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2 Thessalonians 2:15 — Word Study

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N1904Ἄρα οὖν, ἀδελφοί, στήκετε καὶ κρατεῖτε τὰς παραδόσεις ἃς ἐδιδάχθητε εἴτε διὰ λόγου εἴτε δι᾽ ἐπιστολῆς ἡμῶν.

BSASoara [as a consequence, in light of this] then,oun brothers,adelphos [fellow believers, siblings in Christ] do stand firmstēkō [be strong, unshakeable] andkai do hold fastkrateō to theho [hold fast, grasp] traditionsparadosis [teachings, instructions] thathos, hē you were taughtdidaskō [instructed, guided] whethereite [if, in the case that] throughdia wordlogos [word, oral instruction] oreite throughdia letterepistolē [epistle, written message] from us.egō

Word
Listen & take away2 Thessalonians 2
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 15 is in this chapter.
Say the word Each Greek word carries its transliteration (egō) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
2 Thessalonians 2:15quick helps
In a sentencePaul urges the Thessalonian believers to remain steadfast and adhere to the teachings he has imparted.
Who is speakingThe Apostle Paul, addressing fellow believers in the church at Thessalonica.
Where we areThis instruction is part of a broader exhortation in the concluding section of Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians.
The hard wordπαραδόσεις
Take awayHolding onto the teachings is essential for spiritual stability.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause verbστήκω The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
How rare are these words?in the New Testament

Every word here is used elsewhere in the New Testament.

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

Deep Study — 2 Thessalonians 2:15

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 — Exhortation to Stand Firmgenerated

14To this He called you through our gospel, so that you may share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15Therefore, brothers, stand firm and cling to the traditions we taught you, whether by speech or by letter.
16Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who by grace has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope,
17encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good word and deed.

2 Thessalonians 2:15 emphasizes the importance of standing firm in faith and adhering to the teachings passed down by Paul. This verse is situated within a passage where Paul reassures the Thessalonian believers of their calling and the hope they have in Christ, encouraging them to remain steadfast amid challenges. The context highlights the significance of maintaining the integrity of the teachings received, whether communicated verbally or through written letters.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
11 Corinthians 15:58Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and immovable. Always excel in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
21 Corinthians 16:13Be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. Be men of courage. Be strong.
3Philippians 4:1Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you must stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.
42 Thessalonians 3:6Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who leads an undisciplined life that is not in keeping with the tradition you received from us.
51 Corinthians 11:2Now I commend you for remembering me in everything and for maintaining the traditions, just as I passed them on to you.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 9 references, hung on the phrase they belong to

the traditionsRomans 16:17 Jude 1:3

The Key Word παραδόσεις, paradosisgenerated

The word παράδοσις refers to traditions or teachings that are handed down. It is derived from the verb παραδίδωμι, meaning to deliver or pass on. In this context, it signifies the essential teachings that Paul has imparted to the Thessalonians.

In the New Testament, παράδοσις often pertains to religious teachings and practices that are passed from one generation to another. The use of this term underscores the importance of holding fast to the foundational truths of the Christian faith.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The Berean Standard Bible translates the verse as 'cling to the traditions we taught you,' which is echoed in the KJV and ASV. This shows a consistent understanding of the importance of traditions.

However, some translations differ in wording. The BBE uses 'keep the teaching,' while the WEB states 'hold the traditions,' emphasizing the act of retention in different ways.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main verb in this verse is στήκετε, do stand firm, which governs two imperative clauses: one instructing the believers to stand firm and the other to hold fast to the traditions.

The structure consists of a main clause followed by two coordinated actions, illustrating a clear call to action for the Thessalonian church.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

παράδοσις does not have a direct equivalent in the Septuagint, but the concept of tradition is present in various forms throughout the Old Testament. It reflects the idea of teachings and laws passed down within the community of faith.

The absence of a direct match suggests that while the term is not used, the practice of maintaining traditions is deeply rooted in the Jewish faith, which informs the Christian understanding of teachings.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

2 Thessalonians 2:15 encourages believers to be strong and hold onto the teachings they received from Paul, whether spoken or written. This highlights the importance of remaining steadfast in faith and the teachings that guide them.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean to stand firm in this context?

To stand firm means to remain steadfast in faith and not waver in the teachings that have been passed down.

Why is it important to cling to traditions?

Clinging to traditions helps preserve the core teachings of the faith and provides stability amid challenges.

What types of traditions is Paul referring to?

Paul refers to both oral teachings and written letters that convey the essential truths of the Christian faith.

How can believers apply this instruction today?

Believers can apply this by actively engaging with and adhering to the teachings of Scripture and the teachings of their faith community.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. In what ways can I ensure that I am standing firm in my faith?
  2. What traditions or teachings have been passed down to me that I need to hold onto?
  3. How can I encourage others to remain steadfast in their beliefs?
  4. What role do written teachings play in my understanding of faith?

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

Early church Fathers reference this verse to emphasize the importance of tradition and teaching. Their comments highlight the necessity of adhering to apostolic teachings.

IrenaeusAgainst Heresies Book III c. 130–202
To which course many nations of those barbarians who believe in Christ do assent, having salvation written in their hearts by the Spirit, without paper or ink, and, carefully preserving the ancient tradition,
Early Church Fathers on 2 Thessalonians 2 →
Pope Anterus d. 236
Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the tradition of the apostles and the apostolic seat, "that our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
Early Church Fathers on 2 Thessalonians 2 →
Basil of CaesareaOn the Spirit 29.71 c. 330–379
In answer to the objection that the doxology in the form “with the Spirit” has no written authority, we maintain that if there is no other instance of that which is unwritten, then this must not be received.
Early Church Fathers on 2 Thessalonians 2 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on 2 Thessalonians 2:15 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

Therefore, brethren, stand fast,.... In the doctrine of the Gospel in general, and in the article of Christ's second coming in particular, and not in the least waver about the thing itself, nor be

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

Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. Therefore.

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

The former verses contained consolation, this is an exhortation: the apostle had assured them of their being elected and called, yet exhorts them to their duty. Assurance of salvation doth not encourage negligence; the apostle takes his argument from thence to quicken them: Therefore, & c. And that which he exhorts them to is: 1. To stand fast; a military word, speaking as a captain to his soldiers; so ; having before foretold a great apostacy that would come. Or because he had told them of the great glory they had been called to the obtaining of by the gospel, he exhorts them to stand fast, which implies a firm persuasion of mind and constant purpose of will, and stands opposite to…

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

15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. Ver. 15. Stand fast] Though never so many fall from the faith. Falling stars were never but meteors. God also will have the tree of his Church to be shaken sometimes, that rotten fruit may fall off; and that there may be a shedding of the good from temporaries. Hold the traditions] Hold fast by these, that ye may stand the faster.

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

(15) Therefore, brethren, stand fast.—Such an exhortation is, in itself, conclusive against a theory of irreversible predestination. “Because God chose you from eternity, and called you in time, therefore stand your ground.” If it were impossible for them to quit their ground, it would be needless to exhort them to maintain it. If it were possible for them to quit their ground, and yet be as well off after all, it would be needless also. At the same time, the “therefore” draws a conclusion, not from 2 Thessalonians 2:14 alone, but sums up the whole disquisition of the chapter: “Now that you are reminded of the true Advent doctrine.” Hold the traditions.—The very same word as in Mark 7:3-4…

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

Verse 15. Therefore, brethren, stand fast] Their obtaining eternal glory depended on their faithfulness to the grace of God; for this calling did not necessarily and irresistibly lead to faith; nor their faith to the sanctification of the spirit; nor their sanctification of the spirit to the glory of our Lord Jesus. Had they not attended to the calling, they could not have believed; had they not believed, they could not have been sanctified; had they not been sanctified they could not have been glorified. All these things depended on each other; they were stages of the great journey; and at any of these stages they might have halted, and never finished their Christian race. Hold the…

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

15. Therefore, brethren, stand fast) So then (R.V.), as in 1 Thessalonians 5:6 (see note): the practical conclusion in which the Apostle gathers up all he has been saying in this letter. “Since the Lord’s return is delayed and its time uncertain, and in prospect of the coming of Antichrist, whose deceptive influence is already secretly at work,—inasmuch as God by our means has made you heirs of His glorious kingdom—Stand Fast.” Comp. 1 Corinthians 15:58; Colossians 1:23,—where, as in this place, hope is the incentive to steadfastness.and hold the traditions which ye have been taught] “Hold” is an emphatic word: stand firm and hold fast (Ellicott) gives the Greek sense more adequately.In…

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

Therefore - In view of the fact that you are thus chosen from eternity, and that you are to be raised up to such honor and glory. Stand fast - Amidst all the temptations which surround you; compare the notes on Ephesians 6:10-14.

Read Albert Barnes on 2 Thessalonians 2 →

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

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

Modern formal

BSBBerean Standard Bible2020

Therefore, brothers, stand firm and cling to the traditions we taught you, whether by speech or by letter.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

So then, brothers, stand firm and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word or by letter.

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

Therefore, brothers, stand firm and cling to the traditions we taught you, whether by speech or by letter.

NETBNew English Translation2006

Therefore, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold on to the traditions that we taught you, whether by speech or by letter.

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

So then, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye were taught, whether by word, or by epistle of ours.

RVARevised Version, American1894

So then, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye were taught, whether by word, or by epistle of ours.

NWBWebster's Bible1833

Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

GNVGeneva Bible1599

Therefore, brethren, stand fast and keepe the instructions, which ye haue bene taught, either by worde, or by our Epistle.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

So then, brethren, stand firm, and hold fast the instructions which ye have been taught, whether by word or by our letter.

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

so, then, brethren, stand ye fast, and hold the deliverances that ye were taught, whether through word, whether through our letter;

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

so, then, brothers, stand fast, and hold the traditions that you were taught, whether through word, whether through our letter;

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

So then, brothers, stand firm and hold tightly to the traditions that you were taught, whether by word or by our letter.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God and our Father, who hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation, and good hope in grace,

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

So, brothers and sisters, stand firm, and hold on to what you've been taught, whether by what you were told, or through a letter from us.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

So then, brothers, be strong in purpose, and keep the teaching which has been given to you by word or by letter from us.

Word by word, the decisions they made

παραδόσειςparadosis traditions G3862 2 different renderings
traditionsASV BSB KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB
instructionsDBY GNV
ἐδιδάχθητεdidaskō you were taught G1321 3 different renderings
taughtASV BSB DBY FBV GNV KJV MSB NETB NWB RVA YLT
you were taughtLSV ULB WEB
teachingBBE
λόγουlogos word G3056 2 different renderings
wordASV BBE DBY KJV LSV NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
speechBSB MSB NETB
ἐπιστολῆςepistolē letter G1992 2 different renderings
letterBBE BSB DBY FBV LSV MSB NETB ULB WEB YLT
epistleASV GNV KJV NWB RVA

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.

clauseἌραSoclauseοὖνthenclauseἀδελφοίbrothersclauseclauseverbστήκετεstand firmκαὶandclauseverbκρατεῖτεhold fastnoun phrase · objectτὰςto thenoun phraseπαραδόσειςtraditionsclauseobjectἃςthatverbἐδιδάχθητεyou were taughtprepositional phrase · adverbialεἴτεwhetherprepositional phraseδιὰbyλόγουwordεἴτεorprepositional phraseδι’bynoun phraseἐπιστολῆςletterἡμῶνfrom us

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

Itaque fratres, state : et tenete traditiones, quas didicistis, sive per sermonem, sive per epistolam nostram.

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

ܡܟܝܠ ܐܚܝ ܐܬܩܝܡܘ ܘܚܡܣܢܘ ܒܦܘܩܕܢܐ ܕܝܠܦܬܘܢ ܐܢ ܒܡܠܬܐ ܘܐܢ ܒܐܓܪܬܐ ܕܝܠܢ

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

Ἄρα οὖν, ἀδελφοί, στήκετε καὶ κρατεῖτε τὰς παραδόσεις ἃς ἐδιδάχθητε εἴτε διὰ λόγου εἴτε δι᾽ ἐπιστολῆς ἡμῶν.

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

Ἄρα οὖν, ἀδελφοί, στήκετε καὶ κρατεῖτε τὰς παραδόσεις ἃς ἐδιδάχθητε εἴτε διὰ λόγου εἴτε δι᾽ ἐπιστολῆς ἡμῶν.

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

Ἄρα οὖν, ἀδελφοί, στήκετε καὶ κρατεῖτε τὰς παραδόσεις ἃς ἐδιδάχθητε εἴτε διὰ λόγου εἴτε δι᾽ ἐπιστολῆς ἡμῶν.

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

Ἄρα οὖν, ἀδελφοί, στήκετε καὶ κρατεῖτε τὰς παραδόσεις ἃς ἐδιδάχθητε εἴτε διὰ λόγου εἴτε δι᾽ ἐπιστολῆς ἡμῶν.

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

Ἄρα οὖν, ἀδελφοί, στήκετε καὶ κρατεῖτε τὰς παραδόσεις ἃς ἐδιδάχθητε εἴτε διὰ λόγου εἴτε δι᾽ ἐπιστολῆς ἡμῶν.

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

Ἄρα οὖν, ἀδελφοί, στήκετε καὶ κρατεῖτε τὰς παραδόσεις ἃς ἐδιδάχθητε εἴτε διὰ λόγου εἴτε δι᾽ ἐπιστολῆς ἡμῶν.

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

Ἄρα οὖν, ἀδελφοί, στήκετε καὶ κρατεῖτε τὰς παραδόσεις ἃς ἐδιδάχθητε εἴτε διὰ λόγου εἴτε δι᾽ ἐπιστολῆς ἡμῶν.

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

Ἄρα οὖν, ἀδελφοί, στήκετε καὶ κρατεῖτε τὰς παραδόσεις ἃς ἐδιδάχθητε εἴτε διὰ λόγου εἴτε δι᾽ ἐπιστολῆς ἡμῶν.

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 Thessalonians 2:15ἄραSoSoἄραοὖνthen,then,οὖνἀδελφόςbrothers,brothers,ἀδελφόςστήκωdo stand fido stand firmστήκωκαίandandκαίκρατέωdo hold fasdo hold fastκρατέωto theto theπαράδοσιςtraditionstraditionsπαράδοσιςὅςthatthatὅςδιδάσκωyou were tayou were taughtδιδάσκωεἴτεwhetherwhetherεἴτεδιάthroughthroughδιάλόγοςwordwordλόγοςεἴτεororεἴτεδιάthroughthroughδιάἐπιστολήletterletterἐπιστολήημωνfrom us.from us.ημωνεἰCond. ifCond. ifεἰαἴρωv. I raisev. I raise, lifαἴρωἄλφαletter theletter the firsἄλφακράτοςn.n. dominn.n. dominion, κράτοςπαραδίδωμιv. I hand v. I hand over,παραδίδωμιλέγωv. I say, v. I say, speakλέγωἐπιστέλλωv. I writev. I write, senἐπιστέλλωἵστημιv. I causev. I cause to sἵστημιArticle thArticle theοὗAdv where,Adv where, whitοὗΚηφᾶςn.m. Cephan.m. CephasΚηφᾶςαἰτίαn.f. a caun.f. a cause, rαἰτίαδιέρχομαιv. I pass v. I pass throuδιέρχομαιφθάνωv. I anticv. I anticipateφθάνωδαιμόνιονn.n. an evn.n. an evil-spδαιμόνιονἄραDisj.prt. Disj.prt. then,ἄραμένDisj.prt. Disj.prt. trulyμένἈνδρέαςn.m. Andren.m. AndrewἈνδρέας
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 Thessalonians 2:15

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.

