Menu

John 12:33 — Word Study

Depth

N1904τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ ἤμελλεν ἀποθνῄσκειν.¶

BSAThisohutos [referring to a specific statement] nowde He was sayinglegō signifyingsēmainō [show, point out] by whatpoios [what sort or manner] deaththanatos [physical or spiritual] He was aboutmellō [about to] to die.apothnēskō [to stop living or pass away]

Word
Listen & take awayJohn 12
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 33 is in this chapter.
Greek ↓ Download MP3 Nestle 1904 — the very text on this page — read by Andy Martin in Erasmian pronunciation.
Say the word Each Greek word carries its transliteration (apothnēskō) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
John 12:33quick helps
In a sentenceJesus indicated the nature of His impending death.
Who is speakingJesus, explaining the significance of His words.
Where we areIn a discussion about His crucifixion, following His prediction of being lifted up.
The hard wordσημαίνων
Take awayJesus was aware of the kind of death He would face.
6 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Trapp, Ellicott & more — read them › clause subjectσημαίνω verbλέγω The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
How rare are these words?in the New Testament

Every word here is used elsewhere in the New Testament.

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

Deep Study — John 12:33

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 — Jesus Predicts His Deathgenerated

32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw everyone to Myself.”
33He said this to indicate the kind of death He was going to die.
34The crowd replied, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever. So how can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”
35Then Jesus told them, “For a little while longer, the Light will be among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

John 12:33 occurs in a moment where Jesus speaks about His death, indicating its significance. This is part of a larger narrative where Jesus explains His mission and the implications of His sacrifice. The surrounding verses highlight the confusion of the crowd regarding His identity and the nature of His kingship, as they struggle to reconcile His impending death with their expectations of the Messiah.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
1John 18:32This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to indicate the kind of death He was going to die.
2John 21:19Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And after He had said this, He told him, “Follow Me.”

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 2 references, hung on the phrase they belong to


The Key Word σημαίνων, sēmainōgenerated

The verb σημαίνω is a present active participle meaning 'to signify' or 'to indicate.' It suggests a continuous action of pointing out or showing something important. This word is used to convey deeper meanings, as in the context of Jesus' words about His death.

In this verse, it emphasizes that Jesus was not merely stating facts but was actively revealing the significance of His death. The participle form indicates that this action of signifying is ongoing as He speaks.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

This study references the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), which uses the phrase to indicate. Other translations, such as the KJV and ASV, use signifying, maintaining the focus on the act of indicating.

The translations differ primarily on the rendering of σημαίνων. While most versions like the ASV and KJV use signifying, the FBV opts for point out, reflecting a slight variation in emphasis.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The verse is structured around a main clause introduced by the verb ἔλεγεν, He was saying, which governs the participial phrase σημαίνων, signifying. This participle describes the manner in which Jesus was speaking.

The phrase τοῦτο serves as the object of the verb, while the subsequent phrase describes the kind of death, creating a clear relationship between His words and their meaning.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

In the Septuagint, the word τοῦτο (ohutos) appears frequently, translating the Hebrew אֵ֫לֶּה (eleh), which means 'these.' This connection emphasizes the specific nature of what is being referred to in the context of the statement.

The verb ἔλεγεν (legō) corresponds to various Hebrew terms, including כֹּה (kōh), meaning 'thus' or 'here.' This choice highlights the manner in which the statement is being communicated, suggesting a direct and authoritative declaration.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

John 12:33 shows Jesus explaining that He was indicating the kind of death He was going to die. This moment is part of His teaching about His mission and the necessity of His sacrifice, which confused the crowd.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean that Jesus was signifying His death?

It means that Jesus was indicating the specific nature and significance of His death, revealing that it was intentional and part of His mission.

Why did the crowd struggle to understand Jesus’ statement?

The crowd was confused because they expected a Messiah who would reign forever, not one who would die, as indicated in their response about the Christ remaining forever.

How does this verse connect to Jesus’ overall mission?

This verse highlights that Jesus' death was a crucial part of His mission to provide salvation, and He was openly communicating this to His followers.

What can we learn from Jesus' awareness of His death?

We learn that Jesus was fully aware of His purpose and the implications of His death, which encourages us to understand our own purpose in light of His example.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. How does understanding the nature of Jesus' death impact my faith?
  2. In what ways can I signify the message of Christ in my own life?
  3. What does it mean for me to follow a Savior who willingly faced death?
  4. How can I help others understand the significance of Jesus' sacrifice?

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

Cyril of Alexandria comments on this verse to show that Jesus was fully aware of His impending death and its significance.

Cyril of AlexandriaCommentary on the Gospel of John, Book 8 c. 376–444
Hereby the Evangelist showed that the Lord did not suffer in ignorance, but voluntarily; and with full knowledge, not only that He was dying, but also in what manner: and He named the Cross [as His] death.

Cyril argues that Jesus spoke knowingly about His death, indicating it was a voluntary act rather than one done in ignorance.

Early Church Fathers on John 12 →

Commentators on this verse — 6 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on John 12:33 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

This he said,.... These are the words of the evangelist, interpreting the design of Christ in the above words, thereby signifying what death he should die; the phrase of being lifted up from the

Read John Gill on John 12 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

This he said, signifying what death he should die. (This he said, signifying what death , [ poioo (G4169) thanatoo (G2288) rather, 'what kind' or 'manner of death'] he should die)-that is, His being

Read Robert Jamieson on John 12 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

33 This he said, signifying what death he should die. Ver. 33. Signifying what death, &c.] Be lifted up between heaven and earth, as Absalom was, Absolon Marte furens pensilis arbore obit, who therein, saith Gretser the Jesuit, became a lively figure of Christ crucified. Sed o mirum et delirum figurativae crucis fabrum!

Read John Trapp on John 12 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(33) By what death he should die.—Better, by what manner of death . . . (Comp. John 18:32.) The words are the Apostle’s interpretation of the saying of our Lord. He remembers it as he has recorded it twice before (John 3:14; John 8:28), but he adds here words (“from the earth”) which supply another thought, though the two thoughts are not inconsistent. The words bear the double sense, and looking back upon the fact of the Crucifixion, he sees in that a lifting up which was part of the great moral victory over the world, and in the very cross of shame he sees the throne of glory.

Read Charles John Ellicott on John 12 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

33. what death] Literally, by what manner of death: comp. John 10:32, John 18:32, John 21:9.should die] The word translated ‘should’ is the same as that used of the traitor, John 12:4 and John 6:71. It is used (1) of what is about to happen, (2) of what (seeing that it has happened) may be regarded as necessary and fore-ordained.

Read Cambridge on John 12 →
Daniel Denison Whedon1808–1885Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

33. What death he should die—The words lifted up signified the exaltation upon the cross.

Read Daniel Denison Whedon on John 12 →

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

He said this to indicate the kind of death He was going to die.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

But he said this, signifying by what kind of death he should die.

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

He said this to indicate the kind of death He was going to die.

NETBNew English Translation2006

(Now he said this to indicate clearly what kind of death he was going to die.)

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

This he said, signifying what death he should die.

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

But this he said, signifying by what manner of death he should die.

RVARevised Version, American1894

But this he said, signifying by what manner of death he should die.

NWBWebster's Bible1833

(This he said, signifying what death he should die.)

GNVGeneva Bible1599

Nowe this sayd he, signifying what death he should die.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

But this he said signifying by what death he was about to die.

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

And this he said signifying by what death he was about to die;

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

And this He said signifying by what death He was about to die;

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

He said this to indicate what kind of death he would die.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

(Now this he said, signifying what death he should die.)

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

(He said this to point out the kind of death he was going to die.)

BBEBible in Basic English1949

(This he said, pointing to the sort of death he would have.)

Word by word, the decisions they made

σημαίνωνsēmainō signifying G4591 2 different renderings
signifyingASV DBY DRA GNV KJV LSV NWB RVA WEB YLT
point outFBV

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.

clauseδὲnowclauseobjectτοῦτοThisverbἔλεγενHe was sayingclause · adverbialclauseverbσημαίνωνsignifyingclausenoun phrase · adverbialποίῳby whatθανάτῳdeathverbἤμελλενHe was aboutobjectἀποθνήσκεινto die

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

(Hoc autem dicebat, significans qua morte esset moriturus.)

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

ܗܕܐ ܕܝܢ ܐܡܪ ܕܢܚܘܐ ܒܐܝܢܐ ܡܘܬܐ ܡܐܬ

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

τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ ἤμελλεν ἀποθνῄσκειν.¶

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ ἤμελλεν ἀποθνῄσκειν.¶

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ ἤμελλεν ἀποθνῄσκειν.¶

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ ἤμελλεν ἀποθνῄσκειν.¶

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ ἤμελλεν ἀποθνῄσκειν.¶

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ ἤμελλεν ἀποθνῄσκειν.¶

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ ἤμελλεν ἀποθνῄσκειν.¶

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ ἤμελλεν ἀποθνῄσκειν.¶

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

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

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

Word by word, across the editions

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


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

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

John 12:33οὗτοςThisThisοὗτοςδέnownowδέλέγωHe was sayiHe was sayingλέγωσημαίνωsignifyingsignifyingσημαίνωποῖοςby whatby whatποῖοςθάνατοςdeathdeathθάνατοςμέλλωHe was abouHe was aboutμέλλωἀποθνῄσκωto die.to die.ἀποθνῄσκωθνῄσκωv. I am dyv. I am dying, θνῄσκωἀπόPrep. fromPrep. from, awaἀπόφημίv. I sayv. I sayφημίποῦIrg.adv. wIrg.adv. where,ποῦοἷοςCorr.pr. &Corr.pr. & Rel.οἷοςμέλειv. it is av. it is a careμέλειγενεάn.f. a genn.f. a generatiγενεάἄρχωνn.m. a ruln.m. a ruler, pἄρχωνἀμήνHebr. veriHebr. verily, tἀμήνδιδάσκαλοςn.m. a tean.m. a teacherδιδάσκαλοςποῖοςIrg.pr. ofIrg.pr. of whatποῖοςθάνατοςn.m. deathn.m. deathθάνατοςσημαίνωv. I signiv. I signify, iσημαίνωἐξουσίαn.f. powern.f. power, autἐξουσίαγεύομαιv. I tastev. I taste, expγεύομαιπληγήn.f. a blon.f. a blow, stπληγήἀποκαλύπτωv. I uncovv. I uncover, bἀποκαλύπτωπάσχωv. I am acv. I am acted uπάσχω
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 John 12:33

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.

