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2 Corinthians 11:13 — Word Study

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N1904οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι ψευδαπόστολοι, ἐργάται δόλιοι, μετασχηματιζόμενοι εἰς ἀποστόλους Χριστοῦ·

BSA<the>ho Forgar such [are]toioutos [of this kind, with these characteristics] false apostles,pseudapostolos [pretending to be messengers of God] workersergatēs deceitful,dolios [dishonest, tricky] disguising themselvesmetaschēmatizō [transforming themselves, disguising their true nature] aseis apostlesapostolos [messengers, representatives] of Christ;Christos [the Anointed One, the Messiah]

Word
Listen & take away2 Corinthians 11
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 (Christos) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
2 Corinthians 11:13quick helps
In a sentencePaul warns that there are individuals who falsely claim to be apostles.
Who is speakingThe Apostle Paul, addressing the Corinthian church.
Where we areIn a section where Paul defends his ministry against false teachers.
The hard wordψευδαπόστολοι
Take awayNot all who claim to speak for Christ are genuine.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause subject verbμετασχηματίζω The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
How rare are these words?in the New Testament

2 of 10 occur nowhere else in the New Testament — words chosen on purpose.

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

Deep Study — 2 Corinthians 11:13

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 — Paul's Defense Against False Apostlesgenerated

12But I will keep on doing what I am doing, in order to undercut those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals in the things of which they boast.
13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions.

2 Corinthians 11:13 is part of Paul's broader argument against false apostles who are misleading the church. He emphasizes the danger of those who appear to be genuine messengers of Christ but are actually deceitful. This warning is crucial for the early church, as it highlights the need for discernment in recognizing true leaders and teachers of the faith.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
12 Corinthians 11:15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions.
22 Corinthians 2:17For we are not like so many others, who peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as men sent from God.
32 Corinthians 4:2Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
4Matthew 25:24Finally, the servant who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
5Acts 15:1–24Then some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

The Key Word ψευδαπόστολοι, pseudapostolosgenerated

The word ψευδαπόστολος combines ψευδής (false) and ἀπόστολος (apostle), meaning a false apostle or a pretender. It refers specifically to individuals who falsely claim to represent Christ, as Paul points out in this verse.

This term underscores a serious issue in the early church: the presence of individuals who distort the message of Christ for their own gain. Paul uses this term to alert the believers to the reality of such deceitful figures.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The verse is rendered in the Berean Standard Bible as 'false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.' This is consistent across several translations, including the KJV and ASV, which also emphasize the deceitful nature of these individuals.

However, some versions differ slightly in language. The YLT uses 'transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ,' while the NETB opts for 'disguising themselves.' Both phrases convey the idea of falsehood, but the choice of words reflects different nuances of the original Greek.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main verb in this verse is μετασχηματιζόμενοι, disguising themselves, which governs the structure. The sentence describes the subject, 'such men,' as engaging in deceitful practices.

The construction includes a noun phrase for the subject ('such men'), followed by a predicate that identifies them as false apostles and deceitful workers. This structure effectively conveys the seriousness of Paul's warning.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

The word τοιοῦτοι (toioutoi) appears in the Septuagint in verse 38, where it translates the Hebrew word מְאֹד (me'od), which conveys a sense of abundance or intensity. This choice emphasizes the nature of the false apostles as not just ordinary but significantly deceptive.

The term δόλιοι (dolioi) is found in the LXX in verse 15, rendering the Hebrew מִרְמָה (mirmah), meaning deceit or treachery. This connection reinforces the idea of these men as cunning and treacherous, aligning with the portrayal of their falsehood.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

2 Corinthians 11:13 warns that there are individuals who claim to be apostles but are actually false teachers. Paul emphasizes that these deceitful workers disguise their true nature, pretending to be messengers of Christ. This serves as a reminder for believers to be discerning about who they listen to and follow.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean to be a false apostle?

A false apostle is someone who claims to be a messenger of God but misrepresents the truth, leading others away from the genuine message of Christ.

How can we identify false apostles today?

We can identify false apostles by examining their teachings against the Scriptures and observing their character and actions, ensuring they align with the teachings of Christ.

Why is Paul so concerned about false apostles?

Paul is concerned because false apostles can lead believers astray, causing them to follow teachings that are not rooted in the truth of the Gospel.

What should believers do in response to false teachings?

Believers should remain vigilant, study the Scriptures, and seek guidance from the Holy Spirit to discern truth from error.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. What characteristics should I look for in a true teacher of the Word?
  2. How can I ensure that I am not led astray by false teachings?
  3. In what ways can I support others in discerning the truth of the Gospel?
  4. What steps can I take to deepen my understanding of Scripture to better recognize falsehood?

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

Several early church Fathers comment on this verse, discussing the nature of false apostles and the implications for the Christian community.

Clement of AlexandriaThe Stromata Book 3 c. 150–215
I have quoted these remarks to prove in error those Basilidians who do not live purely, supposing either that they have the power even to commit sin because of their perfection,
Early Church Fathers on 2 Corinthians 11 →
TertullianAgainst Marcion Book V c. 155–220
when he designates "false apostles, deceitful workers transforming themselves" into likenesses of himself, of course by their hypocrisy, he charges them with the guilt of disorderly conversation, rather than of false doctrine.
Early Church Fathers on 2 Corinthians 11 →
Pseudo-ClementTwo Epistles on Virginity 3rd–4th c.
Beloved brethren! That a man should build up and establish the brethren on the faith in one God, this also is manifest and well-known. This too, again, is comely, that a man should not be envious of his neighbour.
Early Church Fathers on 2 Corinthians 11 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on 2 Corinthians 11:13 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

For such are false apostles,.... Such as those he had in view, who sought an occasion to depress him, and exalt themselves, and to get money from the Corinthians; these were "false apostles", or

Read John Gill on 2 Corinthians 11 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. For. Reason why he needs to cut off "occasion" from his detractors. False apostles.

Read Robert Jamieson on 2 Corinthians 11 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible

For such are false apostles; that is, persons pretending to be sent of Christ, but were indeed never sent of him. Deceitful workers; persons whose work is but to cheat and deceive you; and that both with reference to their call and authority which they pretend to, and also to the doctrine which they bring. Transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ; they were never apostles of Christ, only they put themselves into such a shape and form, that they might have more advantage to deceive.

Read Matthew Poole on 2 Corinthians 11 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. Ver. 13. Deceitful workers] They seemed to labour, but indeed they loitered, or worse; seeking to set up themselves in the hearts of God’ s people. Transforming themselves, &c.] The Manichees derived their name of manna, because they held that whatsoever they taught was to be received as food from heaven. Montanus said he was the Comforter, &c. Novatus called himself Moses, and a brother that he had, Aaron. The family of love set out their Evangelium regni. Kingdom of the Gospel. The Swenckfeldians (Stinckfeldians Luther called them, from the ill savour of their opinions) entitled…

Read John Trapp on 2 Corinthians 11 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) For such are false apostles . . .—St. Paul’s estimate of the character of his rivals is now given in unsparing language as the reason why he desires to deprive them of any claim which may give them an adventitious superiority to him. In the term “false apostles” we have the explanation of the “apostles extraordinary” of 2 Corinthians 11:5. These “crafty workers” were carrying on a system of imposture, trying to assume the character of being, in a higher sense than he was, “Apostles of Christ.” This again throws light both on the words “if any man trusts that he is Christ’s” of 2 Corinthians 10:7, and on the “I am of Christ” of 1 Corinthians 1:12.

Read Charles John Ellicott on 2 Corinthians 11 →
AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

Verse 13. For such are false apostles] Persons who pretend to be apostles, but have no mission from Christ. Deceitful workers] They do preach and labour, but they have nothing but their own emolument in view. Transforming themselves] Assuming as far as they possibly can, consistently with their sinister views, the habit, manner, and doctrine of the apostles of Christ.

Read AdamClarke on 2 Corinthians 11 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. For such] The link of connection is as follows. You cannot believe them in their boasting. They are false and deceitful in all their doings. They have not your interest at heart, but their own. Cf. ch. 2 Corinthians 2:17.false apostles] See Revelation 2:2; also note on 2 Corinthians 11:26.deceitful workers] St Paul is indirectly aiming at such persons in ch. 2 Corinthians 4:2, as well as more directly in ch. 2 Corinthians 2:17. Cf. Romans 16:17-18; Philippians 3:2. The word workers is in the original equivalent to our word workmen or artisans. The reference is to workmen who shirk, or as it is called ‘scamp’ their work, instead of dealing fairly by their employer.

Read Cambridge on 2 Corinthians 11 →
Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For such are false apostles - They have no claim to the apostolic office. They are deceivers. They pretend to be apostles; but they have no divine commission from the Redeemer.

Read Albert Barnes on 2 Corinthians 11 →

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

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles.

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

NETBNew English Translation2006

For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ.

RVARevised Version, American1894

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ.

NWBWebster's Bible1833

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

GNVGeneva Bible1599

For such false apostles are deceitfull workers, and transforme themselues into the Apostles of Christ.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

For such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

for those such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ,

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

for those such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ,

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

For such people are false apostles and deceitful workers. They disguise themselves as apostles of Christ.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

For such false apostles are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

These people are false apostles, dishonest workers, who pretend to be apostles of Christ.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

For such men are false Apostles, workers of deceit, making themselves seem like Apostles of Christ.