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
Ἄραara So G686 Particle
34× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Thessalonians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means therefore, showing a conclusion is being made. It is used in Romans 7:21 and 1 Corinthians 15:18 to connect ideas. It helps readers understand the logical flow of thoughts.
Amplified meaning
as a consequence, in light of this
Tyndale gloss
therefore
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἄρα is an illative particle used to express inference, often indicating a conclusion or consequence. It appears frequently in the New Testament, particularly in the writings of Paul, but is absent from the works of John and the Catholic Epistles. Its usage includes forming questions and connecting ideas, as seen in verses like Romans 7:21 and 1 Corinthians 15:14.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἄρα,

illative particle, expressing a more subjective or informal inference than οὖν,

then: prop. (as in cl.), the second word in the sentence, Ro 7:21 8:1, Ga 3:7; ἐπεὶ ἄρα, I Co 7:14 (with another word between) 5:10; as the first word, Lk 11:48, Ac 11:18, Ro 10:17, I Co 15:18, II Co 5:15 7:12, He 4:9; so prop. in apodosis after protasis with εἰ, Mt…

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

ἄρα, an illative particle (akin, as it seems, to the verbal root APQ to join, to be fitted, [cf. Curtius § 488 ; Vanitek p- 47]), whose use among native Greeks is illustrated fully by Kiihner ii. §$ 509, 545; [Jelf §§ 787-789], and Klotz ad Devar. ii. pp. 160-180, among others; [for a statement of diverse views see Biumlein, Griech. Partikeln, p. 19 sq.]. It intimates that, “under these circumstances something either is so or becomes so” (Klotz loc. p. 167): Lat. igitur, consequently, [differing from οὖν in ‘denoting a subjective impression rather than a positive conclusion.” L. and S. (see 5 below)]. In the N. T. it is used frequently by Paul, but in the writings of John and in the so-called Catholic Epistles it does not occur. On its use in the N. T. cf. W. §§ 53, 8 a. and 61,6. Itis found 1. subjoined to another word : Ro. vii. 21; viii.1; Gal. iii. 7; ἐπεὶ ἄρα since, if it were…

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

ἄρα. For εἰ ἄρα, sz forte, as in Mk 115, Ac 855, cf. P Petr II. 13 (19)® (middle of iii/B.c.) (= Witkowski, p. 19) εἰ 8 ἄρα μὴ ὁρᾶις ὃν δυνατόν, P Hal ri 172 (middle of iii/B.c.), εἰ δὲ ἄρα δεῖ αὐτοῖς σταθμοὺς δίδοίσθ᾽αι πία]ρὰ τῶν οἰκονόμων, διδότωσαν α[ὐ]τοῖς τοὺς ἀναγκαίους. See also P Oxy VII. τογοῦῦ (iii/A.D.) μὴ ἀμελήσῃς μὴ ἄρα ποτὲ θέλῃς μ[εἸτὰ σ[ο]ῦ [ρ]αείδι τὴν τήρησιν τῆς ὅλης οἰκίας παραδιδόναι, “do not neglect this, lest indeed you choose to hand over the keeping of the whole house to Herais” (Ed.): cf. P Amh 11. 84” (ii/iii A.D.) . . . Jpevos μὴ ἄρα τι

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἄρα (ara) — therefore.

ἄρᾰ,

Epic dialect ῥά (which is enclitic and used after monosyllables, ἦ, ὅς, γάρ, etc., or words ending in a vowel or diphthong, e.g. ἐπεί), before a consonant ἄρ (perhaps cf. Lithuanian i[rtilde] 'and'): expressing consequence, then, or mere succession, there and then, and in many derived uses.

__A EARLIER USAGE: to denote,

__A.I immediate transition, there and then, straightway, ὣς φάτο βῆ δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ Ὄνειρος[Refs 8th c.BC+]: after a participle, ὣς εἰπὼν κατ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἕζετο[Refs 5th c.BC+]; οὕτως ἄρα[Refs 5th c.BC+]; often in apodosi, as αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δὴ θηήσατο.. αὐτίκ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἤλυθεν[Refs 8th c.BC+]: in enumerations, e. g. in Homer's catalogue, then, next, οἱ δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ Ἀθήνας εἶχον[Refs]; so in genealogies, Σίσυφος.. ὁ δ᾽ ἄ. Γλαῦκον τέκεθ᾽…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἄρα

ara

probably from 142 (through the idea of drawing a conclusion); a

particle denoting an inference more or less decisive (as

follows):--haply, (what) manner (of man), no doubt, perhaps, so be,

then, therefore, truly, wherefore. Often used in connection with other

particles, especially 1065 or 3767 (after) or 1487 (before). Compare

also 687.

see GREEK for 142

see GREEK for 1065

see GREEK for 3767

see GREEK for 1487

see GREEK for 687

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἄρα

Disj.prt.

then, therefore, since

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

PRT PaRTicle, disjunctive particle

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

so (co', although the Hebrew might be pointed cewe'; Assyrian Sib'u; Septuagint Segor, Soa; Manetho, Seuechos; Latin Sevechus; Herodotus (ii. 137 ff), Sabakon): In all probability the "Sabaeo" of Herodotus, the Shabaka, who founded the Ethiopian dynasty, the XXVth of Egyptian kings. His date is given as 715-707 BC (Flinders Petrie, History of Egypt, III, 281 ff), but we may suppose that before his accession to the throne he was entitled to be designated king, as being actually regent. To this So, Hoshea, king of Israel, made an appeal for assistance to enable him to throw off the yoke of the Assyrian Shalmaneser IV (2Ki 17:3). But Hoshea's submission to So brought him no advantage, for Shalmaneser came up throughout all the land and laid siege to Samaria. Not long after the fall of Samaria, So ventured upon an eastern campaign, and…

Easton's Bible Dictionary

So

(Nubian, Sabako), an Ethiopian king who brought Egypt under his sway. He was bribed by Hoshea to help him against the Assyrian monarch Shalmaneser (2 Kings 17:4). This was a return to the policy that had been successful in the reign of Jeroboam I.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

"So, king of Egypt," is once mentioned in the Bible -- (2 Kings 17:4) So has been identified by different writers with the first and second kings of the Ethiopian twenty-fifth dynasty, called by Manetho, Sabakon (Shebek) and Sebichos (Shebetek).

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

King of Egypt, made an alliance with Hoshea king of Israel, and promised him assistance; but was unable to prevent Shalmaneser king of Assyria from taking Samaria and subverting the kingdom, B. C. 721, 2Ki 17:4. See PHARAOH.

So is believed to have been the Servetus or Sabaco II of secular history, the second king of the Ethiopian or twenty-fifth dynasty, and the predecessor of Trihakah. A singular fact has been brought to light by the recent explorations at Nineveh, corroborating the Scripture record the more forcibly, because unexpected and direct. The Bible shows that Egypt and Assyria, though remote, were often in conflict during the height of the Assyrian ruins power, and that So was at war with Shalmaneser. After war comes the treaty of peace; and as the Bible prepares us to suppose such treaties were made, the Assyrian ruins…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
52%then
then52% · 26×so28% · 14×therefore6% · 3×perhaps4% · 2×indeed2% · 1×then indeed2% · 1×then would2% · 1×that case2% · 1×other renderings2% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial14%object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 49 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
δαιμόνιονan evil-spirit, demo
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesus
Article the
λέγωI say, speak
θεόςGod, a god
εὑρίσκωI find
ἐγώ
κύριοςlord, Lord, mast
ἄραSo34×
what comes after →
οὖνtherefore, then
ὡςas, like as, howἀδελφόςa brotherζάωI live
Article the
νόμοςa law, the Mosaiπίστιςfaith, belief, tτέκνονa child, descend
φθάνωI anticipate, preced
ἐπί
καίand, even, also, nam
Article the
ἀπό
Article the

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

Concordanceἄρα · 34× in the New Testament
Romans 1 Corinthians Galatians Matthew 2 Corinthians Hebrews Luke 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians Acts Ephesians
Across the New Testament11 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 22 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 19c. AD 40

τὰ παραπλήσια δὴ καὶ περὶ θεοῦ δοξαστέον, ὡς ἄρα τὴν μεγαλόπολιν κτίζειν διανοηθεὶς ἐνενόησε πρότερον τοὺς τύπους αὐτῆς, ἐξ ὧν κόσμον νοητὸν συστησάμενος ἀπετέλει καὶ τὸν αἰσθητὸν παραδείγματι χρώμενος ἐκείνῳ.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.8c. AD 75–95

τοσαύτην δʼ ἄρα τὸ θεῖον αὐτοῦ πρόνοιαν ἔσχε καὶ τῆς εὐδαιμονίας ἐπιμέλειαν, ὡς κἀκ τῶν λυπηρῶν αὐτῷ δοξάντων τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῶν ἀγαθῶν παρασχεῖν καὶ ποιῆσαι τῆς ἀπʼ Αἰγύπτου τῶν ἡμετέρων προγόνων ἀναχωρήσεως αἴτιον αὐτόν τε καὶ τοὺς ἐξ αὐτοῦ…

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 6.19c. AD 100

εἰ οὖν οὐ γίνεται τοῦτο νῦν, ἄρα ἡμῖν εἴρηκεν, πότε: ὅταν καὶ αὐτοὶ τελειωθῶμεν κληρονόμοι τῆς διαθήκης κυρίου γενέσθαι.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 3rd c. BC 1st c. AD 6th c. AD
BGU 7 1599 VoPhiladelphia (Arsinoites)AD 68

v Ἀλεξάνδρου … αρα … δου … π … κθ Οὐαλερί … ρλβ ζη

P.Louvre 1 2Soknopaiu Nesos (ArsinoitesAD 133

φορη … … ιτος τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ σκεύη τε καὶ … αια … … αρα … … … τῶι τῆς Ἡρακλείδου μερίδος στρατηγῶι διαλαβεῖν περὶ τῆς γινομένης μοι βίας

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

ἐπληρώθη εἰς τὸ διεληλυθὸς α ἔτος ἀρούρας περὶ τὴν προκειμένην κώμην α … … αρα … … τω … βρουχως, ὧν γείτονες νότου … καὶ ἑτέρων γεωργ, βορρᾶ Ἡρακλι

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
οὖν,oun then, G3767 Conjunction
496× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
rarer in 2 Thessalonians than elsewhere in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means therefore or then, showing a consequence. It appears in Matthew 3:10 and Romans 5:9 to connect ideas and events.
Tyndale gloss
therefore/then
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word οὖν (oun) is a particle used to express consequence, sequence, or to resume a narrative. It translates to 'therefore,' 'then,' or 'accordingly,' and appears frequently in the New Testament, such as in Matthew 3:10 and Romans 5:9. It can also serve in exhortations and questions, indicating what follows logically from previous statements.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

οὖν,

particle expressing consequence or simple sequence (never standing first in a sentence),

wherefore, therefore, then: Mt 3:10, Lk 3:9, Jo 8:38, Ac 1:21, Ro 5:9, al.; in exhortations, Mt 3:8, Lk 11:35, Ac 3:19, Ro 6:12, al.; in questions, Mt 13:28, Mk 15:12, Jo 8:[5], Ro 6:1, al.; continuing a…

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

οὖν ἃ conj. indicating that something follows from another necessarily; [al. regard the primary force of the particle as confirmatory or continuative, rather than illative; cf. Passow, or L.andS.s. v.; Kiihner § 508, 1 ii. p- 707 sqq.; Biiumlein p. 173 sqq.; Kriiger § 69, 52; Donaldson p. 571; Rost in a program “ Ueber Ableitung ” u.s.w. p.2; Klotz p. 717; Hartung ii. 4]. Hence it is used in drawing a conclusion and in connecting sentences together logically, then, therefore, accordingly, consequently, these things being so, [ (Klotz, Rost, al., have wished to derive the word fr. the neut. ptep. ὄν (cf. ὄντως) ; but see Baumlein or Kiihner u.s.); ef. W. § 53, 8]: Mt. iii. 10; x. 32 (since persecutions are not to be dreaded, and consequently furnish no excuse for denying me [οἵ. W. 455 (424)]); Mt. xviii. 4; Lk. iii.9; xvi. 27; In. viii. 38 (καὶ ὑμεῖς οὖν, and ye accordingly, i. e.…

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

οὖν. This common particle, which occurs in the NT nearly 500 times, is used in our sources in a variety of connexions, the exact shade of meaning being determined by the context. (1) For the causal meaning ‘‘therefore” we may cite BGU II. 423" (ii/aA.p.) (= Sevectzons, p. 91) Kal καλῶς pol ἐστιν. ἐρωτῶ ce οὖν, κύριέ pou πατήρ, γράψον μοι ἐπιστόλιον πρῶτον μὲν περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας σου... , “it is well with me. I beg you, therefore, my lord father, write me a letter, first regarding your health ... ,” and P Oxy XIV. 16651 (iii/A.D.), where a son in urgent need of oil writes to his father—dvayxalws οὖν, ἐὰν ἔτι παρὰ σεαυτῷ χρ[ἴ]ον ἔχῃς, δήλωσον ἢ τῷ vie σου ἢ ᾧ ἐὰν σὺ βούλῃ τούτους μοι ἐν τάχει παρα[σ]χεῖν, ‘perforce, therefore, if you have still with you any unguent, instruct your son or any one else you wish to supply me with them speedily ” (Edd.). (2) Οὖν is very common in a looser…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

οὖν (oun) — therefore/then.