This now He was saying signifying by what death He was about to die.
τοῦτοohutos This G3778 Demonstrative pronoun · accusative · singular · neuter
1,388× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in John as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This refers to a specific person or thing, like when Jesus says 'this is my body' in Matthew 26:26 and Mark 14:22.
Amplified meaning
referring to a specific statement
Tyndale gloss
this/he/she/it
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word οὗτος (i.e., *houtos*) is a demonstrative pronoun meaning 'this' or 'this one.' It is used to refer to something nearby or recently mentioned, often with a connotation of contempt in certain contexts. In the New Testament, it appears in various forms, such as in Matthew 3:17 and John 1:15, and can also serve to emphasize or clarify a subject.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο, gen., τούτου, ταύτης, τούτου,

[in LXX chiefly for זֶה, זֹאת;]

demonstr. pron. (related to ἐκεῖνος as hic to ille),

this;

as subst., this one, he;

absol.: Mt 3:17, Mk 9:7, Lk 7:44, 45, Jo 1:15, Ac 2:15, al.; expressing contempt (cl.), Mt 13:55, 56, Mk 6:2, 3, Jo 6:42, al.; εἰς τοῦτο, Mk 1:38, Ro 14:9; μετὰ τοῦτο (ταῦτα; V. Westc. on Jo 5:1), Jo 2:12 11:7, al.;

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

οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο, demonstrative pron. [ef. Curtius p. 543], Hebr. 71, ΠΝ, this; used I. absolutely. 1. a. this one, visibly present here: Mt. iii. 17; xvii.5; Mk. ix. 7; Lk. vii. 44 sq.; ix. 35; 2 Pet.i.17. Mt.ix.3; xxi. 38; Mk. xiv. 69; Lk. 11. 34; xxiii. 2; Jn. i. 15, 30; vii. 25; ix. 8 54. 19; xviii. 21,50; xxi. 21; Actsii. 15; iv. 10; ix. 21; according to the nature and character of the person or thing mentioned, it is used with a suggestion —either of contempt, as Mt. xiii. 55 sq.; Mk. vi. 2 sq.: Lk. v. 21; vii. 39,49; Jn. vi. 42,52; vii. 15; or of admiration, Mt. xxi. 11; Actsix.21; οἵ, Wahl, Clavis apocryphor. V. T. p- 370% b. it refers to a subject immediately preceding, the one just named: Lk. i. 32; ii. 37 [RGL]; Jn. i. 2; vi. 71; 2 Tim. iii. 6,8, ete.; at the beginning of a narrative about one already mentioned, Mt. iii. 3; Lk. xvi. 1; Jn. i. 41 (42); ili. 2; xii. 21; xxi.…

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

οὗτος. A few of the prepositional phrases with this common demonstrative pron. may be illustrated διὰ τοῦτο, ‘on this account,” cf. P Ryl IT. 845 (a.p. 146) τὴν ἄνεσιν τὴν διὰ τοῦτο γενομένην τῶν ὑπαρχόντων, “the ensuing remission “ OUT@S, O’.TO@ of the lands’ (Edd.): ἐκ τούτου, ‘for this reason,’’ Jn 6° cf. 26. 81°4 (c, A.D, 104) ἐκ τούτου δὲ [φανεῖρόν ἐστιν [καὶ] μηδένα χρῇζειν, “‘it is evident from this that nobody wants it’’ (Edd.), BGU 11. 423!7 (ason to his father—ii/a.D.) (= Selections, p. 91) με ἐπαίδευσας καλῶς, Kal ἐκ τούτου ἐλπίζω ταχὺ προκόσί-- par τῶν θε[ῶ]ν θελόντων, “you have brought me up well, and for this reason I hope to be quickly promoted, if the gods will”: τούτου ἕνεκα, ‘‘ for this purpose,” cf. P Oxy I. 1138 (ii/a.p.) ἐὰν δ᾽ dpa μή, ; ἅμα τῷ vide μου ἐξέρχομαι τούτου ἕνεκα, “otherwise I and my son will come for this purpose’’ (Edd.): ἐπὶ τούτων, ““upon this,” ‘in…

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

οὗτος (ohutos) — this/he/she/it.

οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο,

genitive τούτου, ταύτης, τούτου, etc.: the dual feminine never in Attic dialect, see ὁ, ἡ, τό, [near the start]:—demonstrative pronoun, this, common from [Refs 8th c.BC+]

__A ORIGIN and FORMS: οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο probably arose from a reduplication of the demonstrative ὁ, ἡ, τό with insertion of -υ- (= Sanskrit Particle u), e.g. ταῦτα from τα-υ-τα: Doric dialect genitive singular feminine τούτας [Refs 5th c.BC+], etc., the latter is uncertain in [Refs 5th c.BC+], as genitive singular neuter οὕτω [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; accusative singular feminine οὕταν [Refs 6th c.BC+] —In _Attic dialect_ οὗτος was frequently strengthened by the _demonstrative_ -ί, οὑτοσί, αὑτηί, τουτί, _genitive_ τουτουί, _dative_ τουτῳί, _accusative_ τουτονί; plural nominative οὑτοιί, neuter ταυτί, etc., this man here…

Read the full entry →
Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο

Dem.pr.

this, he, she, it

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

οὗτος houtos 1x

this, this person or thing, Mt. 3:3, 9, 17; 8:9; 10:2; 24:34, et al. freq.; used by way of contempt, this fellow, Mt. 13:55; 27:47; αὐτὸ τοῦτο, this very thing, this same thing, 2 Cor. 2:3; 7:11; εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο, and elliptically, αὐτὸ τοῦτο, for this same purpose, on this account, Eph. 6:18, 22; 2 Pet. 1:5; καὶ οὗτος, and moreover, Lk. 7:12; 16:1; 20:30; καὶ τοῦτο, and that too, 1 Cor. 6:6, 8; tοῦτο μὲν ... τοῦτο δέ, partly ... partly, Heb.…

Read the full entry →
Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

οὗτος demonstr. Pron. this, Lat. hic, to designate the nearer of two things, opp. to ἐκεῖνος, the more remote (cf. ὅδε), Hom., etc.

when, of two things, one precedes and the other follows, ὅδε generally refers to what follows, οὗτος to what precedes, Soph., etc.

so also, οὗτος is used emphat., generally in contempt, while ἐκεῖνος (like Lat. ille) denotes praise, ὁ πάντ᾽ ἄναλκις οὗτος, i. e. Aegisthus, id. Soph.; οὗτος ἀνήρ Plat.; τούτους τοὺς συκοφάντας id. Plat.

in attic law-language, οὗτος is commonly applied to the opponent, whether plaintiff or defendant, whereas in Lat. hic was the client, iste the opponent, Dem.

often much like an adv., in local sense (cf. ὅδε init.), τίς δ᾽ οὗτος κατὰ νῆας ἔρχεαι; who art thou here that comest . . ? Il.; often in attic, τίς οὑτοσί; who's this…

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Dem-ASN — Demonstrative pronoun · accusative · singular · neuter
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

D-ASN Part of Speech: Demonstrative pronoun Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Neuter

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
55%this
this55% · 781×these things16% · 231×these14% · 196×he3% · 49×other renderings5% · 73×other renderings7% · 94×

1,424 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 49 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
subject36%object32%adverbial26%predicate4%indirect object2%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,388 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
αὐτόςδέbut, on the otheλέγωI say, speak
διά
καίand, even, also,αὐτόςεἰμίI am, exist
ἐν
καίand, even, also,γάρforοὔτεNeg
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakεἰςγάρfor
ὅτιthat, since, because
λέγωI say, speakοἶδαI know, rememberγράφωI write
οὗτοςThis1388×
what comes after →
Article the
λόγοςa word, speech, θεόςGod, a godἄνθρωποςa man, one of th
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theκαίand, even, also,ὅς
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theκατακρίνωI condemnεἰμίI am, exist
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakεἰμίI am, existαὐτός
λέγωI say, speak
σύArticle theαὐτός

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

Concordanceοὗτος · 1,388× in the New Testament
John Acts Luke Matthew Mark 1 Corinthians Romans Revelation Hebrews 2 Corinthians 1 John 2 Peter

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 2,054 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 12c. AD 40

ἀλλ’ ὅ γε μέγας Μωυσῆς ἀλλοτριώτατον τοῦ ὁρατοῦ νομίσας εἶναι τὸ ἀγένητον — πᾶν γὰρ τὸ αἰσθητὸν ἐν γενέσει καὶ μεταβολαῖς οὐδέποτε κατὰ ταὐτὰ ὄν — τῷ μὲν ἀοράτῳ καὶ νοητῷ προσένειμεν ὡς ἀδελφὸν καὶ συγγενὲς ἀιδιότητα, τῷ δ’ αἰσθητῷ γένεσιν οἰκεῖον…

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

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

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 6th c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. BC
P.Stras. 2 89Pathyris100 BC

ὡς ἐτῶν μ χαλκοῦ τάλαντα δύο . προπωλητὴς καὶ βεβαιωτὴς τῶν κατὰ τὴν ὠνὴν ταύτην πάντων Πετεαρσεμθεὺς ὁ ἀποδόμενος, ὃν ἐδέξατο Πετεαρσεμθεὺς ὁ πριάμενος. Ἑρμίας ὁ παρὰ Πανίσκου κεχρημάτικα.