Word by word, the decisions they made

ἐργάταιergatēs workers G2040 2 different renderings
workersASV BBE BSB DBY FBV GNV KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
workmenDRA
δόλιοι,dolios deceitful, G1386 2 different renderings
deceitfulASV BSB DBY DRA KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
dishonestFBV
μετασχηματιζόμενοιmetaschēmatizō disguising themselves G3345 2 different renderings
transforming themselvesDBY DRA KJV LSV NWB YLT
disguising themselvesNETB

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.

clauseγὰρForclausenoun phrase · subjectοἱ-τοιοῦτοιsuch [are]noun phrase · predicateψευδαπόστολοιfalse apostlesnoun phraseἐργάταιworkersδόλιοιdeceitfulclause · adverbialverbμετασχηματιζόμενοιdisguising themselvesprepositional phrase · adverbialεἰςasnoun phraseἀποστόλουςapostlesΧριστοῦof Christ

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

Nam ejusmodi pseudoapostoli sunt operarii subdoli, transfigurantes se in apostolos Christi.

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

ܐܝܬܝܗܘܢ ܓܝܪ ܗܠܝܢ ܫܠܝܚܐ ܕܓܠܐ ܘܦܥܠܐ ܢܟܝܠܐ ܘܡܕܡܝܢ ܢܦܫܗܘܢ ܠܫܠܝܚܐ ܕܡܫܝܚܐ

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

οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι ψευδαπόστολοι, ἐργάται δόλιοι, μετασχηματιζόμενοι εἰς ἀποστόλους Χριστοῦ·

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι ψευδαπόστολοι, ἐργάται δόλιοι, μετασχηματιζόμενοι εἰς ἀποστόλους Χριστοῦ·

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι ψευδαπόστολοι, ἐργάται δόλιοι, μετασχηματιζόμενοι εἰς ἀποστόλους Χριστοῦ·

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι ψευδαπόστολοι, ἐργάται δόλιοι, μετασχηματιζόμενοι εἰς ἀποστόλους Χριστοῦ·

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι ψευδαπόστολοι, ἐργάται δόλιοι, μετασχηματιζόμενοι εἰς ἀποστόλους Χριστοῦ·

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι ψευδαπόστολοι, ἐργάται δόλιοι, μετασχηματιζόμενοι εἰς ἀποστόλους Χριστοῦ·

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι ψευδαπόστολοι, ἐργάται δόλιοι, μετασχηματιζόμενοι εἰς ἀποστόλους Χριστοῦ·

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι ψευδαπόστολοι, ἐργάται δόλιοι, μετασχηματιζόμενοι εἰς ἀποστόλους Χριστοῦ·

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.

2 Corinthians 11:13<the><the>γάρForForγάρτοιοῦτοςsuch [are]such [are]τοιοῦτοςψευδαπόστολοςfalse apostfalse apostles,ψευδαπόστολοςἐργάτηςworkersworkersἐργάτηςδόλιοςdeceitful,deceitful,δόλιοςμετασχηματίζωdisguising disguising themμετασχηματίζωεἰςasasεἰςἀπόστολοςapostlesapostlesἀπόστολοςΧριστόςof Christ;of Christ;ΧριστόςψευδήςAdj false,Adj false, deceψευδήςἔργονn.n. work,n.n. work, laboἔργονδόλοςn.m. decein.m. deceit, guδόλοςμετάPrep. withPrep. with, aftμετάἀποστέλλωv. I send v. I send forthἀποστέλλωχρίωv. I anoinv. I anointχρίωὥσπερAdv just aAdv just as, asὥσπερτοιοῦτοςDem.pr. ofDem.pr. of suchτοιοῦτοςοἷοςCorr.pr. &Corr.pr. & Rel.οἷοςπράσσωv. I do, fv. I do, fare, πράσσωθερισμόςn.m. reapin.m. reaping, hθερισμόςμισθόςn.m. wagesn.m. wages, rewμισθόςδιάκονοςn.f. & n.mn.f. & n.m. a wδιάκονοςεἰςPrep. intoPrep. into, in,εἰςἹεροσόλυμαn.f. & n.nn.f. & n.n. JerἹεροσόλυμαεἰσέρχομαιv. I go inv. I go in, comεἰσέρχομαιπρεσβύτεροςAdj elderAdj elderπρεσβύτεροςΠαῦλοςn.m. Pauln.m. PaulΠαῦλος
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 2 Corinthians 11:13

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.

<the> For such [are] false apostles, workers deceitful, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ;
οἱho <the> G3588 Article · nominative · plural · masculine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 2 Corinthians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

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

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

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

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

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

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

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

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

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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

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

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

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existἐγώ
ἐν
καίand, even, also,αὐτόςArticle the
εἰς
αὐτόςεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come inἔρχομαιI come, go
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakδέbut, on the otheπρός
εἰμίI am, exist
οὗτοςσύἐγώ
<the>19783×
what comes after →
θεόςGod, a god
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
ἸησοῦςJesus
λέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
ἐγώἸησοῦςJesusArticle the
πατήρfather, Father, ance
ἐγώσύαὐτός

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

<the> For such [are] false apostles, workers deceitful, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ;
γὰρgar For G1063 Conjunction
1,038× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
For is a word used to explain or give a reason, often introducing a justification or clarification, as seen in Matthew 4:18 and Romans 7:1. It's a conjunction that connects ideas and provides additional information.
Tyndale gloss
for
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word γάρ (gar) is a coordinating particle primarily used to introduce reasons or explanations, similar to 'for' in English. It can serve various functions, including causal, explicative, and conclusive, and is often placed after the first word in a clause. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts that clarify or justify preceding statements, aligning with its classical usage.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

γάρ,

co-ordinating particle, contr. of γε ἄρα,

verily then, hence, in truth, indeed, yea, then, why, and when giving a reason or explanation, for, the usage in NT being in general accord with that of cl.;

explicative and epexegetic: Mt 4:18 19:12, Mk 1:16 5:42 16:4, Lk 11:30, Ro 7:1, I Co 16:5, al.

Conclusive, in questions, answers and exclamations: Mt 9:5 27:23, Lk 9:25 22:27, Jo 9:30, Ac 8:31 16:37 19:35,

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

γάρ, a conjunction, which ace. to its composition, γέ and dpa (i. 4. ἄρ), is properly a particle of affirmation and conclusion, denoting truly therefore, verily as the case stands, “ the thing is first aflirmed by the particle yé, and then is referred to what precedes by the force of the particle dpa” (Klotz ad Devar. ii. 1, p. 232; οἵ. Kiihner ii. p. 724; [Jelf § 786; W. 445 (415) sq-]). Now since by a new affirmation not infrequently the reason and nature of something previously mentioned are set forth, it comes to pass that, by the use of this particle, either the reason and cause of a foregoing statement is added, whence arises the causal or argumentative force of the particle, for (Lat. nam, enim; Germ. denn) ; or some previous declaration is explained, whence γάρ takes on an ex plicative force: YP Sor, the fact is, namely (Lat. videlicet, Germ. ndmilich). Thus the force of the…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

γάρ (gar) — for.

γάρ

(γε, ἄρα), causal conjunction, used alone or with other Particles.

I. introducing the reason or cause of what precedes, for, τῷ γὰρ ἐπὶ φρεσὶ θῆκε θεὰ λευκώλενος Ἥρη· κήδετο γ. Δαναῶν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; but frequently in explanation of that which is implied in the preceding clause, πολλάων πολίων κατέλυσε κάρηνα.. τοῦ γὰρ κράτος ἐστὶ μέγιστον [Refs]

I. b in simple explanations, especially after a Pronoun or demonstrative adjective, ἀλλὰ τόδ᾽ αἰνὸν ἄχος κραδίην καὶ θυμὸν ἱκάνει· Ἕκτωρ γ. ποτε φήσει [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ὃ δὲ δεινότατον.. ὁ Ζεὺς γ... [Refs 5th c.BC+]; frequently in introducing proofs or examples, μαρτύριον δέ· Δήλου γ. καθαιρομένης.. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τεκμήριον δέ· οὔτε γ. Λακεδαιμόνιοι.. [Refs 4th c.BC+]; in full, τεκμήριον δὲ…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

γάρ

gar

a primary particle; properly, assigning a reason (used in argument,

explanation or intensification; often with other particles):--and, as,

because (that), but, even, for, indeed, no doubt, seeing, then,

therefore, verily, what, why, yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

γάρ

Cj.

for

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

γάρ gar 1x

for; it is, however, frequently used with an ellipsis of the clause to which it has reference, and its force must then be variously expressed: Mt. 15:27; 27:23, et al.; it is also sometimes epexegetic, or introductory of an intimated detail of circumstances, now, then, Mt. 1:18

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

γάρ for, Lat. enim, and like it, regularly placed after the first word of a sentence: to introduce the reason:

ARGUMENTATIVE, to introduce the reason for a statement, which usually precedes:—when it precedes the statement, it may be rendered since, as, Ἀτρείδη, πολλοὶ γὰρ τεθνᾶσιν Ἀχαιοί, χρὴ πόλεμον παῦσαι Il.

the statement of which γάρ gives the reason may be omitted, οὐ γάρ τί μοι Ζεὺς ἦν ὁ κηρύξας τάδε [yes], for it was not Zeus, etc., Soph.; ἔστι γὰρ οὕτω [yes], for so it is, i. e. yes certainly, Plat.; οἵδ᾽ οὐκέτ᾽ εἰσί: τοῦτο γάρ σε δήξεται [I say this], for it will sting thee, Eur.: —in Conditional Propositions, where the Condition is omitted, it may be transl. for otherwise, else, οὐ γὰρ ἄν με ἔπεμπον πάλιν, (sc. εἰ μὴ ἐπίστευον)…

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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

for (ki (conjunction), le, from 'el (preposition), and various other words. In the New Testament also the words are various, chiefly gar, kai gar, hoti (conjunctions); anti apo eis dia (accusative), epi (dative and accusative), peri (genitive), pros (genitive and accusative), huper (genitive) (prepositions)): the English Revised Version and the American Standard Revised Version give in many cases more literal or more accurate renderings than those in the King James Version.

