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1 Corinthians 14:7 — Word Study

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N1904ὅμως τὰ ἄψυχα φωνὴν διδόντα, εἴτε αὐλὸς εἴτε κιθάρα, ἐὰν διαστολὴν τοῖς φθόγγοις μὴ δῷ, πῶς γνωσθήσεται τὸ αὐλούμενον τὸ κιθαριζόμενον;

BSAEvenhomōs <the>ho [melody, song] lifeless thingsapsuchos [inanimate, without life] a soundphōnē giving,didōmi whethereite fluteaulos [a musical pipe] oreite harp,kithara [a stringed instrument] ifean distinctiondiastolē [clear, different] to theho soundsphthongos [sounds, musical tones] not they shall give,didōmi howpōs will it be knownginōskō [know, understand] whatho is being pipedauleō orē whatho is being harped?kitharizō

Word
Listen & take away1 Corinthians 14
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 7 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 (kitharizō) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
1 Corinthians 14:7quick helps
In a sentencePaul uses musical instruments to illustrate the importance of clarity in communication.
Who is speakingThe Apostle Paul, addressing the Corinthian church.
Where we areIn a discussion about the use of spiritual gifts and intelligibility in worship.
The hard wordδιαστολὴν
Take awayWithout distinct sounds, communication fails.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause subject verbδίδωμι The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
How rare are these words?in the New Testament

2 of 22 occur nowhere else in the New Testament — words chosen on purpose.

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

Deep Study — 1 Corinthians 14:7

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 — Clarity in Worshipgenerated

6Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?
7Even in the case of lifeless instruments, such as the flute or harp, how will anyone recognize the tune they are playing unless the notes are distinct?
8Again, if the trumpet sounds a muffled call, who will prepare for battle?
9So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air.

1 Corinthians 14:7 presents an analogy comparing lifeless instruments like the flute and harp to the need for clarity in communication during worship. Paul emphasizes that just as musicians must produce distinct notes for their music to be recognized, so too must believers communicate clearly in their spiritual expressions. This context builds upon his previous thoughts on the necessity of understanding in the use of spiritual gifts, as seen in 1 Corinthians 14:6.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
11 Corinthians 13:1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.
21 Corinthians 14:8Again, if the trumpet sounds a muffled call, who will prepare for battle?
3Numbers 10:2–10“Make two trumpets of hammered silver to be used for calling the congregation and for having the camps set out.
4Matthew 11:17‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’
5Luke 7:32They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to one another: ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 5 references, hung on the phrase they belong to


The Key Word διαστολὴν, diastolēgenerated

The noun διαστολή (*diastolē*) means distinction or difference. It is derived from the verb διαστέλλω and refers to the act of separating or distinguishing between things. In this verse, it highlights the necessity of clear and distinct sounds in music, which parallels the need for intelligible speech in spiritual contexts.

As a singular feminine noun in the accusative case, it functions as the object of the verb, emphasizing that without this distinction, the sounds produced by instruments would be meaningless.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The Berean Standard Bible uses the term distinction, which aligns with the meaning of διαστολή. Other translations vary, with the KJV and ASV opting for distinction in the sounds, while the YLT uses difference in the sounds.

The BBE translates it as differently, while the WEB maintains distinction. This illustrates a range of interpretations around the clarity required in musical expression.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The verse contains a main clause introduced by the conjunction ὅμως, with several subordinate clauses and phrases. The main action revolves around the finite verb γνωσθήσεται, will it be known, which governs the understanding of how sounds are recognized.

The structure includes noun phrases that serve as subjects and objects, such as φωνὴν and διαστολὴν, indicating the relationship between the sounds produced and the necessity of their distinction.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

φωνὴ appears in the Septuagint as a translation of the Hebrew word קוֹל (sound, voice), emphasizing its use in conveying audible expressions. This connection underscores the importance of sound in both the Old and New Testaments.

The concept of distinction is less common in the Septuagint but can be inferred in contexts where clarity in communication is vital, paralleling Paul's argument in this verse.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

1 Corinthians 14:7 illustrates that just as lifeless instruments like flutes and harps must produce distinct sounds for their music to be recognized, so must our communication in worship be clear and understandable.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does Paul mean by lifeless instruments?

Paul refers to instruments that cannot produce sound on their own, emphasizing the need for clarity in communication.

Why is distinction important in music according to this verse?

Distinction in music allows listeners to recognize and appreciate the tune being played, paralleling the need for clear communication in spiritual matters.

How does this verse relate to the use of spiritual gifts?

This verse highlights that spiritual gifts should be used in ways that are intelligible and beneficial to the church community, just as music must be distinct to be understood.

What can we learn about communication from this verse?

We learn that clarity and distinction are essential in communication, especially in worship settings, to ensure that messages are understood.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. How can I ensure that my communication in church is clear and understandable?
  2. What are some ways I can use my gifts to contribute to the clarity of worship?
  3. In what situations have I experienced confusion due to unclear communication?
  4. How can I apply the principle of distinction to my everyday conversations?

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

John Chrysostom uses this verse to argue for the necessity of clarity in communication, emphasizing that without distinction, understanding is lost.

John ChrysostomHomily on 1 Corinthians 35 c. 347–407
"Even things without life, giving a voice, whether pipe or harp, if they give not a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped?" "And why do I say," saith he, "that in our case this is unprofitable,

John Chrysostom explains that without clear distinctions in sounds, it is impossible to know what is being played, paralleling the need for clarity in spiritual communication.

Early Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 14 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on 1 Corinthians 14:7 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

And even things without life giving sound,.... He instances in things inanimate, that have neither reason, sense, nor life, in musical instruments, and these of various sorts: whether pipe or harp;

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

And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?

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

In the sounds which are artificially made by the use of wind music, or other music, nothing could be understood, if art had not also devised a distinction in the sounds; that one sound should signify one thing, another sound should signify another thing: so unless the voice of the teacher be significant to, and understood by, the person instructed or taught, the sound is of no use at all.

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

7 And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? Ver. 7. Except they give a distinction] Unisono nihil auribus molestius. Discords in music make the best harmony. Through all Turkey there runs one tune, nor can every man play that; yet scarcely any but hath a fiddle with two strings.

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

(7) And even things without life.—The pipe and harp were the best-known instruments, and the principle just laid down of the inutility of sounds unless they be distinctive is illustrated by reference to them. Whether it was a harp or a pipe which was being played you could not know unless each gives a distinct sound of its own. The point here is not, as the English seems to suggest, that there must be a difference in tune, so as know what is being piped or harped—that illustration comes in in the next verse—but that each instrument has its own peculiar sound.

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

Verse 7. And even things without life] I may, as if he had said, illustrate this farther by referring to a pipe or harp; if these were to utter mere sounds without order, harmony, or melody, though every tone of music might be in the sounds, surely no person could discern a tune in such sounds, nor receive pleasure from such discords: even so is the person who speaks in an unknown tongue, but does not interpret. His speech tends no more to edification than those discordant and unmeaning sounds do to pleasure and delight.

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

7. except they give a distinction in the sounds] The effect of a melody depends entirely upon the distinction of its musical intervals. The effect of speech in like manner is dependent upon its being the communication of definite ideas.

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

Things without life - Instruments of music. Whether pipe - This instrument (αὐλὸς aulos) was usually made of reeds, and probably had a resemblance to a flageolet.

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

Even in the case of lifeless instruments, such as the flute or harp, how will anyone recognize the tune they are playing unless the notes are distinct?

WEBWorld English Bible2000

Even lifeless things that make a sound, whether pipe or harp, if they didn’t give a distinction in the sounds, how would it be known what is piped or harped?

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

Even in the case of lifeless instruments, such as the flute or harp, how will anyone recognize the tune they are playing unless the notes are distinct?

NETBNew English Translation2006

It is similar for lifeless things that make a sound, like a flute or harp. Unless they make a distinction in the notes, how can what is played on the flute or harp be understood?

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

Even things without life, giving a voice, whether pipe or harp, if they give not a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?

RVARevised Version, American1894

Even things without life, giving a voice, whether pipe or harp, if they give not a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?

NWBWebster's Bible1833

And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?

GNVGeneva Bible1599

Moreouer things without life which giue a sounde, whether it be a pipe or an harpe, except they make a distinction in the soundes, how shall it be knowen what is piped or harped?

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

Even lifeless things giving a sound, whether pipe or harp, if they give not distinction to the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

yet the things without life giving sound — whether pipe or harp — if a difference in the sounds they may not give, how shall be known that which is piped or that which is harped?

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

Yet the things without life giving sound—whether pipe or harp—if they may not give a difference in the sounds, how will be known that which is piped or that which is harped?

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

If lifeless instruments are producing sounds—like the flute or the harp—and they do not produce different tones, how will anyone know what tune the flute or harp is playing?

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

Even things without life that give sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction of sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

Even when it comes to something non-living such as musical instruments like a flute or a harp—if they don't produce clear notes, how will you know what tune is being played?

BBEBible in Basic English1949

Even things without life, having a voice, such as a music-pipe or other instrument, if they do not give out different sounds, who may be certain what is being played?

Word by word, the decisions they made

ἄψυχαapsuchos lifeless things G895 2 different renderings
without lifeASV BBE DRA GNV KJV LSV NWB RVA YLT
lifeless thingsDBY NETB WEB
φωνὴνphōnē a sound G5456 3 different renderings
soundDRA KJV LSV NWB YLT
a voiceASV BBE RVA
a soundDBY NETB WEB
διδόντα,didōmi giving, G1325 2 different renderings
givingASV DBY KJV LSV NWB RVA YLT
giveBBE DRA WEB
διαστολὴνdiastolē distinction G1293 4 different renderings
distinctionASV DBY DRA GNV KJV NETB NWB RVA WEB
differenceLSV YLT
differentBBE ULB
clearFBV
δῷ,didōmi they shall give, G1325 2 different renderings
givingASV DBY KJV LSV NWB RVA YLT
giveBBE DRA WEB
γνωσθήσεταιginōskō will it be known G1097 2 different renderings
knowULB
you knowFBV

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.

clauseὅμωςEvenclausenoun phraseτὰ-noun phraseἄψυχαlifeless thingsnoun phraseclauseobjectφωνὴνa soundverbδιδόνταgivingclausenoun phrase · subjectεἴτεwhetherαὐλὸςfluteεἴτεorκιθάραharpclauseἐὰνifclauseobjectδιαστολὴνdistinctionnoun phrase · adverbialτοῖςto theφθόγγοιςsoundsadverbialμὴnotverbδῷthey giveclauseadverbialπῶςhowverbγνωσθήσεταιwill it be knownnoun phrase · subjectnoun phraseτὸwhat [is]clauseverbαὐλούμενονbeing pipedornoun phraseτὸ-clauseverbκιθαριζόμενονbeing harped

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

Tamen quæ sine anima sunt vocem dantia, sive tibia, sive cithara ; nisi distinctionem sonituum dederint, quomodo scietur id quod canitur, aut quod citharizatur ?

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

ܐܦ ܨܒܘܬܐ ܓܝܪ ܐܝܠܝܢ ܕܠܝܬ ܒܗܝܢ ܢܦܫܐ ܘܝܗܒܢ ܩܠܐ ܐܢ ܐܒܘܒܐ ܘܐܢ ܩܝܬܪܐ ܐܢ ܦܘܪܫܢܐ ܠܐ ܥܒܕܢ ܒܝܬ ܩܝܢܬܐ ܠܚܒܪܬܗ ܐܝܟܢܐ ܡܬܝܕܥ ܡܕܡ ܕܡܙܕܡܪ ܐܘ ܡܕܡ ܕܡܬܢܩܫ

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

ὅμως τὰ ἄψυχα φωνὴν διδόντα, εἴτε αὐλὸς εἴτε κιθάρα, ἐὰν διαστολὴν τοῖς φθόγγοις μὴ δῷ, πῶς γνωσθήσεται τὸ αὐλούμενον τὸ κιθαριζόμενον;

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

ὅμως τὰ ἄψυχα φωνὴν διδόντα, εἴτε αὐλὸς εἴτε κιθάρα, ἐὰν διαστολὴν τοῖς φθόγγοις μὴ δῷ, πῶς γνωσθήσεται τὸ αὐλούμενον τὸ κιθαριζόμενον;

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

ὅμως τὰ ἄψυχα φωνὴν διδόντα, εἴτε αὐλὸς εἴτε κιθάρα, ἐὰν διαστολὴν τοῖς φθόγγοις μὴ δῷ, πῶς γνωσθήσεται τὸ αὐλούμενον τὸ κιθαριζόμενον;

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

ὅμως τὰ ἄψυχα φωνὴν διδόντα, εἴτε αὐλὸς εἴτε κιθάρα, ἐὰν διαστολὴν τοῖς φθόγγοις μὴ δῷ, πῶς γνωσθήσεται τὸ αὐλούμενον τὸ κιθαριζόμενον;

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

ὅμως τὰ ἄψυχα φωνὴν διδόντα, εἴτε αὐλὸς εἴτε κιθάρα, ἐὰν διαστολὴν τοῖς φθόγγοις μὴ δῷ, πῶς γνωσθήσεται τὸ αὐλούμενον τὸ κιθαριζόμενον;

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

ὅμως τὰ ἄψυχα φωνὴν διδόντα, εἴτε αὐλὸς εἴτε κιθάρα, ἐὰν διαστολὴν τοῖς φθόγγοις μὴ δῷ, πῶς γνωσθήσεται τὸ αὐλούμενον τὸ κιθαριζόμενον;

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

ὅμως τὰ ἄψυχα φωνὴν διδόντα, εἴτε αὐλὸς εἴτε κιθάρα, ἐὰν διαστολὴν τοῖς φθόγγοις μὴ πῶς γνωσθήσεται τὸ αὐλούμενον τὸ κιθαριζόμενον;

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

ὅμως τὰ ἄψυχα φωνὴν διδόντα, εἴτε αὐλὸς εἴτε κιθάρα, ἐὰν διαστολὴν τοῖς φθόγγοις μὴ δῷ, πῶς γνωσθήσεται τὸ αὐλούμενον τὸ κιθαριζόμενον;

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

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

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

Word by word, across the editions

WordEditions carrying itMissing from
δῷ, they shall give,NA28, NA27, Tyn, SBL, WH, Treg, TRByz

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 14:7ὅμωςEvenEvenὅμως<the><the>ἄψυχοςlifeless thlifeless thingsἄψυχοςφωνήa sounda soundφωνήδίδωμιgiving,giving,δίδωμιεἴτεwhetherwhetherεἴτεαὐλόςflutefluteαὐλόςεἴτεororεἴτεκιθάραharp,harp,κιθάραἐάνififἐάνδιαστολήdistinctiondistinctionδιαστολήto theto theφθόγγοςsoundssoundsφθόγγοςμήnotnotμήδίδωμιthey shall they shall giveδίδωμιπῶςhowhowπῶςγινώσκωwill it be will it be knowγινώσκωwhatwhatαὐλέωis being piis being pipedαὐλέωororwhatwhatκιθαρίζωis being hais being harpedκιθαρίζωεἰCond. ifCond. ifεἰἄλφαletter theletter the firsἄλφαδιαστέλλωv. I give v. I give a comδιαστέλλωφθέγγομαιv. I speakv. I speak alouφθέγγομαιαὐλόςn.m. a flun.m. a flute, pαὐλόςκιθάραn.f. a harn.f. a harpκιθάραὁμοῦAdv togethAdv togetherὁμοῦφαίνωv. I shinev. I shine, appφαίνωἀήρn.m. airn.m. airἀήρποῦIrg.adv. wIrg.adv. where,ποῦἤδηAdv now, aAdv now, alreadἤδηἤπερDisj.prt. Disj.prt. thanἤπεροὐNeg.prt. nNeg.prt. no, noοὐκλάωv. I breakv. I breakκλάωπτωχόςAdj poor, Adj poor, destiπτωχόςΚηφᾶςn.m. Cephan.m. CephasΚηφᾶςἄνθρωποςn.m. a mann.m. a man, oneἄνθρωποςβροντήn.f. thundn.f. thunderβροντή
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 14:7

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.

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
ὅμωςhomōs Even G3676 Conjunction
3× 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
Just as means despite something or nevertheless, as seen in John 12:42 and 1 Corinthians 14:7. It is used to contrast ideas or show that something is true even if other factors are involved.
Tyndale gloss
just as
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ὅμως (i.e., *homōs*) is an adverb meaning 'yet,' 'nevertheless,' or 'notwithstanding.' It is used to connect contrasting ideas and can appear in various forms, often strengthened by additional words. In the New Testament, it appears in John 12:42, 1 Corinthians 14:7, and Galatians 3:15, where it emphasizes a contrast or exception.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὅμως,

adv.

