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1 Corinthians 14:29 — Word Study

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N1904προφῆται δὲ δύο τρεῖς λαλείτωσαν, καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι διακρινέτωσαν·

BSAProphetsprophētēs [who speak forth God's will] thende twoduo [or a few, a limited number] orē threetreis should speak,laleō [utter words, proclaim messages] andkai theho othersallos [different ones] should discern;diakrinō [judge, discern, spoken, proclaimed]

Word
Listen & take away1 Corinthians 14
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 29 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 (diakrinō) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
1 Corinthians 14:29quick helps
In a sentencePaul instructs that two or three prophets should speak while others evaluate what is said.
Who is speakingThe Apostle Paul, providing guidance for orderly worship.
Where we areIn a section discussing the use of spiritual gifts in the church.
The hard wordπροφῆται
Take awayThe community is encouraged to discern and evaluate prophetic messages.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause subjectπροφήτης verbλαλέω 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 — 1 Corinthians 14:29

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 — Guidelines for Prophecy in Worshipgenerated

28But if there is no interpreter, he should remain silent in the church and speak only to himself and God.
29Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.
30And if a revelation comes to someone who is seated, the first speaker should stop.
31For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.

1 Corinthians 14:29 is part of Paul's instructions on how to conduct worship services in an orderly manner. He emphasizes the importance of prophecy as a spiritual gift that should be exercised with care. The context reveals that the church in Corinth was experiencing confusion regarding the use of spiritual gifts, particularly prophecy, and Paul aims to establish guidelines that promote clarity and edification within the community.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
11 Corinthians 14:39So, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.
21 Corinthians 12:10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in various tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
31 Thessalonians 5:19–21Do not extinguish the Spirit.
41 John 4:1–3Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 4 references, hung on the phrase they belong to


The Key Word προφῆται, prophētēsgenerated

The Greek word προφήτης (prophētēs) means 'prophet' and refers to someone who speaks on behalf of God, interpreting His will. It is a noun in the nominative plural, indicating multiple individuals who fulfill this role. Prophets are seen throughout the Bible as those who convey divine messages, and in the New Testament, they include both Old Testament figures and new Christian leaders.

In this verse, Paul specifies that two or three prophets should speak, highlighting the importance of their role in the church. The use of the plural form indicates that there can be multiple prophets contributing to the worship experience, which allows for a diverse expression of God's message.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The verse is rendered in the Berean Standard Bible as 'Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.' The KJV uses 'Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge,' emphasizing the role of discernment.

Where translations differ, the KJV and GNV use 'others' for the Greek word ἄλλοι, while versions like the ASV and WEB use 'the others.' Additionally, the ASV and WEB translate διακρινέτωσαν as 'discern,' while the KJV opts for 'judge.'


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main verb of the verse is λαλείτωσαν, should speak, which governs the structure. It is followed by a noun phrase indicating the subject (προφῆται, prophets) and a numeral phrase specifying how many should speak. The second verb, διακρινέτωσαν, should discern, forms a separate clause that complements the first by indicating what the others are to do.

The sentence structure indicates a clear directive: it establishes the roles of the prophets and the listeners, promoting an orderly approach to worship and communication within the church.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

προφήτης appears in the Septuagint as a translation of the Hebrew word נָבִיא (i.e., *nabi*), which also means 'prophet.' This connection underscores the continuity of the prophetic role from the Old Testament to the New Testament, where prophets continue to convey God's messages.

The term διακρίνω does not have a direct Old Testament equivalent in the Septuagint but is used in various contexts to indicate judgment and discernment, reflecting the need for careful evaluation of prophetic messages.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

1 Corinthians 14:29 instructs that two or three prophets should speak during a church gathering, while others are to evaluate what is said. This guidance helps maintain order and clarity in worship, ensuring that the community can discern and understand the messages being shared.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What is the role of prophets in the church according to this verse?

Prophets are to speak during church gatherings, sharing God's messages, while the others are responsible for weighing and discerning what is said.

Why does Paul limit the number of prophets who should speak?

Limiting the number of prophets helps maintain order and prevents confusion during worship, allowing for a more focused and meaningful experience.

What does it mean to discern what is said?

To discern means to judge or evaluate the messages shared by the prophets, ensuring they align with God's truth and are beneficial for the community.

How can the church apply this instruction today?

The church can apply this instruction by encouraging orderly worship, allowing for prophetic messages while ensuring that there is discernment and evaluation by other members.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. How can I practice discernment when hearing messages in church?
  2. What role do I believe prophets play in today's church?
  3. In what ways can I contribute to orderly worship in my community?
  4. How can I encourage others to share their prophetic insights while maintaining clarity?

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

Early church writings provide insights into the practice of prophecy and discernment in worship, referencing this verse to support their teachings.

DidacheThe Didache, Chapter 10 c. 100
But permit the prophets to make Thanksgiving as much as they desire.
Early Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 14 →
CyprianEpistle LXX c. 200–258
Neither must we prescribe this from custom, but overcome opposite custom by reason. For neither did Peter, whom first the Lord chose, and upon whom He built His Church, when Paul disputed with him afterwards about circumcision,
Early Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 14 →
Victorinus of PettauVictorinus Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John d. c. 304
"Seven thunders uttered their voices." The seven thunders uttering their voices signify, the Holy Spirit of sevenfold power, who through the prophets announced all things to come, and by His voice John gave his testimony in the world;
Early Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 14 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on 1 Corinthians 14:29 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

Let the prophets speak, two or three,.... The apostle having finished the rules for streaking with an unknown tongue, proceeds to lay down some for the gift of prophesying; and observes, that where

Read John Gill on 1 Corinthians 14 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.

Read Robert Jamieson on 1 Corinthians 14 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible

That is, two or three successively, the one beginning to speak when the others have done, and two or three at the same church assembly; and if there be more present, let them sit still and judge of the truth of what he saith.

Read Matthew Poole on 1 Corinthians 14 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

29 Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. Ver. 29. Let the other judge] But is not this a disparagement to the prophets? may some say: no, but an honour. 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21, after "despise not prophesying," he subjoineth, "try all things."

Read John Trapp on 1 Corinthians 14 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) Let the prophets speak.—Here follows the application, to those who had the gift of prophecy, of the general principle, Let all be done to edification. Only two or three prophets are to speak in each assembly on each occasion; the others (not “other,” as in English version) who had the gift are to sit by silent and judging, i.e., determining whether the utterances were from the Spirit of God. (See 1 Corinthians 12:3, and 1 John 4:1-3.) If, however, while one prophet was standing speaking there came a sudden revelation of truth to some other prophet who was sitting by, the speaker would pause, and the other prophet give utterance to the inspiration which had come to him. The suddenness…

Read Charles John Ellicott on 1 Corinthians 14 →
AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

Verse 29. Let the prophets] Those who have the gift of speaking to men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort; 1 Corinthians 14:3. Two or three] As prophesying implied psalmody, teaching, and exhortation, Dr. Lightfoot thinks that the meaning of the place is this: Let one sing who has a psalm; let another teach who has a doctrine; and let a third exhort, or comfort, who has a gift of that kind. And let the other judge.] The other prophets, or qualified persons, judge of the propriety of what had been spoken; or let them discern, διακριντωσαν, how the revelation under the new covenant confirmed and illustrated the revelation granted under the Old Testament. It appears to have been…

Read AdamClarke on 1 Corinthians 14 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. Let the prophets speak two or three] The same rule was to hold good of preaching. Those who felt that they had something to communicate must notwithstanding be governed by the desire to edify their brethren. The Church was not to be wearied out by an endless succession of discourses, good indeed in themselves, but addressed to men who were not in a condition to profit by them. It would seem that two or three short discourses, either in the vernacular, or, if there were any one present who could interpret, in some foreign tongue, took the place in Apostolic times of the modern sermon. “Let the presbyters one by one, not all together, exhort the people, and the Bishop last of all, as the…

Read Cambridge on 1 Corinthians 14 →
Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let the prophets - See the note at 1 Corinthians 14:1. Speak two or three - On the same days, or at the same meeting; see the note at 1 Corinthians 14:27.

Read Albert Barnes on 1 Corinthians 14 →

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

Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

Let two or three of the prophets speak, and let the others discern.

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.

NETBNew English Translation2006

Two or three prophets should speak and the others should evaluate what is said.

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

And let the prophets speak by two or three, and let the others discern.

RVARevised Version, American1894

And let the prophets speak by two or three, and let the others discern.

NWBWebster's Bible1833

Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge.

GNVGeneva Bible1599

Let the Prophets speake two, or three, and let the other iudge.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

And let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

And prophets — let two or three speak, and let the others discern,

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

And prophets—let two or three speak, and let the others discern,

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others listen with discernment to what is said.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

And let the prophets speak, two or three; and let the rest judge.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

Similarly, have two or three of those who give God's prophetic message speak, and let everyone else think about what was said.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

And let the prophets give their words, but not more than two or three, and let the others be judges of what they say.

Word by word, the decisions they made

ἄλλοιallos others G243 2 different renderings
othersASV BBE BSB DBY LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
otherGNV KJV
διακρινέτωσαν·diakrinō should discern; G1252 2 different renderings
discernASV LSV RVA WEB YLT
judgeDBY DRA KJV NWB

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.

clauseδὲthenclauseclausenoun phrase · subjectπροφῆταιProphetsnumeral phraseδύοtwoorτρεῖςthreeverbλαλείτωσανlet speakκαὶandclausenoun phrase · subjectοἱtheἄλλοιothersverbδιακρινέτωσανlet discern

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

Prophetæ autem duo, aut tres dicant, et ceteri dijudicent.