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

ὡς ἐτῶν λ χαλκοῦ δραχμῶν τρισχιλίων . προπωληταὶ καὶ βεβαιωταὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν ὠνὴν ταύτην πάντων Νεχούτης καὶ ὁ σὺν αὐτῷ οἱ ἀποδόμενοι, ὃν ἐδέξατο Πακοῖβις ὁ πριάμενος. Ἑρμίας

BGU 3 1000Pathyris99 BC

εὐθύριν χαλκοῦ δραχμὰς δισχιλίας καὶ διακοσίας . προπωλητὴς καὶ βεβαιωτὴς τῶν κατὰ τὴν ὠνὴν ταύτην πάντων Πανοβχοῦνις ὁ ἀποδόμενος, ὃν ἐδέξατο Εὔνους ὁ πριάμενος. Ἑρμίας ὁ παρὰ Πανίσκου κεχρημάτικα.

This now He was saying signifying by what death He was about to die.
δὲde now G1161 Conjunction
2,787× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in John 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…

Read the full entry →
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…

Read the full entry →
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…

Read the full entry →
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
δέnow2787×
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
This now He was saying signifying by what death He was about to die.
ἔλεγενlegō He was saying G3004 Verb · imperfect · active · indicative · third person · singular
2,255× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means to say or speak, and it is used by Jesus and others in the New Testament to share teachings and tell stories. It appears in Matthew 9:34 and John 1:29.
Tyndale gloss
to say
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

λέγω (legō) is a primary Greek verb meaning 'to say' or 'to speak.' It encompasses a range of uses, including expressing thoughts, making declarations, and narrating events. The New Testament frequently employs it in direct speech and as a way to convey meaning, such as in Matthew 27:11. Abbott-Smith notes its distinction from similar verbs like λαλέω.

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

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

Read the full entry →
Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

λέγω,

[in LXX very freq., chiefly for אמר; λέγει for נְאֻם, Ge 22:16, al.;]

in Hom., to pick out, gather, reckon, recount.

In Hdt. and Att., to say, speak, affirm, declare: absol., Ac 13:15 24:10; seq. orat. dir., Mt 9:34, Mk 3:11, Jo 1:29, al.; seq. ὅτι recit., Mk 3:21, Lk 1:24, Jo 6:14, al.; acc. et. inf., Lk 11:18, Jo 12:29, al.; after another verb of speaking, προσφωνεῖν κ. λέγειν, Mt 11:17, al.; ἀπεκρίθη (ἐλάλησεν) λέγων (καὶ λέγει; Dalman…

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

λέγω (in the N. T. only the pres. and impf. act. and pres. pass. are in use; 3 pers. plur. impf. ἔλεγαν, Jn. xi. 56 Tdf. [ef. ἔχω, init.]): I. in its earliest use in Hom. to lay (like Lat. lego, Germ. legen; οἵ. J. G. Miiller in Theol. Stud. u. Krit. for 1835, p. 127 sqq.; Curtius § 538) ; to cause to lie down, put to sleep; 1. to collect, gather; to pick out. 2. lo lay with, count with; to enumerate, recount, narrate, describe; [οἷ. Eng. tale, Germ. ztihlen). II. to put word to word in speaking, join words together, i. e. to say (how it differs fr. λαλεῖν, see under that word ad init.) ; once so by Hom. in 1]. 2, 222 [yet ef. Schmidt, Syn. i. ch. 1, §§ 20; 48, 2; L. and S. s. vy. B. II. 2]; often in Pind., and by far the most com. use in Attic; Sept. more than thirteen hundred times for 728; often also for D8} (saying, dictum); very rarely for 1393; and soin N.T. 1. univ. a. absol. to…

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

λέγω. (1). “‘I say, speak”: see e.g. P Par 47 {= Selections, Ῥ- 21 ff.), ¢. B.C. 153, which is addressed on the verso—mpds τοὺς τὴν ἀλήθεαν λέγοντες (—-as), P Fay 12378 (c. A.D. 100) γνώσομαι yap εἰ ἀληθῶς λέγι, “1 will find out whether he is speaking the truth,” P Ryl 11. 7615 (late li/A.D.) ἃ καὶ ἀναγνώσομαι λεγομένου τοῦ [π]ράγματος, “1 will read them when the case is argued” (Edd.), P Flor II. 1327 (A.D. 257) ἔλεζξ]αν πεποιηκέναι ταῦτα ἀγνοίᾳ, ‘they said they had done this in ignorance,” and the magical P Par 5741238 (iii/A.D.) (= Selectzons, p. 113) λόγος λεγόμενος ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ, ‘ invocation to be uttered over the head (of the possessed one).”” For the phrase τὸ αὐτὸ λέγειν, cf. I Cor 11°, Weiss (Meyer 15 ad 1) cites a sepulchral inscr. of husband and wife from Rhodes, /J/Ae 149 (ii/B.c.) ταὐτὰ λέγοντες ταὐτὰ φρονοῦντες ἤλθομεν τὰν ἀμέτρητον ὁδὸν εἰς ᾿Αἴδαν. (2). Closely…

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

λέγω (legō) — to say.

λέγω,

__B pick up, etc.: tenses for signification 1 and 11, future λέξω [Refs 8th c.BC+]: aorist ἔλεξα [Refs 4th c.BC+]:—middle, future in passive sense λέξομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist ἐλεξάμην [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Epic dialect ἐλέγμην [Refs 8th c.BC+]:—passive, aorist ἐλέχθην [Refs 8th c.BC+]-; post-[Refs 8th c.BC+]perfect εἴλοχα (κατ-, συν-), passive εἴλεγμαι, in these senses rarely λέλεγμαι (see. the compounds); also future λεγήσομαι (συλ-): aorist 2 ἐλέγην (κατ-, συν-):—gather, pick up, ὀστέα.. λέγωμεν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; αἱμασιάς τε λέγων picking out stones for building walls, [Refs 8th c.BC+]:—middle, gather for oneself, ἐπὶ δὲ ξύλα πολλὰ λέγεσθε [Refs 8th c.BC+]

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

λέγω

lego

a primary verb; properly, to "lay" forth, i.e. (figuratively) relate

(in words (usually of systematic or set discourse; whereas 2036 and

5346 generally refer to an individual expression or speech

respectively; while 4483 is properly to break silence merely, and 2980

means an extended or random harangue)); by implication, to mean:--ask,

bid, boast, call, describe, give out, name, put forth, say(-ing, on),

shew, speak, tell, utter.

see GREEK for 2036

see GREEK for 5346

see GREEK for 4483

see GREEK for 2980

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

λέγω

v.

I say, speak

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

λέγω legō 2x

to lay, to arrange, to gather; to say, Mt. 1:20; to speak, make an address or speech, Acts 26:1; to say mentally, in thought, Mt. 3:9; Lk. 3:8; to say in written language, Mk. 15:28; Lk. 1:63; Jn. 19:37; to say, as distinguished from acting, Mt. 23:3; to mention, speak of, Mk. 14:71; Lk. 9:31; Read the full entry →

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
35%saying
saying35% · 480×says13% · 175×i say12% · 164×he says9% · 122×say5% · 70×he was saying3% · 42×they say2% · 31×other renderings17% · 225×other renderings4% · 48×

1,357 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 107 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
verb98%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 2,255 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
αὐτόςἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
αὐτός
πρόςμαθητήςa learner, disciἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theοὗτοςἐγώ
ἸησοῦςJesus
Article theδέbut, on the otheγόνυa knee
ἀμήνHebr
ἀμήνHebrαὐτόςλέγωI say, speak
λέγωHe was saying2255×
what comes after →
αὐτός
Article theτίςIrgκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
Article the
μαθητήςa learner, disciἸησοῦςJesusΠέτροςPeter
σύ
ὅτιthat, since, becοὐNegἐάνCond
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theπρόςαὐτός
ὅτιthat, since, because
Article theοὗτοςσύ

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

Concordanceλέγω · 2,255× in the New Testament
Luke John Matthew Mark Acts Revelation Hebrews Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians James Galatians

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

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

Counted over the 1,290 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 5c. AD 40

οὐ μὴν διὰ τοῦθ’ ἡσυχαστέον, ἀλλ’ ἕνεκα τοῦ θεοφιλοῦς καὶ ὑπὲρ δύναμιν ἐπιτολμητέον λέγειν, οἴκοθεν μὲν οὐδέν, ὀλίγα δ’ ἀντὶ πολλῶν, ἐφ’ ἃ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην διάνοιαν φθάνειν εἰκὸς ἔρωτι καὶ πόθῳ σοφίας κατεσχημένην.

