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Luke 20:39 — Word Study

Depth

N1904Ἀποκριθέντες δέ τινες τῶν γραμματέων εἶπαν· διδάσκαλε, καλῶς εἶπας.

BSAAnsweringapokrinō [responded, replied] nowde sometis [certain, one] of theho scribesgrammateus [scholars, teachers of the law] said;legō Teacher,didaskalos [instructor, rabbi] wellkalōs [rightly, with moral excellence] you have spoken.legō

Word
Listen & take awayLuke 20
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 39 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 (legō) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
Luke 20:39quick helps
In a sentenceSome scribes responded to Jesus, acknowledging the correctness of His words.
Who is speakingSome of the scribes, who were experts in the law.
Where we areIn a discussion where Jesus is questioned about the resurrection.
The hard wordἈποκριθέντες
Take awayThe scribes recognized the wisdom in Jesus' teaching.
6 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause subjectἀποκρίνομαι verbἀποκρίνομαι 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 — Luke 20:39

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' Authority Questionedgenerated

38He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.”
39Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, You have spoken well!”
40And they did not dare to question Him any further.
41Then Jesus declared, “How can it be said that the Christ is the Son of David?

Luke 20:39 captures a moment where some scribes respond positively to Jesus' teaching, affirming His statement about the resurrection. This interaction occurs in the context of a larger debate where Jesus is challenged by religious leaders, illustrating the tension between Him and the authorities of the time. The scribes, known for their expertise in the law, recognize the validity of His words, which is significant given their usual opposition to Him, as seen in parallel passages like Matthew 22:34-40 and Mark 12:28-34.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
1Matthew 22:34–40And when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they themselves gathered together.
2Mark 12:28–34Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
3Acts 23:9A great clamor arose, and some scribes from the party of the Pharisees got up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

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


The Key Word Ἀποκριθέντες, apokrinōgenerated

The word ἀποκρίνω (apokrinō) is a passive deponent participle meaning 'answering.' It is derived from the prefix ἀπο- and the root κρίνω, which means to separate or distinguish. This word indicates a response, often in a context where an answer is anticipated.

In this verse, the participle form shows that the scribes are responding to Jesus' teaching. The passive aspect suggests that they are reacting to something that has been said, which emphasizes their acknowledgment of His authority.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The verse is rendered in the Berean Standard Bible as 'Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, You have spoken well!”' This is similar across several translations, including the KJV and ASV, which also affirm the positive response of the scribes.

However, there are slight variations in wording. For instance, the WEB states, 'you speak well,' while the FBV uses 'responded' instead of 'answered,' highlighting different nuances in the translations.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main verb in the sentence is εἶπαν, they said, which governs the response from the scribes. The structure includes a noun phrase as the subject, 'some of the scribes,' followed by a direct quotation of their response.

The sentence is constructed with a participial phrase ἀποκριθέντες that describes the action of the scribes answering, which adds context to their response.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

ἀποκρίνω appears in the Septuagint, often translating the Hebrew word עוּן (H6030), which means to answer or respond. This connection reinforces the continuity of the concept of answering across both Testaments.

The usage of this term in the Septuagint indicates its significance in legal and conversational contexts, similar to how it is employed in the New Testament.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

Luke 20:39 shows some scribes responding to Jesus, saying, 'Teacher, You have spoken well!' This moment highlights their recognition of His wisdom in a discussion about the resurrection.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean that the scribes answered Jesus?

The scribes acknowledged the correctness of Jesus' teaching, showing their respect for His authority.

Why did the scribes respond positively?

Their response indicates that they recognized the truth in Jesus' words, despite their usual role as critics.

What is the significance of the title 'Teacher'?

The title 'Teacher' reflects the respect the scribes had for Jesus as a knowledgeable authority in the law.

How does this interaction relate to the overall conflict with religious leaders?

This moment illustrates a rare acknowledgment of Jesus' wisdom by the scribes, contrasting with the typical opposition He faced from religious authorities.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. In what ways do I recognize the authority of Jesus in my life?
  2. How can I respond to Jesus' teachings with the same respect as the scribes?
  3. What are some areas in my understanding where I need to acknowledge the truth of Jesus' words?
  4. How can I engage in discussions about faith with respect and openness like the scribes?

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

Early church writers referenced this verse to discuss the authority of Jesus and the recognition of His wisdom by the scribes.

TertullianAgainst Marcion Book IV c. 155–220
They, indeed, who had caught the very force of His voice, and pronunciation, and expression, discovered no other sense than what had reference to the matter of the question.
Early Church Fathers on Luke 20 →
BedeOn the Gospel of Luke c. 673–735
But some of the scribes answering said: "Master, you have spoken well." And they dared not ask him anything further. The chief priests, Sadducees, and scribes seeking a cause for calumny, and to find a word that could be ensnared,
Early Church Fathers on Luke 20 →

Commentators on this verse — 6 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on Luke 20:39 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

Then certain of the Scribes, answering said,.... Who believed the doctrine of the resurrection, which the Sadducees denied, and so were pleased with our Lord's reasoning on this subject: master, thou

Read John Gill on Luke 20 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.

Read Robert Jamieson on Luke 20 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Ver. 39,40 The scribes were the Jewish doctors of the Pharisees faction, and enemies to the Sadducees; they applaud our Saviour’ s answer: thus as the Herodians before, (in the case of the tribute), so the Sadducees here, are put to silence. He will now put the scribes and Pharisees to silence.

Read Matthew Poole on Luke 20 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

39 Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou hast well said. Ver. 39. Thou hast well said] Because he had set down the Sadducees, who were their counterfactionists.

Read John Trapp on Luke 20 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(39) Master, thou hast well said.—The words came, it is obvious, from the better section of the Pharisees, who welcomed this new defence of the doctrine on which their faith rested.

Read Charles John Ellicott on Luke 20 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

39. Then certain of the scribes] Even the Pharisees could not fail to see the luminous wisdom and spiritual depth of our Lord’s reply, and while all of them would rejoice at this unanswerable confutation of their hereditary opponents, some of them would have the candour to express their approval. Truth will always offend some, but others will value it. After this grateful acknowledgment, however, one of them could not refrain from gratifying the insatiable spirit of casuistry by asking Christ ‘which is the great commandment of the Law?’ (Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34.) This incident is omitted by St Luke, because he has given similar ones before.

Read Cambridge on Luke 20 →

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

Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, You have spoken well!”

WEBWorld English Bible2000

Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you speak well.”

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, You have spoken well!”

NETBNew English Translation2006

Then some of the experts in the law answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well!”

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

¶ Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou hast well said.

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

And certain of the scribes answering said, Teacher, thou hast well said.

RVARevised Version, American1894

And certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou hast well said.

NWBWebster's Bible1833

Then certain of the scribes answering, said, Master, thou hast well said.

GNVGeneva Bible1599

Then certaine of the Scribes answered, and sayd, Master, thou hast well sayd.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

And some of the scribes answering said, Teacher, thou hast well spoken.

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

And certain of the scribes answering said, 'Teacher, thou didst say well;'

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

And certain of the scribes answering said, “Teacher, You said well”;

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have answered well.”

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

And some of the scribes answering, said to him: Master, thou hast said well.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

Some of the religious teachers responded, “That was a good answer, Teacher.”

BBEBible in Basic English1949

And some of the scribes, in answer to this, said, Master, you have said well.

Word by word, the decisions they made

Ἀποκριθέντεςapokrinō Answering G611 3 different renderings
answeringASV DBY DRA KJV LSV NWB RVA YLT
answeredBSB GNV MSB NETB ULB WEB
respondedFBV
διδάσκαλε,didaskalos Teacher, G1320 2 different renderings
teacherASV BSB DBY LSV MSB NETB ULB WEB
teachersFBV
καλῶςkalōs well G2573 2 different renderings
wellASV BBE BSB DBY DRA GNV KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
goodFBV

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.

clauseδέnowclauseadverbialἀποκριθέντεςAnsweringnoun phrase · subjectτινεςsomenoun phraseτῶνof theγραμματέωνscribesverbεἶπανsaidclauseΔιδάσκαλεTeacherclauseadverbialκαλῶςwellverbεἶπαςyou have spoken

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

Respondentes autem quidam scribarum, dixerunt ei : Magister, bene dixisti.

