὸς

P.Grenf. 1 37Thebais109 BC

ς δεομένων δὲ τῶν … ντων ὑμῶν διαλήψεως … καὶ οὐδὲ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν οὐδενός … ς ἀξιοῦμεν … ἀνθρώπου ἀλόγως … ὀφείλει ἡμῖν διάφορα … θαι ἀλλʼ ἀποστερέσαι

P.Grenf. 2 36Pathyris96 BC

καὶ Φάφις καὶ οἱ παρʼ ἡμῖν πάντες. μὴ λυπεῖσθε ἐπὶ τοῖς χωρισθεῖσι. ὑπελάμβανον φονευθήσεσθαι. οὐθὲν ἡμῖν κακὸν ἐποίησεν ἀλλʼ ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων ἐπιμεμέληται, περὶ ὧν, ἐὰν αἱρῆτε, γράψατέ μοι.

the but tongue no [one] to subdue is able of men; [it is] an unruly evil, full of poison deadly.
δαμάσαι to subdue G1150
4× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in James than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To tame means to subdue or control something, used in Mark 5:4 to describe a man who could not be tamed. It also appears in James 3:7-8, where it describes the difficulty of taming the tongue.
Amplified meaning
subdue, control
Tyndale gloss
to tame
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word δαμάζω (i.e., *damazo*) means to tame or subdue, often in the context of animals or metaphorically regarding speech. It is built from the root meaning 'to overpower' and covers a range of uses, including making someone subject to another or overcoming challenges. In the New Testament, it appears in Mark 5:4 and James 3:7-8, where it refers to taming animals and controlling the tongue.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δαμάζω

[in LXX: Da 2:40 (חֲשַׁל) * ;]

to tame, subdue: Mk 5:4, Ja 3:7; metaph., τ. γλῶσσαν, Ja 3:8 (Field, Notes, 237 f.).†

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

δαμάζω. Vettius Valens p. 285%", ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν στερεῶν ζωδίων ἢ μοιρῶν παρόντες ἅπαξ τε καὶ ἀπαραιτήτως δαμάζουσιν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς δισώμοις πλεονάκις. ie δανειον

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δαμάζω (damazō) — to tame.

δαμάζω

[Refs 4th c.BC+], etc.: future δαμάσω [Refs 1st c.AD+]; Epic dialect δαμάσσω [Refs 8th c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. plural δαμόωσι [Refs]: aorist 1 ἐδάμᾰσα [Refs 5th c.BC+] (participle δαμάσσαις [Refs 8th c.BC+]: perfect δεδάμακα [Refs 5th c.AD+]:—middle, future Epic dialect δαμάσσομαι [Refs 8th c.BC+]aorist ἐδαμάσσατο, δαμάσαντο, δαμασσάμενος, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; aorist 1 optative δαμάσαιτο [Refs]: aorist 2 optative δάμοιτο [Refs]:—passive, future 3 δεδμήσομαι [Refs]: aorist ἐδαμάσθην [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Epic dialect δαμάσθην [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἐδμήθην, imperative δμηθήτω [Refs 8th c.BC+], Doric dialect δμᾱθείς [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Epic dialect δάμην [Refs 8th c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. plural δάμεν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Epic dialect subjunctive δαμείω [Refs 8th c.BC+] and 3rd.pers. singular δαμήῃς -ήῃ [Refs 8th c.BC+], 2nd pers. plural δαμήετε [Refs 8th c.BC+]…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

δαμάζω

damazo

a variation of an obsolete primary of the same meaning; to

tame:--tame.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δαμάζω

v.

I tame, subdue

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δαμάζω damazō 4x

also spelled δανείζω, to subdue, tame, Mk. 5:4; Jas. 3:7; met. to restrain within proper limits, Jas. 3:8*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

δαμάζω Root ΔΑΜ to overpower:

of animals, to tame, break in, to bring under the yoke: Mid. to do so for oneself, Hom., Xen.

of maidens, to make subject to a husband, Il.: Pass. to be forced or seduced, Hom.

to subdue or conquer, id. Hom.: Pass. to be subject to another, id. Hom.: (hence δμώς, δμωή).

to strike dead, kill, Od.

of wine and the like, to overcome, overpower, Hom.: Pass. to be overcome, δεδμημένοι ὕπνωι Il.; οἱ δμαθέντες the dead, Eur.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Into Englishhow translators actually render it
50%subdue
subdue50% · 2×subdued25% · 1×he has been subdued25% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
verb100%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 4 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
ἰσχύωI am strong, abl
ἐνάλιοςliving in the sea
καίand, even, also,
καίand, even, also, nam
δαμάζωI tame, subdue
οὐδείςno one, none, nothin
γλῶσσαthe tongue, a la
δαμάζωto subdue
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
δαμάζωI tame, subdue
Article the
φύσιςnature, inherent
δύναμαιI am powerful, am ab
ἄνθρωποςa man, one of th

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

Concordanceδαμάζω · 4× in the New Testament
James Mark
Across the New Testament2 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus
JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 5.200c. AD 75–95

Εἴκοσι μὲν οὖν ἔτη ταῦτα πάσχοντες ἤνυσαν μήτε αὐτοὶ φρονεῖν ὑπὸ τῆς δυστυχίας ὄντες ἀγαθοὶ καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ πλέον δαμάσαι ἔτι θέλοντος αὐτῶν τὴν ὕβριν διὰ τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν ἀγνωμοσύνην, ἵνα μεταθέμενοι τοῦ λοιποῦ σωφρονῶσιν διδαχθέντες τὰς συμφορὰς αὐτοῖς…

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
4th c. AD
PSI 4 316OxyrhynchosAD 328

ἐν τόπῳ Ψύλλου λεγομένου ἀρούρας ὅσας ἐὰν ὦσιν, ὥστε με καθαρίσαι θρυοκοπῆσαι δαμάσαι ἀπὸ πάσης δείσης καὶ θρύων καὶ σπεῖραι τὰς πάσας ἐν οἷς ἐὰν βουλωμαι γενήμασι

the but tongue no [one] to subdue is able of men; [it is] an unruly evil, full of poison deadly.
δύναταιdunamai is able G1410 Verb · present · no voice stated · indicative · third person · singular
209× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in James than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To be able or have power, as in Matthew 6:24 and Mark 2:7, meaning to have the capability or strength to do something.
Tyndale gloss
be able
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

δύναμαι, transliterated as dunamai, means 'to be able' or 'to have power.' It can refer to personal ability, permission, or opportunity. In the New Testament, it appears in various contexts, such as in Matthew 6:24 and Mark 2:7. The lexicons indicate that it can be used with an infinitive or an accusative, but there is some variation in the forms and usages noted in different sources.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δύναμαι, depon.,

[in LXX chiefly for יָכֹל ;]

to be able, have power, whether by personal ability, permission, or opportunity: c. inf. (M, Pr., 205; WM, § 44, 3) pres., Mt 6:24, Mk 2:7, Jo 3:2, I Co 10:21, al.; c. inf. aor., Mt 3:9, Mk 1:45, Jo 3:3, 4 Ro 8:39, al.; c. acc., to be able to do something: Mk 9:22, Lk 12:26; II Co 13:8; absol., to be able, capable, powerful: Read the full entry →