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

ܢܒܝܐ ܕܝܢ ܬܪܝܢ ܐܘ ܬܠܬܐ ܢܡܠܠܘܢ ܘܫܪܟܐ ܢܦܪܫܘܢ

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

προφῆται δὲ δύο τρεῖς λαλείτωσαν, καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι διακρινέτωσαν·

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

προφῆται δὲ δύο τρεῖς λαλείτωσαν, καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι διακρινέτωσαν·

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

προφῆται δὲ δύο τρεῖς λαλείτωσαν, καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι διακρινέτωσαν·

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

προφῆται δὲ δύο τρεῖς λαλείτωσαν, καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι διακρινέτωσαν·

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

προφῆται δὲ δύο τρεῖς λαλείτωσαν, καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι διακρινέτωσαν·

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

προφῆται δὲ δύο τρεῖς λαλείτωσαν, καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι διακρινέτωσαν·

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

προφῆται δὲ δύο τρεῖς λαλείτωσαν, καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι διακρινέτωσαν·

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

προφῆται δὲ δύο τρεῖς λαλείτωσαν, καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι διακρινέτωσαν·

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

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

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

Word by word, across the editions

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


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

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

1 Corinthians 14:29προφήτηςProphetsProphetsπροφήτηςδέthenthenδέδύοtwotwoδύοororτρεῖςthreethreeτρεῖςλαλέωshould speashould speak,λαλέωκαίandandκαίthetheἄλλοςothersothersἄλλοςδιακρίνωshould discshould discern;διακρίνωδιάPrep. throPrep. through, διάπρόPrep. befoPrep. beforeπρόφημίv. I sayv. I sayφημίἤδηAdv now, aAdv now, alreadἤδηἤπερDisj.prt. Disj.prt. thanἤπερλέγωv. I say, v. I say, speakλέγωἨσαΐαςn.m. Isaian.m. IsaiahἨσαΐαςἀπόστολοςn.m. an apn.m. an apostleἀπόστολοςἰχθύςn.m. a fisn.m. a fishἰχθύςτρεῖςAdj threeAdj threeτρεῖςἀδελφήn.f. a sisn.f. a sisterἀδελφήμήν (II)n.m. a monn.m. a monthμήν (II)δύοAdj. & IndAdj. & Indec.nuδύογλῶσσαn.f. the tn.f. the tongueγλῶσσαπαρρησίαn.f. freedn.f. freedom, cπαρρησίαἨλίαςn.m. Elijan.m. ElijahἨλίαςμηδείςAdj no oneAdj no one, notμηδείς
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 1 Corinthians 14:29

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.

Prophets then two or three should speak, and the others should discern;
προφῆταιprophētēs Prophets G4396 Noun · nominative · plural · masculine
144× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 Corinthians as 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
who speak 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…

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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…

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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+]

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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-NPM — Noun · nominative · plural · masculine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked plural masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-NPM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Nominative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A class of men of God, especially in the Old Testament dispensation, inspired to foretell future and secret events; and who also revealed he will of God as to current events and duties, and were his ambassadors to men. But the word is sometimes used in a wider sense; thus Aaron was Moses; prophet, Ex 7:1, appointed to deliver to the people the messages that Moses received from God; the sacred musicians are said to prophecy, 1Ch 25:1; and Paul gives the name, according to the custom of the Greeks, to the poet Aratus, "a prophet of their own," Tit 1:12. Scripture does not withhold the name of prophet from impostors, although they falsely boasted of inspiration. As true prophets, when filled y the energy of God’s Spirit, were…

Nave's Topical Bible

→ Called SEERS 1Sa 9:19; 2Sa 15:27; 24:11; 2Ki 17:13; 1Ch 9:22; 29:29; 2Ch 9:29; 12:15; 29:30; Isa 30:10; Mic 3:7

→ Schools of 1Ki 20:35; 2Ki 2:3-15; 4:1,38; 9:1

→ Kept the chronicles 1Ch 29:29; 2Ch 9:29; 12:15

→ Counselors to kings Isa 37:2,3

Torrey's New Topical Textbook

- God spoke of old by

Ho 12:10; Heb 1:1

- The messengers of God

2Ch 36:15; Isa 44:26

- The servants of God

Jer 35:15

- The watchmen of Israel

Eze 3:17

- WERE CALLED

. Men of God

1Sa 9:6

. Prophets of God

Ezr 5:2

. Holy prophets

Lu 1:70; Re 18:20; 22:6

. Holy men of God

2Pe 1:21

. Seers

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,
προφήτηςProphets144×
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

Prophets then two or three should speak, and the others should discern;
δὲde then G1161 Conjunction
2,787× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 Corinthians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This is a conjunction that means and, but, or then, used to connect ideas like in Matthew 1:2 and 2 Corinthians 6:15.
Tyndale gloss
then
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

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

post-positive conjunctive particle;

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

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

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

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

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

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

δέ (de) — then.

δέ,

but: adversative and copulative Particle,

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

II. without preceding μέν,

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

II.2. copulative,

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

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

δέ

de

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

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

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δέ

Cj.

but, on the other hand, and

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δέ de 2x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

δέ is often redundant,

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

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

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

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

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existσύ
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςκύριοςlord, Lord, mastπεντακισχίλιοιfive thousand
εἰCond
παλαιόςold, ancient, woσύεἰμίI am, exist
εἰμίI am, exist
περιπατέωI walk, conduct ἀναπίπτωI lie down, reclμνημεῖονa tomb, sepulche
οὗτος
δίδωμιI offer, giveθεόςGod, a godπίστιςfaith, belief, t
δέthen2787×
what comes after →
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusθεόςGod, a godκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
αὐτός
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐπί
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςArticle theσύ
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theοὗτοςἸωάννηςJohn
τὶς
Article theαὐτόςὄνομαname, character,

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

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

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

Across the New Testament26 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Prophets then two or three should speak, and the others should discern;
δύοduo two G1417 Adjective · nominative
133× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
rarer in 1 Corinthians than elsewhere in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Means two in number, used in Matthew 19:6 and Mark 10:8 to describe a married couple, and in Luke 10:1 to describe sending disciples out two by two.
Amplified meaning
or a few, a limited number
Tyndale gloss
two
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

δύο is a numeral meaning 'two,' used in various contexts throughout the New Testament, such as in Matthew 19:6 and Mark 10:8. It can appear with plural nouns and in phrases like 'two and two' or 'into two parts.' The word is indeclinable in most uses, although it has forms in the genitive and dative cases. Some entries note its usage in both classical and Hellenistic Greek.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δύο, numeral, indecl. exc. in dat., δυσί, δυσίν (Attic δυοῖν),

two: Mt 19:6, Mk 10:8, Jo 2:6, al.; with pl. noun, Mt 9:27 10:10, al.; οἱ, τῶν, τοὺς δ., Mt 19:5 20:24, Mk 10:8, Eph 2:15, al.; δ. ἐξ, Lk 24:13; distrib., ἀνὰ, κατὰ δ., two and two, two apiece: Lk 10:1 (WH, ἀνὰ δ. [δύο]), Jo 2:6, I Co 14:27; δύο δύο (= ἀνὰ δ., as LXX, Ge 6:19

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

δύο, genit. indecl. δύο (as in Epic, and occasionally in Hadt., Thue., Xen., Polyb., al. for δυοῖν, more common in Attic [see Rutherford, New Phryn. p. 289 sq.]); dat. δυσί, δυσίν, ([-σί in Mt. vi. 24; Lk. xvi. 13; Acts xxi. 33 (Tr -civ),-oivin Mt. xxii. 40; Mk. xvi.12; Lk. xii.52(RG -ai); Acts xii. 6 (R GL-oi) ; Heb. x. 28; Rev. xi.3 (RG -ai) ; cf. Tdf. Proleg. p.98; WH. App. p. 147]—a form not found in the older and better writ., met with in Hippocr., Aristot., Theophr., frequent fr. Polyb. on, for the Attic δυοῖν); ace. δύο (cf. Lob. ad Phryn. p. 210; Brim. Ausf. Spr. i. p. 276 sq.; W. § 9, 2 b.; Passow i. p. 729); two: absol., οὐκ ἔτι εἰσὶ δύο, ἀλλὰ σὰρξ μία, Mt. xix. 6; Mk. x. 8; δύο ἣ τρεῖς, Mt. xviii. 20; 1 Co. xiv. 29; τρεῖς ἐπὶ δυσὶ x. δύο ἐπὶ τρισί, Lk. xii. 52; ava and κατὰ δύο, two by two [W. 898 (372); 401 (374); B. 30 (26)], Lk. ix.3 [WH om. Tr br. ἀνά]; x. 1 [WH ava δύο […

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

δύο. The disappearance of the dual flexion of δύο is in line with the whole tendency of Hellenistic: see Pro/eg. p. 77 ff. The gen. and dat. δυοῖν appears occasionally in a document where the writer desires to make broad his Attic phylacteries : thus P Giss I. 99! (B.C. 80) ἐΐν στή[λαι]ν δυοῖν [ἔμπροσθεν ἱδρυμέ[ν]αιν τοῦ [v Jed, P Strass I. 5238 (A.D. 151) ἀρουρῶν δυοῖν ἡμίσους τρίτου (or was this Bvetv?), P Oxy VIII. 1119” | (A.D. 254) δυοῖν θάτερον. The literary Hellenistic δυεῖν

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δύο (duo) — two.