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

ܘܥܢܘ ܐܢܫܝܢ ܡܢ ܣܦܪܐ ܘܐܡܪܝܢ ܠܗ ܡܠܦܢܐ ܫܦܝܪ ܐܡܪ ܐܢܬ

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

Ἀποκριθέντες δέ τινες τῶν γραμματέων εἶπαν· διδάσκαλε, καλῶς εἶπας.

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

Ἀποκριθέντες δέ τινες τῶν γραμματέων εἶπαν· διδάσκαλε, καλῶς εἶπας.

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

Ἀποκριθέντες δέ τινες τῶν γραμματέων εἶπαν· διδάσκαλε, καλῶς εἶπας.

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

Ἀποκριθέντες δέ τινες τῶν γραμματέων εἶπαν· διδάσκαλε, καλῶς εἶπας.

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

Ἀποκριθέντες δέ τινες τῶν γραμματέων εἶπαν· διδάσκαλε, καλῶς εἶπας.

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

Ἀποκριθέντες δέ τινες τῶν γραμματέων εἶπαν· διδάσκαλε, καλῶς εἶπας.

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

Ἀποκριθέντες δέ τινες τῶν γραμματέων εἶπαν· διδάσκαλε, καλῶς εἶπας.

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

Ἀποκριθέντες δέ τινες τῶν γραμματέων εἶπαν· διδάσκαλε, καλῶς εἶπας.

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.

Luke 20:39ἀποκρίνομαιAnsweringAnsweringἀποκρίνομαιδέnownowδέτὶςsomesomeτὶςof theof theγραμματεύςscribesscribesγραμματεύςειπονsaid;said;ειπονδιδάσκαλοςTeacher,Teacher,διδάσκαλοςκαλῶςwellwellκαλῶςειπαςyou have spyou have spokenειπαςεἶπονv. I say, v. I say, speakεἶπονἀπόPrep. fromPrep. from, awaἀπόγράμμαn.n. a letn.n. a letter, γράμμαδιδάσκωv. I teachv. I teachδιδάσκωκαλόςAdj beautiAdj beautiful, καλόςΠέτροςn.m. Petern.m. PeterΠέτροςἸησοῦςn.m. Jesusn.m. JesusἸησοῦςτολμάωv. I dare,v. I dare, enduτολμάωδοκέωv. I thinkv. I think, seeδοκέωὑποκριτήςn.m. a hypn.m. a hypocritὑποκριτήςΦαρισαῖοςn.m. a Phan.m. a PhariseeΦαρισαῖοςποῦIrg.adv. wIrg.adv. where,ποῦγραμματεύςn.m. a scrn.m. a scribe, γραμματεύςπροΐστημιv. I rulev. I ruleπροΐστημιπαρθένοςn.f. a virn.f. a virginπαρθένος
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 Luke 20:39

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.

Answering now some of the scribes said; Teacher, well you have spoken.
Ἀποκριθέντεςapokrinō Answering G611 Verb · aorist · passive deponent · participle · nominative · plural · masculine
231× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Luke as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To answer or respond, as in Matthew 27:12 and Mark 14:61, where Jesus answers the high priest. It can also mean to begin speaking or to give a reply. The KJV translates it as 'answer'.
Amplified meaning
responded, replied
Tyndale gloss
to answer
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἀποκρίνομαι (apokrinomai) is built from the prefix ἀπο- and the root κρίνω, meaning to separate or distinguish. It primarily means to answer or reply, often in a context where a response is expected. In the New Testament, it appears in various forms, particularly in legal or conversational contexts, such as in Matthew 3:15 and John 1:49.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἀπο-κρίνω,

[in LXX chiefly for ענה;]

in cl.,

to separate, distinguish.

to choose. Mid., to answer: Mt 27:12, Mk 14:61, Lk 3:16 23:9, Jo 5:17, 19, Ac 3:12. In late Gk. the pass, also is used in this sense, and pass. forms are the more freq. in NT (M, Pr., 39, 161; MM, s.v.);

in general sense: absol., Mk 12:34; c. acc. rei, Mt 22:46; c. dat. pers., Mt 12:38; seq. πρός, Ac 25:16;

Hebraistically

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

ἀποκρίνομαι. Syil 928°? (Magnesia, early 11,8.6.) περὶ ταύτης τῆς] χώρας τῆς παρὰ IIpinvéwy ἀποκεκριμένης οὔσης shows the old ἀποκρίνω in passive. For the combination of pf. partic. and ὦν, cf. Col 12. In P Ryl II. 122" (a.p. 127) εἰς τὸ κἀμὲ δύνασθαι ἀποκριθῆναι τῶι δημοσίωι, ‘enabling me thus to fulfil my duties towards the Treasury” (Edd.), we have an , ἀποκρίνομαι isolated ex. of the passive aor. not meaning ‘‘answer.” This latter, so overwhelmingly predominant in NT, is rather surprisingly uncommon in the non-literary Kow#. Early inscriptional instances are Sy// 328" (8.6. 84) ἀπεκρίθην κα]λῶς [αὐτ]όν [τε δεδωἸκέναι kal KrA., 24. 307%! (B.C. 150-47) ἔδοξεν... τούτοις φιλανθρώπως ἀποκριθῆναι, 25. 9305: (B.C. 112), same phrase: the last two are senatus consulta, starting in Latin. Similarly the dialectic Sy// 654° (Ὁ ii/B.c.) ἀποκριθῆμεν τοῖς πρεσβευταῖς διότι KTA. Mayser, p. 379…

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

ἀποκρίνω (apokrinō) — to answer.

ἀποκρίνω [ῑ],

future -κρῐνῶ, set apart, probably in [Refs 7th c.BC+]:—passive, to be parted or separated, ἀποκρινθέντε parted from the throng (of two πρόμαχοι), [Refs 8th c.BC+]; of the elements in cosmogony, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἀποκεκρίσθαι εἰς ἓν ὄνομα to be separated and brought under one name, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; οὐ βεβαίως ἀπεκρίθησαν, of combatants, separated without decisive result, [Refs]

2. in Medicine texts in passive, to be distinctly formed, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of the embryo, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; τὰ ἐν τῷ σώματι -όμενα bodily secretions, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; but ἐς τοῦτο πάντα ἀπεκρίθη all illnesses determined or ended in this alone, [Refs 5th c.BC+]are voided, [Refs 4th c.BC+]

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀποκρίνομαι

apokrinomai

from 575 and krino; to conclude for oneself, i.e. (by implication) to

respond; by Hebraism (compare 6030) to begin to speak (where an

address is expected):--answer.

see GREEK for 575

see HEBREW for 06030

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀποκρίνομαι

v.