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

δύναμαι, depon. verb, pres. indic. 2 pers. sing. δύνασαι and, acc. to a rarer form occasional in the poets and fr. Polyb. on to be met with in prose writ. also (cf. Lob. ad Phryn. p. 359; [ WH. App. p.168; W.§ 18, 2b.; Veitch 8. v.]), δύνῃ (Mk. ix. 22 sq. L T Tr WH; [Lk. xvi. 2 T WH Tr txt. ]; Rey. ii. 2); impf. ἐδυνάμην and Attic ἠδυνάμην, between which forms the Mss. and editions are almost everywhere divided, [in Mk. vi. 19; xiv. 5; Lk. Vili. 19; xix. 3; Jn. ix. 33; xii. 39 all edd. read 78., so RG in Mt. xxvi. 9; Lk. i. 22; Jn. xi. 37; Rev. xiv. 3; on the other hand, in Mt. xxii. 46; Lk. i. 22; Jn. xi. 37; Rey. xiv. 3, L T Tr WH all read ἐδ., so T WH in Mt. xxvi. 9; RGin Mt. xxii. 46. Cf. WH. App. p. 162; W. § 12, 1b.; B. 83 (29) ]; fut. δυνήσομαι ; 1 aor. ἠδυνήθην and (in Mk. vii. 24 T WH, after codd. 8B only; in Mt. xvii. 16 cod. B) ἠδυνάσθην (cf. [WH τι. 5. and p. 169]; Kiihner §…

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

δύναμαι. The following exx. of this common verb may be cited— P Par 471° (c. B.C. 153) (= Selections, p. 22) ἐνβέβληκαν (sc. οἱ θεοὶ) ὑμᾶς εἰς ὕλην μεγάλην Kal οὗ δυνάμεθα ἀποθανεῖν, ““they have cast us into a great forest, where we may possibly die,” P Oxy IV. 743% (B.c. 2) οὐκ ἠδυνάσθην συντυχεῖν ᾿Α., “1 was unable to meet A.,” 26. 7γ4413 (B.c. 1) [ΞΞ Selections, p. 33) πῶς δύναμαί σε ἐπιλαθεῖν ; ‘how can I forget you?”, P Lond 144™ (?i/a.p.) (ΞΞ 11. p. 253) ἵνα δυνηθῇ τὸ παιδάριόν μου ἐλθεῖν mpd[s ple, P Oxy LIT. 47218 (4 A.D. 130) οὐ δύναται γὰρ κεκλέφθαι τὸ μηδ᾽ ἀρχὴν γενόμενον μὴ δυνατὸν δ᾽ εἶναι, ‘for it is impossible for that to have been stolen which neither ever existed at all nor could exist” (Edd.). It takes an ace. ve? (as in Lk 1255) in P Ryl IL. 7758 (A.p. 192) οὐ yap δύναμαι κοσμητείαν. In P Leid {50 (ii/B.c.) ἔφη δύνασθαι τὰ ἔργα πάντα ἐπιτελέσιν ἐν ἡλι (?—was ὀλίγαις…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δύναμαι (dunamai) — be able.

δύνᾰμαι [ῠ],

2nd pers. singular δύνασαι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Aeolic dialect and Doric dialect δύνᾳ [Refs 7th c.BC+]; δύνῃ is subjunctive, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Ionic dialect 3rd.pers. plural δυνέαται [Refs 5th c.BC+]; subjunctive δύνωμαι, Ionic dialect 2nd pers. singular δύνηαι [Refs 8th c.BC+]: imperfect 2nd pers. singular ἐδύνω [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Ionic dialect 3rd.pers. plural ἐδυνέατο [Refs 5th c.BC+]: future δυνήσομαι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Doric dialect δυνᾱσοῦμαι [Refs 4th c.BC+]: aorist ἐδυνησάμην [Refs 8th c.BC+], Epic dialect δυν- [Refs]; subjunctive δυνήσωνται [Refs 7th c.BC+], never in good Attic dialect, falsa lectio in [Refs 4th c.BC+]passive forms, Epic dialect, Ionic dialect, Lyric poetry, ἐδυνάσθην or δυνάσθην [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Trag. and Attic dialect Prose ἐδυνήθην [Refs 5th c.BC+]: perfect δεδύνημαι [Refs 4th c.BC+] —The double…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

δύναμαι

dunamai

of uncertain affinity; to be able or possible:--be able, can (do, +

-not), could, may, might, be possible, be of power.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δύναμαι

v.

I am powerful, am able

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δύναμαι dynamai 210x

to be able, either intrinsically and absolutely, which is the ordinary signification; or, for specific reasons, Mt. 9:15; Lk. 16:2 See ability; (be) able; can.

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

δύναμαι decl. in pres. and imperf. like ἵσταμαι Dep.

to be able, capable, strong enough to do, c. inf., Hom., etc.; but the inf. is often omitted, Ζεὺς δύναται ἅπαντα [sc. ποιεῖν] Od.; so also, μέγα δυνάμενος very powerful, mighty, id. Od.; οἱ δυνάμενοι men of power, Eur., Thuc.; δυνάμενος παρά τινι having influence with him, Hdt., etc.

to be able, i. e. to dare or bear to do a thing, οὐδὲ ποιήσειν δύναται Od.; οὐκέτι ἐδύνατο βιοτεύειν Thuc.

with ὡς and a Sup., ὡς ἐδύναντο ἀδηλότατα as secretly as they could, id. Thuc.; ὡς δύναμαι μάλιστα as much as I possibly can, Plat.; or simply ὡς ἐδύνατο in the best way he could, Xen.

to pass for, i. e.

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PNI-3S — Verb · present · no voice stated · indicative · third person · singular
present no voice stated indicative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PNI-3S Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: middle or passive depoNent Mood: Indicative Person: third Number: Singular

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

a'-b'-l: The Greek dunamai, "to have power," may refer either to inherent strength, or to the absence of in external obstacles, or to what may be allowable or permitted. The Greek ischuo, as in Lu 13:24; Joh 21:6, refers always to the first of the above meanings. The use of the word as an adjective the King James Version of 2Co 3:6, is misleading, and has been properly changed in the Revised Version (British and American) into "sufficient as ministers," i.e. "hath fitted us to be ministers."

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
38%able
able38% · 78×you are able12% · 24×being able10% · 21×he is able5% · 10×you able3% · 7×be able3% · 7×will be able3% · 6×they were able3% · 6×other renderings23% · 48×

207 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 209 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
καίand, even, also,σύὅτιthat, since, bec
μήNeg
καίand, even, also,ἸησοῦςJesusὥστεso that, therefo
οὐδείςno one, none, nothin
καίand, even, also,οὐκέτιNegἐν
Article the
πρόςμᾶλλονmore, ratherοὐρανόςthe sky, the hea
πῶς
αὐτόςλέγωI say, speakDisj
δύναμαιis able209×
what comes after →
Article the
υἱόςa son, descendenθεόςGod, a godπροσέρχομαιI come near, con
αὐτός
θεραπεύωI care for, atteμηδέNegδέωI bind
σῴζωI save, heal
βασιλεύςa king, ruler, eαὐτόςArticle the
ἔρχομαιI come, go
πρόςκαίand, even, also,
ἐγώ
καθαρίζωI make cleanποιέωI do, makeνῦνnow, already, at

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

Concordanceδύναμαι · 209× in the New Testament
John Mark Matthew Luke Acts 1 Corinthians Revelation Hebrews James Ephesians Romans 1 Timothy

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament19 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 159 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 Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 21c. AD 40

οὗ χάριν τῆς ἀρίστης αὑτοῦ φύσεως οὐκ ἐφθόνησεν οὐσίᾳ μηδὲν ἐξ αὑτῆς ἐχούσῃ καλόν, δυναμένῃ δὲ πάντα γίνεσθαι.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.215c. AD 75–95

Σάρρα δὲ γεννηθέντα τὸν Ἰσμαῆλον ἐκ τῆς δούλης αὐτῆς Ἀγάρης τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἔστεργεν οὐδὲν ἀπολείπουσα τῆς πρὸς ἴδιον υἱὸν εὐνοίας, ἐτρέφετο γὰρ ἐπὶ τῇ τῆς ἡγεμονίας διαδοχῇ, τεκοῦσα δʼ αὐτὴ τὸν Ἴσακον οὐκ ἠξίου παρατρέφεσθαι τούτῳ τὸν Ἰσμαῆλον ὄντα…

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 4.1c. AD 100

Δεῖ οὖν ἡμᾶς περὶ τῶν ἐνεστώτων ἐπιπολὺ ἐραυνῶντας ἐκζητεῖν τὰ δυνάμενα ἡμᾶς σώζειν.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. BC 6th c. AD
P.Edg. $1Syrien253 BC

