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1 John 2:13 — Word Study

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N1904γράφω ὑμῖν, πατέρες, ὅτι ἐγνώκατε τὸν ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς. γράφω ὑμῖν, νεανίσκοι, ὅτι νενικήκατε τὸν πονηρόν.¶

BSAI am writinggraphō [sending a letter] to you,su fathers,patēr [male parents, spiritual leaders] becausehoti you have knownginōskō [have a deep understanding of] Him who [is]ho fromapo [the] beginning.archē [existing before all time] I am writinggraphō to you,su young men,neaniskos [youths, servants] becausehoti you have overcomenikaō [conquered, subdued] theho evil [one].ponēros [the wicked, bad]

Word
Listen & take away1 John 2
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 13 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 (ponēros) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
1 John 2:13quick helps
In a sentenceJohn writes to three groups: fathers, young men, and children, addressing their spiritual knowledge and victories.
Who is speakingThe Apostle John, addressing his audience with affection and authority.
Where we areIn a letter meant to encourage and affirm the faith of believers.
The hard wordνικάω
Take awaySpiritual maturity comes from knowing God and overcoming challenges.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause verbγράφω The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
How rare are these words?in the New Testament

Every word here is used elsewhere in the New Testament.

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

Deep Study — 1 John 2:13

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 — Encouragement to Believersgenerated

12I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven through His name.
13I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.
14I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 2:13 is part of a section where John writes to different groups within the church, affirming their faith and spiritual growth. He addresses fathers, young men, and children, each with unique spiritual insights and experiences. The letter serves to strengthen their understanding of God and their identity in Christ, emphasizing the victory they have over evil through faith.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
11 John 2:14I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
21 Timothy 5:1Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as to a father. Treat younger men as brothers,
31 John 2:3–4By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments.
41 John 5:20And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
5Psalm 91:14“Because he loves Me, I will deliver him; because he knows My name, I will protect him.

The Key Word νικάω, nikaōgenerated

The verb νικάω (nikaō) means to conquer or overcome, indicating a completed action. It is in the perfect tense, which signifies a past action with ongoing results. This suggests that the young men have not only faced challenges but have successfully triumphed over them.

The emphasis is on the victory that believers have through their relationship with God. This victory is not just a one-time event but a state of being that continues to influence their lives.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The verse is translated in the Berean Standard Bible as 'you have overcome the evil one,' a phrase echoed in several versions like the KJV and ASV.

Some translations, like the NET Bible, use 'conquered' instead of 'you have overcome,' while the BSB maintains the same wording. This shows a slight variation in expressing the concept of victory over evil.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The verse contains multiple clauses, with the main verb γράφω (I am writing) governing the structure. Each clause addresses a specific group: fathers, young men, and children, with corresponding verbs that indicate what John is affirming about each group.

The finite verbs are γράφω and νενικήκατε, with each clause structured to affirm the knowledge and victories of the addressed groups.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

In 1 John 2:13, the Greek word γράφω (graphō), meaning "I am writing," corresponds to the Hebrew כָּתַב (katav), which also means "to write." This connection emphasizes the act of communication and instruction being conveyed in the letter.

The term πατέρες (patēr), translated as "fathers," reflects the Hebrew אָב (av), meaning "father." This choice highlights a relationship of authority and guidance, suggesting that the recipients are mature leaders in the faith.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

1 John 2:13 shows John writing to fathers, young men, and children in the faith. He affirms the fathers' knowledge of God, the young men's victory over evil, and the children's understanding of the Father, highlighting their spiritual growth and relationship with God.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean to overcome the evil one?

To overcome the evil one means to have victory over sin and temptation through faith in Jesus Christ, as believers rely on God's strength.

Why does John address different groups in this letter?

John addresses different groups to acknowledge their unique spiritual journeys and to encourage them in their faith.

What is the significance of knowing the Father?

Knowing the Father signifies a deep, personal relationship with God, which is foundational to the Christian faith.

How can believers today overcome the evil one?

Believers can overcome the evil one by relying on God's Word, prayer, and the support of the Christian community.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. In what ways have I experienced victory over challenges in my spiritual life?
  2. How can I deepen my understanding of God as my Father?
  3. What steps can I take to encourage others in their faith journey?
  4. How does knowing that I have overcome the evil one impact my daily life?

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

Early church Fathers have commented on this verse, interpreting John's address to the different groups as reflective of their spiritual maturity and knowledge.

Clement of AlexandriaFrom the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus c. 150–215
By “fathers” John means those perfect people who understood everything from the very beginning and readily perceived that the Son had always existed.

Clement of Alexandria interprets 'fathers' as those who have deep understanding from the beginning.

Early Church Fathers on 1 John 2 →
Augustine of HippoTen Homilies on 1 John 2 354–430
"I write unto you, fathers." Why first sons? "Because your sins are forgiven you through His name," and ye are regenerated into a new life, therefore sons.

Augustine of Hippo explains that John addresses fathers first due to their regeneration and knowledge.

Early Church Fathers on 1 John 2 →
Augustine of HippoTen Homilies on 1 John 2 354–430
"I write unto you, young men." There are sons, are fathers, are young men: sons, because begotten; fathers, because they acknowledge the Beginning;

Augustine of Hippo also highlights the distinction between fathers and young men, emphasizing their acknowledgment of the Beginning.

Early Church Fathers on 1 John 2 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on 1 John 2:13 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

I write unto you, fathers,.... Not merely in age, though they might be men in years who are here intended, or only with respect to their long standing in the church, which might be the case; though

Read John Gill on 1 John 2 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

Read Robert Jamieson on 1 John 2 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Unto fathers, because to such belong much experience, and the knowledge of ancient things, he ascribeth the knowledge of him who is the Ancient of days, from the beginning, and than whom none is more ancient, and whom they should be supposed so well to know by their long continued course in religion, as fully to understand his good and acceptable will, what would be pleasing and what displeasing to him. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one: to such as were in the flower of their strength and age in Christianity, he attributeth victory; to whom therefore it would be inglorious to slur the honour of that noble conquest they had gained over the wicked one, the…

Read Matthew Poole on 1 John 2 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. Ver. 13. Him that is from the beginning] The Ancient of days. Old men love to speak of ancient things. These are ancient things, 1 Chronicles 4:22. You know him with a knowledge of acquaintance; you have had much familiarity and intercourse with him, you are not far from knowing even as also you are known, 1 Corinthians 13:12. To this pitch of perfection all God’ s people must aspire, as all men do follow after old age. Because ye have overcome the wicked one] "The glory…

Read John Trapp on 1 John 2 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) THE THINGS THEY MUST NOT LOVE IF THEY WALKED IN THE LIGHT (1 John 2:12-17).—The solemnity of the thoughts of 1 John 2:9; 1 John 2:11 is too much for the warm heart of the Apostle. He cannot bear even to seem to suggest that his “dear little children” are shrouded in the gloomy horrors of moral darkness, haunted by the faithful memories of their sins, and enticed hither and thither by the malevolent spirits of evil. He will warn them with the most tender and pitiful affection against the wicked one, the world, the flesh, the follies and vanities of the human heart; but first he will show them frankly what he thinks of them, what he hopes of them, the trust he places in them, the grounds…

Read Charles John Ellicott on 1 John 2 →
AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

Verse 13. I write unto you, fathers] By fathers it is very likely that the apostle means persons who had embraced Christianity on its first promulgation in Judea and in the Lesser Asia, some of them had probably seen Christ in the flesh; for this appears to be what is meant by, Ye have known him from the beginning. These were the elders and eye witnesses, who were of the longest standing in the Church, and well established in the truths of the Gospel, and in Christian experience. But τοναπαρχης, him who is from the beginning, may mean Jesus Christ in the eternity of his nature, see John 1:1-2; but the sense is the same. I write unto you, young men] These were confirmed disciples of Christ…

Read AdamClarke on 1 John 2 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. fathers] The older men among his readers: comp. Judges 17:10; Judges 18:19; 2 Kings 2:12; 2 Kings 6:21; 2 Kings 13:14. The address stands alone in N. T. The nearest approaches to it are Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21, where the actual fathers of children are addressed. S. Augustine thinks that all the readers are included throughout. Christians from one point of view are children, from another young men, and from another old men. This is possible, but it ignores the order in which the three groups are ranged. Comp. Titus 2:1-8, where S. Paul in like manner gives directions as to the exhortations suitable for Christians of different ages.ye have known] Rather, ye know: ‘ye have come…

Read Cambridge on 1 John 2 →
Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I write unto you, fathers - As there were special reasons for writing to children, so there were also for writing to those who were more mature in life.

Read Albert Barnes on 1 John 2 →

The verse in English, compared — 16 translations, and where they part company

Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.

Modern formal

BSBBerean Standard Bible2020

I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, little children, because you know the Father.

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I am writing to you, children, because you know the Father.

NETBNew English Translation2006

I am writing to you, fathers, that you have known him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, that you have conquered the evil one.

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

I write unto you, fathers, because ye know him who is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the evil one. I have written unto you, little children, because ye know the Father.

RVARevised Version, American1894

I write unto you, fathers, because ye know him which is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the evil one. I have written unto you, little children, because ye know the Father.

NWBWebster's Bible1833

I write to you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

GNVGeneva Bible1599

I write vnto you, fathers, because yee haue knowen him that is from the beginning. I write vnto you, yong men, because ye haue ouercome that wicked one. I write vnto you, litle children, because ye haue knowen ye Father.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

I write to you, fathers, because ye have known him [that is] from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked [one]. I write to you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

I write to you, fathers, because ye have known him who [is] from the beginning; I write to you, young men, because ye have overcome the evil. I write to you, little youths, because ye have known the Father:

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from the beginning; I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one]; I write to you, little youths, because you have known the Father;

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

I am writing to you, fathers, because you know the one who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, little children, because you know the Father.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him, who is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

I'm writing to you fathers, for you know him who has existed from the beginning. I'm writing to you young people, for you have defeated the evil one.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have knowledge of him who was from the first. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the Evil One. I have sent a letter to you, children, because you have knowledge of the Father.

Word by word, the decisions they made

γράφωgraphō I am writing G1125 3 different renderings
i writeDBY DRA GNV KJV LSV NWB WEB YLT
i have writtenASV BSB RVA ULB
i am writingBBE MSB NETB
ἐγνώκατεginōskō you have known G1097 4 different renderings
you knowBSB FBV MSB ULB WEB
have knownDBY KJV NWB YLT
you have knownDRA LSV NETB
knowASV RVA
γράφωgraphō I am writing G1125 3 different renderings
i writeDBY DRA GNV KJV LSV NWB WEB YLT
i have writtenASV BSB RVA ULB
i am writingBBE MSB NETB
νεανίσκοι,neaniskos young men, G3495 2 different renderings
young menASV BBE BSB DBY DRA KJV LSV MSB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
youngFBV NETB
νενικήκατεnikaō you have overcome G3528 3 different renderings
you have overcomeBBE BSB DRA LSV MSB ULB WEB
have overcomeASV DBY KJV NWB RVA YLT
conqueredNETB
πονηρόν.¶ponēros evil [one]. G4190 4 different renderings
evil oneASV BBE BSB FBV MSB NETB RVA ULB WEB
the wickedDBY DRA KJV NWB
evilLSV YLT
wickedGNV

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.

clauseclauseπατέρεςfathersclauseverbγράφωI am writingindirect objectὑμῖνto youclauseὅτιbecauseclauseverbἐγνώκατεyou have knownnoun phrase · objectτὸνHim who [is]prepositional phraseἀπ’fromἀρχῆς[the] beginningclauseclauseνεανίσκοιyoung menclauseverbγράφωI am writingindirect objectὑμῖνto youclauseὅτιbecauseclauseverbνενικήκατεyou have overcomenoun phrase · objectτὸνtheπονηρόνevil [one]

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

Scribo vobis, patres, quoniam cognovistis eum, qui ab initio est. Scribo vobis, adolescentes, quoniam vicistis malignum.

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

ܟܬܒ ܐܢܐ ܠܟܘܢ ܐܒܗܐ ܕܝܕܥܬܘܢܝܗܝ ܠܗܘ ܕܐܝܬܘܗܝ ܗܘܐ ܡܢ ܒܪܫܝܬ ܟܬܒ ܐܢܐ ܠܟܘܢ ܥܠܝܡܐ ܕܙܟܝܬܘܢܝܗܝ ܠܒܝܫܐ ܟܬܒܬ ܠܟܘܢ ܛܠܝܐ ܕܝܕܥܬܘܢ ܠܐܒܐ

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

γράφω ὑμῖν, πατέρες, ὅτι ἐγνώκατε τὸν ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς. γράφω ὑμῖν, νεανίσκοι, ὅτι νενικήκατε τὸν πονηρόν.¶

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

γράφω ὑμῖν, πατέρες, ὅτι ἐγνώκατε τὸν ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς. γράφω ὑμῖν, νεανίσκοι, ὅτι νενικήκατε τὸν πονηρόν.¶

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

γράφω ὑμῖν, πατέρες, ὅτι ἐγνώκατε τὸν ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς. γράφω ὑμῖν, νεανίσκοι, ὅτι νενικήκατε τὸν πονηρόν.¶

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

γράφω ὑμῖν, πατέρες, ὅτι ἐγνώκατε τὸν ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς. γράφω ὑμῖν, νεανίσκοι, ὅτι νενικήκατε τὸν πονηρόν.¶

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

γράφω ὑμῖν, πατέρες, ὅτι ἐγνώκατε τὸν ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς. γράφω ὑμῖν, νεανίσκοι, ὅτι νενικήκατε τὸν πονηρόν.¶

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

γράφω ὑμῖν, πατέρες, ὅτι ἐγνώκατε τὸν ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς. γράφω ὑμῖν, νεανίσκοι, ὅτι νενικήκατε τὸν πονηρόν.¶

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

γράφω ὑμῖν, πατέρες, ὅτι ἐγνώκατε τὸν ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς. γράφω ὑμῖν, νεανίσκοι, ὅτι νενικήκατε τὸν πονηρόν.¶

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

γράφω ὑμῖν, πατέρες, ὅτι ἐγνώκατε τὸν ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς. γράφω ὑμῖν, νεανίσκοι, ὅτι νενικήκατε τὸν πονηρόν.¶

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

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

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

Word by word, across the editions

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


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

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

1 John 2:13γράφωI am writinI am writingγράφωσύto you,to you,σύπατήρfathers,fathers,πατήρὅτιbecausebecauseὅτιγινώσκωyou have knyou have knownγινώσκωHim who [isHim who [is]ἀπόfromfromἀπόἀρχή[the] begin[the] beginningἀρχήγράφωI am writinI am writingγράφωσύto you,to you,σύνεανίσκοςyoung men,young men,νεανίσκοςὅτιbecausebecauseὅτινικάωyou have ovyou have overcoνικάωthetheπονηρόςevil [one].evil [one].πονηρόςὅστιςRel.pr. whRel.pr. whosoevὅστιςἄρχωv. I beginv. I beginἄρχωνίκηn.f. victon.f. victoryνίκηνεανίαςn.m. a youn.m. a young maνεανίαςκακόςAdj bad, eAdj bad, evilκακόςσαπρόςAdj rottenAdj rotten, useσαπρόςὅδεDem.pr. thDem.pr. this heὅδεβιβλίονn.n. a papn.n. a papyrus βιβλίονἀμήνHebr. veriHebr. verily, tἀμήνοἶδαv. I know,v. I know, remeοἶδαγινώσκωv. I come v. I come to knγινώσκωἀρχήn.f. rulern.f. ruler, begἀρχήτιμάωv. I valuev. I value at aτιμάωἈβραάμProp.n. AbProp.n. AbrahamἈβραάμἐγγύςAdv nearAdv nearἐγγύςἄρτιAdv now, jAdv now, just nἄρτιμακρόθενAdv from aAdv from a distμακρόθενἄρσηνAdj maleAdj maleἄρσην
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 John 2:13

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.

