Menu

Matthew 2:17 — Word Study

Depth

N1904Τότε ἐπληρώθη τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ Ἰερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος·

BSAThentote [at that specific point in time] was fulfilledplēroō [completed, made full, satisfied] thatho having been spokenerō [said, uttered] throughhupo JeremiahHieremias [a prophet of God, a spokesperson for the divine] theho prophetprophētēs [one who speaks forth God's will] saying;legō

Word
Listen & take awayMatthew 2
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 17 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
Matthew 2:17quick helps
In a sentenceMatthew tells us that what the prophet Jeremiah spoke was fulfilled after Herod's decree.
Who is speakingMatthew, referencing the fulfillment of prophecy.
Where we areThis verse follows Herod's actions against the children of Bethlehem.
The hard wordἐπληρώθη
Take awayThe fulfillment of prophecy highlights God's sovereignty in the events surrounding Jesus' birth.
6 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Trapp, Cambridge & more — read them › clause subject verbπληρόω 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 — Matthew 2:17

Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.

Context — The Fulfillment of Prophecygenerated

16When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.
17Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
19After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.

Matthew 2:17 occurs in the context of Herod's ruthless actions against the infants in Bethlehem. This event fulfills a prophecy from Jeremiah, indicating that the suffering of Rachel symbolizes the mourning for the lost children. The narrative emphasizes the tragic consequences of Herod's fear and ambition, while also pointing to the divine plan being carried out through these events.


Cross References


The Key Word ἐπληρώθη, plēroōgenerated

The verb ἐπληρώθη (plēroō) is an aorist passive indicative form, meaning 'was fulfilled.' It conveys the idea of something coming to completion or being made full, particularly in the context of prophecy. This word is often used in the New Testament to indicate the fulfillment of God's promises, as seen in other passages like Matthew 1:22.

The passive voice indicates that the fulfillment is acted upon by an unnamed agent, emphasizing that it is God who orchestrates the fulfillment of prophecy. This construction is common in biblical texts where divine action is implied.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The primary translation for this verse comes from the Berean Standard Bible, which uses the phrase was fulfilled. This is consistent with the KJV, ASV, YLT, and WEB, all of which convey the same meaning.

The BBE opts for a slightly different phrasing, stating came true, which carries a similar sense of fulfillment but varies in wording.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main verb of the verse is ἐπληρώθη, was fulfilled, which governs the entire sentence. The structure indicates that what was spoken by Jeremiah is the subject of fulfillment.

The phrase ῥηθὲν (having been spoken) serves as a participial phrase that describes what was fulfilled, linking the prophecy directly to its fulfillment.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

The Greek word ῥηθὲν relates to the Hebrew term in the Septuagint that conveys the idea of something being spoken or declared. This connection emphasizes the continuity between the Old Testament prophecy and its New Testament fulfillment.

The use of Ἰερεμίου (Jeremiah) in this context highlights the importance of prophetic literature in understanding the events surrounding Jesus' birth, as it ties the narrative back to the Hebrew Scriptures.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

Matthew 2:17 tells us that what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled after Herod ordered the death of the children in Bethlehem. This shows how the events surrounding Jesus' early life were part of a larger plan, as foretold by the prophets.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean that what was spoken through Jeremiah was fulfilled?

It means that the events that happened, particularly the mourning of Rachel for her children, were predicted by the prophet Jeremiah and came to pass as part of God's plan.

Why is Jeremiah mentioned in this context?

Jeremiah is mentioned because his prophecy relates to the sorrow experienced due to the loss of children, which parallels the tragedy of Herod's actions.

How does this verse connect to the theme of prophecy in Matthew?

This verse illustrates Matthew's emphasis on the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies in the life of Jesus, showing that His birth and the surrounding events were foreseen by the prophets.

What can we learn from the fulfillment of this prophecy?

We learn that God's plans are sovereign and that events unfold according to His purposes, even in tragic circumstances.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. How does understanding the fulfillment of prophecy affect my view of God's sovereignty?
  2. In what ways can I find hope in God's promises during difficult times?
  3. What role do I think prophecy plays in my faith today?
  4. How can I share the story of Jesus' fulfillment of prophecy with others?

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

Early church writers reference this verse to discuss the fulfillment of prophecy and the implications of Jeremiah's words regarding the loss of children.

Glossa Ordinariaord. 12th c.
She will not be comforted in this present life, for that they are not, but transfers all her hope and comfort to the life to come.
Early Church Fathers on Matthew 2 →
Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea by Aquinas c. 310–367
It could not be that they were not who seemed now dead, but by glorious martyrdom they were advanced to eternal life; and consolation is for those who have suffered loss, not for those who have reaped a gain.
Early Church Fathers on Matthew 2 →
JeromeIn Hierem. 31:15. c. 347–420
This passage of Jeremiah has been quoted by Matthew neither according to the Hebrew nor the LXX version. This shows that the Evangelists and Apostles did not follow any one's translation,
Early Church Fathers on Matthew 2 →

Commentators on this verse — 6 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on Matthew 2:17 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

Ver. 17, 18. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken,.... By the slaughter of the infants at Bethlehem was literally accomplished what had been predicted by Jeremy the prophet, in Jeremiah 31:15.

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

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying (Jeremiah 31:15 - from which the quotation differs but verbally).

Read Robert Jamieson on Matthew 2 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, Ver. 17. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken] Fulfilling of prophecies is a convincing argument of the divinity of the Scriptures. Moses had foretold that God should dwell between Benjamin’ s shoulders, Deuteronomy 33:12. This was fulfilled 440 years after, when the temple was set up in the tribe of Benjamin: so the prophecies of the coming of Christ and of Antichrist, and others in the Revelation, which we see daily accomplished.

Read John Trapp on Matthew 2 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17. Then was fulfilled] This turn of expression may be regarded as identical with the more usual “that it might be fulfilled.” by] See note Matthew 2:5.

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

Then was fulfilled - The word “fulfilled,” here. is used evidently in the sense that the words in Jeremiah aptly express the event which Matthew was recording. Compare the notes at Matthew 1:22.

Read Albert Barnes on Matthew 2 →
Daniel Denison Whedon1808–1885Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

§ 13. — OF THE , AND RETURN FROM EGYPT, 16-23.16. Mocked — Slighted and deceived. Wroth — Angry.

Read Daniel Denison Whedon on Matthew 2 →

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

Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

WEBWorld English Bible2000

Then that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

NETBNew English Translation2006

Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

RVARevised Version, American1894

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

NWBWebster's Bible1833

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

GNVGeneva Bible1599

Then was that fulfilled which is spoken by the Prophet Ieremias, saying,

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremias the prophet, saying,

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet,

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the prophet, saying:

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

In this way Jeremiah's prophecy was fulfilled:

BBEBible in Basic English1949

Then the word of Jeremiah the prophet came true,

Word by word, the decisions they made

ἐπληρώθηplēroō was fulfilled G4137 2 different renderings
was fulfilledASV BSB DBY DRA FBV KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
fulfilledGNV

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.

clauseadverbialτότεThenverbἐπληρώθηwas fulfillednoun phrase · subjectτὸthatclauseverbῥηθὲνhaving been spokenprepositional phrase · adverbialδιὰbynoun phraseἸερεμίουJeremiahnoun phraseτοῦtheπροφήτουprophetclause · adverbialclauseverbλέγοντοςsayingclauseprepositional phrase · adverbialἐνinῬαμὰRamahverbἠκούσθηwas heardnoun phrase · subjectΦωνὴA voicenoun phraseκλαυθμὸςweepingκαὶandnoun phraseὀδυρμὸςmourningπολύςgreatclauseclausesubjectῬαχὴλRachelverbκλαίουσαweeping [for]noun phrase · adverbialτὰthenoun phraseτέκναchildrenαὐτῆςof herκαὶandclauseadverbialοὐκnotverbἤθελενwouldobjectπαρακληθῆναιbe comfortedclauseὅτιbecauseclauseadverbialοὐκno moreverbεἰσίνare they

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

Tunc adimpletum est quod dictum est per Jeremiam prophetam dicentem :