τε ἐπιμελόμενος ἵνα ὑγιαίνηις καὶ ἡμῖν γράφων ἐάν τί σοι βούληι γίνεσθαι ὧν ἡμεῖς δυνάμεθα. καλῶς δʼ ἂν ποιήσαις ἀγοράσας ἡμῖν ἵνα ὡς ἂν παραγενώμεθα ἔχωμεν μέλιτος τοῦ βελτίστου

P.Cair. Zen. 3 59330Philadelphia? (Arsinoites)249 BC

φόρωι τοῦ λζ ἔτους, συνφωνήσας Ἡρακλείδης μετὰ Θοτέως αὐτοὶ ἄνευ ἡμῶν διελογίσαντο καὶ οὐ δυνάμεθα παρακολουθῆσαι τί πεποιήκασιν ἕως τοῦ νῦν, οὐδὲ αἰτούμενοι τὸν λόγον ἐτόλμησαν ἡμῖν δοῦναι. καὶ

τι καταπεφύτευκεν ἀμπέλωι, κατεγνωκὼς τῶι γυναῖκας ἡμᾶς εἶναι καὶ ἑτέρωι τόπωι κατοικούσας μὴ εὐχερῶς δύνασθαι ἐπιβαλεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν σημαινομένην κτῆσιν. Διὸ καταπεφευγυῖαι ἐπὶ σὲ, ἀξιοῦμεν, ἐὰν φαίνηται, μεταπεμψάμενον αὐτὸν

the but tongue no [one] to subdue is able of men; [it is] an unruly evil, full of poison deadly.
ἀνθρώπων·anthrōpos of men; G444 Noun · genitive · plural · masculine
548× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in James as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means a human being, and is used in the Bible to describe people, like in John 16:21 and Romans 7:1.
Amplified meaning
none, nobody
Tyndale gloss
a human
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἄνθρωπος (i.e., *anthropos*) means 'man' or 'human being,' encompassing both males and females. It is derived from roots meaning 'man-faced' and is used in various contexts throughout the New Testament, such as to distinguish humans from God and animals. The term can imply human frailty and is often used in phrases that reflect human nature or condition.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἄνθρωπος, -ου, ὁ,

[in LXX chiefly for אָדָם, אִישׁ, also for אֱנוֹשׁ, etc.;]

man:

generically, a human being, male or female (Lat. homo): Jo 16:21; c. art., Mt 4:4 12:35, Mk 2:27, Jo 2:25, Ro 7:1, al; disting. from God, Mt 19:6, Jo 10:33, Col 3:23, al.; from animals, etc., Mt 4:19, Lk 5:10, Re 9:4, al.; implying human frailty and imperfection, I Co 3:4; σοφία ἀνθρώπων,

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

ἄνθρωπος, -ov, 6, [perh. fr. ἀνήρ and oy, i. e. man’s face; Curtius § 422; Vaniéek p.9. From Hom. down]; man. Tt is used 1. univ., with ref. to the genus or nature, without distinction of sex, a human being, whether male or female: Jn. xvi. 31. And in this sense a. with the article, generically, so as to include all human individuals: Mt. iv. 4 (ἐπ᾿ ἄρτῳ ζήσεται 6 ἄνθρωπος) ; Mt. xii. 35 (ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἄνθ. every good person); Mt. xv. 11, 18; Mk. ii. 27; vil. 15, 18, 20; Lk.iv.4; Jn. ii. 25 [W. § 18, 8]; vii. 51; Ro. vii.1,ete. b. so that a man is distinguished from beings of a different race or order; a. from animals, plants, ete.: Lk. v.10; Mt.iv.19; xii. 12; 2 Pet. ii. 16; Rev. ix. 4, 7, 10, 15,18; xi. 13, ete. β. from God, from Christ as divine, and from angels: Mt. x. 32; xix. 6; Mk. x. 9; Lk. 11. 15 [Ὁ WH om., L Tr br.] (opp. to angels); Jn. x. 33; Acts x. 26; xiv.11; 1 Th. ii. 13…

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

ἄνθρωπος, like ἀνήρ, has kept its differentia practically unchanged from Homer to MGr. It is interesting to notice its philosophical abstract ἀνθρωπότης vouched for as fairly popular Greek by Vettius Valens (p. 346%, in antith. to ἀθανασία), passing into Christian theology (see LS and Sophocles Zex.), and current in MGr. The NT has no trace of the curious misuse by which the principal difference between a. and ἀνήρ is ignored: Tob 65 ἀνθρώπου ἢ γυναικός. P Flor |. 61 (a.p. 86-8) ἄξιος μ[ὲ]ν ἧς μαστιγωθῆναι, διὰ σεαυτοῦ [κ]Ἰατασχὼν ἄνθρωπον εἰσχήμονα καὶ yuv[ai]kas is not parallel, as a. only means as little is Jn 772. (Grimm). Another case of ἄνθρωπος invading the sphere of ἀνήρ is the Matthzean locution ἄ, οἰκοδεσπότης, βασιλεύς, φαγός etc. though not Attic: Mt may have got it from LXX (so Lev 21° ἀνθρώπου ἱερέως). Some papyrus passages may be cited, though little is needed. The…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos) — a human.

ἄνθρωπος, ἡ,

Attic dialect crasis ἅνθρωπος, Ionic dialect ὥνθρωπος, for ὁ ἄνθρ-:— man, both as a generic term and of individuals, [Refs 8th c.BC+], opposed to gods, ἀθανάτων τε θεῶν χαμαὶ ἐρχομένων τ᾽ ἀνθρώπων[Refs 8th c.BC+]; πρὸς ἠοίων ἢ ἑσπερίων ἀνθρώπων the men of the east or of the west, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; even of the dead in the Isles of the Blest,[Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. [Refs 5th c.BC+] uses it both with and without the Article to denote man generically, ὁ ἄ. θείας μετέσχε μοίρας[Refs]; ὁ ἄ. the ideal man, humanity, ἀπώλεσας τὸν ἄ., οὐκ ἐπλήρωσας τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν[Refs 2nd c.AD+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἄνθρωπος

anthropos

from 435 and ops (the countenance; from 3700); man-faced, i.e. a human

being:--certain, man.

see GREEK for 435

see GREEK for 3700

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἄνθρωπος, ου, ὁ

n.m.

a man, one of the human race

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἄνθρωπος anthrōpos 550x

a human being, Jn. 16:21; Phil. 2:7; an individual, Rom. 3:28, et al. freq.; used also pleonastically with other words, Mt. 11:19; et al.; met. the spiritual frame of the inner man, Rom. 7:22; Eph. 3:16; 1 Pet. 3:4

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἄνθρωπος prob. from ἀνήρ, ὤψ, manfaced man, Lat. homo (not vir), opp. to gods, ἀθανάτων τε θεῶν, χαμαὶ ἐρχομένων τ᾽ ἀνθρώπων Il.

with or without the Art. to denote man generally, Plat., etc.

in pl. mankind, ἀνθρώπων, ἀνδρῶν ἠδὲ γυναικῶν Il.; ὁ ἄριστος ἐν ἀνθρώποις ὄρτυξ the best quail in the world, Plat.; μάλιστα, ἥκιστα ἀνθρώπων most, least of all, Hdt., etc.

with another Subst., to give it a contemptuous sense, ἄνθρ. ὑπογραμματεύς, συκοφάντης, Oratt.; so homo histrio Cic.:—so, ἄνθρωπος or ὁ ἄνθρωπος was used alone, the man, the fellow, Plat.:— also in vocat. it was addressed contemptuously to slaves, ἄνθρωπε or ὦ 'νθρωπε, sirrah! you sir! Hdt., Plat.