In the New Testament the most important preps. from a doctrinal point of view are anti, "face to face," "over against," "instead," "on behalf of," peri, "around," "about," "concerning," huper, "over," "on behalf of." The first has been claimed as stating the substitutionary nature of Christ's sacrifice as contrasted with huper and peri, more frequently used of it. But, although anti in the New Testament often means…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
97%for
for97% · 1050×other renderings3% · 33×

1,083 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 11 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
adverbial3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,038 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
αὐτόςἐγώσύ
οὐNeg
οὐδείςno one, none, noαὐτόςλαλέωI speak, say
εἰμίI am, exist
θάλασσαthe sea, lakeλυπέωI pain, grieve, καθεύδωI sleep, am slee
οὗτος
εἰςαὐτόςδιά
καίand, even, also, nam
εἰμίI am, existκύριοςlord, Lord, mastἐγώ
γάρFor1038×
what comes after →
Article the
πατήρfather, Father, θεόςGod, a godArticle the
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theσύἐν
σύ
ὅτιthat, since, becἐνοὐNeg
αὐτός
Article theοὗτοςλέγωI say, speak
ὅτιthat, since, because
Article theδιάἐν

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

Concordanceγάρ · 1,038× in the New Testament
Romans Matthew 1 Corinthians Luke Hebrews Acts 2 Corinthians John Mark Galatians 1 Thessalonians Revelation

1 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
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 4c. AD 40

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.2c. AD 75–95

τινὲς μὲν γὰρ ἐπιδεικνύμενοι λόγων δεινότητα καὶ τὴν ἀπʼ αὐτῆς θηρευόμενοι δόξαν ἐπὶ τοῦτο τῆς παιδείας τὸ μέρος ὁρμῶσιν, ἄλλοι δὲ χάριν ἐκείνοις φέροντες, περὶ ὧν τὴν ἀναγραφὴν εἶναι συμβέβηκε, τὸν εἰς αὐτὴν πόνον καὶ παρὰ δύναμιν ὑπέστησαν·

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

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

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

ἀποκαταστῆναι , ἔτι καὶ νῦν καλῶς ποιήσεις παρακαλῶν σαυτὸν καὶ τοὺς παρʼ ἡμῶν· προσπέπτωκεν γὰρ Παῶν ἀναπλεῖν ἐν τῶι Τῦβι μηνὶ μετὰ δυνάμεων ἱκανῶν πρὸς τὸ καταστεῖλαι τοὺς ἐν

P.Grenf. 1 37Thebais109 BC

ἀλλʼ ἀποστερέσαι … ησας ἀλλά … τας κατὰ κοινόν … ἐπίσκεψιν ποιησάσθαι. … τούτων γὰρ γενομένων ἐσόμεθα βεβοηθημένοι ὑφʼ ὑμῶν. ἔρρωσθε. ἔτους θ Φαρμοῦθι κζ, ἐπιλέγματος ἀναγνωσθέντος τοῦ ὑπομνήματος

P.Bad. 2 16Pathyris89 BC

ποιήσετε συνγεινόμενοι εἰς τοῦτον τόπον ἐν ἀσφαλείαι ὑπάρχοντα συντηρηθῆναι τοῦτον τῶι κυρίωι βασιλεῖ· οὕτω γὰρ πράσσοντες καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὰ πράγματα εὔνοιαν διατηροῦντες … ε … παρὰ τῶν ἐπάνω

<the> For such [are] false apostles, workers deceitful, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ;
τοιοῦτοιtoioutos such [are] G5108 Demonstrative pronoun · nominative · plural · masculine
57× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means something or someone is of a certain kind or character, like a particular example. It appears in Matthew 9:8 and 18:5. It describes a unique individuality.
Amplified meaning
of this kind, with these characteristics
Tyndale gloss
such as this
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

τοιοῦτος is a Greek word meaning 'such as this' or 'of such a kind.' It is derived from the root τοῖος and is used in various contexts, including descriptions of people or things. In the New Testament, it appears in verses like Matthew 9:8 and Acts 22:22. The lexicons indicate that it can function as a substantive, both with and without an article.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

τοιοῦτος, -αύτη, -οῦτο

(as usually in Att.. prose. Ep. and Ion. neut. -οῦτον in Al., Ac 21:25, Rec. only),

correlat. of οἷος, ὁποῖος, ὥς, etc.,

such as this, of such a kind, such: Mt 9:8 18:5, Mk 4:33 6:2 7:13 9:37 (T, τούτων), Jo 9:16, Ac 16:24, I Co 5:1 11:16, II Co 3:4, 12 12:3, He 7:26 8:1 12:3 13:16, Ja 4:16; οἷος . . . τ., I Co 15:48, II Co 10:11; id. pleonast. (v.…

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

τοιοῦτος, τοιαύτη, τοιοῦτο and τοιοῦτον (only this second form of the neut. occurs in the N. T., and twice [but in Mt. xviii. 5 T WH have -το]), (fr. τοῖος and οὗτος [al. say lengthened fr. τοῖος or connected with αὐτός : cf. τηλικοῦτος |), [fr. Hom. down], such as this, of this kind or sort; a. joined to nouns: Mt. ix. 8; xviii. 5; Mk. iv. 33; vi. 2; vii. 8 [here T WH om. Tr br. the cl.], 13; ix. 37 [here Tdf. τούτων]; Jn. ix. 16; Acts xvi. 24; 1 Co. v. 1; xi. 16; 2 Co. iii. 4, 12; xii. 8; Heb. vii. 26; vill. 1; xii. 3; xiii. 16; Jas. iv. 16. b. oios... τοιοῦτος: Mk. xiii. 19; 1 Co. xv. 48; 2Co. x. 11; τοιοῦros... ὁποῖος, Acts xxvi. 293; τοιοῦτος ὧν ὡς etc. Philem. 9 [where see Bp. Lghtft.]. c. used substantively, a. without an article: Jn. iv. 23; neut. μηδὲν τοιοῦtov, Acts xxi. 25 Rec.; plur., Lk. ix. 9; xiii. 2 [here T Tr txt. WH ταῦτα]. B. with the article, ὁ τοιοῦτος one who is of…

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

τοιοῦτος, ἐς ὍΕ such a kind,” ‘‘such”; cf. P Vat Α13 (B.c. 168) (= UPZ i. p. 303) τοιούτους καιροὺς ἀνηντληκνῖα, P Lond 4214 (p.c. 168) (=I. p. 30) ἐκ τοῦ το[ιού]του καιροῦ (cf. 1.24), 26. 89714 (a.D. 84) (=III. p. 207) elva μὴι πάλειν ἀναπλεύσωι τὸν τοιοῦτον πόρον, P Fay 921% (A.p. 126) ὄνον θήλιαν πρωτοβόλον pu[dxpovy τα]ύτην τοιαύτην ἀναπόριφοϊν, ‘*a female mouse-coloured donkey, shedding its first teeth, just as it is, free from blemish,” P Oxy II. 2370}. 12 (A.D. 186) παραγγέλλω τῆς τοιαύτης πανουργίας ἀπέίζσγχεσθαι, ““1 proclaim that such persons shall abstain from this form of knavery’’ (Edd.), P Flor II. 170° (a.p. 255) tva [μ]ὴ ὡς τοιούτῳ σοι χρησώμεϊίθα, ‘in order that we may not have to treat him as such,” 1.6. as negligent, and P Oxy XII. 1592° (iii/iv A.D.) ἠγαλλείασα ὅτει τοιοῦτός μου πί(ατ)ὴρ τὴν μνήμην ποιεῖται. For the neut. with the art. used as a substantive, cf. P…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

τοιοῦτος (toioutos) — such as this.

τοιοῦτος, αύτη, οῦτο,

Attic dialect also -οῦτον[Refs 5th c.BC+], which is the Epic dialect form (see. [Refs 8th c.BC+], and seems to prevail in [Refs 5th c.BC+]: both forms occur in Papyrus, τοιοῦτον [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—Aeolic dialect τέουτος [Refs 7th c.BC+] —a stronger form of τοῖος, bearing the same relation to τοιόσδε as οὗτος to ὅδε, such as this, in [Refs 8th c.BC+] but in Attic dialect the most common of the three forms; antecedent to οἷος, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; to ὡς, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; to ὅς, ὅς, ὅσπερ, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; to οἷόσπερ, see reading in [Refs 5th c.BC+]; less frequently to a conjunction, as ὥστε, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; frequently with implications, so good, so noble, so bad, etc., [Refs 8th c.BC+]; τοιοῦτον.. ἐστὶ τὸ.. τέλειον ἄνδρα εἶναι so great a thing is it.., [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τοιοῦτος ὤν being such a wretch…

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Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

τοιοῦτος, τοιαύτη, τοιοῦτο

Dem.pr.

of such a kind, such

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

τοιοῦτος toioutos 57x

such, such like, of this kind or sort, Mt. 18:5; 19:14; such, so great, Mt. 9:8; Mk. 6:2; ὁ τοιοῦτος, such a fellow, Acts 22:22; also, the one alluded to, 1 Cor. 1:5; 2 Cor. 2:6, 7; 12:2, 3, 5

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

τοιοῦτος stronger form of τοῖος such as this, anteced. to οἷος, Od., etc.; to ὅσος, Il.: absol., with an intensive sense, so great, so noble, so bad, etc., id. Il., attic; τοιοῦτος ὤν being such a wretch, Soph.:—c. gen., τοιοῦτος Ἀχαιῶν such a man among them, Il.:— τοιοῦτός ἐστι or γίγνεται εἴς or περί τινα he is so disposed towards any one, Xen., etc.:—strengthd., τ. ἕτερος just such another, Hdt.; ἄλλους τοιούτους id. Hdt.: —with the Art., οἱ τοιοῦτοι Aesch., etc.

the sense is made more indef. in τοιοῦτός τις or τις τοιοῦτος such a one, Pind., Thuc., etc.; τοιαῦτ᾽ ἄττα Plat.