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from [the] beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one].
γράφωgraphō I am writing G1125 Verb · present · active · indicative · first person · singular
192× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This verb means to write or record something, like in John 8:6 where Jesus writes on the ground. It can also mean to describe or express something in writing, as seen in Luke 1:63 and Galatians 6:11.
Amplified meaning
sending a letter
Tyndale gloss
to write
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

γράφω (graphō) primarily means 'to write' and is derived from a sense of scratching or engraving. It encompasses various forms of writing, including inscribing letters, recording information, and expressing content in written form. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts such as recording scripture (e.g., Matthew 4:4) and writing letters (e.g., Acts 23:25). The lexicons do not show significant disagreement on its meanings.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

γράφω, [in LXX chiefly for כּתב ];

to scrape, graze (Hom.), and later (Hdt.) to sketch, draw.

to write;

of forming or tracing letters on writing material: Jo 8:[6], Ga 6:11, II Th 3:17;

to express in writing, commit to writing, record: Lk 1:63, Jo 19:21, 22 Re 1:11, 19 al.; of scripture as a standing authority (Deiss., BS, 112ff.), γέγραπται, it stands written (Luther), Mt 4:4, Mk 7:6, Lk 4:8, Ro 1:17, I Co…

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

γράφω ; [impf. ἔγραφον]; fut. γράψω; 1 aor. ἔγραψα; pf. γέγραφα; Pass., [pres. γράφομαι]; pf. γέγραμμαι ; [plpf. 3 pers. sing. ἐγέγραπτο, Rev. xvii. 8 Lchm.]; 2 aor. ἐγράφην ; (prop. to grave, scrape, scratch, engrave ; ef. Germ. graben, eingraben ; γράψεν δὲ οἱ ὀστέον ἄχρις αἰχμή, Hom. Il. 17, 599; σήματα γράψας ἐν πίνακι, ib. 6, 169; hence to draw letters), towrite; 1. with reference to the form of the letters; to delineate (or form) letters on a tablet, parchment, paper, or other material: τῷ 8aκτύλῳ ἔγραφεν eis τὴν γῆν made figures on the ground, Jn. viii. 6 Rec. ; οὕτω γράφω so am I accustomed to form my letters, 2 Thess. iii. 17; πηλίκοις γράμμασι ἔγραψα with how large (and so, ill-formed [?]) letters I have written, Gal. vi. 11; ef. Winer, Riickert, Hilgenfeld ad loe. [for the views of those who regard éyp. as covering the close of the Ep. only, see Bp. Lghtft. and Mey.; cf. W.…

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

γράφω. Deissmann (BS, pp. 112 ff. 249 f.) has shown the widespread juristic_use in the papyri of the ‘* biblical” γέγραπται with reference to the regulative and authoritative character

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

γράφω (graphō) — to write.

γράφω [ᾰ],

future -ψω[Refs 5th c.BC+]aorist ἔγραψα, Epic dialect γράψα [Refs 8th c.BC+]: perfect γέγραφα [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—middle, future γράψομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist ἐγραψάμην [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—passive, future γρᾰφήσομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+], etc.: aorist ἐγράφην [ᾰ], [Refs 5th c.BC+]: perfect γέγραμμαι (also in middle sense, see near the end), 3rd.pers. singular ἔγραπται [Refs 3rd c.AD+]; participle ἐγραμμένος or ἠγρ- [Refs 1st c.AD+]: 3rd.pers. plural γεγράφαται [Refs], Doric dialect γεγράβανται [Refs]: pluperfect ἐγέγραπτο [Refs 5th c.BC+]: 3rd.pers. plural ἐγεγράφατο [Refs 8th c.BC+] only in aorist active:—scratch, graze, αἰχμὴ γράψεν οἱ ὀστέον ἄχρις [Refs 8th c.BC+]; γράψας ἐν πίνακι πτυκτῷ θυμοφθόρα πολλά having marked or drawn signs thereon, [Refs]represent by lines, draw, paint, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; γῆς περιόδους γ. draw maps, [Refs 5th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

γράφω

grapho

a primary verb; to "grave", especially to write; figuratively, to

describe:--describe, write(-ing, -ten).

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

γράφω

v.

I write

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

γράφω graphō 191x

to engrave, write, according to the ancient method of writing on plates of metal, waxes tables, etc., Jn. 8:6, 8; to write on parchment, paper, etc., generally, Mt. 27:37, et al.; to write letters to another, Acts 23:25; 2 Cor. 2:9; 13:10, et al.; to describe in writing, Jn. 1:46; Rom. 10:5; to inscribe in a catalogue, etc., Lk. 10:20; Rev. 13:8; 17:8, et al.; to write a law, command, or enact in writing, Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

γράφω Orig. sense, to scratch, scrape, graze, αἰχμὴ γράψεν ὀστέον Il.; σήματα γράψας ἐν πίνακι having scratched marks as tokens on a tablet, id. Il.:—then, to represent by lines drawn, to delineate, draw, paint, Hdt., Aesch.; εἰκὼν γεγραμμένη Ar.: also in Mid., ζῷα γράφεσθαι ῀ ζωγραφεῖν, Hdt.

to express by written characters, to write, τι id. Hdt.; γο. τινά to write a person's name, Xen.; γ. ἐπιστολήν, etc., id. Xen.; γρ. τι εἰς διφθέρας Hdt.

to inscribe, like ἐπιγράφω, γρ. εἰς στήλην Eur., Dem.

to write down, γρ. τινὰ αἴτιον to set him down as the cause, Hdt.

to register, enrol, γρ. τινὰ τῶν ἱππευόντων among the cavalry, Xen.; Κρέοντος προστάτου γεγράψομαι, as a dependent of Creon…

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAI-1S — Verb · present · active · indicative · first person · singular
present active indicative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAI-1S Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: first Number: Singular

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

rit'-ing:

I. GENERAL

1. Definition

2. Inward Writing

3. Outward Writing

II. THE SYMBOLS

1. Object Writing

2. Image Writing

3. Picture Writing

4. Mnemonic Writing

5. Phonetic Writing

III. METHODS

IV. INSTRUMENTS

V. MATERIALS

1. Clay

2. Stone

3. Lead

4. Bronze

5. Gold and Silver

6. Wood

7. Bones and Skins

8. Vellum

9. Papyrus

10. Paper

11. Ink

VI. FORMS

1. The Roll

2. The Codex

VII. WRITING

1. Writers

2. The Writing Art

VIII. HISTORY OF BIBLICAL HANDWRITING

1. Mythological Origins

2. Earliest Use

3. Biblical History

LITERATURE

I. General.

1. Definition:

Writing is the art of recording thought, and recording is the making of permanent symbols. Concept, expression and record are three states of the same work or word. Earliest mankind expressed itself by gesture or voice and recorded in memory, but at a very early stage man began to feel the need of objective aids to memory and the need of transmitting a message to a distance or…

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Writing

The art of writing must have been known in the time of the early Pharaohs. Moses is commanded “to write for a memorial in a book” (Ex. 17:14) a record of the attack of Amalek. Frequent mention is afterwards made of writing (28:11, 21, 29, 36; 31:18; 32:15, 16; 34:1, 28; 39:6, 14, 30). The origin of this art is unknown, but there is reason to conclude that in the age of Moses it was well known. The inspired books of Moses are the most ancient extant writings, although there are written monuments as old as about B.C. 2000. The words expressive of “writing,” “book,” and “ink,” are common to all the branches or dialects of the Semitic language, and hence it has been concluded that this art must have been known to the earliest Semites before they separated into their various tribes, and nations, and families.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

There is no account in the Bible of the origin of writing. That the Egyptians in the time of Joseph were acquainted with writing of a certain kind there is evidence to prove, but there is nothing to show that up to this period the knowledge extended to the Hebrew family. At the same time there is no evidence against it. Writing is first distinctly mentioned in (Exodus 17:14) and the connection clearly implies that it was not then employed for the first time but was so familiar as to be used for historic records. It is not absolutely necessary to infer from this that the art of writing was an accomplishment possessed by every Hebrew citizen. If we examine the instances in which writing is mentioned in connection with individuals, we shall find that in all cases the writers were men of superior position. In (Isaiah 29:11,12) there is…

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

See BOOK.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
30%it has been written
it has been written30% · 61×written19% · 38×do write7% · 15×write6% · 13×it was written6% · 13×i have written5% · 10×i am writing5% · 10×wrote3% · 6×other renderings19% · 39×

205 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 31 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
verb98%object2%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 192 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
καθώςjust as, as
ἀλλάbut, exceptὑπάγωI go away, deparθέλωI will, wish, de
Article the
πᾶςall, the whole, εἰμίI am, existοὗτος
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakαἰτίαa cause, reason,ἐπί
σύ
ἔχωI have, hold, poσκληροκαρδίαhardness of hearκαθεξῆςin order, just a
εἰμίI am, exist
καθώςjust as, asοὐNegοὗwhere, whither,
γράφωI am writing192×
what comes after →
σύ
ἀλλάbut, exceptὅτιthat, since, becἵναin order that, s
Article the
ἐμόςὄνομαname, character,οἶκοςa house, househo
γάρfor
ὅτιthat, since, becκύριοςlord, Lord, mastπατάσσωI strike
ἐν
Article theβίβλοςa written book, νόμοςa law, the Mosai
ὅτιthat, since, because
οὗτοςArticle theοὐNeg

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

Concordanceγράφω · 192× in the New Testament
Revelation John Romans Luke 1 Corinthians 1 John Acts 2 Corinthians Matthew Mark Galatians 3 John

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

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 141c. AD 40

ἀποδεῖ γὰρ τὰ μιμήματα τῶν ἀρχετύπων, τὰ δ’ ἀπὸ τῶν μιμημάτων γραφόμενα καὶ πλαττόμενα πολὺ μᾶλλον, ἅτε μακρὰν ἀφεστῶτα τῆς ἀρχῆς·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.4c. AD 75–95

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

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 4.3c. AD 100

τὸ τέλειον σκάνδαλον ἤγγικεν, περὶ οὖ γέγραπται, ὡς Ἐνὼχ λέγει.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 6th c. AD 3rd c. BC 4th c. AD 3rd c. AD
P.Adl. 10Pathyris102 BC

εἰκάδος τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἔτους· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀποδῶι ἐν τῶι ὡρισμένωι χρόνωι ἀποτεισάτω καθὰ γέγραπται παραχρῆμα ἐπάναγκον· ἡ δὲ πρᾶξις ἔστω Ἀγαθίνωι καὶ Πατῆτι ἐκ τοῦ δεδανεισμένου Πανᾶτος καὶ

P.Adl. 15Pathyris (?)101 BC

καὶ παρείληφεν· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀποδῷ ἐν τῷ ὡρισμένῳ χρόνωι ἢ μὴ ποιῇ καθὰ γέγραπται ἀποτεισάτω ἐν τῷ ἐχομένωι μηνὶ παραχρῆμα ἡμιόλιον ἢ τὴν ἐσομένην ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾶι τιμήν,

P.Adl. 19Pathyris99 BC

ιϛ ἔτους· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀποδῶι ἐν τῶι ὡρισμένωι χρόνωι ἢ μὴ ποιήσηι καθὰ γέγραπται ἀποτεισάτω ἐν τῶι ἐχομένωι μηνὶ παραχρῆμα τὰ τοῦ σιδήρου μνᾶς δισχιλίας χμ καὶ ἐπίτιμον

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from [the] beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one].
ὑμῖν,su to you, G4771 Personal pronoun · second person · dative · plural
2,892× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 John as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This Greek word means 'you' and is used to address someone directly, like in John 1:30 and Matthew 26:64. It's a way to emphasize or contrast the person being spoken to. The KJV Bible translates it as 'thou'.
Tyndale gloss
you
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

σύ is the second-person singular pronoun meaning 'you' in Greek. It has various forms: genitive σοῦ, dative σοί, and accusative σέ. The word can be used for emphasis or contrast, particularly in the New Testament, as seen in verses like Matthew 26:64. It also appears in various dialects and has enclitic forms.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

σύ,

pron. of 2nd pers.,

thou, you, gen., σοῦ, dat., σοί, acc., σέ, pl., ὑμεῖς, -ῶν, -ῖν, -ᾶς (enclitic in oblique cases sing., except after prep. (BL, §48, 3), though πρὸς σέ occurs in Mt 25:39). Nom. for emphasis or contrast: Jo 1:30, 42 4:10 5:33, 39, 44, Ac 4:7, Eph 5:32; so also perhaps σὺ εἶπας, Mt 26:64, al. (M, Pr., 86); before voc., Mt 2:6, Lk 1:76, Jo 17:5, al.; sometimes without emphasis (M, Pr., 85f.), as also

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

σύ, pron. of the second pers. (Dor. and Aeol. τύ, Boeot. Tov), gen. σοῦ, dat. σοί, ace. σέ (which oblique cases are enclitic, unless a preposition precede; yet πρός σε is written [uniformly in Ree. (exe. Mt. xxvi. 18), in Grsb. (exe. Jn. xxi. 22, 23), in Treg. (exc. Mt. xxvi. 18; Acts xxiii. 30), in Lchm. (exe. Mt. xxvi.18; Jn. xvii. 11, 13; xxi. 22, 23; Acts xxiii. 30), in Tdf. (exe. Mt. xxvi. 18; Lk. i. 19; Jn. xvii. 11, 13; Jn. xxi. 22; Acts xxiii. 18, 30; 1 Tim. iii. 14; Tit. iii. 12); also by WH in Mt. xxv. 39], see ἐγώ, 2; Lipsius, Grammat. Untersuch. p. 62 sq. [W. §6, 3; B. 31 (27)]); plur. ὑμεῖς, εἴς. : Lat. tu, ete., vos, ete.; thou, ete., ye,ete. The nominatives ov and ὑμεῖς are expressed for emphasis — before a vocative, as σὺ Βηθλεέμ, Mt. ii. 6; σὺ παιδίον (Leian. dial. deor. 2, 1), Lk. i. 76; add, Jn. xvii. 5; Acts i. 24; 1 Tim. vi. 11, etc.; ὑμεῖς of Φαρισαῖοι, Lk. xi. 39…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

σύ (su) — you.