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-GPM — Noun · genitive · plural · masculine
genitive — of, from, belonging to.
Agrees with anything else marked plural masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-GPM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Genitive Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
59%man
man59% · 328×men33% · 185×a man2% · 13×other renderings6% · 33×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject43%adverbial24%object17%predicate9%indirect object5%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 548 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
υἱόςa son, descendenκοινόωI make unclean, ἀπό
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
εἰςπρόςδέbut, on the othe
ὁράωI see, look upon, ex
καίand, even, also,ἐξέρχομαιI go out, come oλέγωI say, speak
ἐκ
DisjλέγωI say, speakεἰμίI am, exist
ἐγώ
γάρforὅτιthat, since, becΠαῦλοςPaul
ἄνθρωποςof men;548×
what comes after →
Article the
δέbut, on the otheπατήρfather, Father, Article the
οὗτος
ὅςδίκαιοςjust, righteous,καίand, even, also,
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theλέγωI say, speakεἰμίI am, exist
εἰμίI am, exist
ὑπόκαίand, even, also,Article the
ἐν
Article theμαλακόςsoft, effeminateπνεῦμαwind, breath, sp

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

Concordanceἄνθρωπος · 548× in the New Testament
Matthew Luke John Mark Acts 1 Corinthians Romans Revelation Galatians 1 Timothy Hebrews Ephesians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 708 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 Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 25c. AD 40

τὴν γοῦν ἀνθρώπου γένεσιν ἀναγράφων ἐν τοῖς ἔπειτα διαρρήδην ὁμολογεῖ, ὡς ἄρα κατ’ εἰκόνα θεοῦ διετυπώθη (Gen.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.16c. AD 75–95

γέγονε γὰρ πρὸ ἐτῶν δισχιλίων, ἐφʼ ὅσον πλῆθος αἰῶνος οὐδʼ αὐτῶν οἱ ποιηταὶ τὰς γενέσεις τῶν θεῶν, μήτι γε τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων πράξεις ἢ τοὺς νόμους ἀνενεγκεῖν ἐτόλμησαν.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 3.1c. AD 100

οὐ ταύτην τὴν νηστείαν ἐγὼ ἐξελεξάμην, λέγει κύριος, οὐκ ἄνθρωπον ταπεινοῦντα τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ,

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 6th c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. BC 3rd c. AD
P.Cair. Zen. 3 59301Philadelphia (Arsinoites)251 BC

Ψύχεως. καλῶς ἂν οὖν ποιήσαις διέμενος αὐτόν, καθὰ ἐν πόλει μοι ἐπηγγείλω. ἔστιν γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ἡμῖν χρήσιμος. ἔρρωσο. ἔτους λϛ, Παχώνς.

P.Giss. 1 39Theben206 BC–181 BC

ἀεὶ χρόνου. ἐὰν δέ τίς σοι ἐπέλθηι ἔκ τε τοῦ ἐμοῦ ὀνόματος ἢ ἄλλου ἀνθρώπου, ἀνεπιεικὲς ἐκστήσω αὐτὸν ἀπὸ σοῦ περὶ αὐτῶν καὶ βεβαιώσω σοι αὐτὰ ἀπὸ συναλλαγμάτων καὶ

P.Grenf. 1 37Thebais109 BC

ντων ὑμῶν διαλήψεως … καὶ οὐδὲ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν οὐδενός … ς ἀξιοῦμεν … ἀνθρώπου ἀλόγως … ὀφείλει ἡμῖν διάφορα … θαι ἀλλʼ ἀποστερέσαι … ησας ἀλλά … τας

the but tongue no [one] to subdue is able of men; [it is] an unruly evil, full of poison deadly.
ἀκατάστατον [it is] an unruly G182
2× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in James than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Restless or unstable, as described in James 1:8, where a person is double-minded and unstable in their faith. This word means to be inconstant or unsteady, lacking firmness or stability.
Tyndale gloss
restless
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἀκατάστατος (*akatastatos*) is built from the negative prefix ἀ- and a derivative of καθίστημι (*kathistemi*), meaning to set or establish. It covers meanings like unstable, unsettled, and inconstant, appearing in James 1:8 and 3:8. The lexicons note its use in various contexts, including literature and the Septuagint.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἀ-κατά-στατος, -ον

(< καθίστημι),

[in LXX: Is 54:11 (סֹעֲרָה);]

unsettled, unstable: Ja 1:8, 3:8.†

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

ἀκατά-στατος, -ον, (καθίστημι), unstable, inconstant, restless: «185. 1. 8, and 1, T Tr WH in iii. 8 also, but less fitly; [cf. Hermae Past. 1. ii. mand. 2, 3 πονηρὸν πνεῦμά ἐστιν ἡ καταλαλιά, καὶ ἀκατάστατον δαιμόνιον. μηδέποτε εἰρηνεῦον, ἀλλά etc.]. ([Hippoer. et al.] Polyb. 7, 4, 6, al. [Sept. Is. liv. 11].)

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

ἀκατάστατος. Auaollent no. 4 (6)}}3 (a curse on a leaden tablet from Cnidus) ἀνατίθημι Δάματρι kal Κόραι τὸν τὴν οἰκία(ν) μου ἀκατά[σ]τατον ποιοῦ(ν)τα. The date (af. zt. p. 5) is given as B.C. 300-100, though the series may be later (Newton). 4 ἢ ακεραιὸς

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἀκατάστατος (akatastatos) — restless.

ἀκατά-στᾰτος, ον,

(καθίστημι) unstable, unsettled, καιροί[Refs 5th c.BC+]; disorderly, ὁρμαί[Refs 1st c.BC+]:—of men, fickle, [Refs 2nd c.BC+]; of fevers, irregular, [Refs 5th c.BC+]adverb -ως, ἔχειν[Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. not making any deposit, οὖρον[Refs 5th c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀκατάστατος

akatastatos

from 1 (as a negative particle) and a derivative of 2525;

inconstant:--unstable.

see GREEK for 1

see GREEK for 2525

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀκατάστατος, ον

Adj

unsettled, unstable

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀκατάστατος akatastatos 2x

unstable, inconstant; unquiet, turbulent, Jas. 1:8; 3:8*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἀκατάστατος καθίστημι unstable, unsettled, Dem.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Into Englishhow translators actually render it
50%unstable
unstable50% · 1×unruly50% · 1×

2 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.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
δίψυχοςdouble-minded, waver
ἀνήρa male human bei
ἄνθρωποςa man, one of the hu
δύναμαιI am powerful, a
ἀκατάστατος[it is] an unruly
what comes after →
ἐν
πᾶςall, the whole,
κακόςbad, evil
μεστόςfull

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

Concordanceἀκατάστατος · 2× in the New Testament
James
Across the New Testament1 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
The Shepherd of Hermas
The Shepherd of HermasThe Shepherd of Hermas 7.1.3c. AD 140

πονηρὰ ἡ καταλαλιά: ἀκατάστατον δαιμόνιόν ἐστιν, μηδέποτε εἰρηνεῦον, ἀλλὰ πάντοτε ἐν διχοστασίαις κατοικοῦν.

the but tongue no [one] to subdue is able of men; [it is] an unruly evil, full of poison deadly.
κακόν,kakos evil, G2556 Adjective · nominative · singular · neuter
50× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in James than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means evil or worthless, describing something or someone as bad or depraved. It appears in Matthew 21:41 and Romans 13:3, contrasting with what is good. It is often translated as 'evil' or 'wicked'.
Amplified meaning
harm, wickedness
Tyndale gloss
evil/harm: evil
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

κακός is an adjective meaning bad or evil, often used in moral contexts to describe wickedness or worthlessness. It contrasts with ἀγαθός (good) and καλός (beautiful). The New Testament employs it to refer to evil thoughts, actions, and people, appearing in verses like Matthew 21:41 and Romans 7:21. The lexicons highlight its use in both ethical and general senses, but do not show significant disagreement.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — κακός, πονηρός from a scan

Taat which is morally evil may be contemplated on various sides and from various points of view; the several epithets which it will thus obtain bringing out the several aspects under which it will have presented itself to us. Kaxos and πονηρός occur together, Rev. xvi. 2; as «axia and πονηρία at I Cor. v. 8; the διαλογισμοὶ κακοί of St. Mark vii. 21 are διαλογισμοὶ πονηροί in the parallel passage of St. Matthew (xv. 19). The distinction between these will best be considered when we come to deal with πονηρός. Kaxos, the constant antithesis to ἀγαθός (Deut. eens 06¢) Ps; xxiii; 15; Rom. xii. 21; 2 Cor. v. 10; of. Plato, Rep. x. 608 e), and though not quite so frequently to καλός (Gen. xxiv. 50; xliv. 4; Heb. v. 14; Plutarch, Reg. et Imp. Apoph. Epam. 20), affirms of that which it 316 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. § τχχχιν. characterizes that qualities and conditions are wanting there…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

κακός, -ή, -όν,

[in LXX chiefly for רַע, רָעָח;]

in general, opp. to ἀγαθός, καλός, in various senses, bad, mean, base, worthless (cl.).