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

ܗܝܕܝܢ ܐܬܡܠܝ ܡܕܡ ܕܐܬܐܡܪ ܒܝܕ ܐܪܡܝܐ ܢܒܝܐ ܕܐܡܪ

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

Τότε ἐπληρώθη τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ Ἰερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος·

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

Τότε ἐπληρώθη τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ Ἰερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος·

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

Τότε ἐπληρώθη τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ Ἰερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος·

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

Τότε ἐπληρώθη τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ Ἰερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος·

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

Τότε ἐπληρώθη τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ Ἰερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος·

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

Τότε ἐπληρώθη τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ Ἰερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος·

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

Τότε ἐπληρώθη τὸ ῥηθὲν Ἰερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος·

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

Τότε ἐπληρώθη τὸ ῥηθὲν Ἰερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος·

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

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

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

Word by word, across the editions

WordEditions carrying itMissing from
διὰ throughNA28, NA27, Tyn, SBL, WH, TregTR, Byz

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

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

Matthew 2:17τότεThenThenτότεπληρόωwas fulfillwas fulfilledπληρόωthatthatεἶπονhaving beenhaving been spoεἶπονδιάthroughthroughδιάἸερεμίαςJeremiahJeremiahἸερεμίαςthetheπροφήτηςprophetprophetπροφήτηςλέγωsaying;saying;λέγωπλήρηςAdj fullAdj fullπλήρηςφημίv. I sayv. I sayφημίὅτεAdv whenAdv whenὅτεArticle thArticle theπρόPrep. befoPrep. beforeπρόἨσαΐαςn.m. Isaian.m. IsaiahἨσαΐαςνηστεύωv. I fastv. I fastνηστεύωἄρχωv. I beginv. I beginἄρχωγραφήn.f. a wrin.f. a writing,γραφήχαράn.f. joy, n.f. joy, gladnχαράπληρόωv. I fill,v. I fill, fulfπληρόωαἰτίαn.f. a caun.f. a cause, rαἰτίαδιέρχομαιv. I pass v. I pass throuδιέρχομαιεἶπονv. I say, v. I say, speakεἶπονπροφήτηςn.m. a pron.m. a prophet,προφήτηςἀπόστολοςn.m. an apn.m. an apostleἀπόστολοςἀμήνHebr. veriHebr. verily, tἀμήνδιδάσκαλοςn.m. a tean.m. a teacherδιδάσκαλος
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 Matthew 2:17

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.

Then was fulfilled that having been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet saying;
Τότεtote Then G5119 Adverb
159× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Matthew than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for then, used to describe a specific point in time, as seen in Matthew 2:17 and Galatians 4:8. It can refer to concurrent or consequent events, and is often used to introduce a new action or event.
Amplified meaning
at that specific point in time
Tyndale gloss
then
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word τότε (i.e., *tote*) is a demonstrative adverb meaning 'then' or 'at that time.' It is used to refer to specific points in the past or future, often in relation to concurrent or consequent events. The New Testament frequently employs it, especially in the Gospel of Matthew, to indicate transitions in narrative or to specify timing.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

τότε, demonstr. adv. of time, correlat. of ὅτε,

then, at that time;

of concurrent events: Mt 2:17 3:5 and freq., Ro 6:21; seq. ptcp., Mt 2:16, Ga 4:8; opp. to νῦν, Ga 4:29, He 12:26; ὁ τ. κόσμος, II Pe 3:6;

of consequent events, then, thereupon: Mt 2:7 3:5 4:1 and freq., Lk 11:26; τ. οὖν, Jo 11:14 19:1, 16 20:8; εὐθέως τ., Ac 17:14; ὅτε .…

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

τότε, demonstr. ady. of time, (fr. the neut. art. τό, and the enclit. τέ [q. v.]; answering to the relative ore [Kiihner $506, 2 ¢.]), fr. Hom. down, then; at that time; a. then i.e. at the time when the things under consideration were taking place, (of a concomitant event): Mt. ii. 17 (τότε ἐπληρώθη) ; iii. 9, 13; xii. 22, 38; xv. 1; xix. 13; xx. 20; xxvii.9, 16; Ro. vi. 21; foll. by a more precise specification of the time by means of an added participle, Mt. ii. 16; Gal. iv. 8; opp. to νῦν, Gal. iv. 29; Heb. xii. 26; 6 τότε κόσμος, the world that then was, 2 Pet. iii. 6. b. then i. e. when the thing under consideration had been said or done, thereupon; so in the historical writers (esp. Matthew), by way of transition from one thing mentioned to another which could not take place before it [W. 540 (503); B. § 151, 31 fin.]: Mt. iv. 1,5; xxvi. 14; xxvii. 38; Actsi.12; x. 48; xxi. 33…

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

τότε (tote) — then.

τότε,

Doric dialect τόκᾰ (which see) (both forms in [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Aeolic dialect τότᾰ [Refs 7th c.BC+] accusative to codices of [Refs 3rd c.BC+], compare ποτα, ὄτα):— adverb at that time, then, corresponding to Relat. ὅτε or ὁπότε (below [Refs]; mostly of some point in past time, opposed to νῦν, [Refs 8th c.BC+]: also of a future time, τότε κέν μιν.. πεπίθοιμεν [Refs 8th c.BC+] (or of imagined circumstances, in that case [Refs 5th c.BC+]; sometimes, then, next, πρῶτον μὲν.., εἶτα.., καὶ τ... [Refs 4th c.BC+]:—in Trag. and Attic dialect also in indefinite sense, formerly, καὶ νῦν θ᾽ ὁμοίως καὶ τότ᾽ ἐξεπίσταμαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]just now, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τ. μὲν.., νῦν δὲ.. [Refs 5th c.BC+]at one time or other, [Refs 5th…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

τότε

tote

from (the neuter of) 3588 and 3753; the when, i.e. at the time that

(of the past or future, also in consecution):--that time, then.

see GREEK for 3753

see GREEK for 3588

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

τότε

Adv

then

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

τότε tote 160x

then, at that time, Mt. 2:17; 3:5; 11:20; then, Mt. 12:29; 13:26; 25:31; ἀπὸ τότε, from that time, Mt. 4:17; 16:21; ὁ τότε, which then was, 2 Pet. 3:6

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

τότε at that time, then, Lat. tunc, Antec. to Relat. ὅτε or ὁπότε, opp. to νῦν, Il., Hom., etc.:—also in indef. sense, in those times, formerly, Soph., etc.; τότ᾽ ἢ τότε at one time or other, Aesch., Eur.

joined with other Particles, καὶ τότε δή Hom.; καὶ τότ᾽ ἔπειτα Il.; τότε δή ῥα Od., etc.; τότ᾽ ἤδη then at length, Hes.

with the Article, οἱ τότε the men of that time, Il., etc.; οἱ τότε ἄνθρωποι Hdt.; τῇ τόθ᾽ ἡμέρᾳ Soph.; ἐν τῷ τότε (sc. χρόνῳ) Thuc.

εἰς τότε until then, Dem.; ἐκ τότε or ἐκτότε since then, Plut.