σύ [ῠ],

thou: pronoun of the second person:—Epic dialect nominative τύνη [ῡ] [Refs 8th c.BC+] (Laconian dialect τούνη [Refs 5th c.AD+]; Aeolic dialect σύ [Refs 7th c.BC+]; Doric dialect τύ [ῠ] [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Boeotian dialect τού [short syllable] [Refs 6th c.BC+] (also τούν [Refs]σύ, [Refs 8th c.BC+]—Gen. σοῦ, [Refs], elsewhere only Attic dialect, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; enclitic σου, [Refs 8th c.BC+] (also in Lyric poetry, [Refs 8th c.BC+] (which also occurs in Lyric poetry, [Refs 7th c.BC+], and as enclitic σευ, [Refs 8th c.BC+], σεο (enclitic) [Refs] σευ (enclitic) [Refs]:—Doric dialect τεῦ, τευ, [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; rarely τέο, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Boeotian dialect τεῦς [Refs 6th c.BC+]; Doric dialect τεοῦς [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τοι variant in [Refs]; enclitic τεος [Refs 5th c.BC+]; other Doric dialect forms are τίω, τίως, both [Refs 3rd c.BC+]—Dat. σοί, [Refs 8th c.BC+]…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

σύ

su

the person pronoun of the second person singular; thou:-- thou. See

also 4571, 4671, 4675; and for the plural 5209, 5210, 5213, 5216.

see GREEK for 4675

see GREEK for 4571

see GREEK for 4671

see GREEK for 5209

see GREEK for 5210

see GREEK for 5213

see GREEK for 5216

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

σύ, σοῦ, σοί, σέ

Pers.pr.

you

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

σύ sy 2x

you, gen., σοῦ, dat., σοί, acc., σέ, Mt. 1:20; 2:6

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Pron-2DP — Personal pronoun · second person · dative · plural
dative — to, for, with — the one it is done to or by.
Agrees with anything else marked plural.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

P-2DP Part of Speech: Personal pronoun Person: second Case: Dative Number: Plural

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
78%you
you78% · 2412×you yourselves7% · 221×you yourself5% · 168×your3% · 87×other renderings3% · 96×other renderings3% · 89×

3,073 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 37 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
subject28%object24%adverbial23%indirect object20%predicate5%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 2,892 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
ἀμήνHebrδέbut, on the otheἐγώ
καίand, even, also, nam
ἐγώοὕτωthus, so, in thiμήNeg
ἐν
Article theεἰμίI am, existγίνομαιI come into bein
πρός
ἔρχομαιI come, goἐγώπέμπωI send
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakπαρακαλέωI summon, entreaθέλωI will, wish, de
σύto you,2892×
what comes after →
Article the
θεόςGod, a godἐνἁμαρτίαa sin
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theεἰρήνηpeace, peace of οὐNeg
ὅτιthat, since, because
Article theπᾶςall, the whole, οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐν
ἐν
Article theποῖοςIrgΧριστόςanointed, the Me

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

Concordanceσύ · 2,892× in the New Testament
Matthew Luke John Acts Mark 2 Corinthians 1 Corinthians Romans 1 Thessalonians Revelation Hebrews Colossians

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

Across the New Testament27 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 450 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 Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.48c. AD 40

„οὐ φυτεύσεις σεαυτῷ ἄλσος, πᾶν ξύλον παρὰ τὸ θυσιαστήριον κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου οὐ ποιήσεις σεαυτῷ“ (Deuter.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.101c. AD 75–95

παύσομαι δὲ τοῦ λοιποῦ μετὰ τοσαύτης ὀργῆς τὰς τιμωρίας ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀδικήμασιν εἰσπραττόμενος καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον σοῦ παρακαλοῦντος.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.2c. AD 100

Μεγάλων μὲν ὄντων καὶ πλουσίων τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ δικαιωμάτων εἰς ὑμᾶς, ὑπέρ τι καὶ καθ̓ ὑπερβολὴν ὑπερευφραίνομαι ἐπὶ τοῖς μακαρίοις καὶ ἐνδόξοις ὑμῶν πνεύμασιν: οὕτως ἔμφυτον τῆς δωρεᾶς πνευματικῆς χάριν εἰλήφατε.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 6th c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. BC
P.Grenf. 1 35Ptolemais - Akko (Syrien)103 BC

τοῦ ἀποδοθῆι τὸν ἐπεσταλμένον ἡμῖν κατὰ μῆνα πυρὸν τοῖς παρʼ ἡμῶν. διʼ ἄλλων γεγράφαμεν ὑμῖν ὑπὲρ ὧν βουλόμεθα μηδεμιᾶς προσφωνήσεως προσπεπτωκυίας. ἑαυτῶν δὲ ἐπιμελόμενοι ἵνʼ ὑγιαίνητε, — ἔσμεν ἐν

P.Grenf. 1 32Pelusion103 BC

η Φατρήους καὶ … χαίρειν καὶ ἐρρωμένοις διευτυχεῖν. ἐρρώμεθα δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ ὑμῶν τὴν ἀρίστην μνείαν ποιούμενοι παρὰ τοῖς ἐν Πηλουσίωι θεοῖς. καλῶς ποιήσεις διαλύσας Ἁρκοννῆσιν καὶ

P.Grenf. 1 41Thebais3 BC

παρὰ Πετεύριος διεθέντος μου ὑπάρξει σοι εἰς στέφανον χαλκοῦ τάλαντα δεκάπεντε, τάλαντα ιε. εὐτύχει .

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from [the] beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one].
πατέρες,patēr fathers, G3962 Noun · vocative · plural · masculine
413× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
A father is a male parent, like Joseph, the father of Jesus, as mentioned in Matthew 2:22 and Luke 1:17. It can also refer to a forefather or ancestor, like Abraham, as seen in Matthew 3:9 and John 8:39.
Amplified meaning
male parents, spiritual leaders
Tyndale gloss
father
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

πατήρ (patēr) means 'father' and can refer to a male parent, an ancestor, or even a metaphorical originator. It appears frequently in the New Testament, often in relation to God as the Father of believers, as well as in the context of respect for elders or teachers. The term can also denote a broader familial or ancestral connection, as seen in references to forefathers.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

πατήρ, πατρός, -τρί, τέρα,

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

a father;

prop.,

of the male parent: Mt 2:22, Lk 1:17, Jo 4:53; anarth., He 12:7 (M, Pr., 82 f.); pl., of both parents (cl.), He 11:23; οἱ π. τ. σαρκός, He 12:9;

of a forefather or ancestor (in cl. usually in pl.; Hom., al.): Mt 3:9, Lk 1:73, Jo 8:39, al.; pl., Mt 23:30, 32, Lk 6:23, 26, Jo 4:20,

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

πατήρ [fr. τ. pa; lit. nourisher, protector, upholder ; (Curtius § 348)], πατρός, -rpl, -τέρα, voc. πάτερ [for which the nom. 6 πατήρ is five times used, and (anarthrous) πατήρ in Jn. xvii. 21 T Tr WH, 24 and 25 LT Tr WH; ef. B. § 129,5; W.§ 29,2; WH. App. p. 158], plur. πατέρες, πατέρων, πατράσι (Heb. i.1), πατέρας, 6,[fr. Hom. down], Sept. for 38, a father; 1. prop., i. q. generator or male ancestor, and either a. the nearest ancestor: Mt. ii. 22; iv. 21 sq.; viii. 21; Lk.i.17; Jn. iv.53; Acts vii. 143 1 Co. v. 1, etc.; of πατέρες τῆς σαρκός, fathers of the corporeal nature, natural fathers, (opp. to ὁ πατὴρ τῶν πνευμάτων), Heb. xii. 9; plur. of both parents, Heb. xi. 23 (not infreq. in prof. auth., ef. Delitzsch ad loc.); or Ὄ. a more remote ancestor, the founder of α race or tribe, progenitor of a people, forefather: 80 Abraham is called, Mt. iii. 9; Lk. i. 73; xvi. 24; Jn. viii.…

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

πατήρ. For the looser use οἵ πατήρ as a title or respect or honour, see P Oxy X. 1296 (iii/A.D.), where the writer

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

πατήρ (patēr) — father.

πᾰτήρ, ὁ,

genitive and dative πατέρος, πατέρι in Epic dialect and Lyric poetry, Attic dialect πατρός, πατρί (which is also the commoner form in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; accusative always πατέρ; vocative πάτερ: plural πατέρες, πατέρας, πατέρων (πατρῶν only [Refs 8th c.BC+]; dative πατράσι [ᾰ] (cf. Sanskrit locative plural pitṛ[snull]u, no dative plural occurs in [Refs 8th c.BC+], late Epic dialect πατέρεσσι [Refs 4th c.AD+]:— father, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; πατρὸς πατήρ grandfather,[Refs 8th c.BC+]; τὰ πρὸς πατρός by the father's side, [Refs 5th c.BC+], etc.; especially of God, the father of the Israelites, [LXX]; father of men, [NT]; father of Jesus Christ, [Refs]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

πατήρ

pater

apparently a primary word; a "father" (literally or figuratively, near

or more remote):--father, parent.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

πατήρ, πατρός, ὁ

n.m.

father, Father, ancestor

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

πατήρ acc. always πατέρα gen. pl. rarely πατρῶν a father, Hom., etc.; πατρὸς πατήρ a grandfather, Il.; τὰ πρὸς πατρός ῀ πατρόθεν, by the father's side, Hdt.

among the gods Zeus is called πατήρ, πατὴρ Ζεύς, π. ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε Hom., Hes.; so Ζεὺς π. Aesch.; Ζεῦ πάτερ καὶ θεοί Ar.

a respectful mode of addressing elderly persons, Od.

metaph. the father of anything, Lat. auctor, π. ἀοιδᾶν Pind., etc.

in pl. fathers, i.e. forefathers, Hom.; ἐξ ἔτι πατρῶν as an inheritance from one's fathers, Od.

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

N-VPM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Vocative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
86%father
father86% · 359×fathers12% · 51×other renderings2% · 9×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject32%adverbial26%object21%predicate7%indirect object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 413 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
καίand, even, also,πρόςἐγώ
καίand, even, also, nam
θεόςGod, a godθάνατοςdeathἀδελφόςa brother
θεόςGod, a god
ἀπόArticle theἐν
λέγωI say, speak
καίand, even, also,προσεύχομαιI pray, pray forἸησοῦςJesus
σύ
ἐξομολογέωI consent fully,γράφωI writeπροσεύχομαιI pray, pray for
πατήρfathers,413×
what comes after →
ἐγώ
καίand, even, also,Article theἐν
σύ
Article theκαίand, even, also,λέγωI say, speak
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theκύριοςlord, Lord, mastΧριστόςanointed, the Me
αὐτός
καίand, even, also,Article theμετά
Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, mastπαιδίονa little child, πέμπωI send

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

Concordanceπατήρ · 413× in the New Testament
John Matthew Luke Acts Mark Romans 1 John Ephesians Hebrews 1 Corinthians 1 Thessalonians 2 Corinthians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament26 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 615 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 7c. AD 40

Τινὲς γὰρ τὸν κόσμον μᾶλλον ἢ τὸν κοσμοποιὸν θαυμάσαντες τὸν μὲν ἀγένητόν τε καὶ ἀίδιον ἀπεφήναντο, τοῦ δὲ θεοῦ πολλὴν ἀπραξίαν ἀνάγνως κατεψεύσαντο, δέον ἔμπαλιν τοῦ μὲν τὰς δυνάμεις ὡς ποιητοῦ καὶ πατρὸς καταπλαγῆναι, τὸν δὲ μὴ πλέον ἀποσεμνῦναι…

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 2.7c. AD 100

λέγει δὲ πάλιν πρὸς αὐτούς: Μὴ ἐγὼ ἐνετειλάμην τοῖς πατράσιν ὑμῶν ἐκπορευομένοις ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, προσενέγκαι μοι ὁλοκαυτώματα καὶ θυσίας;

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 6th c. AD 1st c. AD
P.Grenf. 2 31Pathyris105 BC

τὸ ἐπιβάλλον αὐτῷ μέρος δανείου οὗ ἔθετο Πατοῦς Ὥρου ὁ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ Ταρεήσιος πατὴρ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐν Κροκοδίλων πόλει ἀρχείου χαλκοῦ δραχμὰς Ε καὶ τοὺς τούτων τόκους· ὃς

P.Grenf. 2 26Pathyris104 BC

Φαγώνι, τοῖς δ τοῦ Πανοβχούνιος τοῦ Ταρεήσιος τῆς Πατοῦτος τῆς Παοῦτος μητρὸς τοῦ προγεγραμμένου πατρὸς Ὥρου, ἀπέχειν καὶ μὴ ἐπικαλεῖν περὶ ὀφειλήματος συναλλαγμάτων Αἰγυπτίων καὶ Ἑλληνικῶν ἃ ἐξέτεισε Παοῦς

P.Adl. 20Poinkoris (Diopolites)99 BC

Ψενμεγχείους ὡς ἐτῶν λε μέσου … πάντες τῶν ἐκ τοῦ Παθυρίτου τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν τῶι πατρὶ τοῦ Ὥρου γῆν ἀρουρῶν … ἐν τῶι ἄνω πεδίωι Κροκοδίλων πόλεως ἀπὸ σφραγῖδος μιᾶς

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from [the] beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one].
ὅτιhoti because G3754 Conjunction
1,293× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This Greek word means 'that' or 'because', used to introduce a reason or explanation. It appears in the New Testament, such as in Matthew 3:9 and Romans 8:38. It helps to show cause and effect in sentences.
Tyndale gloss
that/since: that
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ὅτι (hoti) is a conjunction primarily meaning 'that' or 'because.' It introduces objective clauses, often following verbs of perception or declaration, and can also serve as a causal particle. The New Testament frequently employs it in this way, such as in Matthew 5:4-12. There is some variation in how lexicons describe its usage, particularly regarding its pleonastic function in direct discourse.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὅτι,

conjc. (prop. neut. of ὅστις).

As conjc, introducing an objective clause, that;

after verbs of seeing, knowing, thinking, saying, feeling: Mt 3:9 6:32 11:25, Mk 3:28, Lk 2:49, Jo 2:22, Ac 4:13, Ro 1:13 8:38 10:9, Phl 4:15, Ja 2:24, al.; elliptically, Jo 6:46, Phl 3:12, al.

After εἶναι (γίνεσθαι): defining a demonstr. or pers. pron., Jo 3:19 16:19, Ro 9:6, I Jo 3:16 al.; c. pron. interrog., Mt 8:27, Mk 4:41,

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

ὅτι [properly neut. of ὅστις], a conjunction [fr. Hom. down], (Lat. quod [ef. W. § 53,8 b.; B. § 139, 51; § 149, 87), marking I. the substance or contents (of a statement), that; 1. joined to verbs of saying and declaring (where the ace. and infin. is used in Lat.) : ἀναγγέλλειν, Acts xiv. 27; διηγεῖσθαι, Acts ix. 273; εἰπεῖν, Mt. xvi. 20; xxviii. 7,13; Jn. vii. 42; xvi. 15; 1Co.i.15; λέγειν, Mt. iii. 9; vill. 11; Mk. iii. 28; Lk. xv.7; Jn. xvi. 20; Ro. iv. 9 [T Tr WH om. L br. ὅτι}; ix. 2, and very often; προεἰρηκέναι, 2 Co. vii. 3; before the ὅτι in Acts xiv. 22 supply λέγοντες, contained in the preceding παρακαλοῦντες [ef. B. §151, 11]; ὅτι after γράφειν, 1 Co. ix.10; 1 Jn. 11. 12-14; μαρτυρεῖν, Mt. xxiii. 31; Jn. i. 34; iii. 28; iv. 44; ὁμολογεῖν, Heb. xi. 13; δεικνύειν, Mt. xvi. 21; δηλοῦν, 1 Co. i. 11; διδάσκειν, 1 Co. xi. 14. after ἐμφανίζειν. Heb. xi. 14; δῆλον (ἐστίν), 1 Co.…

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

οτι. (1) For ὅτι, ‘‘that,” introducing an objective clause after verbs of knowing, saying, etc., cf. P Tebt II. 4098 (A.D. 5) εἰδὼ[ς ὅ]τι ἐξίι)ουσίαν αὐτῶν ἔχει kal Λυσίμαχος kal σύ, ΚΕ knew that both you and Lysimachus had plenty of them” (Edd.), P Fay 109° (early i/A.D.) νομίσας ὅτι (cf. Mt 517) κιχρᾷς por αὐτούς, ““ consider that you are lending them (sc. staters) to me’’ (Edd.), BGU III. 8464* (ii/a.p.) (= Selections, p. 93) γεινώσκειν σαι θέλω, ὅτι οὐχ [HA] Lov, ὅτι ἀναβένις (1. ἀναβαίνεις) els τὴν μητρόπολιν, “1 wish you to know that I had no hope that you were coming up to the metropolis,” 74.9 αἴγραψά σοι, ὅτι γυμνός εἰμει, “1 wrote you that I am naked,” and P Tebt II. 420+ (iii/A.D.) οἴδατε ὅτι ἀπὸ ζημίας ἠμί, ‘‘ You know that I am blameless.” Ὅτι, however, is frequently omitted, e.g. BGU IIL. 8153(ii/a.p.) γεινόσκιν σε θέλω [τὴ]ν ἐπιστολήν σου ἔλαβε (corrected by another hand…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὅτι (hoti) — that/since: that.