In ethical sense, base, evil, wicked: of persons, Mt 21:41 24:48, Phl 3:2, Re 2:2; διαλογισμοί, Mk 7:21; ὁμιλίαι, I Co 15:33; ἐπιθυμία (Pr 12:12), Col 3:5; ἔργον, Ro 13:3; neut., κακόν, τὸ κ., evil: Jo 18:23, Ac 23:9, Ro 7:21 14:20 16:19,

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

κακός, -ἤ, τόν, Sept. for 9, [fr. Hom. down], bad, [A.V. (almost uniformly) evil]; 1. univ. of a bad nature; not such as it ought to be. 2. [morally, i. e.] of a mode of thinking, feeling, acting; base, wrong, wicked: of persons, Mt. xxi. 41 [cf. W. 637 (592); also B. 143 (126)]; xxiv. 48; Phil. iii. 2; Rev.ii.2. διαλογισμοί, Mk. Vii. 21 ; ὁμιλίαι, 1 Co. xv. 88 ; ἐπιθυμία, Col. iii. 5 (Prov. xii. 12); ἔργα [better ἔργον], Ro. xiii. 3. neut. κακόν, τὸ κακόν, evil i. 6. what is contrary to law, either divine or human, wrong, crime: [Jn. xviii. 23]; Acts xxiii. 9; Ro. vii. 21; xiv. 20; xvi. 19; 1 Co. xiii.5; Heb. v. 14; 1 Pet. iii. 10 sq.; 3 Jn. 113 plur. [evil things]: Ro.i. 30; 1Co. x. 6; 1 Tim. vi. 10 [πάντα τὰ κακά all kinds of evil}; Jas. i. 13 [W. § 30, 4; B. § 132, 24]; κακὸν ποιεῖν, to do, commit evil: Mt. xxvii. 23; Mk. xv. 14; Lk. xxiii. 22; 2 Co. xiii. 7; 1 Pet. ili. 12; τὸ…

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

κακός. This familiar adj. is by no means so common in our sources as we might have expected, but the following may serve as exx. of its varied uses—PSI IV. 3404 (B.c. 257-6) ἐστὶ δέ σοι πάντων μὲν τῶν κακῶν αἴτιος Μητρόδωρος, P Oxy IIT. 532”? (ii/A.D.) οὐκ ἀνέμεινας ὑπὸ κακοῦ συνειδότος κατεχόμενος, ‘you would not stay, being oppressed by an evil conscience” (Edd.), 26. 488*° (ii/iii A.D.) κακῆς παραγραφῆς, ‘‘a false entry,” 26. VII. 10607 (a Gnostic amulet— vi/A.D.) ἀπάλλαξον τὸν οἶκον τοῦτον ἀπὸ παντὸς κακοῦ ἑρπετοῦ --καὶ -- πράγματος, ‘free this house from every evil reptile and thing,’’ and, by way of contrast, the imprecatory tablet Meche? 1322 A ᾿Ανδροκλείδη καταδῶ καὶ τὴν γλῶτ(τ)αν τὴν κακὴν καὶ τὸν θυμὸν τὸν κακὸν καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν κακὴν καὶ τὸ ἐργαστήριον καταδῶ καὶ τοὺς παῖδας. For the neut. τὸ κακόν cf. P Amh 11. 7731 (Α.Ὁ. 139) Αρπα[γάθην τὸ]ν κράτιστον τοῦ κακοῦ καὶ…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

κακός (kakos) — evil/harm: evil.

κᾰκός, ή, όν,

__A bad:

__A.I of persons,

__A.I.1 of appearance, ugly, εἶδος μὲν ἔην κακός [Refs 8th c.BC+]

__A.I.2 of birth, ill-born, mean, γένος ἐστὲ διοτρεφέων βασιλήων.., ἐπεὶ οὔ κε κακοὶ τοιούσδε τέκοιεν [Refs 8th c.BC+]

__A.I.3 of courage, craven, base, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Ἕκτωρ σε κ. καὶ ἀνάλκιδα φήσει [Refs 8th c.BC+]; οὐδαμῶν κακίονες[Refs 5th c.BC+]

__A.I.4 bad of his kind, i. e. worthless, sorry, unskilled, ἡνίοχοι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; [τοξότης] ἢ κ. ἢ ἀγαθός[Refs 8th c.BC+]; κ. ἀλήτης a bad beggar,[Refs 4th c.BC+]; κυβερνήτης, ναύτης, [Refs 5th c.BC+] I am not bad in all things, [Refs 8th c.BC+]: with infinitive, κ. μανθάνειν [Refs]; [νῆσος] φυτεύεσθαι κακή [Refs]; compare…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

κακός

kakos

apparently a primary word; worthless (intrinsically, such; whereas

4190 properly refers to effects), i.e. (subjectively) depraved, or

(objectively) injurious:--bad, evil, harm, ill, noisome, wicked.

see GREEK for 4190

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

κακός, ή, όν

Adj

bad, evil

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

κακός kakos 50x

bad, of a bad quality or disposition, worthless, corrupt, depraved, Mt. 21:41; 24:48; Mk. 7:21; wicked, criminal, morally bad; τὸ κακόν, evil, wickedness, crime, Mt. 27:23; Acts 23:9; deceitful, 1 Pet. 3:10; mischievous, harmful, destructive; τὸ κακόν, evil mischief, harm, injury, Tit. 1:12; afflictive; τὸ κακόν, evil, misery, affliction, suffering, Lk. 16;25

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

κακός κα^κός, ή, όν bad, Lat. malus:

of persons,

opp. to καλός, mean, ugly, Il.

opp. to ἀγαθός, ἐσθλός, ill-born, mean, ignoble, Hom., Soph.

craven, cowardly, base, Hom., Hdt., attic

bad of his kind, i. e. worthless, sorry, poor, κ. ἀλήτης a sorry beggar, Od.; κ. ἰατρός Aesch.; κ. ναύτης Eur.; πάντα κακός bad in all things, Od.; κακὸς γνώμην Soph.;— c. inf., κακὸς μανθάνειν bad at learning, id. Soph.

in moral sense, bad, evil, wicked, Od., attic

of death, disease, etc., bad, evil, baneful, Hom., attic; of omens, bad, unlucky, attic; of words, evil, abusive, Soph.; κ. ποιμήν, i. e. the storm, Aesch.

κακόν, and κακά, τά, as Subst. evil, ill, Od., Hdt., etc.; δυοῖν ἀποκρίνας κακοῖν having chosen the least of two evils, Soph.:— κακόν τι ἔρδειν or ῥέζειν τινά to do evil or ill to any one, Il.; κακὸν…

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

A-NSN Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Neuter

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ev'-'-l, e'-vil ra`; poneros, @kakos, @kakon:

In the Bible it is represented as moral and physical. We choose to discuss the subject under these heads. Many of the evils that come upon men have not been intended by those who suffer for them. Disease, individual and national calamity, drought, scarcity of food, may not always be charged to the account of intentional wrong. Many times the innocent suffer with, and even for, the guilty. In such cases, only physical evil is apparent. Even when the suffering has been occasioned by sin or dereliction of duty, whether the wrong is active or passive, many, perhaps the majority of those who are injured, are not accountable in any way for the ills which come upon them. Neither is God the author of moral evil. "God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man" (Jas 1:13).