τοιοῦτον or τὸ τ. such a proceeding, Thuc.; διὰ τὸτ. for such a reason, id. Thuc., etc.

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Dem-NPM — Demonstrative pronoun · nominative · plural · masculine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked plural masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

D-NPM Part of Speech: Demonstrative pronoun Case: Nominative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
55%such
such55% · 33×such a one10% · 6×things7% · 4×such things7% · 4×such a man5% · 3×so3% · 2×such as these3% · 2×other renderings10% · 6×

60 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 13 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
object47%subject19%predicate18%adverbial11%indirect object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 57 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
Article theεἷςoneἐντέλλομαιI give orders, c
γάρfor
Article the
καίand, even, also, nam
πορνείαfornication, ido
γίνομαιI come into being, a
οὐNegσήμερονtoday, now
δέbut, on the other ha
πεποίθησιςconfidence, trusArticle the
τοιοῦτοςsuch [are]57×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theζητέωI seek, search fπᾶςall, the whole,
Article the
ἄνθρωποςa man, one of thκύριοςlord, Lord, mastΣατανᾶςan adversary, Sa
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theὡςas, like as, how
πράσσωI do, fare, require
ἄξιοςworthy, worthy oκαίand, even, also,βασιλείαkingship, sovere
οὐNeg
γάρforεἰμίI am, exist

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

Concordanceτοιοῦτος · 57× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Mark Hebrews Acts Romans Galatians John Matthew Luke 2 Thessalonians 3 John
Across the New Testament17 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 38 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 The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 132c. AD 40

μηνύουσι δ’ αἱ καταβολαὶ τῶν σπερμάτων, ἅπερ ἢ ὑγρά ἐστιν, ὡς τὰ τῶν ζῴων, ἢ οὐκ ἄνευ ὑγρότητος βλαστάνει, τοιαῦτα δὲ τὰ τῶν φυτῶν ἐστιν·

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. AD 4th c. AD 8th c. AD 1st c. AD

ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου συνόδου … μετὰ φυλακῆς τόπον ἐκ τόπου μεταγειοχότων καὶ ἐκ τοῦ τοιούτου πρα … ησων ἀπʼ ὀλίγων … καὶ διαγεγραφὼς εἰς ταῦτα μέρος τι· τὸ δὲ

P.Aberd. 55Soknopaiu Nesos? (Arsinoites)AD 117–AD 138

Ἀρτεμίδωρος νεώτερος Ἀρτεμιδώρου Χαιρήμονι Σαταβοῦτος χαίρειν. ὁμολογῶ πεπρακέναι σοι ὄνον θήλειαν λευκὴν ταύτην τοιαύτην ἀναπόρριφον καὶ ἀπέχω τὴν συνπεφωνημένην τιμὴν πᾶσαν ἐκ πλήρους ἀργυρίου δραχμὰς ἑξήκοντα, γίνονται δραχμαὶ

P. Thead. 23Theadelphia (Arsinoites)AD 342

ὑπὸ ἐμοῦ εἰς γνῶσιν τοῦ κυρίου μου δουκὸς ἀνενέγκῃς, αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐστιν τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα τολμοῦντας ἐκδικεῖν, καὶ τούτου τυχὼν χάριτά σοι ὁμολογήσω, κύριε. διευτύχει. Αὐρήλιος Σακαῶν ἐπιδέδωκα. Αὐρήλιος

<the> For such [are] false apostles, workers deceitful, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ;
ψευδαπόστολοι,pseudapostolos false apostles, G5570 Noun · nominative · plural · masculine
1× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
A false apostle is someone who pretends to be a preacher or messenger of God. The Bible talks about false apostles in 2 Corinthians 11:13.
Amplified meaning
pretending to be messengers of God
Tyndale gloss
false apostle
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

ψευδαπόστολος is built from ψευδής (false) and ἀπόστολος (apostle), meaning a false apostle or pretended preacher. It is used in the New Testament to describe individuals who falsely claim to be ambassadors of Christ, specifically noted in 2 Corinthians 11:13. All entries consistently define it as a false apostle.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

*† ψευδ-απόστολος, -ου, ὁ

a false apostle: II Co 11:13.†

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

ψευδ-απόστολος, -ov, ὁ, (ψευδής and ἀπόστολος), a false apostle, one who falsely claims to be an ambassador of Christ: 2 Co. xi. 13.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ψευδαπόστολος (pseudapostolos) — false apostle.

ψευδ-απόστολος, ὁ,

false ambassador or apostle, [NT]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ψευδαπόστολος

pseudapostolos

from 5571 and 652; a spurious apostle, i.e. pretended pracher:--false

teacher.

see GREEK for 5571

see GREEK for 652

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ψευδαπόστολος, ου, ὁ

n.m.

a false apostle

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ψευδαπόστολος pseudapostolos 1x

a false apostle, pretend minister of Christ, 2 Cor. 11:13*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ψευδαπόστολος ψευδ-α^πόστολος, ὁ, a false apostle, NTest.

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Nave's Topical Bible

→ A title distinguishing the twelve disciples, whom Jesus selected to be intimately associated with himself Lu 6:13

→ Names of Mt 10:2-4; Mr 3:16-19; Lu 6:13-16; Ac 1:13,26

→ Selection of Mt 4:18-22; 9:9,10; 10:2-4; Mr 3:13-19; Lu 6:13-16; Joh 1:43

→ Commission of Mt 10; 28:19,20; Mr 3:14,15; 6:7-11; 16:15;

Across the New Testament1 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
<the> For such [are] false apostles, workers deceitful, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ;
ἐργάταιergatēs workers G2040 Noun · nominative · plural · masculine
16× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means worker or laborer, often describing a field worker or husbandman. In the Bible, it is used to describe various types of workers, including Christian teachers and preachers.
Tyndale gloss
worker
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἐργάτης (i.e., *ergatēs*) means a workman or laborer, particularly one who works the soil, like a husbandman. It is used in the New Testament to refer to various types of workers, including agricultural laborers (e.g., Matthew 9:37) and Christian teachers (e.g., 2 Corinthians 11:13). The word is derived from ἐργάζομαι (i.e., *ergazomai*), meaning 'to work'.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

** ἐργάτης, -ου, ὁ

(< ἐργάζομαι, q.v.),

[in LXX: Wi 17:17, Si 19:1 40:18, I Mac 3:6 * ;]

prop., a field labourer, husbandman: Mt 9:37, 38 20:1, 2, 8, Lk 10:2, Ja 5:4 (cf. Wi, l.c.).

Generally, a workman, labourer: Mt 10:10, Lk 10:7, Ac 19:25 (opp. to τεχνίτης), I Ti 5:18; of Christian teachers, II Co 11:13, Phl 3:2, II Ti 2:15.

a worker, doer: τ. ἀδικίας, Lk 13:27 (cf. I Mac, l.c.).†

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

ἐργάτης, -ov, 6, (ἐργάζυμαιλ) ; 1. as in Grk. writ. a workman, a laborer: usually one who works for hire, Mt. x. 10; Lk. x. 7; 1 Tim. v. 18; esp. an agricultural laborer, Mt. ix. 37sq.; xx. 1sq.8; Lk. x. 2; Jas. ν. 4, (Sap. xvii. 16) ; those whose labor artificers employ [i. e. workmen in the restricted sense], Acts xix. 25 (opp. to τοῖς rexviταις [A. V. craftsmen], ib. 24), ef. Bengel ad loc.; those who as teachers labor to propagate and promote Christianity among men: 2 Co. xi. 13; Phil. iii. 2; 2 Tim. ii. 15, cf. Mt. ix. 37 sq.; Lk. x. 2. worker, perpetrator : τῆς ἀδικίας, Lk. xiii. 27 (τῆς ἀνομίας, 1 Mace. iii. 6 ; τῶν καλῶν καὶ σεμνῶν. Xen. mem. 2, 1, 27).

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

ἐργάτης. P Fay 331 (A.D. 125-6) contains payments to ἐργ(άται) at the rate of 9 obols per man: cf. P Oxy X. 1263 (a.D. 128-9) βούλομαι. .. χρήσασθαι τῇ τῶν ἐργατῶν] ποταμοῦ τέχ[νῃ, “1 wish to practise the trade of ἃ riverworker” (Edd.), P Ryl 11. 98(a)!® (A.D. 154-5) ἕξω δὲ σὺν ἐμαυτῷ ἐργάτας δύο, Chrest. I. 96%-17 (accounts of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus—a.D. 215) ἐργάταις κίωμd]oact τὸ ξόανον τοῦ θεοῦ πρὸς [ἀἸπάντη[σιν τοῦ] ἡγεμόνος, P Flor I. 35 (a.p. 301) ἐργάτας. .. ὄντ[α]ς εὐθέτους καὶ ἐπιτηδείους. One of the columns of P Lond 1170 verso (A.D. 258-9) (=III. p. 193 ff.), an account of receipts and expenditure by a steward at Theadelphia, is headed— 4° λόγος ἐργατῶν ἀργησάντων. An interesting inscr. dedicated to Αἰών as a deity, Sy// 757 (i/A.p.), ends by describing Αἰών as θείας φύσεως ἐργάτης αἰωνίου πάντα, where the editor thinks that the difficult acc. πάντα is best…

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

ἐργάτης (ergatēs) — worker.