(< ὁμίς),

yet: ὅ. μέντοι, but yet, nevertheless, Jo 12:42; by hyperbaton, out of its proper position, I Co 14:7, Ga 3:15 (but v. Bl., § 77, 14).†

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

ὅμως, (duds), fr. Hom. down, yet; it oceurs twice in the N. T. out of its usual position [ef. W. § 61, 5f.; B. § 144, 23], viz. in 1 Co. xiv. 7, where resolve thus: τὰ ἄψυχα. καίπερ φωνὴν διδόντα, ὅμως, ἐὰν διαστολὴν .. . πῶς «vA. instruments without life, although giving forth a sound, yet, unless they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known ete., Frizsche, Conject. spec. i. Ρ. 52; cf. Meyer ad loc.; [W. 344 (323)]; again, ὅμως avOpamov ... οὐδεὶς ἀθετεῖ for ἀνθρώπου κεκυρ. διαθήκην, καίπερ ἀνθρώπου οὖσαν, ὅμως οὐδεὶς κτλ. a man’s established cévenant, though it be but a man’s, yet no one etc. Gal. iii. 15; ὅμως μέντοι, but yet, nevertheless, [cf. W. 444 (413) ], Jn. xii. 42.

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

ὅμως. P Par 45% (B.c. 153) ἀλ᾽ {-- ἀλλ᾽) ὅμως τοῖς θεοῖς τὴν ἐπιτροπὴν δίδομει, Ῥ Oxy I. 115% (ii/A.D.) (= Selections, p: 9) GAN ὁμῶς οὐδὲν δύναταί τις πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα : cf. Jn 1242. See also BGU IV. 1205! (B.c. 28) οὐ πεπράκατὰ TO τῶν αὐτοί χθόνω]ν Αἰγυπτίων ἀλλότρια ταῦ[τα ἣν], ἐδρᾶτο δὲ ὅμως, and P Oxy VI. 93978 (iv/A.D.) (= Selections, p. 30) νοσηλότερον δὲ ὅμως TO σωμάτιον ἔχει, ‘ but nevertheless she is still in a somewhat sickly state of body.” On the supposed trajection of 8pws from its proper place in Gal 315, 1 Cor 147, see Burton Gad. p. 178 f.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὅμως (homōs) — just as.

ὅμως,

conjunction (from ὁμῶς, with changed accent), all the same, nevertheless, used to limit whole clauses, once in [Refs 8th c.BC+] (unless it is read in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; κοὐκ ἐπίδηλος ὅ. and yet not so as to be observed, [Refs 6th c.BC+] but still, but for all that, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὅ. μήν (Doric dialect μάν) [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. frequently in apodosi after καὶ εἰ (κεἰ) or καὶ ἐάν (κἄν), κεἰ τὸ μηδὲν ἐξερῶ, φράσω δ᾽ ὅ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; λέξον.., κεἰ στένεις ὅ., i.e. κεἰ στένεις, ὅ. λέξον, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: sometimes it even stands in the protasis, ἐρημία με, κεἰ δίκαι᾽ ὅ. λέγω, σμικρὸν τίθησι [Refs 5th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὅμως

homos

adverb from the base of 3674; at the same time, i.e. (conjunctionally)

notwithstanding, yet still:--and even, nevertheless, though but.

see GREEK for 3674

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὅμως

Cj.

yet, nevertheless

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὅμως homōs 3x

yet, nevertheless; with μέντοι, but nevertheless, but for all that, Jn. 12:42; even, though it be but, 1 Cor. 14:7; Gal. 3:15*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὅμως Conj. from ὁμός but with changed accent all the same, nevertheless, notwithstanding, still, Lat. tamen, Il., Soph., etc.:—often strengthened by other words, ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως, Lat. attamen, but still, but for all that, Ar., etc.; ὅμως μήν, ὅμως μέντοι Plat.; ὅμως γε μήν, ὅμως γε μέντοι Ar.:—used elliptically, οἴσεις οὐδὲν ὑγιές, ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως (sc. οἰστέον) id. Ar.

in apodosis after καί εἰ or καὶ ἐάν, as tamen after etsi or quamquam, κεἰ τὸ μηδὲν ἐξερῶ, φράσω δ᾽ ὅμως even if I shall say nothing plainly, yet I will speak, Soph.;—so, κλῦθί μου νοσῶν ὅμως (i. e. εἰ νοσεῖς, ὅμως κλῦθι), id. Soph.

to limit single words, Lat. quamvis, ἀπάλαμόν περ ὅμως helpless though he be, Hes., etc.

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
67%even
even67% · 2×nevertheless33% · 1×

3 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
adverbial67%

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
λέγωI say, speak
ἄνθρωποςa man, one of th
ὅμωςEven
what comes after →
μέντοιindeed, yet, however
καίand, even, also,
Article the
ἄψυχοςlifeless
ἄνθρωποςa man, one of the hu
κυρόωI ratify, confir

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

Concordanceὅμως · 3× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians Galatians John
Across the New Testament3 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 104c. AD 40

τῇ δ’ ἕκτῃ περὶ πάντα καταρτύεται νόος ἀνδρός, οὐδ’ ἕρδειν ἔθ’ ὁμῶς ἔργ’ ἀπάλαμνα θέλει·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.140c. AD 75–95

ὅμως δὲ ἀπεγνωκόσιν ἡμῖν τὴν διʼ αὐτοῦ σωτηρίαν ἐλπὶς ὑπολέλειπται παρὰ τῆς σῆς χρηστότητος ἐγγυωμένη τὴν τοῦ κινδύνου διαφυγήν.

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 5th c. AD 3rd c. AD
P.Mich. 8 466Bostra (Arabia)AD 107

Ἰουλιανοῦ τοῦ τοῦ Λογγίνου , καὶ οὔπω μοι ἀντέγραψας περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας σου. ἀλλʼ ὅμως ἐρωτηθεὶς ἀναγκαίως σχέθητι πρὸ πάντων γράψαι μοι περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας ὑμῶν. πολλάκις δέ μου

P.Brem. 56 App.Hermopolis ?AD 113–AD 120

προσεδοκήσαμεν καὶ εἰληφότες σου τὰ γράμματα, διʼ ὧν ὑποπαρῄτου διὰ τὸ τοῦ ποδὸς ἄλγημα, ὅμως οὐκ ἐπειθόμεθα, ὅτι παραστήσεταί σοι ἀπολειφθῆναι ἡμῶν ὑπὸ τῆς πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφὸν Θέωνα γλυκυθυμίας,

BGU 1 140Alexandria (?)AD 119

τρόπον οὔκ εἰσιν νόμιμοι κληρονόμοι τῶν ἑαυτῶν πατέρων οἱ τῷ τῆς στρατείας χρόνῳ ἀναλημφθέντες, ὅμως κατοχὴν ὑπαρχόντων ἐξ ἐκείνου τοῦ μέρους τοῦ διατάγματος, οὗ καὶ τοῖς πρὸς γένους συνγενέσι

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
τὰho <the> G3588 Article · nominative · plural · neuter
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'.
Amplified meaning
melody, song
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-NPN — Article · nominative · plural · neuter
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked plural neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-NPN Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Nominative Number: Plural Gender: Neuter

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
<the>19783×
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

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
ἄψυχαapsuchos lifeless things G895 Adjective · nominative · plural · neuter
1× 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
Lifeless refers to something inanimate or without life, as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 14:7.
Amplified meaning
inanimate, without life
Tyndale gloss
lifeless
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἄψυχος (i.e., *apsuchos*) means lifeless or inanimate, derived from the negative prefix and the word for soul. It is used in various contexts, including inanimate objects and non-animal food, with references in literature from Aeschylus to the New Testament, specifically in 1 Corinthians 14:7. The lexicons note its application to both physical and metaphorical lifelessness.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

** ἄψυχος, -ον

(< ψυχή),

[in LXX: Wi 13:17 14:29*;]

inanimate, lifeless: I Co 14:7.†

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

ἄψυχος, -ov, (ψυχή), without a soul, lifeless : 1 Co. xiv. 7. (In Grk. writ. from [Archil., Simon. and] Aeschylus down.) * Baar

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

ἀψυχος ἄχρι is only an ad/aut variant of μέχρι---566. BrugmannThumb, p. 631. P Oxy VII. 1070°° (iii/A.D.) μὴ ἀμελήσῃς μὴ ἄρα ποτὲ θέλῃς ple]Ta σ[ο]ῦ [Ἥρ]αείδι τὴν τήρησιν τῆς ὅλης οἰκίας παραδιδόναι ἀχρήστου οὔσης αὐτῆς, “do not neglect this, lest indeed you choose to hand over the keeping of the whole house to Herais, who is unworthy ’’ (Ed.). The resemblance to Philem 11 is obvious. Vettius (p. 627) speaks of ἄχρηστα βρέφη. ἄχρι, ἄχρις. No example of ἄχρις has yet been produced from the Ptolemaic papyri. In the Roman period both forms are found, their usage being apparently determined as a rule by the same considerations of euphonyas in the NT. For ἄχρι οὗ cf. P Oxy I. 10418 (a will, A.D. 96) ἄχρι οὗ ἐκπληρώσωσι ἀργυρίου δραχμαὶ τριακόσιαι, BGU 1. το δ (a.p. 135) ἄχρι οὗ γράψω τῷ κρατίστῳ ἡγεμόνι and P Oxy III. 5073° (A.D, 169) ἄχρι οὗ ἀποδῶ σοι τὸ κεφάλαιον, etc. Without οὗ, cf. P…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἄψυχος (apsuchos) — lifeless.

ἄψῡχ-ος, ον,

lifeless, inanimate, πόθῳ[Refs 7th c.BC+]; ἃ -ότατα τῶν ὀστῶν with least life or sensation, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἄ. θεοί, of statues, [Refs 4th c.BC+]

2. ἄ. βορά non-animal food, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. spiritless, faint-hearted, κάκη[Refs 4th c.BC+]; of style, lifeless, [Refs 1st c.BC+]. adverb -χως[Refs 2nd c.AD+]

III. materialistic, λόγος[Refs 3rd c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἄψυχος

apsuchos

from 1 (as a negative particle) and 5590; lifeless, i.e. inanimate

(mechanical):--without life.

see GREEK for 1

see GREEK for 5590

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἄψυχος, ον

Adj

lifeless

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἄψυχος apsychos 1x

void of life or sense, inanimate, 1 Cor. 14:7*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἄψυχος ψυχή lifeless, inanimate, Simon., Eur., Plat.

ἄψ. βορά non-animal food, Eur.

spiritless, faint-hearted, Aesch.

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

A-NPN Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Nominative Number: Plural Gender: Neuter

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
100%lifeless things
lifeless things100% · 1×

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

Concordanceἄψυχος · 1× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians
Across the New Testament1 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 22c. AD 40

ἦν μὲν γὰρ ἐξ αὑτῆς ἄτακτος ἄποιος ἄψυχος ἀνόμοιος, ἑτεροιότητος ἀναρμοστίας ἀσυμφωνίας μεστή·

JosephusThe Jewish War 6.241c. AD 75–95

ὁ δὲ Τίτος οὐδʼ ἂν ἐπιβάντες ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ πολεμῶσιν Ἰουδαῖοι φήσας ἀντὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀμυνεῖσθαι τὰ ἄψυχα οὐδὲ καταφλέξειν ποτὲ τηλικοῦτον ἔργον·

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
φωνὴνphōnē a sound G5456 Noun · accusative · singular · feminine
139× 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
Voice or sound refers to any kind of noise, like a person speaking or an animal making a sound. In the Bible, it is used in Matthew 2:18 and Acts 2:14 to describe a voice or sound. It can also mean a language or saying.
Tyndale gloss
voice/sound: noise
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

φωνή is a feminine noun meaning 'voice' or 'sound,' primarily associated with articulate sounds made by humans and animals. It can also refer to sounds from inanimate objects and encompasses speech, language, and tones. The New Testament uses it in various contexts, such as in Matthew 2:18 and John 3:8. Notably, the lexicons differ on whether it can apply to inanimate sounds, with some sources emphasizing its primary association with living beings.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — φωνή, λόγος from a scan

On these words, and on their relation to one another, very much has been written by the Greek grammarians and natural philosophers (see Lersch, Sprachphilosophie der Alten, vol. iii. pp. 85, 45, and passim). Φωνή, from φάω, ds φωτίζουσα τὸ νοούμενον (Plutarch, De Plac. Phil. 19), rendered in our Version ‘ voice’ (Matt. ii. 18), ‘sound’ (John iii. 8), ‘noise’ (Rev. vi. 1), is distinguished from ψόφος, in that it is the cry of a living creature (ἡ δὲ φωνὴ ψόφος τίς ἐστιν ἐμψύχου, Aristotle, De Anima, 2. 8. 14), being sometimes ascribed to God (Matt. ui. 17), to men (Matt. iii. 3), to animals (Rev. ix. 9), and, though improperly, to inanimate objects as well (1 Cor. xiv. 7), as to the trumpet (Matt. xxiv. 31), to the wind (John iii. 8), to the thunder (Rev. vi. 1; οἵ. Ps. lxxvi. 19). But λόγος, a word, saying, or rational utterance of the νοῦς, whether spoken (προφορικός, and thus φωνὴ τῶν…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

φωνή, -ῆς, ἡ,

[in LXX chiefly and very freq. for קוֺל ;]

a voice;

prop., of persons, Mt 2:18 (LXX), al.; φ. αἴρειν (ἐπαίρειν), Lk 17:13, Ac 2:14, al.; φ. μεγάλῃ εἰπεῖν (λέγειν, φωνεῖν, etc.), Lk 8:28, Ac 7:57, Re 5:12, al.; γίνεται (ἔρχεται) φ. ἐκ τ. οὐρανῶν (ἐξ οὐρανοῦ), Mk 1:11, Lk 3:22, Jo 12:28, al. (cf. DCG, ii, 810a; Dalman, Words, 204 f.); ἀκούειν φωνήν (-ῆς; v.s. ἀκούω), Ac 9:4, 7 al.; φ.…

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

φωνή, -ἢς, ἡ, (φάω to shine, make clear, [ef. Curtius §407; L. and S.s. v. φάω]), fr. Hom. down, Hebr. Tips 1. a sound, tone: of inanimate things, as of musical instruments, Mt. xxiv. 31 [T om. ¢., WH give it only in mrg.; ef. B. § 132, 10]; 1 Co. xiv. 7 sq.; Rev. xiv. 2; xviii. 22, (Is. xviii. 3; xxiv. 8; Sir. 1.16; 1 Mace. v. 313 ὀργάνων, Plat. de rep. 3 p. 397 ἃ. ; συρίγγων, Eur. Tro. 127; ψαλτηρίου καὶ αὐλοῦ, Plut. mor. p. 713 ¢.); of wind, Jn. iii. 8; Acts ii. 6; of thunder, Rev. vi. 1; xiv. 2; xix. 6, cf. iv. 5; viii. 5; xi. 19; xvi. 18; noise, of a millstone, Rev. xviii. 22; of a thronging multitude, Rev. xix. 1, 6; of chariots, Rev. ix. 9; of wings, whir (Ezek. i. 24), ibid.; of waters (Ezek. i. 24; 4 Esdr. vi. 17), Rev. i. 15; xiv. 2; xix. 6; also with the gen. of a thing implying speech, the sound [A.V. voice]: τοῦ ἀσπασμοῦ, Lk. i. 445 ῥημάτων, Heb. xii. 19; the cry (of men)…

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

φωνή, «ἐᾷ sound,” ‘fa voice”: cf P Lond 191257 (A.D. 41) γνησιωτέραις ὑμᾶς φωναῖς προσαγορεύσας, * addressing you more frankly by word of mouth,” P Ryl II. 77% (A.D. 192) ἔχομεν δὴ φωνὴν τοῦ ᾿Ασπιδᾶ, ““ννὲ now have the declaration of Aspidas” (Edd.). In one of the family letters of Paniskos (iii/iv A.D.) from the Michigan papyri edited by J. G. Winter in the Journ. Egypt. Arch. xiii. p. 721 we find wodAdkt[s] φωνὴν αὐ[τῷ] ἐβά[λομ]εν ἵνα ἔλ[θῃ] πρὸς τὸν ἐπανορθωτὴ(ν) ᾿Αχιλλ[έα, ““ννε sent him word repeatedly that he might come to the epanorthotes Achilles” —a phrase for which the editor can find no parallel. For the power of the divine voice cf. Wiinsch 4/ p. 23° (1,4...) διὰ φωνῆς προστάγματος, where the editor compares Ps 32 αὐτὸς εἶπεν, καὶ ἐγενήθησαν. The word is used of Coptic speech in P Lond 7718 (end vi/A.D.) (=I. p. 232) τῇ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων φωνῇ : cf. also P Giss I. 4oll- 27 (A.D.…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

φωνή (phōnē) — voice/sound: voice.