Nave's Topical Bible

→ APPEARANCE OF, TO BE AVOIDED Ro 14:1-23; 1Co 8:7-13; 10:28-33; 1Th 4:11,12; 5:22

→ INSTANCES OF

Paul, in refusing to eat what had been offered to idols 1Co 8:13

In supporting himself 1Co 9:7-23

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
72%evil
evil72% · 36×evils6% · 3×harm6% · 3×evil things4% · 2×injurious2% · 1×wrongs2% · 1×bad2% · 1×wrong2% · 1×other renderings4% · 2×

50 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 10 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
object52%adverbial22%predicate12%subject10%

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
λέγωI say, speakδιαλογισμόςa calculation, rὁμοίωςin like manner
ἀντί
κακόςbad, evil
γάρfor
τίςIrg
ποιέωI do, make
γάρforἐπί
οὐδείςno one, none, nothin
λέγωI say, speakπάσχωI am acted upon,
κακόςevil,50×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theχεῖλοςa lip, mouth, shποιέωI do, make
ποιέωI do, make
Article theοὗτοςοὐNeg
Article the
δέbut, on the otheἅγιοςset apart, holy,ἄνθρωποςa man, one of th
ἀντί
κακόςbad, evil
ἀλλάbut, except
νικάωI conquer, overcArticle 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

Concordanceκακός · 50× in the New Testament
Romans 1 Peter Acts 1 Corinthians Matthew 1 Thessalonians James John Luke Mark Revelation 1 Timothy
Across the New Testament19 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 207 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 Ignatius of Antioch Polycarp
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 73c. AD 40

οὗτοι γὰρ ζῷά τε εἶναι λέγονται καὶ ζῷα νοερά, μᾶλλον δὲ νοῦς αὐτὸς ἕκαστος, ὅλος δι’ ὅλων σπουδαῖος καὶ παντὸς ἀνεπίδεκτος κακοῦ·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.37c. AD 75–95

ἐν τούτοις δʼ εἶναι καὶ τῆς ζωῆς τὸ φυτὸν καὶ ἄλλο τὸ τῆς φρονήσεως, ᾗ διεγινώσκετο τί εἴη τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τί τὸ κακόν.

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.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
4th c. AD 6th c. AD 2nd c. AD 3rd c. BC 5th c. AD

Ἰωσήπου βουκόλοις ἡγούμενος βουκόλων ὥστε τοῖς βουκόλοις χόες κε 𐅵 … Ἀγαθῖνος Κακοῦ ὥστε Σωσίππῳ αὐλητῇ χόες ι ὧν χόες β γίνονται χόες ια … καὶ ὥστε

SB 6 9110Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 26

τρεισκαιδεκάτου ἔτους ἐν Τεβτύνι, τῶν μεμισθωμένων τοὺς μισθοὺς … γήσουσι. οἱ αὐτοὶ καθʼ ἑκάστους κακου μετρ … χωρηγήσει ὁ μισθωτὴς τοῖς μεμισθωμένοις σπέρματα πυροῦ μὲν ἀρταβῶν δέκα ἓξ καὶ

ὑμᾶς ὑγιαίνοντας. καὶ ἡμεῖς γὰρ πάντες ὑγιαίνομεν. καὶ περὶ τῆς Συρίας ἕως ἄρτι οὐδὲν κακόν. ἐρωτῶ σε ἐὰν ἀκούσῃς περὶ Θερμουθᾶτος πέμψον μοι φάσιν. ἐρωτῶ σε, οὐ πρᾶγμά ἐστιν,

the but tongue no [one] to subdue is able of men; [it is] an unruly evil, full of poison deadly.
μεστὴmestos full G3324 Adjective · nominative · singular · feminine
9× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in James than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means being full of something, like feelings or thoughts. In John 19:29 and 21:11, it describes being full of fish or a drink. It can also describe being full of emotions or ideas, as in Matthew 23:28.
Amplified meaning
filled, complete
Tyndale gloss
full
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word μεστός (*mestos*) means 'full' or 'filled,' both literally and metaphorically. It is often used with a genitive to indicate what something is full of, such as thoughts or emotions. In the New Testament, it appears in verses like John 19:29 and James 3:8, where it describes fullness in various contexts.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

μεστός, -ή, -όν,

[in LXX: Na 1:10, Ez 37:1 (מָלֵא), Es 5:2, Pr 6:34*;]

full: c. gen. rei, Jo 19:29 21:11, Ja 3:8; metaph., of thoughts and feelings, Mt 23:28, Ro 1:29 15:14, II Pe 2:14, Ja 3:17 (cf. Pr 6:34).†

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

μεστός, τἡ, -ov, fr. Hom. [i. 6. Epigr.] down, Sept. for NOD, full; w. gen. of the thing: prop., Jn. xix. 29; xxi. 11; Jas. iii. 8; trop. in reference to persons, whose minds are as it were filled with thoughts and emotions, either good or bad, Mt. xxiii. 28; Ro. i. 29; xv. 14; 2 Pet. ii. 14; Jas. iii. 17, (Prov. vi. 34).

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

μεστός. For this adj. in its literal sense of ‘‘ full,” as in Jn 195" al., cf. P Oxy VII. 1070® (iii/a.D.) τραγη[μ]άτων σφυρίδαν μεστὴν μίαν, ‘one basket full of sweetmeats,’’ 7d. XII. 144915 (A.D. 213-217) ἄλ(λος) AVX (Vos) χρ(υσοῦς) peLk(pds) μεστ(ός), ‘‘another gold lamp, small, full,” and for its metaphorical application, as in Jas τὴς a/., cf. CPR I. 1935 (A.D. 330) ἀντεπιστάλματα... μεστὰ ψευδολογίᾳς, ‘replies © exuberant.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μεστός (mestos) — full.

μεστ-ός, ή, όν,

full, ἄγγεα [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἔγχεον μεστήν a full cup, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; of persons, οἶνον πίνεις μ. ὤν [Refs 4th c.BC+]

II. with genitive, full of, ἀργυρίου.. ἀρτάβη μεστή [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἀλφίτων, οἴνου, ἐλαίου, [Refs].; ὄνος.. οἴνου μ. laden with.., [Refs 4th c.BC+]

II.2. metaphorically, πάντα μ. ἐλπίδων ἀγαθῶν εἶναι [Refs 5th c.BC+]; μεστοὶ σπουδῆς, ἀταξίας, [NT+5th c.BC+]; μ. θεάτρου full of theatric pride, i. e. spoilt by applause, [Refs]; ὑπερηφανίας καὶ ὑπεροψίας μ. variant in [Refs 4th c.BC+]

II.2. b sated with, with genitive, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τινος (of a person) [Refs 1st c.AD+]participle, μ. ἦ θυμούμενος, i. e. had had my fill of…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

μεστός

mestos

of uncertain derivation:--replete (literally or figuratively):--full.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

μεστός, ή, όν

Adj

full

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

μεστός mestos 9x

full, full of, filled with, Jn. 19:29; 21:11; replete, Mt. 23:28; Rom. 1:29; 15:14; Jas. 3:8, 17; 2 Pet. 2:14*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

μεστός μεστός, ή, όν full, filled, filled full, Ar., etc.

c. gen. full of, filled with a thing, Hdt., Ar.:—metaph., ἀπάτης, ἀπορίας μ. Plat.:—metaph. also, sated with a thing, Eur.; so c. part., μεστὸς ἦν θυμούμενος i. e. had had my fill of anger, Soph.