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
91%then
then91% · 148×at that time5% · 8×that time2% · 4×other renderings1% · 2×

162 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 5 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial99%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 159 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
σύνυμφίοςa bridegroomδοκόςa beam
ἀπό
καίand, even, also,ἸωάννηςJohn
δέbut, on the other ha
ἔχωI have, hold, poεὐθέωςimmediately, soo
ἸησοῦςJesus
Article theδοξάζωI glorify, honor
ἀσθενέωI am weak, sick
ὅτιthat, since, becγάρfor
τότεThen159×
what comes after →
Article the
ΠαῦλοςPaulἸησοῦςJesusἐν
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςArticle theεἰς
ἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
αὐτόςArticle theκαίand, even, also,
ἄρχωI begin
λέγωI say, speakArticle theὀνειδίζωI reproach, revi
προσέρχομαιI come near, consent
Article theαὐτόςἐπιβάλλωI throw upon, la

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

Concordanceτότε · 159× in the New Testament
Matthew Acts Luke John 1 Corinthians Mark Galatians Hebrews 1 Thessalonians 2 Corinthians 2 Peter 2 Thessalonians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament14 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 102 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas The Didache
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 88c. AD 40

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

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

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

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 3.4c. AD 100

τότε ῥαγήσεται πρώϊμον τὸ φῶς σου, καὶ τὰ ἱμάτιά σου ταχέως ἀνατελεῖ, καὶ προπορεύσεται ἔμπροσθέν σου ἡ δικαιοσύνη, καὶ ἡ δόξα τοῦ θεοῦ περιστελεῖ σε.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 6th c. AD 3rd c. BC
C.Erbstreit16Diospolis Magna (Theben)135 BC

καὶ ἐν ἄλληι σφραγῖδι ἄλλων ἀρουρῶν ι, πασῶν περὶ Παθῦριν, ἐπέδωκαν ὑπόμνημα … τῷ τοτε στρατηγῶι κατά τε ἡμῶν καὶ τοῦ τῆς Σενενούπιος … Θράσωνος. τούτων ἀδίκως ἐνποιούμενοι και

P.Amh. 2 77Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 139

ὅπερ φανερὸν τοῦτο ἐγένετο τοῖς τε τῆς νομαρχίας ἐπιτηρηταῖς καὶ τῷ ἐπὶ τῶν τόπων τότε ὄντι βενεφικιαρίωι

ÉdP 5 (1939), p. 94Karanis (Arsinoites)AD 298

σιτικὰς δημοσίας ἀρούρας ταῖς μὴ δυναμέναις ὑπαντᾶν τοῖς φόροις τῶν ἀρουρῶν. προσήλθαμεν δὲ καὶ τότε τῷ γενομένῳ πρωτοστάτῃ τῆς κώμης Σερήνῳ τῷ καὶ Ἁρποκρᾷ καὶ ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν ἅπαντα τὰ

Then was fulfilled that having been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet saying;
ἐπληρώθηplēroō was fulfilled G4137 Verb · aorist · passive · indicative · third person · singular
86× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Matthew as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This verb means to fulfill or make something complete, like filling a net or satisfying a need, as in Matthew 13:48 and Philippians 4:19, where it talks about filling every need.
Amplified meaning
completed, made full, satisfied
Tyndale gloss
to fulfill
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

πληρόω (plēroō) means to fill or fulfill, often used in both literal and figurative senses. It can refer to filling physical objects, completing tasks, or fulfilling prophecies, as seen in passages like Matthew 1:22. The word is derived from a root meaning to make full and covers a range of uses, including filling with influence or completing a period.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

πληρόω, -ῶ,

[in LXX chiefly for מָלֵא;]

to fill, make full, fill to the full, c. acc.;

of things: pass. (σαψήνη, φάραγξ), Mt 13:48, Lk 3:5(LXX); fig., Mt 23:32; but chiefly of immaterial things: πᾶσαν χρείαν, Phl 4:19; ἦχος ἐπλήρωσε τ. οἶκον, Ac 2:2; c. gen. rei (cl.), Ac 5:28; pass., seq. ἐκ, Jo 12:3 (cf. B1., § 36, 4); π. τ. καρδίαν, Jo 16:6, Ac 5:3; metaph., of the all-pervading activity of Christ, Eph 4:10; mid., Eph…

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

πληρόω. The original meaning ‘‘fill,” ‘“‘fill to the full” (MGr πληρῶ) may be illustrated from the phrase in Sy// 633 θεῶι, λαμβανέτωι τὸ ἥμισίν. The meaning ‘‘ pay” is very common (MGr trAepjvw)—e.g. P Hib I. 401} (B.c. 261) δραχμὴν μίαν οὐθείς σοι μὴ TANPM, “no one will pay so much as I drachma” (Edd ), BGU IV. 105529 (B.c. 13) μέχρει TOD πληρωθῆναι τὸ Savoy, P Oxy I. 114% (ii/ili A.D.) κεῖται πρὸς β μνᾶς: πεπλήρωκα τὸν τόκον μέχρι τοῦ ᾿Εἰπεὶφ πρὸς στατῆρα τῆς μνᾶς, ‘it is pledged for two minae. I have paid the interest up to Epeiph, at the rate of a stater per mina” (Edd.), P Grenf IT. 774 (iti/iv A.D.) (= Selections, p. 120) ἐπλήρωσα [αὐ]τὸν [το]ὺς μισθοὺς τῆς παρακομιδῆς τοῦ σώματος, “I paid him the costs of the carriage of the body”; P Oxy XII. 1489° (late iii/A.D.) ἐνοχλεῖς μοι ὅτι ὀφείλεις ᾿Αγαθὸς(-- @) Δαίμονι χαλκόν: πεπλήρωσί-- κ)α αὐτόν, ‘you worry me about the money…

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

πληρόω (plēroō) — to fulfill.

πληρ-όω,

3rd.pers. plural imperfect ἐπληροῦσαν cited by [Refs 5th c.BC+]: future -ώσω: perfect πεπλήρωκα, Aeolic dialect participle πεπληρώκων [Refs] —middle, future πληρώσομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist ἐπληρωσάμην [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—passive, future -ωθήσομαι[Refs 5th c.BC+]; future middle in passive sense, [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—make full:

I. with genitive of things, fill full of, λάρνακας λίθων [Refs 5th c.BC+]; κρατῆρα, πίστρα (i.e. οἴνου), [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—passive, to be filled full, τινος of a thing, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

I.2. fill full of food, gorge, satiate, βορᾶς ψυχὴν ἐπλήρουν [Refs 5th c.BC+] glut one's rage, [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—passive, to be filled full of, satisfied, δαιτὸς -ωθείς [Refs 5th c.BC+]; φόβου, ἐλπίδος, etc.…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

πληρόω

pleroo

from 4134; to make replete, i.e. (literally) to cram (a net), level up

(a hollow), or (figuratively) to furnish (or imbue, diffuse,

influence), satisfy, execute (an office), finish (a period or task),

verify (or coincide with a prediction), etc.:--accomplish, X after,

(be) complete, end, expire, fill (up), fulfil, (be, make) full (come),

fully preach, perfect, supply.

see GREEK for 4134

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

πληρόω

v.

I fill, fulfill, complete

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

πληρόω plēroō 86x

pluperf., πεπληρώκει (3 sg), to fill, make full, fill up, Mt. 13:48; 23:32; Lk. 3:5; to fill up a deficiency, Phil. 4:18, 19; to pervade, Jn. 12:3; Acts 2:2; to pervade with an influence, to influence fully, possess fully, Jn. 16:6; Acts 2:28; 5:3; Rom. 1:29; Eph. 5:18; to complete, perfect, Jn. 3:29; Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

πληρόω πλήρης fut. mid. in pass. sense to make full:

c. gen. rei, to fill full of, Hdt., etc.:—Pass. to be filled full of, Aesch., etc.

to fill full of food, to gorge, satiate, βορᾶς ψυχὴν ἐπλήρουν Eur.; metaph., πληροῦν θυμόν to glut one's rage, animum explere, Soph., etc.

c. dat. to fill with, Eur.: Pass., πνεύμασιν πληρούμενοι filled with breath, Aesch.; πεπληρωμένος ἀδικίαι NTest.

πλ. ναῦν, τριήρη to man a ship, Hdt.; πληροῦτε θωρακεῖα man the breast-works, Aesch.; in Mid., πληροῦσθαι τὴν ναῦν to man one's ship, Xen.:—Pass., of the ships, Thuc.

of number, to make full or complete, τοὺς δέκα μῆνας Hdt.;—so in Mid., NTest.:—Pass. to be completed, Hdt., NTest.

πλ. δικαστήριον to fill it, Dem.