οὖν,

Ionic dialect and Doric dialect ὦν (the latter in [Refs 8th c.BC+], adverb certainly, in fact, confirming something, frequently in contrast with something which is not confirmed, in [Refs 8th c.BC+] only in combination with γε (see. γοῦν), γάρ, οὔτε or μήτε, ὡς, ἐπεί, μέν, etc.:

1. really, φημὶ γὰρ οὖν κατανεῦσαι.. Κρονίωνα for I declare that Zeus did really promise.., [Refs 8th c.BC+]; τόφρα γὰρ οὖν ἑπόμεσθα.., ὄφρ᾽ for we followed them up to the very point, where.., [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἐλέχθησαν λόγοι ἄπιστοι μὲν ἐνίοισι Ἑλλήνων, ἐλέχθησαν δ᾽ ὦν but they really were spoken, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Θηβαῖοι μὲν ταῦτα λέγουσι.., Πλαταιῆς δ᾽ οὐχ ὁμολογοῦσι.., ἐκ δ᾽ οὖν τῆς γῆς ἀνεχώρησαν at all events they did return, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; so δ᾽ οὖν after a parenthesis; εἰ δή τις ὑμῶν οὕτως ἔχει,—οὐκ ἀξιῶ μὲν γὰρ ἔγωγε,—εἰ…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

οὖν

oun

apparently a primary word; (adverbially) certainly, or

(conjunctionally) accordingly:--and (so, truly), but, now (then), so

(likewise then), then, therefore, verily, wherefore.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

οὖν

Cj.

therefore, then

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

οὖν oun 499x

then, now then, Mt. 13:18; Jn. 19:29; then, thereupon, Lk. 15:28; Jn. 6:14; therefore, consequently, Mt. 5:48: Mk. 10:9; it also serves to mark the resumption of discourse after an interruption by a parenthesis, 1 Cor. 8:4. Sometimes it is not translated.

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

οὖν really, at all events, used like γοῦν to dismiss a perplexing subject, οὔτ᾽ οὖν ἀγγελίῃς ἔτι πείθομαι, οὔτε θεοπροπίης ἐμπάζομαι Od.; ἐλέχθησαν λόγοι ἄπιστοι μὲν ἐνίοισι Ἑλλήνων, ἐλέχθησαν δ᾽ ὦν but they really were spoken, Hdt.; εἴτ᾽ οὖν, εἴτε μὴ γενήσεται whether it shall be really so, or no, Eur.; εἴτ᾽ οὖν ἀληθὲς εἴτ᾽ οὖν ψεῦδος Plat.; εἰ δ᾽ ἔστιν, ὥσπερ οὖν ἔστι, θεός if he is, as he surely is, a god, id. Plat.

added to indef. Pronouns and Advs., like Lat. cunque, ὅστις whoever, ὁστισοῦν whosoever; ὅπως how, ὁπωσοῦν howsoever; ἄλλος ὁστισοὖν another, be he who he may; so, ὁποιοσοῦν, ὁποσοσοῦν, ὁπωσοῦν, ὁποθενοῦν…

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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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
79%therefore
therefore79% · 428×then19% · 104×other renderings1% · 7×

539 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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 496 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
λέγωI say, speak
διακονέωI wait at table,ἔχωI have, hold, poΣατανᾶςan adversary, Sa
μένDisj
Article theεἰCondπολύςmuch, many, ofte
τίςIrg
αὐτόςλέγωI say, speakδιά
Article the
ἸακώβPropὕδωρwater
σύ
καίand, even, also,δεῖit is necessary,ἐρωτάωI ask, question,
οὖνthen,496×
what comes after →
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusἸουδαῖοςJewishμαθητήςa learner, disci
αὐτός
Article theτίςIrgἸησοῦςJesus
καίand, even, also, nam
νίπτωI washἕτεροςanother, differeὁράωI see, look upon
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theσύοὗτος
σύ
πονηρόςevil, bad, wickeτέλειοςperfect, full-grἨλίαςElijah

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

Concordanceοὖν · 496× in the New Testament
John Acts Matthew Romans Luke 1 Corinthians Hebrews 2 Corinthians Ephesians 1 Peter Galatians Philippians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 110 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

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

τὸ μὲν οὖν κάλλος τῶν νοημάτων τῆς κοσμοποιίας οὐδεὶς οὔτε ποιητὴς οὔτε λογογράφος ἀξίως ἂν ὑμνῆσαι δύναιτο·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.6c. AD 75–95

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

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. BC 2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 2nd c. BC
P.Grenf. 2 23Latopolites109 BC

χαίρειν. τοῦ παρʼ Ἑρμώνακτος τῶν ὁμοτίμων τοῖς συγγενέσι καὶ ὑποδιοικητοῦ χρηματισμοῦ ἀντίγραφον ὑπόκειται. κατακολουθήσας οὖν τοῖς διʼ αὐτοῦ σημαινομένοις χρημάτισον ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν Παθύρει τραπέζης, συνυπογράφοντος Φίβιος τοῦ…

P.Grenf. 1 30Pathyris104 BC

δὲ καὶ αὐτοί. μεταλαβόντες τοὺς συντετελεσμένους πρὸς τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς Ἑρμωνθίτας ἀγῶνας μεγάλως ἐχάρημεν. ἐπεὶ οὖν προκεχειρίκαμεν προστάτην τοῦ μεγίστου θεοῦ Νεχθφαραῦτος βεα … ρων … δια … στρατιωτῶν

Chrest.Wilck. 12Pathyris89 BC

ἐπιβεβληκέναι εἰς Μέμφιν, Ἱέρακα δὲ προκεχειρίσθαι μετὰ δυνάμεων μυρίων ἐπὶ καταστολὴν τῆς Θηβαίδος. ὅπως οὖν εἰδότες εὐθαρσεῖς ὑπάρχητε ἐκρίναμεν σημῆναι. ἔρρωσθε ἔτους λ Φαῶφι ιθ

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
ἀδελφοί,adelphos brothers, G80 Noun · vocative · plural · masculine
343× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Thessalonians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for brother refers to a male sibling or a fellow Christian, as seen in Matthew 1:2 and 1 Corinthians 1:1. It implies a close relationship.
Amplified meaning
fellow believers, siblings in Christ
Tyndale gloss
brother
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

ἀδελφός is built from a copulative particle and δελφύς, meaning 'womb.' It primarily refers to a brother, either by birth or in a broader sense, such as a fellow Christian or a member of the same nation. In the New Testament, it appears in various contexts, including familial and spiritual relationships, as seen in Matthew 1:2 and 1 Corinthians 1:1.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἀδελφός, -οῦ, ὁ

(< ἀ- copul., δελφύς, womb),

in cl., a brother, born of the same parent or parents. [In LXX (Hort, Ja., 102 f.), for אָח;]

lit. of a brother (Ge 4:2, al.).

Of a neighbour (Le 19:17).

Of a member of the same nation (Ex 2:14, De 15:3). In NT in each of these senses (1. Mt 1:2, al.; 2. Mt 7:3; 3. Ro 9:3) and also,

of a fellow-Christian: I Co 1:1, Ac 9:30. This usage finds…

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

ἀδελφός, -οῦ, ὁ, (fr. a copulative and δελφύς, from the same womb; cf. ἀγάστωρ), [fr. Hom. down]; 1. a brother (whether born of the same two parents, or only of the same father or the same mother): Mt. i. 2; iv. 18, and often. That ‘the brethren of Jesus,’ Mt. xii. 46, 47 [but WH only in mrg.]; xiii. 55 sq.; Mk. vi. 3 (in the last two passages also sisters); Lk. viii. 19 sq.; Jn. ii. 12; vii. 8; Acts i. 14; Gal. i. 19; 1 Co. 1. 5, are neither sons of Joseph by a wife married before Mary (which is the account in the Apocryphal Gospels [ef. Thilo, Cod. Apocr. N. T. i. 8362 sq.]), nor cousins, the children of Alpheus or Cleophas [i. 6. Clopas] and Mary a sister of the mother of Jesus (the current opinion among the doctors of the church since Jerome and Ausustine [ef. Bp. Lghtft. Com. on Gal., diss. ii.]), according to that use of language by which ἀδελφός like the Hebr. τὶ denotes any…

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

ἀδελφός. For the literal and the more general derived sense we may quote Sy// 474° ἀδελφοὶ ols κοινὰ τὰ πατρῷα, and 276" διὰ τὸ Μεσσαλιήτας εἶναι ἡμῖν ἀδελφούς]. In P Lond 421 (B.C. 168) (= I. p. 30, Selections p. 9) ᾿Ισίας Ἡφαιστίωνι τῶι ἀδελφῶ[ι χαί(ρειν)], it seems probable that Isias is

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἀδελφός (adelphos) — brother.

ἀδελφός [ᾰ],

(ἀ- copulative, δελφύς, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; compare ἀγάστωρ) properly, son of the same mother:

I. as substantive, ἀδελφός, ὁ, vocative ἄδελφ; Epic dialect, Ionic dialect, and Lyric poetry ἀδελφεός (genitive -ειοῦ in [Refs 8th c.BC+]:—brother, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἀδελφοί brother and sister, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; so of the Ptolemies, θεοὶ ἀδελφοί[Refs 3rd c.BC+]; ἀπ᾽ ἀμφοτέρων ἀδελφεός[LXX+5th c.BC+]

I.2. kinsman,[LXX]; tribesman, Ex.[Refs]

I.3. colleague, associate, [Refs]; member of a college, [Refs]

I.4. term of address, used by kings, [LXX+2nd c.BC+], etc.:—as a term of affection, applicable by wife to husband, [LXX+2nd c.BC+]

I.5. brother (as a fellow Christian), [NT]; of other religious communities, e.g. Serapeum, [Refs 2nd c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀδελφός

adelphos

from 1 (as a connective particle) and delphus (the womb); a brother

(literally or figuratively) near or remote (much like 1):--brother.

see GREEK for 1

see GREEK for 1

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀδελφός, οῦ, ὁ

n.m.

a brother

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀδελφός adelphos 343x

a brother, near kinsman or relative; one of the same nation or nature; one of equal rank and dignity; an associate, a member of the Christian community

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἀδελφός α copul. , δελφύς; cf. Lat. couterinus ἀδελφοί are properly sons of the same mother:

as Subst., ἀδελφός, ὁ, voc. ἄδελφε (not -φέ), ionic ἀδελφεός, epic -ειός:—a brother, or generally, a near kinsman, ἀδελφοί brother and sister, like Lat. fratres, Eur.; ἀδελφεοὶ ἀπ᾽ ἀμφοτέρων brothers by both parents, i. e. not half-brothers, Hdt.

a brother (as a fellow Christian), NTest.

adj., ἀδελφός, ή, όν, brotherly or sisterly, Trag., Plat.

like Lat. geminus, gemellus, of anything in pairs, twin, Xen.:—then, just like, c. gen. or dat., ἀδελφὰ τῶνδε, ἀδελφὰ τούτοισι Soph.

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
64%brothers
brothers64% · 223×brother35% · 121×other renderings1% · 4×

348 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
subject25%object20%adverbial12%indirect object6%predicate4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 343 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
καίand, even, also,ἸωάννηςJohnἈνδρέαςAndrew
σύ
δέbut, on the otheπερίἀδελφόςa brother
ἀνήρa male human being,
λέγωI say, speakποιέωI do, makeφημίI say
δέbut, on the other ha
σύἐγώπαραδίδωμιI hand over, del
οὖνtherefore, then
ἄραDisjἑπτάIndecλοιπόςleft, left behin
ἀδελφόςbrothers,343×
what comes after →
αὐτός
καίand, even, also,Article theἐν
ἐγώ
καίand, even, also,ἀγαπητόςloved, belovedArticle the
σύ
Article theκαίand, even, also,ὡςas, like as, how
Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, mastἐκκλησίαan assembly, conεὐαγγέλιονthe good news, t
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theἀδελφήa sisterπατήρfather, Father,

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

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

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 419 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

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

ἀλλ’ ὅ γε μέγας Μωυσῆς ἀλλοτριώτατον τοῦ ὁρατοῦ νομίσας εἶναι τὸ ἀγένητον — πᾶν γὰρ τὸ αἰσθητὸν ἐν γενέσει καὶ μεταβολαῖς οὐδέποτε κατὰ ταὐτὰ ὄν — τῷ μὲν ἀοράτῳ καὶ νοητῷ προσένειμεν ὡς ἀδελφὸν καὶ συγγενὲς ἀιδιότητα, τῷ δ’ αἰσθητῷ γένεσιν οἰκεῖον…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.53c. AD 75–95

οἱ μὲν οὖν ἀδελφοὶ διαφόροις ἔχαιρον ἐπιτηδεύμασιν·

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.10c. AD 100

ἀκριβεύεσθαι οὖν ὀφείλομεν, ἀδελφοί, περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν, ἵνα μὴ ὁ πονηρὸς παρείσδυσιν πλάνης ποιήσας ἐν ἡμῖν ἐκσφενδονήσῃ ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. AD 1st c. AD 6th c. AD
P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

ν μέσος ἢ ἐλασσων μελίχρως μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν ὑπόσκνιφος, ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑπάρχοντος αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς παστοφορίου ὠκοδομημένου καὶ δεδοκωμένου καὶ τεθυρωμένου ἐν τῷ ἀπὸ νότου μέρει τοῦ ἐν Παθύρει

BGU 3 1000Pathyris99 BC

ἐτῶν ξ μέσος μελίχρως τετανὸς ἀναφάλακρος μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπαρχούσης αὐτῷ καὶ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς γῆς ἠπείρου σιτοφόρου ἀδιαιρέτου ἐν τῷ ἀπὸ βορρᾶ πεδίωι Παθύρεως τὸ ἐπιβάλλον αὐτῷ μέρος

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
στήκετεstēkō do stand firm G4739 Verb · present · active · imperative · second person · plural
11× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Thessalonians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To stand means to be firm and unshakeable, like when Jesus stood before Pilate or when believers are called to stand firm in their faith, as seen in Galatians 5:1 and 2 Thessalonians 2:15.
Amplified meaning
be strong, unshakeable
Tyndale gloss
to stand
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

στήκω is a verb meaning 'to stand,' derived from the perfect tense of ἵστημι. It encompasses the ideas of standing firm, persevering, and maintaining one's position, particularly in a moral or spiritual context. The New Testament uses it in various passages, including Mark 3:31 and Galatians 5:1. Thayer notes some debate about its usage in specific verses, particularly in John 8:44.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

† στήκω late Pres., formed from perf., ἕστηκα (v. B1., § 17; WH, App., 169; Kennedy, Sources, 158; M, Pr., 238; MM, xxiii),

[in LXX: Ex 14:13 A, Jg 16:26 B, III Ki 8:11 B * ;]

= ἵστημι, to stand: Mk 3:31 11:25, Jo 1:26, Re 12:4 (ἕστηκεν T). Metaph., to stand firm, stand fast: absol., Ga 5:1 (but v. Field, Notes, 189 f.), II Th 2:15; seq. ἐν, Jo 8:44 (ἕστηκεν, T, R, mg.), I Co 16:13, Phl 1:27 4:1; c. dat., Ro 14:4.†

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

στήκω; (an inferior Grk. word, derived fr. ἕστηκα, pf. of ἵστημε; see B. 48 (41); [W. 24, 26 (25); WH. App. p- 169; Veitch s.v. ἑστήκω; Mullach 8. ν. στέκω (p. 299)]); to stand: Mk. [iii. 31 T Tr WH]; xi. 25 [(ef. ὅταν c. B.)]; Jn. i. 26 Linrg. T Trtxt. WH; [Rev. xii. 4 WH (but see below)]; with an emphasis, to stand Jjirm; trop. to persist, persevere, [A.V. sland fast]: absol. to persevere in godliness and rectitude, 2 Th. ii. 15; ἐν κυρίῳ, in one’s fellowship with the Lord, Phil. iv. 1; 1 Th. iii. 8 [(cf. ἐάν, 1. 2 b.)]; ἐν τῇ πίστει, 1 Co. xvi. 18 ; ἐν ἑνὶ πνεύματι, Phil. i. 27; to keep one’s standing (opp. to ζυγῷ ἐνέχομαι), τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ, maintain your allegiance to freedom (cf. W. § 31, 1 k.; B. $133, 12; but L T Tr WHI take or. here absol.; οἵ. Bp. Lghtft. ad loc.], Gal. v. 1; lo stand erect, trop. not to sin (opp. to πίπτειν i. ἢ. to sin), τῷ κυρίῳ, dat. commodi [W. τι. 5.7, Ro.…

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

στήκω, “*stand,” a new present (MGr στέκω) from the perf. ἕστηκα, and retaining the same meaning: cf. Blass— Debrunner Gr. § 73, Psaltes Gr. p. 245. The idea of emphasis usually associated with the verb can hardly be pressed in view of the late Greek love for such forms: cf. Kazbel 970 (iii/A.D. 2) where it is interchanged with ἔστανεν (from the late σταίνω)--ἽΟ]ς ποτε γυμνασίῳ Φιλήμονος ἔστανεν “Eppiy νῦν σ[τ]ήκω κἀ[ι]γὼ Τελέσφορος....