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
100%full
full100% · 9×

9 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 1 different way. 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
predicate56%object22%subject11%adverbial11%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 9 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
εἰμίI am, exist
δέbut, on the othe
ὄξοςvinegar, sour wine
κεῖμαιI lie, recline,
οὖνtherefore, then
σπόγγοςa sponge
γῆthe earth, soil, lan
Article the
κακίαevil, wickedness, ma
πλεονεξίαcovetousness, av
μεστόςfull
what comes after →
ὑπόκρισιςhypocrisy, dissembli
καίand, even, also,
σπόγγοςa sponge
οὖνtherefore, then
Article the
ὄξοςvinegar, sour wi
ἰχθύςa fish
μέγας
φθόνοςenvy, a grudge
φόνοςmurder, slaughte

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

Concordanceμεστός · 9× in the New Testament
John James Romans 2 Peter Matthew
Across the New Testament5 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus Clement of Rome The Didache The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 2c. AD 40

Μωυσῆς δ’ ἑκάτερον ὑπερβάς, τὸ μὲν ὡς ἄσκεπτον καὶ ἀταλαίπωρον καὶ ἀφιλόσοφον, τὸ δ’ ὡς κατεψευσμένον καὶ μεστὸν γοητείας, παγκάλην καὶ σεμνοτάτην ἀρχὴν ἐποιήσατο τῶν νόμων, μήτ’ εὐθὺς ἃ χρὴ πράττειν ἢ τοὐναντίον ὑπειπὼν μήτ’, ἐπειδὴ προτυπῶσαι τὰς…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.296c. AD 75–95

βατράχων πλῆθος ἄπειρον τὴν γῆν αὐτῶν ἐπεβόσκετο, μεστὸς δὲ τούτων καὶ ὁ ποταμὸς ἦν, ὡς διαμωμένους τὸ ποτὸν τῷ τῶν ζῴων ἰχῶρι κεκακωμένον λαμβάνειν ἐναποθνησκόντων καὶ συνδιαφθειρομένων τῷ ὕδατι,

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 20.1c. AD 100

Ἡ δὲ τοῦ μέλανος ὁδός ἐστιν σκολιὰ καὶ κατάρας μεστή.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 5th c. AD
O.Did. 19DidymoiAD 88–AD 96

Σατορνῖλος Πομπηίῳ … τῷ ἀδελφῶι χαίρειν κόμισαι παρὰ Πετεαρουήρεως Ἀγαθίνου σάκκον μεστὸν … ς. εὔχομαί σε ὑγιαίνειν.

O.Did. 376DidymoiAD 110–AD 115

Ostracon 1 Φιλοκλῆς Καππάρει τῷ ἀδελφῷ πλεῖστα χαίρειν· ἔπεμψά σοι διὰ τῆς σμαραγδαρίας βαυκάλιον μεστὸν πτωμάτων ὅπου ἔνι μῆλα κ καὶ κολοκύνθια β καὶ διʼ Ἑρεννίου τοῦ ἱππέως θρίδακας

O.Did. 377DidymoiAD 110–AD 115

διὰ Σεραπίωνος κολοκύνθια δύο καὶ διὰ Ἀμμωνίου βαυκάλιον ὅπου ἔνι μῆλα κ καὶ πτώματα μεστόν. δώσεις Θεανοῦτι δ καὶ πτώματα μ καὶ Ἰσαροῦτι μῆλα δ καὶ πτώματα μ. καὶ

the but tongue no [one] to subdue is able of men; [it is] an unruly evil, full of poison deadly.
ἰοῦios of poison G2447 Noun · genitive · singular · masculine
3× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in James than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means 'poison' or 'rust', as in James 5:3, where it refers to corroded metal. It can also mean 'venom', like snake poison, as seen in Romans 3:13 and James 3:8.
Amplified meaning
venom, rust
Tyndale gloss
poison/rust
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἰός (ios) means 'poison' or 'rust.' It is used in the New Testament to refer to venom, particularly in James 3:8 and Romans 3:13, and also denotes rust in James 5:3. The word's derivation is uncertain, but it may relate to the idea of something emitted, like venom or rust from metals.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἰός, -οῦ, ὁ,

[in LXX: Ez 24:6, 11, 12 (חֶלְאָה), Ps 139 (140):3 (חֵמָה), al.;]

an arrow.

rust (Ez 24:6): Ja 5:3 (cf. MM, Exp., xv).

poison: fig., Ro 3:13 (Ps 139 (140):3), Ja 3:8.†

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

ἰός, -οὔ, 6, (on its very uncert. deriv. see Kreussler in Passow s. v.; Curtius § 591; [Vaniéek p. 9697); 1. poison (of animals): ἰὸς ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν, the poison of asps is under their lips, spoken of men given to reviling and calumniating and thereby injuring others, Ro. ili. 13 (fr. Ps. exxxix. (exl.) 3 (4)); by the same fig. (γλῶσσα) μεστὴ ἰοῦ θανατηφόρου, Jas. iii. 8; (in Grk. writ. fr. Pind. down). 2. rust: Jas. ν. 3; (Ezek. xxiv. 6.11 sq.; Bar. vi. [Ep. Jer.] 11 (12), 23 (24); Theogn., Theoer., Plat., Theophr., Polyb., Leian., al.).

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

ἰός. Syl 587*° (B.c. 329) σίδηρος καταβεβρωμένος ὑπὸ τοῦ ἰοῦ illustrates the special sense of ‘‘ rust,” found in Jas 53: cf. 2. 139} (iii/B.C.) ὅπως δὲ καθαρὸς [t]od ἔσται ὁ ἀνδρίας + + » ἐπιμελεῖσθαι τοὺς ἀγορανόμους. The more general (δραχμὴ) a, similarly 57, in medical prescriptions for the eyes. As against Grimm’s ‘‘very uncert. deriv.” the word is obviously cognate with the Latin virus (Zend vis, visa-, skr. visam : see Boisacq, p- 379). >

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἰός (ios) — poison/rust.

ἰός [ῑ], ὁ,

__C rust on iron, or verdigris on copper and bronze, [Refs 7th c.BC+]; patina on bronze statues, ὅπως καθαρὸς ἰοῦ ἔσται ὁ ἀνδριάς [Refs 5th c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἰός

ios

perhaps from eimi (to go) or hiemi (to send); rust (as if emitted by

metals); also venom (as emitted by serpents):--poison, rust.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἰός, οῦ, ὁ

n.m.

poison, rust

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἰός ios 3x

a missile weapon, arrow, dart; venom, poison, Rom. 3:13; Jas. 3:8; rust, Jas. 5:3*

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-GSM — Noun · genitive · singular · masculine
genitive — of, from, belonging to.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-GSM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Genitive Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

poi'-z'-n (chemah, ro'-sh; thumos, ios): Residents in Palestine must, from the first, have been acquainted with venomous serpents. Six species of these are widely diffused in the land, and at least three of them are fairly common in places. Besides, there are scorpions, centipedes and the large spider, which are as much dreaded by the fellahin as are the serpents, not to speak of the minor but very serious discomforts of mosquitoes, sandflies and ticks, some of which were credited with lethal powers. In The Wisdom of Solomon 16:9 the Revised Version (British and American) we read that "the bites of locusts and flies did slay, and there was not found a healing for their life." There are also many poisonous plants, such as belladonna, henbane, thorn apple, and the opium poppy. None of these is mentioned in the Bible; the only names found there are the hemlock (Conium maculatum) of

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Poison

(1.) Heb. hemah, “heat,” the poison of certain venomous reptiles (Deut. 32:24, 33; Job 6:4; Ps. 58:4), causing inflammation.