δύο [ῠ],

also δύω in Epic dialect, Eleg. and late, [Refs 5th c.BC+], nor in Attic dialect Prose or Inscrr.: Laconian dialect accusative δύε [Refs]: genitive and dative δυοῖν [Refs 5th c.BC+]-]; later Attic dialect also δυεῖν (especially in feminine genitive) found in codices of [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Boeotian dialect δουῖν [Refs 6th c.BC+], etc.: early Attic dialect Inscrr. have δυοῖν [Refs]; Ionic dialect genitive δυῶν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; δυῶν also Doric dialect, [Refs]— Used indeclinable, like{ἄμφω}, by [Refs 8th c.BC+] and Attic dialect, δύο νεῶν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; with dual, δύο μναῖν uncertain reading [Refs]; but not in Trag. and rare in Comedy texts, ἔτεσιν δύο [Refs 4th c.BC+]: not in Attic dialect Inscrr. before the Roman period, [Refs 8th c.BC+] are sometimes joined with plural Nouns, δύο δ᾽ ἄνδρες [Refs]; also in Trag., δύο κριούς [Refs 5th c.BC+]; in Attic…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

δύο

duo

a primary numeral; "two":--both, twain, two.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δύο

Adj. & Indec.num.

two

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δύο dyo 135x

two, Mt. 6:24; 21:38, 31, et al. freq.; οἱ δύο, both, Jn. 20:4; δύο ἠ τρεῖς, two or three, some, a few, Mt. 18:20; from the Hebrew, δύο δύο, two and two, Mk. 6:7, i.q. ἀνὰ δύο, Lk. 10:1, and κατὰ δύο, 1 Cor. 14:27

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

δύο

du/onumeraldu/wnumeral duoi=nnumeral duw=nnumeral duoi=sinumeral dusi/numeral can be indecl., like ἄμφω, by Hom., τῶν δύο μοιράων, δύω κανόνεσσι Il.; so in Hdt. and attic Prose; but declined in Trag. two, Il., etc.;—in Poets δύο or δύω may be joined with pl. Nouns, δύο δ᾽ ἄνδρες id. Il.:— εἰς δύο two and two, Xen.; σὺν δύο two together, Il., Hdt.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Adj-NUI — Adjective · nominative
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

A-NUI Indeclinable NUmeral (Adjective)

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

too.

See NUMBER.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
99%two
two99% · 135×other renderings1% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
object38%subject32%adverbial23%predicate7%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 133 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,εἰμίI am, existοὗτος
εἰμίI am, exist
γάρforοὐκέτιNegτότεthen
Disj
χωλόςlame, deprived oχείρa handεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come in
ἀποστέλλωI send forth, send,
αὐτόςἐλαίαan olive treeἸησοῦςJesus
αὐτός
μαθητήςa learner, disciμετάὑπαντάωI meet
δύοtwo133×
what comes after →
Article the
μαθητήςa learner, disciδέbut, on the otheἀκούωI hear, listen
ἰχθύςa fish
ἀναβλέπωI look up, recovμερίζωI divide, part,
Disj
τρεῖςthreeArticle the
εἰς
σάρξflesh, bodyArticle the
ἡμέραa day
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐξέρχομαιI go out, come o

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

Concordanceδύο · 133× in the New Testament
Matthew Luke Mark Acts John Revelation 1 Corinthians Ephesians Galatians Hebrews 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament13 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 320 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 48c. AD 40

οὓς ἅπαντας ἡ τετρὰς ἔχει περιλαβοῦσα, τὸν μὲν ἐπίτριτον ἐν τῷ τέσσαρα πρὸς τρία, τὸν δ’ ἡμιόλιον ἐν τῷ τρία πρὸς δύο, τὸν δὲ διπλάσιον ἐν τῷ δύο πρὸς ἓν ἢ τέσσαρα πρὸς δύο, τὸν δὲ τετραπλάσιον ἐν τῷ τέσσαρα πρὸς

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.4c. AD 75–95

τούτων δὴ τῶν προειρημένων αἰτιῶν αἱ τελευταῖαι δύο κἀμοὶ συμβεβήκασι·

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 4.8c. AD 100

Μωϋσῆ Μωϋσῆ, κατάβηθι τὸ τάχος, ὅτι ἠνόμησεν ὁ λαός σου, οὓς ἐξήγαγες ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, καὶ συνῆκεν Μωϋσῆς καὶ ἔριψεν τὰς δύο πλάκας ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ: καὶ συνετρίβη αὐτῶν ἡ διαθήκη, ἵνα ἡ τοῦ ἠγαπημένου Ἰησοῦ ἐγκατασφραγισθῇ εἰς τὴν καρδίαν ἡμῶν…

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 4th c. AD 6th c. AD
P.Grenf. 2 33Pathyris101 BC

μίσθωσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ προκειμένου ἔτους οὗ καὶ συμπεπεῖσθαι αὐτῷ τῆς συγχωρηθείσης τιμῆς χαλκοῦ ταλάντων δύο δραχμῶν τρισχιλίων τριακοσίων · καὶ μὴ ἐπελεύσεσθαι μήτʼ αὐτὸν Ψενενοῦπιν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἁρσιῆσιν μήτʼ

P.Stras. 2 89Pathyris100 BC

οἳ ἂν ὦσι γείτονες πάντων πάντοθεν. ἐπρίατο Πετεαρσεμθεὺς Πανοβχούνιος ὡς ἐτῶν μ χαλκοῦ τάλαντα δύο . προπωλητὴς καὶ βεβαιωτὴς τῶν κατὰ τὴν ὠνὴν ταύτην πάντων Πετεαρσεμθεὺς ὁ ἀποδόμενος, ὃν

P.Adl. 20Poinkoris (Diopolites)99 BC

τοῦ Διοπολίτου ἐπὶ … τοῦ παρὰ … ἀγορανόμου. ἀπέδοτο Ὧρος Ἑρμίου ὡς ἐτῶν δέκα δύο μετὰ προσπωλουμένης τῆς Ὥρου συγγενοῦς Ἀρσινόης τῆς Βελλέους ὡς ἐτῶν κβ μέσης μελιχρόου στρογγυλοπροσώπου

Prophets then two or three should speak, and the others should discern;
ē or G2228 Particle
343× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Or is a word used to show a choice between two things, like in Matthew 5:17 where it's either obey God's law or not. It's also used to compare things, like in Romans 1:21 where it's one thing or another.
Tyndale gloss
or
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word (ē) is a particle used to indicate distinction, functioning as a disjunctive 'or' and a comparative 'than.' It appears frequently in the New Testament, often in phrases like 'either...or' and in disjunctive questions. Notably, it can also express comparisons after comparative terms, such as in Matthew 10:15. The entries do not show any significant disagreement.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἤ, disjunctive and comparative particle (Bl., §36, 12; 77, 11);

disjunctive, or;

between single words: Mt 5:17, Mk 6:56, Lk 2:24, Jo 6:19, Ro 1:21, al.;

before a sentence expressing a variation, denial or refutation of a previous statement, freq. in interrog. form: Mt 7:4, 9, Mk 12:14, Lk 13:4, Ro 3:29 6:3 9:21, I Co 6:9, 16 9:6, II Co 11:7; ἢ . . . ἤ…

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

ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Χριστοῦ (NVWT ΒΗ Targ. Jonath. ad ᾿ς lili. 10), the kingdom of the Messiah, which will be founded by God through the Messiah and over which the Messiah will preside as God’s vicegerent; ἡ Bac. τῶν οὐρανῶν, only in Matthew, but very frequently [some 33 times], the kingdom of heaven, i. e. the kingdom which is of heavenly or divine origin and nature (in rabbin. writ. nown mao is the rule of God, the theocracy viewed universally, not the Messianic kingdom); sometimes simply ἡ βασιλεία : Mt. iv. 23, ete.; Jas. ii. 5; once ἡ Bac. τοῦ Δαυείδ, because it was supposed the Messiah would be one of David’s descendants and a king very like David, Mk. xi. 10; once also ἡ Bac. τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ, Eph. ν. 5. Relying principally on the prophecies of Daniel — who had declared it to be the purpose of God that, after four vast and mighty kingdoms had succeeded one another and the last of…

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

ἢ μή. The general distinction between οὐ and μή is that οὐ is objective, dealing only with facts, while μή is sudjectize, involving will and thought. But in late Greek μή has encroached very largely upon οὐ, with the result that in the NT οὐ is almost entirely confined to the indicative, while μή monopolizes the other moods (but see I. 5). A few exx. of some of the many uses of μή will make this clear. I. Μή negatives (1) the conjunctive (a) after ἐάν (4v)—P Oxy II. 294%? (A.D. 22) (= Selections, p. 36), where certain men are confined to prison, ἐὰν μή τι πίσωσι τὸν ἀρχιστάτορα δο[ῦν]αι etk(= ἱκ)ανόν, ‘* unless indeed they shall persuade the chief usher to give security,’’ BGU II. 5301” \i/a.D.) (= Selections, p. 61) alav (/. ἐὰν) μὴ ἔλθῃς, κινδυνεύω ἐκστῆvat od ἔχω [κλή]ρου, “if you do not come I run the risk of losing the lot (of land) which I possess ”—a father writes to Selections…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἤ (ē) — or.

ἤ,

Epic dialect also ἠέ (in signification [Refs 4th c.BC+], conjunction with two chief senses, Disj. (or) and comparative (than).

