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2 Timothy 2:24 — Word Study

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N1904δοῦλον δὲ κυρίου οὐ δεῖ μάχεσθαι ἀλλ᾽ ἤπιον εἶναι πρὸς πάντας, διδακτικόν, ἀνεξίκακον,

BSA[The] bond-servantdoulos [slave, bond servant] nowde of [the] Lordkurios [God, Master] notou it behoovesdei to quarrelmachomai [strive, contentious] butalla gentleēpios [gentle, mild] to beeimi towardpros all,pas [all men, all people] able to teach,didaktikos [apt to teach, skilled in instruction] forbearing,anexikakos [patient, not resentful]

Word
Listen & take away2 Timothy 2
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 24 is in this chapter.
Say the word Each Greek word carries its transliteration (anexikakos) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
2 Timothy 2:24quick helps
In a sentenceA servant of the Lord is called to be kind and patient, avoiding quarrels.
Who is speakingThe Apostle Paul, instructing Timothy on the character of a church leader.
Where we areIn a section addressing the behavior expected of those in service to the Lord.
The hard wordδοῦλον
Take awayA servant's demeanor reflects their commitment to God.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause verbδεῖ The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
How rare are these words?in the New Testament

1 of 13 occurs nowhere else in the New Testament — a word chosen on purpose.

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

Deep Study — 2 Timothy 2:24

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 — Instructions for Servants of the Lordgenerated

23But reject foolish and ignorant speculation, for you know that it breeds quarreling.
24And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.
25He must gently reprove those who oppose him, in the hope that God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.
26Then they will come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive to his will.

2 Timothy 2:24 emphasizes the qualities that a servant of the Lord should embody. Paul instructs Timothy to avoid quarrels and to be kind, able to teach, and patient. This guidance is crucial for maintaining peace and effectiveness in ministry, as seen in the surrounding verses that discuss the importance of rejecting foolish arguments and gently correcting opponents, leading them towards repentance.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
1Deuteronomy 34:5So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, as the LORD had said.
2Joshua 1:1Now after the death of His servant Moses, the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying,
32 Chronicles 24:6So the king called Jehoiada the high priest and said, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the LORD and by the assembly of Israel for the Tent of the Testimony?”
4Daniel 6:20When he reached the den, he cried out in a voice of anguish, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
51 Timothy 6:11But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

The Key Wordgenerated

The word δοῦλος (doulos) means a bond-servant or slave, indicating a person in a state of subjection to another. It reflects a relationship of servitude, where the servant is under the authority of their master, in this case, the Lord.

In the New Testament, this term appears frequently, highlighting the role of believers as servants of Christ. The parsing indicates it is a masculine noun in the accusative case, suggesting it functions as the direct object in the sentence.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The verse is rendered in the Berean Standard Bible as: 'And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.' Other translations, such as the KJV and ASV, use similar language with slight variations.

Where translations differ, they do so in the rendering of specific Greek words. For example, δοῦλον is translated as 'servant' in most versions, while the NETB opts for 'slave'. The word μάχεσθαι is rendered as 'strive' in some versions and 'quarrel' in others.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main finite verb in the verse is δεῖ, meaning 'it is necessary'. This governs the entire sentence, which includes several clauses describing the qualities of the servant.

The structure includes a main clause stating the necessity for the servant's behavior, followed by subordinate clauses that detail the characteristics expected: not quarrelsome, kind, able to teach, and forbearing.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

δοῦλος corresponds to the Hebrew עֶ֫בֶד (ebed), meaning 'slave' or 'servant'. This term is used throughout the Septuagint to express servitude in various contexts, emphasizing the relationship between a master and their servant.

The concept of servanthood is prevalent in the Old Testament, where figures like Moses and David are described as servants of the Lord, illustrating the honor and responsibility associated with this title.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

2 Timothy 2:24 teaches that a servant of the Lord should not engage in arguments but should be kind and patient with everyone. This verse highlights the importance of having a gentle and teaching spirit, especially when dealing with others.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean to be a servant of the Lord?