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

στήκω (stēkō) — to stand.

στήκω,

late present formed from ἕστηκα (perfect of ἵστημι), stand, [LXX+NT]; participle, παρὼν καὶ στήγων (sic) [Refs 4th c.AD+]; so ἑστήκω, [Refs 3rd c.BC+].

Strong's Greek Dictionary

στήκω

steko

from the perfect tense of 2476; to be stationary, i.e. (figuratively)

to persevere:--stand (fast).

see GREEK for 2476

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

στήκω

v.

I stand fast, persevere

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

στήκω stēkō 9x

to stand, Mk. 3:31; 11:25; met. to stand when under judgment, to be approved, Rom. 14:4; to stand firm, be constant, persevere, 1 Cor. 16:13; Gal. 5:1; Phil. 1:27; 4:1; 1 Thess. 3:8; 2 Thess. 2:15*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

στήκω στήκω, late pres. formed from ἕστηκα perf. of ἵστημι to stand, NTest.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAM-2P — Verb · present · active · imperative · second person · plural
present active imperative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAM-2P Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: iMperative Person: second Number: Plural

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
44%do stand firm
do stand firm44% · 4×he stands11% · 1×you are standing firm11% · 1×standing firm11% · 1×standing11% · 1×you stand11% · 1×

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

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 11 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
σύ
μέσοςmiddle, in the mἐάνCond
ἔξωwithout, outside
καίand, even, also,
ὅτανwhen, whensoever
καίand, even, also,
οὐNeg
ἀλήθειαtruth
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
ἴδιοςone’s own, priva
στήκωdo stand firm11×
what comes after →
ἐν
κύριοςlord, Lord, mastArticle theεἷςone
ἀποστέλλωI send forth, send,
πρός
προσεύχομαιI pray, pray for
ἀφίημιI send away, rel
ὅς
σύ
ὅτιthat, since, because
οὐNeg

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

Concordanceστήκω · 11× in the New Testament
John Mark Philippians 1 Corinthians 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians Galatians Romans
Across the New Testament8 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 The Shepherd of Hermas
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 2.83c. AD 40

πολλαὶ δὲ καρτερίας καὶ σωφροσύνης ἐρασθεῖσαι ψυχαὶ καὶ ἐρημωθεῖσαι παθῶν ὅμως κράτος ὑπέμειναν θεοῦ καὶ τροπὴν τὴν πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον ἐδέξαντο, διασυνιστάντος αὑτόν τε καὶ τὴν γένεσιν τοῦ δεσπότου, ἑαυτὸν μέν, ὅτι ἀκλινὴς ἕστηκεν ἀεί, τὴν δὲ γένεσιν,…

The Shepherd of HermasThe Shepherd of Hermas 3.13.3c. AD 140

καὶ ὅτι ἐπὶ συμψελίου εἶδες καθημένην, ἰσχυρὰ ἡ θέσις, ὅτι τέσσαρας πόδας ἔχει τὸ συμψέλιον καὶ ἰσχυρῶς ἕστηκεν: καὶ γὰρ ὁ κόσμος διὰ τεσσάρων στοιχείων κρατεῖται.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
4th c. AD
Ch.L.A. 12 522Arsinoites ?AD 310

cosulibus die x. kalendas. Febrarias Arsinoitum ciuitate in secretario … καθὼς ἐκέλευσας εἰσαχθῆναι Ἀπολλώνιον, ἕστηκεν. … ἐπέμφθη Ἀκύλᾳ τῷ γενομένῳ ἐπιτρόπῳ; Sarapammon adiutor prox dixit: ναί· καὶ παρέθετο καὶ

P.Heid. 7 401OxyrhynchosAD 338–AD 340

ση τὴν πρᾶσιν τῆς ὑποθήκης δεικνύς· ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν … οἰκία … … … εστηκεν, τοῦ δε χρόνου τῆς στάσεως … … ιαμ … κα εἰς τὸ ἀρχαῖον μετὰ

P.Lips. 1 38HermopolisAD 390

Herodis advocatis Nilammon dixit ὑπὲρ Μελιτίου βουλευτοῦ τῆς Ἑρμουπολιτῶν· ἀντίδικος Ματρώνα. Dorotheus advocatus dixit ἕστηκεν διὰ Ἁτρῆτος κατʼ ἐντολήν, ἣν εἰ κελεύσειας ἀναγνώσομαι. Flavius Asclepiades Hesycius vir clarissimus…

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
καὶkai and G2532 Conjunction
8,978× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 2 Thessalonians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
And or also, a connecting word used to join ideas or words, like in Matthew 2:18 and Hebrews 1:1.
Tyndale gloss
and
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

καί,

conj.,

and.

Copulative.

Connecting single words;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καί (kai) — and.

καί,

conjunction, copulative, joining words and sentences,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καί

kai

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

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

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

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

yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καί

Cj.

and, even, also, namely

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καί kai 9x

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

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

9,477 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 42 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial16%subject13%object10%predicate3%verb2%

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ἡ τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 1st c. AD 6th c. AD
P.Stras. 2 89Pathyris100 BC

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
κρατεῖτεkrateō do hold fast G2902 Verb · present · active · imperative · second person · plural
47× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Thessalonians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means to grasp or seize something, like in Matthew 9:25 and Acts 27:13. It is about using strength to take hold of or retain something. The Bible translates it as 'hold' or 'take'.
Tyndale gloss
to grasp/seize
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

κρατέω is built from the root κράτος, meaning strength or power. It encompasses meanings such as to be strong, to rule, to seize, and to retain. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts of holding power over others, obtaining possession, or retaining teachings. Notably, it is used in Matthew 9:25 and Acts 2:24.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

κρατέω, -ῶ

(< κράτος),

[in LXX chiefly for חזק hi., also for אחז, etc.;]

to be strong, mighty, hence, to rule, be master, prevail (so chiefly in cl.; in LXX: Es 1:1, I Es 4:38, Wi 14:19, al.).

to get possession of, obtain, take hold of (Hdt., Thuc., al.): c. gen. rei (M, Pr., 65), Ac 27:13; τ. χειρός, Mt 9:25, Mk 1:31 5:41 9:27, Lk 8:54; c. acc. rei, Mt 12:11; c. acc. pers., Mt 14:3 18:28 21:46 22:6 26:4, 48 ff.,

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

κρατέω. For κρατέω in its primary sense of ‘‘ become master of,’’ “rule,” ‘conquer,’’ we may cite P Oxy I. 33 verso: 8 (late ii/A.D.) πρῶτον μὲν Καῖσαρ ἔϊσωσε Κλεοπάτρ[αν] ἐκράτησεν βασι[λείας, ““ἴπ the first place Caesar saved Cleopatra’s life when he conquered her kingdom” (Edd.). The gen. construction, which is here supplied, is comparatively rare in the NT (cf. Pro/eg. pp. 65, 235), but may be further illustrated by P Par 26°? (B.c. 163-2) (= Se/ections, p. 18) ὑμῖν δὲ γίνοιτο κρατεῖν πάσης ἧς ἂν αἱρῆσθε χώρας, and by the magic P Lond 121®8® (iii/a.p.) (=I. p. 106) Upkre . . . κρατοῦσα [τοῦ ὅλου συστήματος --αἡ invocation to the constellation of the Bear. [See also the interesting parallels to Ac 271% in Field Wo¢es, p. 144.) Another magic papyrus 2. 46‘! (iv/A.D.) (=I. p. 80) κράτει τῇ ἀριστερᾷ σου τὸν δακτύλ(ιον) shows the more common accusative ; see also the curious theological…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

κρατέω (krateō) — to grasp/seize.

κρᾰτ-έω,

Aeolic dialect κρετέω, aorist infinitive κρέτησαι [Refs 7th c.BC+] — middle, aorist ἐπι-κρατησάμενοι[Refs 2nd c.AD+]:—passive, future κρατήσομαι [Refs 1st c.AD+] and, with variant{κρατηθήσομαι}, [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—to be strong, powerful: hence,

I. absolutely, rule, hold sway, Ἤλιδα.., ὅθι κρατέουσιν Ἐπειοί [Refs 8th c.BC+]; μέγα κρατέων ἤνασσε with mighty sway.., [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ὁ κρατῶν the ruler, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἡ κρατοῦσα the lady of the house [Refs 4th c.BC+]

I.2. in Poets, with dative, rule among, μέγα κρατέεις νεκύεσσιν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Φθίᾳ rule in Phthia, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

κρατέω

krateo

from 2904; to use strength, i.e. seize or retain (literally or

figuratively):--hold (by, fast), keep, lay hand (hold) on, obtain,

retain, take (by).

see GREEK for 2904

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

κρατέω

v.

I lay hold of, obtain

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

κρατέω krateō 47x

pr. to be strong; to be superior to any one, subdue, vanquish, Acts 2:24; to get into one’s power, lay hold of, seize, apprehend, Mt. 14:3; 18:28; 21:46; to gain, compass, attain, Acts 27:13; in NT to lay hold of, grasp, clasp, Mt. 9:25; Mk. 1:31; 5:41; to retain, keep under reserve, Mk. 9:10; met, to hold fast, observe, Mk. 7:3, 8; 2 Thess. 2:15; to hold to, adhere to, Acts 3:11; Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

κρατέω κράτος to be strong, mighty, powerful: hence,

absol. to rule, hold sway, be sovereign, Hom., Trag.; ἡ κρατοῦσα the lady of the house, Aesch.

c. dat. to rule among, κρατέεις νεκύεσσιν Od.

c. gen. to be lord or master of, ruler over, πάντων Hom.; δωμάτων Aesch., etc.

to conquer, prevail, get the upper hand, Hdt., attic; κρ. γνώμηι to prevail in opinion, Hdt.; τῆι μάχηι Eur., etc.;—also c. acc. cogn., κρ. τὸν ἀγῶνα Dem.:— οἱ κρατοῦντες the conquerors, Xen.:—of reports, etc., to prevail, become current, Soph., Thuc.

impers., κατθανεῖν κρατεῖ 'tis better to die, Aesch.; κρατεῖ ἀπολέσθαι Eur.

c. gen. to prevail over, Aesch.; ὁ λόγος τοῦ ἔργου ἐκράτει surpassed, went beyond it, Thuc.

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAM-2P — Verb · present · active · imperative · second person · plural
present active imperative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAM-2P Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: iMperative Person: second Number: Plural

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Easton's Bible Dictionary

Fast

The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called “the fast” (Acts 27:9).

The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old Testament is in Zech. 7:1-7; 8:19, from which it appears that during their captivity the Jews observed four annual fasts.

(1.) The fast of the fourth month, kept on the seventeenth day of Tammuz, the anniversary of the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; to commemorate also the incident recorded Ex. 32:19. (Comp. Jer. 52:6, 7.)

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
11%holding
holding11% · 5×do hold fast6% · 3×having seized6% · 3×he seized4% · 2×lay hold of4% · 2×do seize4% · 2×seized4% · 2×you did seize4% · 2×other renderings55% · 26×

47 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 32 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 47 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
δηνάριονa denariusἸησοῦςJesusαὐτός
αὐτός
ζητέωI seek, search fἐγείρωI wake, arouse, ὀφθαλμόςthe eye
οὐNeg
καίand, even, also,
δόλοςdeceit, guile, treac
ἸησοῦςJesusἐν
εἰμίI am, exist
αὐτός
κρατέωdo hold fast47×
what comes after →
Article the
χείρa handπαράδοσιςan instruction, ἸωάννηςJohn
αὐτός
καίand, even, also,πνίγωI choke, stranglArticle the
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀποκτείνωI put to death, φοβέωI fear, am terri
ἐγώ
ἀλλάbut, except
φοβέωI fear, am terrified
Article the

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

Concordanceκρατέω · 47× in the New Testament
Mark Matthew Revelation Acts Hebrews John Luke 2 Thessalonians Colossians
Across the New Testament9 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 32 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.73c. AD 40

ὅταν δὲ ἔμπαλιν ἀφηνιάσῃ καὶ ἀναχαιτίσῃ ὁ θυμὸς καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία καὶ τὸν ἡνίοχον, λέγω δὲ τὸν λογισμόν, τῇ βίᾳ τῆς ὁρμῆς κατασύρῃ καὶ ὑποζεύξῃ, ἑκάτερον δὲ πάθος λάβηται τῶν ἡνιῶν, ἀδικία κρατεῖ·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.178c. AD 75–95

Ἅβραμος δὲ διώκων εἵπετο μέχρι καὶ δευτεραίους συνήλασεν αὐτοὺς εἰς Ὠβὰ τῆς Δαμασκηνῶν γῆς, ἐπιδείξας ὅτι τὸ νικᾶν οὐκ ἐν τῷ πλήθει καὶ τῇ πολυχειρίᾳ κεῖσθαι συμβέβηκεν, ἀλλὰ προθυμία τῶν μαχομένων καὶ τὸ γενναῖον κρατεῖ παντὸς ἀριθμοῦ, τριακοσίοις…

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 27.5c. AD 96

ἢ τίς ἀντιστήσεται τῷ κράτει τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ;

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. AD 2nd c. AD 6th c. AD 7th c. AD 4th c. AD
P.Adl. 20Poinkoris (Diopolites)99 BC