φων-ή, ἡ,

sound, tone, properly, the sound of the voice, whether of men or animals with lungs and throat (ἡ φωνὴ ψόφος τίς ἐστιν ἐμψύχου [Refs 4th c.BC+]; opposed to φθόγγος (see. φθόγγος [Refs]

I. mostly of human beings, speech, voice, utterance, φ. ἄρρηκτος [Refs 8th c.BC+]; φ. δέ οἱ αἰθέρ᾽ ἵκανεν, of Ajax' battle-cry, [Refs]; of the battle-cry of an army, Τρώων καὶ Ἀχαιῶν.. φ. δεινὸν ἀϋσάντων [Refs]: plural, of the cries of market-people, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὀξεῖα, βαρυτέρα, λεία, τραχεῖα φ., [Refs 5th c.BC+]; μιαρά, ἀναιδής, [Refs 5th c.BC+]with his voice, aloud, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; μιᾷ φ. with one voice, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; ἀπὸ φωνῆς, with genitive, dictated by.., [Refs 4th c.AD+] in Euc.Dat.p.234 M., [Refs 4th c.BC+] the notes of the voice, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; πᾶσαν, τὸ λεγόμενον, φ. ἱέντα…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

φωνή

phone

probably akin to 5316 through the idea of disclosure; a tone

(articulate, bestial or artificial); by implication, an address (for

any purpose), saying or language:--noise, sound, voice.

see GREEK for 5316

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

φωνή, ῆς, ἡ

n.f.

a sound, noise, voice

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

φωνή phōnē 139x

a sound, Mt. 24:31; Jn. 3:8; Rev. 4:5; 8:5; a cry, Mt. 2:18; an articulate sound, voice, Mt. 3:3, 17; 17:5; 27:46, 50; voice, speech, discourse, Jn. 10:16, 27; Acts 7:31; 12:22; 13:27; Heb. 3:7, 15; tone of address, Gal. 4:20; language, tongue, dialect, 1 Cor. 14:10

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

φωνή φωνή, ἡ, φάω a sound, tone, properly the sound of the voice, mostly of men, Lat. vox, Hom., etc.; of a battlecry, Xen.; φωνὴν ῥηγνύναι, Virgil's rumpere vocem, to utter an articulate sound, Hdt., Ar.; φ. ἱέναι, Lat. vocem edere, Hdt., etc.: pl. αἱ φ. the tones of the voice, Plat.:—proverb., φωνῇ ὁρᾶν, of a blind man, Soph.

the voice or cry of animals, Od., Hdt., etc.

any articulate sound, as opp. to inarticulate (ψόφος), Soph., etc.

of sounds from inanimate objects, φ. συρίγγων Eur.; ὀργάνων Plat.

the faculty of speech, discourse, Lat. sermo, Soph.

language, Lat. lingua, Hdt.

a kind of language, dialect, Aesch., Thuc., etc.

a phrase, saying, τὴν Σιμωνίδου φ. Plat.

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

sound: In Isa 63:15 the King James Version has "the sounding of thy bowels," a painfully literal translation of hamon me'eykha, with the similar phrase, "my bowels shall sound like an harp," in Isa 16:11 (compare Jer 48:36). The intestines were considered a seat of emotion, and at times of great excitement were thought (in poetry, at least) to become tense and to give forth a musical sound. The Revised Version (British and American) (following the King James Version in Jer 48:36) substitutes "heart" for "bowels" in Isa 16:11, thus obscuring the figure but preserving the sense. In

Across the New Testament11 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 302 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 Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 62c. AD 40

χρώματα μὲν [ἡ] ὅρασις, φωνὰς δὲ ἀκοή, χυλοὺς δὲ γεῦσις, καὶ ὄσφρησις ἀτμούς, μαλακότητας δὲ καὶ σκληρότητας καὶ ὅσα θερμὰ ἢ ψυχρὰ λειότητάς τε καὶ τραχύτητας ἁφή.

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

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

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

Λέγει οὖν πάλιν περὶ τούτων πρὸς αὐτούς: Ἱνατί μοι νηστεύετε, λέγει κύριος, ὡς σήμερον ἀκουσθῆναι ἐν κραυγῇ τὴν φωνὴν ὑμῶν;

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 5th c. AD 6th c. AD
P.Phil. 3 VoArsinoitesAD 123

φ … … σατε … το γρ … … … πρ … φωνη ἐστι τω … εισγραπτ … … ος ὁ στρατηγός· ἄλλον ἀντʼ αὐτοῦ δότε.

P.Mich. 8 488AD 101–AD 200

σχολάζεις τηρεῖν τὰ ἐκεῖ καὶ ἁρπάζεται ὑπὸ τῶν παραγόντων. ἂν οὐχ εὑρίσκεις ἀποδοῦναι τὴν φωνήν ὡς εἶπας αὐτῷ … … ι ἐμφανής. καὶ πότε θέλεις γένηται ἀμμὰς πρὸς σέ;

P.Oxy. 51 3614OxyrhynchosAD 200

μιᾶς νωνῶν … ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ. μετʼ ἄλλα. Καῖσαρ σκεψάμενος μετὰ τῶν φίλων τῇ πατρίῳ φωνῇ ἀπεφήνατο, ἀναγνοὺς ἐκ βιβλίου, οἱ μὲν ἐπίτροποι ἡμῶν ἕξουσιν διὰ φροντίδος μισθοῦν τὰ τέλη

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
διδόντα,didōmi giving, G1325 Verb · present · active · participle · nominative · plural · neuter
414× 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
To give, as seen in Matthew 4:9 and John 1:12, means to bestow or grant something to someone, often with a sense of generosity or sacrifice, like God giving his only son in John 3:16
Tyndale gloss
to give
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

δίδωμι, transliterated as didōmi, means 'to give' and is used in a wide range of contexts, including bestowing, granting, and delivering. It appears frequently in the New Testament, such as in Matthew 4:9 and John 3:16. The word is built from a primary verb and has various forms and constructions, indicating its flexibility in usage.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δίδωμι,

[in LXX chiefly for נתן (53 words in all) ;]

to give—in various senses, acc. to context—bestow, grant, supply, deliver, commit, yield: absol., Ac 20:35; c. acc. rei et dat. pers., Mt 4:9 5:31, Jo 1:12, al. mult.; c. dat. pers., seq. ἐκ, Mt 25:8; id. c. gen. part.. Re 2:17; c. acc. pers., Jo 3:16, Re 20:13, al.; δεξιάς, Ga 2:9; φίλημα, Lk 7:45; γνῶσιν, Lk 1:77; κρίσιν, Jo 5:22; of seed yielding fruit, Read the full entry →

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

δίδωμι (διδῶ, Rev. iii. 9 LT WH; [δίδω Tr, yet see WH. App. p. 167]), 3 pers. plur. διδόασι (Rev. xvii. 13 [not Rec.]), impv. δίδου (Mt. v. 42 RG); impf. 3 pers. sing. ἐδίδου, 3 pers. plur. ἐδίδουν (ἐδίδοσαν, Jn. xix. 3 LT Tr WH [see ἔχω); fut. δώσω; 1 aor. ἔδωκα [2 pers. sing. -xes, Jn. xvii. 7 Trmrg., 8 Trmrg.; cf. reff. s. v. κοπιάω)], subjunc. δώσῃ [and δώσωμεν] fr. an imaginary indic. form ἔδωσα, [ Mk. vi. 37 T Trmrg.]; Jn. xvii. 2 (Tr mrg. WH δώσει) ; Rev. viii. 3 (LT Tr WH δώσει; cf. Lob. ad Phryn. p. 720 sq.; B. 36 (31); W. 79 (76); [Veitch s. v. 618. fin., also Soph. Lex. s. v. and esp. Intr. p. 40; WH. App. p. 172]); pf. δέδωκα [on the interchange between the forms of the pf. and of the aor. in this verb ef. B. 199 (172)]; plpf. ἐδεδώκειν and without augm. [W. § 12, 9; B. 33 (29)] dedaxew, Mk. xiv. 44; and L txt. T Tr WH in Lk. xix. 15; 3 pers. plur. δεδώκεισαν, Jn. xi. 57; 2…

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

δίδωμι structed by Kenyon, P Lond I. p. 2ff. For a specimen of their petitions see P Par 26 (B.C. 163-2), reproduced in Selections, p. 12 ff. It opens—Baordret Πτολεμαίῳ καὶ Βασιλίσσῃ Κλεοπάτρᾳ τῇ ἀδελφῇ, θεοῖς Φιλομήτορσι, χαίρειν. Θανὴς καὶ Taods δίδυμαι, αἱ λειτουργοῦσαι ἐν τῷ πρὸς Μέμφει μεγάλῳ Σαραπιείῳ κτὰ. From 20.15 Kal ἐκ τούτων καὶ τῶν προτοῦ γενηθεισῶν δ[ι]δύμων κομισαμένων τὰ ἑαυτῶν καθ᾽ ἡμέραν δέοντα, we learn that the Twins were there ex officio as twins, in connexion with some Dioscuric cultus: see Rendel Harris Soanerges, p. 272. From later documents it will be enough to quote P Oxy IIT. 533%® (ii/ili A.p.) εὔπατε Kal τοῖς διδύμοις ὅτι προνοήσζα]τε τοῦ κερματίου, “Ὑ16}1 the twins also to be careful about the small change” (Edd.). The frequency of Didymus as a proper name we compare the Latin Geminus and Gemellus (cf. for the latter the farmer whose correspondence at end…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δίδωμι (didōmi) — to give.

δίδωμι,

[Refs 8th c.BC+] (late δίδω [Refs 3rd c.AD+]; late forms, 1st pers. plural διδόαμεν see reading in [Refs 1st c.AD+]; but thematic forms are frequently used, especially in Epic dialect and Ionic dialect, διδοῖς, διδοῖσθα, [Refs 8th c.BC+], διδοῖ [Refs 8th c.BC+], uncertain in Attic dialect, [Refs 6th c.BC+], Epic dialect δίδωθι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; infinitive διδόναι, also διδοῦν [Refs 6th c.BC+], Epic dialect διδοῦναι [Refs 8th c.BC+], Aeolic dialect δίδων [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; participle διδούς, Aeolic dialect δίδοις [Refs 7th c.BC+]imperfect ἐδίδουν -ους -ου, [Refs 8th c.BC+] (Epic dialect δίδου [Refs 8th c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. plural ἐδίδοσαν [Refs 8th c.BC+] codices (ἀπ-), also ἔδιδον probably in [Refs]; Epic dialect iterative δόσκον [Refs 8th c.BC+]: future δώσω [Refs], Epic dialect διδώσω [Refs 8th c.BC+]; infinitive δωσέμεναι [Refs 8th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

δίδωμι

didomi

a prolonged form of a primary verb (which is used as an alternative in

most of the tenses); to give (used in a very wide application,

properly, or by implication, literally or figuratively; greatly

modified by the connection):--adventure, bestow, bring forth, commit,

deliver (up), give, grant, hinder, make, minister, number, offer, have

power, put, receive, set, shew, smite (+ with the hand), strike (+

with the palm of the hand), suffer, take, utter, yield.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δίδωμι

v.

I offer, give

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δίδωμι didōmi 415x

pluperfect, ἐδεδώκειν, to give, bestow, present, Mt. 4:9; 6:11; Jn. 3:16; 17:2, et al. freq.; to give, cast, throw, Mt. 7:6; to supply, suggest, Mt. 10:19; Mk. 13:11; to distribute alms, Mt. 19:21; Lk. 11:41; to pay tribute, etc., Mt. 22:17; Mk. 12:14; Lk. 20:22; to be the author or source of a thing, Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

δίδωμι Redupl. from Root ΔΟ, Lat. do, dare. Orig. sense, to give, τί τινι Hom., etc.; in pres. and imperf. to be ready to give, to offer, id. Hom.

of the gods, to grant, κῦδος, νίκην, and of evils, δ. ἄλγεα, ἄτας, κήδεα id. Hom.; later, εὖ διδόναι τινί to provide well for . . , Soph., Eur.

to offer to the gods, Hom., etc.

with an inf. added, δῶκε τεύχεα θεράποντι φορῆναι gave him the arms to carry, Il.; διδοῖ πιεῖν gives to drink, Hdt., etc.

Prose phrases, δ. ὅρκον, opp. to λαμβάνειν, to tender an oath; δ. χάριν, ῀ χαρίζεσθαι, as ὀργῆι χάριν δούς having indulged his anger, Soph.;— λόγον τινὶ δ. to give one leave to speak, Xen.; but, δ. λόγον ἑαυτῶι to deliberate, Hdt.

c. acc. pers. to give over, deliver up, Hom., etc.

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAP-NPN — Verb · present · active · participle · nominative · plural · neuter
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked plural neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAP-NPN Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: Participle Case: Nominative Number: Plural Gender: Neuter

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Nave's Topical Bible

→ RULES FOR Mt 6:1-4; 1Co 16:2; 2Co 8:11,12,14; 9:6,7

See ALMS

See BENEFICENCE

See LIBERALITY

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
9%give
give9% · 37×do give7% · 31×given7% · 30×gave6% · 25×he gave6% · 23×has given5% · 22×will give4% · 18×i will give4% · 16×other renderings51% · 212×

414 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 86 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 414 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
αὐτόςκλάωI breakαἰτέωI ask, request,
Article the
θεόςGod, a godχάριςgrace, favor, kiαὐτός
ὅς
πᾶςall, the whole, ἐγώσύ
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakδίδωμιI offer, giveκαίand, even, also,
οὐNeg
σημεῖονa sign, miracle,καίand, even, also,σελήνηthe moon
δίδωμιgiving,414×
what comes after →
αὐτός
Article theἐξουσίαpower, authorityκαίand, even, also,
Article the
μαθητήςa learner, disciἐξουσίαpower, authorityπνεῦμαwind, breath, sp
ἐγώ
Article theπᾶςall, the whole, ἵναin order that, s
σύ
Article theἐνἵναin order that, s
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theπερισσεύωI exceed, am lefζητέωI seek, search f

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

Concordanceδίδωμι · 414× in the New Testament
John Luke Revelation Matthew Mark Acts 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Ephesians Romans 1 John 2 Timothy

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament22 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 985 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Clement of Rome The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 45c. AD 40

Τῇ δὲ τετάρτῃ ἡμέρᾳ μετὰ τὴν γῆν τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐποίκιλλε διακοσμῶν, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ τοῦτον ἐν ὑστέρῳ γῆς ἔταττε, τῇ μὲν ἐλάττονι φύσει προνομίαν διδούς, τὴν δὲ κρείττονα καὶ θειοτέραν δευτερείων ἀξιῶν, ἀλλ’ εἰς ἔνδειξιν ἐναργεστάτην κράτους ἀρχῆς.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.20c. AD 75–95

οὔτε γὰρ αὐτῷ ποτʼ ἂν γενέσθαι νοῦν ἀγαθὸν τῷ νομοθέτῃ ταύτης ἀπολειπομένῳ τῆς θέας, οὔτε τῶν γραφησομένων εἰς ἀρετῆς λόγον οὐδὲν ἀποβήσεσθαι τοῖς λαβοῦσιν, εἰ μὴ πρὸ παντὸς ἄλλου διδαχθεῖεν, ὅτι πάντων πατήρ τε καὶ δεσπότης ὁ θεὸς ὢν καὶ πάντα…

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
4th c. AD 2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 3rd c. BC 6th c. AD
P. Grenf. 1 21Pathyris127 BC

μέμ μοι ὑγιαίνοντι τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ κύριον εἶναι· ἐὰν δέ τι ἀνθρώπινον πάθω, καταλείπω καὶ δίδωμι τὰ ὑπάρχοντά μοι ἔγγαιά τε καὶ ἔπιπλα καὶ κτήνη καὶ ὅσα ἂν προσεπικτήσωμαι, τὸν

P.Grenf. 1 44Pathyris127 BC

μέμ μοι ὑγιαίνοντι τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ κύριον εἶναι. ἐὰν δέ τι ἀνθρώπινον πάθω, καταλείπω καὶ δίδωμι τὰ ὑπάρχοντά μοι ἔγγαιά τε καὶ ἔπιπλα καὶ κτήνη καὶ ὅσα ἂν προσεπικτήσωμαι, τὸν

μέν μοι ὑγιαίνοντι τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ κύριον εἶναι, ἐὰν δέ τι ἀνθρώπινον πάθω, καταλείπω καὶ δίδωμι τὰ ὑπάρχοντά μοι ἔγγαιά τε καὶ ἔπιπλα καὶ κτήνη καὶ ὅσα ἂν προσεπικτήσωμαι Ταθώτηι

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
εἴτεeite whether G1535 Conjunction
65× 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
This word means 'whether' or 'if', used in conditions and questions, like in Matthew 11:14 and Romans 8:25. It helps us understand choices and possibilities in the Bible.
Tyndale gloss
whether
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word εἴτε (i.e., *eite*) means 'whether' or 'either...or...' and is often used to present alternatives. It is derived from two roots and appears in various contexts, including indirect questions. In the New Testament, it is found 65 times, notably in Romans and Corinthians, indicating its role in expressing choices or conditions.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

εἴτε, v.s. εἰ.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

εἴτε (eite) — whether.

εἴτε,

Doric dialect αἴτε, generally doubled, εἴτε..εἴτε.., Latin sive..sive.., either..or.., whether..or.., so that two cases are put as equally possible or equivalent; thrice repeated, [Refs 5th c.BC+] is sometimes omitted in Poets, ξεῖνος, αἴτ᾽ ὦν ἀστός [Refs 5th c.BC+]; and even in Prose, πόλις, εἴτε ἰδιῶται [Refs 5th c.BC+] Latin utrum..an.., variant in [Refs 5th c.BC+]; sometimes ἤ (ἠὲ καί.. variant in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; εἴτε.. εἴτε.., with subjunctive (compare εἰ), variant in [Refs 4th c.BC+]

II. in indirect questions, [Refs 8th c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

εἴτε

eite

from 1487 and 5037; if too:--if, or, whether.

see GREEK for 1487

see GREEK for 5037

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

εἴτε

Cj.

and if, whether

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

εἴτε eite 65x

whether, Rom. 12:6, 7, 8; 1 Cor. 3:22; 2 Cor. 1:6; 1 Thess. 5:10

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

εἴτε εἰ, τε generally doubled, εἴτε . . , εἴτε Lat. sive . . , sive, either . . , or . . , whether . . , or . . the first εἴτε is sometimes omitted in Poets:—the first εἴτε is sometimes replaced by εἰ, as εἰ . . , εἴτε . . , Hdt., Trag.

also used, like εἰ, in indirect questions, Od., etc.