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-API-3S — Verb · aorist · passive · indicative · third person · singular
aorist passive indicative — a completed action, viewed as a whole.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The ordinary meaning of this word is sufficiently obvious. It will ultimately be recorded over against all the predictions and promises of Jehovah, every one having been fully accomplished at the proper time and place, Jos 23:14; Mt 2:17; 8:17; 12:17. There are in the New Testament many instances of such an accomplishment, where the purposes of men were very different, and those who figured in the transaction did not dream of any thing but some evil project of their own. Thus in Joh 19:24,28,36, the actual agents in Christ’s crucifixion had no thought that they were fulfilling the purposes of God. Sometimes also the phrase, "that it might be fulfilled," signifies that the occurrence to which it is applied is a secondary…

English usagewhat the translators’ English meant
Webster's Dictionary (1828)

FULFILL'ED, participle passive Accomplished; performed; completed; executed.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
20%may be fulfilled
may be fulfilled20% · 18×fulfilled8% · 7×it may be fulfilled7% · 6×filled6% · 5×has been fulfilled6% · 5×completed5% · 4×has filled2% · 2×fulfill2% · 2×other renderings44% · 39×

88 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 47 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 86 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
ἵναin order that, so th
γίνομαιI come into beinἀλλάbut, exceptἩρῴδηςHerod
δέbut, on the other ha
ὡςas, like as, howδιετίαtwo years
σύ
καίand, even, also,χαράjoy, gladnessὑπέρ
γραφήa writing, passage o
Article the
καίand, even, also, nam
βίαιοςstrong, violentἐγώ
πληρόωwas fulfilled86×
what comes after →
Article the
εἶπονI say, speakγραφήa writing, passaλόγοςa word, speech,
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
Article theδικαιοσύνηjustice, justnesἀδικίαunrighteousness
ἐν
Article theἹεροσόλυμαPropἑαυτοῦ
ὅς
λέγωI say, speakεἰμίI am, exist
σύ
Article theπᾶςall, the whole,

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

Concordanceπληρόω · 86× in the New Testament
Acts Matthew John Luke Romans Colossians Ephesians Philippians 2 Corinthians Mark Revelation 1 John
Across the New Testament17 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 50 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 Ignatius of Antioch The Shepherd of Hermas Polycarp
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 3.4c. AD 40

πάντα γὰρ πεπλήρωκεν ὁ θεὸς καὶ διὰ πάντων διελήλυθεν καὶ κενὸν οὐδὲν οὐδὲ ἔρημον ἀπολέλοιπεν ἑαυτοῦ.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.120c. AD 75–95

Σκίδνανται δὴ τὸ λοιπὸν ἐντεῦθεν ὑπὸ τῆς ἀλλογλωσσίας τὰς ἀποικίας ποιησάμενοι πανταχοῦ, καὶ γῆν ἕκαστοι κατελάμβανον τὴν ἐντυχοῦσαν καὶ εἰς ἣν αὐτοὺς ἦγεν ὁ θεός, ὡς πληρωθῆναι πᾶσαν αὐτῶν ἤπειρον μεσόγεών τε καὶ παράλιον·

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 4th c. AD 7th c. AD 5th c. AD 2nd c. AD

ἀσφαλισθῆναι αὐτὰ καὶ οὐκ οἴδαμεν ποῦ κεῖται ὥστε … … έτακται ἡμῖν πληρῶσαι ὑμᾶς σπουδάσαντας … … θαι πάντα. … ἔρρωσo … … ι … ἔτους μα

P.Lond. 2 p. 187-188 no. 293Dionysias (ArsinoitesAD 114

Θέρμιον τὸ ἐπιβάλλον αὐτῇ μέρος … οὗ μέτρα νότον ἐπὶ βορρᾶ πήχεις τεσσ … πληρωθῇ ἡ Θέρμιον τὸ ἐπιβάλλον αὐτῇ μέρος … ὅλων πηχισμῶν, τὴν δὲ Θαισᾶν καὶ αὐτὴν

P.Col. 8 218Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 139

μεμισθωμένας κατὰ μίσθωσιν τοῦ προδιεληλυθότος κα ἔτους θεοῦ Ἁδριανοῦ ἧς ὁ χρόνος ἐπληρώθη εἰς τὸ διεληλυθὸς α ἔτος ἀρούρας περὶ τὴν προκειμένην κώμην α … … αρα

Then was fulfilled that having been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet saying;
τὸho that G3588 Article · nominative · singular · neuter
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Matthew as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

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

T-NSN Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Neuter

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
that19783×
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

Then was fulfilled that having been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet saying;
ῥηθὲνerō having been spoken G2046 Verb · aorist · passive · participle · nominative · singular · neuter
96× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Matthew than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To say or speak, like in Matthew 9:34 or John 1:29. This word is an alternate way of saying 'to utter' or 'to speak' in certain situations.
Amplified meaning
said, uttered
Tyndale gloss
to say
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

εἶπον is the aorist form of λέγω, which means 'to say' or 'to speak.' It encompasses a range of uses, including direct speech, narration, and the expression of thoughts. In the New Testament, it appears in various contexts, such as in Matthew 27:11 and Mark 15:2. The lexicons do not show significant disagreement on its meanings or applications.

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

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

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

λέγω,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ἐρῶ (erō) — to say.

ἐρῶ,

Attic dialect future of εἴρω (B), [Refs 5th c.BC+], Ionic dialect and Epic dialect ἐρέω (later as present, [Refs 2nd c.BC+]; optative ἐροίην [Refs 5th c.BC+]imperfect ἤρεον (variant{εἴρεον}) [Refs 5th c.BC+]: perfect active εἴρηκα [Refs 5th c.BC+]: pluperfect εἰρήκειν [Refs 1st c.AD+]:—passive, perfect εἴρημαι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Ionic dialect 3rd.pers. plural εἰρέαται [Refs 5th c.BC+], contraction εἰρῆται [Refs 4th c.BC+]; participle εἰρημένος, Cretan dialect ϝερημένος [Refs]: pluperfect εἴρητο [Refs 8th c.BC+]: aorist 1 passive ἐρρήθην [Refs 5th c.BC+]: future ῥηθήσομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+] mostly in 3rd.pers. singular -ήσεται[Refs 8th c.BC+]; participle -όμενος[Refs 8th c.BC+]future ἐρέω, 3rd.pers. singular perfect and pluperfect passive, with participle εἰρημένος, aorist participle ῥήθείς in the phrase ἐπὶ ῥηθέντι δικαίῳ (see. below), and future passive…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

λέγω

ereo

probably a fuller form of 4483; an alternate for 2036 in certain

tenses; to utter, i.e. speak or say:--call, say, speak (of), tell.

see GREEK for 4483

see GREEK for 2036

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐρεῶ

v.

I say, speak

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

λέγω legō 2x

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

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

V-APP-NSN Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Aorist Voice: Passive Mood: Participle Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Neuter

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
22%having been spoken
having been spoken22% · 11×it was said20% · 10×spoken6% · 3×he has said6% · 3×having been spoken of6% · 3×you have spoken4% · 2×he has spoken4% · 2×said4% · 2×other renderings27% · 13×

49 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 19 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 96 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
πληρόωI fill, fulfill,εἰμίI am, existκατά
καίand, even, also, nam
ἐγώλευκόςwhite, bright
ὅτιthat, since, because
ἀκούωI hear, listenἸησοῦςJesus
οὖνtherefore, then
τίςIrg
ὅς
πᾶςall, the whole, ἐνἐγώ
εἶπονhaving been spoken96×
what comes after →
διά
Article theἨσαΐαςIsaiahἸερεμίαςJeremiah
Article the
ἀρχαῖοςoriginal, primitἀδελφόςa brotherθεριστήςa reaper, harves
αὐτός
ἵναin order that, sἀμήνHebrπατήρfather, Father,
σύ
ὑπόἐνοὐNeg
ὅτιthat, since, because
Article theπρίνformerly, beforeδίδωμιI offer, give

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

Concordanceεἶπον · 96× in the New Testament
Matthew Luke Romans Acts Hebrews John Revelation 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Mark Galatians James
Across the New Testament13 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 303 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 65c. AD 40

ὃν δὲ τρόπον, μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐρῶ πρότερον ἐκεῖνο δηλώσας, ὅτι παγκάλῳ τῷ τῆς ἀκολουθίας εἱρμῷ κέχρηται, καθ’ ἣν ὑφηγήσατο ζῳογονίαν.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.133c. AD 75–95