I answer, reply

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀποκρίνομαι apokrinomai 231x

to answer, Mt. 3:15; in NT to respond to certain present circumstances, to avow, Mt. 11:25

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-AOP-NPM — Verb · aorist · passive deponent · participle · nominative · plural · masculine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked plural masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-AOP-NPM Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Aorist Voice: passive depOnent Mood: Participle Case: Nominative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
47%answering
answering47% · 115×answered36% · 89×he answered4% · 9×they answered3% · 8×other renderings9% · 23×other renderings1% · 3×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
verb59%adverbial41%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 231 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
λόγοςa word, speech, ἐγώσύ
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theΠέτροςPeterὅς
τότεthen
θεόςGod, a god
οὐNeg
καίand, even, also,λέγωI say, speakδέbut, on the othe
οὐδείςno one, none, nothin
αὐτόςπρεσβύτεροςelderοὐκέτιNeg
ἀποκρίνομαιAnswering231×
what comes after →
αὐτός
Article theλέγωI say, speakἸησοῦςJesus
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theλέγωI say, speakαὐτός
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςArticle theοὐNeg
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusΠέτροςPeterἄγγελοςan angel, messen
ἸησοῦςJesus
καίand, even, also,οὔτεNegArticle the

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

Concordanceἀποκρίνομαι · 231× in the New Testament
John Matthew Luke Mark Acts Colossians Revelation

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament7 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 118 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Josephus Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 2.46c. AD 40

ὁ δὲ ἀποκρίνεται ὅτι, ὦ ψευδοδοξοῦσα, οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ νοῦς αἴτιον οὐδενός, ἀλλ’ ὁ πρὸ τοῦ νοῦ θεός·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 3.174c. AD 75–95

ἐκ μέντοι τῶν κλάδων ἀνίησι κάλυκα προσεχῆ τῷ κλωνί, περίεισι δʼ αὐτὴν ἔλυτρον, ὅπερ ἀποκρίνεται κατʼ αὐτὸ πρὸς τὸν καρπὸν μεταβαλεῖν ἠργμένης·

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 12.4c. AD 96

ἐπισταθέντων δὲ τῶν παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ λεγόντων: Πρὸς σὲ εἰσῆλθον οἱ κατάσκοποι τῆς γῆς ἡμῶν: ἐξάγαγε αὐτούς, ὁ γὰρ βασιλεὺς οὕτως κελεύει, ἥδε ἀπεκρίθη: Εἰσῆλθον μὲν οἱ ἄνδρες, οὓς ζητεῖτε, πρός με, ἀλλ̓ εὐθέως ἀπῆλθον καὶ πορεύονται τῇ ὁδῷ:…

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 3rd c. BC 4th c. AD 1st c. AD
P.Amh. 2 65 RoHermopolisAD 117–AD 127

Δίδυμος· ὅλως ἀμφοδογραμματεὺς οὐ καθίστησιν σιτολόγον. ἐκεῖνος· σὺ αὐτοὺς εἰσέδωκας ἐργολαβῆσαι θέλων. Πομπήιος Πλάντας ἀποκρίνεται· Ἑρμαῖος ὁ ἀδελφὸς … πράγματι ε … … … … ματι εἰργολάβησεν … Πομπήιος

P.Fay. 203 descr.Bakchias (Arsinoites)AD 148–AD 150

γὰρ επ … … ἁπλῆς πράσεως … τ … … εἶπεν· τί πρὸς ταῦτα ἀποκρίνῃ; … … αι καὶ μηδε … … … η τοῖς ονη … … βοηθῆσαι

PSI 10 1100ArsinoitesAD 161

περιγραφῇ τῇ ἐμῇ ταῦτα βασταχθῇ καὶ παραπόληται τῷ ταμίῳ. Φαῦστος ἐπύθετο· ὑπὸ τίνος βασταχθῇ; ἀπεκρίνατο· ὑπὸ τῶν σιτολόγων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων. ἐὰν οὖν σοι δοκῆι, κατάστησόν τινας ἐπακολουθοῦντας. Φαῦστος

Answering now some of the scribes said; Teacher, well you have spoken.
δέde now G1161 Conjunction
2,787× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Luke as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This is a conjunction that means and, but, or then, used to connect ideas like in Matthew 1:2 and 2 Corinthians 6:15.
Tyndale gloss
then
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

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

post-positive conjunctive particle;

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δέ (de) — then.

δέ,

but: adversative and copulative Particle,

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

II. without preceding μέν,

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

II.2. copulative,

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

δέ

de

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

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

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δέ

Cj.

but, on the other hand, and

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δέ de 2x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

δέ is often redundant,

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

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

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

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

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existσύ
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςκύριοςlord, Lord, mastπεντακισχίλιοιfive thousand
εἰCond
παλαιόςold, ancient, woσύεἰμίI am, exist
εἰμίI am, exist
περιπατέωI walk, conduct ἀναπίπτωI lie down, reclμνημεῖονa tomb, sepulche
οὗτος
δίδωμιI offer, giveθεόςGod, a godπίστιςfaith, belief, t
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
Answering now some of the scribes said; Teacher, well you have spoken.
τινεςtis some G5100 Indefinite pronoun · nominative · plural · masculine
529× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Luke as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This pronoun refers to a person or thing in a general sense, as seen in Luke 9:49 and John 11:1. It can mean someone, anyone, or anything. This term is often used to describe an unspecified individual or object.
Amplified meaning
certain, one
Tyndale gloss
one
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

τὶς is an enclitic indefinite pronoun meaning 'someone' or 'something.' It can refer to a certain person or object and appears in both singular and plural forms, such as τινός and τινες. The New Testament uses it in various contexts, including Luke 9:49 and Acts 5:25. It is related to the interrogative pronoun τίς, indicating its flexible use in questions and statements.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

τις, neut., τι, gen., τινός,

enclitic indefinite pron., related to interrog. τίς as πού, πως, ποτέ to ποῦ, πῶς, πότε.

As subst.,

one, a certain one: Lk 9:49, Jo 11:1, Ac 5:25, al.; pl., τίνες, certain, some: Lk 13:1, Ac 15:1, Ro 3:8, al.

someone, anyone, something, anything: Mt 12:29, Mk 9:30, Lk 8:46, Jo 2:25, Ac 17:25, Ro…

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

τὶς, τὶ. ἘΣ what follows, εἰ καί lays less emphasis upon it; although it is evident that εἰ καί can often be substituted for καὶ ei.” Cf. Herm. Vig. p. 829 sq.; W. 444 (413); Ellic. on Phil. ii. 17; Schmalfeld, Griech. Syntax, § 41; Paley, Grk. Particles, p. 31]. 8. εἰ μή, a. in a conditional protasis, with the same sequence of moods and tenses as the simple εἰ, see 1. above, if not, unless, except, [W. 477 (444) sqq.; B. 345 (297)]: Mt. xxiv. 22; Jn. ix. 33; | xv. 22, 24; Ro. vii. 7, ete. b. it serves, with the entire. following sentence, to limit or correct what has just been said, only, save that, (Lat. nisi quod), [B. 359 (308) ]: Mk. vi. 5; 1 Co. vii. 17 (where Paul by the addition εἰ μὴ ἑκάστῳ κτλ. strives to prevent any one in applying what had been said a little while before, viz. οὐ δεδούλωται . . ἐν τοιούτοις to his own case, from going too far) ; in ironical answers, unless…

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

τις (indef. pron.), ‘* someone, something’’: P Vat ΑἸ (B.c. 168) (= UPZi. p. 303) πᾶς τις πειρᾶται. . ., P Lond 421° (B.C. 168) (= Selections, p. 10) εἰς πᾶν τι ἐληλυθυῖα διὰ, τὴν τοῦ σίτου τιμήν, ‘having come to the last extremity because of the high price of corn,’’ P Oxy IV. 7421° (B.c. 2) ἐάν τι δύνῃ... δὸς ἐργασίαν, “if you can, give your attention to it’’ (Edd.), 2d. I. 120% (iv/a.D.) τινα ὁρῶντα αἱαυτὸν (/. ἑαυτὸν) ἐν δυστυχίᾳ, ““α man finding himself in adversity,’ 13 ἀποστῖλόν pot τινα ἢ Γοῦνθον ἢ ᾿Αμμώνιον, “send someone to me, either Gunthus or Ammonius” (Edd.). P Oxy VI. 937°" (ili/A.D.) γ]ράψον ἐκεῖ TO kat’ εἶδος ὅτι τι kal τι εἴληφας is translated by the editors ‘* write the list there, that you have received so and so.” They 3) ες remark that it is simpler to take τι καί τι as analogous to τὸ καὶ τό than ‘‘to take τί kal τί as an indirect interrogative, ὅτι being…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

τις (tis) — one.