ὅτῐ,

Epic dialect ὅττῐ (both in [Refs 8th c.BC+]: conjunction, to introduce an objective clause, that, after Verbs of seeing or knowing, thinking or saying; in [Refs 8th c.BC+] —Usage:

I. when ὅτι introduces a statement of fact:

I. a in [Refs 8th c.BC+] always with indicative, the tense following the same rules as in English, ἤγγειλ᾽ ὅττι ῥά οἱ πόσις ἔκτοθι μίμνε πυλάων [Refs 8th c.BC+]

I. b in Attic dialect, ὅτι takes indicative after primary tenses, indicative or optative after secondary tenses, e.g. ἐνδείκνυμαι ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι σοφός [Refs 5th c.BC+] news came that Megara had (literal has) revolted, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: sometimes optative and indicative are found in the same sentence, ἔλεγον, ὅτι Κῦρος μὲν τέθνηκεν, Ἀριαῖος δὲ πεφευγὼς.. εἴη [Refs 5th c.BC+].. and the accusative with infinitive…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὅτι

hoti

neuter of 3748 as conjunction; demonstrative, that (sometimes

redundant); causative, because:--as concerning that, as though,

because (that), for (that), how (that), (in) that, though, why.

see GREEK for 3748

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὅτι

Cj.

that, since, because

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὅτι hoti 1x

originally was the neuter of ὅστις, that, Mt. 2:16, 22, 23; 6:5, 16; often used pleonastically in reciting another’s words, Mt. 9:18; Lk. 19:42; Acts 5:23; as a causal particle, for that, for, because, Mt. 2:18; 5:3, 4, 5; 13:13; because, seeing that, since, Lk. 23:40; Acts 1:17

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

be-kos' (hina, "in order that"): "The multitude rebuked them, because (AV; the Revised Version (British and American) "that") they should hold their peace" (Mt 20:31).

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
64%that
that64% · 856×because19% · 252×for16% · 209×other renderings1% · 12×

1,329 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 8 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial16%object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,293 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
λέγωI say, speakγάρforδέbut, on the othe
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςσύδέbut, on the othe
οἶδαI know, remember
οὐNegκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakμαθητήςa learner, disciπερί
γινώσκωI come to know, lear
οὗτοςκαίand, even, also,αὐτός
ὅτιbecause1293×
what comes after →
Article the
θεόςGod, a godκύριοςlord, Lord, mastπατήρfather, Father,
οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, existοἶδαI know, rememberδύναμαιI am powerful, a
ἐγώ
εἰμίI am, existοὐNegArticle the
οὗτος
εἰμίI am, existArticle theποιέωI do, make
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
Article theῥῆμαa thing spokenζητέωI 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

Concordanceὅτι · 1,293× in the New Testament
John Luke Matthew Acts Mark 1 John Revelation 1 Corinthians Romans 2 Corinthians Galatians Philippians

2 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
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
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.argc. AD 75–95

ὅτι τῶν ἐθνῶν ἕκαστον ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκισάντων προσηγορεύθη.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.3c. AD 100

ὅτι ἀληθῶς βλέπω ἐν ὑμῖν ἐκκεχυμένον ἀπὸ τοῦ πλουσίου τῆς πηγῆς κυρίου πνεῦμα ἐφ̓ ὑμᾶς.

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 6th c. AD
C.Erbstreit14Diospolis Magna (Theben)187 BC

καὶ τὴν εἰκοστὴν τοῦ ἐγκυκλίου καὶ τὰ ἄλλα τὰ καθήκοντα. … ται Προῖτος, καθʼ ὅτι πρόκειται … ἑξήκοντα ἓξ τετρωβόλου καὶ τῆς … … τοπογραμματέως τοῦ Παθυρίτου … ἀρουρῶν

P.Grenf. 1 10 p. 24Hermonthis149 BC

ι τοῖς ἐνκαλουμένοις τὸ ἀντίγραφον τῆς ἐντεύξεως λαβεῖν παρ … τ … … πίστιν ὅτι ἀπαντησα … ἐπὶ τὸ ἐν τῆι αὐλῆι κριτήριον ἐν ἡμέραις λ οὐκ ο

P.Bour. 10Pathyris89 BC

δʼ ἐπιχειροῦντας μὴ ὑπακούειν σου … υτέραι στάσει ἐχομένους ἀσφαλισάμενος μέχρι τοῦ καὶ ἡμᾶς ὅτι τάχος ἐπιβαλεῖν πρὸς σέ. ἔρρωσοἔρρωσο ἔτους κϛ Φαμενὼθ ιϛ

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from [the] beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one].
ἐγνώκατεginōskō you have known G1097 Verb · perfect · active · indicative · second person · plural
221× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 John than 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
have a deep understanding of
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-RAI-2P — Verb · perfect · active · indicative · second person · plural
perfect active indicative — a past action whose result still stands.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-RAI-2P Part of Speech: Verb Tense: peRfect Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: second Number: Plural

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
γινώσκωyou have 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

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from [the] beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one].
τὸνho Him who [is] G3588 Article · accusative · singular · masculine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 John 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-ASM — Article · accusative · singular · masculine
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-ASM Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Accusative Number: Singular 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
Him who [is]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

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from [the] beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one].
ἀπ᾽apo from G575 Preposition
647× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means moving away from something, like a place or a time. It's used in many parts of the Bible, like Matthew 5:29 and Luke 5:2, to show movement or separation. It can also mean because of something.
Tyndale gloss
away from
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἀπό (transliterated as apo) is a preposition meaning 'from' or 'away from,' typically used with the genitive case. It covers a wide range of meanings, including separation, origin, and partitive sense, as well as indicating distance in time or place. In the New Testament, it appears in various contexts, such as indicating motion from a place or the source of something. The entries do not show significant disagreement.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἀπό (on the freq. neglect of elision bef. vowels, v. Tdf., Pr., 94, WH, App., 146),

prep. c. gen. (WM, 462 ff.; on its relation to ἐκ, παρά, ὑπό, WM, 456 f.),

[in LXX for מִן, בְּ, לְ;]

from (i.e. from the exterior).

Of separation and cessation;

of motion from a place: Mt 5:29, 30 7:23, Lk 5:2 22:41, al.;

in partitive sense (M, Pr., 72, 102, 245; MM, s.v.; Bl., § 40, 2), Mt 9:16 27:21, Jo 21:10, Ac 5:2, al.; also after verbs of eating, etc.;

of alienation (cl. gen. of separation), after such verbs as λούω (Deiss., BS, 227), λύω, σώζω, παύω, etc.; ἀνάθεμα ἀ., Ro 9:3; ἀποθνήσκειν ἀ.,

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

ἀπό, [fr. Hom. down], preposition with the Genitive, (Lat. a, ab, abs, Germ. von, ab, weg, [ef. Eng. of, off ]), Jrom, signifying now Separation, now Origin. On its use in the N. T., in which the influence of the Hebr. 1 is traceable, cf. W. 364 sy. (342), 369 (346) sqq.; B. 321 (276) sqq. [On the neglect of elision before words beginning with a vowel see Τὰ Proleg. p. 94; cf. W. § 5,1a.; B. p.10sq.; WH. App. p. 146.] In order to avoid repetition we forbear to cite all the examples, but refer the reader to the several verbs followed by this preposition. ἀπό, then, is used I. of Separation; and 1. of local separation, after verbs of motion fr. a place, (of departing, fleeing, removing, expelling, throwing, etc., see αἴρω, ἀπέρχομαι, ἀποτινάσσω, ἀποχωρέω, ἀφίστημι, φεύγω. etc.) : ἀπεσπάσθη ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν, Lk. xxii.41; βάλε ἀπὸ σοῦ. Mt. ν. 29 sq.3 ἐκβάλω τὸ κάρφος ἀπὸ [LT Tr WH ἐκ] τοῦ…

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

ἀπό. In this and the other prepositions cf very wide and general use we have not pretended to any fullness: they would afford abundant material for a fair-sized treatise. We only notice such special uses as we have remarked in our reading, and have therefore passed over most of the common and obvious uses. On ἀπό there are some illustrations in Prodeg. which may be recalled with some additions. There is the partitive use (pp. 102, 245), still current in MGr: so P Petr III. 11%° (B.c. 234) ddeloO[w] ἀπὸ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων μοι [σ]ωμάτων [ἐλ]εύθερα A. kal’A., 2d. 11. τα (1)> (= Selections p- 7) (iii/B.c.) ἀπὸ τούτου τὸ μὲν ἥμυσυ . . . τὸ δὲ λοιπόν κτλ. P Tebt II. 209013 (c. a.D. 50) ἀπολυσίμ[ο]υ ἀπὸ av8[pav πεντή]κοντα ‘one of the 50 exempted persons” (Edd.), P Iand 8° (ii/A.p.) διεπεμψάμην cor. . ἀϊπὸ τοῦ οἸΐνου Κ νίδια τρία, etc. To Kuhring’s scanty exx. (p. 37) for ἀπό of agent (cf. Proleg.…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἀπό (apo) — away from.

ἀπό,

Aeolic dialect, Thess., [Refs 7th c.BC+], etc.:—preposition usually with Gen. but see below [Refs 5th c.BC+] (Cf. Sanskrit

__A ápa, Latin ab, Umbr. ap-ehtre 'ab extra', Gothic af, O[Refs 5th c.BC+] af, cef, of, etc.) Orig. sense, from. [ᾰπο?~X: where ἀπο ¯ is found in Epic dialect before see or liquids (as ἀπὸ ἕθεν[Refs 8th c.BC+] was sometimes written in later texts,[Refs] — ᾱ for the sake of meter in _Epic dialect_ compounds, such as ἀπονέεσθαι.]

__A.I OF PLACE, the earliest, and in [Refs 8th c.BC+]

__A.I.1 of Motion, from, away from, ἐσσεύοντο νεῶν ἄπο καὶ κλισιάων[Refs 8th c.BC+]; pleonastic, ἀ. Τροίηθεν[LXX+8th c.BC+]; also ἀπ᾽ αἰῶνος νέος ὤλεο, implying departure from life, [Refs]; opposed to ἐξ, of relatively superficial motion, λαμβάνομεν οὔτε ἐκ τῆς γῆς οὐδέν, οὔτ᾽ ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκιῶν[Refs 5th c.BC+]; similarly…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀπό

apo

a primary particle; "off," i.e. away (from something near), in various

senses (of place, time, or relation; literal or figurative):--(X

here-)after, ago, at, because of, before, by (the space of), for(-th),

from, in, (out) of, off, (up-)on(-ce), since, with. In composition (as

a prefix) it usually denotes separation, departure, cessation,

completion, reversal, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀπό

Prep.

from, away from

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀπό apo 646x

pr. forth, from, away from; hence, it variously signifies departure; distance of time or place; avoidance; riddance; derivation from a quarter, source, or material; origination from agency or instrumentality

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἀπό from, away from. c. gen.

prep. c. gen. = Lat. ab, from.

OF PLACE:

of Motion, from, away from, Hom., etc.; of warriors fighting from chariots, Hom.

of Position, away from, far from, apart from, ἀπὸ ἧς ἀλόχοιο Il.; ἀπ᾽ ὀφθαλμῶν far from sight, id. Il.; ἀπὸ θαλάσσης Thuc., etc.

of the mind, ἀπὸ θυμοῦ away from, i. e. alien from, my heart, Il.; οὐκ ἀπὸ τρόπου not without reason, Plat.; οὐκ ἀπὸ πράγματος Dem.

in partitive sense, αἶσ᾽ ἀπὸ ληΐδος a part from the booty, a share of it, Od.

OF TIME, from, after, ἀπὸ δείπνου after supper, Il.; ἀπὸ δείπνου γενέσθαι to have done supper, Hdt., etc.; ἀφ᾽ οὗ (sc. χρόνου), Lat. ex quo, id. Hdt., etc.

OF ORIGIN, CAUSE, etc.:

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

PREP PREPosition

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
82%from
from82% · 556×of7% · 48×by3% · 22×other renderings8% · 51×

677 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
adverbial91%subject5%predicate2%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 647 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
αὐτός
ἐκπορεύομαιI journey out, cἀπόλαόςa people, the cr
καίand, even, also, nam
εἰμίI am, existτρεῖςthreeδεκατέσσαρεςfourteen
Article the
τὶςγινώσκωI come to know, ἸησοῦςJesus
ἐγώ
ὥστεso that, therefoκαθαρίζωI make cleanῥύομαιI rescue
εἰρήνηpeace, peace of mind
καίand, even, also,ἔλεοςpity, mercyμετά
ἀπόfrom647×
what comes after →
Article the
ΓαλιλαίαGalileeθεόςGod, a godἄνθρωποςa man, one of th
αὐτός
Article theκαίand, even, also,ὅτιthat, since, bec
σύ
καίand, even, also,συμφέρωI collect, am prκαλόςbeautiful, good,
θεόςGod, a god
πατήρfather, Father, ἐξέρχομαιI go out, come oἔρχομαιI come, go
ἀρχήruler, beginning
ἵναin order that, sκτίσιςcreation, creatuArticle 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

Concordanceἀπό · 647× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew Acts Mark John Revelation Romans Hebrews 1 John 2 Corinthians 1 Corinthians 1 Thessalonians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 12c. AD 40

ὅθεν οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ καὶ τὴν γένεσιν ἀνέγραψεν αὐτοῦ μάλα σεμνῶς θεολογήσας.

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

ὅτι τῶν ἐθνῶν ἕκαστον ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκισάντων προσηγορεύθη.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.3c. AD 100

ὅτι ἀληθῶς βλέπω ἐν ὑμῖν ἐκκεχυμένον ἀπὸ τοῦ πλουσίου τῆς πηγῆς κυρίου πνεῦμα ἐφ̓ ὑμᾶς.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 6th c. AD 4th c. AD 7th c. AD
P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

Σχώτου τῶν αὐτῶν ἱερέων ὡς ἐτῶν ν μέσος ἢ ἐλασσων μελίχρως μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν ὑπόσκνιφος, ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑπάρχοντος αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς παστοφορίου ὠκοδομημένου καὶ δεδοκωμένου καὶ τεθυρωμένου ἐν τῷ

P.Amh. 2 51Pathyris89 BC

ἔτους κϛ Μεσορὴι κη. ἀπέδοτο Πετεῆσις Πατῆτος Πελαίαι Εὐνόου τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν αὐτῶι ἐν τῶι ἀπὸ ἀπηλιώτου μέρει Παθύρεως οἰκίαν ᾠκοδομημένην καὶ δεδοκωμένην καὶ τεθυρωμένην ἧς αἱ γειτνίαι δεδήλωνται διὰ

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from [the] beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one].
ἀρχῆς.archē [the] beginning. G746 Noun · genitive · singular · feminine
56× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for beginning refers to the start or origin of something, used in John 1:1 to describe the beginning of creation. It can also refer to a chief or leader in a particular context, such as a magistrate or ruler.
Amplified meaning
existing before all time
Tyndale gloss
beginning
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἀρχή (*archē*) means 'beginning' or 'origin' and can refer to the first cause of all things, including God and Christ. It also encompasses meanings related to authority and rule, as seen in contexts discussing spiritual powers and magistracies. The New Testament uses it in various forms, such as 'in the beginning' and 'from the beginning,' indicating its foundational role in theological discussions.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἀρχή, -ῆς, ἡ,

[in LXX for קֶדֶם, רֹאשׁ, רֵאשִׁית, etc.;]

beginning, origin;

absol., of the beginning of all things: of God as the Eternal, the First Cause, Re 21:6 (cf. 1:8); similarly, of Christ, Re 22:13; of Christ as the uncreated principle, the active cause of creation, Re 3:14; in his relation to the Church, Col 1:18; ἐν ἀ., Jo 1:1, 2; ἀπ᾽ ἀ. (and ἀπ᾽ ἀ. κτισεως), Mt 19:4, 8 24:21, Mk 10:6 13:19, Jo 8:44, II Th 2:13, II Pe 3:4, I Jo…

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

ἀρχή, -7s, 7, (fr. Hom. down], in Sept. mostly equiv. to UND, MUN, monn; 1. beginning, origin; a. used absolutely, of the beginning of all things: ἐν ἀρχῇ, Jn. i. 1 sq. (Gen. i. 1); ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς. Mt. xix. 4 (with which ef. Xen. mem. 1, 4, 5 ὁ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ποιῶν ἀνθρώπους), 8; In. Vili. 44; 1 Jn. i. 1; ii. 13 sq.; iii. 8; more fully ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς κτίσεως or κύσμου. Mt. xxiv. 21 3 Mk. x. 6 3 xiii. 19; 2 Th. ii. 13 (where L[Trmrg. WH mrg.] ἀπαρχήν, 4- v-) ; 2 Pet. iii. 4; κατ᾽ apya , Heb. i. 10 (Ps. ci. (cii.) 20). b. ina relative sense, of the beginning of the thing spoken of: ἐξ ἀρχῆς, fr. the time when Jesus gathered disciples, Jn. vi. 64; xvi. 4; ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς. Jn. xv. 27 (since I appeared in public); as soon as instruction was imparted, 1 Jn. ii. [1], 24; iii. 11; 2 Jn. 5 sq.; more fully ἐν ἀρχῇ τοῦ edayyeXiov, Phil. iv. 15 (Clem. Rom. 1 Cor. 47, 2 [see note in Gebh. and Harn. ad loc. and cf.]…

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

ἀρχή (ii/B.c., Amorgos), opposed to τόκος. For the more general sense of ‘ancient,’ recurrent in Mt 524, etc., we may comcompare the horoscope P Oxy II. 2355 (A.D. 20-50) where a date is given kat[a δὲ τοὺς] ἀρχαίους χρόνους, z.c. “old style”: see also P Fay 139° (late ii/a.D.), Prersigke 1011 (ii/A.D.), 3462 (A.D. 154-5), and P Grenf II. 67° (A.D. 237) (= Selections, p. 108). The reference is to the old Egyptian system of reckoning 365 days to the year without a leapyear, which continued to be used in many non-official documents even after the introduction of the Augustan calendar. The neuter = ‘‘ original condition” may be seen in OG/S 672°. (a.p. 80) where a river is dredged, etc., καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἀπεκατεστάθη : similarly in 2 Cor 517, the ‘foriginal conditions” pass away before the fiat that καινὰ ποιεῖ πάντα (Rev 215). The standard of ‘‘antiquity” may be illustrated by Sy// 355"…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἀρχή (archē) — beginning.