κώμης Μούχεως ἑπταρούρων πήχεις στερεοὺς μέτρῳ βασιλικοὺς τριακοσίους ὧν γείτονες νότου οἰκία Πκώιος ἧς κρατεῖ … , βορρᾶ οἱ λοιποὶ τόποι, ἀπηλιώτου ῥύμη βασιλική, λιβὸς οἱ λοιποὶ τόποι, ἢ

P. Mich. 5 324Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 47

αὐτῶν ὁμολογούντων πατρὸς δουλίαν ἐφʼ ὃν χρόνον περίεστιν ἡ Ταορσεῦς τῆς προγεγραμμένης δουλείας Θερμουθαρίου· κρατεῖν οὖν καὶ δεσπόζειν ἕκαστον τῶν ὁμολογούντων καὶ τοὺς παρʼ αὐτῶν καὶ τοὺς μεταλημψομένους ὧν

ZPE 156 (2006), p. 199-216Soknopaiu Nesos (ArsinoitesAD 50

Νήσωι τῆς Ἡρακλείδου, ὧν γείτονες τῆς μὲν α σφραγῖδος νότου Πισάιτος οἰκία, ἧς νῦν κρατεῖ τὰ τέκνα, καὶ Στοτοήτιος αὐλὴ, δι’ ἧς εἴσοδος καὶ ἔξοδος κοινή, βορρᾶ Θαυβάστιος οἰκία

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
τὰςho to the G3588 Article · accusative · plural · feminine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 2 Thessalonians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Amplified meaning
hold fast, grasp
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-APF — Article · accusative · plural · feminine
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked plural feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-APF Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Accusative Number: Plural Gender: Feminine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
παραδόσειςparadosis traditions G3862 Noun · accusative · plural · feminine
13× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Thessalonians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for tradition, referring to a teaching or law passed down, is used in Matthew 15:2-3 to describe the Jewish traditionary law. It also appears in 1 Corinthians 11:2 and Galatians 1:14. This concept is about handing down or transferring teachings.
Amplified meaning
teachings, instructions
Tyndale gloss
tradition
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

παράδοσις (paradosis) means a handing down or transmission, often referring to traditions or teachings, particularly in a religious context. It encompasses both the act of delivering instructions and the content of those teachings, as seen in various New Testament passages like Matthew 15:2 and 2 Thessalonians 2:15. The term can also imply surrender or giving up, but its primary focus in the New Testament is on doctrinal traditions.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

παρά-δοσις, -εως, ἡ

(< παραδίδωμι),

[in LXX: Es 7:26 (אֱסוּר), Je 39 (32):4 (נתן ni.), Je 41 (34):2*;]

a handing down or over, transfer, transmission (Arist., Polyb., al., LXX).

tradition of doctrine (Plat., Epict., al.); by meton., of the doctrine itself : Mt 15:2, 3, 6, Mk 7:3 ff., I Co 11:2, Ga 1:14, Col 2:8, II Th 2:15 3:9.†

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

παρά-δοσις, -ews, ἡ, (παραδίδωμι), α giving over, giving up; i. 6. 1. the act of giving up, the surrender: of cities, Polyb. 9, 25,5; Joseph. b. j. 1, 8, 6; χρημάτων, Aristot. pol. 5, 7, 11 p. 1809", 10. 2. a giving over which is done by word of mouth or in writing, i. e. tradition by instruction, narrative, precept, ete. (see mapaδίδωμι, 4); hence i. q. instruction, Epict. diss. 2, 23, 40; joined with διδασκαλία, Plat. legg. 7 p. 803 a. objectively, what is delivered, the substance of the teaching: so of Paul’s teaching, 2 Th. iii. 6 ; in plur. of the particular injunctions of Paul’s instruction, 1 Co. xi. 2; 2 Th. ii. 15. used in the sing. of a written narrative, Joseph. 6. Ap. 1,9, 2; 10,2; again, of the body of precepts, esp. ritual, which in the opinion of the later Jews were orally delivered by Moses and orally transmitted in unbroken succession to subsequent generations, which…

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

παράδοσις in itself signifies an act of “" transmission” or ‘‘ delivery’ as in P Grenf IT. 46 (a)® (A.D. 139) παρέτυχον τῇ γενομένηι παραδόσει, in connexion with the official inspection of a freight, BGU IV. 1047'"""! (time of Hadrian) τὴν yeyovu[ta]y αὐτοῖς παράδοσιν, P Oxy X. 12627 (A.D. 197) ἐπὶ παραλήμψεω(ς) kal παραδόσεως σπερμάτ(ων), ‘for the receiving and delivery of seed” (cf. Phil 418), and P Fay 1295 (ili/A.D.) ἐτάξατο πάντως καταβῆναι τῇ ἑνδεκάτῃ καὶ τὴν παράδοσιν ποιήσασθαι, “he appointed for certain the

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

παράδοσις (paradosis) — tradition.

παρά-δοσις, εως, ἡ,

handing down, bequeathing, transmission, τοῦ σκήπτρου [Refs 5th c.BC+]; handing over, transfer, ἡ π. τῶν χρημάτων [Refs 5th c.BC+]; σίτου, etc., [Refs 3rd c.AD+]; τῆς βασιλείας [Refs 1st c.AD+]; ἐν παραδόσει παραλαμβάνειν ἀεί, of a reserve fund, [Refs 3rd c.BC+]

2. transmission of legends, doctrines, etc., tradition, διδασκαλία καὶ π. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; treatment, exposition, ὅπως πᾶσιν εὐπαρακολούθητος γένηται ἡ π. [Refs 2nd c.BC+]; ἡ βοτανικὴ π. the subject of botany, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; σύντομος π. succinct account, [Refs 5th c.AD+]

2. b in military sense, transmission of orders, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

παράδοσις

paradosis

from 3860; transmission, i.e. (concretely) a precept; specially, the

Jewish traditionary law:--ordinance, tradition.

see GREEK for 3860

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

παράδοσις, εως, ἡ

n.f.

an instruction, tradition

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

παράδοσις paradosis 13x

delivery, handing over, transmission; in NT what is transmitted in the way of teaching, precept, doctrine, 1 Cor. 11:2; 2 Thess. 2:15; 3:6; tradition, traditionary law, handed down from age to age, Mt. 15:2, 3, 6

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

παράδοσις παράδοσις, εως, παραδίδωμι a handing down, transmission, Thuc.

the transmission of legends and doctrines, tradition, Plat., etc.:—also that which is so handed down, a tradition, NTest.

a giving up, surrender, Thuc.

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

N-APF Part of Speech: Noun Case: Accusative Number: Plural Gender: Feminine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Thompson Chain Reference topics

of men

Mt 15:3; Mr 7:8; Col 2:8; Tit 1:14; 1Pe 1:18

--SEE Precepts, Human, PRECEPTS, HUMAN

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
77%tradition
tradition77% · 10×traditions15% · 2×teachings8% · 1×

13 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
object46%adverbial46%predicate8%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 13 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
κρατέωI lay hold of, oκατάδιά
ἐγώ
πατρικόςpaternal, ancest
παράδοσιςtraditions13×
what comes after →
Article the
πρεσβύτεροςelderἄνθρωποςa man, one of th
σύ
τηρέωI keep, guard, oὅς
ὅς
διδάσκωI teachπαραλαμβάνωI take, receive
κατέχωI hold fast, bind, r

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

Concordanceπαράδοσις · 13× in the New Testament
Mark Matthew 2 Thessalonians 1 Corinthians Colossians Galatians
Across the New Testament6 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria
Philo of AlexandriaOn Drunkenness 120c. AD 40

παραδόσεις γὰρ καὶ ὑφηγήσεις βραδεῖαι μὲν αἱ δι’ ἀνθρώπων, ὀξύταται δ’ αἱ διὰ θεοῦ, φθάνουσαι καὶ τὴν ὀξυτάτην χρόνου κίνησιν.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 10.51c. AD 75–95

ταῦτα δʼ ἔπραττε σοφίᾳ καὶ ἐπινοίᾳ τῆς φύσεως χρώμενος καὶ τῇ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων πειθόμενος συμβουλίᾳ καὶ παραδόσει·

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
4th c. AD 2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 2nd c. BC 1st c. AD
P.Mil.Vogl. 6 267Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 125–AD 126

, ἃς καὶ ἀποδώσω ὑμῖν τῷ ἐσχάτῳ ἔτει τῆς μισθώσεως ἅμα τῇ τῶν ἐκφορίων παραδόσει ἀτοκὶ καὶ ἀνυπερθέτως, καὶ μετὰ τὸν χρόνον παραδώσω τὸ μισθούμενον ἥμισυ μέρος καθαρὸν ἀπὸ

P.Mil.Vogl. 2 104Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 127

ἃς καὶ ἀποδώσω σοι ἀτοκὶ τῷ ἐσχάτῳ ἔτει τῆς μισθώσεως ἅμα τῇ τῶν ἐκφορίων παραδόσει ἀνυπερθέτως, καὶ μετὰ τὸν χρόνον παραδώσω τὸ μισθούμενον ἥμισυ μέρος καθαρὸν ἀπὸ ἀγρώστεως δείσηςπάσης.

P.Grenf. 2 46 aArsinoitesAD 139

κατακομισθέντος ἐκ τῆς ὑπὸ σοὶ μερίδος διὰ Βησαρίωνος Ἥρωνος οἱ ἐπίπλοοι παρέτυχον τῇ γενομένηι παραδόσει καὶ ζυγοστασίαι χωρὶς ὄντοσ ἀπελευθεύρου Σαλλωνίου Παπεῖτος Σαταβοῦτος ἐρρῶσθαί σε εὔχομαι. ἔτους β Αὐτοκράτορος

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
ἃςhos, hē that G3739 Relative pronoun · accusative · plural · feminine
1,407× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 2 Thessalonians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The word which is a pronoun used to ask for or identify something, as seen in John 5:11. It can also be used to describe a person or thing, such as in Mark 15:23. This word helps to clarify or specify what is being talked about.
Tyndale gloss
which
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

ὅς is a pronoun meaning 'who,' 'which,' 'what,' or 'that.' It serves as both a demonstrative and a relative pronoun, agreeing in gender with its antecedent. The New Testament uses it in various constructions, including phrases like ὃς μὲν... ὃς δέ to indicate contrasting subjects. Notably, it can express purpose or cause in certain contexts.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὅς, ἥ, ὅ,

the postpositive article (ἄρθρον ὑποτακτικόν).

As demonstr. pron. = οὗτος, ὅδε, this, that, also for αὐτός, chiefly in nom.: ὅς δέ, but he (cf. ἦ δὲ ὅς, freq. in Plat.), Mk 15:23, Jo 5:11; ὃς μὲν . . . ὃς δέ, the one . . . the other, Mt 21:35 22:5 25:15, Lk 23:33, Ac 27:14, Ro 14:5, I Co 11:21, II Co 2:16, Ju 22; neut., ὃ μὲν . . . ὃ δέ, the one . . . the other, some . . . some, Mt 13:8, 23, Read the full entry →

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

ὅς 455 ὅς iii. 5 [RG], 6; Heb. vi. 10; ix. 20; Jas. ii. 5; 1 In. iii. 24; Jude 15; for other exx. see below; ἐν ὥρᾳ 7 οὐ γινώoxet, Mt. xxiv. 50; τῇ παραδύσει 9 παρεδώκατε, Mk. vii. 13 ; add, Lk. ii. 20; v. 9; ix. 435 xii. 46; xxiv. 25; Jn. xvii. 5; Acts ii. 22; xvii. 31; xx. 38; 2 Co. xii. 21; 2Th.i. 4; Rev. xviii. 6; ef. W. § 24,1; [B. as above]. Rarely attraction oceurs where the verb governs the dative [but see below]: thus, κατέναντι οὗ ἐπίστευσε θεοῦ for xarévavre θεοῦ, ᾧ ἐπίστευσε (See κατέναντι). Ro. iv. 17; φωνῆς, ἧς ἔκραξα (for 7 (al. ἥν, οἴ. W. 164 (154 sq.) Β. 287 (217)}7), Acts xxiv. 21, οἵ. Is. vi. 4; (7γετο δὲ καὶ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ τε πιστῶν, οἷς ἥδετο καὶ ὧν ἠπίστει πολλούς, for καὶ πολλοὺς τούτων, οἷς ἠπίστει, Xen. Cyr. ὅ, 4, 39; ὧν ἐγὼ ἐντετύχηκα οὐδείς; for οὐδεὶς τούτων, οἷς ἐντετ. Plato, Gorg. p. 509 ἃ.; Protag. p. 361 6.; derep.7 p.531e.; παρ᾽ ὧν βοηθεῖς, οὐδεμίαν λήψει…

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

ος is found as a demonstrative pronoun in P Ryl II. 14415 (complaint of assault—a.D. 38) ὃς δὲ ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου ἄλογον ἀηδίαν μοι ἐπιχειρήσας παρεχρήσατό μοι πολλὰ καὶ ἄσχημα, ‘“whereupon he opposing me made a brutal and odious attack upon me and subjected me to much shameful mishandling” (Edd.): cf. Mk 15%, Jn 51. For ὃς μέν... ὃς δέ, “the one . . the other,” as in Mt 21° a/., see P Oxy IX. 1189? (c. A.D. 117) ἐπιστολὰς δύο ds ἔγραψα ἣν μὲν σοὶ ἣν δὲ Σαβείνῳ, and for ὃς δέ solétarium see PSI. IV. 313° (iii/iv A.D.) with the editor’s note. Ὃς ἄν (ἐάν) c. conj. = ‘‘ whosoever ” may be illustrated Ly P Par 4622 (B.c. 153) (= Witkowski*, p. 87), περὶ dv ἂν βούληι γράφε, P Grenf I. 30% (B.c. 103) ἐφ} οἷς ἂν οὖν ὑμῶν προσδέωνται, P Oxy IV. 743%% (B.C. 2) ἐν ols ἐὰν σοῦ προσδέηται, °° ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐὰν θέλῃς. For the comparative usage of ὃς ἄν and ὃς ἐάν, see Thackeray Gr. i. p. 68, cited s.v. ἄν.…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὅς (hos, hē) — which.

ὅς, ἥ, ὅ,

genitive οὗ, ἧς, οὗ, etc.; dative plural οἷς, αἷς, οἷς, etc.: Epic dialect forms, genitive ὅου (probably replacing Οο) in the phrases ὅου κλέος οὔ ποτ᾽ ὀλεῖται [Refs 8th c.BC+]; feminine ἕης [Refs 8th c.BC+]; elsewhere only ἧς [Refs]; dative plural οἷς, οἷσι, ᾗς, ᾗσι (never αἷς or αἷσι in [Refs 8th c.BC+] — _pronoun_ used,

__A as demonstrative by the side of οὗτος, ὅδε, and the Article ὁ, ἡ, τό: in post-Homeric Gr. this use survived only in a few special phrases.