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

ὅπως Ἅβραμος ὁ πρόγονος ἡμῶν ἐξελθὼν ἐκ τῆς Χαλδαίων γῆς κατέσχε τὴν τότε μὲν Χαναναίαν νῦν δὲ Ἰουδαίαν λεγομένην.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.4c. AD 100

πεφανέρωκεν γὰρ ἡμῖν διὰ πάντων τῶν προφητῶν, ὅτι οὕτε θυσιῶν οὔτε ὁλοκαυτωμάτων οὔτε προσφορῶν χρῄζει, λέγων ὅτε μέν:

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 1st c. AD 4th c. AD
P.Grenf. 2 33Pathyris101 BC

τὸ ἐπιβάλλον αὐτῷ μέρος ἧς ἐμισθώσατο σὺν Πακοίβι Σχώτου καὶ τοῖς μετόχοις γῆς σιτοφόρου λεγομένης Νεχθαραῦτι θεοῦ μεγάλου παρὰ τῶν ἱερέων ἐτῶν δέκα εἰς τὰ ἐνλιπόντα αὐτῷ ἑτέρων ,

P.Stras. 2 89Pathyris100 BC

ἑτερᾶς· νότου γῆ Τακοίμιος, βορρᾶ γῆ Χενσθώτου, ἀπηλιώτου Ἀείους, λιβὸς περίχωμα, τῆς δʼ ἄλλης λεγομένης Πκρώ· νότου γῆ Σενπελαίας, βορρᾶ γῆ Πανᾶτος ἀπηλιώτου ποταμός, λιβὸς Ἀραμείους, ἢ οἳ ἂν

P.Adl. 16Pathyris100 BC

οἱ Φίβιος τοῦ Πανεχάτου υἱοί, ἀπηλιώτου ὁδὸς βασιλική, λιβὸς γῆ Ψεμμώνθου τοῦ Πανεχάτου, ἄλλης λεγομένης Φαμούνιος νότου γῆ Παθώτου τοῦ Πατοῦτος, βορρᾶ γῆ Πατσεοῦτος τοῦ Φίβιος, ἀπηλιώτου ποταμός, λιβὸς

This now He was saying signifying by what death He was about to die.
σημαίνωνsēmainō signifying G4591 Verb · present · active · participle · nominative · singular · masculine
6× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To signify means to show or indicate something, like a sign or signal. In the Bible, it's used in Acts 25:27 and Revelation 1:1. It helps explain or point out important things.
Amplified meaning
show, point out
Tyndale gloss
to signify
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

σημαίνω (sēmainō) means to indicate or signify, derived from σῆμα (a sign). It covers a range of meanings, including giving a sign, making known, and signaling actions, as seen in Acts 11:28 and Revelation 1:1. The entries indicate its use in both general and specific contexts, but do not present significant disagreement among lexicons.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

σημαίνω

(< σῆμα, a sign),

[in LXX for רוּעַ hi., תָּקַע, etc. ;]

to give a sign, signify, indicate: c. acc. rei, Ac 25:27, Re 1:1 (cf. MM, xxii); c. acc. et inf., Ac 11:28; seq. quæst. indir., Jo 12:33 18:32 21:19.†

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

σημαίνω ; impf. ἐσήμαινον (Acts xi. 28 L WHtxt.); 1 aor. ἐσήμανα, for ἐσήμηνα which is the more com. form in the earlier and more elegant Grk. writ. (see Matthiae § 185; Kiihner ὃ 343s. v.; [Veitch 5. v.]; Lob. ad Phryn. p- 24sq.; W.§15s.v.; Β. 41 (35)); (fr. σῆμα a sign); fr. [Hom.], Aeschyl., Hdt. down; 10 give a sign, to signify, indicate: ri, Acts xxv. 27; foll. by indir. dise., Jn. xii. 33; xviii. 32; xxi. 19; 1. 4. to make known: absol. Rev. i. 1; foll. by acc. w. inf. Acts xi. 28.

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

σημαίνω, “indicates; τ ΘΟ ἡ: cf iP) Par 5.05 (Bc. 165) διὰ τίῆ]ς ἐπι[στο]λῆς mpon. . . . σημῆναί plor] τὴ[ν] φιλοτιμίαν, P Grenf I. 3015 (B.c. 103) (= Witkowski’, p. 107) διὰ γραμμάτων ἐκρίναμεν σημῆναι, BGU III. 1009

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

σημαίνω (sēmainō) — to signify.

σημαίνω,

[Refs 8th c.BC+]; σᾱμαίνω, [Refs]: Ionic dialect imperfect σημαίνεσκον [Refs 4th c.AD+]: future σημᾰνῶ [Refs 5th c.BC+], Ionic dialect -ᾰνέω[Refs 8th c.BC+]aorist ἐσήμηνα[Refs 5th c.BC+], Epic dialect σήμηνα [Refs 8th c.BC+]; but in codices of [NT+5th c.BC+]: perfect σεσήμαγκα [Refs 4th c.BC+] —middle, future σημᾰνοῦμαι, Ionic dialect -έομαι[Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist ἐσημηνάμην [Refs 8th c.BC+]:—passive, future σημανθήσομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]: future middle in passive sense, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist ἐσημάνθην [Refs 4th c.BC+]: perfect σεσήμασμαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. singular σεσήμανται [Refs 5th c.BC+], infinitive σεσημάνθαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]: (σῆμα):—show by a sign, indicate, point out, τέρματα [Refs 8th c.BC+]; τοῦτον σημήνας after indicating the person, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; σ. εὔδια πάντα (i.e. εἶναι) [Refs 3rd c.BC+] —middle…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

σημαίνω

semaino

from sema (a mark; of uncertain derivation); to indicate:--signify.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

σημαίνω

v.

I signify, indicate

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

σημαίνω sēmainō 6x

to indicate by a sign, to signal; to indicate, intimate, Jn. 12:33; 18:32; 21:19; to make known, communicate, Acts 11:28; Rev. 1:1; to specify, Acts 25:27*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

σημαίνω σῆμα to shew by a sign, indicate, make known, point out, Hom., etc.

absol. to give signs, make signals, Il., Trag.

to give a sign or signal to do a thing, Il.; c. inf., Hdt., etc.; μὴ σημήναντός σου without any order from you, Plat.:—c. gen. to bear command over, τινός or ἐπί τισι Hom.: absol. to give orders, id. Hom.; σημαίνων ῀ σημάντωρ, Soph.

in war, to give the signal of attack, Thuc.; ση. τῆι σάλπιγγι Xen.; ση. ἀναχώρησιν to make signal for retreat, Thuc.:—impers., σημαίνει (sc. ὁ σαλπιγκτής) signal is given, τοῖς Ἕλλησι ὡς ἐσήμηνε when signal was given for the Greeks to attack, Hdt.; ἐσήμαινε πάντα παραρτέεσθαι signal was given to make all ready, id. Hdt.

to signify, indicate, announce, declare, Eur., Hdt., attic

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
50%signifying
signifying50% · 3×he signified33% · 2×specify17% · 1×

6 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 6 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
λέγωI say, speak
δέbut, on the otheὅς
ἍγαβοςAgabus
ὄνομαname, character,
αἰτίαa cause, reason, cha
αὐτός
καίand, even, also, nam
τάχοςquickness, speed
σημαίνωsignifying
what comes after →
ποῖοςIrg
θάνατοςdeath
διά
Article the
ἀποστέλλωI send forth, send,
διά

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

Concordanceσημαίνω · 6× in the New Testament
John Acts Revelation
Across the New Testament3 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 17 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
JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.308c. AD 75–95

πάλιν οὖν γίνονται παῖδες αὐτῇ, Ἰσσαχάρης μὲν σημαίνων τὸν ἐκ μισθοῦ γενόμενον, Ζαβουλὼν δὲ ἠνεχυρασμένον εὐνοίᾳ τῇ πρὸς αὐτήν, θυγάτηρ δὲ Δεῖνα.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. AD 6th c. AD 2nd c. AD 2nd c. BC 1st c. AD
P.Oxy. 73 4957Sesphtha (Oxyrhynchites)AD 147

ἡγεμονεύσαντος πρὸς τὴν τοῦ διελθόντος θ ἔτους Ἀντωνίνου Καίσαρος τοῦ κυρίου κατ’ οἰκίαν ἀπογραφὴν σημαίνω ἐμαυτὸν ἀναγραφόμενον ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς Σέσφθα ἐν τοῖς ἐπὶ κώμης ἀναλαμβανομένοις αὐτὸν ἐμὲ Λεοντᾶν

P.Freib. 4 65AD 101–AD 200

μοι διὰ τοῦ παιδαρίου καὶ αὔριον ἐλεύσομαι. ἐὰν δέ τις τῶν δημοσίων ἔλθῃ θέλων σημᾶναι, ὡς ἐὰν θέλῃς αὐτοῖς ὁμείλησον ε… … … των

Chrest.Wilck. 72LykopolitesAD 234

πρεσβυτέρων διαδεχομένων τὴν κωμογραμματείαν Θηβαικῆς καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὴν τόπων· δηλοῦμεν μηδὲν εὑρεῖν ἀνῆκον σημᾶναι παρὰ τῇ τοῦ ἰδίου λόγου καὶ ἀρχιερέως ἐπιτροπῇ τοῦ ὄντος μηνὸς τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος ιγ

This now He was saying signifying by what death He was about to die.
ποίῳpoios by what G4169 Interrogative pronoun · dative · singular · masculine
33× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in John as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
What sort or which one is the meaning of this word, used in questions like those in Matthew 19:18 and Mark 11:28. It's about asking for specifics or details.
Amplified meaning
what sort or manner
Tyndale gloss
what?
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ποῖος (poios) is an interrogative pronoun meaning 'of what sort' or 'what kind.' It is used in both direct and indirect questions throughout the New Testament, often to inquire about the nature or quality of something. The word can also imply a sense of surprise or scorn in classical texts. There is a noted shift in usage, where it retains its original meaning in Pauline writings but becomes more general in other contexts.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ποῖος, -α, -ον,

interrog. pronom. adj.