τις,

τι, Indef. pronoun any one, any thing, enclitic through all cases (for exceptions see below):—but τί; τί; Interrog. pronoun who? what?, oxytone in the monosyllable cases, paroxytone in the others:—Dialectal forms: [Refs 5th c.AD+] σις (si se) [Refs 4th c.AD+] σις (with ?? for σ) [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Thess. κις [Refs], neuter κι in διεκί, ποκκί (which see); neuter plural Doric dialect σά, Boeotian dialect τά, Aeolic dialect dative τίω, τίοισι (see. infr. B). (I.-[Refs 5th c.BC+] q[uglide]i-, cf. Latin quis, quid, etc.; for σά, τά, see at {ἄσσα}, σά μά; with τέο (see. infr. B) cf. OSlav. genitive česo)

__A Indef. pronoun τις, τι, genitive Ionic dialect τεο [Refs 8th c.BC+]; more frequently τευ [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Trag. and Attic dialect του [Refs 5th c.BC+]; του is rare after [NT+4th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

τὶς

tis

an enclitic indefinite pronoun; some or any person or object:--a (kind

of), any (man, thing, thing at all), certain (thing), divers, he

(every) man, one (X thing), ought, + partly, some (man, -body, -

thing, -what), (+ that no-)thing, what(-soever), X wherewith,

whom(-soever), whose(-soever).

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

τις, τι

Indef.pr.

any one, some one

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

τις tis 534x

enclitic, indefinite pronoun, a certain one, someone, Mt. 12:47; pl. some, certain, several, Lk. 8:2; Acts 9:19; 2 Pet. 3:16; one, a person, Mt. 12:29; Lk. 14:8; Jn. 6:50; combined with the name of an individual, one, Mk. 15:21; as it were in a manner, a kind of, Heb. 10:27; Jas. 1:18; any whatever, Read the full entry →

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Indef-NPM — Indefinite pronoun · nominative · plural · masculine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked plural masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

X-NPM Part of Speech: indefinite pronoun Case: Nominative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
27%anyone
anyone27% · 144×some19% · 102×certain17% · 93×anything9% · 48×any9% · 47×one6% · 34×someone4% · 19×something3% · 18×other renderings7% · 37×

542 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 35 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
subject66%object20%adverbial9%predicate3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 530 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
εἰCond
καίand, even, also,αὐτόςὅτιthat, since, bec
δέbut, on the other ha
εἰCondεἰμίI am, existλέγωI say, speak
ἐάνCond
καίand, even, also,λέγωI say, speakἐγώ
μήNeg
ἵναin order that, sἐάνCondβλέπωI look, see
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςΦαρισαῖοςa Phariseeὁδόςa way, road, jou
τὶςsome529×
what comes after →
Article the
γραμματεύςa scribe, town-cμαθητήςa learner, disciἀπό
σύ
λέγωI say, speakπλανάωI lead astray, dἐρωτάωI ask, question,
αὐτός
ἐκὁράωI see, look uponἀπό
ἐκ
αὐτόςArticle theἐγώ
εἰμίI am, exist
ἐνπλούσιοςrichὑδρωπικόςafflicted with d

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

Concordanceτὶς · 529× in the New Testament
Acts Luke John 1 Corinthians Mark 2 Corinthians Hebrews Matthew 1 Timothy Romans James Revelation

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

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

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 4c. AD 40

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

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

ὅτι λιμοῦ τὴν Χαναναίαν καταλαβόντος εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀπῆρε καὶ διατρίψας ἐν αὐτῇ τινα χρόνον ὑπέστρεψεν ὀπίσω.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.5c. AD 100

πλήρης εἰμὶ ὁλοκαυτωμάτων, καὶ στέαρ ἀρνῶν καὶ αἷμα ταύρων καὶ τράγων οὐ βούλομαι, οὐδ̓ ἂν ἔρχησθε ὀφθῆναί μοι, τίς γὰρ ἐξεζήτησεν ταῦτα ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ὑμῶν;

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

ἂν ὦσι γείτονες πάντοθεν· μὴ ἐξέστω δὲ τῷ καθόλου ἐπὶ τὴν διαθήκην ταύτην ἄλλῳ τινὶ ἐπέρχεσθαι, εἰ δὲ μὴ ἄκυρον ἔστω καὶ προσαποτεισάτω ὁ ἐπιφέρων ὕστερον … ἄλλον τῆς

P.Cair. Cat. 10364 descr.Pathyris126 BC–102 BC

προγεγραμμένου ἵππου, καὶ μὴ ἐπελεύσεσθαί σοι ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ. ἐὰν δὲ ἐπέλθωμεν ἢ ἄλλος τις ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἥ τʼ ἔφοδος ἄκυρος ἔσται καὶ προσαποτείσομέν σοι χαλκοῦ τάλαντα πέντε.

BGU 6 1260Pathyris102 BC

σημαινομένης ἀρούρης μιᾶς , καὶ μὴ ἐπελεύσασθαι Νεχθανοῦπιν καὶ τοὺς τούτου υἱοὺς μηδʼ ἄλλον τινὰ τῶν παρʼ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὸν Πετεαρσεμθεία μηδʼ ἐπʼ ἄλλον τινὰ τῶν παρʼ αὐτοῦ περὶ

Answering now some of the scribes said; Teacher, well you have spoken.
τῶνho of the G3588 Article · genitive · plural · masculine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Luke as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

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

T-GPM Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Genitive Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ov:

(1) In Anglo-Saxon, had the meaning "from," "away from" (as the strengthened form "off" has still), and was not used for genitive or possessive relations, these being expressed by special case-forms. In the Norman period, however, "of" was taken to represent the French de (a use well developed by the time of Chaucer), and in the Elizabethan period both senses of "of" were in common use. But after about 1600 the later force of the word became predominant, and in the earlier sense (which is now practically obsolete) it was replaced by other prepositions. In consequence the King James Version (and in some cases the Revised Version (British and American)) contains many uses of "of" that are no longer familiar--most of them, to be sure, causing no difficulty, but there still being a few responsible for real obscurities.

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

OF, preposition ov. [Gr.]

1. From or out of; proceeding from, as the cause, source, means, author or agent bestowing.

I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered to you. 1 Corinthians 11:1.

For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts. Joshua 11:1.

It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.

Lamentations 3:1.

The whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Proverbs 16:1.

Go, inquire of the Lord for me. 2 Chronicles 34:2.

That holy thing that shall be born of thee. Luke 1:1.

Hence of is the sign of the genitive case, the case that denotes production; as the son of man, the son proceeding from man, produced from man. This is the primary sense, although we now say, produced by man. 'Part of these were slain; ' that is, a number separate, for part denotes a division; the sense then is, a number from or out of the whole were slain. So also, 'some of these were slain; ' that is…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

Answering now some of the scribes said; Teacher, well you have spoken.
γραμματέωνgrammateus scribes G1122 Noun · genitive · plural · masculine
63× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Luke as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
A scribe is a scholar or teacher of the law, often referring to Jewish leaders who studied and taught the scriptures, as seen in Acts 19:35 and Luke 5:17. They were experts in biblical knowledge.
Amplified meaning
scholars, teachers of the law
Tyndale gloss
scribe
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

γραμματεύς is derived from γράμμα and refers to a scribe or secretary, often a public official or a learned person skilled in the law. Its usage spans various contexts, including military and religious roles, particularly in the New Testament where it denotes teachers of the law (e.g., Matthew 2:4). The lexicons show some variation in emphasizing its role as a scholar or a public clerk.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

γραμματεύς, -έως (acc. pl., -εῖς, v. Bl., §8, 2), ὁ

(< γράμμα),

[in LXX always for שׁטר in Hex., elsewhere chiefly for ספר;]

a secretary; γ. τ. πόλεως, a state-clerk: Ac 19:35.