__B as a Relat. by the side of the Article ὅ, ἥ, τό (see. ὁ, ἡ, τό, c):—this demonstrative and Relat. pronoun must not be confounded with the Possess. ὅς, ἥ, ὅν. (With Gr. Relat. ὅς, ἥ, ὅ cf. Sanskrit Relat. yas, yā, yad, Lithuanian jis, ji (he, she), Oslav. i, ja, je (he, she…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὅς ἥ ὅ

hos

he hay, and neuter

ho ho

probably a primary word (or perhaps a form of the article 3588); the

relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what,

that:--one, (an-, the) other, some, that, what, which, who(-m, -se),

etc. See also 3757.

see GREEK for 3588

see GREEK for 3757

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὅς, ἥ, ὅ

Rel.pr.

who, which, what, that

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὅς hos 1x

who, which, what, that, Mt. 1:16, 23, 25; in NT interrog. ἐφ’ ὅ, wherefore, why, Mt. 26:50; in NT ὅς μὲν ... ὅς δέ, for ὁ μὲν ... ὁ δέ, Mt. 21:35; 2 Cor. 2:16

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Rel-APF — Relative pronoun · accusative · plural · feminine
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked plural feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

R-APF Part of Speech: Relative pronoun Case: Accusative Number: Plural Gender: Feminine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
25%which
which25% · 356×whom20% · 291×who17% · 238×that14% · 199×what8% · 117×whatever2% · 30×whose2% · 29×other renderings10% · 145×other renderings2% · 25×

1,430 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 60 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
object40%subject29%adverbial26%indirect object3%predicate3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,407 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
ἐν
ἡμέραa dayαὐτόςἵναin order that, s
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςἔχωI have, hold, poυἱόςa son, descenden
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakἀπόλλυμιI destroy, lose,δοῦλος (II)
διά
ἐκεῖνοςΧριστόςanointed, the Meαὐτός
εἰς
καίand, even, also,ἐγώοἰκίαa house, househo
ὅςthat1407×
what comes after →
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theμεθερμηνεύωI translate, intκαίand, even, also,
οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, existἔξεστι(ν)it is permitted,γινώσκωI come to know,
Article the
θεόςGod, a godυἱόςa son, descendenκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
καίand, even, also, nam
σύποιέωI do, makeαὐτός
δέbut, on the other ha
ἄνDisjἑξήκονταIndecτριάκονταIndec

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

Concordanceὅς · 1,407× in the New Testament
Acts Luke John Matthew Romans Mark Hebrews Revelation 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Colossians Ephesians

22 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 Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 33c. AD 40

ἵν’ οὖν μὴ αἰεὶ συμφερόμεναι στασιάζωσι καὶ πόλεμος ἀντ’ εἰρήνης ἐπικρατῇ τὴν ἀκοσμίαν ἐν κόσμῳ τιθείς, οὐ μόνον ἐχώρισε φῶς καὶ σκότος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅρους ἐν μέσοις ἔθετο διαστήμασιν, οἷς ἀνεῖρξε τῶν ἄκρων ἑκάτερον·

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

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

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 1st c. AD 3rd c. BC 2nd c. BC
P.Grenf. 1 32Pelusion103 BC

θεοῖς. καλῶς ποιήσεις διαλύσας Ἁρκοννῆσιν καὶ Ψενανοῦπιν καὶ … … ελθεῖν ἐπὶ προ … ους καὶ γραψάτωσαν ἡμῖν ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐσπούδασας διὰ τὰς ἡμῶν παρακλήσεις καὶ ση

P.Adl. 15Pathyris (?)101 BC

ἐδάνεισεν Ὧρος Ὥρου Ὥρωι Νεχούτου ὡς ἐτῶν ν μέσος μελίχρως ὑποκλαστὸς ἀναφάλακρος μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν οὖς ἀριστερὸν τετρημένον πυροῦ ἀρτάβας τεσσαράκοντα ἓξ κριθῆς ἑξήκοντα ἐννέα , ἴσους ἀτόκους, ὧν ἀπόδοσιν

P.Adl. 17Krokodilopolis (Pathyrites)100 BC

τῆς ἐπιγονῆς τῶν ἐκ Παθύρεως ὡς ἐτῶν ν μέσος μελίχρως τετανὸς ἀναφάλακρος μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν οὖς ἀριστερὸν τετρημένον χαλκοῦ ταλάντων πέντε . προπωλητὴς καὶ βεβαιωτὴς τῶν κατὰ τὴν ὠνὴν ταύτην

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
ἐδιδάχθητεdidaskō you were taught G1321 Verb · aorist · passive · indicative · second person · plural
97× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Thessalonians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means to teach or instruct someone, like Jesus teaching his disciples in Matthew 5:2. It can also mean to teach a thing or concept.
Amplified meaning
instructed, guided
Tyndale gloss
to teach
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

διδάσκω (didaskō) means to teach or instruct someone or something. It is a verb that can take various constructions, such as an accusative object or an infinitive. The New Testament frequently uses it, notably in passages like Matthew 5:2 and Mark 1:22. The word has roots in both classical and biblical Greek, with a broad application in teaching contexts.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

διδάσκω

[in LXX chiefly for למד pi., also for ידע hi., ירה hi., etc. ;]

to teach (i.e. instruct) a person, teach a thing;

trans.: c. acc. pers., Mt 5:2, Mk 1:22, al.; seq. ὅτι, Mk 8:31; περί, I Jo 2:27; c. inf., Lk 11:1; c. acc. rei, Mk 6:30 12:14; c. cogn. acc., Mt 15:9 (LXX); c. dupl. acc, Mk 4:2, Jo 14:26; pass., Ga 1:12, II Th 2:15; c. dat. pers. (like Heb., cf.

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

διδάσκω ; impf. ἐδίδασκον ; fut. διδάξω: 1 aor. ἐδίδαξα; 1 aor. pass. ἐδιδάχθην; (AAQ [ef. Vaniéek p. 8277); [fr. Hom. down]; Sept. for y-jn, 7717, and esp. for 1; to teach; 1. absol. a. to hold discourse with others in order to instruct them, deliver didactic discourses: Mt. iv. 23; xxi. 23; Mk. i. 21; vi.6; xiv. 49; Lk. iv. 15; v. 17; vi. 6; Jn. vi. 59; vii. 14; xviii. 20, and often in the Gospels; 1 Tim. ii. 12. b. to be a teacher (see διδάorodos, 6): Ro. xii. 7. ὁ. to discharge the office of teache» conduct one’s self as a teacher: 1 Co. iv. 17. 2. in (of which no well-attested example remains exc. one in Plut. Marcell. c. 12), with dat. of person : τῷ Βαλάκ, Rev. ii. 14 (ace. to the reading now generally accepted for the Rec.be#«lz τὸν Bad.) ; ef. B. 149 (130); W. 228 (209), ef. 227 (213). b. ace. to the regular use, with ace. of pers., to teach one: used of Jesus and the apostles…

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

διδάσκω. Like διδάσκαλος, διδάσκω is by no means so common as we might have expected; but from the instances we have noted we may select the following—P Lond 435 (ii/B.c.) (=I. p. 48), where a mother congratulates her son on having finished his education and being now in a position to earn his livelihood as a teacher—vty ye παραγενόμενος εἰς τὴν πόλιν διδάξεις... τὰ παιδάρια Kal ἕξεις ἐφόδιον εἰς τὸ γῆρας, Ρ. Oxy I. 408 (ii/ili A.p.), where a doctor practising muminification is asked—8(8afov τ[ὸ κατα]τῆκον, ‘‘ tell me what is the solvent’’ (Edd.), P Strass I. 418 (A.D. 250) περὶ δὲ οὗ δικάζομαι, διὰ βραχέων σε διδάξω, CP Herm 231.5 (a law report) ἡμεῖς ἃ ἐδειδά[χ]θ[η]μεν ὑπὸ τῆς λαμπρ... .1 ταῦτά σοι παρεθέμεθα, and 16. 2511: ἵνᾳ πάλιν σε διδάξωμεν' εἰ οὖν σοι δοκίεῖ) ἀκοῦσαι…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

διδάσκω (didaskō) — to teach.

δῐδάσκω,

Epic dialect infinitive -έμεναι and -έμεν, [Refs 8th c.BC+]: future διδάξω [Refs 4th c.BC+]: aorist ἐδίδαξα [Refs 8th c.BC+]: perfect δεδίδαχα [Refs 5th c.BC+] —middle, future διδάξομαι: aorist ἐδιδαξάμην:—passive, future διδαχθήσομαι [Refs 1st c.BC+]: aorist ἐδιδάχθην [Refs 6th c.BC+]: perfect δεδίδαγμαι [Refs 8th c.BC+] in causal sense:—instruct a person, or teach a thing, [Refs 8th c.BC+] they taught thee riding,[Refs 8th c.BC+]infinitive, σε διδάσκουσιν θεοὶ αὐτοὶ ὑψαγόρην ἔμεναι teach thee to be.., [Refs 8th c.BC+]infinitive only, δίδαξε γὰρ Ἄρτεμις αὐτὴ βάλλειν ἄγρια πάντα she taught how to shoot, [Refs 8th c.BC+]: without infinitive, πολλοὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς ῥήτορας διδάσκουσιν [Refs 5th c.BC+]: with an abstract subject, πολυμαθίη νόον οὐ διδάσκει [Refs 1st c.AD+]:—middle, teach oneself, learn, φθέγμα καὶ ἀστυνόμους ὀργὰς…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

διδάσκω

didasko

a prolonged (causative) form of a primary verb dao (to learn); to

teach (in the same broad application):--teach.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

διδάσκω

v.

I teach

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

διδάσκω didaskō 97x

to teach, Mt. 4:23; 22:16; to teach or speak in a public assembly, 1 Tim. 2:12; to direct, admonish, Mt. 28:15; Rom. 2:21

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

διδάσκω to teach (i. e. instruct) a person, or teach a thing, Hom., etc.: c. dupl. acc., σε . . ἱπποσύνας ἐδίδαξαν they taught thee riding, Il.; to teach one a thing, Hom., etc.; also, δ. τινὰ περί τινος Ar.:—c. acc. pers. et inf. to teach one to be so and so, Od.; c. inf. only, δίδαξε βάλλειν taught him how to shoot, Il.;—also with inf. omitted, διδάσκειν τινὰ ἱππέα [sc. εἶναι] to train one as a horseman, Plat.; so, δ. τινὰ σοφόν, κακόν Eur.:— Mid. to teach oneself, learn, Soph.: but the usual sense of the Mid. is to have another taught, of a father, to have his son taught, Plat., etc.:—Pass. to be taught, to learn, c. gen., διδασκόμενος πολέμοιο trained in war, Il.; also c. acc., id. Il., etc.; c. inf., δεδιδαγμένος εἶναι Hdt.; διδάσκεται λέγειν ἀκοῦσαί θ᾽…

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-API-2P — Verb · aorist · passive · indicative · second person · plural
aorist passive indicative — a completed action, viewed as a whole.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-API-2P Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Aorist Voice: Passive Mood: Indicative Person: second Number: Plural

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
42%teaching
teaching42% · 41×teach16% · 16×he was teaching11% · 11×taught4% · 4×you teach3% · 3×do teach3% · 3×you were taught2% · 2×may teach2% · 2×other renderings15% · 15×

97 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 22 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
verb97%adverbial3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 97 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
ἱερόςa templeἐλάχιστοςleast, smallest,ποιέωI do, make
αὐτός
στόμαthe mouth, speecπατρίςfatherlandπροσέρχομαιI come near, con
Article the
ἐκεῖθενthence, from thaδιάεἴτεand if, whether
ἄρχωI begin
καίand, even, also,πάλινagain, further, σάββατονthe Sabbath, a w
ἐγώ
σέβωI reverence, worπλατύςa street
διδάσκωyou were taught97×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
οὐNegεἰμίI am, existεὐαγγελίζωI bring good new
αὐτός
ἐνὡςas, like as, howArticle the
Article the
ἀρχιερεύςhigh priest, chiὄχλοςa crowdμαθητήςa learner, disci
ἐν
Article theεἷςoneΚαφαρναούμProp
σύ
ἐνδημόσιοςpublic, publiclyὅτιthat, since, bec

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

Concordanceδιδάσκω · 97× in the New Testament
Luke Mark Acts Matthew John 1 John 1 Timothy Colossians Romans 1 Corinthians Hebrews Revelation
Across the New Testament17 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 51 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Didache Polycarp The Shepherd of Hermas
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 2.76c. AD 40

τί δὲ δεῖ περὶ τῶν γαστρὸς ἡδονῶν διδάσκειν;

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.162c. AD 75–95

ἀδελφὸς αὐτῆς εἶναι προσεποιήσατο κἀκείνην τοῦθʼ ὑποκρίνασθαι, συμφέρειν γὰρ αὐτοῖς, ἐδίδαξεν.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 5.8c. AD 100

πέρας γέ τοι διδάσκων τὸν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ τηλικαῦτα τέρατα καὶ σημεῖα ποιῶν ἐκήρυσσεν, καὶ ὑπερηγάπησεν αὐτόν.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 4th c. AD 2nd c. AD 5th c. AD 3rd c. AD
C.Clergé 4 174Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 138–AD 161

μὴ κατηντηκέναι ἐπʼ αὐτόν. ὁ προγράφων τὸν νομὸν ἦξεν εἰς τὸ τὸν κατήγορον παραστάντα διδάξαι ἃ εἰσήνγειλεν, καὶ τὸ δόξαν σταθῆναι· ζητουμένου κατὰ τὰ γραφέντα καὶ περὶ τῶν

κοινωνίαν ἐχον … … … … τῶν τε καὶ πασῶν ποι … … … διδάσκειν αὐτοὺς ὑπὲρ συνα … … … … του δὲ εἰλικρινῶς καὶ

P. Oxy. 43 3117 VoOxyrhynchosAD 235

ἐπιόντας, ἐπεὶ δὲ τῷ … … ω ἐκέλευσας αὐτῷ ἀποκρίνασθαι, ἐκ δευτέρου ἔφη δεῖν διδάξαι τὸν ῥήτορα καὶ ἐπεὶ ἔμαθες ὅτι φυγοδικεῖ ἐκέλευσας, ἐὰν μὴ ἀποκρίνηται σήμερον καὶ κατὰ

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
εἴτεeite whether G1535 Conjunction
65× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Thessalonians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means 'whether' or 'if', used in conditions and questions, like in Matthew 11:14 and Romans 8:25. It helps us understand choices and possibilities in the Bible.
Amplified meaning
if, in the case that
Tyndale gloss
whether
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

εἴτε, v.s. εἰ.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

εἴτε (eite) — whether.