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
51%or
or51% · 33×whether32% · 21×if15% · 10×other renderings2% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject31%adverbial15%object6%predicate3%verb3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 65 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
ζωήlife
εἴτεand if, whetherδιά
θεόςGod, a god
λέγωI say, speakἐξίστημιI astonish, am a
δοῦλος (II)
εἴτεand if, whether
ἐγώ
οὖνtherefore, thenσῶμαbody, flesh
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
παράArticle the
εἴτεwhether65×
what comes after →
Article the
διδάσκωI teachπαρακαλέωI summon, entreaἐπί
διά
ζωήlifeθάνατοςdeathλόγοςa word, speech,
ἐν
σῶμαbody, fleshοὐρανόςthe sky, the hea
οὖνtherefore, then
ἐσθίωI eatἐγώ
δοῦλος (II)
εἴτεand if, whether

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

Concordanceεἴτε · 65× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Colossians Philippians Romans 1 Peter 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians Ephesians
Across the New Testament9 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus Ignatius of Antioch Polycarp The Shepherd of Hermas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 140c. AD 40

ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ ἀκμάζον αἰεὶ τοῦ παρηβηκότος βέλτιόν ἐστιν, εἴτε ζῷον εἴτε φυτὸν εἴτε καρπὸς εἴτ’ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἐν τῇ φύσει τυγχάνοι, οὕτως ἔοικεν ὁ μὲν πρῶτος διαπλασθεὶς ἄνθρωπος ἀκμὴ τοῦ ἡμετέρου παντὸς ὑπάρξαι γένους, οἱ δ’ ἔπειτα μηκέθ’ ὁμοίως…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.47c. AD 75–95

εἴτε γὰρ δευτέραν δέησιν ἐξεδέχετο, ταύτην γεγονέναι καὶ μετὰ πλείονος σπουδῆς·

The Shepherd of HermasThe Shepherd of Hermas 9.1.10c. AD 140

διὰ τοῦτο προσετάγη ὑμῖν ἐφ̓ ἑαυτοῖς μένειν, εἴτε ἀνὴρ εἴτε γυνή: δύναται γὰρ ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις μετάνοια εἶναι.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 4th c. AD 5th c. AD 7th c. AD 3rd c. BC
P.Stras. 6 504Kerkesucha bzw. Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 106

Ἀμμωνίου πέπρακα ὡς πρόκειται Στοτοῆτις Στοτοήτιος ἠγόρακα καθὼς πρόκειται Ἀ … ι γρα Κερκεσούχων ειτε … … … ερ

APF 6 (1920), p. 85Ptolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites)AD 120–AD 121

πράγματος ὑπερτεθέντος εἰς τὴν μείζονα ἐξουσίαν συνέβη, καθὼς ἅπαντες προφέρονται, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ παιδίον, εἴτε ἦν τῆς Ἀπίας τῆς καὶ Ἡρακλείας εἴτε ἀλλότριον, τελευτῆσαι, τὰ νῦν εἰς διάλυσιν ἀγείοχαν

P.Bodl. 1 31Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 169–AD 176

εἰπεῖν π … ε … … τοῦ ἐπιστρατήγου … ε … ο … … εἴτε δικαστοῦ. εὐδοκῶ πᾶσι τοῖς ὑπὸ σοῦ ἐπιτελεσθησομένοις. Τὸ χειρόγραφον τοῦτο κύριον ἔστω πανταχῇ ὡς

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
αὐλὸςaulos flute G836 Noun · nominative · singular · masculine
1× 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
A flute is a musical instrument that you blow into, mentioned in 1 Corinthians 14:7.
Amplified meaning
a musical pipe
Tyndale gloss
flute
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word αὐλός (transliterated as *aulos*) refers to a pipe or flute, often associated with music. It is derived from the verb meaning 'to blow' and has a range of applications, including musical instruments and various types of tubes. In the New Testament, it appears in 1 Corinthians 14:7, where it signifies a musical pipe. The lexicons do not present significant disagreement on its meanings.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

αὐλός, -οῦ, ὁ

(< ἄω, to blow),

[in LXX chiefly for חָלִיל;]

a pipe: I Co 14:7.†

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

αὐλός, -ov, 6, (a, αὔω), (fr. Hom. down], a pipe: 1Co. xiv. τ. [Cf. Stainer, Music of the Bible, ch. v.]

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

αὐλός. See the first citation s.v. αὐλητής. ὑπαυλισμός is a flute accompaniment. On a possible connexion of αὐλός with Heb 4$m “bore,” “ pierce,” and then “ pipe,” see Lewy Fremdworte, Ρ. 165f. But Lithuanian and Slavonic words given in Boisacq s.v. are much closer; and there is ἔναυλος, “yravine,’’ to be reckoned with. In BGU IV. 1125

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

αὐλός (aulos) — flute.

αὐλός, ὁ,

pipe, flute, clarionet, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Ἔλυμος, i.e. Φρύγιος (which see), [Refs 5th c.BC+]; αὐ. γυναικήιος, ἀνδρήιος, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; αὐ. ἀνδρεῖοι, παιδικοί, παρθένιοι, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; αὐ. Ἐνυαλίου, i.e. a trumpet, [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; ὑπ᾽ αὐλοῦ to the sound of the flute, [Refs 5th c.BC+] [same place]; πρὸς τὸν αὐ., ὑπὸ τὸν αὐ., [Refs 5th c.BC+] pipes of the πηκτίς, [Refs]

2. hollow tube, pipe, groove, περόνη τέτυκτο αὐλοῖσιν διδύμοισι the buckle was furnished with two pipes or grooves (into which the tongue fitted), [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἐγκέφαλος παρ᾽ αὐλὸν ἀνέδραμε spirted up beside the vizard (compare αὐλῶπις), or beside the socket of the spear-head into which the shaft fitted, [Refs 8th c.BC+] means the jet of…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

αὐλός

aulos

from the same as 109; a flute (as blown):--pipe.

see GREEK for 109

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

αὐλός, οῦ, ὁ

n.m.

a flute, pipe

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

αὐλός aulos 1x

a pipe or flute, 1 Cor. 14:7*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

αὐλός ἄημι to blow a flute or rather clarionet (for it was played by a mouthpiece, γλωσσίς, Aeschin.), Il., etc.; αὐλοὶ ἀνδρήϊοι and γυναικήϊοι, Lat. tibiae dextrae and sinistrae, bass and treble, Hdt.; sometimes one person played two αὐλοί at once, Theocr.; αὐλὸς Ἐνυαλίου, i. e. a trumpet, Anth.:— ὑπ᾽ αὐλοῦ to the sound of the flute, Hdt.; so, πρὸς αὐλόν, ὑπὸ τὸν αὐλόν Xen.

any tube or pipe, as the socket of a spear-head, the groove into which the tongue of a buckle fitted, Hom.; the pipe of bellows, Thuc.:— αὐλὸς παχύς, in Od., seems to mean a jet of blood through the tube of the nostril.

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

N-NSM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

floot.

See MUSIC.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Flute

A musical instrument, probably composed of a number of pipes, mentioned Dan. 3:5, 7, 10, 15.

In Matt. 9:23, 24, notice is taken of players on the flute, here called “minstrels” (but in R.V. “flute-players”).

Flutes were in common use among the ancient Egyptians.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

(1 Kings 1:40) (marg., PIPE), A musical instrument mentioned amongst others, (Daniel 3:5,7,10,15) as used at the worship of the golden image which Nebuchadnezzar had set up. It bore a close resemblance to the modern flute, and was made of reeds, of copper, and other material. It was the principal wind-instrument.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A soft, sweet-toned wind instrument of music. The word flute is used only in Da 3:5,7,10,15, and is supposed to mean a pipe with two reeds, such as are still to be found in the East. It is blown at the end. See MUSIC, PIPE.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
100%flute
flute100% · 1×

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

Concordanceαὐλός · 1× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians
Across the New Testament1 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.82c. AD 40

ὅτι ὁ μὲν Ἰούδας ὁ ἐξομολογητικὸς τρόπος ἄυλός ἐστι καὶ ἀσώματος·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 14.239c. AD 75–95

Γάιος Τεύτιος Γαΐου Αἰμιλία χιλίαρχος, Σέξστος Ἀτίλιος Σέξστου υἱὸς Αἰμιλία Σέσρανος, Γάιος Πομπήιος Γαΐου υἱὸς Σαβατίνα, Τίτος Ἄμπιος Τίτου Μένανδρος, Πόπλιος Σερουίλιος Ποπλίου υἱὸς Στράβων, Λεύκιος Πάκκιος Λευκίου Κολλίνα Καπίτων, Αὖλος Φούριος…

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
1st c. AD
Chrest.Wilck. 13MemphitesAD 34–AD 35

χαίρειν … νομοῦ τόποις, ἵνα πᾶσι δῆλα γίνηται τὰ ὑπʼ ἐμοῦ κελευόμενα … Αὖλος Αὐουίλλιος Φλάκκος ἔπαρχος Αἰγύπτου λέγει· πᾶσαν πρόνοιαν ποιούμενος … ἀλλὰ εἰς τὸ λοιπὸν ἀσφαλεστερ

O.Berenike 2 212BerenikeAD 50–AD 75

⟦Πουõνσις Βερονίκης κάμηλοι ιϛ καὶ … … ⟧ ⟦κάμηλος α γόμος α ἀρτάβαι ε⟧ Αὖλος Μιρήσιος δεκανὸς κάμηλοι κβ γόμοι … … Ἀνδουρος Πακοίβεως κάμηλοι … … Ἐπώνυχος

O.Berenike 3 394BerenikeAD 51–AD 100

δεκανίας Παμῖνις Πετεασμήφιος … … ασ … … … … αυλος Ἁρποχρα- κεράμια πτολεμαικὰ τριάκοντα, γίνεται λ

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
εἴτεeite or G1535 Conjunction
65× 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
This word means 'whether' or 'if', used in conditions and questions, like in Matthew 11:14 and Romans 8:25. It helps us understand choices and possibilities in the Bible.
Tyndale gloss
whether
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word εἴτε (i.e., *eite*) means 'whether' or 'either...or...' and is often used to present alternatives. It is derived from two roots and appears in various contexts, including indirect questions. In the New Testament, it is found 65 times, notably in Romans and Corinthians, indicating its role in expressing choices or conditions.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

εἴτε, v.s. εἰ.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

εἴτε (eite) — whether.

εἴτε,

Doric dialect αἴτε, generally doubled, εἴτε..εἴτε.., Latin sive..sive.., either..or.., whether..or.., so that two cases are put as equally possible or equivalent; thrice repeated, [Refs 5th c.BC+] is sometimes omitted in Poets, ξεῖνος, αἴτ᾽ ὦν ἀστός [Refs 5th c.BC+]; and even in Prose, πόλις, εἴτε ἰδιῶται [Refs 5th c.BC+] Latin utrum..an.., variant in [Refs 5th c.BC+]; sometimes ἤ (ἠὲ καί.. variant in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; εἴτε.. εἴτε.., with subjunctive (compare εἰ), variant in [Refs 4th c.BC+]

II. in indirect questions, [Refs 8th c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

εἴτε

eite

from 1487 and 5037; if too:--if, or, whether.

see GREEK for 1487

see GREEK for 5037

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

εἴτε

Cj.

and if, whether

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

εἴτε eite 65x

whether, Rom. 12:6, 7, 8; 1 Cor. 3:22; 2 Cor. 1:6; 1 Thess. 5:10

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

εἴτε εἰ, τε generally doubled, εἴτε . . , εἴτε Lat. sive . . , sive, either . . , or . . , whether . . , or . . the first εἴτε is sometimes omitted in Poets:—the first εἴτε is sometimes replaced by εἰ, as εἰ . . , εἴτε . . , Hdt., Trag.

also used, like εἰ, in indirect questions, Od., etc.

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

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
51%or
or51% · 33×whether32% · 21×if15% · 10×other renderings2% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject31%adverbial15%object6%predicate3%verb3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 65 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
ζωήlife
εἴτεand if, whetherδιά
θεόςGod, a god
λέγωI say, speakἐξίστημιI astonish, am a
δοῦλος (II)
εἴτεand if, whether
ἐγώ
οὖνtherefore, thenσῶμαbody, flesh
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
παράArticle the
εἴτεor65×
what comes after →
Article the
διδάσκωI teachπαρακαλέωI summon, entreaἐπί
διά
ζωήlifeθάνατοςdeathλόγοςa word, speech,
ἐν
σῶμαbody, fleshοὐρανόςthe sky, the hea
οὖνtherefore, then
ἐσθίωI eatἐγώ
δοῦλος (II)
εἴτεand if, whether

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

Concordanceεἴτε · 65× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Colossians Philippians Romans 1 Peter 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians Ephesians
Across the New Testament9 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus Ignatius of Antioch Polycarp The Shepherd of Hermas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 140c. AD 40

ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ ἀκμάζον αἰεὶ τοῦ παρηβηκότος βέλτιόν ἐστιν, εἴτε ζῷον εἴτε φυτὸν εἴτε καρπὸς εἴτ’ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἐν τῇ φύσει τυγχάνοι, οὕτως ἔοικεν ὁ μὲν πρῶτος διαπλασθεὶς ἄνθρωπος ἀκμὴ τοῦ ἡμετέρου παντὸς ὑπάρξαι γένους, οἱ δ’ ἔπειτα μηκέθ’ ὁμοίως…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.47c. AD 75–95

εἴτε γὰρ δευτέραν δέησιν ἐξεδέχετο, ταύτην γεγονέναι καὶ μετὰ πλείονος σπουδῆς·

The Shepherd of HermasThe Shepherd of Hermas 9.1.10c. AD 140

διὰ τοῦτο προσετάγη ὑμῖν ἐφ̓ ἑαυτοῖς μένειν, εἴτε ἀνὴρ εἴτε γυνή: δύναται γὰρ ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις μετάνοια εἶναι.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 4th c. AD 5th c. AD 7th c. AD 3rd c. BC
P.Stras. 6 504Kerkesucha bzw. Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 106

Ἀμμωνίου πέπρακα ὡς πρόκειται Στοτοῆτις Στοτοήτιος ἠγόρακα καθὼς πρόκειται Ἀ … ι γρα Κερκεσούχων ειτε … … … ερ

APF 6 (1920), p. 85Ptolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites)AD 120–AD 121

πράγματος ὑπερτεθέντος εἰς τὴν μείζονα ἐξουσίαν συνέβη, καθὼς ἅπαντες προφέρονται, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ παιδίον, εἴτε ἦν τῆς Ἀπίας τῆς καὶ Ἡρακλείας εἴτε ἀλλότριον, τελευτῆσαι, τὰ νῦν εἰς διάλυσιν ἀγείοχαν

P.Bodl. 1 31Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 169–AD 176

εἰπεῖν π … ε … … τοῦ ἐπιστρατήγου … ε … ο … … εἴτε δικαστοῦ. εὐδοκῶ πᾶσι τοῖς ὑπὸ σοῦ ἐπιτελεσθησομένοις. Τὸ χειρόγραφον τοῦτο κύριον ἔστω πανταχῇ ὡς

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
κιθάρα,kithara harp, G2788 Noun · nominative · singular · feminine
4× 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
This word refers to a musical instrument, a lyre or harp. In the Bible, it is mentioned in 1 Corinthians and Revelation, often in the context of worship and praise. The harp is a symbol of joy and celebration.
Amplified meaning
a stringed instrument
Tyndale gloss
harp
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word κιθάρα (i.e., *kithara*) refers to a type of harp or lyre, often associated with music in biblical texts. It appears in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians and Revelation, where it symbolizes divine praise. The word has uncertain origins but is linked to ancient Greek musical instruments.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

κιθάρα, -ας, ἡ,

[in LXX chiefly for כִּנּוֹר, freq. in Pss (32 (33):2, al.); and in (Da 3:5, al.) for קִיתָרֹס, itself a transliteration of κίθαρις, the Homeric form of κ. (cf. CB, Dn., lviii);]

a lyre, harp: I Co 14:7, Re 5:8 14:2 15:2.†

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

κιθάρα, -as, 7, a harp (cf. Stainer, Music of the Bible, ch. iv.; B.D.s. v. Harp]: 1 Co. xiv. 7; Rev. v. 8; xiv. 2; τοῦ θεοῦ, to which the praises of God are sung in heaven, Rev. xv. 2; cf. W. § 36,3 b. [From Hom. h. Mere., Hdt. on.]

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

κιθάρα (kithara) — harp.

κῐθάρ-α,

Ionic dialect κῐθάρ-η [θᾰ], ἡ, lyre, [Refs 5th c.BC+], etc.; compare κίθαρις.