__A DISJUNCTIVE, or, ἐγὼ.. ἢ ἄλλος Ἀχαιῶν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; θεόσυτος ἢ βρότειος ἢ κεκραμένη [Refs 4th c.BC+]

__A.2 ἢ.. ἤ either.. or, ἢ νῦν δηθύνοντ᾽ ἢ ὕστερον αὖτις ἰόντα [Refs 8th c.BC+], etc.; so ἢ.. ἤτοι.. [Refs 5th c.BC+] is emphasized, later no distinction is implied, [NT+2nd c.BC+]; ἤ repeated any number of times, ἐγὼ δέ κεν αὐτὸς ἕλωμαι ἢ τεὸν ἢ Αἴαντος ἰὼν γέρας ἢ Ὀδυσῆος [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἤ is probably wrongly accented in codices of [Refs 8th c.BC+] adverb [Refs 4th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

e

a primary particle of distinction between two connected terms;

disjunctive, or; comparative, than:--and, but (either), (n-)either,

except it be, (n-)or (else), rather, save, than, that, what, yea.

Often used in connection with other particles. Compare especially

2235, 2260, 2273.

see GREEK for 2235

see GREEK for 2260

see GREEK for 2273

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

Disj.prt.

or, than

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἤ ē 343x

can function as a conj (298x), either, or, Mt. 6:24; after comparatives, and ἄλλος, ἕτερος, expressed or implied, than, Mt. 10:15; 18:8; Acts 17:21; 24:21; intensive after ἀλλά and πρίν, Lk. 12:51; Mt. 1:18; it also serves to point an interrogation, Rom. 3:29

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

PRT PaRTicle, disjunctive particle

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

or: The word is used once for either (1Sa 26:10), and is still in poetic use in this sense; as in, "Without or wave or wind" (Coleridge); "Or the bakke or some bone he breketh in his dzouthe" (Piers Plowman (B), VII, 93; compare Merchant of Venice, III, ii, 65). It is also used with "ever" for before (Ps 90:2; Ecclesiasticus 18:19), which the American Standard Revised Version substitutes in Ec 12:6 (compare 12:1,2); So 6:12; Da 6:24.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
84%or
or84% · 304×than13% · 47×other renderings4% · 13×

364 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 9 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial20%object18%subject12%predicate7%verb4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 343 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
σύ
πρόςχείρa handἁμαρτίαa sin
πατήρfather, Father, ance
Article theκακολογέωI speak evil of,Disj
εἰμίI am, exist
οὐρανόςthe sky, the heaἀνεκτόςendurable, tolerθεόςGod, a god
αὐτός
πατήρfather, Father, υἱόςa son, descendenβοῦςan ox
ἀδελφόςa brother
DisjArticle theἐάνCond
or343×
what comes after →
Article the
μήτηρa motherπόλιςa cityδύο
τίςIrg
πίνωI drink, imbibeεἰμίI am, existλαλέωI speak, say
οὐNeg
οἶδαI know, rememberἀναγινώσκωI readδίδωμιI offer, give
ἐν
φυλακήa watching, guarτίςIrgποῖοςIrg
καίand, even, also, nam
ἰχθύςa fishαἰτέωI ask, request, πρός

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 · 343× in the New Testament
Matthew 1 Corinthians Luke Acts Mark Romans 2 Corinthians John 1 Peter Galatians James Ephesians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 457 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.

Prophets then two or three should speak, and the others should discern;
τρεῖςtreis three G5140 Adjective · nominative · plural · masculine
67× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 Corinthians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for three, used in passages like Matthew 12:40 and Mark 10:34 to describe a specific number of days or items. It is also used in the name of a place called Three Taverns in Acts 28:15.
Tyndale gloss
Three
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word τρεῖς (transliterated as treis) means 'three' and is a primary numeral. It appears in various contexts throughout the New Testament, such as in Matthew and Mark. The word has different forms, including τρία and τά, and has been used since ancient times, often associated with symbolic meanings in various cultures.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

τρεῖς, οἱ, αἱ, τρία, τά

three: Mt 12:40, al.; μετὰ τ. ἡμέρας = τῇ τρίτῃ ἡ., Mk 10:34, al. (cf. Field, Notes, 11 ff.)

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

τρεῖς, of, ai, τρία, τά, three: Mt. xii. 40; Mk. viii. 2; Lk. i. 56; Jn. ii. 19, and often. [From Hom. down.] Tpels TaBepvar, see ταβέρναι.

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

τρεῖς In its only occurrence in the NT (Heb 41%) τετραχηλισμένα can only mean ‘‘laid open,” ‘‘ exposed,” “open” (Vg aferta; Hesych. πεφανερωμένα), but the origin of the metaphor is very doubtful. Moffatt (7CC Hed ad /.) suggests ‘‘ the practice of exposing an offender's face by pushing his head back,” Souter (Zex. s.v.), with greater probability, prefers “‘the bending back of the head in sacrifice so as to expose theneck,’’ like the Homeric aveptw (ZZ. 1. 459). The verb is found in Teles (ed. Hense) pp. 10%, 509: see also Philo de Cherud. 78 (ed. Cohn) πᾶσι τοῖς ἐπιτρέχουσι καὶ τραχηλίζουσι δεινοῖς ὑποβεβλημένος, and the compd. ἐκτραχηλίζω in 20. Leg. Alleg. ili. 109, Quod det. pot. 19.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

τρεῖς (treis) — Three.

τρεῖς, οἱ, αἱ, τρία, τά:

genitive τριῶν: dative τρισί, also τριοῖσι [Refs 6th c.BC+]; Aeolic dialect τρίσσι [Refs] (written τρες [Refs]: Doric dialect nominative τρέες [Refs]; τρῖς [Refs 4th c.BC+]; τρῖς [Refs 6th c.BC+]:—three, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; τρία ἔπεα three words, proverbial in [Refs 5th c.BC+]—for from the earliest times three was a sacred and lucky number, especially with the Pythagoreans (compare τριάς), [Refs 5th c.BC+]; εἰ καὶ τῶν τριῶν ἓν οἴσομαι[Refs] —διὰ τριῶν ἀπόλλυμαι I am thrice, i. e. utterly, undone, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἡ διὰ τριῶν ἀγωγή the 'trivium', [Refs 6th c.AD+]by threes, [Refs 5th c.BC+] stem tr[icaron]-, fuller form trey-, nominative tréy-es (Sanskrit tráyas, Latin tres), whence τρέες, contraction τρῆς and τρεῖς (written τρες [Refs]; accusative tri-ns (Gothic prins, Sanskrit tr[imacracute]n), whence τρῖς and…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

τρεῖς

treis

tria tree'-ah

a primary (plural) number; "three":--three.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

τρεῖς, τρία

Adj

three

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

τρεῖς treis 68x

three, Mt. 12:40. The frequency count does not include its occurrence in the name Τριῶν ταβερνῶν in Acts 28:15 (G5553)

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

τρεῖς Lat. tres, tria, three, Hom., etc.

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

A-NPM Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Nominative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

(shalosh; treis).

See NUMBER.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The phrase "three days and three nights," Mt 12:40, was equivalent in Hebrew to the English "three days;" the Jews employing the expression "a day and a night" to denote our "day" of twentyfour hours. Nor did "three days," 1Sa 30:13, literally "this third day," according to their usage, necessarily include the whole of three days, but a part of three days, a continuous period including one whole day of twenty-four hours, and a portion of the day preceding it and the day following it. Compare Ge 7:12,17 1Sa 30:12-13.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
97%three
three97% · 69×third3% · 2×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial72%subject21%object6%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 67 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
ἡμέραa day
ἤδηnow, alreadyμετάεἰμίI am, exist
Disj
δύομάρτυςa witness
μετά
καίand, even, also,ζάωI liveἀποκτείνωI put to death,
Article the
οὗτοςἀγάπηloveκαίand, even, also,
καίand, even, also, nam
ἡμέραa dayἈππίου ΦόρονForum, Marketμάρτυςa witness
τρεῖςthree67×
what comes after →
ἡμέραa day
καίand, even, also,ἐγείρωI wake, arouse, ἀνίστημιI raise up, set
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀπόμήν (II)a monthὑποστρέφωI turn back, ret
νύξthe night, night-tim
οὕτωthus, so, in thi
ἕωςuntil, as far as
ὅς
προσμένωI remain, persist in
ἐγώ

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

Concordanceτρεῖς · 67× in the New Testament
Acts Matthew Revelation Luke Mark John 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians Galatians Hebrews
Across the New Testament13 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 168 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 Shepherd of Hermas The Didache
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 48c. AD 40

οὓς ἅπαντας ἡ τετρὰς ἔχει περιλαβοῦσα, τὸν μὲν ἐπίτριτον ἐν τῷ τέσσαρα πρὸς τρία, τὸν δ’ ἡμιόλιον ἐν τῷ τρία πρὸς δύο, τὸν δὲ διπλάσιον ἐν τῷ δύο πρὸς ἓν ἢ τέσσαρα πρὸς δύο, τὸν δὲ τετραπλάσιον ἐν τῷ τέσσαρα πρὸς

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.109c. AD 75–95

Οἱ δὲ Νώχου παῖδες τρεῖς ὄντες Σημᾶς καὶ Ἰαφθᾶς καὶ Χαμᾶς ἔτεσιν ἑκατὸν ἔμπροσθεν τῆς ἐπομβρίας γεγονότες, πρῶτοι κατελθόντες ἀπὸ τῶν ὀρῶν εἰς τὰ πεδία τὴν ἐν τούτοις οἴκησιν ἐποιήσαντο, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους σφόδρα δεδιότας διὰ τὸν κατακλυσμὸν τὰ πεδία…

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.6c. AD 100

Τρία οὖν δόγματά ἐστιν κυρίου: ζωῆς ἐλπίς, ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος πίστεως ἡμῶν: καὶ δικαιοσύνη, κρίσεως ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος: ἀγάπη εὐφροσύνης καὶ ἀγαλλιάσεως ἔργων δικαιοσύνης μαρτυρία.