ἐργᾰτ-ης, ου, ὁ,

workman, Hermes [NT], etc.; especially one who works the soil, husbandman, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: absolutely, [Refs 5th c.BC+], etc.: also with substantive, [Refs 4th c.BC+] the country-folk, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of animals, βοῦς ἐ. a working ox, [Refs 7th c.BC+]; also ἐ. θαλάττης, of a fisher, [Refs 4th c.AD+] a stone-mason, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

__b in the religious sense, [NT]

2. adjective hard-working, strenuous, [Refs 6th c.BC+]; opposed to ἀργός, [Refs 5th c.BC+].

II. one who practises an art, [Refs 6th c.BC+]; ἐ. δίκης, of a judge, [Refs 3rd c.BC+], practitioner in some special branch of surgery, e.g. lithotomy, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

III. doer, [NT+6th c.BC+].

IV. producer, [Refs 1st c.AD+]

V. a sort of capstan or windlass, [Refs 3rd c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐργάτης

ergates

from 2041; a toiler; figuratively, a teacher:--labourer, worker(-men).

see GREEK for 2041

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐργάτης, ου, ὁ

n.m.

a field-laborer, workman

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐργάτης ergatēs 16x

a workman, laborer, Mt. 9:37, 38; 20:1, 2, 8; met. a spiritual workman or laborer, 2 Cor. 11:13; an artisan, artificer, Acts 19:25; a worker, practicer, Lk. 13:27

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐργάτης ἐργά^της, ου, a workman: esp. one who works the soil, a husbandman, Hdt., attic; οὑργάτης λεώς the country- folk, Ar.

as adj. hard-working, strenuous, Xen.

one who practises an art, c. gen., id. Xen.

a doer, worker, Soph., Xen.

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
56%workmen
workmen56% · 9×workman25% · 4×workers19% · 3×

16 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 3 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
subject38%object38%adverbial13%predicate6%second object6%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 16 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
γάρforμετάκαλέωI call, invite,
δέbut, on the other ha
Article the
ἐκβάλλωI throw, cast, put o
ὅπωςhow, in order th
μισθόωI hire out, hire, en
πρωΐearly in the mor
ὅπωςhow, in order that,
θερισμόςreaping, harvest
ἐργάτηςworkers16×
what comes after →
Article the
μισθόςwages, rewardτροφήfood, nourishmenἀμάωI mow, reap
ὀλίγος& Adv
δέομαιI request, beg
εἰς
Article the
ἐκ
δηνάριονa denarius
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀποδίδωμιI give back, ret

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

Concordanceἐργάτης · 16× in the New Testament
Matthew Luke 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians 2 Timothy Acts James Philippians
Across the New Testament8 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus Clement of Rome The Didache
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.26c. AD 40

ὅταν δὲ ἄρδειν ὁ θεὸς ἄρξηται τὴν αἴσθησιν αἰσθητοῖς, τηνικαῦτα καὶ ὁ νοῦς ἐργάτης οἷα πίονος γῆς ἀνευρίσκεται.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 8.58c. AD 75–95

ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἐπέταξε παντὶ τῷ λαῷ φόρον ἐργάτας τρισμυρίους, οἷς ἄπονον τὴν ἐργασίαν κατέστησε μερίσας αὐτὴν συνετῶς·

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 34.1c. AD 96

Ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἐργάτης μετὰ παρρησίας λαμβάνει τὸν ἄρτον τοῦ ἔργου αὐτοῦ, ὁ νωθρὸς καὶ παρειμένος οὐκ ἀντοφθαλμεῖ τῷ ἐργοπαρέκτῃ αὐτοῦ,

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. BC 6th c. AD
P.Cair. Zen. 4 59651276 BC–227 BC

Σωπάτρου, Μενίππου, Σωτᾶ, Ἡγησάνδρου, καὶ ἄλλας χαλκοῦ δραχμὰς ε, ἃς ἔχει ἐκ τραπέζης εἰς ἐργάτας, περὶ ὧν … … τος πυρῶν … … Αχ δραχμ α ὀβολ 2, εἰς

P.Cair. Zen. 5 59827Philadelphia? (Arsinoites)251 BC

τομὴν καὶ μὴ προσδεχθέντος μοι εἰς ἀνήλωμα , καὶ ἀπʼ ὀνόματός σοι γέγραφα τοὺς ἐργάτας … χοας δραχμὰς β ὀβολὸν, Πανῆι δραχμὰς β διώβολον χαλκοῦς 2 καὶ τῶι υἱῶι

P.Corn. 25Arsinoites (?)29 BC–24 BC

r ἔτους γ Καίσαρος Φαῶφι λόγος σαπλωσις Λουκίου χωματίζοντες ἐργάται γ δραχμαὶ α τριώβολον Σοβε … δραχμαὶ β … ε … … τηι ὀβολὸς

<the> For such [are] false apostles, workers deceitful, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ;
δόλιοι,dolios deceitful, G1386 Adjective · nominative · plural · masculine
1× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means deceitful, describing someone who is dishonest or tricky, like the false teachers in 2 Corinthians 11:13. It refers to people who use guile to get what they want. This concept is seen in the Bible as negative.
Amplified meaning
dishonest, tricky
Tyndale gloss
deceitful
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

δόλιος is an adjective meaning deceitful or treacherous, derived from δόλος. It appears in contexts from classical literature to the New Testament, notably in 2 Corinthians 11:13. The word conveys a sense of craftiness and guile, with variations noted in different lexicons.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δόλιος, -α, -ον

(< δόλος),

[in LXX—chiefly in Pss, Pr, Si—forמִרִמָהetc.;]

deceitful: II Co 11:13.†

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

δόλιος. We can quote the derived abstract from Vettius Valens, p- 2° τυφώδεις, ἀποκρύπτοντας τὴν δολιότητα, αὐστήρους κτλ. The verb δολιόω (LXX and NT), ““ποῖ found in prof. writ.’’, was easily formed when wanted, but whether the

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δόλιος (dolios) — deceitful.

δόλιος, α, ον

(ος, ον [LXX+5th c.BC+]: — crafty, deceitful, treacherous, in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ὁππότε.. δόλιον περὶ κύκλον ἄγωσιν the treacherous circle, i. e. the net,[Refs 4th c.BC+]; of persons, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; epithet of Aphrodite, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of Hermes, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; in later Prose, [LXX+2nd c.BC+] W. adverb -ίως[LXX+3rd c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

δόλιος

dolios

from 1388; guileful:--deceitful.

see GREEK for 1388

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δόλιος, ία, ιον

Adj

treacherous, deceitful

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δόλιος dolios 1x

fraudulent, deceitful, 2 Cor. 11:13*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

δόλιος adjdoli os_h_on adjdoli os_on crafty, deceitful, treacherous, Od., Trag.

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
100%deceitful
deceitful100% · 1×

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

Concordanceδόλιος · 1× in the New Testament
2 Corinthians
Across the New Testament1 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 15 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
The Shepherd of Hermas
The Shepherd of HermasThe Shepherd of Hermas 26.26.7c. AD 140

καὶ οἱ κολοβοί, οὗτοι δόλιοί εἰσι καὶ κατάλαλοι: καὶ τὰ θηρία, ἃ εἶδες εἰς τὸ ὄρος, οὗτοί εἰσιν.

<the> For such [are] false apostles, workers deceitful, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ;
μετασχηματιζόμενοιmetaschēmatizō disguising themselves G3345 Verb · present · middle · participle · nominative · plural · masculine
5× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means to transform or change the appearance of something, like in 2 Corinthians 11:13-14 and Philippians 3:21. It can also mean to disguise or apply something in a new way.
Amplified meaning
transforming themselves, disguising their true nature
Tyndale gloss
to transform
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word μετασχηματίζω (i.e., *metaschematizo*) means to change the form or appearance of something. It can refer to a literal transformation or a figurative one, such as adapting one's self or discourse. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts like Philippians 3:21 and 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, where it conveys the idea of transfiguration or disguise.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

** μετα-σχηματίζω,

[in LXX: IV Mac 9:22*;]

to change in fashion or appearance: c. acc. rei, τ. σῶμα, Phl 3:21; mid., seq. εἰς, II Co 11:13, 14; seq. ὡς, II Co 11:15; of a rhetorical device, to transfer by a fiction (Field, Notes, in l.), seq. εἰς, I Co 4:6.†

SYN.: μεταμορφόω, q.v.