II. ={κίθαρος}, thorax, [Refs]: in plural, ribs of the horse, [Refs]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

κιθάρα

kithara

of uncertain affinity; a lyre:--harp.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

κιθάρα, ας, ἡ

n.f.

a harp

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

κιθάρα kithara 4x

a lyre, harp, 1 Cor. 14:7; Rev. 5:8; 14:2; 15:2*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

κιθάρα the Lat. cithara (whence guitar), a kind of lyre or lute, Hhymn., Hdt., attic: —it was of triangular shape, with seven strings, Eur. Cf. κι^θα^ρίζω

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-NSF — Noun · nominative · singular · feminine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-NSF Part of Speech: Noun Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

harp.

See MUSIC.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Harp

(Heb. kinnor), the national instrument of the Hebrews. It was invented by Jubal (Gen. 4:21). Some think the word kinnor denotes the whole class of stringed instruments. It was used as an accompaniment to songs of cheerfulness as well as of praise to God (Gen. 31:27; 1 Sam. 16:23; 2 Chr. 20:28; Ps. 33:2; 137:2).

In Solomon’s time harps were made of almug-trees (1 Kings 10:11, 12). In 1 Chr. 15:21 mention is made of “harps on the Sheminith;” Revised Version, “harps set to the Sheminith;” better perhaps “harps…

Smith's Bible Dictionary

The harp was the national instrument of the Hebrews, and was well known throughout Asia. Moses assigns its invention to Jubal during the antediluvian period. (Genesis 4:21) Josephus records that the harp had ten strings, and that it was played on with the plectrum. Sometimes it was smaller having only eight strings, and was usually played with the fingers.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Hebrew KINNOR, the most ancient and common stringed instrument of the Jews, more properly translated lyre. It was light and portable, and was used on joyful occasions, whether sacred or not. It was invented by Jubal, Ge 4:21 31:27 1Ch 16:5 25:1-5 Ps 81:2. David was a proficient in its use, 1Sa 16:16,23 18:10. The instrument most nearly resembling our harp was the Hebrew NEBEL, translated, psaltery in the Old Testament, Ps 57:8 81:2 92:3 108:2. It had a general triangular shape, and seven to twelve strings, Ps 33:2 144:9. It was played with the hand or with a short…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
50%harp
harp50% · 2×harps50% · 2×

4 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
object50%subject25%adverbial25%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 4 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
εἴτεand if, whether
αὐλόςa flute, pipe
ἕκαστοςeach, every one
ἔχωI have, hold, po
Article the
ἐν
ἔχωI have, hold, posses
ὑάλινοςglassy, transpar
κιθάραharp,
what comes after →
ἐάνCond
διαστολήdistinction, dif
καίand, even, also, nam
φιάληa shallow and fl
αὐτός
Article the
θεόςGod, a god

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

Concordanceκιθάρα · 4× in the New Testament
Revelation 1 Corinthians
Across the New Testament2 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 18 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 Ignatius of Antioch Josephus
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 2.75c. AD 40

ὁμοίως τὴν ἀκοὴν αὐλὸς ἡδύνει, κιθάρα, πᾶσα ὀργάνων ἰδέα, ζῴων ἀλόγων ἐμμελεῖς φωναί, χελιδόνων, ἀηδόνων, τῶν ἄλλων ὅσα φύσις μεμούσωκε, λογικῶν εὐφωνία, κιθαρῳδῶν κωμῳδίαν τραγῳδίαν τὴν ἄλλην ὑποκριτικὴν ἐπιδεικνυμένων.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.64c. AD 75–95

τούτων Ἰώβηλος μὲν ἐξ Ἄδας γεγονὼς σκηνὰς ἐπήξατο καὶ προβατείαν ἠγάπησεν, Ἰούβαλος δέ, ὁμομήτριος δʼ ἦν αὐτῷ, μουσικὴν ἤσκησε καὶ ψαλτήρια καὶ κιθάρας ἐπενόησεν, Ἰουβῆλος δὲ τῶν ἐκ τῆς ἑτέρας γεγονότων ἰσχύι πάντας ὑπερβαλὼν τὰ πολεμικὰ διαπρεπῶς…

Ignatius of AntiochThe Letters of Ignatius 1.4.1c. AD 110

τὸ γὰρ ἀξιονόμαστον ὑμῶν πρεσβυτέριον, τοῦ θεοῦ ἄξιον, οὕτως συνήρμοσται τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ, ὡς χορδαὶ κιθάρᾳ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD
SB 14 12034Contrapollonopolis (?) oder Theben (?)AD 126–AD 200

καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ. Καλποῦρνιος Ὀννόφρι χαίρειν. καλῶς ποιήσεις πέμψας μοι φάσιν πόθεν δύναμαι τὴν κιθάραν σου λαβεῖν. ἐπέμφθη γὰρ ἐπὶ σέ. … υρσεν καὶ οὐκ ἠθέλησας εἰσελθεῖν. ἐὰν σχολάζῃς

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
ἐὰνean if G1437 Conditional particle
339× 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
This word means 'if' and is used to show uncertainty or possibility, as in Matthew 6:22 and Romans 2:25, to express conditions or circumstances.
Tyndale gloss
if
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

ἐάν is a conditional particle formed from εἰ (if) and ἄν. It indicates uncertainty or a hypothetical situation, often followed by the subjunctive mood. The New Testament uses it in various contexts, such as in Matthew 6:22 and Romans 2:25. It can also appear with other particles, enhancing its conditional meaning.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐάν, contr. fr. εἰ ἄν,

conditional particle,

representing something as "under certain circumstances actual or liable to happen," but not so definitely expected as in the case of εἰ c. ind. (Bl., §65, 4; cf. Jo 13:17, I Co 7:36), if haply, if;

c. subjc. (cl.);

pres.: Mt 6:22, Lk 10:6, Jo 7:17, Ro 2:25, 26 al.;

aor. (= Lat. fut. pf.): Mt 4:9 16:26 (cf. ptcp. in Lk 9:25; M, Pr., 230), Mk 3:24, Lk 14:34, Jo 5:43,

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

ἐάν ; I. aconditional particle (derived fr. εἰ ἄν), which makes reference to time and to experience, introducing something future, but not determining, before the event, whether it is certainly to take place; if, in case, (Lat. si; Germ. wenn; im Fall, dass; falls; wofern); οἴ.» among others, Hermann ad Viger. p.832; Klotz ad Devar. ii. 2 p- 450 sqq.; W. 291 (273) sq. It is connected 1. with the Subjunctive, according to the regular usage of the more ancient and elegant classic writers. a. with the subjunc. Present: Mt. vi. 22 (ἐὰν οὖν ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου ἁπλοῦς 7, if it be the case, as to which I do not know, that thine eye etc.); ibid. 23; xvii. 20; Lk. x. 6; Jn. vii. 17; viii. 54 [RGL mrg.]; ix. 31; xi. 9,10; Acts v. 38; xiii. 41; Ro. ii. 25 sq.; 1 Co.ix.16; Gal. v. 2; 1 Tim. i. 8 [not Lehm.]; Heb. xiii. 23; 1 Jn. i. 9; ii. 3, 15 ete. Ὁ. with the subjunc. Aorist, corresponding to the Lat.…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐάν (ean) — if.

ἐάν

(so early Attic Inscrr., as [Refs 4th c.BC+], also contraction ἤν and ἄν, see at {ἤν},{ἄν} (B) [ᾱ], which by crasis with καί become κἄν:—if haply, if, regularly followed by subjunctive: for its use and for examples, see at {εἰ} [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. in Hellenistic and late Greek, ={ἄν} after relative Pronouns and Conjunctions, as ὃς ἐάν whosoever, [LXX+5th c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐάν ἐάνπερ

ean

from 1487 and 302; a conditional particle; in case that, provided,

etc.; often used in connection with other particles to denote

indefiniteness or uncertainty:--before, but, except, (and) if, (if)

so, (what-, whither-)soever, though, when (-soever), whether (or), to

whom, (who-)so(-ever). See 3361.

see GREEK for 1487

see GREEK for 302

see GREEK for 3361

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐάν

Cond.

if

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐάν ean 350x

if, ἐὰν μή, except, unless; also equivalent to ἀλλά, Gal. 2:16. Ἐάν, in NT as in the later Greek, is substituted for ἄν after relative words, Mt. 5:19. Tends to be an indicator for the subjunctive mood.

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐάν compounded of εἰ ἄν ἐα?ν contracts into ἤν and ἄν if haply, if, followed by subj. (whereas εἰ is foll. by ind. or opt.), epic εἴ κε, αἴ κε.

in NTest. ἐάν is used just like the adverb ἄν after relative Pronouns and Conjunctions, as ὃς ἐάν whosoever, ὅσος ἐάν, ὅστις ἐάν, ὅπου ἐάν, etc.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
COND — Conditional particle
conditional particle — it marks the clause as a condition.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

COND CONDitional particle or conjunction

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
74%if
if74% · 255×only14% · 49×maybe8% · 26×other renderings4% · 15×

345 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 12 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
adverbial11%subject8%object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 339 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
ὅς
καίand, even, also,εἰμίI am, existδῶρονa gift, present
καίand, even, also, nam
ἁμαρτάνωI sinεἷςoneαὐτός
ὅτιthat, since, because
σύαὐτόςγάρfor
σύ
λέγωI say, speakπρόςποιέωI do, make
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakἐπίδέbut, on the othe
ἐάνif339×
what comes after →
μήNeg
μετανοέωI repent, changeτὶςεἰμίI am, exist
τὶς
σύἀδελφόςa brotherArticle the
δέbut, on the other ha
καίand, even, also,Article theμήNeg
Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, mastφωνήa sound, noise, ἐντολήan ordinance, in
θέλωI will, wish, desire
δύναμαιI am powerful, aArticle theἵναin order that, s

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

Concordanceἐάν · 339× in the New Testament
Matthew John 1 Corinthians Mark Luke 1 John Romans Acts Revelation Hebrews 2 Corinthians Galatians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament21 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 746 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Josephus Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 79c. AD 40

τουτὶ δὲ συμβήσεται, ἐὰν μήτε αἱ ἄλογοι ἡδοναὶ ψυχῆς δυναστεύσωσι γαστριμαργίαν καὶ λαγνείαν ἐπιτειχίσασαι μήτε αἱ δόξης ἢ χρημάτων ἢ ἀρχῆς ἐπιθυμίαι τὸ τοῦ βίου κράτος ἀνάψωνται μήτε στείλωσι καὶ κάμψωσι διάνοιαν αἱ λῦπαι μήθ’ ὁ κακὸς σύμβουλος…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 4.252c. AD 75–95

ἐὰν δέ που μόνῃ περιπεσὼν βιάσηται μηδενὸς βοηθοῦ παρόντος, μόνος ἀποθνησκέτω.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.5c. AD 100

λογισάμενος οὖν τοῦτο, ὅτι ἐὰν μελήσῃ μοι περὶ ὑμῶν τοῦ μέρος τι μεταδοῦναι ἀφ̓ οὗ ἔλαβον, ὅτι ἔσται μοι τοιούτοις πνεύμασιν ὑπηρετήσαντι εἰς μισθόν, ἐσπούδασα κατὰ μικρὸν ὑμῖν πέμπειν, ἵνα μετὰ τῆς πίστεως ὑμῶν τελείαν ἔχητε τὴν γνῶσιν.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 3rd c. BC 1st c. AD 2nd c. BC
P.Adl. 10Pathyris102 BC

δεδανεισμένος Πανᾶς Ἀγαθίνωι καὶ Πατῆτι τοῖς δανείζουσιν ἐν μηνὶ Ἐπεὶφ εἰκάδος τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἔτους· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀποδῶι ἐν τῶι ὡρισμένωι χρόνωι ἀποτεισάτω καθὰ γέγραπται παραχρῆμα ἐπάναγκον· ἡ δὲ

P.Adl. 15Pathyris (?)101 BC

ποιησάτω ἐν μηνὶ Παχὼν τοῦ αὐτοῦ ιε ἔτους, καὶ ἀποτεισάτω ἑκάστης ἀρτάβης πυροῦ ἧς ἐὰν μὴ ἀποδῶι χαλκοῦ δραχμὰς δισχιλίας τετρακοσίας , κριθῆς χιλίας τετρακοσίας , καὶ ἑβδόμην μερίδα

P.Adl. 19Pathyris99 BC

τοῦτο ἀποδότω ὁ δεδανεισμένος τῶι δανείζοντι ἐν μηνὶ Μεσορὴ λ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ιϛ ἔτους· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀποδῶι ἐν τῶι ὡρισμένωι χρόνωι ἢ μὴ ποιήσηι καθὰ γέγραπται ἀποτεισάτω ἐν

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
διαστολὴνdiastolē distinction G1293 Noun · accusative · singular · feminine
3× 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
This word means a distinction or difference, like the variation between people in Romans 3:22. It can also refer to a separation or division, like the difference between Jews and Gentiles.
Amplified meaning
clear, different
Tyndale gloss
distinction
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

διαστολή (diastolē) refers to a separation, distinction, or difference. It is derived from the verb διαστέλλω and is used in various contexts, including the New Testament, where it appears in Romans and Corinthians to denote differences in faith and sounds. The term also encompasses meanings related to instructions or memoranda in ancient texts, indicating its broader application beyond mere distinction.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δια-στολή, -ῆς, ἡ

(< διαστέλλω),

[in LXX for פְּדוּת: Ex 8:23(19), etc. ;]

a separation.

a distinction, difference: Ro 3:22 10:12, I Co 14:7.†

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

δια-στολή, -ῆς, ἡ, (διαστέλλω, cf. ἀνατολήν, a distinction, difference: Ro. iii. 22; x. 12; of the difference of the sounds made by musical instruments, 1 Co. xiv. 7. ({Aristot., Theophr.], Polyb., Plut., al.)

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

διαστολή. Weare unable to illustrate the NT use of this word (cf. also Exod 859) = ‘‘distinction,” ‘difference’ (see under διαστέλλω), but the subst., like the verb, can be freely quoted in the sense of ‘* injunction,” ‘‘ notification,” “memorandum.” P Tebt I. 24 (B.c. 117) ἀκολούθως ταῖς δεδομέναι (/.—ais) δι α[ὐ]τῶν διαστολᾶς (/.—ais), ‘in accordance with the memoranda given by them” (Edd.), 2d. 341% (c. B.C. 100) γράφω σοι δὲ διαστολὰς αὐτοῖς δοῦναι, “1 am therefore writing to you to give their instructions’ (Edd.), P Oxy IV. 743° (6.6. 2) διαστολὰς δεδώκειν, ‘‘Araecepe”’ (Witkowski #, p. 130), 24. I. 68% (A.D. 131) dpkoupévov pov τῇδε τῇ διαστολῇ ὡς καθήκει, “‘since I am ready to abide by the present memorandum, as is right (Ὁ) (Edd.). Cf. also the corresponding use of τὸ διαστολικόν of an official ‘* notification” or ‘‘ writ,” in this last papyrus ἢ, οὐ saefe. The noun, like…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

διαστολή (diastolē) — distinction.

διαστολ-ή, ἡ,

(διαστέλλω) drawing asunder, dilatation, of the lungs, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; of the heart, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; of the pulse, [Refs]; δ. χειλέων parting of the lips, i.e. utterance, [LXX]

__b separation, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; notch or nick, [Refs 1st c.AD+]; boundary, fence, [Refs]; fencing off, τῆς γῆς [Refs 2nd c.BC+]

2. distinction, [NT+4th c.BC+]; μετὰ διαστολῆς προενεχθέντα with discrimination, [Refs 2nd c.BC+]; detailed statement or explanation, [Refs 2nd c.BC+]; specification of items in an account, [Refs 1st c.BC+]; article in a contract, etc., [Refs]

3. command, injunction, order, [LXX+2nd c.BC+]

4. payment, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

II. Grammars, comma (as in ὅ, τι), [Refs 2nd c.BC+]

II. b distinction, γενῶν [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

II. c opposition, πρός τι [Refs]

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

διαστολή

diastole

from 1291; a variation:--difference, distinction.

see GREEK for 1291

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

διαστολή, ῆς, ἡ

n.f.

distinction, difference, separation

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

διαστολή diastolē 3x

distinction, difference, Rom. 3:22; 10:12; 1 Cor. 14:7*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

διαστολή διαστολή, ἡ, ndiastol h_hs suff_acc fem διαστέλλω a notch or nick, Plut.