Being a servant of the Lord means dedicating oneself to God's work and embodying qualities like kindness, patience, and the ability to teach others.

Why should a servant not be quarrelsome?

A servant should not be quarrelsome because it undermines their ability to effectively minister and teach others, creating conflict instead of harmony.

What does it mean to be forbearing?

To be forbearing means to be patient and not hold grudges, especially in difficult situations, reflecting the grace of God in one's interactions with others.

How can I be more kind and patient like this verse suggests?

Practicing active listening, showing empathy, and responding with grace can help cultivate kindness and patience in your interactions with others.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. In what situations do I find it challenging to be patient and kind?
  2. How can I apply the qualities of a servant of the Lord in my daily life?
  3. What steps can I take to avoid being quarrelsome in my conversations?
  4. How can I better support others in their learning and growth?

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

Early church writers reflect on the qualities of a servant of the Lord, drawing from this verse to emphasize the importance of patience and gentleness in ministry.

Ignatius of AntiochEpistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians c. 35–108
And pray ye without ceasing in behalf of other men; for there is hope of the repentance, that they may attain to God. For "cannot he that falls arise again, and he that goes astray return?" Permit them, then, to be instructed by you.
Early Church Fathers on 2 Timothy 2 →
CyprianEpistle LXXIII c. 200–258
But it happens, by a love of presumption and of obstinacy, that one would rather maintain his own evil and false position, than agree in the right and true which belongs to another.
Early Church Fathers on 2 Timothy 2 →
Pope Zephyrinus d. 217
For unjust judgments are to be guarded against by all, especially however by the servants of God. "And the servant of the Lord must not strive".
Early Church Fathers on 2 Timothy 2 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on 2 Timothy 2:24 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

And the servant of the Lord must not strive,.... By "the servant of the Lord" is not meant any believer in common, but a minister of the word, as Timothy was; such an one ought not to strive about

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

And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, Not strive.

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

He that is the servant of the Lord in the work of the ministry, must not macesyai, fight or strive; he must neither be a striker nor a brawler, neither fight with his hands nor his tongue. But be gentle unto all men; but show himself to all courteous, of a soft temper, meek and gentle. Apt to teach, patient: see the notes on ,3.

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

24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, Ver. 24. Must not strive] μαχεσθαι, scold, wrangle, Ne rixando amittatur veritas, ut fere fit, lest by striving about the truth we utterly lose it. Facta est fides Evangeliorum, fides temporum, et cum fides una esse debeat, eo pene ventum est ut nulla sit. A sad complaint of Hilary. Erasmus observeth, that in the primitive times there were so many sects and heresies, and so much pretending to the truth by them all, that it was a witty thing to be a right believer. A late writer complaineth, that a Christian now is not the same thing as formerly. Our heads are so big (like children that have…

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

(24) And the servant of the Lord must not strive.—Although these directions and commandments in all cases belong to God’s servants of every degree and calling, yet some of them, as we should expect from the nature of the Epistle, peculiarly apply to Timothy and those like Timothy specially devoted to the ministry of the Word. And so here everything which is likely to be the cause of strife, heart-burning, or hot words, is, St. Paul urges, singularly out of place in the life of a servant of that Lord who fulfilled to the letter that Isaiah prophecy of Messiah, “He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets.” (See Matthew 12:19-20.) But be gentle unto all…

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

Verse 24. The servant of the Lord must not strive] See on 1 Timothy 3:2; 1 Timothy 3:3.

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

24. And the servant of the Lord] The conjunction here is exactly parallel in its force to ‘and follow after’ in 2 Timothy 2:22. ‘The servant,’ not ‘a servant,’ the emphatic position of ‘servant’ at the beginning is best rendered by the definite article. ‘Servant,’ that is, ‘bondservant’ or ‘slave,’ the title by which St Paul frequently describes himself as ‘a minister of Christ.’ Cf. Titus 1:1.gentle] The word only occurs in N.T. here and 1 Thessalonians 2:7, denoting ‘an outward mildness and gentleness, especially in bearing with others,’ Ellicott; who connects it with one of the Greek roots for ‘speak,’ so that it would have originally meant ‘kind of speech.’apt to teach] See 1 Timothy…

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

And the servant of the Lord - Referring here primarily to the Christian minister, but applicable to all Christians; for all profess to be the servants of the Lord.