(corresponding to the demonstr. τοῖος and the relat. οἷος),

[in LXX chiefly for אֵי־זֶה;]

of what quality or sort: absol., n. pl., Lk 24:19; c. subst.;

prop., in direct questions: Mt 19:18 21:23 22:36 24:42, Mk 11:28 12:28, Lk 6:32-34, Jo 10:32, Ac 4:7 7:49, Ro 3:27, I Co 15:35, Ja 4:14 (but v.s. ποία), I Pe 2:20;

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

ποῖος, -a, -ov, (interrog. pron., corresponding to the rel. οἷος and the demonstr. τοῖος), [fr. Hom. down], of what sort or nature (Lat. qualis): absol. neutr. plur. in a direct question, Lk. xxiv.19; with substantives, in direct ἡ questions: Mt. xix. 18; xxi. 23; xxii. 36; Mk. xi. 28; Lk. vi. 32-34; Jn. x. 32; Actsiv. 7; vii. 49; Ro. iii. 27; 1 Co. xv. 35; Jas. iv. 14; 1 Pet. ii. 20; in indirect discourse: Mt. xxi. 24, 27; xxiv. 43; Mk. xi. 29,33; Lk. xii. 39; Jn. xii. 33; xviii. 32; xxi.19; Acts xxiii. 34; Rev. iil. 3; εἰς τίνα ἢ ποῖον καιρόν, 1 Pet. i. 11; ποίας (Rec. διὰ ποίας) sc. ὁδοῦ, Lk. v.19; cf. W. § 30, 11; [(also ὃ 64, 5); B. §§ 123, 8; 132, 26; cf. Tob. x. 7].

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

ποῖος. Hort ad 1 Pet 111 has pointed out that in Mt, Lk, Ac (23°*) and Rev ποῖος loses its classical force of “kind,” “but only with reference to locality (including way) and time.” Paul, on the other hand, keeps the proper sense “what manner,” (Rom 327 a/.), and so probably Jas 414 and 1 Pet 111, 220, For ποῖος in the weakened sense of ‘‘what”’ in indirect Interrogation, see P Par 607 (B.c. 154) (as read UPZ i. P. 321) ἀπόστιλόν μοι, πόσον ἔχει ΠΠετευσοράπιος καὶ

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ποῖος (poios) — what?.

ποῖος, α, ον,

Ionic dialect κοῖος, η, ον, of what kind? in [Refs 8th c.BC+] what manner of speech hast thou spoken! [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ποῖοί κ᾽ εἶτ᾽ Ὀδυσῆϊ ἀμυνέμεν what sort would ye be to.. ! [Refs 8th c.BC+]; in simple questions, ποίῃ.. νηΐ σε ναῦται ἤγαγο; [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ποῖος οὐ interrogative, equivalent to every affirmative, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. frequently in Comedy texts and Prose dialogue, used in repeating a word used by the former speaker, to express scornful surprise, Πρωτέως τάδ᾽ ἐστὶ μέλαθρα. Answ. ποίου Πρωτέω; [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. with the Article, when the question implies a Noun which is defined by the Article or the context, τὸ π. εὑρὼν.. φάρμακο; [Refs 5th c.BC+]; λέγεις δὲ τὴν π. κατάστασιν ὀλιγαρχία; Answ. τὴν…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

ποῖος

poios

from the base of 4226 and 3634; individualizing interrogative (of

character) what sort of, or (of number) which one:--what (manner of),

which.

see GREEK for 4226

see GREEK for 3634

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ποῖος, α, ον

Irg.pr.

of what sort

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ποῖος poios 33x

of what kind, sort or species, Jn. 12:33; 21:19; what? which? Mt. 19:18; 21:23, 24, 27

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ποῖος ποῖος, η, ον of what nature? of what sort? Lat. qualis? used in questions:—in Hom. expressing surprise and anger, ποῖον τὸν μῦθον ἔειπες what manner of speech hast thou spoken! ποῖόν σε ἔπος φύγεν ἕρκος ὀδόντων! ποῖον ἔειπες! etc.

ποῖος οὐ; interrog., equiv. to ἕκαστος affirm., Hdt., Soph.

in attic, often with Art., τὸ ποῖον φάρμακον; Aesch.; τὰ ποῖα τρύχη; Ar.; τὸ ποῖον; Plat., etc.

ποῖός τις; makes the question less definite, κοῖόν μέ τινα νομίζουσιν εἶναι; Hdt.; ποῖ᾽ ἄττα; Plat.; τὰ τοῖ᾽ ἄττα; Xen.

ποίᾳ, ionic κοίῃ, as Adv., = πῶς; Lat. quomodo? Hdt., Ar.

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Interrog-DSM — Interrogative pronoun · dative · singular · masculine
dative — to, for, with — the one it is done to or by.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

I-DSM Part of Speech: Interrogative pronoun Case: Dative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
64%what
what64% · 21×which9% · 3×what kind of6% · 2×what manner of3% · 1×at what3% · 1×which ?3% · 1×on what3% · 1×what way3% · 1×other renderings6% · 2×

33 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
adverbial67%predicate15%object9%subject9%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 33 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
ἐν
σύλέγωI say, speakεἶπονI say, speak
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakἐπερωτάωI interrogate, q
σημαίνωI signify, indicate
λέγωI say, speak
οἰκοδεσπότηςa head of a househol
Article the
σύ
ἀγαπάωI loveἀγαθοποιέωI do that which
ποῖοςby what33×
what comes after →
ἐξουσίαpower, authority, we
οὗτος
Article the
δέbut, on the otheζωήlife
σύ
χάριςgrace, favor, ki
θάνατοςdeath
μέλλωI am about toδοξάζωI glorify, honor
ὥραan hour, season
Article theἥκωI have come, am

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

Concordanceποῖος · 33× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew Acts John Mark 1 Peter 1 Corinthians James Revelation Romans
Across the New Testament10 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 16 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 The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.90c. AD 40

ποίῳ Ἀδὰμ ἐντέλλεται καὶ τίς ἐστιν οὗτος, διαπορητέον·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 4.255c. AD 75–95

ἐρομένης δὲ τῆς γερουσίας, διὰ ποίαν αἰτίαν ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοι πρὸς τὸν γάμον, ἄν τε μικρὰν ἄν τε μείζω λέγῃ, πρὸς ταῦτα ῥεπέτω·

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 1st c. AD 6th c. AD
P.Mert. 2 65Narmuthis (Arsinoites)AD 118–AD 119

Ἄμβριος, οἱ τέσσαρες αθεμ … … αλλ … … τωπα … ρ … … ποιω ἔδησαν μοι του … α … θ … κης καὶ ἀφήρπασαν παρʼ ἐμοῦ ἱμάτιον

P.Amh. 2 78Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 184

ἐν νωθρίᾳ μου γενομένου ἐξεβιάσατο ὥστε ἀσφάλειαν γραπτὴν αὐτῷ με ποιήσασθαι, ἐπανγειλάμενος εἰ μὴ ποιῶ εἰς τὸ ζῆν μοι ἐπιχειρήσειν. τοιαύτης οὖν αὐθαδίας ἐν αὐτῷ οὔσης οὐ δυνάμενος ἐνκαρτερεῖν

P.Berl.Cohen 3Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 176–AD 225

τίς τινος τοῦ τινος μητρὸς ποιὰς ἱερεὺς ποιὰς φυλῆς εἰσκρίσεως ἱερέων διέγραψεν δραχμὰς κ Ἑρμοῦ η δραχμάς … … ῥυπαρὰς

This now He was saying signifying by what death He was about to die.
θανάτῳthanatos death G2288 Noun · dative · singular · masculine
120× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
rarer in John than elsewhere in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means death, whether it's physical or spiritual. It's used in many places, like John 11:13 and Romans 8:38, to describe the end of life or separation from God. It's the opposite of life.
Amplified meaning
physical or spiritual
Tyndale gloss
death
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

θάνατος (thanatos) means 'death' and can refer to both natural and violent forms of death. It encompasses physical death, spiritual death, and even metaphorical uses, such as the death of Christ. The New Testament uses it in various contexts, including imminent danger and eternal death. Notably, it is contrasted with ζωή (zoe), meaning 'life'.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

θάνατος, -ου, ὁ (θνήσκω),

[in LXX chiefly for מָוֶת ,מוּת, sometimes דֶּבֶר;]

death;

of the death of the body, whether natural or violent: Jo 11:13, Phl 2:27, He 7:23, al; opp. to ζωή, Ro 8:38, Phl 1:20; of the death of Christ, Ro 5:10, Phl 3:10, He 2:9; ῥυέσθαι (σώζειν) ἐκ θ., II Co 1:10, He 5:7; περίλυπος ἕως θανάτου, Mt 26:38, Mk 14:34; μέχρι (ἄχρι) θ., Phl 2:8, Re 2:10; πληγὴ…

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

θάνατος, -ov, 6, (θανεῖν); Sept. for ny) and ny, also for 727 pestilence [W. 29 note]; (one of the nouns often anarthrous, ef. W. § 19, 1s. v.; [B. § 124, 8¢.]; Grimm, Com. on Sap. p. 59); death; 1. prop. the death of the body, i. e. that separation (whether natural or violent) of the soul from the body by which the life on earth is ended: Jn. xi. 4, [13]; Acts ii. 24 [Trmrg. ἅδου] (on this see ddiv); Phil. ii. 27,30; Heb. vii. 23; ix. 15 sq.; Rev. ix. 6; xviii. 8; opp. to ζωή, Ro. viii. 38; 1 Co. iii. 22; 2Co.i. 9; Phil. i. 20; with the implied idea of future misery in the state beyond, 1 Co. xv. 21; 2 Tim. i. 10; Heb. ii. 14 sq.; 1. q. the power of death, 2 Co. iv. 12. Since the nether world, the abode of the dead, was conceived of as being very dark, χώρα καὶ σκιὰ θανάτου (ayy) is equiv. to the region of thickest darkness, i. e. figuratively, a region enveloped in the darkness of…

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

θάνατος. For this common noun we may cite such passages as P Petr IIT. 36 (2)? τ]ὸν θάνατον ὑποκείμενον [ἐν] τῆι φυλακῆι διὰ τὴν ἔνδειαν, P Tebt I. 5% (B.c. 118) τοὺς δὲ παρὰ ταῦτα ποιοῦντας θαν[άτωι ζ]ημιοῦσθαι, P Oxy III. 4727 (c. Α.Ὁ. 130) ἄλλοι πολλοὶ τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ζῆν προκρείναντες, 12. 11. 2370}. 36 (A.D. 186) ἡ δὲ κτῆσις μετὰ θάνατον τοῖς τέκνοις κεκράτηται, “but the right of ownership after their death has been settled upon the children” (Edd.). The wellknown inscr. at the entrance of the inner court of the Temple at Jerusalem, threatening all who were not Jews with the penalty of death for entering, ends—és 8’ ἂν ληφθῇ, ἑαυτῶι αἴτιος ἔσται διὰ τὸ ἐξακολουθεῖν θάνατον (OG/S 5087, i/A.D.). In a Latin papyrus containing military accounts, | P Fay rosiii 24 (c. a.p. 180), opposite the name Turbon a letter @ has been inserted, implying, according to the editors, that he has died.…

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

θάνατος (thanatos) — death.