ἀρχή, ἡ,

(see. ἄρχω) beginning, origin, νείκεος ἀ.[Refs 8th c.BC+]; opposed to τέλος, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; opposed to τελευτή, [Refs 6th c.BC+]; ἀρχὴν ὑποθέσθαι lay a foundation, [Refs 5th c.BC+] (and passive, ἀρχαὶ βέβληνται[Refs 5th c.BC+]; source of action, [ὁ ἄνθρωπος] ἔχει ἀρχὴν ἐλευθέραν[Refs 3rd c.AD+]

__b with Preps. in adverbial usages, ἐξ ἀρχῆς from the beginning, from the first, from of old, [Refs 8th c.BC+]anew, afresh, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὁ ἐξ ἀ. λόγος the original argument, [Refs]; τὰ ἐξ ἀ. the principal sum, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; κατ᾽ ἀρχάς in the beginning, at first, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀρχή

arche

from 756; (properly abstract) a commencement, or (concretely) chief

(in various applications of order, time, place, or rank):--beginning,

corner, (at the, the) first (estate), magistrate, power, principality,

principle, rule.

see GREEK for 756

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀρχή, ῆς, ἡ

n.f.

ruler, beginning

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀρχή archē 55x

a beginning, Mt. 24:8; an extremity, corner, or, an attached cord, Acts 10:11; 11:5; first place, headship; high estate, eminence, Jude 6; authority, Lk. 20:20; an authority, magistrate, Lk. 12:11; a principality, prince, of spiritual existence, Eph. 3:10; 6:12; ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς, ἐξ ἀρχῆς, from the first, originally, Mt. 19:4, 8; Lk. 1:2; Jn. 6:64; 2 Thess. 2:13; Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἀρχή ἄρχω a beginning, origin, first cause, Hom., etc.:—with Preps. ἐξ ἀρχῆς ῀ ἀρχῆθεν, from the beginning, from of old, Od., attic; ἐξ ἀρχῆς πάλιν anew, afresh, Ar.:—so, ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς Hdt., Trag.:— κατ᾽ ἀρχάς in the beginning, at first, Hdt.:—absol. in acc. ἀρχήν, to begin with, first, id. Hdt.; ἀρχὴν οὐ absolutely not, not at all, Lat. omnino non, id. Hdt., attic; with numerals, ἀρχὴν ἑπτά in all, Hdt.

the end, corner, of a bandage, rope, sheet, id. Hdt., Eur., NTest.

the first place or power, sovereignty, dominion, command, Hdt., attic; c. gen. rei, ἀρχὴ τῶν νεῶν, τῆς θαλάσσης Thuc., etc.

a sovereignty, empire, realm, Hdt., Thuc.

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

N-GSF Part of Speech: Noun Case: Genitive Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

be-gin'-ing (re'-shith; arche): The natural meaning of the word is with reference to time. The primitive Greek root means "to be long," "to draw out." Thus, it is used to refer to some point of time long drawn out, or long past (Ge 1:1). It is used also to express the inauguration of a particular event (Ex 12:2). The principal interest in the word centers in the use of it in Joh 1:1. It must be interpreted here by that which follows in the statement as to the relation of the Logos to the Eternal God and the use of the word "was." It is true that the word arche cannot be separated from the idea of time, but when time began He already was, and therefore He was from eternity.

See TIME; ETERNITY.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
74%beginning
beginning74% · 42×rulers11% · 6×corners4% · 2×rule4% · 2×other renderings9% · 5×

57 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
adverbial54%predicate18%object16%indirect object5%subject5%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 56 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
ἀπό
Article theἀκούωI hear, listenεἰμίI am, exist
Article the
καίand, even, also,αὐτόςἸησοῦςJesus
ἐν
εἰμίI am, existἐγώὅτιthat, since, bec
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
καταργέωI bring to naughὑπεράνωfar aboveκεφαλήthe head
ἐκ
γάρforσύ
ἀρχή[the] beginning.56×
what comes after →
Article the
εὐαγγέλιονthe good news, tσημεῖονa sign, miracle,ἸησοῦςJesus
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theἐξουσίαpower, authorityἐν
κτίσιςcreation, creature,
ἄρσηνmaleὅς
ἵναin order that, so th
ἀγαπάωI loveἐν
ὠδίνthe pain of childbir
οὗτος

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

Concordanceἀρχή · 56× in the New Testament
1 John John Hebrews Acts Colossians Matthew Mark Ephesians Luke Revelation 2 John 1 Corinthians
Across the New Testament18 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 111 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Ignatius of Antioch The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 2c. AD 40

Μωυσῆς δ’ ἑκάτερον ὑπερβάς, τὸ μὲν ὡς ἄσκεπτον καὶ ἀταλαίπωρον καὶ ἀφιλόσοφον, τὸ δ’ ὡς κατεψευσμένον καὶ μεστὸν γοητείας, παγκάλην καὶ σεμνοτάτην ἀρχὴν ἐποιήσατο τῶν νόμων, μήτ’ εὐθὺς ἃ χρὴ πράττειν ἢ τοὐναντίον ὑπειπὼν μήτ’, ἐπειδὴ προτυπῶσαι τὰς…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.6c. AD 75–95

ἤδη μὲν οὖν καὶ πρότερον διενοήθην, ὅτε τὸν πόλεμον συνέγραφον, δηλῶσαι τίνες ὄντες ἐξ ἀρχῆς Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ τίσι χρησάμενοι τύχαις ὑφʼ οἵῳ τε παιδευθέντες νομοθέτῃ τὰ πρὸς εὐσέβειαν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἄσκησιν ἀρετῆς πόσους τε πολέμους ἐν μακροῖς…

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 3rd c. AD 2nd c. AD 5th c. AD 7th c. AD
P. Gen. 1 7Arsinoites (?)AD 86

μὲν οὖν προσήκουσαι αὐτῷ τάξεις φυλαχθήτωσαν ὥσπερ οἱ πρὸ ἐμοῦ ἔστησαν κατὰ τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔθος. πρὸς δὲ τοὺς κακῶς ὑπεσχημένους ἀναλημφθήτωσαν αἱ δοθεῖσαι ὑπʼ αὐτῶν τιμαὶ ὡς ἔθος.

PapCongr. IV (Firenze 1935) p. 61-Ptolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites)AD 158–AD 159

Ἥρωνος Ἀματίου ἐξηγητεύσαντος υσας τῆς Ἀρσινοειτῶν πόλεως ἀργυρίδιον κατὰ διαφόρους χρόνους· ὥστε τῷ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀξιώματι πεποιθώς, πολὺ ἐπὶ τῶν τόπων δυνάμενος, συνεχῶς ὕβρεις καὶ ἀδικίας μοι ἐπάγει, καίτοι

P.Diog. 16Ptolemais Euergetis(?) (Arsinoites)AD 207

μοι ἐξ ὀνόματος Διοσκοροῦτος Ἱέρακος ἀστῆς τὸ ἴσον ἐπιστέλλεται ὑμῖν διὰ Ἁρπάλου ὑπηρέτου τῆς ἀρχῆς ἵνʼ εἰ μηδὲν ἁπλῶς ἐναντιοῦται συνχρηματίσητε αὐτῇ ἐπὶ τῇ ὑποκειμένῃ οἰκονομίᾳ, κυρίου αὐτῆς ἐπιγραφομένου

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from [the] beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one].
γράφωgraphō I am writing G1125 Verb · present · active · indicative · first person · singular
192× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This verb means to write or record something, like in John 8:6 where Jesus writes on the ground. It can also mean to describe or express something in writing, as seen in Luke 1:63 and Galatians 6:11.
Tyndale gloss
to write
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

γράφω (graphō) primarily means 'to write' and is derived from a sense of scratching or engraving. It encompasses various forms of writing, including inscribing letters, recording information, and expressing content in written form. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts such as recording scripture (e.g., Matthew 4:4) and writing letters (e.g., Acts 23:25). The lexicons do not show significant disagreement on its meanings.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

γράφω, [in LXX chiefly for כּתב ];

to scrape, graze (Hom.), and later (Hdt.) to sketch, draw.

to write;

of forming or tracing letters on writing material: Jo 8:[6], Ga 6:11, II Th 3:17;

to express in writing, commit to writing, record: Lk 1:63, Jo 19:21, 22 Re 1:11, 19 al.; of scripture as a standing authority (Deiss., BS, 112ff.), γέγραπται, it stands written (Luther), Mt 4:4, Mk 7:6, Lk 4:8, Ro 1:17, I Co…

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

γράφω ; [impf. ἔγραφον]; fut. γράψω; 1 aor. ἔγραψα; pf. γέγραφα; Pass., [pres. γράφομαι]; pf. γέγραμμαι ; [plpf. 3 pers. sing. ἐγέγραπτο, Rev. xvii. 8 Lchm.]; 2 aor. ἐγράφην ; (prop. to grave, scrape, scratch, engrave ; ef. Germ. graben, eingraben ; γράψεν δὲ οἱ ὀστέον ἄχρις αἰχμή, Hom. Il. 17, 599; σήματα γράψας ἐν πίνακι, ib. 6, 169; hence to draw letters), towrite; 1. with reference to the form of the letters; to delineate (or form) letters on a tablet, parchment, paper, or other material: τῷ 8aκτύλῳ ἔγραφεν eis τὴν γῆν made figures on the ground, Jn. viii. 6 Rec. ; οὕτω γράφω so am I accustomed to form my letters, 2 Thess. iii. 17; πηλίκοις γράμμασι ἔγραψα with how large (and so, ill-formed [?]) letters I have written, Gal. vi. 11; ef. Winer, Riickert, Hilgenfeld ad loe. [for the views of those who regard éyp. as covering the close of the Ep. only, see Bp. Lghtft. and Mey.; cf. W.…

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

γράφω. Deissmann (BS, pp. 112 ff. 249 f.) has shown the widespread juristic_use in the papyri of the ‘* biblical” γέγραπται with reference to the regulative and authoritative character

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

γράφω (graphō) — to write.

γράφω [ᾰ],

future -ψω[Refs 5th c.BC+]aorist ἔγραψα, Epic dialect γράψα [Refs 8th c.BC+]: perfect γέγραφα [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—middle, future γράψομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist ἐγραψάμην [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—passive, future γρᾰφήσομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+], etc.: aorist ἐγράφην [ᾰ], [Refs 5th c.BC+]: perfect γέγραμμαι (also in middle sense, see near the end), 3rd.pers. singular ἔγραπται [Refs 3rd c.AD+]; participle ἐγραμμένος or ἠγρ- [Refs 1st c.AD+]: 3rd.pers. plural γεγράφαται [Refs], Doric dialect γεγράβανται [Refs]: pluperfect ἐγέγραπτο [Refs 5th c.BC+]: 3rd.pers. plural ἐγεγράφατο [Refs 8th c.BC+] only in aorist active:—scratch, graze, αἰχμὴ γράψεν οἱ ὀστέον ἄχρις [Refs 8th c.BC+]; γράψας ἐν πίνακι πτυκτῷ θυμοφθόρα πολλά having marked or drawn signs thereon, [Refs]represent by lines, draw, paint, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; γῆς περιόδους γ. draw maps, [Refs 5th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

γράφω

grapho

a primary verb; to "grave", especially to write; figuratively, to

describe:--describe, write(-ing, -ten).

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

γράφω

v.

I write

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

γράφω graphō 191x

to engrave, write, according to the ancient method of writing on plates of metal, waxes tables, etc., Jn. 8:6, 8; to write on parchment, paper, etc., generally, Mt. 27:37, et al.; to write letters to another, Acts 23:25; 2 Cor. 2:9; 13:10, et al.; to describe in writing, Jn. 1:46; Rom. 10:5; to inscribe in a catalogue, etc., Lk. 10:20; Rev. 13:8; 17:8, et al.; to write a law, command, or enact in writing, Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

γράφω Orig. sense, to scratch, scrape, graze, αἰχμὴ γράψεν ὀστέον Il.; σήματα γράψας ἐν πίνακι having scratched marks as tokens on a tablet, id. Il.:—then, to represent by lines drawn, to delineate, draw, paint, Hdt., Aesch.; εἰκὼν γεγραμμένη Ar.: also in Mid., ζῷα γράφεσθαι ῀ ζωγραφεῖν, Hdt.

to express by written characters, to write, τι id. Hdt.; γο. τινά to write a person's name, Xen.; γ. ἐπιστολήν, etc., id. Xen.; γρ. τι εἰς διφθέρας Hdt.

to inscribe, like ἐπιγράφω, γρ. εἰς στήλην Eur., Dem.

to write down, γρ. τινὰ αἴτιον to set him down as the cause, Hdt.

to register, enrol, γρ. τινὰ τῶν ἱππευόντων among the cavalry, Xen.; Κρέοντος προστάτου γεγράψομαι, as a dependent of Creon…

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAI-1S — Verb · present · active · indicative · first person · singular
present active indicative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAI-1S Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: first Number: Singular

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

rit'-ing:

I. GENERAL

1. Definition

2. Inward Writing

3. Outward Writing

II. THE SYMBOLS

1. Object Writing

2. Image Writing

3. Picture Writing

4. Mnemonic Writing

5. Phonetic Writing

III. METHODS

IV. INSTRUMENTS

V. MATERIALS

1. Clay

2. Stone

3. Lead

4. Bronze

5. Gold and Silver

6. Wood

7. Bones and Skins

8. Vellum

9. Papyrus

10. Paper

11. Ink

VI. FORMS

1. The Roll

2. The Codex

VII. WRITING

1. Writers

2. The Writing Art

VIII. HISTORY OF BIBLICAL HANDWRITING

1. Mythological Origins

2. Earliest Use

3. Biblical History

LITERATURE

I. General.

1. Definition:

Writing is the art of recording thought, and recording is the making of permanent symbols. Concept, expression and record are three states of the same work or word. Earliest mankind expressed itself by gesture or voice and recorded in memory, but at a very early stage man began to feel the need of objective aids to memory and the need of transmitting a message to a distance or…