μετʼ οὐ πολὺ δʼ ἐροῦμεν τὴν αἰτίαν, διʼ ἣν αὐτὴν καὶ Ἀφρικὴν προσαγορεύεσθαι συμβέβηκε.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 3.5c. AD 100

τότε βοήσεις, καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἐπακούσεταί σου, ἔτι λαλοῦντός σου ἐρεῖ: Ἰδοὺ πάρειμι: ἐὰν ἀφέλῃς ἀπὸ σοῦ σύνδεσμον καὶ χειροτονίαν καὶ ῥῆμα γογγυσμοῦ, καὶ δῷς πεινῶντι τὸν ἄρτον σου ἐκ ψυχῆς σου καὶ ψυχὴν τεταπεινωμένην ἐλεήσῃς.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 1st c. AD 7th c. AD
Aegyptus 22 (1942), p. 62Theadelphia (Arsinoites)AD 3

ἐδάφη ἀνέσπασάν με καὶ παρέδωκαν εἰς τὸν τοῦ Σωτηρίχου λόγον ἁπλῶς μηδέν μου ὡς εἴρηται δικαίου ἐπι

P.Fay. 111Euhemeria (Arsinoites)AD 95

κώμῃ ἐργατικὰ κτήνη δέκα . Ἡρακλίδας ὁ ὀνηλάτης τὸ αἰτίωμα περιεποίησε λέγων ὅτι σὺ εἴρηκας πεζῶι τὰ χοιρίδια ἐλάσαι. περισσὸν ἐνετειλάμην σοι εἰς Διονυσιάδα μεῖναι δύο ἡμέρας ἕως ἀγοράσῃς

P.Fay. 123Euhemeria (Arsinoites)AD 100

καὶ βούλομαι πρὸς Σαβεῖνον ἀπελθεῖν. οὔτε γὰρ εἴρηκε ἡμῖν ἀγόμενος ἵνα ἀπολυθῇ, ἀλλὰ αἰφνιδίως εἴρηκεν ἡμῖν σήμερον. γνώσομαι γὰρ εἰ ἀληθῶς λέγει. ἔρρωσο. ἀσπάζου τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς Λύκον καὶ

Then was fulfilled that having been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet saying;
διὰhupo through G1223 Preposition
667× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Matthew as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Means through or because of, like in Matthew 2:12 where the wise men left by another route. It shows cause or occasion, as in 1 Corinthians 3:15, being saved through fire. It can also describe a state or condition, like in Romans.
Tyndale gloss
through/because of
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

διά (dia) is a preposition meaning 'through' and can govern both the genitive and accusative cases. It covers a range of uses, including indicating motion through space or time, causation, and means or instrumentality. In the New Testament, it appears in various contexts, such as in Matthew 2:12 and Romans 8:25. The lexicons do not present significant disagreement regarding its meanings.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

διά (before a vowel δ’, exc. Ro 8:10, II Co 5:7, and in pr. names; Tdf., Pr., 94),

prep. c. gen., acc, as in cl.;

c. gen., through;

of Place, after verbs of motion or action: Mt 2:12 12:43, Mk 2:23, Lk 4:30, Jo 4:4, II Co 11:33, al.; σώζεσθαι (διας-) δ. πυρός, ὕδατος, I Co 3:15, I Pe 3:20; βλέπειν δ. ἐσόπτρου, I Co 13:12; metaph., of a state or condition:

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

διὰ παντός [so L WH Tr (exc. Mk. ν. 5; Lk. xxiv. 53)], or written together διαπαντός [so GT (exe. in Mt.) ; ef. W. 46 (45); Lipsius, Gram. Unters. p. 125], continually, always: Mt. xviii. 10; Mk. ν. 5; Lk. xxiv. 53; Acts ii. 25 (fr. Ps. xv. (xvi.) 8); x. 2; xxiv. 16; Ro. xi. 10 (fr. Ps. Ixviii. (Lxix.) 24); 2 Th. iii. 16; Heb. ix. 6; xiii. 15, (often in Grk. writ.). b. of the time within which a thing is done: διὰ τῆς νυκτός (1, Τ Tr WH διὰ νυκτός), by night, Acts ν. 19; xvi. 9; xvii. 10; xxiii. 31, (Palaeph. 1,10); δύ ἡμερῶν τεσσαράκοντα, repeatedly within the space of forty days, Acts i. 3;— (denying this use of the prep., C. F. A. Fritzsche in Fritzschiorum Opusce. p. 164 sq. would refer these instances to the use noted under a. [see Win., Ellic., Mey. u. s.]). 2. of time elapsed, and which has, so to say, been passed through: Gal. ii. 1 [ef. W. 380 (356)]; δὲ ἡμερῶν, (some) days…

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

διά (A.D. 58) ἀπεσχηκυῖαι [παρὰ τοῦ ᾿Αντ]ιφάνους διὰ χειρὸς [ἐϊξ οἴκου ὃ καὶ ἐπε[ίσθη]σαν κεφάλαιον, ‘have received from Antiphanes from hand to hand in cash the sum which they severally consented to accept ” (Edd.). Among other stereotyped phrases may be mentioned διὰ παντός, common in papyri as in Bibl. Greek in place of the obsolescent ἀεί : thus P Lond 42° (B.c. 168) (=I. p. 30, Selections Ὁ. 9) σοῦ διὰ παντὸς μνείαν ποιούμενοι, LGU IV. 1078* (A.p. 39) Σαραπίων Σαραπιάδι τῇ ἀδελφῇ πλεῖστα χαίρειν καὶ διὰ παντὸς ὑγιαίνειν. A rather different temporal use appears in διὰ νυκτός, “by night’ (Ac 519 etc.), as P Ryl II. 1381 (A.D. 34) κατέλαβα τοῦτον διὰ νυκτὸς ἡλμένον ἐξ ὑπερβατῶν els τὠιὸ τῆς οὐσίας ἐποίκιον Δρομήως λεγώμενου (7. ε. -όμενον), “ΕἼ detected him when under cover of night he had sprung into the farmstead” (Edd.): it is hard to imagine Fritzsche (see Grimm) arguing that here…

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

διά (dia) — through/because of.

διά,

poetry διαί (Aeolic dialect ζά, which see), preposition governing genitive and accusative — Rad. sense, through; never anastrophic [Prop. δῐᾰ: but [Refs 8th c.BC+] uses ῑ at the beginning of a line, [Refs 8th c.BC+]: also ᾱ, for the sake of meter, frequently in [Refs 8th c.BC+] uses διαί in Lyric poetry, [Refs]

__A WITH GEN.

__A.I of Place or Space:

__A.I.1 of motion in a line, from one end to the other, right through, in [Refs 8th c.BC+] frequently of the effect of weapons, διὰ μὲν ἀσπίδος ἦλθε.. ἔγχος καὶ διὰ θώρηκος.. [Refs 8th c.BC+] out through the Scaean gate, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; δι᾽ ἠέρος αἰθέρ᾽ ἵκανεν quite through the lower air even to the ether, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; διὰ Τρώων πέτετο straight through them,[Refs 5th c.BC+]: also in Compos. with πρό and ἐκ, see at {διαπρό},{διέκ}: in adverbial phrases, διὰ πασῶν (i.e.…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

διά

dia

a primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through (in very

wide applications, local, causal, or occasional):--after, always,

among, at, to avoid, because of (that), briefly, by, for (cause) ...

fore, from, in, by occasion of, of, by reason of, for sake, that,

thereby, therefore, X though, through(-out), to, wherefore, with

(-in). In composition it retains the same general importance.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

διά

Prep.

through, on account of

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

διά dia 667x

(1) gen., through, used of place or medium, Mt. 7:13; Lk. 6:1; 2 Cor. 11:33; through, of time, during, in the course of, Heb. 2:15; Acts 5:19; through, of immediate agency, causation, instrumentality, by means of, by, Jn. 1:3; Acts 3:18; of means or manner, through, by, with, Lk. 8:4; 2 Cor. 5:7; 8:8; of state or condition, in a state of, Rom.…

Read the full entry →
Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

διά through c. gen. through, by means of c. acc.

through.