θάνᾰτος [θᾰ], ὁ,

(θνῄσκω) death, whether natural or violent, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; τῶν ὑπαλευάμενος θάνατον the death threatened by them, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; θάνατόνδε to death, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; θανάτου τέλος, μοῖρα, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; θανάτου πέρι καὶ ζωᾶς for life and death, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; πόλεώς ἐστι θ., ἀνάστατον γενέσθαι it is its death, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; γῆρας ζῶν θ. [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; θάνατον ἀποθνῄσκειν, τελευτᾶν, [Refs 1st c.BC+]

2. in Law, death-penalty, θάνατον καταγνῶναί τινος to pass sentence of death on one, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; θανάτου δίκῃ κρίνεσθαι[Refs 5th c.BC+]; πρὸς τοὺς ἐχθροὺς.. ἀγωνίσασθαι περὶ θ. [Refs 4th c.BC+]; θ. τῆς ζημίας ἐπικειμένης the penalty is death…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

θάνατος

thanatos

from 2348; (properly, an adjective used as a noun) death (literally or

figuratively):--X deadly, (be...) death.

see GREEK for 2348

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

θάνατος, ου, ὁ

n.m.

death

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

θάνατος thanatos 120x

death, the extinction of life, whether naturally, Lk. 2:26; Mk. 9:1; or violently, Mt. 10:21; 15:4; imminent danger of death, 2 Cor. 4:11, 12; 11:23; in NT spiritual death, as opposed to ζωή in its spiritual sense, in respect of a forfeiture of salvation, Jn. 8:51; Rom. 6:16

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

θάνατος θάνα^τος, ὁ, θνήσκω death, Hom., etc.; θ. τινος the death threatened by him, Od.; θάνατόνδε to death, Il., etc.

in attic, θάνατον καταγιγνώσκειν τινός to pass sentence of death on one, Thuc.; θανάτου κρίνεσθαι to be tried for one's life, id. Thuc.:—ellipt., τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ κεκοσμημένος (sc. στολήν) Hdt.; δῆσαί τινα τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτου (sc. δέσιν) id. Hdt.; τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ἐπιτρέψαι περὶ σφῶν αὐτῶν πλὴν θανάτου for any penalty short of death, Thuc.

pl. θάνατοι, kinds of death, Od.; or the deaths of several persons or even of one person, Trag.

as prop. n., Θάνατος Death, twin-brother of Sleep, Il.

= νεκρός, Anth.

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

N-DSM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Dative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

(maweth; thanatos):

PHYSIOLOGICAL AND FIGURATIVE VIEW

The word "Death" is used in the sense of

(1) the process of dying (Ge 21:16);

(2) the period of decease (Ge 27:7);

(3) as a possible synonym for poison (2Ki 4:40);

(4) as descriptive of person in danger of perishing (Jud 15:18; "in deaths oft" 2Co 11:23). In this sense the shadow of death is a familiar expression in Job, the Psalms and the Prophets;

(5) death is personified in 1Co 15:55 and Re 20:14. Deliverance from this catastrophe is called the "issues from…

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Death

May be simply defined as the termination of life. It is represented under a variety of aspects in Scripture: (1.) “The dust shall return to the earth as it was” (Eccl. 12:7).

(2.) “Thou takest away their breath, they die” (Ps. 104:29).

(3.) It is the dissolution of “our earthly house of this tabernacle” (2 Cor. 5:1); the “putting off this tabernacle” (2 Pet. 1:13, 14).

(4.) Being “unclothed” (2 Cor. 5:3, 4).

(5.) “Falling on sleep” (Ps. 76:5; Jer. 51:39;

Is taken in Scripture, first, for the separation of body and soul, the first death, Ge 25:11; secondly, for alienation from God, and exposure to his wrath, 1Jo 3:14, etc.; thirdly, for the second death, that of eternal damnation. Death was the penalty affixed to Adam’s transgression, Ge 2:17 3:19; and all his posterity are transgressors, and share the curse inflicted upon him. CHRIST is "our life." All believers share his life, spiritually and eternally; and though sin and bodily is taken away, and in the resurrection the last enemy shall be trampled under foot, Ro 5:12-21 1Co 15:1-58.

Nave's Topical Bible

→ Miscellaneous Subjects

Called GIVING UP THE GHOST Ge 25:8; 35:29; La 1:19; Ac 5:10

KING OF TERRORS Job 18:14

A CHANGE Job 14:14

GOING TO THY FATHERS Ge 15:15; 25:8; 35:29

PUTTING OFF THIS TABERNACLE 2Pe 1:14

REQUIRING THE SOUL Lu 12:20

GOING THE WAY WHENCE THERE IS NO RETURN Job 16:22

BEING GATHERED TO OUR PEOPLE Ge 49:33

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
94%death
death94% · 113×other renderings4% · 5×other renderings2% · 2×

120 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 7 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial45%subject23%object22%predicate8%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 120 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
διάκαίand, even, also,ἐκ
εἰς
ἀδελφόςa brotherαὐτόςκαίand, even, also,
γεύομαιI taste, experience
μήNegπᾶςall, the whole,
πρός
μήNegεἰμίI am, existἁμαρτίαa sin
ἄξιοςworthy, worthy of, d
οὐδείςno one, none, noδέbut, on the otheκαίand, even, also,
θάνατοςdeath120×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theπατήρfather, Father, οὐNeg
Article the
δεύτερος& Advδέbut, on the otheυἱόςa son, descenden
αὐτός
ἐκεῖνοςβαπτίζωI dip, submerge,ἀλλάbut, except
εἰς
Article theνῖκοςvictoryθάνατοςdeath
εἰμίI am, exist
πράσσωI do, fare, requοὐNegἁμαρτίαa sin

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

Concordanceθάνατος · 120× in the New Testament
Romans Revelation Hebrews 2 Corinthians 1 Corinthians Acts John Luke Matthew 1 John Mark Philippians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 160 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

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

τὴν δεκάτην δ’ εἴ τις τελέσας κατὰ μέτρον ἵκοιτο, οὐκ ἂν ἄωρος ἐὼν μοῖραν ἔχοι θανάτου.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.168c. AD 75–95

Ὡς δʼ ἀφικομένων τῶν παίδων Ἰάκωβος τὰ περὶ τὸν Ἰώσηπον ἔμαθεν, ὅτι μὴ μόνον εἴη τὸν θάνατον διαπεφευγὼς ἐφʼ ᾧ πενθῶν διῆγεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ζῇ μετὰ λαμπρᾶς εὐδαιμονίας βασιλεῖ συνδιέπων τὴν Αἴγυπτον καὶ τὴν ἅπασαν σχεδὸν ἐγκεχειρισμένος αὐτῆς ἐπιμέλειαν,

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
4th c. AD 3rd c. AD 2nd c. AD 6th c. AD 7th c. AD
P.Tebt. 2 304Tebtynis (ArsinoitesAD 168

ἐποίησαν ὡς ἐκ τούτου τῷ ζῆν κινδυνεύειν. ὅθεν, κύριε, εὐλαβῶς ἔχων τὸν περὶ τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ κινδυνον ἐπιδίδωμικαὶ ἀξιῶ κελεῦσαι ἀχθῆναι αὐτὸν ἐπὶ σὲ πρὸς τὸ τὸ ἀκόλουθον γείνεσθαι

P.Diog. 11Ptolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites)AD 213

μεσιτείας μου γεναμένης καὶ διέταξα τῷ υἱῷ μου Ἰσιδώρῳ πρὸ μιᾶς ἡμέρας μου τοῦ θανάτου εἴ τί μοι ὑπάρχει ἀγρῶν τε καὶ οἰκοπέδων καὶ χρυσία καὶ ἱμάτια καὶ

P.Diog. 12Ptolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites)AD 213

μεσιτείας μου γενομένης καὶ διέταξα τῷ υἱῷ μου Ἰσιδώρῳ πρὸ μιᾶς ἡμέρας μου τοῦ θανάτου εἴ τί μοι ὑπάρχει ἀγρῶν τε καὶ οἰκοπέδων καὶ χρυσία καὶ ἱμάτια καὶ

This now He was saying signifying by what death He was about to die.
ἤμελλενmellō He was about G3195 Verb · imperfect · active · indicative · third person · singular
110× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in John as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To ensue means to be about to happen or to intend to do something, like when Jesus was about to suffer in Matthew 2:13. It involves a sense of purpose or duty. The Bible uses this concept to describe events that are going to occur, like in Acts 3:3 and Hebrews 8:5.
Amplified meaning
about to
Tyndale gloss
to ensue
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

μέλλω is a verb meaning to be about to do something, indicating intention or future action. It can express necessity, probability, or mere intention, often followed by an infinitive. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts suggesting both planned actions and events that are destined to occur, such as in Matthew 2:13 and Acts 12:6. The participle form ὁ μέλλων refers to future things.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