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
67%distinction
distinction67% · 2×difference33% · 1×

3 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
subject67%object33%

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
εἰμίI am, exist
γάρfor
ἐάνCond
κιθάραa harp
διαστολήdistinction
what comes after →
ἸουδαῖοςJewish
τέDisj
Article the
φθόγγοςa sound

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

Concordanceδιαστολή · 3× in the New Testament
Romans 1 Corinthians
Across the New Testament2 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Life of Moses 2.158c. AD 40

ταύτης ἕνεκά μοι δοκῶ τῆς αἰτίας ὡς μεμιασμένον ἤλασε τοῦ ἱερωτάτου καὶ καθαρωτάτου βωμοῦ πῦρ τὸ χρειῶδες, ἀνθ’ οὗ φλόγα αἰθέριον ὤμβρησεν ἀπὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πρὸς διαστολὴν ἁγίων τε καὶ βεβήλων, ἀνθρωπείων τε καὶ θείων·

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 8th c. AD 2nd c. BC
P.Fam.Tebt. 10Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 108

τῶν γεγονότων παρὰ τῶι Ἡρακλείδῃ διὰ τοῦ σημαινομένου χειρογράφου ἀργυρίου δραχμῶν χιλίων διακοσίων τεσσάρων διαστολὴν διὰ τὸ τὸν Ἡρακλείδην ἀποδεδωκέναι καὶ τοῖς τοῦ Κάστωρος ἀδελφοῖς Διοσκόρωι τῶι καὶ Κάστωρι

P.Fam.Tebt. 12Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 112

διαστολὴ ἀρταβίας ιε ἔτους Τραιανοῦ τοῦ κυρίου κατοίκων Κερκεσήφεως. Ἑρμῆς Διδύμου σὺν ταῖς εἰς Πτολεμᾶν

P.Mil.Vogl. 3 170Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 126

εἰδῇ μὴ κρατούμενόν με ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος ι ἔτους ἐκφορίοις, ἀρκουμένου μου τῇδε τῇ διαστολῇ.

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
τοῖςho to the G3588 Article · dative · 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-DPM — Article · dative · plural · masculine
dative — to, for, with — the one it is done to or by.
Agrees with anything else marked plural masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-DPM Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Dative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

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
to 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

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
φθόγγοιςphthongos sounds G5353 Noun · dative · plural · masculine
2× 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
A sound or musical note, either vocal or instrumental, as referred to in Romans 10:18 and 1 Corinthians 14:7.
Amplified meaning
sounds, musical tones
Tyndale gloss
sound
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word φθόγγος (phthongos) means a sound, particularly a clear or distinct one, often associated with the voice of humans or animals. It appears in the New Testament in Romans 10:18 and 1 Corinthians 14:7, where it refers to vocal or musical sounds. The word is derived from φθέγγομαι and encompasses both vocal and instrumental sounds.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

φθόγγος, -ου, ὁ

(< φθέγγομαι),

[in LXX: Ps 18 (19):4 (קַו), Wi 19:18 * ;]

a sound: Ro 10:18 (LXX) I Co 14:7.†

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

φθόγγος, -ov, 6, (φθέγγομαι, q. v.), α musical sound, whether vocal or instrumental (Sap. xix. 17): 1 Co. xiv. 7; Ro. x. 18, in this latter pass. Paul transfers what is said in Ps. xviii. (xix.) 5 to the voices of the preachers of the gospel. (Hom., Tragg., Xen., Plat., al.)

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

φθόγγος (phthongos) — sound.

φθόγγ-ος, ὁ

(both poetical and Prose), any clear, distinct sound, especially voice of men, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; of the Sirens, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; φ. οἰκείου κακοῦ voice, telling of.., [Refs]; of birds, ἀλεκτρυόνων φ. [Refs 6th c.BC+]

2. speech, Ἑλλάδος φθόγγον χέουσαν [Refs 4th c.BC+]; φ. ἔμμετρος, opposed to πεζά, poetical speech, [Refs 1st c.BC+]; utterance, saying, [Refs]

II. generally, sound, ἀνέμων [Refs 5th c.BC+]; φωνῆς μὲν οὔ, φθόγγου δὲ μετέχοντά τινος, of semi-vowels, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II.2. of musical sounds, λωτὸς φθόγγον κελάδει [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II.2. b plural, notes on a musical instrument; strings of lyre, [Refs 1st c.AD+]; stops of flute, [Refs 1st c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

φθόγγος

phthoggos

from 5350; utterance, i.e. a musical note (vocal or

instrumental):--sound.

see GREEK for 5350

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

φθόγγος, ου, ὁ

n.m.

a sound

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

φθόγγος phthongos 2x

a vocal sound, Rom. 10:18; 1 Cor. 14:7*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

φθόγγος φθόγγος, ὁ, any clear, distinct sound, esp. the voice of men, Hom., attic; also of animals, Soph., Eur.

generally, a sound, as distinguished from a voice (φωνή), Plat.:—of musical sounds, Eur.

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

N-DPM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Dative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
50%voice
voice50% · 1×sounds50% · 1×

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
ἐξέρχομαιI go out, come oδιαστολήdistinction, dif
φθόγγοςsounds
what comes after →
αὐτός
καίand, even, also,
μήNeg
δίδωμιI offer, give

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

Concordanceφθόγγος · 2× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians Romans
Across the New Testament2 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Unchangeableness of God 24c. AD 40

τῷ γὰρ ὄντι θαυμάσιον, ὥσπερ τινὰ λύραν τὴν ψυχὴν μουσικῶς ἁρμοσάμενον οὐκ ὀξέσι καὶ βαρέσι τοῖς φθόγγοις, ἀλλ’ ἐπιστήμῃ μὲν τῶν ἐναντίων, χρήσει δὲ τῶν ἀμεινόνων, μήτε ἐπιτεῖναι προσυπερβάλλοντα μήτε ἀνεῖναι μαλθάξαντα τὴν ἀρετῶν καὶ τῶν φύσει…

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
μὴ not G3361 Particle · negative
1,060× 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
Not is a word used to show that something is not true or is not happening, like in phrases that say 'lest' or 'God forbid', as seen in various parts of the New Testament.
Tyndale gloss
not
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

μή () is a Greek negative particle used to express subjective negation, often in conditional or hypothetical contexts. It contrasts with οὐ (ou), which indicates absolute denial. μή can function as an adverb meaning 'not' or as a conjunction meaning 'lest.' It appears in various grammatical constructions, including prohibitions and deliberative questions, and is referenced in verses like Matthew 5:29 and John 3:18.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

μή,

subjective negative particle,

used where the negation depends on a condition or hypothesis, expressed or understood, as distinct from οὐ, which denies absolutely. μή is used where one thinks a thing is not, as distinct from an absolute negation. As a general rule, οὐ negatives the indic., μή the other moods, incl, ptcp. [In LXX for אֵין, אַיִן, אַל.]

As a neg. adv., not;

with ref. to thought or opinion: Jo 3:18, Tit 1:11, II Pe 1:9.

In delib. questions, c. subjc. (M, Pr., 185): Mk 12:14, Ro 3:8.

In conditional and final sentences, after εἰ, ἐάν, ἄν, ἵνα, ὅπως: Mt 10:14,

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

μή, Sept. for Ox, |X, PN, ἃ particle of negation, which differs from οὐ (which is always an adverb) in that ov denies the thing itself (orto speak technically, denies simply, absolutely, categorically, directly, objectively). but μή denies the thought of the thing, or the thing according to the judgment, opinion, will, purpose, preference, of some one (hence, as we say technically, indirectly, hypothetically, subjectively). This distinction holds also of the compounds οὐδείς, μηδείς, οὐκέτι, μηκέτι, ete. But pris either an ad verb of negation, not (Lat. non, ne); or aconjunction, that... not, lest, (Lat. ne); or an interrogative particle, (Lat. num) [i. e. (generally) implying aneg. ans.; in indir. quest. whether nol (suggesting apprehension) ]. Cf. Herm. ad Vig. § 267 p- 802 sqq-; Matthiae § 608; Bitm. Gram. § 148 (cf. Alex. Bttm. N. T. Gr. p. 344 (296) sqq.); Kiihner ii. §§ 512 sq. p.…

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

μή Grenf II. 384 (mid. 1.8.6.) καλῶς οὖ]ν ποιήσις μὴ ἀμελήσ[α]ς α[. . ἀγο]ράσαι. .. , P Oxy I. 3815 (a.p. 49--50) (= Selections, p. 53) τοῦ δὲ Σύρου μὴ βουλομένου ἐνμεῖναι τοῖς κεκριμένοις, “45 Syrus does not wish to abide by what has been decided,” 2d. II. 2755 (A.D. 66) (= Selections, p. 58) ἔγραψα ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ μὴ ἰδότος γράμματα, “1 wrote for him seeing that he was unlettered,” BGU I. 22° (a.p. 114) (= Selections, p. 74) TappovOios . . . τὸ παρὸν μὴ ἔχουσα κύριον, ‘ Tarmuthis at present without a guardian,’ and P Grenf II. 779 (iii/iv A.D.) (= Sedections, p. 120) θαυμάζω πάνυ [ὅτι] ἀλόγως ἀπέστητε μὴ ἄραντες [τὸ σ]ῶμα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ὑμῶν, “1 wonder exceedingly that you went off so unreasonably, without taking the body of your brother”; cf. P Tor 1. 1¥8-4 (νον 116) εἰ δὲ kal τις θείηι τὸ μὴ ὄν (cf. 1 Cor 1°8)—acc. and inf. follow, P Ryl II. 144°? (Α.Ὁ. 38) ἐπαγαγεῖν αἰτίας τοῦ μὴ ὄντος, ‘‘…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μή (mē) — not.

μή,

Elean μά [ᾱ] [Refs 6th c.BC+]. (Cf. Sanskrit mā´, Armenian mi [from I.-[Refs 5th c.BC+] mē´], negative used in prohibitions):—not, the negative of the will and thought, as οὐ of fact and statement; μή rejects, οὐ denies; μή is relative, οὐ absolute; μή subjective, οὐ objective. (A few examples of μηδέ and μηδείς have been included.)

__A in INDEPENDENT sentences, used in expressions of will or wish, command, entreaty, warning,

__A.1 with present imperative, 2 person, μή μ᾽ ἐρέθιζε [Refs 8th c.BC+]: rarely with aorist imperative, μὴ.. ἔνθεο τιμῇ [Refs 8th c.BC+]; in Attic dialect, μὴ ψεῦσον, ὦ Ζεῦ, τῆς.. ἐλπίδος [Refs 8th c.BC+]perfect imperative [Refs 8th c.BC+] person when perfect = present, μὴ κεκράγετε [Refs 5th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

μή

me

a primary particle of qualified negation (whereas 3756 expresses an

absolute denial); (adverb) not, (conjunction) lest; also (as an

interrogative implying a negative answer (whereas 3756 expects an

affirmative one)) whether:--any but (that), X forbear, + God forbid, +

lack, lest, neither, never, no (X wise in), none, nor, (can-)not,

nothing, that not, un(-taken), without. Often used in compounds in

substantially the same relations. See also 3362, 3363, 3364, 3372,

3373, 3375, 3378.

see GREEK for 3756

see GREEK for 3362

see GREEK for 3363

see GREEK for 3364

see GREEK for 3372

see GREEK for 3373

see GREEK for 3375

see GREEK for 3378

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

μή

Neg.prt.

not, lest

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

μή mē 1x

a negative particle, can function as a conj, not, for the particulars of its usage, especially as distinguished from that of οὐ, consult a grammar; as a conj., lest, that not, Mt. 5:29, 30; 18:10; 24:6; Mk. 13:36; μή, or μήτι, or μήποτε, when prefixed to an interrogative clause, it expresses an intimation either of the reality of the matters respecting which the question is asked, Mt. 12:23; or the contrary, Jn. 4:12

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

PRT-N PaRTicle, disjunctive particle Negative

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
71%not
not71% · 772×except9% · 95×unless5% · 58×surely not4% · 41×lest3% · 32×otherwise2% · 23×other renderings4% · 48×other renderings1% · 16×

1,085 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 23 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial84%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,060 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
οὐNeg
καίand, even, also,σύἐγώ
ἵναin order that, so th
αὐτόςσύπροσεύχομαιI pray, pray for
καίand, even, also, nam
ἐγώαὐτόςεἰμίI am, exist
εἰCond
αὐτόςυἱόςa son, descendenκαίand, even, also,
Article the
καίand, even, also,εἰςδιά
μήnot1060×
what comes after →
Article the
πατήρfather, Father, υἱόςa son, descendenσημεῖονa sign, miracle,
ἔχωI have, hold, posses
καίand, even, also,ποιμήνa shepherdβάθοςdepth, a depth,
εἰμίI am, exist
δίδωμιI offer, giveἐνμετά
τὶς
σύὑστερέωI am lacking, faγεννάωI beget, bring f
φοβέωI fear, am terrified
ἀπόArticle theμόνοςalone, but, only

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

Concordanceμή · 1,060× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew John 1 Corinthians Romans Mark Acts Revelation 2 Corinthians Hebrews 1 Timothy Galatians

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

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

Counted over the 1,321 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.

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
δῷ,didōmi they shall give, G1325 Verb · present · active · subjunctive · third person · singular
414× 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
To give, as seen in Matthew 4:9 and John 1:12, means to bestow or grant something to someone, often with a sense of generosity or sacrifice, like God giving his only son in John 3:16
Tyndale gloss
to give
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

δίδωμι, transliterated as didōmi, means 'to give' and is used in a wide range of contexts, including bestowing, granting, and delivering. It appears frequently in the New Testament, such as in Matthew 4:9 and John 3:16. The word is built from a primary verb and has various forms and constructions, indicating its flexibility in usage.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δίδωμι,

[in LXX chiefly for נתן (53 words in all) ;]

to give—in various senses, acc. to context—bestow, grant, supply, deliver, commit, yield: absol., Ac 20:35; c. acc. rei et dat. pers., Mt 4:9 5:31, Jo 1:12, al. mult.; c. dat. pers., seq. ἐκ, Mt 25:8; id. c. gen. part.. Re 2:17; c. acc. pers., Jo 3:16, Re 20:13, al.; δεξιάς, Ga 2:9; φίλημα, Lk 7:45; γνῶσιν, Lk 1:77; κρίσιν, Jo 5:22; of seed yielding fruit, Read the full entry →

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

δίδωμι (διδῶ, Rev. iii. 9 LT WH; [δίδω Tr, yet see WH. App. p. 167]), 3 pers. plur. διδόασι (Rev. xvii. 13 [not Rec.]), impv. δίδου (Mt. v. 42 RG); impf. 3 pers. sing. ἐδίδου, 3 pers. plur. ἐδίδουν (ἐδίδοσαν, Jn. xix. 3 LT Tr WH [see ἔχω); fut. δώσω; 1 aor. ἔδωκα [2 pers. sing. -xes, Jn. xvii. 7 Trmrg., 8 Trmrg.; cf. reff. s. v. κοπιάω)], subjunc. δώσῃ [and δώσωμεν] fr. an imaginary indic. form ἔδωσα, [ Mk. vi. 37 T Trmrg.]; Jn. xvii. 2 (Tr mrg. WH δώσει) ; Rev. viii. 3 (LT Tr WH δώσει; cf. Lob. ad Phryn. p. 720 sq.; B. 36 (31); W. 79 (76); [Veitch s. v. 618. fin., also Soph. Lex. s. v. and esp. Intr. p. 40; WH. App. p. 172]); pf. δέδωκα [on the interchange between the forms of the pf. and of the aor. in this verb ef. B. 199 (172)]; plpf. ἐδεδώκειν and without augm. [W. § 12, 9; B. 33 (29)] dedaxew, Mk. xiv. 44; and L txt. T Tr WH in Lk. xix. 15; 3 pers. plur. δεδώκεισαν, Jn. xi. 57; 2…

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

δίδωμι structed by Kenyon, P Lond I. p. 2ff. For a specimen of their petitions see P Par 26 (B.C. 163-2), reproduced in Selections, p. 12 ff. It opens—Baordret Πτολεμαίῳ καὶ Βασιλίσσῃ Κλεοπάτρᾳ τῇ ἀδελφῇ, θεοῖς Φιλομήτορσι, χαίρειν. Θανὴς καὶ Taods δίδυμαι, αἱ λειτουργοῦσαι ἐν τῷ πρὸς Μέμφει μεγάλῳ Σαραπιείῳ κτὰ. From 20.15 Kal ἐκ τούτων καὶ τῶν προτοῦ γενηθεισῶν δ[ι]δύμων κομισαμένων τὰ ἑαυτῶν καθ᾽ ἡμέραν δέοντα, we learn that the Twins were there ex officio as twins, in connexion with some Dioscuric cultus: see Rendel Harris Soanerges, p. 272. From later documents it will be enough to quote P Oxy IIT. 533%® (ii/ili A.p.) εὔπατε Kal τοῖς διδύμοις ὅτι προνοήσζα]τε τοῦ κερματίου, “Ὑ16}1 the twins also to be careful about the small change” (Edd.). The frequency of Didymus as a proper name we compare the Latin Geminus and Gemellus (cf. for the latter the farmer whose correspondence at end…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δίδωμι (didōmi) — to give.

δίδωμι,

[Refs 8th c.BC+] (late δίδω [Refs 3rd c.AD+]; late forms, 1st pers. plural διδόαμεν see reading in [Refs 1st c.AD+]; but thematic forms are frequently used, especially in Epic dialect and Ionic dialect, διδοῖς, διδοῖσθα, [Refs 8th c.BC+], διδοῖ [Refs 8th c.BC+], uncertain in Attic dialect, [Refs 6th c.BC+], Epic dialect δίδωθι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; infinitive διδόναι, also διδοῦν [Refs 6th c.BC+], Epic dialect διδοῦναι [Refs 8th c.BC+], Aeolic dialect δίδων [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; participle διδούς, Aeolic dialect δίδοις [Refs 7th c.BC+]imperfect ἐδίδουν -ους -ου, [Refs 8th c.BC+] (Epic dialect δίδου [Refs 8th c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. plural ἐδίδοσαν [Refs 8th c.BC+] codices (ἀπ-), also ἔδιδον probably in [Refs]; Epic dialect iterative δόσκον [Refs 8th c.BC+]: future δώσω [Refs], Epic dialect διδώσω [Refs 8th c.BC+]; infinitive δωσέμεναι [Refs 8th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

δίδωμι

didomi

a prolonged form of a primary verb (which is used as an alternative in

most of the tenses); to give (used in a very wide application,

properly, or by implication, literally or figuratively; greatly

modified by the connection):--adventure, bestow, bring forth, commit,

deliver (up), give, grant, hinder, make, minister, number, offer, have

power, put, receive, set, shew, smite (+ with the hand), strike (+

with the palm of the hand), suffer, take, utter, yield.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δίδωμι

v.