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Writing

The art of writing must have been known in the time of the early Pharaohs. Moses is commanded “to write for a memorial in a book” (Ex. 17:14) a record of the attack of Amalek. Frequent mention is afterwards made of writing (28:11, 21, 29, 36; 31:18; 32:15, 16; 34:1, 28; 39:6, 14, 30). The origin of this art is unknown, but there is reason to conclude that in the age of Moses it was well known. The inspired books of Moses are the most ancient extant writings, although there are written monuments as old as about B.C. 2000. The words expressive of “writing,” “book,” and “ink,” are common to all the branches or dialects of the Semitic language, and hence it has been concluded that this art must have been known to the earliest Semites before they separated into their various tribes, and nations, and families.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

There is no account in the Bible of the origin of writing. That the Egyptians in the time of Joseph were acquainted with writing of a certain kind there is evidence to prove, but there is nothing to show that up to this period the knowledge extended to the Hebrew family. At the same time there is no evidence against it. Writing is first distinctly mentioned in (Exodus 17:14) and the connection clearly implies that it was not then employed for the first time but was so familiar as to be used for historic records. It is not absolutely necessary to infer from this that the art of writing was an accomplishment possessed by every Hebrew citizen. If we examine the instances in which writing is mentioned in connection with individuals, we shall find that in all cases the writers were men of superior position. In (Isaiah 29:11,12) there is…

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

See BOOK.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
30%it has been written
it has been written30% · 61×written19% · 38×do write7% · 15×write6% · 13×it was written6% · 13×i have written5% · 10×i am writing5% · 10×wrote3% · 6×other renderings19% · 39×

205 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 31 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
verb98%object2%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 192 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
καθώςjust as, as
ἀλλάbut, exceptὑπάγωI go away, deparθέλωI will, wish, de
Article the
πᾶςall, the whole, εἰμίI am, existοὗτος
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakαἰτίαa cause, reason,ἐπί
σύ
ἔχωI have, hold, poσκληροκαρδίαhardness of hearκαθεξῆςin order, just a
εἰμίI am, exist
καθώςjust as, asοὐNegοὗwhere, whither,
γράφωI am writing192×
what comes after →
σύ
ἀλλάbut, exceptὅτιthat, since, becἵναin order that, s
Article the
ἐμόςὄνομαname, character,οἶκοςa house, househo
γάρfor
ὅτιthat, since, becκύριοςlord, Lord, mastπατάσσωI strike
ἐν
Article theβίβλοςa written book, νόμοςa law, the Mosai
ὅτιthat, since, because
οὗτοςArticle theοὐNeg

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

Concordanceγράφω · 192× in the New Testament
Revelation John Romans Luke 1 Corinthians 1 John Acts 2 Corinthians Matthew Mark Galatians 3 John

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

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 141c. AD 40

ἀποδεῖ γὰρ τὰ μιμήματα τῶν ἀρχετύπων, τὰ δ’ ἀπὸ τῶν μιμημάτων γραφόμενα καὶ πλαττόμενα πολὺ μᾶλλον, ἅτε μακρὰν ἀφεστῶτα τῆς ἀρχῆς·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.4c. AD 75–95

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

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 4.3c. AD 100

τὸ τέλειον σκάνδαλον ἤγγικεν, περὶ οὖ γέγραπται, ὡς Ἐνὼχ λέγει.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 6th c. AD 3rd c. BC 4th c. AD 3rd c. AD
P.Adl. 10Pathyris102 BC

εἰκάδος τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἔτους· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀποδῶι ἐν τῶι ὡρισμένωι χρόνωι ἀποτεισάτω καθὰ γέγραπται παραχρῆμα ἐπάναγκον· ἡ δὲ πρᾶξις ἔστω Ἀγαθίνωι καὶ Πατῆτι ἐκ τοῦ δεδανεισμένου Πανᾶτος καὶ

P.Adl. 15Pathyris (?)101 BC

καὶ παρείληφεν· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀποδῷ ἐν τῷ ὡρισμένῳ χρόνωι ἢ μὴ ποιῇ καθὰ γέγραπται ἀποτεισάτω ἐν τῷ ἐχομένωι μηνὶ παραχρῆμα ἡμιόλιον ἢ τὴν ἐσομένην ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾶι τιμήν,

P.Adl. 19Pathyris99 BC

ιϛ ἔτους· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀποδῶι ἐν τῶι ὡρισμένωι χρόνωι ἢ μὴ ποιήσηι καθὰ γέγραπται ἀποτεισάτω ἐν τῶι ἐχομένωι μηνὶ παραχρῆμα τὰ τοῦ σιδήρου μνᾶς δισχιλίας χμ καὶ ἐπίτιμον

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from [the] beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one].
ὑμῖν,su to you, G4771 Personal pronoun · second person · dative · plural
2,892× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 John as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This Greek word means 'you' and is used to address someone directly, like in John 1:30 and Matthew 26:64. It's a way to emphasize or contrast the person being spoken to. The KJV Bible translates it as 'thou'.
Tyndale gloss
you
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

σύ is the second-person singular pronoun meaning 'you' in Greek. It has various forms: genitive σοῦ, dative σοί, and accusative σέ. The word can be used for emphasis or contrast, particularly in the New Testament, as seen in verses like Matthew 26:64. It also appears in various dialects and has enclitic forms.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

σύ,

pron. of 2nd pers.,

thou, you, gen., σοῦ, dat., σοί, acc., σέ, pl., ὑμεῖς, -ῶν, -ῖν, -ᾶς (enclitic in oblique cases sing., except after prep. (BL, §48, 3), though πρὸς σέ occurs in Mt 25:39). Nom. for emphasis or contrast: Jo 1:30, 42 4:10 5:33, 39, 44, Ac 4:7, Eph 5:32; so also perhaps σὺ εἶπας, Mt 26:64, al. (M, Pr., 86); before voc., Mt 2:6, Lk 1:76, Jo 17:5, al.; sometimes without emphasis (M, Pr., 85f.), as also

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

σύ, pron. of the second pers. (Dor. and Aeol. τύ, Boeot. Tov), gen. σοῦ, dat. σοί, ace. σέ (which oblique cases are enclitic, unless a preposition precede; yet πρός σε is written [uniformly in Ree. (exe. Mt. xxvi. 18), in Grsb. (exe. Jn. xxi. 22, 23), in Treg. (exc. Mt. xxvi. 18; Acts xxiii. 30), in Lchm. (exe. Mt. xxvi.18; Jn. xvii. 11, 13; xxi. 22, 23; Acts xxiii. 30), in Tdf. (exe. Mt. xxvi. 18; Lk. i. 19; Jn. xvii. 11, 13; Jn. xxi. 22; Acts xxiii. 18, 30; 1 Tim. iii. 14; Tit. iii. 12); also by WH in Mt. xxv. 39], see ἐγώ, 2; Lipsius, Grammat. Untersuch. p. 62 sq. [W. §6, 3; B. 31 (27)]); plur. ὑμεῖς, εἴς. : Lat. tu, ete., vos, ete.; thou, ete., ye,ete. The nominatives ov and ὑμεῖς are expressed for emphasis — before a vocative, as σὺ Βηθλεέμ, Mt. ii. 6; σὺ παιδίον (Leian. dial. deor. 2, 1), Lk. i. 76; add, Jn. xvii. 5; Acts i. 24; 1 Tim. vi. 11, etc.; ὑμεῖς of Φαρισαῖοι, Lk. xi. 39…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

σύ (su) — you.

σύ [ῠ],

thou: pronoun of the second person:—Epic dialect nominative τύνη [ῡ] [Refs 8th c.BC+] (Laconian dialect τούνη [Refs 5th c.AD+]; Aeolic dialect σύ [Refs 7th c.BC+]; Doric dialect τύ [ῠ] [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Boeotian dialect τού [short syllable] [Refs 6th c.BC+] (also τούν [Refs]σύ, [Refs 8th c.BC+]—Gen. σοῦ, [Refs], elsewhere only Attic dialect, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; enclitic σου, [Refs 8th c.BC+] (also in Lyric poetry, [Refs 8th c.BC+] (which also occurs in Lyric poetry, [Refs 7th c.BC+], and as enclitic σευ, [Refs 8th c.BC+], σεο (enclitic) [Refs] σευ (enclitic) [Refs]:—Doric dialect τεῦ, τευ, [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; rarely τέο, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Boeotian dialect τεῦς [Refs 6th c.BC+]; Doric dialect τεοῦς [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τοι variant in [Refs]; enclitic τεος [Refs 5th c.BC+]; other Doric dialect forms are τίω, τίως, both [Refs 3rd c.BC+]—Dat. σοί, [Refs 8th c.BC+]…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

σύ

su

the person pronoun of the second person singular; thou:-- thou. See

also 4571, 4671, 4675; and for the plural 5209, 5210, 5213, 5216.

see GREEK for 4675

see GREEK for 4571

see GREEK for 4671

see GREEK for 5209

see GREEK for 5210

see GREEK for 5213

see GREEK for 5216

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

σύ, σοῦ, σοί, σέ

Pers.pr.

you

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

σύ sy 2x

you, gen., σοῦ, dat., σοί, acc., σέ, Mt. 1:20; 2:6

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Pron-2DP — Personal pronoun · second person · dative · plural
dative — to, for, with — the one it is done to or by.
Agrees with anything else marked plural.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

P-2DP Part of Speech: Personal pronoun Person: second Case: Dative Number: Plural

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
78%you
you78% · 2412×you yourselves7% · 221×you yourself5% · 168×your3% · 87×other renderings3% · 96×other renderings3% · 89×

3,073 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 37 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
subject28%object24%adverbial23%indirect object20%predicate5%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 2,892 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
ἀμήνHebrδέbut, on the otheἐγώ
καίand, even, also, nam
ἐγώοὕτωthus, so, in thiμήNeg
ἐν
Article theεἰμίI am, existγίνομαιI come into bein
πρός
ἔρχομαιI come, goἐγώπέμπωI send
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakπαρακαλέωI summon, entreaθέλωI will, wish, de
σύto you,2892×
what comes after →
Article the
θεόςGod, a godἐνἁμαρτίαa sin
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theεἰρήνηpeace, peace of οὐNeg
ὅτιthat, since, because
Article theπᾶςall, the whole, οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐν
ἐν
Article theποῖοςIrgΧριστόςanointed, the Me

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

Concordanceσύ · 2,892× in the New Testament
Matthew Luke John Acts Mark 2 Corinthians 1 Corinthians Romans 1 Thessalonians Revelation Hebrews Colossians

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

Across the New Testament27 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 450 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 Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.48c. AD 40

„οὐ φυτεύσεις σεαυτῷ ἄλσος, πᾶν ξύλον παρὰ τὸ θυσιαστήριον κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου οὐ ποιήσεις σεαυτῷ“ (Deuter.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.101c. AD 75–95

παύσομαι δὲ τοῦ λοιποῦ μετὰ τοσαύτης ὀργῆς τὰς τιμωρίας ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀδικήμασιν εἰσπραττόμενος καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον σοῦ παρακαλοῦντος.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.2c. AD 100

Μεγάλων μὲν ὄντων καὶ πλουσίων τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ δικαιωμάτων εἰς ὑμᾶς, ὑπέρ τι καὶ καθ̓ ὑπερβολὴν ὑπερευφραίνομαι ἐπὶ τοῖς μακαρίοις καὶ ἐνδόξοις ὑμῶν πνεύμασιν: οὕτως ἔμφυτον τῆς δωρεᾶς πνευματικῆς χάριν εἰλήφατε.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 6th c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. BC
P.Grenf. 1 35Ptolemais - Akko (Syrien)103 BC

τοῦ ἀποδοθῆι τὸν ἐπεσταλμένον ἡμῖν κατὰ μῆνα πυρὸν τοῖς παρʼ ἡμῶν. διʼ ἄλλων γεγράφαμεν ὑμῖν ὑπὲρ ὧν βουλόμεθα μηδεμιᾶς προσφωνήσεως προσπεπτωκυίας. ἑαυτῶν δὲ ἐπιμελόμενοι ἵνʼ ὑγιαίνητε, — ἔσμεν ἐν

P.Grenf. 1 32Pelusion103 BC

η Φατρήους καὶ … χαίρειν καὶ ἐρρωμένοις διευτυχεῖν. ἐρρώμεθα δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ ὑμῶν τὴν ἀρίστην μνείαν ποιούμενοι παρὰ τοῖς ἐν Πηλουσίωι θεοῖς. καλῶς ποιήσεις διαλύσας Ἁρκοννῆσιν καὶ

P.Grenf. 1 41Thebais3 BC

παρὰ Πετεύριος διεθέντος μου ὑπάρξει σοι εἰς στέφανον χαλκοῦ τάλαντα δεκάπεντε, τάλαντα ιε. εὐτύχει .

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from [the] beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one].
νεανίσκοι,neaniskos young men, G3495 Noun · vocative · plural · masculine
11× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means a young man or youth, used in Matthew 19:20 and Mark 14:51. It can also refer to an attendant or servant, as in Acts 5:10.
Amplified meaning
youths, servants
Tyndale gloss
young man
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word νεανίσκος (i.e., *neaniskos*) means 'young man' or 'youth,' derived from a diminutive form of νεανίας. It is used in the New Testament to refer to a young man in various contexts, including attendants and soldiers. The word appears in several verses, such as Matthew 19:20 and Mark 14:51, and is noted for its usage in the Septuagint.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

νεανίσκος, -ου, ὁ

(dimin. of νεανίας),

[in LXX chiefly for נַעַר, also for בָּחוּר, etc.;]

a young man, youth: Mt 19:20, 22, Mk 14:51 16:5, Lk 7:14, Ac 2:17(LXX) 23:18, 22, I Jo 2:13, 14; of an attendant (cf. Ge 14:24, al.): Ac 5:10.†

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

νεανίσκος, -ov, 6, (fr. vedv, see veavias; on the ending -ioxos, -ioxn, which has dimin. force, as ἀνθρωπίσκος, βασιλίσκος, παιδίσκη, etc., cf. Βείπι. Ausf. Spr. ii. p. 443), fr. Hdt. down; Sept. chiefly for 33 and 13; a young man, youth: Mt. xix. 20, 22; Mk. xiv. 51°; xvi. 5; Lk. vii. 14; Acts ii. 17; [and LT Tr WH in xxiii. 18 (here WH mrg. only), 22]; 1 Jn. ii. 13 sq.; like yy) (2 5. ii. 14; Gen. xiv. 24, ete.; ef. Germ. Bursche, Knappe i. q. Knabe, (ef. our colloquial “boys”, “lads 7) used of a young attendant or servant: so the plur. in Mk. xiv. 51 Rec.; Acts v. 10.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

νεανίσκος (neaniskos) — young man.

νεᾱνισκ-ος,

Ionic dialect νεην-, ὁ, (νεάν) youth, young man, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ν. τὸ εἶδος (nisi to be read νεανικός) [Refs 5th c.BC+]; but in [Refs 5th c.BC+] and the eldest son of Socrates is called νεανίσκος [Refs 5th c.BC+] in later Gr., Wilcken [NT+3rd c.BC+]

2. ὁ ἐμὸς ν. my young man, i.e. servant, [NT+3rd c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

νεανίσκος

neaniskos

from the same as 3494; a youth (under forty):--young man.

see GREEK for 3494

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

νεανίσκος, ου, ὁ

n.m.

a young man

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

νεανίσκος neaniskos 11x

a young man, youth, Mk. 14:51; 16:5; used of one in the prime of life, Mt. 19:20, 22; νεανίσκοι, soldiers, Mk. 14:51

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

νεανίσκος νέος a youth, Hdt., attic

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

N-VPM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Vocative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Nave's Topical Bible

→ General scriptures concerning Ex 24:3-5; 1Ki 12:6-15; 2Ch 10:8; Ps 119:9; 148:12,13; Pr 1:1-33; 2:1-22; 3:1-35; 4:1-27; 5:1-23; 6:1-35; 7:1-27; 10:1; 13:1; 15:5,20; 17:2,25; 19:13,26,27; 20:29; 23:15-35; 24:1-34; 27:11; 28:7; 29:3; 31:1-3; Jer 22:18-21; Mt 19:16-22; Mr 10:17-22; Lu 15:11-32; 18:18-23; 1Ti 4:12;

Across the New Testament5 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 47 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 The Shepherd of Hermas Philo of Alexandria
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 105c. AD 40

„Ἐν ἀνθρώπου φύσει ἑπτά εἰσιν ὧραι, ἃς ἡλικίας καλέουσι, παιδίον, παῖς, μειράκιον, νεανίσκος, ἀνήρ, πρεσβύτης, γέρων·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.112c. AD 75–95

ἠξίουν τε τὸν πατέρα μηδὲν φοβηθέντα πέμπειν σὺν αὐτοῖς τὸν νεανίσκον.