WITH GEN.:

of Place or Space:

of motion in a line, through, right through, διὰ μὲν ἀσπίδος ἦλθε ἔγχος Il.; δι᾽ ἠέρος αἰθέρ᾽ ἵκανεν quite through the lower air even to the ether, id. Il.; διὰ πάντων ἐλθεῖν to go through all in succession, Xen.

of motion through a space, but not in a line, all through, over, διὰ πεδίοιο Il.; δι᾽ ἄστεος Od.

of Intervals of Space, διὰ δέκα ἐπάλξεων at every 10th battlement, Thuc.; διὰ πέντε σταδίων at a distance of 5 stades, Hdt.

of Time:

throughout, during, διὰ παντὸς τοῦ χρόνου Hdt.; δι᾽ ἡμέρης all day long, id. Hdt.; διὰ παντός continually, Aesch.; δι᾽ ὀλίγου for a short time, Thuc.

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Prep — Preposition
preposition — its sense depends on the case of the word it governs.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

PREP PREPosition

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
57%through
through57% · 391×because of22% · 153×on account of10% · 67×for2% · 14×the sake of2% · 14×other renderings6% · 44×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial96%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 667 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
θεόςGod, a godπᾶςall, the whole, καυματίζωI burn, scorch
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakμαθητήςa learner, disciἐνώπιονbefore the face
θεόςGod, a god
Article theδέbut, on the otheσοφόςwise
σύ
ἐνπρόςδίδωμιI offer, give
ἐγώ
καίand, even, also,εἶπονI say, speakἐνώπιονbefore the face
διάthrough667×
what comes after →
Article the
λόγοςa word, speech, ὄνομαname, character,προφήτηςa prophet, poet
οὗτος
λέγωI say, speakArticle theκαίand, even, also,
ὅς
Article theαἰτίαa cause, reason,καίand, even, also,
αὐτός
Article theγίνομαιI come into beinκαίand, even, also,
τίςIrg
οὐNegArticle theμετά

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

Concordanceδιά · 667× in the New Testament
Romans Acts John Matthew Hebrews 2 Corinthians 1 Corinthians Luke Mark Ephesians Galatians 1 Peter

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

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

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.4c. AD 75–95

τὸν μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τοὺς Ῥωμαίους πόλεμον ἡμῖν τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις γενόμενον καὶ τὰς ἐν αὐτῷ πράξεις καὶ τὸ τέλος οἷον ἀπέβη πείρᾳ μαθὼν ἐβιάσθην ἐκδιηγήσασθαι διὰ τοὺς ἐν τῷ γράφειν λυμαινομένους τὴν ἀλήθειαν,

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 6th c. AD 4th c. AD 1st c. AD
P.Adl. 12Pathyris102 BC

ἀρουρῶν ἑπτὰ ἀρούρας τρεῖς · γείτονες μιᾶς μὲν νότου γῆ Πατήφιος, βορρᾶ γῆ Πακοίβιος διὰ τῶν Φίβιος υἱῶν, ἀπηλιώτου ὁδὸς βασιλική, λιβὸς γῆ Ψεμμώνθου τοῦ Πανεχάτου καὶ τῶν μετόχων,

P.Adl. 14Pathyris101 BC

ἐν σφραγῖσι δυσίν , ὧν γείτονες μιᾶς μὲν νότου γῆ Πατήφιος, βορρᾶ γῆ Πακοίβιος διὰ τῶν Φίβιος υἱῶν, ἀπηλιώτου ὁδὸς βασιλική, λιβὸς γῆ Ψεμμώνθου τοῦ Πανεχάτου καὶ τῶν μετόχων,

P.Amh. 2 51Pathyris89 BC

ἀπὸ ἀπηλιώτου μέρει Παθύρεως οἰκίαν ᾠκοδομημένην καὶ δεδοκωμένην καὶ τεθυρωμένην ἧς αἱ γειτνίαι δεδήλωνται διὰ τῆς ὠνῆς.

Then was fulfilled that having been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet saying;
ἸερεμίουHieremias Jeremiah G2408 Noun · genitive · singular · masculine
3× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Matthew than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Jeremiah was a prophet in the Bible, mentioned in Matthew 2:17 and 27:9. He was an Israelite who spoke for God. Jeremiah's words are still remembered today.
Amplified meaning
a prophet of God, a spokesperson for the divine
Tyndale gloss
Jeremiah
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word Ἰερεμίας, transliterated as Ieremias, refers to the prophet Jeremiah, originating from Hebrew. It appears in the New Testament in Matthew 2:17, 16:14, and 27:9, where it is associated with prophetic references. The lexicons uniformly identify it as a proper name without significant disagreement.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

Ἰερεμίας (T, Rec. Ἱερ-; v. WH, § 408), -ου, ὁ (Heb. יִרְמְיָה, יִרְמְיָהוּ),

Jeremiah the prophet: Mt 2:17 16:14 27:9 (a ref. to Za 11:13).†

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

Ἱερεμίας [WH Ἴερ. (see their Intr. § 408); so Rec. in Mt. xxvii. 9], -ov [B. 17 (16), 8], 6, (MV or DY, i. gq. 7 19% ‘Jehovah casts forth’ (his enemies?), or ‘ Jehovah hurls’ (his thunderbolts?); ef. Bleek, Einl. in das A. T. § 206 p. 469, [ef. B. D. s. v. Jeremiah]), Jeremiah [A. V. also Jeremias, Jeremy], a famous Hebrew prophet, who prophesied from [67 Β. c. 627 until the destruction of Jerusalem [B.c. 586]. He afterwards departed into Egypt,where he appears to have died; [cf. ἱερόν B. Ὁ. 5. v. Jeremiah, I. 67: Με. 11.17; xvi. 14; xxvii. 9 (in the last pass. his name is given by mistake, for the words quoted are found in Zech. xi. 12 sq.; [ef. Prof. Brown in Journ. of Soe. for Bibl. Lit. and Exeg. for Dee. 1882, p. 101 sqq.; Toy, Quot. in N. T. p. 68 sqq.; for a history of attempted explanations, see Dr. Jas. Morison, Com. on Mt. 1. c.]).

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

Ἱερεμίας (Hieremias) — Jeremiah.

Ἰερεμίας (T, Rec. Ἱερ-; see WH, § 408), -ου, ὁ

Heb. Jeremiah the prophet: Mat.2:17 16:14 27:9 (a ref. to Zec.11:13).†

(From Abbott-Smith. LSJ has no entry)

Strong's Greek Dictionary

Ἰερεμίας

Ieremias

of Hebrew origin (3414); Hieremias (i.e. Jermijah), an

Israelite:--Jeremiah.

see HEBREW for 03414

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

Ἰερεμίας, ου, ὁ

n.m.

Jeremiah

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

Ἰερεμίας Ieremias 3x

Jeremiah, pr. name, Mt. 2:17; 16:14; 27:9*

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Easton's Bible Dictionary

Jeremiah

Raised up or appointed by Jehovah. (1.) A Gadite who joined David in the wilderness (1 Chr. 12:10).

(2.) A Gadite warrior (1 Chr. 12:13).

(3.) A Benjamite slinger who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chr. 12:4).

(4.) One of the chiefs of the tribe of Manasseh on the east of Jordan (1 Chr. 5:24).

(5.) The father of Hamutal (2 Kings 23:31), the wife of Josiah.