εἴτε,

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

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

Strong's Greek Dictionary

εἴτε

eite

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

see GREEK for 1487

see GREEK for 5037

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

εἴτε

Cj.

and if, whether

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

εἴτε eite 65x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
51%or
or51% · 33×whether32% · 21×if15% · 10×other renderings2% · 1×

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

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 65 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
ζωήlife
εἴτεand if, whetherδιά
θεόςGod, a god
λέγωI say, speakἐξίστημιI astonish, am a
δοῦλος (II)
εἴτεand if, whether
ἐγώ
οὖνtherefore, thenσῶμαbody, flesh
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
παράArticle the
εἴτεwhether65×
what comes after →
Article the
διδάσκωI teachπαρακαλέωI summon, entreaἐπί
διά
ζωήlifeθάνατοςdeathλόγοςa word, speech,
ἐν
σῶμαbody, fleshοὐρανόςthe sky, the hea
οὖνtherefore, then
ἐσθίωI eatἐγώ
δοῦλος (II)
εἴτεand if, whether

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

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

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.47c. AD 75–95

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
διὰdia through G1223 Preposition
667× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Thessalonians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Means through or because of, like in Matthew 2:12 where the wise men left by another route. It shows cause or occasion, as in 1 Corinthians 3:15, being saved through fire. It can also describe a state or condition, like in Romans.
Tyndale gloss
through/because of
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

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

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

c. gen., through;

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

διά (dia) — through/because of.

διά,

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

__A WITH GEN.

__A.I of Place or Space:

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

διά

dia

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

διά

Prep.

through, on account of

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

διά dia 667x

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

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Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

through.

WITH GEN.:

of Place or Space:

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

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

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

of Time:

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

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

PREP PREPosition

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

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

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 667 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
θεόςGod, a godπᾶςall, the whole, καυματίζωI burn, scorch
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakμαθητήςa learner, disciἐνώπιονbefore the face
θεόςGod, a god
Article theδέbut, on the otheσοφόςwise
σύ
ἐνπρόςδίδωμιI offer, give
ἐγώ
καίand, even, also,εἶπονI say, speakἐνώπιονbefore the face
διάthrough667×
what comes after →
Article the
λόγοςa word, speech, ὄνομαname, character,προφήτηςa prophet, poet
οὗτος
λέγωI say, speakArticle theκαίand, even, also,
ὅς
Article theαἰτίαa cause, reason,καίand, even, also,
αὐτός
Article theγίνομαιI come into beinκαίand, even, also,
τίςIrg
οὐNegArticle theμετά

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

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

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

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

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

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.4c. AD 75–95

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

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 14Pathyris101 BC

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

P.Amh. 2 51Pathyris89 BC

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

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
λόγουlogos word G3056 Noun · genitive · singular · masculine
331× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Thessalonians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
In the Bible, this word refers to a message or idea expressed through words, like in Matthew 8:8 and Luke 7:7. It's not just a single word, but a whole thought or concept. Jesus used this word to teach about God's kingdom.
Amplified meaning
word, oral instruction
Tyndale gloss
word
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

λόγος (logos) is a Greek word meaning 'word' or 'speech,' derived from the verb λέγω (lego). It encompasses a range of meanings including a saying, statement, discourse, or even the inward thought itself. In the New Testament, it often refers to the word of God or teachings, appearing in verses like Matthew 8:8 and John 1:1. The lexicons do not show significant disagreement regarding its meanings.

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

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

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

λόγος, -ου, ὁ (< λέγω),

[in LXX chiefly for

דָּבָר, also for אֵמֶר, מִלָּה, etc.;]

Of that by which the inward thought is expressed, Lat. oratio, sermo, vox, verbum.

a word, not in the grammatical sense of a mere name (ἔπος, ὄνομα, ῥῆμα), but a word as embodying a conception or idea: Mt 8:8, Lk 7:7, I Co 14:9, 19, He 12:19, al.

a saying, statement, declaration: Mt 19:22 (T om.), Mk 5:36 7:29, Lk 1:29, Jo 2:22 6:60, Ac…

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

λόγος, -ov, 6, (λέγω), [fr. Hom. down], Sept. esp. for 425, also for 798 and 799; prop. ὦ collecting, collection, (see Aéyw), —and that, as well of those things which are put together in thought, as of those which, having been thought i. e. gathered together in the mind, are expressed in words. Accordingly, a twofold use of the term is to be distinguished: one which relates to speaking, and one which relates to thinking. I. As respects SPEECH: 1. a word, yet not in the grammatical sense (i. q. vocabulum, the mere name of an object), but language, voz, i. e. a word which, uttered by the living voice, embodies a conception or idea; (hence it differs from ῥῆμα and ἔπος [q. v.; cf. also λαλέω, ad init.]): Heb. xii. 19; ἀποκριθῆναι λόγον, Mt. xxii. 46; εἰπεῖν λόγῳ, Mt. viii. 8 [Rec. λόγον (cf. εἶπον, 3 a. fin.)]; Lk. vii. 7; λαλῆσαι πέντε, μυρίους, λόyous, 1 Co. xiv. 19; διδόναι λόγον…

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

λόγος “Λόγον διδόναι with reference to judgment, as in Rom 14!2, occurs in such a passage as BGU I. 164?! (ii/iii A.D.) ὡς σοῦ μέλλοντος λόγον διδόναι τῷ λαμπροτάτῳ ἡγεμόνι, and λόγον ἀποδιδόναι (cf. Mt 1255, Lk 162, Heb 1.317} in 20. 98% (a.p. 211) κελεῦσαι αὐτὸν ἀχθῆναι ἐπὶ σὲ λόγον ἀποδώσοντα περὶ See also the Christianized imprecations against violators of tombs cited by Ramsay (Zzke, p- 396), one probably from Lycaonia and belonging to iv/a.p., /HS xxii. (1902), p. 354 ὃς δ᾽ ἐὰν ἐπισβιάσητε, δώσει θεῷ λόγον, “‘whosoever shall force an entrance, shall give account to God,”” and another from Laodicea, Athen. Mitthetl. xiii. Pp. 249 (¢. A.D. 400) ἤ τις δ᾽ ἕτερον ἐπενβάλῃ τῷ τάφῳ κριτῇ τῷ ζῶντι λόγον ἔνδικον πο[ι]ή[σει, ‘and if any one shall lay another in the tomb, he shall render judicial account to the | living Judge.”’ tions, p. 56), where so much is paid εἰς λόγον διατροφῆς, | “το…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

λόγος (logos) — word.

λόγος, ὁ,

verbal noun of λέγω (B), with senses corresponding to λέγω (B) II and III (on the various senses of the word see [Refs 2nd c.AD+] 111, compareinfr. VI. 1 a:

I. computation, reckoning (compare λέγω (B) II).

I.1. account of money handled, σανίδες εἰς ἃς τὸν λ. ἀναγράφομεν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; συνᾶραι λόγον μετά τινος settle accounts with, [NT]; δεύτεροι λ. a second audit, [Refs 4th c.AD+]; ὁ τραπεζιτικὸς λ. banking account, Theo Sm.p.73 H.: metaphorically, οὐκ ἂν πριαίμην οὐδενὸς λ. βροτόν [Refs 5th c.BC+]

I.1. b public accounts, i. e. branch of treasury, ἴδιος λ., in Egypt, [Refs]; also as title of treasurer, [Refs 1st c.BC+]; δημόσιος λ., = Latin fiscus, [Refs 1st c.AD+], etc. (but later, = aerarium, [Refs 4th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

λόγος

logos

from 3004; something said (including the thought); by implication, a

topic (subject of discourse), also reasoning (the mental faculty) or

motive; by extension, a computation; specially, (with the article in

John) the Divine Expression (i.e. Christ):--account, cause,

communication, X concerning, doctrine, fame, X have to do, intent,

matter, mouth, preaching, question, reason, + reckon, remove,

say(-ing), shew, X speaker, speech, talk, thing, + none of these

things move me, tidings, treatise, utterance, word, work.

see GREEK for 3004

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

λόγος, ου, ὁ

n.m.

a word, speech, divine utterance, analogy

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

λόγος logos 330x

a word, a thing uttered, Mt. 12:32, 37; 1 Cor. 14:19; speech, language, talk, Mt. 22:15; Lk. 20:20; 2 Cor. 10:10; Jas. 3:2; converse, Lk. 24:17; mere talk, wordy show, 1 Cor. 4:19, 20; Col. 2:23; 1 Jn. 3:18; language, mode of discourse, style of speaking, Mt. 5:37; Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

λόγος λόγος, ὁ, λέγω3 (A) the word or that by which the inward thought is expressed, Lat. oratio; and, (B) the inward thought itself, Lat. ratio.

Lat. vox, oratio, that which is said or spoken:

a word, pl. words, i. e. language, talk, Hom., etc.; λόγου ἕνεκα, Lat. dicis causa, merely for talking's sake, Plat.; λόγῳ in word, in pretence, opp. to ἔργῳ (in deed, in reality), Hdt., attic

a word, saying, statement, Thuc.: an oracle, Pind., Plat.:— a saying, maxim, proverb, Pind., Aesch.

an assertion, promise, Soph.

a resolution, κοινῷ λ. by common consent, Hdt.

a condition, ἐπὶ λόγῳ τοιῷδε id. Hdt.

a command, Aesch.

speech, discourse, conversation, εἰς λόγους ἐλθεῖν, συνελθεῖν, ἀφικέσθαι τινί Hdt., attic; λόγου μεῖζον, κρεῖσσον beyond expression, Hdt., Thuc.; λόγου ἄξιον worth mention…

Read the full entry →
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
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

wurd: The commonest term in the Old Testament for "word" is dabhar (also "matter" "thing"); in the New Testament logos ("reason," "discourse," "speech"); but also frequently rhema. Rhema is a "word" in itself considered; logos is a spoken word, with reference generally to that which is in the speaker's mind. Some of the chief applications of the terms may thus be exhibited:

(1) We have the word of Yahweh (or God; see below)

(a) as the revelation to the patriarch, prophet, or inspired person (Ge 15:1; Ex 20:1; Nu 22:38, etc.);

(b) as spoken forth by the prophet (Ex 4:30; 34:1; 2Ki 7:1;

One of the titles of the second person of the Trinity, indicating perhaps that by his acts and teachings God is revealed, somewhat as thought is by words, 1Jo 1:1 5:7 Re 19:13. "The word of the Lord" was a common phrase in the Old Testament, always denoting some revelation of Jehovah. Long before the coming of Christ, the Jewish paraphrasts of the Bible used "The Word" in the passage where Jehovah occurred in the original; and the term was familiar to Jewish writers as the name of a divine being, the Son of God.

To show its true meaning and its application to our Savior, was of great importance to John, the last of the inspired writers, in whose later years certain errors as to the person of Christ, borrowed from Eastern philosophy, had begun to creep into the Christian church. He describes "The Word" as a personal and divine Being…

Nave's Topical Bible

→ A title of Jesus Joh 1:1,14; 1Jo 5:7; Re 19:13

→ See JESUS, NAMES OF

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
59%word
word59% · 196×words17% · 57×account3% · 10×speech3% · 10×saying3% · 9×other renderings6% · 21×other renderings9% · 29×

332 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 29 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
object45%adverbial25%subject23%predicate4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 331 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
ἀκούωI hear, listenκαίand, even, also,διά
ἐν
παγιδεύωI ensnare, entraαὐτόςδυνατόςpowerful, able,
αὐτός
Article theἀποκρίνομαιI answer, replyπερί
διά
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existμήτεNeg
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theἄλλοςother, another,
λόγοςword331×
what comes after →
Article the
θεόςGod, a godκύριοςlord, Lord, mastπροφητείαprophecy
οὗτος
Article theκαίand, even, also,λέγωI say, speak
καίand, even, also, nam
πᾶςall, the whole, ἰάομαιI healἄκαρποςunfruitful, barr
ἐγώ
οὐNegτηρέωI keep, guard, oὅστις
ὅς
λέγωI say, speakλαλέωI speak, sayἀκούωI hear, listen

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

Concordanceλόγος · 331× in the New Testament
Acts John Luke Matthew Mark Revelation 1 Corinthians Hebrews 1 Thessalonians 2 Corinthians 1 Timothy 2 Timothy

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 536 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas 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 6.17c. AD 100

ὅτι πρῶτον τὸ παιδίον μέλιτι, εἶτα γάλακτι ζωοποιεῖται: οὕτως οὖν καὶ ἡμεῖς τῇ πίστει τῆς ἐπαγγελίας καὶ τῷ λόγῳ ζωοποιούμενοι ζήσομεν κατακυριεύοντες τῆς γῆς.

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

ἔτους λε Μεσορὴ ἰδίου λόγου Δρύτωνος. ἐκ τῆς νήσου πρὸς Λαμένθιν δέδωκα πυροῦ ιδ κριθῆς β ἐμβαδικὸν δραχμὰς λ

P.Grenf. 1 22Thebais119 BC

Μοσχίων Πετεαρσένθει χαίρειν. ἔχω εἰς τὸν Ἑρμίου λόγον περὶ πῆς τοπογραμματείας τοῦ νγ ἔτους χαλκοῦ τάλαντα δέκα. γίνεται τάλαντα ι. καὶ περὶ

P.Grenf. 2 26Pathyris104 BC

Ἑλληνικῶν ἃ ἐξέτεισε Παοῦς ὁ Ὥρου πατὴρ καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς Ὧρος εἰς τὸν Ταρεήσιος λόγον τῆς αὐτοῦ μητρὸς τοῖς δανεισταῖς Χαιρήμωνι καὶ Ἐσθλαδᾷ καὶ Πνήφει γυναικὶ καὶ ἀδελφῇ· καὶ

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
εἴτεeite or G1535 Conjunction
65× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Thessalonians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means 'whether' or 'if', used in conditions and questions, like in Matthew 11:14 and Romans 8:25. It helps us understand choices and possibilities in the Bible.
Tyndale gloss
whether
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

εἴτε, v.s. εἰ.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

εἴτε (eite) — whether.

εἴτε,

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

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

Strong's Greek Dictionary

εἴτε

eite

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

see GREEK for 1487

see GREEK for 5037

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

εἴτε

Cj.

and if, whether

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

εἴτε eite 65x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
51%or
or51% · 33×whether32% · 21×if15% · 10×other renderings2% · 1×

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

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 65 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
ζωήlife
εἴτεand if, whetherδιά
θεόςGod, a god
λέγωI say, speakἐξίστημιI astonish, am a
δοῦλος (II)
εἴτεand if, whether
ἐγώ
οὖνtherefore, thenσῶμαbody, flesh
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
παράArticle the
εἴτεor65×
what comes after →
Article the
διδάσκωI teachπαρακαλέωI summon, entreaἐπί
διά
ζωήlifeθάνατοςdeathλόγοςa word, speech,
ἐν
σῶμαbody, fleshοὐρανόςthe sky, the hea
οὖνtherefore, then
ἐσθίωI eatἐγώ
δοῦλος (II)
εἴτεand if, whether

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

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

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.47c. AD 75–95

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
δι᾽dia through G1223 Preposition
667× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Thessalonians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Means through or because of, like in Matthew 2:12 where the wise men left by another route. It shows cause or occasion, as in 1 Corinthians 3:15, being saved through fire. It can also describe a state or condition, like in Romans.
Tyndale gloss
through/because of
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

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

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

c. gen., through;

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

διά (dia) — through/because of.