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.Adl. 14Pathyris101 BC

τῆς ὑπαρχούσης αὐτῷ γῆς ἠπείρου σιτοφόρου τῆς οὔσης ἐν τῷ περὶ Παθύρειν πεδίωι ἀρουρῶν τριῶν τῶν ἐν ἀρούραις ἑπτὰ καὶ τοῦ προσόντος χαλάσματος ἐν σφραγῖσι δυσίν , ὧν γείτονες

P.Adl. 16Pathyris100 BC

αὐτῷ γῆν ἤπειρον σιτοφόρον ἀδιαίρετον τὴν οὖσαν ἐν τῷ ἀπο βορρᾶ πεδίωι Παθύρεως σφραγίδων τριῶν , ἣν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐωνήσατο παρὰ Πα-νᾶτος τοῦ Πατῆτος, μιᾶς μὲν γείτονες νότου γῆ

P.Adl. 17Krokodilopolis (Pathyrites)100 BC

ὧν παρὰ νότου ἐπὶ βορρᾶν σχοινίου ἑνὸς τετάρτου , ἀπηλιώτου ἐπὶ λίβα σχοινίων ἑξακοσίων τριῶν . γείτονες νότου γῆ Ἑρμίου τοῦ Σ … … … ος, βορρᾶ γῆ Σχώτου

Prophets then two or three should speak, and the others should discern;
λαλείτωσαν,laleō should speak, G2980 Verb · present · active · imperative · third person · plural
298× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To speak or talk, as in Matthew 9:33 and 12:46, where Jesus speaks to the crowds. It can also mean to utter words, like in Revelation 4:1. This word is often translated as preach, say, or tell in the KJV.
Amplified meaning
utter words, proclaim messages
Tyndale gloss
to speak
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

λαλέω (laleo) means to talk or speak, often implying a vocal utterance. It can refer to both human speech and the sounds made by animals or inanimate objects. The New Testament uses it in various contexts, such as to convey messages or make declarations (e.g., Matthew 9:33). Notably, it differs from λέγω (lego), which focuses more on the meaning of what is said.

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

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

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

λαλέω, -ῶ,

[in LXX chiefly for דּבר pi., also for אמר, etc.;]

to utter: of inanimate things, Re 4:1 10:4; metaph., He 11:4 12:24.

to talk, speak, say: absol., Mt 9:33 12:46, Mk 5:35, Lk 8:49; seq. ὡς, I Co 13:11, Re 13:11; εἰς, I Co 14:9; ἐκ, Mt 12:34; c. acc. rei, Mt 10:19, Mk 11:32, Jo…

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

λαλέω, -@; impf. 3 pers. sing. ἐλάλει, plur. ἐλάλουν; fut. AaAjow; 1 aor. ἐλάλησα; pf. λελάληκα; Pass., pres. λαλοῦμαι; pf. λελάλημαι; 1 aor. ἐλαλήθην; 1 fut. λαληθήcopa; [ἴτ. Soph. down]; found in bibl. Grk. much more freq. than in prof. auth., in Sept. times without number for 739 or 135, more rarely for V8; prop. to uller a sound (ef. [onomatop. /a-/a, ete.] Germ. lallen), to emit a voice, make one’s self heard ; hence to utter or form words with the mouth, to speak, haying reference to the sound and pronunciation of the words and in general the form of what is uttered, while λέγω refers to the meaning and substance of what is spoken; hence λαλεῖν is employed not only of men, esp. when chatting and prattling, but also of animals (of birds, Mosch. 3, 47 ; of locusts, Theoer. 5, 34; λαλοῦσι μέν, οὐ φράζουσι δέ, of dogs and apes, Plut. mor. ii. p. 909 a.), and so of inanimate things (as…

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

λαλέω. In P Amh II. 1315 (early ii/A.D.) a brother writes to his sister with reference to the management of certain family property, stating that he will remain where he is until he learns that all is safely settled, and adding—eédml{w δὲ θεῶν θελόντων ἐκ τῶν λαλουμένων διαφεύξεσθαι Kal μετὰ τὴν πεντεκαιδεκάτην ἀναπλεύσειν, “ but I hope, if the gods will, to escape from the talking and after the fifteenth to return home.’”’ See also P Oxy I. 1198 (ii/iii A.D.) (= Selections, p- 103) where the naughty boy writes to his father— οὐ θέλις ἀπενέκκειν μετ᾽ ἐσοῦ els ᾿Αλεξανδρίαν, od μὴ γράψω σε ἐπιστολήν, οὔτε λαλῶ σε, οὔτε υἱγένω σε εἶτα, “if you refuse to take me along with you to Alexandria, I won’t write you a letter, or speak to you, or wish you health henceforth,” P Fay 1264 (ii/iii A.D.) ἤκουσα φίλον Tod πατρός μου λαλοῦνTos περὶ σοῦ ὅτι πεμψεν (/. ἔπεμψεν) ἐπὶ τὴν πενθερά (/.—pav) σου…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

λαλέω (laleō) — to speak.

λᾰλ-έω,

talk, chat, prattle, ἕπου καὶ μὴ λάλει [Refs 5th c.BC+]: with dative, talk to one, λαλῶν ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς σεαυτῷ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; opposed to λέγω, λαλεῖν ἄριστος, ἀδυνατώτατος λέγειν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; λαλῶν μὲν.., λέγων δέ.. [Refs 4th c.BC+]

__b generally, talk, speak, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. talk of, τινα [Refs 3rd c.BC+]:—passive, πρᾶγμα κατ᾽ ἀγορὰν λαλούμενον [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. in later writers, ={λέγω}, speak, λαλεῖ οὐθὲν τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων πλὴν ἀνθρώπου [NT+5th c.BC+]; χειρσὶν ἅπαντα λαλήσας, of a pantomime, [NT+3rd c.BC+]passive, λαληθήσεταί σοι ὅ τι σε δεῖ ποιεῖν it shall be told thee.., [NT]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

λαλέω

laleo

a prolonged form of an otherwise obsolete verb; to talk, i.e. utter

words:--preach, say, speak (after), talk, tell, utter. Compare 3004.

see GREEK for 3004

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

λαλέω

v.

I speak, say

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

λαλέω laleō 296x

to make vocal utterance; to babble, to talk; in NT absol. to exercise the faculty of speech, Mt. 9:33; to speak, Mt. 10:20; to hold converse with, to talk with, Mt. 12:46; Mk. 6:50; Rev. 1:12; to discourse, to make an address, Lk. 11:37; Acts 11:20; 21:39; to make announcement, to make a declaration, Lk. 1:55; to make mention, Jn. 12:41; Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

λαλέω λαλός to talk, chat, prattle, babble, Ar., etc.:—generally, to talk, say, Soph.

c. acc. to talk of, Theocr.

in late Gr., just like λέγω, to speak, NTest., Thuc.:—Pass., λαληθήσεταί σοι it shall be told thee, NTest.

the proper sense, to chatter, is sometimes opp. to articulate speech, as of monkeys, λαλοῦσι μὲν φράζουσι δὲ οὔ Plut.; of locusts, to chirp, Theocr.

of musical sounds, αὐλῶι λαλεῖν id. Theocr.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAM-3P — Verb · present · active · imperative · third person · plural
present active imperative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAM-3P Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: iMperative Person: third Number: Plural

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
20%speaking
speaking20% · 61×speak13% · 39×spoke9% · 27×he was speaking4% · 12×i speak3% · 10×speaks3% · 10×he spoke3% · 8×we speak3% · 8×other renderings41% · 123×

298 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 81 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 298 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
εἰμίI am, existκαίand, even, also,σύ
αὐτός
ἔτιstill, yet, evenοὗτοςδέbut, on the othe
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςθύραa door, opportunθεόςGod, a god
ὅς
πᾶςall, the whole, λόγοςa word, speech, ἀργόςidle, lazy, thou
οὗτος
ὥραan hour, seasonποιέωI do, makeὡςas, like as, how
λαλέωshould speak,298×
what comes after →
Article the
λόγοςa word, speech, ἸησοῦςJesusἑπτάIndec
αὐτός
Article theὁράωI see, look uponκαίand, even, also,
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theὅςβλέπωI look, see
σύ
ἵναin order that, sArticle theἔτιstill, yet, even
ἐν
Article theσύΠέργηPerga

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

Concordanceλαλέω · 298× in the New Testament
Acts John 1 Corinthians Luke Matthew Mark Hebrews Revelation 2 Corinthians 1 Thessalonians Ephesians James

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament23 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 661 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Ignatius of Antioch The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 3.101c. AD 40

διὰ τοῦτο Μωυσῆν ἀνακέκληκε καὶ ἐλάλησεν αὐτῷ ὁ θεός.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 5.349c. AD 75–95

καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ φθεγξαμένου πάλιν ἀκούσας ἠξίου λαλεῖν ἐπὶ τοῖς χρωμένοις·

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 6th c. AD 4th c. AD 7th c. AD 3rd c. AD
BGU 3 822ArsinoitesAD 105

ἀπαιτεῖς τὴν ἐνμένουσαν ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ σου τὸ ἐνοίκιον. ἵνα εὕρωμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς εὔλογον λαλῆσαι αὐτῇ, γράψον Κουπανηοῦτι ἐπιστολήν, προστάξας, ἵνα εὕρῃ εὔλογον πρὸς αὐτὴν λαλῆσαι. θερμῶς ἀσπάζεταί σε

P.Mil.Vogl. 1 24Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 117

περὶ ἀργυρωματίων σὺν Κέρτῳ. εὔχομαί σε ἰσχύειν. περὶ Πτολλαρίωνος ἡ μήτηρ μέμφεται. οὐκ ἐμοὶ λαλεῖ, ἀλλὰ καὶ φεύγει με ἐὰν ἴδῃ, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἐμοῖς ἀπομέμφεται αὐτόν. ἐγὼ ἐπιτιμῶ Πτολλαρίωνι·

P.Wisc. 2 73OxyrhynchitesAD 122–AD 123

περὶ τῶν ὀσπριδίων. περὶ τούτου οὐδὲν τετέλεσται. τὴν γὰρ ἀτιμίαν Θέων σοι κατʼ ὄψιν λαλήσει. ταχέως οὖν σπεῦσον, ὡς ἔγραψας, πρὸς ἡμᾶς γενέσθαι. ἀσπάζονταί σε οἱ ἐν οἴκωι πάντες.