(6.) One of the “greater prophets” of the Old Testament, son of Hilkiah (q.v.), a priest of Anathoth (Jer. 1:1; 32:6). He was called to the prophetical office when still young (1:6), in the thirteenth year of Josiah…

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Seven other persons bearing the same name as the prophet are mentioned in the Old Testament:-- Jeremiah of Libnah, father of Hamutal wife of Josiah. (2 Kings 23:31) (B.C. before 632.) 2,3,4. Three warriors --two of the tribe of Gad-- in David’s army. (1 Chronicles 12:4,10,13) (B.C. 1061-53.) One of the "mighty men of valor" of the transjordanic half-tribe of Manasseh. (1 Chronicles 5:24) (B.C. 782.) A priest of high rank, head of the second or third of the twenty-one courses which are apparently enumerated in (Nehemiah 10:2-8; 12:1,12) (B.C. 446-410). The father of Jazaniah the Rechabite. (Jeremiah 35:3) (B.C. before…

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

One of the chief prophets of the Old Testament, prophesied under Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah, and also after the captivity of the latter. He was born at Anathoth, of the race of the priests, and was destined of God to be a prophet, and consecrated for that object before his birth, Jer 1:1,5. At an early age he was called to act as a prophet, B. C. 628, in the thirteenth year of King Josiah. This good king no doubt cooperated with him to promote the reformation of the people; but the subsequent life of the prophet was full of afflictions and persecutions. Jehoiakim threw his prophetic roll into the fire, and sought his life. Zedekiah was kindly instructed by him, and warned of the woes impending over his guilty people, and of their seventy years’ captivity, but to no purpose. The fidelity of the prophet often endangered his life…

Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary

exaltation of the Lord

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
100%jeremiah
jeremiah100% · 3×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial67%object33%

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
διά
εἶπονI say, speak
δέbut, on the other ha
ἕτεροςanother, differe
ἸερεμίαςJeremiah
what comes after →
Article the
προφήτηςa prophet, poet
Disj
εἷςone

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

ConcordanceἸερεμίας · 3× in the New Testament
Matthew
Across the New Testament1 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 82 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 the Cherubim 49c. AD 40

καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ παρὰ Μωυσεῖ τῷ θεοφιλεῖ μυηθεὶς τὰ μεγάλα μυστήρια ὅμως αὖθις Ἱερεμίαν τὸν προφήτην ἰδὼν καὶ γνούς, ὅτι οὐ μόνον μύστης ἐστὶν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἱεροφάντης ἱκανός, οὐκ ὤκνησα φοιτῆσαι πρὸς αὐτόν·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 10.78c. AD 75–95

Ἱερεμίας δὲ ὁ προφήτης ἐπικήδειον αὐτοῦ συνέταξε μέλος θρηνητικόν, ὃ καὶ μέχρι νῦν διαμένει.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
7th c. AD 6th c. AD 8th c. AD 5th c. AD 3rd c. AD

η … ω ἀπὸ ἐποικίου Νειλάμμωνος παρὰ … καὶ Ἰωσῆφις Ἰερεμίου ἀμφοτέρων κωμαρχῶν κώμης … τοῦ Ἑρμοπολίτου νομοῦ χαίρειν. πεπληρώμεθα παρὰ σοῦ ὑπὲρ σίτου

P.Heid. 7 402AD 326–AD 375

ξέσται ιθ Διονύσιος Ἥρωνος ὄξους ξέσται ιθ Ἀθανάσιος Ἑρμίου ὄξους ξέσται κζ … ελλίων Ἰερεμίου ξέσται μ Λευκάδιος Ἀθανασίου ξέσται

SB 1 4809ArsinoitesAD 301–AD 700

υἱὸς Παμίνου ἀπὸ … ἐγγυητοῦ καὶ ἀναδόντα … … Ἱερεμίου διακόνου Δαμιανοῦ ἀπὸ … … διακόνου καὶ γερ ειρ … … ὁρμώμενοι ἀπὸ κώμης

Then was fulfilled that having been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet saying;
τοῦho the G3588 Article · genitive · singular · masculine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Matthew as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

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

T-GSM Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Genitive Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

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

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

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

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

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

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

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

Then was fulfilled that having been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet saying;
προφήτουprophētēs prophet G4396 Noun · genitive · singular · masculine
144× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Matthew than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
A prophet is someone who acts as an interpreter of God's will, as seen in Matthew 5:12 and Romans 11:3. They speak forth God's message to others.
Amplified meaning
one who speaks forth God's will
Tyndale gloss
prophet
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word προφήτης (i.e., *prophētēs*) means 'prophet' and is derived from roots meaning 'to speak forth.' It refers to someone who interprets the divine will, often predicting future events. In the New Testament, it encompasses Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist, and Christian prophets, highlighting their role as inspired teachers and speakers of God's messages.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

προφήτης, -ου, ὁ [< πρόφημι, to speak forth),

[in LXX chiefly for נָבִיא;]

one who acts as an interpreter or forth-teller of the Divine will (v. Lft., Notes, 83 f.; Tr., Syn., § vi), a prophet;

in cl. (Æsch., Hdt., Plat., al.), of the interpreters of oracles.

In NT,

of the OT prophets: Mt 5:12, Mk 6:15, Lk 4:27, Jo 8:52, Ro 11:3, al.;

of prophets in general: Mt 10:41 13:57 21:46, Mk 6:4, Lk 13:33, al.;

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

προφήτης, -ov, 6, (πρόφημι, to speak forth, speak out; hence prop. ‘one who speaks forth’; see πρό, ἃ. a.), Sept. - = . for w2) (which comes fr. the same root as (Gs: ‘to divulge,’ ‘make known,’ ‘announce’ [ef. Fleischer in Delitzsch, Com. τι. d. Gen., 4te Aufl. p. 551 sq.], therefore prop. i. q. interpreter, Ex. vii. 1, ef. iv. 16; hence an inlerpreter or spokesman for God; one through whom God speaks; cf. esp. Bleek, Einl. in ἃ. A. T. 4te Aufl. p. 309 [Β. Ὁ. s. v. Prophet and reff. there; esp. also Day’s note on Oehler’s O. T. Theol. § 161, and W. Robertson Smith, Prophets of Israel, p. 389 (note on Lect. ii.)]), one who speaks forth by divine inspiration; I. In Grk. writ. fr. Aeschyl., Hdt., and Pind. down 1. an interpreter of oracles (whether uttered by the gods or the μάντεις), or of other hidden things. 2. a foreteller, soothsayer, seer. II. In the N. T. 1. one who, moved by the…

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

προφήτης. OGIS 11118 shows us a προφήτης in Upper Egypt in ii/B.c. ; and in Sy/J 790 (=*1157)* (c. B.C. 100?), a procession is ordered in honour of the oracle of Apollo Coropaeus (Corope in the Pagasaean Gulf). The procession is formed of an elected ἱερεύς of Apollo, one each from the colleges of στρατηγοί and νομοφύλακες, one of the πρυτάνεις and a ταμίας, preceding τὸν γραμματέα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὸν προφήτην. The prophet is the interpreter of the oracle—‘‘ the composer’’ would come nearer to fact—and the γραμματεύς takes down the response he dictates. See also the list of religious officials in the Canopic Decree OGIS 56% (B.c. 238) (cf. the Rosetta stone 72. 90°—B.c. 196) οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς Kal προφῆται καὶ οἱ εἰς τὸ ἄδυτον εἰσπορευόμένοι πρὸς τὸν στολισμὸν τῶν θεῶν καὶ οἱ πτεροφόραι καὶ ἱερογραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι ἱερεῖς. Dittenberger notes adl. that the προφῆται are ‘‘interpretes oraculorum…

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

προφήτης (prophētēs) — prophet.

προφήτ-ης, ου,

Doric dialect and Boeotian dialect προφάτας [ᾱ], α, [Refs 6th c.BC+] (πρό, φημί):— properly one who speaks for a god and interprets his will to man, Διὸς π. interpreter, expounder of the will of Zeus, of Tiresias, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Βάκχου π., perhaps of Orpheus, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; [Διονύσου] π., of the Bacchae, [Refs]; Νηρέως π., of Glaucus, [Refs]; especially of the Delphic Apollo, Διὸς π. ἐστὶ Λοξίας πατρός [Refs 4th c.BC+]; of the minister and interpreter at Delphi, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; at the Ptoön,[Refs 2nd c.BC+]; compare προφῆτις.