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

μετα-σχηματίζω : fut. μετασχηματίσω [cf. B. 37 (32)]; 1 aor. μετεσχημάτισα; Mid. pres. μετασχηματίζομαι; to change the figure of, to transform, [see μετά, 111. 2]: ri, Phil. iii. 21 [see below]; mid. foll. by εἴς τινα, to transform one’s self into some one, to assume one’s appearance, 2 Co. xi. 13 sq.; foll. by ὥς τις, so as to have the appearance of some one, 2 Co. xi. 15; μετασχηματίζω τι εἴς τινα, to shape one’s discourse so as to transfer to one’s self what holds true of the whole class to which one belongs, i. e. so as to illustrate by what one says of himself what holds true of all: 1 Co. iv. 6, where the meaning is, ‘by what I have said of myself and Apollos, I have shown what holds true of all Christian teachers.’ (4 Mace. ix. 22; Plat. legg. 10 p. 903 e.; [Aristot. de caelo 3, 1 p- 298°, 31, etc.]; Joseph. antt. 7, 10, 5; 8,11,1; Plut. Ages. 14; def. orac. c. 30; [Philo, leg.…

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

μετασχηματίζω. For the meaning ‘‘ refashion, change the outward appearance of that which itself remains the same,’’ we may appeal to Pretsigke 51741° (A.D. 512), where, in connexion with the purchase of an hermitage, power is given—kaleXety, ἀνοικοδομεῖν, μετασχηματίζειν, ἐν ola βούλεται ὄψει καὶ διαθέσει : similarly 20. 517512 (A.D. 513) and P Mon 13% (A.D. 594) πωλεῖν καὶ μεταπωλεῖν καὶ μετασχηματίζειν. The passages, though late, are important in connexion with the interpretation of Phil 351: see also Field Wo/es p. 169 f. for the meaning of 1 Cor 4°. To the exx. of the verb from profane sources add Diod. Sic. ii. 57, where it is used in connexion with the dividing up of the root-forms of the letters of the alphabet: cf. Gardthausen Pa/acographic, pp. 41, 263. Cf. also Iamblichus de A/yst. 3, 28, and see further »»…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μετασχηματίζω (metaschēmatizō) — to transform.

μετασχημᾰτ-ίζω,

change the form of a person or thing, [NT+5th c.BC+]; of a building, [Refs 6th c.AD+]:—middle, with Attic dialect future -ιοῦμαι, change one's form, [Refs 2nd c.BC+]; disguise oneself, [Refs 1st c.AD+]:—passive, to be changed in form, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of grammatical change, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

II. μ. τι εἰς ἐμαυτόν transfer as in a figure, [NT]

III. change the posture of, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

IV. of stars and planets, in passive, change their configuration, πρὸς ἀλλήλους [Refs 4th c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

μετασχηματίζω

metaschematizo

from 3326 and a derivative of 4976; to transfigure or disguise;

figuratively, to apply (by accommodation):--transfer, transform

(self).

see GREEK for 3326

see GREEK for 4976

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

μετασχηματίζω

v.

I change the outward appearance, transfigure, adapt

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

μετασχηματίζω metaschēmatizō 5x

to remodel, transfigure, Phil. 3:21; mid. to transform one’s self, 2 Cor. 11:13, 14, 15; to transfer an imagination, 1 Cor. 4:6*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

μετασχηματίζω fut. attic ιῶ to change the form of a person or thing, Plat.

to transfer as in a figure, NTest.

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

V-PMP-NPM Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Middle Mood: Participle Case: Nominative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
20%i have applied
i have applied20% · 1×disguising themselves20% · 1×masquerades20% · 1×masquerade20% · 1×will transform20% · 1×

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

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 5 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
ἀδελφόςa brother
δέbut, on the othe
δόλιοςtreacherous, deceitf
ἐργάτηςa field-laborer,
Σατανᾶςan adversary, Satan
Article the
αὐτός
διάκονοςa waiter, servan
ὅς
μετασχηματίζωdisguising themselves
what comes after →
εἰς
ἐμαυτοῦἀπόστολοςan apostle, a meἄγγελοςan angel, messen
ὡςas, like as, how, wh
διάκονοςa waiter, servan
Article the
σῶμαbody, flesh

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

Concordanceμετασχηματίζω · 5× in the New Testament
2 Corinthians 1 Corinthians Philippians
Across the New Testament3 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
<the> For such [are] false apostles, workers deceitful, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ;
εἰςeis as G1519 Preposition
1,766× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 2 Corinthians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means toward or into, indicating direction or purpose, as seen in Matthew 8:23 and Mark 1:45. It can also imply a sense of movement or action. The KJV translates it in various ways.
Tyndale gloss
toward
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

εἰς is a preposition meaning 'into' or 'to,' used with the accusative case. It indicates direction, entrance, or limit, applicable to place, time, and figurative purposes. The New Testament frequently employs it to express movement toward locations or states, as seen in passages like Matthew 8:23. It can also denote relationships or results, such as 'for' or 'among.'

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

εἰς,

prep. c. acc.,

expressing entrance, direction, limit, into, unto, to, upon, towards, for, among (Lat. in, c. acc.).

Of place.

After verbs of motion;

of entrance into: Mt 8:23 9:7, Mk 1:45, Lk 2:15 8:31, al.;

of approach, to or towards: Mk 11:1, Lk 6:8 19:28, Jo 11:31 21:6, al.;

before pl. and collective nouns, among: Mk 4:7 8:19, 20, Lk 11:49, Jo 21:23, al.;

Of a limit reached, unto, on, upon: Mt 8:18, 21:1, Mk…

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

εἰς, a Prep. governing the Accusative, and denoting entrance into, or direction and limit: into, to, towards, for, among. It is used A. Property I. of Place, after verbs of going, coming, sailing, flying, falling, living, leading, carrying, throwing, sending, etc. ; 1. of a place entered, or of entrance into a place, into; and 8. it stands before nouns designating an open place, a hollow thing, or one in which an object can be hidden: as εἰς (τὴν) πόλιν, Mt. xxvi. 18; xxviii. 11; Mk. i. 45, and often; εἰς r. οἶκον, Mt. ix. 7; συναγωγήν, Acts xvii. 10; πλοῖον, Mt. viii. 23; Jn. vi. 17; Acts xxi. 6; θάλασσαν, Mt. xvii. 27; ἄβυσσον, Lk. viii. 31; οὐρανόν, Lk. ii. 15; κόσμον, In. 1. 9; iii. 19, ete.; τὰ ἴδια, Jn. i. 11; xvi. 32; Acts xxi. 6; ἀποθήκην, Mt. iii. 12; εἰς ra ὦτα, Lk. i. 44; εἰς τὰς ζώνας or ζώνην, Mt. x. 9; Mk. vi. 8, etc.; εἰς ἀέρα, 1 Co. xiv. 9; eis πῦρ, Mk. ix. 22, ete.…

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

εἰς ἁλιέων εἰς ᾿Αλεξάνδριί[αν (P Oxy II. 2943 = Selections, Ρ- 34): see further Pro/eg. pp. 234 f., 245. For εἰς in the wide sense in which we use ‘‘for” we may cite such passages as P Lille I. 261 (iii/B.c.) ἔγραψάς μοι περὶ τῆς εἰς THY σησαμείαν γῆς, 20." ἕως ἂν] μάθωμεν περὶ τῶν κ[εχρ]ηματισμένων εἰς τὸν νομόν, P Petr II. 11 (1)" (mid. iii/B.c.) (= Witkowski*, p. 8) ἀπὸ τούτου τὸ μὲν ἥμυσυ εἰς τὰ δέοντα ὑπελιπόμην, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν εἰς τὸ δάνειον κατέβαλον, P Lond 43? (ii/B.c.) (=I. p. 48, Witkowski’, p- 110) ἕξεις ἐφόδιον εἰς τὸ γῆρας, P Tebt I. 577 (8.6. 118) προστε]τάχασι δὲ καὶ τὰ els τὴν ταφὴν τοῦ “Amos, P Oxy I. 379 (A.D. 149) (= Selections, p. 49) ἐγένετο ἐνθάδε ἡ τροφεῖτις εἰς υἱὸν tod ΤΠεσούριος, ‘‘there was concluded here the nursing-contract for the son of Pesouris”; and the recurring formulae in a private account of ς. A.D. 15 τό. 1V. 736° θρύων εἰς τοὺς ἄρτους (ὀβολοὶ δύο)…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

εἰς (eis) — toward.

ἐν εἰς

or ἐς, PREP. WITH ACC. ONLY:—both forms are found in [Refs 8th c.BC+], Ionic dialect poets, and early metrical Inscrr.; ἐς is best attested in [Refs 5th c.BC+], and is found in nearly all early Ionic dialect Inscrr. (except [Refs 5th c.BC+]; and usually in Attic dialect Prose (except [Refs 5th c.BC+] is used before vowels for the sake of meter; ἐς was retained in the phrases ἐς κόρακας (whence the Verb σκορακίζω), ἐς μακαρίαν. Aeolic dialect poets have εἰς before vowels, ἐς before consonants, and this is given as the rule in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; compare ἐν, ἰν. The diphthong is genuine in Aeolic dialect εἰς, but spurious in Attic dialect-Ionic dialect) Radical sense into, and then more loosely, to:

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

εἰς

eis

a primary preposition; to or into (indicating the point reached or

entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etc.);

also in adverbial phrases:--(abundant-)ly, against, among, as, at,

(back-)ward, before, by, concerning, + continual, + far more

exceeding, for (intent, purpose), fore,

+ forth, in (among, at, unto, -so much that, -to), to the

intent that, + of one mind, + never, of, (up-)on, + perish, + set at

one again, (so) that, therefore(-unto), throughout, til, to (be, the

end, -ward), (here-)until(-to), ...ward, (where-)fore, with. Often

used in composition with the same general import, but only with verbs

(etc.) expressing motion (literally or figuratively).

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

εἰς

Prep.

into, in, among, till, for

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

εἰς

into, to c. acc.