In π., of a military officer (Deiss., BS, 110f.). So Jg 5:14, IV Ki 25:19 (ספר), al.

a scribe, a biblical scholar, teacher of the law (so first in I Es 8:3, II Es 7:6; in Lk 5:17, νομοδιδάσκαλος; in Lk 10:25, νομικός): Mt 7:29, Mk 1:22, and freq. in Gosp. γ. καὶ ἀρχιερεῖς,

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

γραμματεύς, -έως, (acc. plur. -eis, W. 8.9, 2; [Β. 14 (13)]), 6, (γράμμα), Sept. for 35 and "δῷ; 1. in prof. auth. and here and there in the O. T. [e. g. 2S. vill. 17; xx. 25; 2 K. xix. 2; xxv. 19; Ps. xliv. (xlv.) 2], a clerk, scribe, esp. a public scribe, secretary, recorder, whose office and influence differed in different states: Acts xix. 35, (Sir. x. 5); [ef. Lghtfl. in The Contemp. Rey. for 1878, p. 294; Wood, Discoveries at Ephesus, App. Inserr. fr. the Great Theatre, p. 49 n.]. 2. in the Bible, a man learned in the Mosaic law and in the sacred writings, an interpreter, teacher: Mt. xxiii. 34; 1 Co. i. 20, (called also vopixds in Lk. x. 25, and νομοδιδάσκαλος in Lk. v.17; [Meyer (on Mt. xxii. 35), while denying any essential diff. betw. γραμματεύς and νομικύς (cf. Lk. xi. 52, 53 — yet see crit. txts.), regards the latter name as the more specific (a jurisconsult) and Classic…

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

γραμματεύς may illustrate emphasis as the cause of the πηλίκοις γράμμασιν of Gal 64. It is possible, however, that the words may only call attention to the big sprawling letters of the autograph in contrast to the neat scribe’s hand of the amanuensis. The contrast may be met in the case of many signatures to legal and other documents, e.g. Rainer Pap. 215 in Fuhrer durch die Ausstellung Tafel 9: see Milligan Documents, p- 24, for a discussion of the bearing of this on Gal /.c., Deissmann S¢# Pail, p. 51. But it is highly precarious to to draw the inference to which Deissmann inclines: artisans are not the only people who may write a big and clumsy hand ! When γράμμα becomes collective, its primary meaning is ‘“a letter,’’ just as Lat. /ztfera produced “itterae. Thus P Grenf I. 30° (B.c. 103)(= Witkowski 5 p. 107) διὰ ypappaτῶν ἐκρίναμεν σημῆναι, and P Amh II. 143} (iv/a.p.) καὶ τούτω…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

γραμματεύς (grammateus) — scribe.

γραμμᾰτ-εύς, έως, ὁ,

secretary, registrar, title of officials at Athens and elsewhere, [NT+5th c.BC+]; γ. τοῦ θεοῦ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; also of subordinate officials, clerk, sometimes a term of contempt, ὄλεθρος γ. [Refs 4th c.BC+]; ἡ γ., in joke, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. metaphorically, recorder, of memory, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. scholar, γ. σαφής [Refs 4th c.BC+]

4. one who traces or marks out, of Egyptian embalmers, [Refs 1st c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

γραμματεύς

grammateus

from 1121. a writer, i.e. (professionally) scribe or

secretary:--scribe, town-clerk.

see GREEK for 1121

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

γραμματεύς, έως, ὁ

n.m.

a scribe, town-clerk, man of learning

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

γραμματεύς grammateus 63x

a scribe; a clerk, town-clerk, registrar, recorder, Acts 19:35; one skilled in the Jewish law, a teacher or interpreter of the law, Mt. 2:4; 5:20, et al. freq.; genr. a religious teacher, Mt. 13:52; by synec. any one distinguished for learning or wisdom, 1 Cor. 1:20

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

γραμματεύς γράμμα a secretary, clerk, Lat. scriba, Thuc., etc.

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

skribz: The existence of law leads necessarily to a profession whose business is the study and knowledge of the law; at any rate, if the law is extensive and complicated. At the time of Ezra and probably for some time after, this was chiefly the business of the priests. Ezra was both priest and scholar (copher). It was chiefly in the interest of the priestly cult that the most important part of the Pentateuch was written. The priests were therefore also in the first instance the scholars and the guardians of the Law; but in the course of time this was changed. The more highly esteemed the Law became in the eyes of the people, the more its study and interpretation became a lifework by itself, and thus there developed a class of scholars who, though not priests, devoted themselves assiduously to the Law. These became known as the scribes, that is, the professional students of the Law.…

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Scribes

Anciently held various important offices in the public affairs of the nation. The Hebrew word so rendered (sopher) is first used to designate the holder of some military office (Judg. 5:14; A.V., “pen of the writer;” R.V., “the marshal’s staff;” marg., “the staff of the scribe”). The scribes acted as secretaries of state, whose business it was to prepare and issue decrees in the name of the king (2 Sam. 8:17; 20:25; 1 Chr. 18:16; 24:6; 1 Kings 4:3; 2 Kings 12:9-11; 18:18-37, etc.). They discharged various other important public duties as men of high authority and influence in the affairs of state.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

(Heb.sopherim), I. Name . -- (1) Three meanings are connected with the verb saphar , the root of sopherim -- (a) to write, (b) to set in order, (c) to count. The explanation of the word has been referred to each of these. The sopherim were so called because they wrote out the law, or because they classified and arranged its precepts, or because they counted with scrupulous minuteness every elapse and letter It contained. (2) The name of Kirjath-sepher, (Joshua 15:15; Judges 1:12) may possibly connect itself with some early use of the title, and appears to point to military functions of some kind. (Judges 5:14) The men are mentioned as filling the office of scribe under David and Solomon. (

- Antiquity of

Jud 5:14

- Wore an inkhorn at their girdles

Eze 9:2,3

- FAMILIES CELEBRATED FOR FURNISHING

. Kenites

1Ch 2:55

. Zebulun

Jud 5:14

. Levi

1Ch 24:6; 2Ch 34:13

- Generally men of great wisdom

1Ch 27:32

- Often learned in the law

Ezr 7:6

- Were ready writers

Ps 45:1

- ACTED AS

. Secretaries to kings

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
93%scribes
scribes93% · 62×scribe4% · 3×other renderings3% · 2×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject67%adverbial16%object5%indirect object3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 63 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
καίand, even, also,τὶςὡςas, like as, how
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀρχιερεύςhigh priest, chiΦαρισαῖοςa Phariseeσοφόςwise
σύ
οὐαίindclδέbut, on the othe
εἷςone
προσέρχομαιI come near, con
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
οὗτος
γραμματεύςscribes63×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theΦαρισαῖοςa PhariseeἀποκτείνωI put to death,
Article the
θέλωI will, wish, deλαόςa people, the crθαυμάσιοςwonderful
λέγωI say, speak
ὅτιthat, since, becαὐτόςἐν
αὐτός
πρός
ὅτιthat, since, because
ἨλίαςElijahArticle the

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

Concordanceγραμματεύς · 63× in the New Testament
Matthew Mark Luke Acts 1 Corinthians John
Across the New Testament6 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 37 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
Philo of AlexandriaOn Husbandry 148c. AD 40

ἡ δὲ πρόσταξις διὰ τῶν τῆς στρατιᾶς γραμματέων γίνεται, ὅταν ὁ πόλεμος ἐγγὺς καὶ ἐπὶ θύραις ὢν ἤδη τυγχάνῃ·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 6.120c. AD 75–95

ἀπαγγέλλεται δὲ τῷ βασιλεῖ ὑπὸ τῶν γραμματέων, ὅτι τὸ πλῆθος εἰς τὸν θεὸν ἐξαμαρτάνει θῦσαν καὶ πρὶν ἢ τὸ αἷμα καλῶς ἀποπλῦναι καὶ τὰς σάρκας ποιῆσαι καθαρὰς ἐσθίον.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 1st c. AD 3rd c. AD 2nd c. BC 3rd c. BC
BGU 3 992Pathyris187 BC

προσόδων διαγραφὴν τὴν γραφεῖσαν ἔτους ιε Φαῶφι κθ, ὑφʼ ἣν ὑπογράφει Ἁρενδώτης ὁ βασιλικὸς γραμματεὺς τῆς Θηβαίδος Προῖτος Σωσικράτους τιμὴν γῆς ἠπείρου, ἧς διασαφεῖ Ἁρενδώτης ὁ βασιλικὸς γραμματεὺς ἀνειλῆφθαι