I offer, give

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δίδωμι didōmi 415x

pluperfect, ἐδεδώκειν, to give, bestow, present, Mt. 4:9; 6:11; Jn. 3:16; 17:2, et al. freq.; to give, cast, throw, Mt. 7:6; to supply, suggest, Mt. 10:19; Mk. 13:11; to distribute alms, Mt. 19:21; Lk. 11:41; to pay tribute, etc., Mt. 22:17; Mk. 12:14; Lk. 20:22; to be the author or source of a thing, Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

δίδωμι Redupl. from Root ΔΟ, Lat. do, dare. Orig. sense, to give, τί τινι Hom., etc.; in pres. and imperf. to be ready to give, to offer, id. Hom.

of the gods, to grant, κῦδος, νίκην, and of evils, δ. ἄλγεα, ἄτας, κήδεα id. Hom.; later, εὖ διδόναι τινί to provide well for . . , Soph., Eur.

to offer to the gods, Hom., etc.

with an inf. added, δῶκε τεύχεα θεράποντι φορῆναι gave him the arms to carry, Il.; διδοῖ πιεῖν gives to drink, Hdt., etc.

Prose phrases, δ. ὅρκον, opp. to λαμβάνειν, to tender an oath; δ. χάριν, ῀ χαρίζεσθαι, as ὀργῆι χάριν δούς having indulged his anger, Soph.;— λόγον τινὶ δ. to give one leave to speak, Xen.; but, δ. λόγον ἑαυτῶι to deliberate, Hdt.

c. acc. pers. to give over, deliver up, Hom., etc.

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAS-3S — Verb · present · active · subjunctive · third person · singular
present active subjunctive — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAS-3S Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: Subjunctive Person: third Number: Singular

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

(nathan, yahabh, sum; didomi): "Give" is a very common word in the Old Testament. It is most frequently the translation of nathan, "to give" (Ge 1:29; 3:6; Ex 2:9; De 18,20, etc., over 800 instances); nathan is also translated "to give up" (De 23:14; Isa 43:6; Ho 11:8); of yahabh, "to give" (Ge 30:1; 1Ch 16:28 the King James Version). In Ps 55:22 we have the perfect with suffix, "Cast thy burden upon Yahweh," margin "what he hath given thee"; elsewhere it is…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
9%give
give9% · 37×do give7% · 31×given7% · 30×gave6% · 25×he gave6% · 23×has given5% · 22×will give4% · 18×i will give4% · 16×other renderings51% · 212×

414 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 86 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 414 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
αὐτόςκλάωI breakαἰτέωI ask, request,
Article the
θεόςGod, a godχάριςgrace, favor, kiαὐτός
ὅς
πᾶςall, the whole, ἐγώσύ
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakδίδωμιI offer, giveκαίand, even, also,
οὐNeg
σημεῖονa sign, miracle,καίand, even, also,σελήνηthe moon
δίδωμιthey shall give,414×
what comes after →
αὐτός
Article theἐξουσίαpower, authorityκαίand, even, also,
Article the
μαθητήςa learner, disciἐξουσίαpower, authorityπνεῦμαwind, breath, sp
ἐγώ
Article theπᾶςall, the whole, ἵναin order that, s
σύ
Article theἐνἵναin order that, s
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theπερισσεύωI exceed, am lefζητέωI seek, search f

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

Concordanceδίδωμι · 414× in the New Testament
John Luke Revelation Matthew Mark Acts 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Ephesians Romans 1 John 2 Timothy

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament22 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 985 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Clement of Rome The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 45c. AD 40

Τῇ δὲ τετάρτῃ ἡμέρᾳ μετὰ τὴν γῆν τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐποίκιλλε διακοσμῶν, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ τοῦτον ἐν ὑστέρῳ γῆς ἔταττε, τῇ μὲν ἐλάττονι φύσει προνομίαν διδούς, τὴν δὲ κρείττονα καὶ θειοτέραν δευτερείων ἀξιῶν, ἀλλ’ εἰς ἔνδειξιν ἐναργεστάτην κράτους ἀρχῆς.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.20c. AD 75–95

οὔτε γὰρ αὐτῷ ποτʼ ἂν γενέσθαι νοῦν ἀγαθὸν τῷ νομοθέτῃ ταύτης ἀπολειπομένῳ τῆς θέας, οὔτε τῶν γραφησομένων εἰς ἀρετῆς λόγον οὐδὲν ἀποβήσεσθαι τοῖς λαβοῦσιν, εἰ μὴ πρὸ παντὸς ἄλλου διδαχθεῖεν, ὅτι πάντων πατήρ τε καὶ δεσπότης ὁ θεὸς ὢν καὶ πάντα…

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
4th c. AD 2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 3rd c. BC 6th c. AD
P. Grenf. 1 21Pathyris127 BC

μέμ μοι ὑγιαίνοντι τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ κύριον εἶναι· ἐὰν δέ τι ἀνθρώπινον πάθω, καταλείπω καὶ δίδωμι τὰ ὑπάρχοντά μοι ἔγγαιά τε καὶ ἔπιπλα καὶ κτήνη καὶ ὅσα ἂν προσεπικτήσωμαι, τὸν

P.Grenf. 1 44Pathyris127 BC

μέμ μοι ὑγιαίνοντι τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ κύριον εἶναι. ἐὰν δέ τι ἀνθρώπινον πάθω, καταλείπω καὶ δίδωμι τὰ ὑπάρχοντά μοι ἔγγαιά τε καὶ ἔπιπλα καὶ κτήνη καὶ ὅσα ἂν προσεπικτήσωμαι, τὸν

μέν μοι ὑγιαίνοντι τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ κύριον εἶναι, ἐὰν δέ τι ἀνθρώπινον πάθω, καταλείπω καὶ δίδωμι τὰ ὑπάρχοντά μοι ἔγγαιά τε καὶ ἔπιπλα καὶ κτήνη καὶ ὅσα ἂν προσεπικτήσωμαι Ταθώτηι

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
πῶςpōs how G4459 Adverb · interrogative
118× 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
How is a question about the way something is done, as in Matthew 12:29, or an exclamation of surprise, like how much something is.
Tyndale gloss
how?!
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word πῶς (transliterated as pōs) is an interrogative adverb meaning 'how' or 'in what manner.' It appears in direct questions, indirect discourse, and exclamations, often seeking clarification or expressing astonishment. The New Testament uses it in various contexts, including Matthew 12:29 and John 3:4. Notably, Liddell-Scott mentions its use to express displeasure or doubt.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

πῶς, interrog. adv., correl. of ὅπως,

prop., in direct questions, how?: c. indic., Mt 12:29, Mk 3:23, Lk 11:18, Jo 3:4, al.; καὶ π., Mk 4:13, Lk 20:44; π. οὖν, Mt 12:26; π. οὐ, Mt 16:11, Lk 12:56; in deliberative questions (cf. Bl., § 64, 6), c. subjc., Mt 23:33 26:54; π. οὖν, Ro 10:14; π. δέ, Read the full entry →

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

πῶς, (fr. obsol. OS, whence ποῦ, ποῖ, etc. [ef. Curtius § 631]), adv., [fr. Hom. down] ; I. in interroga tion; how? in what way ?— in a direct question, foll. by a. the indicative, it is the expression a. of one seeking information and desiring to be taught: Lk. 1.84; x. 26; Jn.iii.9; ix. 26; 1 Co. xv. 35 [cf. W. 266 (250)]; πῶς οὖν, Jn. ix. 10 Tdf. (but L WH br. οὖν), 19; Ro. iv. 10. B. of one about to controvert another, and emphatically deny that the thing inquired about has happened or been done: Mt. xii. 29; Mk. iii. 23; Lk xi.18; Jn. iii. 4,12; v.44,47; vi.52; ix.16; 1 Jn. iii. 17; iv. 20; Ro. iii. 6; vi. 2; 1 Co. xiv. 7, 9,16; 1 Tim. iii. 5; Heb. ii. 3; καὶ πῶς, Mk. iv. 13; Jn. xiv. 5 [here L txt. Tr WHom. καί]; πῶς οὖν, Mt. xii. 26; Ro. x. 14 RG; mas δέ, Ro. x. 14

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

πῶς, “*how,” 2 “in what manner,” (a) in direct questions— P Oxy IV. 7441? (B.c. 1) (= Selections, Ὁ. 33) πῶς Sivapal oe ἐπιλαθεῖν : “how can I forget you?” Cf. Ac 85! πῶς yap ἂν δυναίμην; which Field (Vo/es, p. 117) renders, ““Why, how can I?” For the exclamatory πῶς, as in Mk 1074, cf. Philemon fy. 2 ὦ πῶς πονηρόν ἐστιν ἀνθρώπου φύσις | τὸ σύνολον, Epict. Aan. 24. 3 Opare ὑμεῖς, πῶς ἄνισοί ἐστε kal ἀγνώμονες ; see further K. Rupprecht in Philologus \xxx. (V. F. xxxiv.), 1924, p- 207. (6) in indirect discourse—P Oxy IV. 745° (c. A.D. 1) οὐκ οἶδας yap πῶς μοι ἐχρήσατο ἐν ᾿Οξυρύγχοις, ‘‘ you don't know how he treated me at Oxyrhynchus(?),” P Tebt II. 4o8* (A.D. 3) ἐπιστάμενος πῶς σε τίθεμαι Ke φιλῶ, “since you know how I esteem and love you”’ (Edd.) (cf. Ac 2018), P Oxy II. 29474 (A.p. 22) (= Selections, p. 36) γράψον μοι πῶς πάλιν ἄνω Aadaxeverat, “‘ write me how his hair is growing…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

πῶς (pōs) — how?!.

πῶς,

Ionic dialect κῶς, interrogative adverb of Manner, how? [Refs 8th c.BC+]; sometimes to express displeasure, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; to express astonishment or doubt, π. εἶπα; [Refs 5th c.BC+]; π. λέγει; [Refs]; π. φῄ; [Refs 5th c.BC+]; π. τοῦτ᾽ ἔλεξα; [Refs 4th c.BC+]; π. τοῦτ᾽ εἶπες α; [Refs 5th c.BC+]; also π. μὴ φῶμεν..; surely we must, [Refs]

__b in dialogue, to ask explanation, with a repetition of a word used by the previous speaker, δίκαια— Answ. π. δίκαι; [Refs 5th c.BC+]; μὴ δίκαιος ὤν—Answ. π. μὴ δίκαιο; [Refs]; συμβολάς—Answ. π. συμβολά; [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; πῶς alone, how so, π., ὅς γε..; [Refs 5th c.BC+]

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

πῶς πώς

pos

adverb from the base of 4226; an interrogative particle of manner; in

what way? (sometimes the question is indirect, how?); also as

exclamation, how much!:--how, after (by) what manner (means), that.

(Occasionally unexpressed in English).

see GREEK for 4226

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

πῶς

Adv. & Irg.adv.

how, in what manner

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

ADV-I ADVerb or adverb and particle combined Interrogative

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

Represents various Hebrew and Greek words, interrogative, interjectional and relative. Its different uses refer to

(1) the manner or way, e.g. Ge 44:34, "How shall I go up to my father?" ('ekh); Mt 6:28, "how they grow" (pos); 1Co 15:35, "How are the dead raised?";

(2) degree, extent, frequently, "how great" (Da 4:3, mah; Mr 5:19, hosos, "how much"); "how many" (Mt 27:13, posos); "how much" (Ac 9:13, hosos); "how much more" (Mt 7:11, posos;

Across the New Testament18 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 65 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 The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 68c. AD 40

ἡνίκα γὰρ ζῷα διαπλάττειν ἔδοξε τῷ δημιουργῷ, τὰ μὲν πρῶτα τῇ τάξει φαυλότερά πως ἦν, ἰχθύες, τὰ δ’ ὕστατα ἄριστα, ἄνθρωποι, τὰ δ’ ἄλλα μέσα τῶν ἄκρων, ἀμείνω μὲν τῶν προτέρων, χείρω δὲ τῶν ἑτέρων, χερσαῖα καὶ πτηνά.

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

πῶς τὸ Σοδομιτῶν ἔθνος θεὸς κατεστρέψατο χολωθεὶς αὐτοῖς ἐφ' οἷς ἡμάρτανον.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.9c. AD 100

αἰσθάνεσθαι οὖν ὀφείλομεν, μὴ ὄντες ἀσύνετοι, τὴν γνώμην τῆς ἀγαθωσύνης τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν, ὅτ̓ ἡμῖν λέγει, θέλων ἡμᾶς μὴ ὁμοίως πλανωμένους ἐκείνοις ζητεῖν, πῶς προσάγωμεν αὐτῷ.

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

Ζήνωνι. νυκτὸς ἐκ τοῦ σιτοβολῶνος ἀπόλωλεν σήσαμον καὶ λελέανται τῆι χειρί. διὸ οὐ δυνάμεθά πως ἐπιμετρήσαντες ἰδεῖν τὸ ἀπολωλὸς ἕως ἂν ὑμεῖς ἴδητε καὶ ἐναντίον ὑμῶν ἐπιμετρηθῆι.

P.Cair. Zen. 3 59455Philadelphia? (Arsinoites)249 BC–248 BC

οὐκ ἔχομεν ὀψώνιον οὐδὲ διαλελογισμένοι εἰσὶν ἡμῖν, καὶ σιτομετρίαν διμήνου οὐκ ἔχομεν. συνεπισκέψει οὖν πῶς ζῶμεν. ἔδωκαν δὲ ἡμῖν ἑκάστωι κεράμιον οἴνου καὶ σίτου ἑκάστωι ἔδωκαν εἰς τὸ

P.Cair. Zen. 3 59368Memphis (?)242 BC

ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ, ὅπως μὴ ἐκεῖ καταστασιασθῶμεν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἐκ τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς αἰσθήσει πῶς τοὺς λοιποὺς τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ νομοῦ διατίθησιν.

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
γνωσθήσεταιginōskō will it be known G1097 Verb · future · passive · indicative · third person · singular
221× 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
To know or understand something, as in Matthew 22:18 and Mark 5:43, where it means to recognize or perceive.
Amplified meaning
know, understand
Tyndale gloss
to know
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

γινώσκω (ginosko) means to know, perceive, or understand, with a focus on experiential knowledge as opposed to mere intellectual awareness. It is used in various contexts in the New Testament, including recognizing divine truths and personal relationships, as seen in verses like Matthew 22:18 and John 17:3. The word has a rich range of meanings, including to learn, realize, and even to know carnally, as noted in Matthew 1:25.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

γινώσκω (= γιγν-: v. previous word. So also vulgar Attic, in Inscr., v. Thumb, MGV, 207),

[in LXX chiefly for ידע ;]

to be taking in knowledge, come to know, recognize, perceive, understand; in past tenses to know, realize; pass., to become known: c. acc., Mt 22:18, Mk 5:43, Col 4:8, I Th 3:5, al. Pass., Mt 10:26, Phl 4:5, al.; seq. ὅτι, Mt 21:45, Jo 4:1, al.; τί, Mt 6:3; ἀπό, Mk 15:45; ὅ, Ro…

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

γινώσκω (Attic γιγνώσκω, see γίνομαι init.; fr. TNOQ, as βιβρώσκω fr. BPOQ); [impf. ἐγίνωσκον); fut. γνώσομαι ; 2 aor. ἔγνων (fr. TNQMI), impv. γνῶθι, γνώτω, subj. γνῶ (3 pers. sing. γνοῖ, Mk. v. 43; ix. 30; Lk. xix.15 LT Tr WH, for RG γνῷ [B. p. 46 (40); cf. δίδωμε init.]), inf. γνῶναι, ptep. γνούς ; pf. ἔγνωκα (Jn. xvii. 7; 3 pers. plur. ἔγνωκαν for ἐγνώκασι, see reff. in γίνομαι init.); plpf. ἐγνώκειν ; Pass., [pres. 3 pers. sing. γινώσκεται (Mk. xiii. 23 Trmrg.)]; pf. ἔγνωσμαι ; 1 aor. ἐγνώσθην ; fut. γνωσθήgona; in Grk. writ. fr. Hom. down; Sept. for yp; Lat. nosco, novi (i. 6. gnosco, gnovi) ; I. univ. 1. to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of; pass. to become known: with ace., Mt. xxii. 18; Mk. v.43; Actsxxi. 34; 1 Co. iv. 19; 2 Co.ii.4; Col. iv. 8; 1 Th. iii. 5,etc. Pass., Mt. x. 26; Acts ix. 24; Phil. iv. 5, ete.; [impers. γινώσκεται, Mk. xiii. 28 Trmrg.T 2, 7]; τὶ…

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

γινώσκω. For γ. followed by ὅτι, see P Par 471} (6. B.C. 153) (= Selecttons, p. 22) γίνωσ (Δ. γίνωσκε) ὅτι πιράσεται ὃ δραπέϊτη)ς μὴ ἀφῖναι ἡμᾶς ἐϊ πὶ τ]ῶν τόπων ἵναι, ‘know that the runaway will try not to allow us to remain on the spot,” 26. 4958 (B.C. 164-58) γίνωσκε σαφῶς ὅτι, ἐὰν ἀναβῶ κἀγὼ προσκυνῆσαι, πρός σε οὐ μ[ὴ] ἐπέλθω. In 2. 32° (B.C. 162) γινώσκετε. .. μὴ ἐσχολαζκέν]αι pe, we have the acc. and inf.: so 7. 444 (B.C. 153) γίνωσκέ με πεπορεῦσθαι εἰς κτλ. For the commen epistolary phrase γινώσκειν σε θέλω ὅτι, see P Oxy IV. 743%7 (B.C. 2) ὥστ᾽ ἂν τοῦτό σε θέλω γεινώσκειν, ὅτι ἐγὼ αὐτῶι διαστολὰς δεδώκειν, BGU III. 8465 (11,Α.1».} γεινώσκειν σαι θέλω, ὅτι οὐχ [ἥλπ]ιζον, ὅτι ἀναβένις εἰς τὴν μητρόπολιν, “1 wish you to know that Thad no hope that you would come up to the metropolis,” 2. I. 274 (ii/A.D.) γινώσκειν oe θέλω ὅτει εἰς γῆν ἐλήλυθα τῇ ς τοῦ Errelp μηνός, “1 wish you to…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

γινώσκω (ginōskō) — to know.