μέλλω,

[in LXX: Jb 3:8 (עָתִיד) 19:25 (אַחֲרוֹן); elsewhere for fut., and freq. in Wi, II, IV Mac;]

to be about to be or do;

c. inf. (Bl., § 62, 4; 68, 2; M, Pr., 114);

of intending or being about to do of one's own free will: c. inf. praes., Mt 2:13, Lk 10:1, Ac 3:3 5:35, He 8:5, II Pe 1:12 (Field, Notes, 240), al.; c. inf. aor. (Bl., § 58, 3), Ac 12:6, Re 3:16;

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

μέλλω ; fut. μελλήσω (Mt. xxiv. 6; and LTTrWH in 2 Pet. i. 12); impf. ἔμελλον [so all edd. in Lk. ix. 31 (exc. T WH); Jn. vi. 6, 71 (exc. RG) ; vii. 39 (exe. T); xi. 51 (exc. L Tr); Acts xxi. 27; Rev. iii. 2 (where R pres.); x. 4 (exe. L Tr)] and ἤμελλον [so all edd. in Lk. vil. 2; x. 1 (exe. RG); xix. 4; Jn. iv. 47; xii. 33; xviii. 32; Acts xii. 6 (exc. RGL); xvi. 27 (exe. RG); xxvii 33 (exe. RGT); Heb. xi. 8 (exe. L); ef. reff. s. v. βούλομαι, init. and Rutherford’s note on Babrius 7, 15], to be about to do anything; so 1. the ptep., ὁ μέλλων, absol.: τὰ μέλλοντα and τὰ ἐνεστῶτα are contrasted, Ro. viii. 38; 1 Co. iii. 22; εἰς τὸ μέλλον, for the future, hereafter, Lk. xiii. 9 [but see eis, A. II. 2 (where Grimm supplies éros)]; 1 Tim. vi. 19; τὰ μέλλοντα, things future, things to come, i. e., ace. to the context, the more perfect state of things which will exist in the αἰὼν μέλλων…

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

μέλλω. In the NT μέλλω is construed 84 times with the pres. cf. P Par 432 (B.C. 154) μέλλω δὲ ἰσάγειν ἐν τῷ μεσορὴ μηνί, 75. 4819. (B.c. 153) καταπλεῖν μέλλομεν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, P Meyer 209 (1st half iii/A.D.) μέλλι πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔρχεσθαι, pe σοι ἀεὶ γράφειν, Ὁ ae 11. 416° (iii/ A.D.) μέλλω péve εἰς ᾿Αντινόου, and P Oxy VIII. 11567° (iii/A.p.) μέλλο[με]ν χόρτου χρίαν ἔχιν. For the constr. with the fut. inf., which is obsolete in the NT (cf. TR Ac 233°), cf. Syi/ 432! (B.c. 326-5) ὀμόσασιν. . . [ποιήσεσθαι τὴν] ἐπιτροπὴν καθ᾽ ὅτι ἂν μέλλει ἔσ[εϊσθαι κτλ. Μέλλω followed by the aor. inf. act. is seen in such passages as P Giss I. 125 (ii/A.p.) ὁσάκις ἐὰν μέλλῃς πέμψαι, P Oxy XII. 14$82° (ii/a.p.) ἔμελλον yap ἀνελθεῖν, and 26. VII. 106727 (iii/A.D.) εἰ μέλλεις ἐλθεῖν ἐλθέ, ‘come if you are coming,” and by the aor. inf. pass. in P Goodsp Cairo 310 (iii/B.c.) ἡνίκα fiehioy κοιμηθῆναι ἔγραψα…

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

μέλλω (mellō) — to ensue.

μέλλω,

imperfect ἔμελλον and ἤμελλον (see. below), Epic dialect μέλλον [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Epic dialect, Ionic dialect μέλλεσκον [Refs 3rd c.BC+]: future μελλήσω [NT+4th c.BC+]: aorist ἐμέλλησα [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—passive and middle, see below see.—Only present and imperfect in [Refs 8th c.BC+], Lyric poetry, and Trag.: aorist only in Prose (except [Refs 6th c.BC+]imperfect ἤμελλον with long augment is established by the metre in [Refs 8th c.BC+]: aorist 1 ἠμέλλησα [Refs 6th c.BC+]; ἤμελλον is not found in earlier Attic dialect Inscrr., but occurs in Papyrus, as [Refs 5th c.BC+]

I. to be destined or likely to, indicating an estimated certainty or strong probability in the present, past, or future (cf. Aristonic. cited in [Refs 8th c.BC+]present infinitive (or its…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

μέλλω

mello

a strengthened form of 3199 (through the idea of expectation); to

intend, i.e. be about to be, do, or suffer something (of persons or

things, especially events; in the sense of purpose, duty, necessity,

probability, possibility, or hesitation):--about, after that, be

(almost), (that which is, things, + which was for) to come, intend,

was to (be), mean, mind, be at the point, (be) ready, + return, shall

(begin), (which, that) should (after, afterwards, hereafter) tarry,

which was for, will, would, be yet.

see GREEK for 3199

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

μέλλω

v.

I am about to

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

μέλλω mellō 109x

to be about to, be on the point of, Mt. 2:13; Jn. 4:47; it serves to express in general a settled futurity, Mt. 11:14; Lk. 9:31; Jn. 11:51; to intend, Lk. 10:1; participle μέλλων, μέλλουσα, μέλλον, future as distinguished from past and present, Mt. 12:32; Lk. 13:9; to be always, as it were, about to do, to delay, linger, Acts 22:16

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

μέλλω to think of doing, intend to do, to be about to do, with inf., mostly inf. fut., τάχ᾽ ἔμελλε δώσειν he was just going to give, Il.; μέλλεις ἀφαιρήσεσθαι ἄεθλον thou thinkest to strip me of the prize, id. Il.; often with οὐκ ἄρα, as, οὐκ ἄρ᾽ ἔμελλες λήξειν; did you not think you might stop? could you not stop? Od., etc.; to be about to do (on compulsion), to be destined to do or to be, τὰ οὐ τελέεσθαι ἔμελλον which were not to be accomplished, Il.; μέλλεν οἶκος ἀφνειὸς ἔμμεναι the house was destined to be wealthy, Od.; εἰ ἐμέλλομεν ἀνοίσειν if we were able to refer, Plat.

to express a certainty, μέλλω ἀπέχθεσθαι Διί it must be that I am hated by Zeus, Il.; μέλλω ἀθανάτους ἀλιτέσθαι I must have sinned against the immortals…

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

a-bout': The use of this word as a preposition, in the sense of "around," is confined to the Old Testament. In the New Testament, generally an adverb, for Greek hos or "hosei." The Revised Version (British and American) adopts it in several idiomatic translations of mello, referring to what is about to be, i.e. on the point of occurring, or immediately impending, amending the King James Version, in Ac 5:35; 27:2; Re 12:4, etc.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
21%being about
being about21% · 23×about20% · 22×coming12% · 13×he was about5% · 5×you are about4% · 4×soon3% · 3×other renderings26% · 29×other renderings11% · 12×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
verb94%adverbial3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 110 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
εἰςαὐτόςἀπό
ὅς
αὐτόςπνεῦμαwind, breath, spἐν
τίςIrg
οἶδαI know, rememberοὗτοςνῦνnow, already, at
σύ
λέγωI say, speakτύπτωI beat, strike, ἐπί
ἐγώ
ὅςὅτιthat, since, becψυχήthe soul, life,
μέλλωHe was about110×
what comes after →
Article the
υἱόςa son, descendenβασιλείαkingship, sovereπρόσωπονthe face, counte
αὐτός
συμβαίνωI happen, occurἔρχομαιI come, goπαραδίδωμιI hand over, del
γίνομαιI come into being, a
καίand, even, also,παρακαλέωI summon, entreaμετά
ἀποθνῄσκωI am dying, am about
εἰCondοὐNeg
γάρfor
ἩρῴδηςHerodArticle theἀποθνῄσκωI am dying, am a

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

Concordanceμέλλω · 110× in the New Testament
Acts Revelation John Luke Matthew Hebrews Romans 1 Timothy 2 Peter Mark 1 Corinthians 1 Peter

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament18 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 The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 14c. AD 40

ἔδει γὰρ τὸν κόσμον τελειότατον μὲν ὄντα τῶν γεγονότων κατ’ ἀριθμὸν τέλειον παγῆναι τὸν ἕξ, ἐν ἑαυτῷ δ’ ἔχειν μέλλοντα τὰς ἐκ συνδυασμοῦ γενέσεις πρὸς μικτὸν ἀριθμὸν τὸν πρῶτον ἀρτιοπέριττον τυπωθῆναι, περιέξοντα καὶ τὴν τοῦ σπείροντος ἄρρενος καὶ…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.5c. AD 75–95

μέλλει γὰρ περιέξειν ἅπασαν τὴν παρʼ ἡμῖν ἀρχαιολογίαν καὶ διάταξιν τοῦ πολιτεύματος ἐκ τῶν Ἑβραϊκῶν μεθηρμηνευμένην γραμμάτων.

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 6th c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 8th c. AD
P.Cair. Zen. 3 59496Krokodilopolis (Arsinoites)249 BC–242 BC

Νικαίαν ἀποδημῆσαι πρὸς σέ, ὅπως ἂν αὐτῶι δῶις ἐπιστολὴν πρὸς Ἑρμάφιλον· λέγουσιν γὰρ αὐτὸν μέλλειν ἐγδημεῖν εἰς Μέμφιν. ἔρρωσο.