διά,

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

__A WITH GEN.

__A.I of Place or Space:

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

διά

dia

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

διά

Prep.

through, on account of

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

διά dia 667x

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

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Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

through.

WITH GEN.:

of Place or Space:

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

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

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

of Time:

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

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

PREP PREPosition

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

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

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 667 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
θεόςGod, a godπᾶςall, the whole, καυματίζωI burn, scorch
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakμαθητήςa learner, disciἐνώπιονbefore the face
θεόςGod, a god
Article theδέbut, on the otheσοφόςwise
σύ
ἐνπρόςδίδωμιI offer, give
ἐγώ
καίand, even, also,εἶπονI say, speakἐνώπιονbefore the face
διάthrough667×
what comes after →
Article the
λόγοςa word, speech, ὄνομαname, character,προφήτηςa prophet, poet
οὗτος
λέγωI say, speakArticle theκαίand, even, also,
ὅς
Article theαἰτίαa cause, reason,καίand, even, also,
αὐτός
Article theγίνομαιI come into beinκαίand, even, also,
τίςIrg
οὐNegArticle theμετά

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

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

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

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

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

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.4c. AD 75–95

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

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 14Pathyris101 BC

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

P.Amh. 2 51Pathyris89 BC

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

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
ἐπιστολῆςepistolē letter G1992 Noun · genitive · singular · feminine
24× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Thessalonians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word refers to a written message, like a letter, as seen in Acts 9:2 and 1 Corinthians 5:9. It is about sending a note or a formal letter. The New Testament includes many epistles, including those written by Paul.
Amplified meaning
epistle, written message
Tyndale gloss
epistle
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἐπιστολή (i.e., *epistolē*) means a letter or message, often used in the context of written communication. It encompasses both informal letters and formal commands, appearing frequently in the New Testament, such as in Acts and Corinthians. The word is derived from ἐπιστέλλω and reflects a range of uses, including official documents and letters of commendation.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐπι-στολή, -ῆς, ἡ

(< ἐπιατέλλω),

[in LXX for אִגֶּרֶת, etc.; freq. in Mac ;]

a message.

a letter, an epistle: Ac 9:2, I Co 5:9, al.; pl., Ac 22:5, I Co 16:3, al.; ἐ. σνστατικαί, II Co 3:1 (cf. Milligan, NTD, 254 f.). (On the NT ἐπιστολαί, cf. Milligan, Th., 121 ff.; NTD, 85 ff.; Deiss., BS, 3 ff.; St. Paul, 8 ff.)

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

ἐπι-στολή, -ῆς, ἡ, (ἐπιστέλλω), a letter, epistle: Acts xv. 30; Ro. xvi. 22; 1 Co. v. 9, ete.; plur., Acts ix. 2; 2Co. x. 10, ete.; ἐπιστολαὶ συστατικαί, letters of commendation, 2 Co. iii. 1 [W. 176 (165). On the possible use of the plur. of this word interchangeably with the sing. (cf. Thom. Mag. ed. Ritschl p. 113, 8), see Bp. Lghtft. and Meyer on Phil. iii. 1. (Eur., Thue., al.)] -

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

ἐπιστολή. Preisigke in his Fachwérter, p. 90, has classified various more or less technical usages of this common word. Thus in P Amh II, 6419 (a.p. 107) the copy of an official letter addressed to the strategus with reference to the public baths of Hermopolis is headed—avrtypadov ἐπιστολῆς, and in P Hamb I. 18 4-6 (a.p, 222) a συνκολ(λήσιμον) is mentioned αὐθ(εντικῶν) ἐπιστολ(ῶν) kal βιβλ(ιδίων) ὑποκεκολ(λημένων). In BGU IV. 1046%1-5 (not before A.D. 166) (= Chrest. I. p. 315) we learn that the persons selected for certain public duties were appointed by the epistrategus—8u’ ἐπιστολ(ῆς) κομισθι(είσης) καὶ προγρα(φείσης) (*‘ openly placarded up”’) ; while in Chvest. I. 2616 (a.p. 135) a petition, instead of being lodged in the usual way as a ὑπόμνημα, takes the form of an ἐπιστολή : see Wilcken’s note ad 7. In BGU IV. 11357 (prob. B.C. 10) κατὰ] νομογραφικὴν ἐπιστ[ολήν, the word is = ‘‘…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐπιστολή (epistolē) — epistle.

ἐπιστολ-ή, ἡ,

(ἐπιστέλλω) anything sent by a messenger, message, order, commission, whether verbal or in writing, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐξ ἐπιστολῆς by command, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: used by Trag. always in plural, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Πενθέως ἐπιστολαῖς by his commands, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τέκνων ἐπιστολὰς ἔγραψεν commands about her children, [Refs]

2. letter, ἐ. διαπέμπειν, ἀποδοῦναι, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; πέμπειν τινί [Refs 5th c.BC+]: in plural of one letter, like{γράμματα}, Latin litterae, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὁ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν.. τοῦ Ὄθωνος, Latin ab epistulis Othoni, his secretary, [Refs 1st c.AD+]; νομογραφικὴ ἐ. [Refs 1st c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐπιστολή

epistole

from 1989; a written message:--"epistle," letter.

see GREEK for 1989

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐπιστολή, ῆς, ἡ

n.f.

a letter, dispatch, epistle

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐπιστολή epistolē 24x

word sent; an order, command; an epistle, letter, Acts 9:2; 15:30

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐπιστολή ἐπιστολή, ἡ, ἐπιστέλλω a message, command, commission, whether verbal or in writing, Hdt., attic; ἐξ ἐπιστολῆς by command, Hdt.

a letter, Lat. epistola, Thuc., etc.

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

let'-er.

See EPISTLE.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Letter

In Rom. 2:27, 29 means the outward form. The “oldness of the letter” (7:6) is a phrase which denotes the old way of literal outward obedience to the law as a system of mere external rules of conduct. In 2 Cor. 3:6, “the letter” means the Mosaic law as a written law. (See WRITING.)

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
67%letter
letter67% · 16×letters33% · 8×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
object38%adverbial38%subject17%predicate8%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 24 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
ἐνὅτιthat, since, becδιά
διά
δοκιμάζωI put to the tesλόγοςa word, speech, μήτεNeg
γράφωI write
σύ
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
ἐν
αὐτός
παρά
ἐπιστολήletter24×
what comes after →
ἐν
κύριοςlord, Lord, mastὅς
οὗτος
πέμπωI sendσημειόωI note
ἐγώ
σύ
εἰς
ΔαμασκόςDamascus
δέχομαιI take, receive, acc
πρός

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

Concordanceἐπιστολή · 24× in the New Testament
2 Corinthians Acts 2 Thessalonians 1 Corinthians 2 Peter 1 Thessalonians Colossians Romans
Across the New Testament8 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 11 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch Polycarp
Philo of AlexandriaEvery Good Man is Free 96c. AD 40

μηνύει δὲ ἡ πεμφθεῖσα ἐπιστολὴ τῷ βασιλεῖ·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 7.136c. AD 75–95

ταῦτα γράψας καὶ σημηνάμενος τῇ αὑτοῦ σφραγῖδι τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἔδωκεν Οὐρίᾳ κομίσαι πρὸς Ἰώαβον.

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 47.1c. AD 96

Ἀναλάβετε τὴν ἐπιστολὴν τοῦ μακαρίου Παύλου τοῦ ἀποστόλου.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. BC 3rd c. AD 1st c. AD 2nd c. BC
P.Edg. $1Karien258 BC

r Ἀπολλόδοτος Χαρμίδει χαίρειν· ὑπογέγραφά σοι τῶν πρὸς Ξάνθιππον ἐπιστολῶν τὰ ἀντίγραφα. ἐντυχὼν οὖν αὐτῶι καὶ περὶ τῶν Βυξε δραχμῶν εἴδησον πῶς βούλεται οἰκονομῆσαι,

P.Grenf. 1 11Arsinoites182 BC

αὐτῶν ανενεγκεῖν ἐπὶ σὲ τὰ συγκεκριμένα τοῦ δὲ Πεχύτου γράψαντός σοι διὰ τῆς ὑποκειμένης ἐπιστολης καταστάντας ἐν Κροκοδίλων πόλει παρόντος Δημητρίου τοῦ φρουράρχου, Ἀσκληπιάδου ὑπηρέτου, Πολιάνθου Ψεμμίνιος τοῦ Πατοῦτος

P.Grenf. 1 30Pathyris104 BC

προστάτην τοῦ μεγίστου θεοῦ Νεχθφαραῦτος βεα … ρων … δια … στρατιωτῶν … τὴν ἐπιστολὴν … ντες, οἷς καὶ ἐντετάλμεθα ἀσπάσεσθαι ὑμᾶς παρʼ ἡμῶν φιλοφρόνως καὶ διὰ γραμμάτων ἐκρίναμεν

So then, brothers, do stand firm and do hold fast to the traditions that you were taught whether through word or through letter from us.
ἡμῶν.egō from us. G3165 Personal pronoun · first person · genitive · plural
1,872× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
In plain English
Tyndale gloss
I/we
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐγώ, gen, etc., ἐμοῦ, ἐμοί, ἐμέ (enclitic μου, μοι, με), pl. ἡμεῖς, -ῶν, -ῖν, -ᾶς,

pers. pron.

I.

The nom. is usually emphatic, when expressed as subjc, as in Mt 3:11, Mk 1:8, Lk 3:16, al. But often there is no apparent emphasis, as Mt 10:16, Jo 10:17; ἰδοὺ ἐ. (= Heb. הִנֵּנִי, cf. I Ki 3:8), Ac 9:10; ἐ. (like Heb. אֲנִי), I am, Jo 1:23 (LXX), Ac 7:32 (LXX).

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

ἐγώ, gen. ἐμοῦ, enclitic pod; dat. ἐμοί, enclitic μοί; acc. ἐμέ, enclitic μέ; plur. ἡμεῖς, ete.; personal pronoun, J. 1. The nominatives ἐγώ and ἡμεῖς, when joined to a verb, generally have force and emphasis, or indicate antithesis, as Mt. iii. 11; Mk.i. 8; Lk. iii. 16 (ἐγὼ pev... ὁ δέ); Mt. iii. 14 (ἐγὼ... ἔχω, καὶ σύν ; V. 22, 28, 39, and often; ἡμεῖς, contrasted with God, Mt. vi. 12; ἡμεῖς x. of Φαρισαῖοι, Mt. ix. 14; cf. W. § 22,6. But sometimes they are used where there is no emphasis or antithesis in them, as Mt. x. 16; Jn. x. 17; and in many edd. in Mk. i. 2; Lk. vii. 27; οἵ. B. §129, 12. ἰδοὺ ἐγώ, 1397, behold me, hereamT: Acts ix.10 (1S. iii. 8). ἐγώ, like 38, Jam: Jn. i. 23; Acts vii. 32, [ef. W.585 (544); B. 125 (109)]. 2. The enclitic (and monosyllabic) gen., dat., and ace. are connected with nouns, verbs, adverbs, but not with prepositions: ἔμπροσθέν pov, Jn. i. 15; ὀπίσω…

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

ἐγώ. Deissmann (ZAZ p. 134 ff.) has drawn attention to the parallels to the solemn use of the first personal pronoun in the Fourth Gospel that may be adduced from inscriptions and magical texts. Thus in an inscr. in honour of Isis from Ios, written in ii/iii A.p., the contents of which are preChristian, we find —Elows ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ τ[ύρανν]ος πάσης χόρας.. ἐγὼ νόμους ἀνθρώποις ἐθέμην . . ἐγώ εἰμι Kpdvov θυγάτηρ πρεσβυτάτη α΄. And similarly in the magical papyrus P Lond 4645 (iv/a.p.) (=I. p. 69) ἐγώ εἰμι ὃ ἀκέφαλος δαίμων . . ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀλήθεια ὁ μεισῶν ἀδικήματα γείνεσθαι ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ α΄. With the construction of the phrase τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί ; in Jn 24 we may compare BGU IV. 1141°8 (n.c. 14) ἐδίδουν αὐτῷ διαστολὰς μηδὲν αὐτῶι καὶ ἐκείνωι εἶναι : for its meaning see Ε΄. C. Burkitt in 77:5 xiii. p- 594f., where it is rendered, ‘‘ What have I and thou to do with that ?” On the difficult…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μέ (me) — me.

ἐγώ,

I: pronoun of the first person:—Epic dialect mostly ἐγών before vowels (so in Doric dialect, before consonants, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Boeotian dialect ἱών [Refs 2nd c.AD+]:— strengthened ἔγωγε, I at least, for my part, indeed, for myself (more frequently in Attic dialect than in [Refs 8th c.BC+]: Doric dialect ἐγώνγα [Refs 7th c.BC+]: Boeotian dialect ἱώνγα [Refs 6th c.BC+]; ἱώνει [Refs]; ἰώγα [Refs 5th c.BC+]: Laconian dialect and Tarentum dialect ἐγώνη, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

II. oblique cases from a different root, genitive ἐμοῦ, enclitic μο; Ionic dialect and Epic dialect ἐμέο, ἐμεῦ, μευ, also ἐμέθεν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Aeolic dialect ἔμεθεν [Refs 7th c.BC+]; Doric dialect ἐμέος, ἐμεῦς, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Boeotian dialect ἐμοῦς [Refs 6th c.BC+] — _dative_ ἐμοί, enclitic μοι (which may be compared with Sanskrit…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐγώ

me

a shorter (and probably originally) from of 1691; me:--I, me, my.

see GREEK for 1691

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐγώ egō 2x

I, gen., ἐμοῦ [μου], dat., ἐμοί [μοι], acc., ἐμέ [με]

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Pron-1GP — Personal pronoun · first person · genitive · plural
genitive — of, from, belonging to.
Agrees with anything else marked plural.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

P-1GP Part of Speech: Personal pronoun Person: first Case: Genitive Number: Plural

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

US, pronoun objective case of we.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Us , pron. [OE. us, AS. s; akin to OFries. & OS. s, D. ons, G. uns, Icel. & Sw. oss, Dan. os, Goth. uns, L. nos we, us, Gr. we, Skr. nas us. . Cf. Nostrum, Our.] The persons speaking, regarded as an object; ourselves; — the objective case of we. See We. “Tell us a tale.” Chaucer.

Give us this day our daily bread. Matt. vi. 11.

Us, pron. oblique case of we

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
35%us
us35% · 717×me32% · 644×mine20% · 402×we ourselves6% · 124×my2% · 45×other renderings5% · 97×

2,029 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 27 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

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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