C.Erbstreit14Diospolis Magna (Theben)187 BC

Θηβαίδα διαγραφὴν τὴν γραφεῖσαν ἔτους ιε, Φαῶφι κθ, ὑφʼ ἣν ὑπογράφει Ἁρενδώτης ὁ βασιλικὸς γραμματεὺς τῆς Θηβαίδος, Προῖτος Σωσικράτους τιμὴν γῆς ἠπείρου, ἧς διασαφεῖ Ἁρενδώτης ὁ βασιλικὸς γραμματεὺς ἀνειλῆφθαι

κριθῆς β ἐμβαδικὸν δραχμὰς λ … … δ … · διʼ Ἀλύκιος ὡς ἐπηγγείλατο γραμματεὺς κριθῆς ζ, αἳ πρὸς Ἀνδρείαν κατὰ συνγραφὴν πυροῦ ξ καὶ ἁμάξης μισθὸς κριθῆς ι

Answering now some of the scribes said; Teacher, well you have spoken.
εἶπαν·legō said; G2036 Verb · second aorist · active · indicative · third person · plural
1,988× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
In plain English
Tyndale gloss
to say
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — λαλέω, λέγω, λαλιά, λόγος from a scan

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

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

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…

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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…

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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…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

εἶπον (eipon) — to say.

εἶπον

(present ἔπω is used by [Refs 2nd c.BC+]present in use is φημί, λέγω, ἀγορεύω (see. infr. IV), the future ἐρέω, ἐρῶ, the perfect εἴρηκα), Epic dialect and Lyric poetry ἔειπον [Refs 8th c.BC+]; subjunctive εἴπω (Epic dialect εἴπωμι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; optative εἴποιμ; infinitive εἰπεῖν, Epic dialect -έμεναι, -έμεν, [Refs]; participle εἰπών: also aorist 1 εἶπα (ἔειπα [Refs 5th c.BC+] as I said, [Refs 1st c.BC+] mostly in Ionic dialect Prose, also [Refs 4th c.BC+], and the 2nd pers. indicative and imperative of this form are preferred in Attic dialect, 2nd pers. singular indicative εἶπας [Refs 8th c.BC+]; imperative εἶπον (on the accent see[Refs 5th c.BC+], -ατον, -ατ; 3rd.pers. plural εἶπαν [Refs 4th c.BC+]; participle εἴπας [Refs 4th c.BC+], Aeolic dialect εἴπαις [Refs 5th c.BC+]; in compounds middle ἀπείπασθαι (which see), διείπασθαι (which see)…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

λέγω

epo

a primary verb (used only in the definite past tense, the others being

borrowed from 2046, 4483, and 5346); to speak or say (by word or

writing):--answer, bid, bring word, call, command, grant, say (on),

speak, tell. Compare 3004.

see GREEK for 2046

see GREEK for 4483

see GREEK for 5346

see GREEK for 3004

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 →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἔπω εἶπον prob. made up by Nicander as present of εἶπον. to say, Nicander.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-2AAI-3P — Verb · second aorist · active · indicative · third person · plural
second aorist active indicative — a completed action, viewed as a whole.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-2AAI-3P Part of Speech: Verb Tense: second Aorist Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: third Number: Plural

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
39%said
said39% · 372×he said27% · 260×they said7% · 67×having said4% · 40×other renderings15% · 143×other renderings8% · 73×

955 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 73 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

Answering now some of the scribes said; Teacher, well you have spoken.
διδάσκαλε,didaskalos Teacher, G1320 Noun · vocative · singular · masculine
59× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Luke than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means a teacher or instructor, like Jesus in John 3:2 or Jewish teachers in Luke 2:46. It is often used as a title of respect.
Amplified meaning
instructor, rabbi
Tyndale gloss
teacher
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word διδάσκαλος (i.e., *didaskalos*) means 'teacher' or 'master.' It is derived from the verb διδάσκω (i.e., *didasko*), meaning 'to teach.' The term is used in various contexts in the New Testament, referring to teachers of the Jewish faith, including Jesus and the apostles, as well as false teachers. It appears frequently in titles of address, especially in the Gospels.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

* διδάσκαλος, -ου, ὁ

(< διδάσκω),

[in LXX: Es 6:1, II Mac 1:10 * ;]

given as rendering of Heb. רַבּוֺן, רַבִּי (NT, Ῥαββεί, Ῥαββουνεί q.v.);

a teacher: Jo 1:39 20:16; of Jewish teachers, Lk 2:46, Jo 3:10, cf. Ro 2:20, 21; of John Baptist, Lk 3:12; of Jesus, Jo 3:2, 10 8:[4] 11:28 13:13, 14, and often in Syn., most freq. in voc., as title of address, as Mt 8:19, Mk 4:38; of Jesus by himself, Mt 23:8; of an apostle, I Ti 2:7,

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

διδάσκαλος, -ov, 6, (διδάσκω). a teacher; in the N. T. one who teaches concerning the things of God, and the duties of man: 1. of one who is fitted to teach, or thinks himself so: Heb. v. 12; Ro. ii. 20. 2. of the teachers of the Jewish religion: Lk. ii. 46; Jn. iii. 10; hence the Hebr. 37 is rendered in Greek διδάσκαλος : Jn.i. 38 (39) ; xx. 16; cf. below, under ῥαββί, and Pressel in Herzog xu. p. 471 sq.; [Campbell, Dissert. on the Gospels, diss. Vii. pt. 2]. 3. of those who by their great power as teachers drew crowds about them; a. of John the Baptist: Lk.iii.12. Ὁ. of Jesus: Jn.i.38 (39); iii. 2; viii. 4; xi. 28; xiii. 13 sq.; xx. 16; often in the first three Gospels. 4. by preéminence used of Jesus by himself, as the one who showed men the way of salvation: Mt. xxiii. 8 L T Tr WH. 5. of the apostles: ὁ διδάσκαλος τῶν ἐθνῶν, of Paul, 1 Tim. ii. 7; 2 Tim. i. 11. 6. of those who in…

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

διδάσκαλος occurs 76) in the contract of apprenticeship P Oxy IV. 725 (A.D. 183); cf. BGU IV. 102124. (iii/aA.p.). OG/S 149° (ii/B.c.) διδάσκαλος μαθημάτων] τακτικῶν. For διδασκαλεῖον cf. the dream from the Serapeum P Par 51° (B.c. 160) (= Selections, p. 19) ἐξαίφνης] ἀνύγω τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς pov, Kal ὁρῶ [τὰς] Διδύμας ἐν τῷ διδασκαλήῳ τοῦ Τοθῆ[τος, ‘in the school of Tothes,” and the adj. διδασκαλικός in P Par 63°! (B.c. 165) (P Petr ILI. p. 22) τρόπον τινὰ διδασκαλικὴν] ἡμῶν πεποημένων τὴν [ὑ]φήyou, ““we made our explanation such as almost to teach

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

διδάσκαλος (didaskalos) — teacher.