(2.) Heb. rosh, “a head,” a poisonous plant (Deut. 29:18), growing luxuriantly (Hos. 10:4), of a bitter taste (Ps. 69:21; Lam. 3:5), and coupled with wormwood; probably the poppy. This word is rendered “gall”, q.v., (Deut. 29:18; 32:33; Ps. 69:21;

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
33%venom
venom33% · 1×poison33% · 1×rust33% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject67%predicate33%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 3 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
δολιόωI act deceitfully, d
αὐτός
μεστόςfull
κακόςbad, evil
Article the
καίand, even, also,
ἰόςof poison
what comes after →
ἀσπίςan asp
ὑπό
θανατηφόροςdeath-bringing, dead
αὐτός
εἰς

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

Concordanceἰός · 3× in the New Testament
James Romans
Across the New Testament2 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria
Philo of AlexandriaOn Noah's Work as a Planter 152c. AD 40

ἄλλαι δ’ εἰσὶ προσρήσεις διάφοροι κατὰ σημαινομένου ἑνὸς ὡς ἰός, ὀϊστός, βέλος—τὸ γὰρ διὰ τῆς τόξου νευρᾶς ἐπὶ τὸν σκοπὸν ἀφιέμενον πάντα ταῦτα λέγεται—·

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 6th c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. BC
P. Grenf. 1 12Latopolis151 BC

ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείαι, ἐν δὲ Πτολεμαίδι τῆς Θηβαίδος ἐφʼ ἱερέων Πτολεμαίου μὲν Σωτῆρος … … ίου τοῦ Λυκόφρονος, βασιλέως δὲ Πτολεμαίου Φιλομήτορος Ἀντιπάτρου τοῦ Ἀντιπάτρου, Πτολεμαίου δὲ Φιλαδέλφου … τοῦ

παρὰ … ου τοῦ Ψεμμώνθου τάλαντον α Β διὰ Πέλοπος Σρ … ου … ιος χειρόγραφον … Θαίβιος συνάλλαγμα Θορτ … εχθ … συνάλλαγμα

P.Alex. 12ArsinoitesAD 215

του … … να … καὶ τὴν … π … … … ιου ὄντων πρὸς τὸν εὐσχήμονα, τῶν δὲ … παντων ὄντων πρὸς ἐμὲ τὸν … παραδώσω

the but tongue no [one] to subdue is able of men; [it is] an unruly evil, full of poison deadly.
θανατηφόρου.thanatēphoros deadly. G2287 Adjective · genitive · singular · masculine
1× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in James than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word describes something that brings death or is deadly. It's used in James 3:8 to describe the tongue's power to cause harm. It's about having the ability to cause fatal damage.
Amplified meaning
fatal, poisonous
Tyndale gloss
deadly
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word θανατηφόρος (thanatephoros) is an adjective meaning 'death-bringing' or 'deadly.' It is derived from the words for 'death' (θάνατος) and 'to bear' (φέρω). The New Testament uses it in James 3:8, where it describes the destructive power of the tongue.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

θανατη-φόρος, -ον

(< θάνατος, φέρω),

[in LXX: Nu 18:22 (מוּת), Jb 33:23, IV Mac 8:18, 26 15:26*;]

deadly, death-bringing: Ja 3:8.†

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

θανατη-φόρος, -ov, (θάνατος and φέρω), death-bringing, deadly: Jas. iii. 8. (Num. xviii. 22; Job xxxiii. 23; 4 Mace. viii. 17, 25; xv. 26; Aeschyl., Plat., Arist., Diod., Xen., Plut., al.)

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

θανατήφορος (thanatēphoros) — deadly.

θᾰνᾰτήφορ-ος, ον,

death-bringing, αἶσα [Refs 4th c.BC+]; περίοδος θ. cycle of mortality, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of hurts or accidents, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of a surgical operation, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; ῥίζα ἐν Αἰθιοπία, of arrow-poison, Acokanthera Schimperi, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; γένεθλα.. θ. κεῖται causing death by contagion, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; πᾶσαι μεταβολαὶ πολιτειῶν θ. [LXX+5th c.BC+]; δίκαι capital trials, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]. adverb -ρως, νοσεῖν [Refs 1st c.BC+]: neuter singular as adverb, ἐπλήγη οὐχὶ -φόρον [Refs 4th c.BC+]; but -φόρον ᾄδειν to sing a death song, [Refs 1st c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

θανατηφόρος

thanatephoros

from (the feminine form of) 2288 and 5342; death-bearing, i.e.

fatal:--deadly.

see GREEK for 2288

see GREEK for 5342

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

θανατηφόρος, ον

Adj

death-bringing, deadly

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

θανατηφόρος thanatēphoros 1x

bringing or causing death, deadly, fatal, Jas. 3:8*

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Adj-GSM — Adjective · genitive · singular · masculine
genitive — of, from, belonging to.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

A-GSM Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Genitive Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ded'-li: In the Old Testament two words are used in the sense of a "mortal (Hebrew nephesh, "hateful," "foul") enemy" (Ps 17:9), and in the sense of "fatal disease," the destructiveness of which causes a general panic (Hebrew maweth, "death," 1Sa 5:11).

In the New Testament we have in Re 13:3,12 the expression "deadly wound" (Greek thanatos), better "death-stroke," as in the Revised Version (British and American), and the phrases "deadly thing," i.e. poison (thanasimon ti, Mr 16:18), and "full of deadly poison" (meste iou thanatephorou, Jas 3:8), said of an unruly tongue. Both Greek words convey the idea of "causing or…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
100%deadly
deadly100% · 1×

1 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 1 different way. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

Concordanceθανατηφόρος · 1× in the New Testament
James
Across the New Testament1 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Sources on this page. Lexicons and dictionaries imported from the CrossWire SWORD modules — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, Dodson, the Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones, Robinson and Packard, Webster and Cawdrey. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Harper, 1889 — Grimm’s Wilke’s Clavis Novi Testamenti, translated, revised and enlarged by Joseph Henry Thayer) is public domain and is set here from the Internet Archive page scan greekenglishlex00grim; it is uncorrected OCR, marked as such on the entry itself, and the Strong’s numbers — which Thayer’s own edition does not carry — were matched by lemma against the other modules on this page. Trench’s Synonyms of the New Testament (Macmillan, 1880) and Moulton and Milligan’s Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (Hodder & Stoughton, 1930, which entered the United States public domain on 1 January 2026) are set from Internet Archive page scans synonymsofnewtes00treniala and vocabularyofgree00mouluoft, and are likewise uncorrected OCR matched to Strong’s numbers by lemma. Trench treats a group of words at once, so the same essay stands on the page of each word it compares. The Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary is © 1993 and is used here by permission for non-commercial use, www.teknia.com/greek-dictionary. The full Liddell-Scott-Jones and the Hebrew word data (TAHOT) come from STEPBible.org, CC BY 4.0. Brown-Driver-Briggs is the OpenScriptures digitisation, public domain. Syntax analysis is the Nestle 1904 Lowfat treebank (biblicalhumanities.org); the concordance and morphology are built from the tagged Nestle 1904 text. Septuagint occurrences use the Open Scriptures Septuagint lemma index, derived from CCAT (University of Pennsylvania) and the Rahlfs 1935 dataset by Eliran Wong, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — used here on a non-commercial ministry site. Greek of Josephus and Barnabas from the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0. Commentaries and the Ante-Nicene Fathers are public-domain texts hosted on this site. Everyday Greek from the Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri, CC BY 3.0, with dates and provenance from the Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis. Philo and the Apostolic Fathers from Open Greek and Latin (First1KGreek), CC BY-SA 4.0. The apparatus and the fifth Greek column are the SBL Greek New Testament, © 2010 SBL and Logos Bible Software, CC BY 4.0. The Latin is the Clementine Vulgate (public domain); the Syriac New Testament is the ETCBC edition (MIT licence). The Hebrew behind the Greek is computed here from the Septuagint index and TAHOT, not taken from any aligned edition. The translation spread and the per-word edition marks come from the Translators Amalgamated Greek NT (STEPBible, CC BY 4.0); clause roles from the Nestle 1904 Lowfat treebank (CC BY-SA 4.0); place identifications and their confidence from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding (CC BY 4.0), with map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Gospel parallels are computed here from shared uncommon vocabulary, not taken from any printed harmony. Cross references are the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and the subject headings are Nave’s Topical Bible, both public domain. Works under Creative Commons licences are used unchanged apart from markup removal.

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