The Shepherd of HermasThe Shepherd of Hermas 3.4.1c. AD 140

Ἀποκριθεὶς λέγω αὐτῇ: Κυρία, μεγάλως καὶ θαυμαστῶς ἔχει τὸ πρᾶγμα τοῦτο: οἱ δὲ νεανίσκοι οἱ ἓξ οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, τίνες εἰσίν.

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

Δ καὶ ἐν … … αι περὶ τοῦ ὄψου ὡς οὐ μὴ κολασθῆι ὁ νεανίσκος· καὶ σπεῖρον τῆι β τοῦ Ἁθὺρ διὰ σοῦ καὶ ἐγὼ δʼ αὐτὸς καταβαίνω πρὸ

P.Mil.Vogl. 2 70Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 101–AD 200

καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἔχει ἐργαλεῖα· λαβὼν δὲ τὸν σῖτον παρʼ αὐτοῦ, παράλαβε ἐκεῖνον τὸν νεανίσκον, καὶ δὸς αὐτῷ ἀπὸ τοῦ σίτου ἀρτάβας δ … … … ην Μαροῦ εἰς

P.Oxy. 51 3643OxyrhynchosAD 101–AD 200

Ἐπικούρια, Θε … … … ς τὸ ὄνομα. διχόθεν … … … ν τὸν νεανίσκον, καὶ διʼ ἐκεῖνον καὶ διʼ αὐτὸν ἐπάξιον ὄντα τῆς παρʼ … μῖν

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from [the] beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one].
ὅτιhoti because G3754 Conjunction
1,293× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This Greek word means 'that' or 'because', used to introduce a reason or explanation. It appears in the New Testament, such as in Matthew 3:9 and Romans 8:38. It helps to show cause and effect in sentences.
Tyndale gloss
that/since: that
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ὅτι (hoti) is a conjunction primarily meaning 'that' or 'because.' It introduces objective clauses, often following verbs of perception or declaration, and can also serve as a causal particle. The New Testament frequently employs it in this way, such as in Matthew 5:4-12. There is some variation in how lexicons describe its usage, particularly regarding its pleonastic function in direct discourse.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὅτι,

conjc. (prop. neut. of ὅστις).

As conjc, introducing an objective clause, that;

after verbs of seeing, knowing, thinking, saying, feeling: Mt 3:9 6:32 11:25, Mk 3:28, Lk 2:49, Jo 2:22, Ac 4:13, Ro 1:13 8:38 10:9, Phl 4:15, Ja 2:24, al.; elliptically, Jo 6:46, Phl 3:12, al.

After εἶναι (γίνεσθαι): defining a demonstr. or pers. pron., Jo 3:19 16:19, Ro 9:6, I Jo 3:16 al.; c. pron. interrog., Mt 8:27, Mk 4:41,

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

ὅτι [properly neut. of ὅστις], a conjunction [fr. Hom. down], (Lat. quod [ef. W. § 53,8 b.; B. § 139, 51; § 149, 87), marking I. the substance or contents (of a statement), that; 1. joined to verbs of saying and declaring (where the ace. and infin. is used in Lat.) : ἀναγγέλλειν, Acts xiv. 27; διηγεῖσθαι, Acts ix. 273; εἰπεῖν, Mt. xvi. 20; xxviii. 7,13; Jn. vii. 42; xvi. 15; 1Co.i.15; λέγειν, Mt. iii. 9; vill. 11; Mk. iii. 28; Lk. xv.7; Jn. xvi. 20; Ro. iv. 9 [T Tr WH om. L br. ὅτι}; ix. 2, and very often; προεἰρηκέναι, 2 Co. vii. 3; before the ὅτι in Acts xiv. 22 supply λέγοντες, contained in the preceding παρακαλοῦντες [ef. B. §151, 11]; ὅτι after γράφειν, 1 Co. ix.10; 1 Jn. 11. 12-14; μαρτυρεῖν, Mt. xxiii. 31; Jn. i. 34; iii. 28; iv. 44; ὁμολογεῖν, Heb. xi. 13; δεικνύειν, Mt. xvi. 21; δηλοῦν, 1 Co. i. 11; διδάσκειν, 1 Co. xi. 14. after ἐμφανίζειν. Heb. xi. 14; δῆλον (ἐστίν), 1 Co.…

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

οτι. (1) For ὅτι, ‘‘that,” introducing an objective clause after verbs of knowing, saying, etc., cf. P Tebt II. 4098 (A.D. 5) εἰδὼ[ς ὅ]τι ἐξίι)ουσίαν αὐτῶν ἔχει kal Λυσίμαχος kal σύ, ΚΕ knew that both you and Lysimachus had plenty of them” (Edd.), P Fay 109° (early i/A.D.) νομίσας ὅτι (cf. Mt 517) κιχρᾷς por αὐτούς, ““ consider that you are lending them (sc. staters) to me’’ (Edd.), BGU III. 8464* (ii/a.p.) (= Selections, p. 93) γεινώσκειν σαι θέλω, ὅτι οὐχ [HA] Lov, ὅτι ἀναβένις (1. ἀναβαίνεις) els τὴν μητρόπολιν, “1 wish you to know that I had no hope that you were coming up to the metropolis,” 74.9 αἴγραψά σοι, ὅτι γυμνός εἰμει, “1 wrote you that I am naked,” and P Tebt II. 420+ (iii/A.D.) οἴδατε ὅτι ἀπὸ ζημίας ἠμί, ‘‘ You know that I am blameless.” Ὅτι, however, is frequently omitted, e.g. BGU IIL. 8153(ii/a.p.) γεινόσκιν σε θέλω [τὴ]ν ἐπιστολήν σου ἔλαβε (corrected by another hand…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὅτι (hoti) — that/since: that.

ὅτῐ,

Epic dialect ὅττῐ (both in [Refs 8th c.BC+]: conjunction, to introduce an objective clause, that, after Verbs of seeing or knowing, thinking or saying; in [Refs 8th c.BC+] —Usage:

I. when ὅτι introduces a statement of fact:

I. a in [Refs 8th c.BC+] always with indicative, the tense following the same rules as in English, ἤγγειλ᾽ ὅττι ῥά οἱ πόσις ἔκτοθι μίμνε πυλάων [Refs 8th c.BC+]

I. b in Attic dialect, ὅτι takes indicative after primary tenses, indicative or optative after secondary tenses, e.g. ἐνδείκνυμαι ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι σοφός [Refs 5th c.BC+] news came that Megara had (literal has) revolted, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: sometimes optative and indicative are found in the same sentence, ἔλεγον, ὅτι Κῦρος μὲν τέθνηκεν, Ἀριαῖος δὲ πεφευγὼς.. εἴη [Refs 5th c.BC+].. and the accusative with infinitive…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὅτι

hoti

neuter of 3748 as conjunction; demonstrative, that (sometimes

redundant); causative, because:--as concerning that, as though,

because (that), for (that), how (that), (in) that, though, why.

see GREEK for 3748

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὅτι

Cj.

that, since, because

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὅτι hoti 1x

originally was the neuter of ὅστις, that, Mt. 2:16, 22, 23; 6:5, 16; often used pleonastically in reciting another’s words, Mt. 9:18; Lk. 19:42; Acts 5:23; as a causal particle, for that, for, because, Mt. 2:18; 5:3, 4, 5; 13:13; because, seeing that, since, Lk. 23:40; Acts 1:17

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

be-kos' (hina, "in order that"): "The multitude rebuked them, because (AV; the Revised Version (British and American) "that") they should hold their peace" (Mt 20:31).

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
64%that
that64% · 856×because19% · 252×for16% · 209×other renderings1% · 12×

1,329 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 8 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial16%object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,293 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
λέγωI say, speakγάρforδέbut, on the othe
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςσύδέbut, on the othe
οἶδαI know, remember
οὐNegκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakμαθητήςa learner, disciπερί
γινώσκωI come to know, lear
οὗτοςκαίand, even, also,αὐτός
ὅτιbecause1293×
what comes after →
Article the
θεόςGod, a godκύριοςlord, Lord, mastπατήρfather, Father,
οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, existοἶδαI know, rememberδύναμαιI am powerful, a
ἐγώ
εἰμίI am, existοὐNegArticle the
οὗτος
εἰμίI am, existArticle theποιέωI do, make
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
Article theῥῆμαa thing spokenζητέωI 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

Concordanceὅτι · 1,293× in the New Testament
John Luke Matthew Acts Mark 1 John Revelation 1 Corinthians Romans 2 Corinthians Galatians Philippians

2 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
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
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.argc. AD 75–95

ὅτι τῶν ἐθνῶν ἕκαστον ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκισάντων προσηγορεύθη.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.3c. AD 100

ὅτι ἀληθῶς βλέπω ἐν ὑμῖν ἐκκεχυμένον ἀπὸ τοῦ πλουσίου τῆς πηγῆς κυρίου πνεῦμα ἐφ̓ ὑμᾶς.

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 6th c. AD
C.Erbstreit14Diospolis Magna (Theben)187 BC

καὶ τὴν εἰκοστὴν τοῦ ἐγκυκλίου καὶ τὰ ἄλλα τὰ καθήκοντα. … ται Προῖτος, καθʼ ὅτι πρόκειται … ἑξήκοντα ἓξ τετρωβόλου καὶ τῆς … … τοπογραμματέως τοῦ Παθυρίτου … ἀρουρῶν

P.Grenf. 1 10 p. 24Hermonthis149 BC

ι τοῖς ἐνκαλουμένοις τὸ ἀντίγραφον τῆς ἐντεύξεως λαβεῖν παρ … τ … … πίστιν ὅτι ἀπαντησα … ἐπὶ τὸ ἐν τῆι αὐλῆι κριτήριον ἐν ἡμέραις λ οὐκ ο

P.Bour. 10Pathyris89 BC

δʼ ἐπιχειροῦντας μὴ ὑπακούειν σου … υτέραι στάσει ἐχομένους ἀσφαλισάμενος μέχρι τοῦ καὶ ἡμᾶς ὅτι τάχος ἐπιβαλεῖν πρὸς σέ. ἔρρωσοἔρρωσο ἔτους κϛ Φαμενὼθ ιϛ

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from [the] beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one].
νενικήκατεnikaō you have overcome G3528 Verb · perfect · active · indicative · second person · plural
28× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To conquer in the Bible means to subdue or overcome, as seen in Revelation 2:7 and 1 John 5:4, where believers are called to overcome the world through faith. It involves trusting in God's power to overcome challenges.
Amplified meaning
conquered, subdued
Tyndale gloss
to conquer
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

νικάω is built from the root νίκη, meaning 'victory.' It covers a range of meanings including to conquer, overcome, and prevail in various contexts, such as battles, games, and legal cases. The New Testament uses it frequently, particularly in Revelation and Romans. Notably, it appears in verses like Revelation 3:21 and John 16:33.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

νικάω, -ῶ

(< νίκη),

[in LXX: Ps 50 (51):4 (זכה), Pr 6:25 freq. (חמד); freq. in IV Mac;]

to conquer, prevail: absol., of Christ, Re 3:21 6:2; c. inf., Re 5:5; of Christians, Re 2:7, 11, 17, 26 3:5, 12, 21 21:7; seq. ἐκ (RV, come victorious from), Re 15:2; as law-term (cl.), Ro 3:4(LXX); c. acc. pers., Lk 11:22, Re 11:7 13:7 ([WH], R, mg., om.); of Christ, Jo 16:33 (τ. κόσμον), Re 17:14; of Christians, I Jo 4:4; τ. πονηρόν, I Jo 2:13, 14; αὐτόν (ref. to ὁ κατήγωρ, ib. 2:10),

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

νικάω is found in a legal sense of winning one’s case, as in Rom 34, in P Hal I. 158 (mid. iii/B.c.) ἐὰν δέ τιν (1 τις) ++ + γρ[αψ]άμενος δίκην ψευδομαρ[τ]υρίου νικήσηι KTA., and in relation to games in PSI IV. 364 (B.c. 251-0) γίνωσκε Διονύσιον τὸν ἀδελφὸν νενικηκότα τὸν ἐν ‘Tepar νήσωι ἀγῶνα τῶν ΠΙτολεμαιείων, and P Oxy XIV. 17594 (letter to an athlete—ii/A.D.) mpd [τ]ῶν ὅλων εὔχομαί ce ὑγιαίνειν [κ]αὶ νικᾶν πάντοτε. It is very common as an epithet of the Emperors, e.g. P Amh II. 1401} (a.p. 349) τῶ]ν πάντα νικώντων] δεσποτῶν ἡμῶν ᾿Αγούστων, ‘of our all-victorious masters the Augusti” (Edd.). A good parallel to Rom 12! is afforded by Zest. xtz. patr. Benj. iv. 3 οὗτος TO ἀγαθὸν ποιῶν νικᾷ TO…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

νικάω (nikaō) — to conquer.

νῑκάω,

Ionic dialect νικέω [NT+4th c.BC+]; Aeolic dialect νίκημι [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; also in imperfect νίκη conjecture in [Refs 5th c.BC+]: Epic dialect imperfect 1st pers. plural νικάσκομεν [Refs 8th c.BC+]future -ήσω, later -ήσομαι[Refs 4th c.AD+]; Doric dialect 2nd pers. singular νικαξῇ variant in [Refs 3rd c.BC+]perfect νενίκηκα, etc.: (νίκη):

I. absolutely, conquer, prevail in battle, in the games, or in any contest, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ὁ νικήσας the conqueror,[Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὁ νικηθείς the conquered, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἐνίκησα καὶ δεύτερος καὶ τέταρτος ἐγενόμην I won the first prize [at Olympia], etc., [Refs 5th c.BC+]: present frequently in sense, to be (or be proclaimed) conqueror, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; νικᾶν πᾶσι τοῖς κριταῖς or ἑνὶ κριτῇ in their opinion, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; πολὺ ν.…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

νικάω

nikao

from 3529; to subdue (literally or figuratively):--conquer, overcome,

prevail, get the victory.

see GREEK for 3529

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

νικάω

v.