Prophets then two or three should speak, and the others should discern;
καὶkai and G2532 Conjunction
8,978× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 Corinthians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
And or also, a connecting word used to join ideas or words, like in Matthew 2:18 and Hebrews 1:1.
Tyndale gloss
and
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

καί (kai) is a conjunction meaning 'and,' used to connect words, phrases, and clauses. It serves various functions, including copulative and adjunctive uses, and can express cumulative ideas like 'also' or 'even.' The New Testament frequently employs it to link terms and sentences, as seen in verses like Matthew 2:18 and John 10:3. Abbott-Smith notes its use in both simple and complex structures, while Thayer emphasizes its role as the most common particle in the New Testament.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

καί,

conj.,

and.

Copulative.

Connecting single words;

in general: Mt 2:18 16:1, Mk 2:15, Lk 8:15, He 1:1, al. mult.; repeated before each of the terms in a series, Mt 23:23, Lk 14:21, Ro 7:12 9:4, al.;

connecting numerals (WM, § 37, 4): Jo 2:20, Ac 13:20;

joining terms which are not mutually exclusive, as the part with the whole: Mt 8:33 26:59, Mk 16:17,

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

καί, a conj., and; the most freq. by far of all the particles in the N. T. [On its uses see W. § 53, 3sqq.; B. 361 (310) sqq., and ef. Ellicott on Phil. iv. 12; on the difference between it and τέ see 8. v. τέ ad init. ] I. It serves as a copulative i.e. to connect (Lat. et, atque, Germ. und) ; 1. it connects single words or terms: a. univ., as of Φαρισαῖοι καὶ Σαδδουκαῖοι, Mt. xvi. 1; ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατήρ, he who is God and Father (see θεός, 3); ἐν καρδίᾳ καλῇ καὶ ἀγαθῇ, Lk. viii. 15; πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως, ΗΘ}. 1. 1; it is repeated before single terms, to each of which its own force and weight is thus given: ἡ υἱοθεσία καὶ ἡ δόξα καὶ ai διαθῆκαι καὶ ἡ νομοθεσία καὶ ἡ λατρεία καὶ αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι, Ro. ix. 4 ; ἁγία καὶ δικαία καὶ ἀγαθή, Ro. vii. 12; add, Mt. xxiii. 23; Lk. xiv. 21; Jn. xvi. 8; Acts xv. 20, 29; xxi. 25; Heb. ix. 10; Rey. v. 12; xviii. 12 sq.; ef. W. 519 sq. (484). b. it…

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

και. In LAE p. 129 ff. Deissmann discusses the thoroughly popular character of the Johannine style with its short paratactic sentences, introduced by kal. . . καί. To illustrate this, he cites amongst other exx. a Dream from the Serapeum, P Par 51 (B.C. 160) (= Selections, p. 18 ff. : see especially the amended readings in Archiv vi. p. 204), which runs—** ὦμ[ην] βατί -- δ)ίζειν pe [ἀπ]ὸ λειβὸς ἕως ἀ[ πηλι]ώτου, καὶ ἀναπίπτομαι ἐπ᾿ ἄχυρον" καὶ [ἄν]θρωπ[ος9] ἀπὸ λιβός μου, ἐχόμενός μου’ ἀναπίπτει καὶ αὐτός, καὶ ὥσπερ κεκλειμμ[évot] μου ἦσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου, καὶ ἐξαί[φνης] ἀνύγω τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς pov, καὶ ὁρῶ kTA., “ I dreamed that I was going from West to East, and I lie down upon chaff. And there | αὐτὸ (deleted in the original) Σεμφθεῖ. | ἐκ καινῆς ἐν Σομολ(ῶ)…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καί (kai) — and.

καί,

conjunction, copulative, joining words and sentences,

__A and; also adverb, even, also, just, frequently expressing emphatic assertion or assent, corresponding as positive to the negative οὐ (μή) or οὐδέ (μηδέ). copulative, and,

__A.I joining words or sentences to those preceding, ἦ, καὶ κυανέῃσιν ἐπ᾽ ὀφρύσινεῦσε Κρονίων [Refs 8th c.BC+]: repeated with two or more Nouns, αἱ δὲ ἔλαφοι κ. δορκάδες κ. οἱ ἄγριοι οἶες κ. οἱ ὄνοι οἱ ἄγριοι [Refs 5th c.BC+]; joining only the last pair, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; ὁ ὄχλος πλείων κ. πλείων ἐπέρρει more and more, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; to add epithets after πολύς, πολλὰ κ. ἐσθλά [Refs 8th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καί

kai

apparently, a primary particle, having a copulative and sometimes also

a cumulative force; and, also, even, so then, too, etc.; often used in

connection (or composition) with other particles or small words:--and,

also, both, but, even, for, if, or, so, that, then, therefore, when,

yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καί

Cj.

and, even, also, namely

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καί kai 9x

(1) and, Mt. 2:2, 3, 11; 4:22; (2) καί ... καί, both ... and; (3) as a cumulative particle, also, too, Mt. 5:39; Jn. 8:19; 1 Cor. 11:6; (4) emphatic, even, also, Mt. 10:30; 1 Cor. 2:10; in NT adversative, but, Mt. 11:19; also introductory of the apodosis of a sentence, Gal. 3:28; Jas. 2:4

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
89%and
and89% · 8448×also8% · 714×other renderings2% · 191×other renderings1% · 124×

9,477 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 42 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
adverbial16%subject13%object10%predicate3%verb2%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 8,978 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
αὐτός
ἐνἐπίπρός
σύ
χάριςgrace, favor, kiπρόςπατήρfather, Father,
ἐγώ
πατήρfather, Father, πρόςθεόςGod, a god
εἰμίI am, exist
αὐτόςArticle theἐγώ
θεόςGod, a god
Article theθέλημαwill, wish, desiδέbut, on the othe
καίand8978×
what comes after →
Article the
ἀδελφόςa brotherπατήρfather, Father, μήτηρa mother
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςArticle theπρός
οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, existμήNegδύναμαιI am powerful, a
ὁράωI see, look upon, ex
Article theαὐτόςἀνήρa male human bei
ἐν
Article theπᾶςall, the whole, ὅλοςall, 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

Concordanceκαί · 8,978× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew Revelation Acts Mark John 1 Corinthians Romans Hebrews 2 Corinthians Ephesians 1 John

3 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 Ignatius of Antioch
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

ἡ 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 4th c. AD 1st c. AD 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 καὶ κανηφόρου τῶν

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

1 ἔτους ιζ Θῶυθ κη ἀπέδοτο Πετεσοῦχος Φίβιος καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ τὸ ὕπαρχον αὐτοῖς ἥμισυ περιστερῶνος τοῦ ὄντος ἐν τῶι ἀπὸ βορρᾶ μέρει

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

Prophets then two or three should speak, and the others should discern;
οἱho the G3588 Article · nominative · plural · masculine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 Corinthians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

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

T-NPM Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Nominative Number: Plural 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

Prophets then two or three should speak, and the others should discern;
ἄλλοιallos others G243 Adjective · nominative · plural · masculine
154× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
In the Bible, this word means another or different, used in many contexts, such as in Matthew 20:3 and 1 Corinthians 3:10. It can also mean the other or others, like in John 19:32 and 1 Corinthians 14:29. This word is used to show a distinction between things.
Amplified meaning
different ones
Tyndale gloss
another
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἄλλος (i.e., *allos*) means 'another' or 'other.' It is used in various contexts to denote numerical distinction, as opposed to qualitative difference, which is expressed by ἕτερος (*heteros*). The New Testament uses it in passages like Matthew 20:3 and John 14:16. Lexicographers note that while ἄλλος indicates simple distinction among individuals, ἕτερος implies a difference in kind.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — ἄλλος, ἕτεροϑ from a scan

“AXXos, identical with the Latin ‘alius,’ is the numerically distinct ; thus Christ spoke we are told ‘ another ’ parable, and still ‘ another ,’ but each succeeding one being of the same character as those which He had spoken before (Matt. xiii. 23, 24, 31, 33), ἄλλην therefore in every case. But Zrepos, equivalent to the Latin ‘alter,’ to the German ‘ander’ (on which last word see an instructive article in Grimm’s Wéorterbuch), superadds the notion of qualitative difference. One is ‘ divers,’ the other is ‘diverse.’ There are not a few passages in the N. T. whose right interpretation, or at any rate their full understanding, will depend on an accurate seizing of the distinction between these words. Thus Christ promises to his disciples that He will send, not ἕτερον, but ἄλλον, Παράκλητον (John xiv. 16), ‘another’ Comforter therefore, similar to Himself. The dogmatic force of this…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἄλλος, -η, -ο, (cf. Lat. alius, Eng. else),