PREP. WITH ACC. ONLY. Radical sense, into, and then to:

OF PLACE, the commonest usage, εἰς ἅλα into or to the sea, Hom., etc.:—properly opposed to ἐκ, ἐς σφυρὸν ἐκ πτέρνης from head to foot, Il.; εἰς ἔτος ἐξ ἔτεος from year to year, Theocr.:—then, with all Verbs implying motion or direction, ἰδεῖν εἰς οὐρανόν Il.; εἰς ὦπα ἰδέσθαι to look in the face, id. Il.:—in Hom. and Hdt. also c. acc. pers., where the attic use ὡς, πρός, παρά.

with Verbs which express rest in a place, when a previous motion into or to it is implied, ἐς μέγαρον κατέθηκε, i. e. he brought it into the house, and put it there, Od.; παρεῖναι ἐς τόπον to go to a place and be there, Hdt.

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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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

az: Conj. and adverb (usually Greek hos hosper, kathos), designating:

(1) Likeness: (a) between nouns (Ge 3:5; Jud 6:5; Php 2:8; Heb 11:27,29); (b) between verbs (Lu 6:36; Joh 5:30; 1Co 10:7); (c) between adjectives (1Co 15:48).

(2) Limitation (with respect to a particular aspect or relation) (1Pe 4:15,16).

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
33%into
into33% · 595×to32% · 570×for10% · 185×in9% · 160×unto4% · 69×toward2% · 44×other renderings8% · 145×other renderings2% · 29×

1,797 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
adverbial95%predicate3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,766 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
βάλλωI cast, throw, rεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come inδέbut, on the othe
εἰσέρχομαιI go in, come in, en
καίand, even, also,μήNegαὐτός
ἔρχομαιI come, go
καίand, even, also,αὐτόςοὗτος
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςἐκκόπτωI cut out, cut oπόλιςa city
ἐγώ
εἰμίI am, existκαίand, even, also,δίδωμιI offer, give
εἰςas1766×
what comes after →
Article the
αἰώνan age, a cycle οἶκοςa house, househoοὐρανόςthe sky, the hea
αὐτός
Article theκαίand, even, also,οὗτος
ἹεροσόλυμαJerusalem
καίand, even, also,εἰςὅτιthat, since, bec
ὅς
καίand, even, also,δέbut, on the otheἄνDisj
σύ
καίand, even, also,μήNegἐν

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

Concordanceεἰς · 1,766× in the New Testament
Acts Luke Matthew John Mark Romans Revelation 2 Corinthians Hebrews 1 Peter 1 Corinthians Ephesians

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 9c. AD 40

τὸ δὲ παθητὸν ἄψυχον καὶ ἀκίνητον ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ, κινηθὲν δὲ καὶ σχηματισθὲν καὶ ψυχωθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ νοῦ μετέβαλεν εἰς τὸ τελειότατον ἔργον, τόνδε τὸν κόσμον·

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

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

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 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 3rd c. BC 6th c. AD 2nd c. BC
P.Grenf. 2 33Pathyris101 BC

καὶ τοῖς μετόχοις γῆς σιτοφόρου λεγομένης Νεχθαραῦτι θεοῦ μεγάλου παρὰ τῶν ἱερέων ἐτῶν δέκα εἰς τὰ ἐνλιπόντα αὐτῷ ἑτέρων , τεσσάρων εἰς συμπλήρωσιν ἐτῶν πέντε , ὥστε γεωργῆσαι ἧς

BGU 3 999Pathyris100 BC

καὶ ἀπηλιώτου τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς Εὐνόου οἰκίας λιβὸς ῥύμη ἐφ ᾧ ἀνοίξει τὴν θύραν εἰς τὴν Ὀρσηοῦς οἰκίαν ἢ οἳ ἂν ὦσι γείτονες πάντοθεν. ἐπρίατο Πετεσοῦχος Νεχθανούπιος ὡς ἐτῶν

P.Adl. 17Krokodilopolis (Pathyrites)100 BC

ος, βορρᾶ γῆ Σχώτου τοῦ Τρύφωνος, ἀπηλιώτου τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς γῆς, λιβὸς ἡ φέρουσα εἰς τὸ Κρόνειον ὁδός, ἢ οἳ ἂν ὦσι γείτονες πάντοθεν. ἐπρίατο Ὧρος Νεχούτου Πέρσης τῆς

<the> For such [are] false apostles, workers deceitful, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ;
ἀποστόλουςapostolos apostles G652 Noun · accusative · plural · masculine
79× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
An apostle is a delegate or messenger of Jesus Christ, sent to spread the Gospel. The apostles were given special powers and authority by Jesus, as seen in Matthew 10:2 and 2 Corinthians 8:23.
Amplified meaning
messengers, representatives
Tyndale gloss
apostle
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἀπόστολος (transliterated as apostolos) is derived from the verb ἀποστέλλω and means 'one sent forth.' It encompasses a range of meanings from a messenger or envoy to a specific reference to the Apostles of Christ, particularly the Twelve. In the New Testament, it is used to denote both the original apostles and other prominent Christian figures like Barnabas, while also addressing false claimants to the title.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἀπόστολος, -ου, ὁ

(< ἀποστέλλω),

[in LXX; III Ki 14:6 A (שְׁלִיחַ)*;]

a fleet, an expedition (Dem.).

a messenger, one sent on a mission (Hdt., LXX, III Ki 14:6, and π.; v. M, Pr., 37 f.; MM, s.v.; M, Th., i, 2:7 and reff.): Jo 13:16, II Co 8:23, Phl 2:25.

In NT, an Apostle of Christ

with special ref. to the Twelve: Mt 10:2, Mk 3:14, Lk 11:49, Eph 3:5, Re 18:20, al., equality with whom is claimed by St. Paul, Ga 1:1, 11 ff, I Ti 2:7, a1.;

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

ἀπόστολος, -ov, 6; 1. a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders, (Hat. 1, 21 ; 5, 38; for mow in 1 K. xiv. 6 [Alex.]; rabbin. m-u/) : Jn. xiii. 16 (where ὁ ἀπόστ. and ὁ πέμψας αὐτόν are contrasted) ; foll. by a gen., as τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν, 2 Co. viii. 23; Phil. ii. 25; andor. τῆς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν the apostle whom we confess, of Christ, God’s chief messenger, who has brought the κλῆσις ἐπουράνιος, as compared with Moses, whom the Jews confess, Heb. iii. rE 2. Specially applied to the twelve disciples whom Christ selected, out of the multitude of his adherents, to be his constant companions and the heralds to proclaim to men the kingdom of God: Mt. x. 14; Lk. vi. 13; Acts i. 26; Rey. xxi. 14, and often, but nowhere in the Gospel and Epistlesof John; [the word ἀπόστολος occurs. 79 times in the N. T., and of these 68 instances are in St. Luke and St. Paul.” Bp. Lghtft.]. With these…

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

ἀπόστολος. It is not easy to point to an adequate parallel for the NT usage of this important word, but it may be noted that in Herod. i. 21 (cf. v. 38) it is found = ‘‘ messenger,” ‘‘ envoy,” and with the same meaning in LXX 3 Regn 14° A ἐγώ εἰμι ἀπόστολος πρὸς σὲ σκληρός, cf. Symm. Isai 18%. Reference may also be made to the interesting fragment in P Par p- 411 f. (B.c. 191), where, if we can accept the editor's restoration of the missing letters, we read of a public official who had sent to a delinquent a messenger bearing the orders he had disregarded—erec|tadkétwy ἡμῶν πρός σε τὸν ἀπίόστολον]. Cf. also a lexical extract cited by Nageli, Pp. 23, ὃ ἐκπεμπόμενος μετὰ στρατιᾶς καὶ παρασκευῆς ἀπόστολος καλεῖται : this is interesting as being coloured with the association found in Attic, though applied to a person. Apart from its use in Attic inscriptions, as Sy// 153 (B.C. 325) =…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἀπόστολος (apostolos) — apostle.

ἀπόστολ-ος, ὁ,

messenger, ambassador, envoy, ὁ μὲν δὴ ἀ. ἐς τὴν Μίλητον ἦν[Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐς Λακεδαίμονα τριήρεϊ ἀ. ἐγίνετο he went off on a mission to Laced., [Refs]

__b commander of a naval force, [Refs 5th c.AD+]

2. messenger from God, [LXX]; especially of the Apostles, [NT]

II. ={στόλος}, naval squadron or expedition, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἀπόστολον ἀφιέναι, ἀποστέλλειν, ποιεῖσθαι, [Refs 4th c.BC+]

II.2. colony, [Refs 1st c.BC+]

II.3. ={ἀποστολή}, of envoys, [Refs 1st c.AD+]

II.4. ἀπόστολον, τό, with or without πλοῖον, packet, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II.5. ἀπόστολος, ὁ, order for dispatch, of a vessel, [Refs 3rd c.AD+]

II.6. export-licence, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀπόστολος

apostolos

from 649; a delegate; specially, an ambassador of the Gospel;

officially a commissioner of Christ ("apostle") (with miraculous

powers):--apostle, messenger, he that is sent.

see GREEK for 649

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀπόστολος, ου, ὁ

n.m.

an apostle, a messenger, an envoy, a delegate

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀπόστολος apostolos 80x

one sent as a messenger or agent, the bearer of a commission, messenger, Jn. 13:16; an apostle, Mt. 10:2

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἀπόστολος ἀποστέλλω a messenger, ambassador, envoy, Hdt.

a sacred messenger, an Apostle, NTest.

= στόλος, a naval squadron or expedition, Dem., etc.