ÉdP 5 (1939), p. 87-Karanis (Arsinoites)AD 297

τὴν τῆς ἡμῶν μητρὸς τελευτὴν συνελθὼν ἑτέρᾳ γυναικί, τολμηθεὶς λυπρὸν χρόνον ἔμεινεν. τούτου δὲ μέλλοντος τὸν βίον μεταλλάσσειν μετεκαλεσάμεθα τὴν προειρημένην αὐτοῦ γυναῖκα καὶ ταύτης ἐπυθόμεθα μήπως τι χρεωστῇ

ον τῆς κώμης, ὁμοίως δὲ τὸν Ἰσίδωρον ἀναδέξασθαι καὶ ἀποπληρῶσαι ἀόκνως εἰς τὴν μέλλει ὁ Πτολεμαῖος αἱρεθῆναι ἢ προσαγγελῆναι λειτουργίαν. ὁπότερον δὲ αὐτῶν οὐκ ἔξεστι ἀλλάξαι τὸν ἕτερον

This now He was saying signifying by what death He was about to die.
ἀποθνῄσκειν.¶apothnēskō to die. G599 Verb · present · active · infinitive
112× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To stop living, or pass away, as seen in John 6:50 and Romans 8:13. It can be a natural death or a spiritual one.
Amplified meaning
to stop living or pass away
Tyndale gloss
to die
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

ἀποθνῄσκω is a verb meaning 'to die,' used for both natural and violent deaths, including Christ's death. It can also refer to spiritual death and metaphorical uses, such as dying to sin. The word is built from the prefix ἀπό and the root θνῄσκω. It appears frequently in the New Testament, notably in contexts discussing mortality and spiritual separation.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἀπο-θνῄσκω,

[in LXX chiefly for מוּת;]

to die: of natural death, Mk 5:35, al.; of violent death (pass. of ἀποκτείνω), esp. of Christ, Mt 26:35, Jo 12:33, He 10:28, al.; of spiritual death, Jo 6:50, Ro 8:13, al.; c. dat. ref., Ro 6:2, 10 14:7, 8, Ga 2:19; acc., ὅ, Ro 6:10; seq. ἐν, Mt 8:32, Jo 8:21, 24, I Co 15:22, He 11:37, Read the full entry →

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

ἀποθνήσκω, impf. ἀπέθνησκον (Lk. viii. 42); 2 aor. ἀπέθανον ; fut. ἀποθανοῦμαι, Ro. ν. 7; Jn. viii. 21, 24, (see θνήσκω) ; found in Grk. writ. fr. Hom. down; to die (ἀπό, so as to be no more; [cf. Lat. emorior; Eng. die of f or out, pass away]; Germ. ab sterben, ver sterben) ; I. used properly 1. of the natural death of men: Mt. ix. 24; xxii. 24; Lk. xvi. 22; Jn. iv.47; Ro. vii. 2, and very often; ἀποθνήσκοντες ἄνθρωποι subject to death, mortal, Heb. vii. 8 [B. 206 (178) }. 2. of the violent death — both of animals, Mt. viii. 32, and of men, Mt. xxvi. 35; Acts xxi. 13 ete.; 1 Pet. iii. 18 L T Tr WH txt.; ev φόνῳ μαχαίρας, Heb. xi. 37; of the punishment of death, Heb. x. 28; often of the violent death which Christ suffered, as Jn. xii. 33; Ro. v. 6, ete. 3. Phrases: ἀποθνήσκ. ἔκ twos to perish by means of something, [ef. Eng. to die of], Rev. viii. 11; ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις…

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

ἀποθνήσκω. On the reason why the perfect of this verb was τέθνηκα, hot ἀποτέθνηκα, see Pro/eg. p. 114. Marcus Aurelius, it is true, uses ἀποτέθνηκα, a natural result of levelling when the simplex had become obsolete ; but the editor of P Iand 09> (ii/A.D.) is not thereby justified in restoring ἀπο]τεθνῶτ[ος. No other part of the simplex survives, and no other compound. An interesting instance of the word occurs in P Par 477® (c. B.C. 153) (= Selections, p. 22) οἱ παρὰ σὲ θεοὶ. . . ὅτι ἐνβέβληκαν ὑμᾶς εἰς ὕλην μεγάλην Kal od δυνάμεθα ἀποθανεῖν, “your gods (are false) because they have cast us into a great forest, where we may possibly die.” As a parallel to the Pauline usage in 1 Cor 15% may be noted the touching letter P Giss I. 179 (time of Hadrian), where a slave writes to her absent master, ἀποθνήσκομεν ὅτι οὐ βλέπομέν σε καθ᾽ ἡμέραν. The use of the present tense justifies one more…

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

ἀποθνήσκω (apothnēskō) — to die.

ἀποθνήσκω,

future -θᾰνοῦμαι, Ionic dialect -θανέομαι or -εῦμαι[Refs 5th c.BC+] —strengthened for θνῄσκω, die, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; in Comedy texts and Prose the usual form of the present; σεῦ ἀποτεθνηῶτος[Refs 8th c.BC+]; νόσῳ[Refs 5th c.BC+]; to be ready to die, of laughter, etc., [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. serving as passive of ἀποκτείνω, to be put to death, slain, ὑπό τινος[Refs 5th c.BC+]; especially by judicial sentence, ἀποθανεῖν ὑπὸ τῆς πόλεως[Refs 5th c.BC+]

III. renounce, νόμῳ[NT]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀποθνῄσκω

apothnesko

from 575 and 2348; to die off (literally or figuratively):--be dead,

death, die, lie a-dying, be slain (X with).

see GREEK for 575

see GREEK for 2348

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀποθνῄσκω

v.

I am dying, am about to die

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀποθνῄσκω apothnēskō 111x

to die, Mt. 8:32; to decay, rot, as seeds, Jn. 12:24; 1 Cor. 15:36; to wither, become dry, as a tree, Jude 12; met. to die the death of final condemnation and misery, Jn. 6:50; 8:21, 24; to die to a thing by renunciation or utter separation, Rom. 6:2; 1 Cor. 15:31; Gal. 2;19; Col. 3:3

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἀποθνήσκω to die off, die, Hom., attic:— to be ready to die of laughter, Ar.

serving as Pass. of ἀποκτείνω, to be put to death, to be slain, ὑπό τινος Hdt., Plat.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAN — Verb · present · active · infinitive
present active infinitive — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAN Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: iNfinitive TVM equivalent: G5721

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

(muth, gawa`; apothnesko, teleutao): "To die," etc., is of very frequent occurrence, and in the Old Testament is generally the translation of muth, meaning perhaps originally, "to be stretched out" or "prostrate." "To die," should be the consequence of eating the forbidden fruit (Ge 2:17; compare Ge 20:7; 2Ki 1:4,6). "Die" is commonly used of natural death (Ge 5:8; 25:8). It is used also of violent death (Ge 26:9,11; Ex 21:20); punitive (Ex 19:12; 21:12,14; 28:43; Nu…

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

Counted over the 273 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 Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome The Shepherd of Hermas
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.101c. AD 40

ἐκεῖ μὲν γάρ φησιν „ἀπὸ παντὸς φάγῃ“, ἐνταῦθα δὲ „οὐ φάγεσθε“ καὶ „ᾗ δ’ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ φάγητε“, οὐχὶ φάγῃς, καὶ „ἀποθανεῖσθε“, οὐχὶ ἀποθανῇ.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.151c. AD 75–95

τούτων Ἀράνης μὲν υἱὸν καταλιπὼν Λῶτον καὶ Σάρραν καὶ Μελχὰν θυγατέρας ἐν Χαλδαίοις ἀπέθανεν ἐν πόλει Οὐρῆ λεγομένῃ τῶν Χαλδαίων, καὶ τάφος αὐτοῦ μέχρι νῦν δείκνυται.

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 25.2c. AD 96

ὄρνεον γάρ ἐστιν, ὃ προσονομάζεται φοῖνιξ: τοῦτο μονογενὲς ὑπάρχον ζῇ ἔτη πεντακόσια, γενόμενόν τε ἤδη πρὸς ἀπόλυσιν τοῦ ἀποθανεῖν αὐτό, σηκὸν ἑαυτῷ ποιεῖ ἐκ λιβάνου καὶ σμύρνης καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀρωμάτων, εἰς ὃν πληρωθέντος τοῦ χρόνου εἰσέρχεται καὶ…

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 2nd c. AD 7th c. AD 8th c. AD 2nd c. BC
SB 1 5761Arsinoites ?AD 89–AD 91

λυτον … ὀνόματι τῆς ἐπιτροπῆς ἃ μὲν διηρπακέναι προφάσει περιλύσεως δανείων τῶν τοῦ ἀποθανόντος πατρὸς αὐτῆς, ἃ δὲ καὶ πεπρακέναι Ἀπίαι τῆι ἀντιδίκωι ὑποβλήτωι οὔσηι αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐκ

P.Oxy. 22 2342OxyrhynchosAD 102

α τρισχιλίων καὶ ἄλλαι ἐπʼ οἴνωι πεντακισχιλίαι . ἰδὼν αὐτὴν ψευδομένην ᾔτησε τὴν τοῦ ἀποθανόντος ἀνδρὸς αὐτῆς Πασίωνος ἐφημερίδα ἣν πολλάκις ἐπέφερεν αὐτὸς ὄντων παντὸς λόγου γραπτῶν ἀριθμῷ

P.Giss. 1 17Apollonopolites HeptakomiasAD 113–AD 120

ἀπρόσκοπον. παρακαλῶ σε, κύριε, ἐάν σοι δόξῃ, καὶ πέμψαι ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς, εἰ δὲ μή, ἀποθνήσκομεν ὅτι οὐ βλέπομέν σε καθʼ ἡμέραν. ὤφελον εἰ ἐδυνάμεθα πετᾶσθαι καὶ ἐλθεῖν καὶ προσκυνῆσαί

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

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

Donate