[in LXX for אַחֵר ,אֶחָד, etc.;]

other, another: absol., Mt 20:3, al.; ἄ. δέ, I Co 3:10 12:8; pl., Mk 6:15; attached to a noun, Mt 2:12 4:21, al.; c. art., ὁ ἄ., the other, Mt 5:39, Jo 19:32 (Bl., §47, 8); οἱ ἄ., the others, the rest, Jo 20:25, I Co 14:29; ἄ. πρὸς ἄλλον = πρὸς ἀλλήλους (BL, §48, 10), Ac 2:12; ἄλλ’ (i.e. ἄλλο) ἤ (Bl., §77, 13), Lk 12:51; seq. πλήν, Read the full entry →

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

ἄλλος, -7, -o, [cf. Lat. alius, Germ. alles, Eng. else; fr. Hom. down], another, other; a. absol.: Mt. xxvii. 42; xx. 3; Mk. vi. 15; Acts xix. 32; xxi. 34 (ἄλλοι μὲν ἄλλο), and often. b. as an adj.: Mt. ii. 12; iv. 21; Jn. xiv. 16; 1 Co. x. 29 (ἄλλη συνείδησις 1. 6. ἡ συν. ἄλλου τινός). ο. with the art.: ὁ ἄλλος the other (of two), Mt. v. 39; xii. 13, etc. [cf. B. 32 (28), 122 (107)]; of ἄλλοι all others, the remainder, the rest: Jn. xxi. 8; 1 Co. xiv. 29. [Syy. ἄλλος, ἕτερος: &A. as compared with ér. denotes numerical in distinction from qualitative difference; &A. adds (‘one besides’), ἕτ. distinguishes (‘one of two’); every ér. is an &A., but not every ἄλ. is a €r.; ἄλ. generally ‘ denotes simply distinction of individuals, ἕτερος involves the secondary idea of difference of kind’; e. g.2 Co. xi. 4; Gal.i. 6,7. See Bp. Lghtft. and Mey. on the latter pass.; Trench § xcv.; Schmidt ch.…

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

ἄλλος. The differentia of ἄλλος as distinguished from ἕτερος may be left to the latter article. With ἡ ἄλλη Μαρία in Mt 27% cf. P Petr III. 59 (c) (Ptol.), where a great many names appear as Θάησις ἄλλη, Κόνρηις ἄλλος, even where no duplicate appears in the document itself—its fragmentary character presumably accounts for this. (Grimm’s article on Μαρία (3) suggests the remark that the repetition of the same name within a family is paralleled in papyri: thus P Petr III. 117 (9) 4-17 £ ΓΜΠάνρης μικρὸς Τεῶτος kal Μάνρης ἀδελφὸς ὡσαύτως .---τνε quote without prejudicing the discussion as to the Maries!) The form τἄλλα with crasis is frequent: see Witkowski? (Index) p. 162 for several instances. For ἄλλος used = alter, see Proleg. p. 80 n.1, where an ex. is quoted from a Doric inscr. as early as B.C. 91. An idiomatic use of ἄλλος may be quoted from P Oxy VII. ro70% py... , ὃ μὴ εἴη, GN ἐξ…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἄλλος (allos) — another.

ἄλλος, η, ο,

[Refs 5th c.AD+] yος, cf. Latin alius):—another, i. e. one besides what has been mentioned, either adjective or pronoun: when adjective, its substantive is either in the same case, or in genitive, Ζεῦ ἄλλοι τε θεοί[Refs 8th c.BC+] —ἄ. μέν.. ἄ. δέ.. one.. another.., more rarely the one.. the other.. (of two persons, etc.), [Refs 8th c.BC+]; τὰ μέν.. ἄλλα δέ.. [Refs 8th c.BC+], and Attic dialect; ἕτερον μέν.. ἄλλον δέ.. [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἄλλο μέν.. ἑτέρου δέ.. [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. with τις, any other, οὐδέ τις ἄ. ἔγνω ἀλλ᾽ ἄρα Κασσάνδρη[Refs 8th c.BC+]; οὐδεὶς ἄ. no other, [Refs]; ἄλλα πολλά[Refs 8th c.BC+]

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Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἄλλος, η, ον

Adj

other, another, different

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἄλλος allos 155x

another, some other; ὁ ἄλλος, the other; οἱ ἄλλοι, the others, the rest

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἄλλος alius, another, one besides, ἄλλος μέν . , ἄλλος δέ . , one . , another . , Il.; ἄλλος τις or τὶς ἄλλος, any other, some other; οὐδεὶς ἄλλος no other; εἴ τις ἄλλος, Lat. si quis alius, any one else.

repeated, ἄλλος ἄλλο λέγει one man says one thing, one another, i. e. different men say different things; ἄλλος ἄλλῃ ἐτράπετο Xen.; λείπουσι τὸν λόφον ἄλλοι ἄλλοθεν id. Xen.;—v. ἀλλαχῆ.

ἄλλος καὶ ἄλλος, one or two; ἄλλο καὶ ἄλλο one thing after another, id. Xen.

joined with the Art., ὁ ἄλλος, the other; in pl., οἱ ἄλλοι (ionic ὧλλοι), all the others, the rest; Lat. ceteri; τὰ ἄλλα, contr. τἆλλα or τἄλλα Lat. cetera, reliqua, not alia;— οὕ τε ἄλλοι καὶ . . both all the others and . . , i. e. especially .…

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

A-NPM Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Nominative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
39%another
another39% · 63×other25% · 41×others25% · 41×more3% · 5×other renderings7% · 11×

161 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 10 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject50%object27%indirect object8%adverbial7%predicate7%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 154 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
πορεύομαιI travel, journeπλοῖονa ship, vesselἐσθίωI eat
Article the
καίand, even, also,ὡςas, like as, howμαθητήςa learner, disci
ὁράωI see, look upon, ex
καίand, even, also,παραδίδωμιI hand over, delἐκεῖθενthence, from tha
εἰμίI am, exist
οὐNegἨλίαςElijahἀγαθόςgood
αὐτός
ὁράωI see, look uponπρόςμετά
ἄλλοςothers154×
what comes after →
δέbut, on the other ha
πίπτωI fall, fall undλέγωI say, speakὅτιthat, since, bec
ἄγγελοςan angel, messenger
ἐξέρχομαιI go out, come oἀναβαίνωI go up, mount, ἔρχομαιI come, go
λέγωI say, speak
οὗτοςὅτιthat, since, becοὐχίIrg
μαθητήςa learner, disciple,
Article theὅςκαίand, even, also,
δύο
ἀδελφόςa brotherτάλαντονa talent of silvἐντεῦθενhence, from this

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

Concordanceἄλλος · 154× in the New Testament
John Matthew 1 Corinthians Mark Revelation Luke Acts 2 Corinthians Galatians Hebrews 1 Thessalonians James

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament13 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 41 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 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 1.1c. AD 75–95

Τοῖς τὰς ἱστορίας συγγράφειν βουλομένοις οὐ μίαν οὐδὲ τὴν αὐτὴν ὁρῶ τῆς σπουδῆς γινομένην αἰτίαν, ἀλλὰ πολλὰς καὶ πλεῖστον ἀλλήλων διαφερούσας.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 4.8c. AD 100

ἀλλὰ ἐπιστραφέντες ἐπὶ τὰ εἴδωλα ἀπώλεσαν αὐτήν.

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

Φίβιος, βορρᾶ γῆ Πελαίου νεωτέρου Φίβιος, ἀπηλιώτου Κολλούθου τοῦ Φίβιος, λιβὸς ὄρος, τὴν δʼ ἄλλην ἐπὶ Τιαβώνει· νότου γῆ Χενσθώτου τοῦ Μελιπαῖτος, βορρᾶ γῆ Παθώτου, ἀπηλιώτου γῆ Θράσωνος καὶ

P.Adl. 16Pathyris100 BC

κρατοῦσιν 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,

P.Adl. 21Pathyris (?)99 BC

Ἁθὺρ ε ἀπέδοτο Ἑτπεῆσις Πατῆτος τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν αὐτῆι μερίδα γῆς ἠπείρου σιτοφόρου καὶ ἀπʼ ἄλλης σφραγῖδος ἐν κώμηι Τμόνοβιτ ἐν ἀρούραις η τὴν αὐτὴν μερίδα. ἐπρίατο Ὧρος Νεχούτου χαλκοῦ

Prophets then two or three should speak, and the others should discern;
διακρινέτωσαν·diakrinō should discern; G1252 Verb · present · active · imperative · third person · plural
19× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To judge or doubt means to separate or distinguish between things, as in Matthew 16:3 and 1 Corinthians 11:29. It involves making a decision or forming an opinion.
Amplified meaning
judge, discern, spoken, proclaimed
Tyndale gloss
to judge/doubt
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

διακρίνω (diakrino) is built from the prefix διά meaning 'through' and the root κρίνω meaning 'to judge.' It covers a range of meanings including to separate, distinguish, decide, and to hesitate or doubt. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts such as Acts 11:12 and 1 Corinthians 11:29. There is some variation among lexicons regarding its nuances, particularly in the sense of hesitation or doubt.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δια-κρίνω

[in LXX for שׁפט, דִּין, etc. ;]

to separate, hence, to distinguish, discriminate, discern: μηδὲν δ., Ac 11:12; οὐδὲν δ. μεταξύ, Ac 15:9; σε, I Co 4:7; τὸ σῶμα, I Co 11:29.

to settle, decide, judge, arbitrate: Mt 16:3, I Co 6:5 11:29 (ICC, in l.), ib. 31 14:29. Mid, and pass.;

to get a decision, contend, dispute: seq. πρός, Ac 11:2; c. dat. (but v. ICC, in l.), Ju 9; absol., Ju 22 (R, mg.).