δῐδάσκᾰλ-ος, ὁ

(but feminine, [Refs 4th c.BC+], compare ξυμφορὴ γίνεται δ. [Refs 2nd c.AD+], teacher, master, μαντείης [Refs 5th c.BC+]; διδάσκαλον λαβεῖν get a master, [[Refs 5th c.BC+]; εἰς διδασκάλου (i.e. οἶκον) φοιτᾶν go to school, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; διδασκάλων or ἐκ διδασκάλων ἀπαλλαγῆναι leave school, [Refs]; ἐν διδασκάλων at school, [Refs]

II. trainer of a dithyrambic or dramatic chorus, producer of a play, etc., ἴτω δὲ καὶ τραγῳδίας ὁ Κλεομάχου δ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

διδάσκαλος

didaskalos

from 1321; an instructor (genitive case or specially):--doctor,

master, teacher.

see GREEK for 1321

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

διδάσκαλος, ου, ὁ

n.m.

a teacher

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

διδάσκαλος didaskalos 59x

a teacher, master, Rom. 2:20; in NT as an equivalent, to ῥαββί, Jn. 1:39

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

διδάσκαλος δι^δάσκα^λος, ὁ, ἡ, ndi^daska^l os_ou masc fem διδάσκω a teacher, master, Hhymn., Aesch., etc.: εἰς διδασκάλου (sc. οἶκον) φοιτᾶν to go to school, Plat.; διδασκάλων or ἐκ διδασκάλων ἀπαλλαγῆναι to leave school, id. Plat.; ἐν διδασκάλων at school, id. Plat.

a dramatic poet was called διδάσκαλος because he taught the actors, Ar.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-VSM — Noun · vocative · singular · masculine
vocative — the one being addressed.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-VSM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Vocative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
85%teacher
teacher85% · 50×teachers12% · 7×other renderings3% · 2×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
predicate22%adverbial22%subject15%object9%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 59 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
ὑπέρὡςas, like as, howλέγωI say, speak
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakπρόςἐπερωτάωI interrogate, q
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςΦαρισαῖοςa PhariseeἩρῳδιανοίthe Herodians, t
καίand, even, also, nam
προφήτηςa prophet, poetποιμήνa shepherdἀπόστολοςan apostle, a me
ὄχλοςa crowd
Article the
διδάσκαλοςTeacher,59×
what comes after →
λέγωI say, speak
Article theποῦIrgφημίI say
τίςIrg
ποιέωI do, makeἀγαθόςgood
οἶδαI know, remember
ὅτιthat, since, bec
ΜωϋσῆςMoses
γράφωI writeλέγωI say, speak
οὗτος
πᾶςall, the whole, λέγωI say, speakArticle the

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

Concordanceδιδάσκαλος · 59× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew Mark John 1 Corinthians 2 Timothy 1 Timothy Acts Ephesians Hebrews James Romans
Across the New Testament12 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas The Didache Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Sacrifices of Abel and Cain 51c. AD 40

τὸν γὰρ κυβερνήτην καὶ ὑφηγητὴν τῶν καλῶν ὀρθὸν λόγον βδελύττεται πᾶς φιλοπαθής, καθάπερ οἱ τῶν παίδων ἀφρονέστατοι τοὺς διδασκάλους καὶ παιδαγωγοὺς καὶ πάντα νουθετητὴν καὶ σωφρονιστὴν λόγον.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.61c. AD 75–95

αὔξων δὲ τὸν οἶκον πλήθει χρημάτων ἐξ ἁρπαγῆς καὶ βίας πρὸς ἡδονὴν καὶ λῃστείαν τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας παρακαλῶν διδάσκαλος αὐτοῖς ὑπῆρχε πονηρῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων, καὶ τὴν ἀπραγμοσύνην, ᾗ πρότερον συνέζων οἱ ἄνθρωποι, μέτρων ἐπινοίᾳ καὶ σταθμῶν μετεστήσατο…

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. AD 3rd c. BC 1st c. AD 2nd c. AD 4th c. AD
P.Wisc. 1 4OxyrhynchosAD 53

εἶναι δραχμὰς ἑκατὸν καὶ εἰς τὸ δημόσιον τὰς ἴσας. ἐὰν δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ διδάσκαλος μὴ ἐκδιδάξῃ τὸν παῖδα ἀποτεισατω τὸ ἴσον ἐπίτιμον. κυρία ἡ διδασκαλική. ἔτους ιγ Τιβερίου

σπέρματα πάντα ἐκβήσονται ὅλως. καὶ μὴ λυποῦ περὶ τῶν τέκνων· καλῶς διάκεινται καὶ εἰς διδάσκαλον παρεδρεύουσι. καὶ περὶ τῶν σῶν ἐδαφῶν κεκούφικα τὸν ἀδελφόν σου δύο ἀρτάβας ἀπὸ τῶν

P.Oxy. 14 1647OxyrhynchosAD 176–AD 200

διδασκάλῳ μετὰ τὸν χρόνον, τῶν τῆς τέχνης χειρωναξίων καὶ ἐκδόσεων τελεσμάτων ὄντων πρὸς τὸν διδάσκαλον. ὁ δὲ

Answering now some of the scribes said; Teacher, well you have spoken.
καλῶςkalōs well G2573 Adverb
36× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Luke as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To do something kalos means to do it well or rightly, as in Luke 6:48 and 1 Corinthians 14:17, often with a moral tone.
Amplified meaning
rightly, with moral excellence
Tyndale gloss
well
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

καλῶς (kalōs) is an adverb meaning 'well' or 'rightly,' often in a moral sense. It is derived from the adjective καλός (kalos) and appears in various contexts in the New Testament, such as in Luke 6:48 and 1 Corinthians 14:17. The word can express approval or indicate that something is done correctly or honorably. Notably, it can also convey a sense of irony in certain passages.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

καλῶς,

adv.

(< καλός),

[in LXX for parts and derivatives of יטב;]

finely, rightly, well: Lk 6:48, I Co 14:17, Ga 4:17 5:7, Ja 2:3; λέγειν, λαλεῖν, etc., Mt 15:7, Mk 7:6 12:28, Lk 6:26 20:39, Jo 4:17 8:48 13:13 18:23, Ac 28:25; as exclamation of approval, Mk 12:32, Ro 11:20; κ. ποιεῖν, Mt 12:12, I Co 7:37, 38, Ja 2:8, 19; c. dat. pers. (cl. acc.; WM, § 32, 1 β), Lk 6:27; c. acc. rei,

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

καλῶς, (καλός), adv., [fr. Hom. down], beautifully, finely, excellently, well: (univ. διὰ τὸ καλῶς οἰκοδομῆσθαι (Tr -μεῖσθαι, q. v-), Lk. vi. 48 T Tr WH]; spec. a. rightly, so that there shall be no room for blame: joined to verbs of speaking (ἀποκρίνεσθαι, λαλεῖν, λέγειν, προφητεύειν, ete.), well, truly, Mt. xv. 7; Mk. vii. 6; Lk. xx. 39; Jn.iv.17; viii. 48; xiii. 13; [xviii. 23]; Acts xxviii. 25; jitly, i. e. agreeably to the facts and words of the case, Mk. xii. 28; καλῶς right! well! an expression of approyal: Mk. xii. 32; Ro. xi. 20; of deeds: k. ποιεῖν, to do well, act uprightly, Jas. ii. 19; 1 Co. vii. 37 sq. (where the teaching is, that one can do καλῶς, but another κρεῖσσον) ; καλῶς ποιεῖν with ptep. to do well that, ete. [B. § 144, 15 a.; W. 345 (323) ], Acts x. 33; Phil.iv.14; 2 Pet.i.19; 3 Jn. 6, (1 Mace. xii. 18, 22; 2 Mace. ii. 16, ete.); with verbs denoting a duty or…

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

καλῶς. Michel 163° (B.C. 148-7) καλῶς καὶ ἐνδόξως ἀναστραφείς, . ἢ πάντα καλῶς καὶ πρεπόντως βραβεύσας may serve as exx. of the ordinary usage of this adverb. The epistolary formula καλῶς ποιήσεις, which is practically = ““please,” is very common, and is generally construed with a paratactic participle (cf. 3 Jn®, and in the past Ac 10%, Phil 4": see also 2 Pet 115), e.g. P Hib I. 8217 (B.c. 239-8) καλῶς οὖν [π]οιήσεις συναν[τι]λ[α]μβανόμενος προθύμως περὶ τῶν εἰς ταῦτα συγκυρόντων, ‘please therefore to give your zealous co-operation in all that concerns this” (Edd.), P Amh II, 417° (ii/B.c.) καλῶς οὖν ποήσετε συνπαραστάντες αὐτῶι ἕως ἂν πίο]ήσητία]. τὸν σφραγίισμό]ν, ‘‘ please therefore assist him until he carries out the sealing” (Edd.), BGU II. 596% (a.p. 84) καλῶς ποιήσεις συνελθὼν [ΑἸίλουρίῳνι τῶι κομίζοντί σοι τὸ ἐπ[ι]στ[ό]λιον, P Fay 125% (ii/A.D.) καλῶς [ποιή]σεις, ἄδελφε, μὴ…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καλῶς (kalōs) — well.