I conquer, overcome

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

νικάω nikaō 28x

to conquer, overcome, vanquish, subdue, Lk. 1:22; Jn. 16:33; absol. to overcome, prevail, Rev. 5:5; to come off superior in a judicial cause, Rom. 3:4

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

νικάω νίκη absol. to conquer, prevail, vanquish, Hom., etc.; ὁ νικήσας the conqueror, ὁ νικηθείς the conquered, Il.; ἐνίκησα καὶ δεύτερος καὶ τέταρτος ἐγενόμην I won the first prize, Thuc.; νικᾶν ἐπὶ πᾶσι κριταῖς in the opinion of all the judges, Ar.; c. acc. cogn., πάντα ἐνίκα he won all the bouts, Il.; παγκράτιον Thuc.; ν. Ὀλύμπια to be conqueror in the Ol. games, id. Thuc., etc.

of opinions, to prevail, carry the day, Hom., etc.; ἐκ τῆς νικώσης [γνώμης] according to the prevailing opinion, vote of the majority, Xen.:—impers., ἐνίκα (sc. ἡ γνώμη) it was resolved, Lat. visum est, c. inf., ἐνίκα μὴ ἐκλιπεῖν τὴν πόλιν it was carried not to leave the city, Hdt.; ἐνίκησε λοιμὸν εἰρῆσθαι it was the general opinion that λοιμός was the word…

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-RAI-2P — Verb · perfect · active · indicative · second person · plural
perfect active indicative — a past action whose result still stands.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-RAI-2P Part of Speech: Verb Tense: peRfect Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: second Number: Plural

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
36%overcoming
overcoming36% · 10×you have overcome7% · 2×have overcome7% · 2×overcame7% · 2×will prevail4% · 1×do be overcome4% · 1×do overcome4% · 1×overcomes4% · 1×other renderings29% · 8×

28 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 16 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%adverbial4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 28 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
ἐκκλησίαan assembly, conκαίand, even, also,νίκηvictory
καίand, even, also, nam
σύμένωI remain, abideτεκνίονa little child
ἐπέρχομαιI approach, overtake
αὐτός
ἐγώ
θαρσέωbe of good cheer
μήNeg
νικάωyou have overcome28×
what comes after →
Article the
κόσμοςthe world, univeπονηρόςevil, bad, wickeλέωνa lion
αὐτός
ὅτιthat, since, becκαίand, even, also,Article the
δίδωμιI offer, give
αὐτός
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theκαθίζωI set, make to sἵναin order that, s
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

Concordanceνικάω · 28× in the New Testament
Revelation 1 John Romans John Luke
Across the New Testament5 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
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.87c. AD 40

ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ δικαστὴς οὔτε νικῆσαί τινας προῄρηται οὔτε πολεμῆσαί τισι καὶ ἐναντιωθῆναι, γνώμην δὲ ἀποφηνάμενος βραβεύει τὸ δίκαιον, οὕτως ἡ δικαιοσύνη οὐδενὸς οὖσα ἀντίδικος ἀπονέμει τὸ κατ’ ἀξίαν ἑκάστῳ πράγματι.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 4.129c. AD 75–95

τῶν θυγατέρων τὰς μάλιστα εὐπρεπεῖς καὶ βιάσασθαι καὶ νικῆσαι τὴν τῶν ὁρώντων σωφροσύνην ἱκανὰς διὰ τὸ κάλλος ἀσκήσαντες τὴν εὐμορφίαν αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὸ μᾶλλον εὐπρεπὲς πέμψατε πλησίον ἐσομένας τοῦ ἐκείνων στρατοπέδου, καὶ δεομένοις συνεῖναι τοῖς…

The Shepherd of HermasThe Shepherd of Hermas 25.3.6c. AD 140

Ὅσοι, φησίν, ἀντεπάλαισαν τῷ διαβόλῳ καὶ ἐνίκησαν αὐτόν, ἐστεφανωμένοι εἰσίν: οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ ὑπὲρ τοῦ νόμου παθόντες:

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. BC 1st c. AD 3rd c. AD undated 2nd c. AD
P.Mich. Zen. 53Philadelphia (Arsinoites)250 BC

τῶν ρ δ κριθῆς … ιι Ἁρεν … … σιτομέτρου κριθῆς ρ, Χοίαχ ι Νικα … τούτου Γλαυκίαι … … η 𐅵, Μάρωνι … … , κοσκινευταῖς ι, βράσταις

P.Edg. $1Arsinoites247 BC

οἷς μαρτυρῶ, εἰς τὸ κουρεῖον τοῦτο ἠξίουν Νίκωνα ἀποδοῦναι αὐτοῖς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῶν Θεοδόσιον. Νίκων δὲ ὁ κρινόμενος πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον οὐκ ἔφατο εἰληφέναι τὸ παιδάριον παρʼ αὐτῶν οὐδὲ ἔχειν

P.Col. 4 83Philadelphia (Arsinoites)246 BC–245 BC

Ἀρτεμιδώρου τοῦ παρʼ Ἀπολλωνίου τοῦ διοικητοῦ καὶ ἀνοίξαντος καπηλεῖον ἐν Ἑρμοῦ πόλει τῆι ἄνω, Νίκων ἔγραψεν ἐπιστολὴν εἰς Φιλαδέλφειαν πρὸς Μενέστρατόν τινα ἡμέτερον οἰκέτην ἐν ἧι καὶ γράφει ὅρκον

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from [the] beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one].
τὸνho the G3588 Article · accusative · singular · masculine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 John 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-ASM — Article · accusative · singular · masculine
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-ASM Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

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

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

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

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

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

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

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from [the] beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one].
πονηρόν.¶ponēros evil [one]. G4190 Adjective · accusative · singular · masculine
78× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for evil or bad, describing something that causes harm or is morally wrong, used in the New Testament to describe people and things, like in Matthew 7:11 and Ephesians 5:16.
Amplified meaning
the wicked, bad
Tyndale gloss
evil/bad
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

πονηρός (poneros) means bad or evil, often in a moral sense, and is derived from the verb πονέω meaning to toil. It describes things that are toilsome or painful and can refer to people, actions, or even spirits, particularly in the context of wickedness or malice. The New Testament frequently uses it to describe the devil or evil individuals, as seen in verses like Matthew 5:37 and 13:19.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — κακός, πονηρός from a scan

Taat which is morally evil may be contemplated on various sides and from various points of view; the several epithets which it will thus obtain bringing out the several aspects under which it will have presented itself to us. Kaxos and πονηρός occur together, Rev. xvi. 2; as «axia and πονηρία at I Cor. v. 8; the διαλογισμοὶ κακοί of St. Mark vii. 21 are διαλογισμοὶ πονηροί in the parallel passage of St. Matthew (xv. 19). The distinction between these will best be considered when we come to deal with πονηρός. Kaxos, the constant antithesis to ἀγαθός (Deut. eens 06¢) Ps; xxiii; 15; Rom. xii. 21; 2 Cor. v. 10; of. Plato, Rep. x. 608 e), and though not quite so frequently to καλός (Gen. xxiv. 50; xliv. 4; Heb. v. 14; Plutarch, Reg. et Imp. Apoph. Epam. 20), affirms of that which it 316 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. § τχχχιν. characterizes that qualities and conditions are wanting there…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

πονηρός, -ά, -όν

(< πονέω, to toil),

[in LXX chiefly for רַע;]

of persons, oppressed by toils (Hes.);

of things, toilsome, painful (καιρός, Si 51:12): Eph 5:16 6:13, Re 16:2.

bad, worthless;

in physical sense: καρπός, Mt 7:17, 18;

in ethical sense, bad, evil, wicked;

of persons: Mt 7:11 12:34, 35 18:32 25:26, Lk 6:45 11:13 19:22, Ac 17:5, II Th 3:2, II Ti 3:13; γενεά, Mt 12:39, 45 16:4…

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

πονηρός (on the accent ef. Lob. ad Phryn. p. 389; Gottling, Lehre v. Accent, p. 304 sq.; [Chandler §§ 404, 405]; Lipsius, Grammat. Untersuch. p. 26), -d, τόν ; compar. πονηρότερος (Mt. xii. 45; Lk. xi. 26); (πονέω, πόνος) ; fr. Hes., [Hom. (ep. 15, 20), Theog.] down; Sept. often for 1; 1. full of labors, annoyances, hardships ; a. pressed and harassed by labors ; thus Hercules is called πονηρότατος καὶ ἄριστος, Hes. frag. 43, 5. b. bringing toils, annoyances, perils: (καιρός, Sir. li. 12); ἡμέρα πονηρά, of a time full of peril to Christian faith and steadfastness, Eph. v. 16; vi. 13, (so in the plur. ἡμέραι πον. Barn. ep. 2, 1); causing pain and trouble [A. V. grievous], ἕλκος, Rev. xvi. 2. 2. bad, of a bad nature or condition ; a. in a physical sense: ὀφθαλμός, diseased or blind, Mt. vi. 23; Lk. xi. 34, (πονηρία ὀφθαλμῶν, Plat. Hipp. min. p. 3874 ἃ. ; the Greeks use πονηρῶς ἔχειν or…

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

πονηρός. This adj. denoting the active exercise of evil is seen in BGU 11. 372%) (a.p. 154) πονηρ[ὃν K]g[l] λῃσίτ]ρικὸν β[(ον, PSI V. 4521 (iv/A.D.) πονηρὰ βουλευσαμέν[ ου]ς, and Syil 809 (= *1175)'® (iv/iii B.C.) ῥῆμα μοχθηρὸν ἢ πονηρὸν φθένγεσθαι. With the Lat. sepulchral formula ad hoc monumento dolus malus abesto, cf. BGU I. 3261-3 (a.nd. 194) ταύτῃ TH διαθήκῃ δόλος πονηρὸς ἀπέστηί( --ω)Ἱ. In the deed of divorce P Grenf II. 76° (A.D. 305-306) a couple are stated to have renounced their married life ἐκ τινὸς πονηροῦ δαίμονος, ‘‘owing to some evil deity,” and similarly P Lips I. 345 (ες A.D. 375). The word is joined with ἀσεβεῖς in Jos. Anét. xii. 252, xiii. 34. For the original meaning of πονηρός, ‘ toilworn,” ‘“laborious ’’ we may cite the description of Heracles, the type of the strenuous life—ovypdtatos καὶ ἄριστος (Hes. Fr. 43.…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

πονηρός (ponēros) — evil/bad.

πονηρός, ά, όν,

in physical sense, oppressed by toils, πονηρότατος καὶ ἄριστος, of Heracles, [Refs 8th c.BC+]

2. of things, toilsome, painful, grievous, ἔργα [Refs 8th c.BC+]

II. in bad case, in sorry plight, useless, good-for-nothing, σύμμαχοι[Refs 5th c.BC+]; κύων, ἱππάριον, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; δίαιτα, τροφή, σιτία, injurious, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; π. σῶμα, opposed to χρηστόν, [Refs]; π. σκώμματα sorry jests, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; π. πράγματα a bad state of things, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; π. ἀρχὴ τῆς παιδείας a bad beginning, [Refs 5th c.BC+] adverb, -ρῶς ἔχειν to be in bad case, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; π. διακεῖσθαι, διατεθῆναι, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

πονηρός

poneros

from a derivative of 4192; hurtful, i.e. evil (properly, in effect or

influence, and thus differing from 2556, which refers rather to

essential character, as well as from 4550, which indicates degeneracy

from original virtue); figuratively, calamitous; also (passively) ill,

i.e. diseased; but especially (morally) culpable, i.e. derelict,

vicious, facinorous; neuter (singular) mischief, malice, or (plural)

guilt; masculine (singular) the devil, or (plural) sinners:--bad,

evil, grievous, harm, lewd, malicious, wicked(-ness). See also 4191.

see GREEK for 4192

see GREEK for 2556

see GREEK for 4550

see GREEK for 4191

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

πονηρός, ά, όν

Adj

evil, bad, wicked

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

πονηρός ponēros 78x

bad, unsound, Mt. 6:23; 7:17, 18; evil, afflictive, Eph. 5:16; 6:13; Rev. 16:2; evil, wrongful, malignant, malevolent, Mt. 5:11, 39; Acts 28:21; evil, wicked, impious, and τὸ πονηρόν, evil, wrong, wickedness, Mt. 5:37, 45; 9:4; slothful, inactive, Mt. 25:26; Lk. 19:22; ὁ πονηρός, the evil one, the devil, Mt. 13:19, 38; Jn.…

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Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

πονηρός πονηρός, ή, όν πονέω toilsome, painful, grievous, Theogn., Ar.

in bad case, in sorry plight, useless, good-for-nothing, Ar., Plat., etc.:—adv., πονηρῶς ἔχειν to be in bad case, Thuc.

in moral sense, bad, worthless, knavish, Lat. pravus, improbus, Aesch., Eur.; πονηρὸς κἀκ πονηρῶν rogue and son of rogues, Ar.; πόνῳ πονηρός laboriously wicked, id. Ar.:— ὁ π. the evil one, NTest.

base, cowardly, Soph.; π. χρώματα the coward's hue, Xen.

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

A-ASM Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

(ho poneros):

Nearly all peoples who have expressed their religious thought and feeling believe in a spirit that presides over the destinies of men for their good. They believe that there is also a spirit, a person, whose work it is to lead men into temptation: a spirit of light and a spirit of darkness. Feelings and preferences may have much to do with the conclusions. In Mt 5:37,39,45; 6:13, the King James Version gives "evil," the Revised Version (British and American) "the evil one," margin, "evil," the personal form referring to the enemy of the race known by various terms: Satan, "the adversary" or "the accuser," occurs 50 times; Beelzebub is found 7 times; devil, 35 times; it means "accuser," "calumniator."

See SATAN.

David Roberts Duncan

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
78%evil
evil78% · 62×wicked4% · 3×evil one3% · 2×bad3% · 2×more evil3% · 2×evils3% · 2×other renderings8% · 6×

79 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
object28%adverbial26%predicate22%subject19%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 78 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
ἐκπνεῦμαwind, breath, spκαίand, even, also,
σύ
ὀφθαλμόςthe eyeοὖνtherefore, thenκρίνωI judge, decide,
πνεῦμαwind, breath, spirit
ἕτεροςanother, differeκαίand, even, also,ἀπό
αὐτός
ἔργονwork, labor, actλέγωI say, speakγάρfor
γενεάa generation
αὐτόςοὗτος
πονηρόςevil [one].78×
what comes after →
εἰμίI am, exist
καίand, even, also,ὅλοςall, the whole, οἶδαI know, remember
καίand, even, also, nam
μοιχαλίςan adulteressἀγαθόςgoodἁρπάζωI seize, snatch,
ἐκ
μέσοςmiddle, in the mArticle theγάρfor
Article the
ἩρῴδηςHerodἔργονwork, labor, actὄνομαname, character,
κατά
σύArticle 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

Concordanceπονηρός · 78× in the New Testament
Matthew Luke Acts 1 John Ephesians John 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy Hebrews James Mark 1 Corinthians
Across the New Testament20 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 172 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 The Shepherd of Hermas Philo of Alexandria The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 154c. AD 40

ἀλλ’ ὡς ἔοικεν αἰνίττεται διὰ μὲν τοῦ παραδείσου τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἡγεμονικόν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ κατάπλεων οἷα φυτῶν μυρίων ὅσων δοξῶν, διὰ δὲ τοῦ δένδρου τῆς ζωῆς τὴν μεγίστην τῶν ἀρετῶν θεοσέβειαν, δι’ ἧς ἀθανατίζεται ἡ ψυχή, διὰ δὲ τοῦ καλῶν καὶ πονηρῶν…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.22c. AD 75–95

οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλοι νομοθέται τοῖς μύθοις ἐξακολουθήσαντες τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἁμαρτημάτων εἰς τοὺς θεοὺς τῷ λόγῳ τὴν αἰσχύνην μετέθεσαν καὶ πολλὴν ὑποτίμησιν τοῖς πονηροῖς ἔδωκαν·

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.1c. AD 100

Ἡμερῶν οὖν οὐσῶν πονηρῶν καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἐνεργοῦντος ἔχοντος τὴν ἐξουσίαν, ὀφείλομεν ἑαυτοῖς προσέχοντες ἐκζητεῖν τὰ δικαιώματα κυρίου,

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 2nd c. AD 4th c. AD 2nd c. BC 3rd c. BC
P.Lond. 2 p. 163-165 no. 354Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites8 BC–5 BC

ἡμῶν περὶ τὴν τῶν ἐδαφῶν γεωργίαν μηδὲν τοῖς δημοσίοις ἔλαττον ἐπακολουθήσῃ, διαλάβη δὲ … πονηρὸν περιπεσόντων αὐτῶν τῇ κατὰ τοὺς νόμους κολάσει, ἵνʼ ὦμεν εὐεργετημένοι. διευτύχει.

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

κλαίοντα πλείστοις δάκρυσιν. τί οὖν ἐστιν; ἐγὼ πεπεισμένος μου τῇ διανοίᾳ μηθὲν κακῷ ἢ πονηρῷ συνειδώς, δοκῶ μηδὲν παθεῖν· ὃ ἐὰν οὖν ἐφίδω πῶς μου τὰ πραγμάτια χωρεῖ πάλιν

JJP 18 (1974), p. 181 no. 3Bakchias (Arsinoites)AD 137

πρὸ σοῦ καὶ ὑπέσχε διατυπώσασθαι π … … α … α καὶ ὅτι πονηροῦ … … … … η … δοκεῖ δέ μοι παραμ … … … ολης

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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