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

N-APM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Accusative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Nave's Topical Bible

→ A title distinguishing the twelve disciples, whom Jesus selected to be intimately associated with himself Lu 6:13

→ Names of Mt 10:2-4; Mr 3:16-19; Lu 6:13-16; Ac 1:13,26

→ Selection of Mt 4:18-22; 9:9,10; 10:2-4; Mr 3:13-19; Lu 6:13-16; Joh 1:43

→ Commission of Mt 10; 28:19,20; Mr 3:14,15; 6:7-11; 16:15;

Across the New Testament21 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome The Shepherd of Hermas The Didache Polycarp
JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 17.300c. AD 75–95

ἀφίκετο εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην πρεσβεία Ἰουδαίων Οὐάρου τὸν ἀπόστολον αὐτῶν τῷ ἔθνει ἐπικεχωρηκότος ὑπὲρ αἰτήσεως αὐτονομίας.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 5.9c. AD 100

ὅτε δὲ τοὺς ἰδίους ἀποστόλους τοὺς μέλλοντας κηρύσσειν τὸ εὐαγγέλιον αὐτοῦ ἐξελέξατο, ὄντας ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν ἁμαρτίαν ἀνομωτέρους, ἵνα δείξῃ, ὅτι οὐκ ἦλθεν καλέσαι δικαίους, ἀλλὰ ἁμαρτωλούς, τότε ἐφανέρωσεν ἑαυτὸν εἶναι υἱὸν θεοῦ.

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 5.3c. AD 96

λάβωμεν πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἡμῶν τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς ἀποστόλους:

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
undated 8th c. AD 7th c. AD 3rd c. AD 2nd c. AD

ε … εξ … αιστε … ἐνκαταστῆναι εἰς τὸν ἐν Νεαπόλει χειρισμὸν ἐξ ἀποστόλου Φλαυίου Φλαυιανοῦ ἀπὸ γενήματος ι. Ἁδριανοῦ Καίσαρος τοῦ κυρίου πυροῦ καθαροῦ ἀδόλου, ἀβόλου, ἀκρίθου

πλοίων … ἀγωγῆς ἀρταβῶν μυρίων … Πολέμωνος καὶ Θεμίστου μερίδος τοῦ Ἀρσινοίτου νομοῦ ἐξ ἀποστόλου τοῦ κρατίστου ἐπιτρόπου τῆς Νέας πόλεως ἀπὸ δημοσίων θησαυρῶν τοῦ αὐτοῦ νομοῦ πυροῦ γενήματος

βασιλικοῦ γραμματέως τοῦ αὐτοῦ νομοῦ ἀπὸ γενήματος ε ἔτους Ἀντωνίνου Καίσαρος τοῦ κυρίου ἐξ ἀποστόλου Φλαυίου Φλαυιανοῦ τοῦ κρατίστου ἐπιτρόπου πυροῦ καθαροῦ ἀδόλου ἀβόλου ἀκρίθου κεκοσκινευμένου … μέτρῳ δημοσίῳ

<the> For such [are] false apostles, workers deceitful, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ;
Χριστοῦ·Christos of Christ; G5547 Noun · genitive · singular · masculine
529× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Christ means anointed, referring to Jesus as the Messiah, as seen in Luke 2:11 and John 1:41.
Amplified meaning
the Anointed One, the Messiah
Tyndale gloss
Christ
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

Χριστός (Christos) means 'anointed' and refers specifically to the Messiah, a title used for Jesus in the New Testament. The term is derived from the verb χρίω (to anoint) and appears in various contexts, including references to anointing oil and the anointed kings of Israel. It is used substantively as 'the Christ' in many New Testament verses, such as Matthew 2:4 and John 1:20.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

χριστός (Χρ-), -ή, -όν

(< χρίω),

[in LXX for מָשִׁיחַ and cogn. forms ;]

as adj.,

of things, anointing, to be used as ointment (Æsch., Eur., al.; τ. ἔλαιον τὸ χ., Le 21:10);

of persons, anointed (ὁ ἰερεὺς ὁ χ., Le 4:5; οἱ χ. ἰευρεῖς, II Mac 1:10): ὁ χ. τοῦ κυρίου or Θεοῦ (I Ki 2:10, Ps 2:2, al.), of the Messiah (Aram., מְשִׁיחָא; cf. Dalman, Words, 289 ff.), Lk 2:11, 26 Jo 1:41, Ac 2:36 4:26, al.

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

Χριστός, τή, -dv, (xpiw), Sept. for mw, anointed: 6 | ἱερεὺς ὁ χριστός, Lev. iv. 5; vi. 22; of χριστοὶ ἱερεῖς, 2 Mace. i. 10; the patriarchs are called, substantively, of χριστοὶ θεοῦ, Ps. civ. (cv.) 15; the sing. 6 χριστὸς τοῦ κυρίου (177 Mw) in the O. T. often of the king of Israel (see χρίσμα), as 1 S. ii. 10, 35; [xxiv. 11; xxvi. 9, 11, 23]; 2.5. 1. 14; Ps. ii. 2; xvii. (xviii.) 51; Hab. iii. 13; [2 Chr. xxii. 7]; also of a foreign king, Cyrus, as sent of God, Is. xlv. 1; of the coming king whom the Jews expected to be the saviour of their nation and the author of their highest felicity: the name ὁ χριστός (mw, Chald. xmw>) is not found in the O. T. but is first used of him in the Book of Enoch 48, 10 [ef. Schodde’s note]; 52, 4 (for the arguments by which some have attempted to prove that the section containing these passages is of Christian origin are not convincing [cf. υἱὸς τοῦ…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

Χριστός (Christos) — Christ.

χριστός, ή, όν,

(χρίω) to be rubbed on, used as ointment or salve, opposed to πιστός, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὸ ἔλαιον τὸ χ. anointing oil, [LXX]

II. of persons, anointed, ὁ ἱερεύς ὁ χ. [LXX]

II.2. especially of the Kings of Israel, ὁ χ. Κυρίου[LXX]; plural, of the patriarchs, [LXX]

II.3. in NT, ὁ χ. the Messiah, [NT]; then used as proper name of Jesus, Ἰησοῦς χ. [NT]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

Χριστός

Christos

from 5548; anointed, i.e. the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus:--Christ.

see GREEK for 5548

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

Χριστός, οῦ, ὁ

n.m.

anointed, the Messiah, the Christ

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

Χριστός Christos 529x

pr. anointed; ὁ Χριστός, the Christ, the Anointed One, i.e. Μεσσίας, the Messiah, Mt. 1:16, 17; Jn. 1:20, 25, 42; meton. Christ, the word or doctrine of Christ, 2 Cor. 1:19; 21; Eph. 4:20; Christ, a truly Christian frame of doctrine and affection, Rom. 8:10; Gal. 4:19; Christ, the Church of Christ, 1 Cor. 12:12; Christ the distinctive privileges of the Gospel of Christ, Gal. 3:27; Phil.…

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Easton's Bible Dictionary

Christ

Anointed, the Greek translation of the Hebrew word rendered “Messiah” (q.v.), the official title of our Lord, occurring five hundred and fourteen times in the New Testament. It denotes that he was anointed or consecrated to his great redemptive work as Prophet, Priest, and King of his people. He is Jesus the Christ (Acts 17:3; 18:5; Matt. 22:42), the Anointed One. He is thus spoken of by Isaiah (61:1), and by Daniel (9:24-26), who styles him “Messiah the Prince.”

The Messiah is the same person as “the seed of the woman” (Gen. 3:15), “the seed of Abraham” (Gen. 22:18), the “Prophet like unto Moses” (Deut.…

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

Counted over the 16 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome Polycarp Josephus The Epistle of Barnabas
JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 8.137c. AD 75–95

τὸ δὲ ἄλλο μέχρι τῆς στέγης χριστὸν ἦν καὶ καταπεποικιλμένον χρώμασι καὶ βαφαῖς.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.6c. AD 100

ταῦτα οὖν κατήργησεν, ἵνα ὁ καινὸς νόμος τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἄνευ ζυγοῦ ἀνάγκης ὤν, μὴ ἀνθρωποποίητον ἔχῃ τὴν προσφοράν.

Clement of RomeFirst Clement preface.1c. AD 96

Ἡ ἐκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ παροικοῦσα Ῥώμην τῆ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ παροικούσῃ Κόρινθον, κλητοῖς ἡγιασμένοις ἐν θελήματι θεοῦ διὰ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
7th c. AD 6th c. AD 4th c. AD 5th c. AD 8th c. AD

τὸ μῆκος πήχεις πέντε πλάτος πήχεις τέσσαρες ἥμισυ· βάψον δὲ εἰς τὸ βῆλον σημεῖον Χριστοῦ … … ἐπάνω τ … . προσαγορεύω πάντας τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς κατʼ ὄνομα ἀπὸ μικρῶν

P.Petra 3 29Petra (Tertia Palaestina Salutaris)AD 582–AD 592

r βασιλείας τοῦ δεσπότου ἡμῶν Φλαουίου Μαυρικίου πιστοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ ἡμέρου μεγίστου εὐεργέτου καὶ αὐτοκράτορος Αὐγούστου ἔτους … … … … … … ημερ

P.Petra 3 31Petra (Tertia Palaestina Salutaris)AD 582–AD 592

βασιλείας τοῦ δεσπότου ἡμῶν Φλαουίου Μαυρικίου Τιβερίου πιστοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ ἡμέρου μεγίστου εὐεργέτου καὶ αὐτοκράτορος Αὐγούστου ἔτους … … … … … … τήνδε

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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