Included with: καλός, ή, όν,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καλῶς

kalos

adverb from 2570; well (usually morally):--(in a) good (place),

honestly, + recover, (full) well.

see GREEK for 2570

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καλῶς

Adv

well, nobly, rightly

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καλῶς kalōs 37x

well, rightly, suitable, with propriety, becomingly, 1 Cor. 7:37; 14:17; Gal. 4:17; 5:7; truly, justly, correctly, Mk. 12:32; Lk. 20:39; Jn. 4:17; appositely, Mt. 15:7; Mk. 7:6; becomingly, honorably, Jas. 2:3; well, effectually, Mk. 7:9, 37; καλῶς εἰπεῖν, to speak well, praise, applaud, Lk. 6:26; καλῶς ἔχειν, to be convalescent, Read the full entry →

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Adv — Adverb
adverb — it qualifies the verb, and never changes form.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

ADV ADVerb or adverb and particle combined

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

(1) (be'er; compare Arabic bi'r, "well" or "cistern"; usually artificial: "And Isaac's servants digged (dug) in the valley, and found there a well of springing (margin "living") water" (Ge 26:19); some times covered: "Jacob .... rolled the stone from the well's mouth" (Ge 29:10). Be'er may also be a pit: "The vale of Siddim was full of slime pits" (Ge 14:10); "the pit of destruction" (Ps 55:23).

(2) (bor), usually "pit": "Let us slay him, and cast him into one of the pits" (Ge 37:20); may be "well": "drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem" (2Sa 23:16).

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Well

(Heb. beer), to be distinguished from a fountain (Heb. ‘ain). A “beer” was a deep shaft, bored far under the rocky surface by the art of man, which contained water which percolated through the strata in its sides. Such wells were those of Jacob and Beersheba, etc. (see Gen. 21:19, 25, 30, 31; 24:11; 26:15, 18-25, 32, etc.). In the Pentateuch this word beer, so rendered, occurs twenty-five times.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Wells in Palestine are usually excavated from the solid limestone rock, sometimes with steps to descend into them. (Genesis 24:16) The brims are furnished with a curb or low wall of stone, bearing marks of high antiquity in the furrows worn by the ropes used in drawing water. It was on a curb of this sort that our Lord sat when he conversed with the woman of Samaria, (John 4:6) and it was this, the usual stone cover, which the woman placed on the mouth of the well at Bahurim, (2 Samuel 17:19) where the Authorized Version weakens the sense by omitting the article. The usual methods for raising water are the following: The rope and bucket, or waterskin. (Genesis 24:14-20;

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
62%well
well62% · 23×rightly19% · 7×good5% · 2×rightly so3% · 1×honorably3% · 1×neatly3% · 1×right3% · 1×correctly3% · 1×

37 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 8 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial97%predicate3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 36 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speak
ὅτιthat, since, because
οἶδαI know, rememberεἷςone
καίand, even, also, nam
ἐπιτίθημιI put, place upoκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
Article the
διά
οὐNeg
αὐτόςσύ
καλῶςwell36×
what comes after →
ποιέωI do, make
καίand, even, also,Article theπαραγίνομαιI appear, come,
λέγωI say, speak
ὅτιthat, since, becἐγώεἰμίI am, exist
προΐστημιI rule
τέκνονa child, descendκαίand, even, also,πρεσβύτεροςelder
προφητεύωI foretell, prophesy
περίἨσαΐαςIsaiah
τίςIrg
ἐγώσύ

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

Concordanceκαλῶς · 36× in the New Testament
Mark 1 Timothy John Luke 1 Corinthians James Acts Galatians Matthew 2 Corinthians 2 Peter 3 John
Across the New Testament15 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
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 28c. AD 40

καὶ γὰρ εἰ πάνθ’ ἅμα ὁ ποιῶν ἐποίει, τάξιν οὐδὲν ἧττον εἶχε τὰ καλῶς γινόμενα·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.14c. AD 75–95

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

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 15.5c. AD 100

τοῦτο λέγει: ὅταν ἐλθὼν ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ καταργήσει τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ ἀνόμου καὶ κρινεῖ τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς καὶ ἀλλάξει τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας, τότε καλῶς καταπαύσεται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. BC 2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 2nd c. BC 1st c. AD
P.Grenf. 1 32Pelusion103 BC

ἐρρώμεθα δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ ὑμῶν τὴν ἀρίστην μνείαν ποιούμενοι παρὰ τοῖς ἐν Πηλουσίωι θεοῖς. καλῶς ποιήσεις διαλύσας Ἁρκοννῆσιν καὶ Ψενανοῦπιν καὶ … … ελθεῖν ἐπὶ προ … ους καὶ

P.Bad. 2 16Pathyris89 BC

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

P.Bour. 10Pathyris89 BC

ἀντιληψόμενοι τῶν ἐνεστηκότων κατὰ τὸ συμφέρον τοῖς πράγμασι καὶ γεγραφότες τοῖς κατοικοῦσι συγγίνεσθαί σοι. καλῶς ποιήσεις συντηρῶν τὸν τόπον καὶ προιστάμενος· τοὺς δʼ ἐπιχειροῦντας μὴ ὑπακούειν σου … υτέραι

Answering now some of the scribes said; Teacher, well you have spoken.
εἶπας.legō you have spoken. G2036 Verb · second aorist · active · indicative · second person · singular
1,988× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
In plain English
Tyndale gloss
to say
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — λαλέω, λέγω, λαλιά, λόγος from a scan

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

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

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…

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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…

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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…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

εἶπον (eipon) — to say.

εἶπον

(present ἔπω is used by [Refs 2nd c.BC+]present in use is φημί, λέγω, ἀγορεύω (see. infr. IV), the future ἐρέω, ἐρῶ, the perfect εἴρηκα), Epic dialect and Lyric poetry ἔειπον [Refs 8th c.BC+]; subjunctive εἴπω (Epic dialect εἴπωμι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; optative εἴποιμ; infinitive εἰπεῖν, Epic dialect -έμεναι, -έμεν, [Refs]; participle εἰπών: also aorist 1 εἶπα (ἔειπα [Refs 5th c.BC+] as I said, [Refs 1st c.BC+] mostly in Ionic dialect Prose, also [Refs 4th c.BC+], and the 2nd pers. indicative and imperative of this form are preferred in Attic dialect, 2nd pers. singular indicative εἶπας [Refs 8th c.BC+]; imperative εἶπον (on the accent see[Refs 5th c.BC+], -ατον, -ατ; 3rd.pers. plural εἶπαν [Refs 4th c.BC+]; participle εἴπας [Refs 4th c.BC+], Aeolic dialect εἴπαις [Refs 5th c.BC+]; in compounds middle ἀπείπασθαι (which see), διείπασθαι (which see)…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

λέγω

epo

a primary verb (used only in the definite past tense, the others being

borrowed from 2046, 4483, and 5346); to speak or say (by word or

writing):--answer, bid, bring word, call, command, grant, say (on),

speak, tell. Compare 3004.

see GREEK for 2046

see GREEK for 4483

see GREEK for 5346

see GREEK for 3004

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 →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἔπω εἶπον prob. made up by Nicander as present of εἶπον. to say, Nicander.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-2AAI-2S — Verb · second aorist · active · indicative · second person · singular
second aorist active indicative — a completed action, viewed as a whole.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-2AAI-2S Part of Speech: Verb Tense: second Aorist Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: second Number: Singular

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
39%said
said39% · 372×he said27% · 260×they said7% · 67×having said4% · 40×other renderings15% · 143×other renderings8% · 73×

955 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 73 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

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

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