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

δια-κρίνω ; impf. διέκρινον ; 1 aor. διέκρινα ; Mid., [pres. διακρίνομαι ] ; impf. διεκρινόμην ; 1 aor. διεκρίθην (in prof. auth. in a pass. sense, to be separated ; cf. W. § 39, 2; [B. 52 (45)]) ; in Grk. writ. fr. Hom. down; in Sept. chiefly for DAY, also for 7. ἼΠ| ete. 1. to separate, make a distinction, discriminate, [cf. διά, C. 4]: οὐδὲν διέκρινε μεταξὺ ἡμῶν τε καὶ αὐτῶν, Acts xv. 9; μηδὲν διακρίναντα, making no difference, sc. between Jews and Gentiles, Acts xi. 12 LT Tr WH; like the Lat. distinguo, used emphatically : to distinguish or separate a person or thing from the rest, in effect i.q. to prefer, yield to him the preference or honor: τινά, 1 Co. iv. 7 [ef. W. 452 (421)]; τὸ σῶμα (τοῦ κυρίου), 1 Co. xi. 29. 2. to learn by discrimination, to try, decide: Mt. xvi. 8 [T br. WI reject the pass.]; 1 Co. xiv. 29; ἑαυτόν, 1 Co. xi. 31; to determine, give judgment, decide a…

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

διακρίνω. The active = ‘‘test,” ‘‘examine” (cf. Mt 16%) in BGU IIT. 747% 50 (A.D. 139) τ]οὺς πράκτορας δ[ι]ακρείνω πρ]ὸς τὸν εἰἰ]σίι]όν[ τ]α ὑπὲρ [τ]ῆς ἰδί[α]ς πρακτωρί[α]ς λόγο[ν] αἱἰ[τ]ούμ[ε]νοίς. It is ‘‘determine,” ‘ decide” in OG/S 434 (iii/B.c.) ἠιητήσατο δικαστὰς καὶ διαλίλακτῆρας τοὺς διακρινοῦντας περὶ τῶν ἀμφ[ισβητουμέν]ων συμβολαίων : c. acc, pers. tb.1* τοὺ]ς δὲ διέκρινομ μετὰ πάσης δικαι[οσύνης. Similarly in .Sy// 92418 (B.c. 210-5) τάς τε δίκας μετὰ τῶν συνιερομναμόνων τὰς μὲν διέλυσε τὰς δὲ διέκρινε δικαίως κατὰ τοὺς νόϊμ]ους : here we have acc. vez, but the same antithesis with διαλύειν as in OG/S 434 (above). It appears again in the passive, of persons in Sy// 17725 (B.C. 303) τὰ δὲ ἐγκλήματα καὶ τὰ συμβόλαια [τὰ ὑπάρχοντα ἑκατέροις, αὐτοὺς πρὸς αὑτοὺς διαλυθῆναι ἢ διακριθῆναι [κατὰ τοὺς ἑκατέρων ν]όμους. The former verb suggests settlement by consent, as against a…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

διακρίνω (diakrinō) — to judge/doubt.

διακρίνω [ρῑ],

future -κρῐνῶ, Epic dialect and Delph. -κρῐνέω[Refs 8th c.BC+]:—separate one from another, ὥς τ᾽ αἰπόλια.. αἰπόλοι ἄνδρες ῥεῖα διακρίνωσιν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; part combatants, εἰς ὅ κε δαίμων ἄμμε διακρίνη [Refs 8th c.BC+]:—passive, to be parted, of hair, [Refs 8th c.BC+], etc.: also in future middle, διακρινέεσθαι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; διακρίνεσθαι πρός.. part and join different parties, [Refs]

__b passive, to be divorced, [Refs]

2. in Philosophy, separate, decompose into elemental parts, opposed to συγκρίνω, chiefly in passive, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. ἄστρων διακρίνει φάη σελάνα probably sets apart, removes, i.e. outshines, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

διακρίνω

diakrino

from 1223 and 2919; to separate thoroughly, i.e. (literally and

reflexively) to withdraw from, or (by implication) oppose;

figuratively, to discriminate (by implication, decide), or

(reflexively) hesitate:--contend, make (to) differ(-ence), discern,

doubt, judge, be partial, stagger, waver.

see GREEK for 1223

see GREEK for 2919

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

διακρίνω

v.

I distinguish, discern, doubt, hesitate

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

διακρίνω diakrinō 19x

to separate, sever; to make a distinction or difference, Acts 15:9; 1 Cor. 11:29; to make to differ, distinguish, prefer, confer a superiority, 1 Cor. 4:7; to examine, scrutinize, estimate, 1 Cor. 11:31; 14:29; to discern, discriminate, Mt. 16:3; to judge, to decide a cause, 1 Cor. 6:5; to dispute, contend, Acts 11:2; Jude 9; to make a distinction mentally, Jas. 2:4; Jude 22; in NT to hesitate, be in doubt, doubt, Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

διακρίνω fut. -κρι^νῶ to separate one from another, Il.: to part combatants, and in Pass. to be parted, Hom.; so in fut. mid. διακρι^νέεσθαι, Od.; also, διακριθῆναι ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων Thuc.; διακρίνεσθαι πρός . . to part and join different parties, id. Thuc.

Pass. to be dissolved into elemental parts, Plat.

to distinguish, Lat. discernere, τὸ σῆμα Od.; οὐδένα διακρίνων making no distinction of persons, Hdt.: —Pass., διεκέκριτο οὐδέν no distinction was made, Thuc.

to settle, decide, of judges, Hdt., Theocr.:—Mid., νεῖκος δ. to get it decided, Hes.: —Pass. to come to a decision, Il.; περί τινος Plat.: — to contend with one, τινι NTest.; μάχῃ διακρινθῆναι πρός τινα Hdt.

Pass. to doubt, hesitate, NTest.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAM-3P — Verb · present · active · imperative · third person · plural
present active imperative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAM-3P Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: iMperative Person: third Number: Plural

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

di-zurn': Five Hebrew words are thus translated: bin, yadha`, nakhar, ra'ah and shama`. It may simply mean "observe" (bin), "I discerned among the youths" (Pr 7:7); or discriminating knowlege, "A wise man's heart discerneth time and judgment" (Ec 8:5, yadha`); "He discerned him not, because his hands," etc. (Ge 27:23, nakhar); "Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked" (Mal 3:18, ra'ah); "So is my lord the king to discern good," etc. (2Sa 14:17, shama`). In the New Testament the words anakrino, diakrino and dokimazo are thus translated, expressing close and distinct acquaintance with or a…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
26%doubting
doubting26% · 5×contending5% · 1×having discriminated5% · 1×he made distinction5% · 1×he did waver5% · 1×makes different?5% · 1×decide5% · 1×discerning5% · 1×other renderings37% · 7×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
verb95%object5%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 19 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
μήNeg
καίand, even, also,πίνωI drink, imbibe
μηδείςno one, nothing
αὐτόςπίστιςfaith, belief, t
οὐNeg
θεόςGod, a god
γινώσκωI come to know, lear
οὐρανόςthe sky, the hea
ἹεροσόλυμαProp
εἰς
διακρίνωshould discern;19×
what comes after →
Article the
δέbut, on the otheἀπιστίαunbelief, unfaitσῶμαbody, flesh
οὐNeg
μόνοςalone, but, onlyἄνDisj
ἐν
Article theἑαυτοῦ
ὅτιthat, since, because
ἐγώ
πρός
αὐτός

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

Concordanceδιακρίνω · 19× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians Acts James Jude Matthew Romans Mark
Across the New Testament7 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 19 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
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 2.96c. AD 40

τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ γένος διακρίνει καὶ χωρίζει τὰ ἀθάνατα ἀπὸ τῶν θνητῶν.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 3.259c. AD 75–95

Καὶ περὶ τῶν ζῴων δὲ διέκρινεν ἕκαστον, ὅτι τρέφοιντο καὶ οὗ πάλιν ἀπεχόμενοι διατελοῖεν, περὶ ὧν ἐν οἷς ἂν ἡμῖν ἀφορμὴ τῆς γραφῆς γένηται διελευσόμεθα τὰς αἰτίας προστιθέντες, ἀφʼ ὧν κινηθεὶς τὰ μὲν αὐτῶν βρωτὰ ἡμῖν ἐκέλευσεν εἶναι, τῶν δὲ…

The Shepherd of HermasThe Shepherd of Hermas 7.1.6c. AD 140

ὁ οὖν διδοὺς ἀθῷός ἐστιν: ὡς γὰρ ἔλαβεν παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου τὴν διακονίαν τελέσαι, ἁπλῶς αὐτὴν ἐτέλεσεν, μηθὲν διακρίνων, τίνι δῷ ἢ μὴ δῷ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD undated
Pap. Congr. XXIV (Helsinki 2004) p. 111-128Sadaqa (Tertia Palaestina Salutaris)AD 574

διάκονον τῆς ἁγιωτάτης ἡμῶν ἐκκλησίας καὶ τὸν εὐδοκιμώτατον Θωμᾶν Βοήθου πρίορα τοῦδε τοῦ κάστρου διακρῖναι μεταξὺ αὐτῶν … ξι … διαλῦσαι καὶ ἐγγράφως τυπῶσαι τὴν κρίσιν κατὰ τὸ φαινόμενον

BGU 3 747date unknown

τῇ ἐκπράξει καὶ ὑπὸ χεῖρα καὶ πρὸς τὸν διαλογισμὸν κατὰ μῆνα μεταπεμπόμενος τοὺς πράκτορας διακρίνω πρὸς τὸν εἰσιόντα ὑπὲρ τῆς ἰδίας πρακτωρίας λόγον αἰτούμενα πληροφορεῖν ἐπ … κ

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

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