Included with: γιγνώσκω,

Doric dialect [Refs 5th c.BC+], Aeolic dialect, Ionic dialect, and after [Refs 4th c.BC+] γινώσκω, but γιγνώσκω in early Attic dialect Inscrr., as [Refs] (κατα-), etc.: future γνώσομαι [Refs 8th c.BC+], Doric dialect 3rd.pers. singular γνωσεῖται [Refs] is falsa lectio in [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Cretan dialect form ἀνα-γνώοντι uncertain in [Refs]: perfect ἔγνωκα [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist 2 ἔγνων [Refs 8th c.BC+], Epic dialect dual γνώτην [Refs 8th c.BC+], Doric dialect 3rd.pers. plural ἔγνον [Refs 5th c.BC+]; subjunctive γνῶ, γνῷς, γνῷ [Refs 8th c.BC+], Epic dialect also γνώω, γνώομεν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; infinitive γνῶναι [Refs 8th c.BC+], Epic dialect γνώμεναι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; participle γνούς [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—middle, aorist 1 γνώσασθαι [Refs 4th c.AD+]:—passive, future γνωσθήσομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist ἐγνώσθην [Refs…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

γινώσκω

ginosko

a prolonged form of a primary verb; to "know" (absolutely) in a great

variety of applications and with many implications (as follow, with

others not thus clearly expressed):--allow, be aware (of), feel,

(have) know(-ledge), perceived, be resolved, can speak, be sure,

understand.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

γινώσκω

v.

I come to know, learn, realize

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

γινώσκω ginōskō 222x

to know, whether the action be inceptive or complete and settled; to perceive, Mt. 22:18; Mk. 5:29; 8:17; 12:12; Lk. 8:46; to mark, discern, Mt. 25:24; Lk. 19:44; to ascertain by examination, Mk. 6:38; Jn. 7:51; Acts 23:28; to understand, Mk. 4:13; Lk. 18:34; Jn.…

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-FPI-3S — Verb · future · passive · indicative · third person · singular
future passive indicative — an action still to come.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
11%know
know11% · 25×having known8% · 18×knew5% · 11×you know5% · 11×knows4% · 9×knowing4% · 9×we know4% · 8×do know4% · 8×other renderings55% · 123×

222 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 82 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
verb96%adverbial3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 221 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
οὐNeg
καίand, even, also,ὅςοὗτος
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςὁράωI see, look uponκατάκειμαιI recline, am ly
οὗτος
ἐνπᾶςall, the whole, πλήνhowever, neverth
ἵναin order that, so th
οὗτοςἀργύριονsilver, a shekelπιστεύωI believe, have
δέbut, on the other ha
οὗτοςεἰCondἐκεῖνος
γινώσκωwill it be known221×
what comes after →
Article the
θεόςGod, a godθέλημαwill, wish, desiπατήρfather, Father,
ὅτιthat, since, because
ἐγγύςnearArticle theἐγώ
αὐτός
καίand, even, also,ἕωςuntil, as far asἐν
τίςIrg
εἰμίI am, existποιέωI do, makeτίςIrg
καίand, even, also, nam
οὐNegεἰςδιχοτομέωI cut in two, sc

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

Concordanceγινώσκω · 221× in the New Testament
John Luke 1 John Matthew 1 Corinthians Acts Mark Romans 2 Corinthians Philippians Galatians Hebrews

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament20 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 335 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 8c. AD 40

Μωυσῆς δὲ καὶ φιλοσοφίας ἐπ’ αὐτὴν φθάσας ἀκρότητα καὶ χρησμοῖς τὰ πολλὰ καὶ συνεκτικώτατα τῶν τῆς φύσεως ἀναδιδαχθεὶς ἔγνω δή, ὅτι ἀναγκαιότατόν ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς οὖσι τὸ μὲν εἶναι δραστήριον αἴτιον, τὸ δὲ παθητόν, καὶ ὅτι τὸ μὲν δραστήριον ὁ τῶν ὅλων…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.9c. AD 75–95

τούτῳ δὴ πειθόμενος ὡς αἰεὶ τοῖς χρήσιμον ἢ καλόν τι πράττειν δυναμένοις συμφιλοκαλοῦντι καὶ ἐμαυτὸν αἰσχυνόμενος, εἰ δόξαιμι ῥαθυμίᾳ πλέον ἢ τῷ περὶ τὰ κάλλιστα χαίρειν πόνῳ, προθυμότερον ἐπερρώσθην, ἔτι κἀκεῖνα πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις λογισάμενος οὐ…

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.5c. AD 100

λογισάμενος οὖν τοῦτο, ὅτι ἐὰν μελήσῃ μοι περὶ ὑμῶν τοῦ μέρος τι μεταδοῦναι ἀφ̓ οὗ ἔλαβον, ὅτι ἔσται μοι τοιούτοις πνεύμασιν ὑπηρετήσαντι εἰς μισθόν, ἐσπούδασα κατὰ μικρὸν ὑμῖν πέμπειν, ἵνα μετὰ τῆς πίστεως ὑμῶν τελείαν ἔχητε τὴν γνῶσιν.

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

r Κάλλιππος Ζήνωνι χαίρειν. γίνωσκέ με ἀναπεπλευκότα διὰ τ … … ὀμνύω σοι τὴν σαυτοῦ σωτηρίαν ἦ μὴν τὴν

PSI 4 437Philadelphia? (Arsinoites)247 BC

r Σπίνθηρ Ζήνωνι χαίρειν. γίνωσκε ἡμᾶς οἰκονομηκότας τὰ περὶ τὰ σκεύη τοῦ πλοίου, ἐπιστόλια εἰληφότας εἰς Μέμφιν καὶ εἰς

P.Cair. Zen. 3 59363Philadelphia (Arsinoites)244 BC

κριθὴν μετὰ Μόσχου καὶ Σωσιθέου· ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ σιτομέτρην συναπόστειλον, ὃς ἀποκαταστήσει πρὸς ἡμᾶς. γίνωσκε δὲ τὰς τιμὰς ἐπευωνιζούσας ἑκάστης ἡμέρας, ὅτε μὲν ἡμιωβέλιον , ὅτε δὲ ὀβολοῦ τέταρτον

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
τὸho what G3588 Article · nominative · singular · neuter
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-NSN — Article · nominative · singular · neuter
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

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

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

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

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

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existἐγώ
ἐν
καίand, even, also,αὐτόςArticle the
εἰς
αὐτόςεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come inἔρχομαιI come, go
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakδέbut, on the otheπρός
εἰμίI am, exist
οὗτοςσύἐγώ
what19783×
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

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
αὐλούμενονauleō is being piped G832 Verb · present · passive · participle · nominative · singular · neuter
3× 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
This word means to play the flute, and it's used in Matthew 11:17 and Luke 7:32 to describe the sound of piping or flute playing. It's also mentioned in 1 Corinthians 14:7.
Tyndale gloss
to play the flute
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word αὐλέω (*auleō*) means 'to play the flute' or 'to pipe.' It is derived from αὐλός (*aulós*), which refers to a flute. The New Testament uses it in Matthew 11:17, Luke 7:32, and 1 Corinthians 14:7. The entries indicate that it can also refer to music being played or heard.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

** αὐλέω, -ῶ

(< αὐλός),

[in Al.: III Ki 1:40*;]

to play on a flute, to pipe: mid., Mt 11:17, Lk 7:32, I Co 14:7.†

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

αὐλέω, -@: 1 aor. ηὔλησα ; [pres. pass. ptcp. τὸ αὐλούμενον]; (αὐλός) ; to play on the flute, to pipe: Mt. xi.17; Lk. vii. 32; 1.Co. xiv. 7. (Fr. [Alem., Hdt.,] Xen. and Plat. down.)

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

αὐλέω (auleō) — to play the flute.

αὐλέω,

Boeotian dialect participle αὐλίων[Refs]: (αὐλός):—play on the flute, Φρύγιον αὔλησεν μέλος[Refs 7th c.BC+]; αὐ. ἔξοδον play a finale, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; αὐ. εἰρεσίαν, of the boatswain, [Refs 1st c.AD+]:— passive, of tunes, to be played on the flute, ὁ Βακχεῖος ῥυθμὸς ηὐλεῖτο[Refs 5th c.BC+]is filled with music, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. of persons, play to, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]:—mostly in passive, to be played to, hear music, [Refs 5th c.BC+] (but possibly middle as in [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. generally, play, κέρατι[Refs 2nd c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

αὐλέω

auleo

from 836; to play the flute:--pipe.

see GREEK for 836

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

αὐλέω

v.

I play the flute, pipe

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

αὐλέω auleō 3x

to play on a pipe or flute, pipe, Mt. 11:17; Lk. 7:32; 1 Cor. 14:7*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

αὐλέω αὐλός to play on the flute, Hdt., Plat., etc.; αὐλ. ἔξοδον to play a finale, Ar.

Pass., of tunes, to be played on the flute, Xen.; but, αὐλεῖται μέλαθρον is filled with music, Eur.

in Pass. also of persons, to be played to, hear music, Xen.

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
67%we piped
we piped67% · 2×being piped33% · 1×

3 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
verb100%

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
λέγωI say, speak
ὅς
Article the
γινώσκωI come to know,
αὐλέωis being piped
what comes after →
σύ
καίand, even, also,
Disj
Article the

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

Concordanceαὐλέω · 3× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians Luke Matthew
Across the New Testament3 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
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.

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
τὸho what G3588 Article · nominative · singular · neuter
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-NSN — Article · nominative · singular · neuter
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

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

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

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

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

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existἐγώ
ἐν
καίand, even, also,αὐτόςArticle the
εἰς
αὐτόςεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come inἔρχομαιI come, go
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakδέbut, on the otheπρός
εἰμίI am, exist
οὗτοςσύἐγώ
what19783×
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

Even <the> lifeless things a sound giving, whether flute or harp, if distinction to the sounds not they shall give, how will it be known what is being piped or what is being harped?
κιθαριζόμενον;kitharizō is being harped? G2789 Verb · present · passive · participle · nominative · singular · neuter
2× 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 play the harp is the meaning of this verb, which appears in 1 Corinthians and Revelation. It describes the act of making music on a lyre or harp, often in a worship setting. The word emphasizes the importance of music in prayer and praise.
Tyndale gloss
to play the harp
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

κιθαρίζω means to play on a lyre or harp. It appears in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 14:7 and Revelation 14:2. The word is derived from κίθαρις, referring to the cithara, a stringed instrument. Various lexicons note its use in classical literature, highlighting its musical context.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

κιθαρίζω,

[in LXX: Is 23:16 (נגן pi.)*;]

to play upon the lyre or harp: I Co 14:7, Re 14:2.†

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

κιθαρίζω : pres. pass. ptep. κιθαριζόμενος ; to play upon the harp [(see the preceding word) ]: with ἐν ταῖς κιθάραις added, [A.V. harping with their harps], Rev. xiv. 2; τὸ κιθαριζόμενον, what is harped, 1 Co. xiv. 7. (Is. xxiii. 16; in the Grk. writ. fr. Hom. Il. 18, 570 down.)

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

κιθαρίζω. In ἃ law of Teos regulating the employment of a sum of money devoted to the instruction of children, provision is made that boys, before they are enrolled among the ephebi, shall learn τὰ μουσικὰ καὶ κιθαρίζειν ἢ ψάλλειν (Michel 40818--111}8.6. = Sy// 523}8).

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

κιθαρίζω (kitharizō) — to play the harp.

κῐθαρ-ίζω,

Attic dialect future -ιῶ [Refs 4th c.BC+]: (κίθαρις):— play the cithara, φόρμιγγι.. ἱμερόεν κιθάριζε [Refs 8th c.BC+] K.; κιθαρίζειν οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι I am not a 'high-brow', [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὸ κιθαριζόμενον music composed for the cithara, [Refs 1st c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

κιθαρίζω

kitharizo

from 2788; to play on a lyre:--harp.

see GREEK for 2788

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

κιθαρίζω

v.

I play on the harp

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

κιθαρίζω kitharizō 2x

to play on a lyre or harp, 1 Cor. 14:7; Rev. 14:2*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

κιθαρίζω κι^θα^ρίζω, κίθαρις to play the cithara, φόρμιγγι κιθάριζε Il., Hes.; λύρῃ ἐρατὸν κιθαρίζων Hhymn. (so that there can have been no great difference between the κιθάρα, λύρα, and φόρμιγξ); κιθαρίζειν οὐκ ἐπίσταται, of an uneducated person, Ar.

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
50%being harped?
being harped?50% · 1×harping50% · 1×

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
Disj
κιθαρῳδόςa harpist
ὡςas, like as, how
κιθαρίζωis being harped?
what comes after →
ἐν
Article the

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

Concordanceκιθαρίζω · 2× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians Revelation
Across the New Testament2 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Sources on this page. Lexicons and dictionaries imported from the CrossWire SWORD modules — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, Dodson, the Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones, Robinson and Packard, Webster and Cawdrey. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Harper, 1889 — Grimm’s Wilke’s Clavis Novi Testamenti, translated, revised and enlarged by Joseph Henry Thayer) is public domain and is set here from the Internet Archive page scan greekenglishlex00grim; it is uncorrected OCR, marked as such on the entry itself, and the Strong’s numbers — which Thayer’s own edition does not carry — were matched by lemma against the other modules on this page. Trench’s Synonyms of the New Testament (Macmillan, 1880) and Moulton and Milligan’s Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (Hodder & Stoughton, 1930, which entered the United States public domain on 1 January 2026) are set from Internet Archive page scans synonymsofnewtes00treniala and vocabularyofgree00mouluoft, and are likewise uncorrected OCR matched to Strong’s numbers by lemma. Trench treats a group of words at once, so the same essay stands on the page of each word it compares. The Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary is © 1993 and is used here by permission for non-commercial use, www.teknia.com/greek-dictionary. The full Liddell-Scott-Jones and the Hebrew word data (TAHOT) come from STEPBible.org, CC BY 4.0. Brown-Driver-Briggs is the OpenScriptures digitisation, public domain. Syntax analysis is the Nestle 1904 Lowfat treebank (biblicalhumanities.org); the concordance and morphology are built from the tagged Nestle 1904 text. Septuagint occurrences use the Open Scriptures Septuagint lemma index, derived from CCAT (University of Pennsylvania) and the Rahlfs 1935 dataset by Eliran Wong, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — used here on a non-commercial ministry site. Greek of Josephus and Barnabas from the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0. Commentaries and the Ante-Nicene Fathers are public-domain texts hosted on this site. Everyday Greek from the Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri, CC BY 3.0, with dates and provenance from the Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis. Philo and the Apostolic Fathers from Open Greek and Latin (First1KGreek), CC BY-SA 4.0. The apparatus and the fifth Greek column are the SBL Greek New Testament, © 2010 SBL and Logos Bible Software, CC BY 4.0. The Latin is the Clementine Vulgate (public domain); the Syriac New Testament is the ETCBC edition (MIT licence). The Hebrew behind the Greek is computed here from the Septuagint index and TAHOT, not taken from any aligned edition. The translation spread and the per-word edition marks come from the Translators Amalgamated Greek NT (STEPBible, CC BY 4.0); clause roles from the Nestle 1904 Lowfat treebank (CC BY-SA 4.0); place identifications and their confidence from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding (CC BY 4.0), with map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Gospel parallels are computed here from shared uncommon vocabulary, not taken from any printed harmony. Cross references are the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and the subject headings are Nave’s Topical Bible, both public domain. Works under Creative Commons licences are used unchanged apart from markup removal.

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