2. title of official keepers of the oracle at Branchidae, [Refs 1st c.AD+]; elsewhere, [Refs 2nd c.BC+]

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

προφήτης

prophetes

from a compound of 4253 and 5346; a foreteller ("prophet"); by

analogy, an inspired speaker; by extension, a poet:--prophet.

see GREEK for 4253

see GREEK for 5346

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

προφήτης, ου, ὁ

n.m.

a prophet, poet

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

προφήτης prophētēs 144x

pr. a spokesman for another; spc. a spokesman or interpreter for a deity; a prophet, seer, Tit. 1:12; in NT a prophet, a divinely commissioned and inspired person, Mt. 14:5; Lk. 7:16, 39; Jn. 9:17; a prophet in the Christian church, a person gifted for the exposition of divine truth, 1 Cor. 12:28, 29; a prophet, a foreteller of the future, Mt. 1:22, et al. freq.; οἱ προφῆται, the prophetic scriptures of the Old Testament, Lk. 16:29

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

προφήτης πρόφημι one who speaks for a God and interprets his will to man, a prophet; so Teiresias is πρ. Διός, Jove's interpreter, Pind.; and of Apollo, Διὸς προφήτης ἐστὶ Λοξίας πατρός Aesch.; while the Pythia, in turn, became the προφῆτις of Apollo, Hdt.; so Poets are called οἱ τῶν Μουσῶν προφῆται interpreters of the Muses, Plat.

generally, an interpreter, declarer, ἐγὼ πρ. σοι λόγων γενήσομαι Eur.; so, the bowl is called κώμου προφάτης, Pind.

in NTest.,

one who possesses the gift of προφητεία, an inspired preacher and teacher.

the revealer of God's counsel for the future, a prophet (in the modern sense of the word), a predicter of future events.

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Easton's Bible Dictionary

Prophet

(Heb. nabi, from a root meaning “to bubble forth, as from a fountain,” hence “to utter”, comp. Ps. 45:1). This Hebrew word is the first and the most generally used for a prophet. In the time of Samuel another word, ro’eh, “seer”, began to be used (1 Sam. 9:9). It occurs seven times in reference to Samuel. Afterwards another word, hozeh, “seer” (2 Sam. 24:11), was employed. In 1 Ch. 29:29 all these three words are used: “Samuel the seer (ro’eh), Nathan the prophet (nabi’), Gad the seer” (hozeh). In Josh. 13:22 Balaam is called (Heb.) a kosem “diviner,” a word used only of a false…

Smith's Bible Dictionary

The ordinary Hebrew word for prophet is nabi , derived from a verb signifying "to bubble forth" like a fountain; hence the word means one who announces or pours forth the declarations of God. The English word comes from the Greek prophetes (profetes), which signifies in classical Greek one who speaks for another , especially one who speaks for a god , and so interprets his will to man; hence its essential meaning is "an interpreter." The use of the word in its modern sense as "one who predicts" is post-classical. The larger sense of interpretation has not, however, been lost. In fact the English word ways been used in a closer sense. The different meanings or shades of meanings in which the abstract noun is employed in Scripture have been drawn out by Locke as follows: "Prophecy comprehends three things: prediction; singing by the dictate of the Spirit; and understanding and explaining…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
51%prophets
prophets51% · 76×prophet43% · 64×prophet?2% · 3×other renderings4% · 6×

149 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 6 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial28%subject28%object24%predicate16%indirect object3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 144 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,ἨσαΐαςIsaiahδιά
ὅτιthat, since, because
λέγωI say, speakδέbut, on the otheὄντωςreally, truly
αὐτός
εἰςαἰώνan age, a cycle καίand, even, also,
εἰμίI am, exist
οὐNegεἰCond
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀπόστολοςan apostle, a meαὐτόςἅγιοςset apart, holy,
προφήτηςprophet144×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theλιθοβολέωI stone, cast stδίκαιοςjust, righteous,
λέγωI say, speak
ἐκφωνήa sound, noise, αὐτός
Article the
δέbut, on the otheπρόπατήρfather, Father,
εἰμίI am, exist
σύδιάDisj
οὐNeg
ἔρχομαιI come, goἀκούωI hear, listenἐγείρωI wake, arouse,

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

Concordanceπροφήτης · 144× in the New Testament
Matthew Acts Luke John Revelation 1 Corinthians Mark Ephesians Romans 2 Peter Hebrews 1 Peter

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 155 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 Epistle of Barnabas The Didache The Shepherd of Hermas
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 3.103c. AD 40

καὶ γὰρ ὅτε Ἀαρὼν ὁ λόγος καὶ Μαριὰμ ἡ αἴσθησις ἐπανίστανται, ῥητῶς ἀκούουσιν ὅτι, „ἐὰν γένηται προφήτης κυρίῳ, ἐν ὁράματι αὐτῷ γνωσθήσεται“ καὶ ἐν σκιᾷ ὁ θεός, οὐκ ἐναργῶς, Μωυσεῖ δέ, ὅστις „πιστὸς ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ, στόμα κατὰ στόμα λαλήσει, ἐν εἴδει…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.240c. AD 75–95

Κλεόδημος δέ φησιν ὁ προφήτης ὁ καὶ Μάλχος ἱστορῶν τὰ περὶ Ἰουδαίων, καθὼς καὶ Μωυσῆς ἱστόρησεν ὁ νομοθέτης αὐτῶν, ὅτι ἐκ τῆς Κατούρας Ἁβράμῳ ἐγένοντο παῖδες ἱκανοί.

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 1st c. AD 3rd c. AD 1st c. BC 2nd c. BC
SB 1 5232Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 15

αἴθριον καὶ τόπους ψιλοὺς ἀπὸ νότου τῆς οἰκίας πατρικοὺς αὐτοῦ παρὰ Χαιρήμονος τοῦ Ἡρώδου προφήτου Σούχου θεοῦ μεγάλου Ἀρσινοείτου νομοῦ εὐδοκούσης τῆς τούτου γυναικὸς Τομσάιος, καὶ ἐθέμην διὰ Σωκράτους

P.Lond. 2 p. 178 no. 355Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 16

ψιλῶν τόπων τοῦ προφήτου καθοριζομένου τοὺς πεπραμένους ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ τόπους ἐπικεκρατῆσθαι ὑπὸ τε τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν

SB 1 5240Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 17

νεωτέρου τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Σοκνοπαίου Νήσου ἀγοράσαντα τῶι μα ἔτει οἰκίαν ἀδέσποτον παρὰ τοῦ προφήτου προσανειληφέναι τῶι μγ ἔτει Καίσαρος ἑτέρους ψιλοὺς τόπους ἀδεσπότους. τὸν αὐτὸν εἰσέδωκεν Νεστνῆφις. σημανθέντος

Then was fulfilled that having been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet saying;
λέγοντος·legō saying; G3004 Verb · present · active · participle · genitive · singular · masculine
2,255× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Matthew as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means to say or speak, and it is used by Jesus and others in the New Testament to share teachings and tell stories. It appears in Matthew 9:34 and John 1:29.
Tyndale gloss
to say
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

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

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

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

λέγω,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

λέγω (legō) — to say.

λέγω,

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

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

λέγω

lego

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

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

5346 generally refer to an individual expression or speech

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

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

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

shew, speak, tell, utter.

see GREEK for 2036

see GREEK for 5346

see GREEK for 4483

see GREEK for 2980

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

λέγω

v.

I say, speak

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

λέγω legō 2x

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

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

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

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

1,357 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 107 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
verb98%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 2,255 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
αὐτός
πρόςμαθητήςa learner, disciἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theοὗτοςἐγώ
ἸησοῦςJesus
Article theδέbut, on the otheγόνυa knee
ἀμήνHebr
ἀμήνHebrαὐτόςλέγωI say, speak
λέγωsaying;2255×
what comes after →
αὐτός
Article theτίςIrgκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
Article the
μαθητήςa learner, disciἸησοῦςJesusΠέτροςPeter
σύ
ὅτιthat, since, becοὐNegἐάνCond
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theπρόςαὐτός
ὅτιthat, since, because
Article theοὗτοςσύ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 6th c. AD 1st c. AD 4th c. AD
P.Grenf. 2 33Pathyris101 BC

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

P.Stras. 2 89Pathyris100 BC

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

P.Adl. 16Pathyris100 BC

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

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

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

Donate