Read Albert Barnes on 2 Timothy 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

And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all, able to teach, patient,

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.

NETBNew English Translation2006

And the Lord’s slave must not engage in heated disputes but be kind toward all, an apt teacher, patient,

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

And the Lord’s servant must not strive, but be gentle towards all, apt to teach, forbearing,

RVARevised Version, American1894

And the Lord’s servant must not strive, but be gentle towards all, apt to teach, forbearing,

NWBWebster's Bible1833

And the servant of the Lord must not contend; but be gentle to all men , apt to teach, patient,

GNVGeneva Bible1599

But the seruant of ye Lord must not striue, but must be gentle toward all men, apt to teache, suffering the euill,

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

And a bondman of [the] Lord ought not to contend, but be gentle towards all; apt to teach; forbearing;

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

and a servant of the Lord it behoveth not to strive, but to be gentle unto all, apt to teach, patient under evil,

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

and a servant of the LORD must not quarrel, but to be gentle to all, apt to teach, patient under evil,

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

The Lord's servant must not quarrel. Instead he must be gentle toward all, able to teach, and patient.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

But the servant of the Lord must not wrangle: but be mild towards all men, apt to teach, patient,

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

For the Lord's minister must not fight, but be kind to everyone, able to teach, patient,

BBEBible in Basic English1949

For it is not right for the Lord's servant to make trouble, but he is to be gentle to all, ready in teaching, putting up with wrong,

Word by word, the decisions they made

δοῦλονdoulos [The] bond-servant G1401 2 different renderings
servantASV BBE BSB DRA KJV LSV MSB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
slaveNETB
μάχεσθαιmachomai to quarrel G3164 2 different renderings
striveASV KJV RVA YLT
quarrelLSV ULB WEB
ἤπιονēpios gentle G2261 2 different renderings
gentleASV BBE DBY GNV KJV LSV NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
mildDRA
πάντας,pas all, G3956 3 different renderings
allASV BBE DBY LSV NETB RVA ULB WEB YLT
all menDRA GNV KJV NWB
everyoneBSB FBV MSB
διδακτικόν,didaktikos able to teach, G1317 2 different renderings
apt to teachASV DBY DRA KJV LSV NWB RVA YLT
able to teachBSB FBV MSB ULB WEB
ἀνεξίκακον,anexikakos forbearing, G420 2 different renderings
patientDRA FBV KJV LSV NETB NWB ULB WEB YLT
forbearingASV BSB DBY MSB 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.

clauseδὲnowclauseverbδεῖit behoovesnoun phrase · subjectclauseclausenoun phrase · subjectδοῦλον[The] bond-servantΚυρίουof [the] Lordadverbialοὐnotverbμάχεσθαιto quarrelἀλλὰbutclauselinking verbεἶναιto beadjective phrase · predicateadjective phraseἤπιονgentleprepositional phraseπρὸςtowardπάνταςallδιδακτικόνable to teachἀνεξίκακονforbearingclause · adverbialprepositional phrase · adverbialἐνinπραΰτητιgentlenessverbπαιδεύονταdiscipliningnoun phrase · objectτοὺςthoseclauseverbἀντιδιατιθεμένουςopposingclauseclauseadverbialμήlestadverbialποτεeververbδώῃmay giveindirect objectαὐτοῖςthemnoun phrase · subject-ΘεὸςGodobjectμετάνοιανrepentanceprepositional phrase · adverbialεἰςuntonoun phraseἐπίγνωσινa knowledgeἀληθείαςof [the] truthκαὶandclauseverbἀνανήψωσινthey might come to their sensesprepositional phrase · adverbialἐκout ofnoun phraseτῆςthenoun phrasenoun phraseτοῦof theδιαβόλουdevilπαγίδοςsnareclause · adverbialverbἐζωγρημένοιhaving been capturedprepositional phrase · adverbialὑπ’byαὐτοῦhimprepositional phrase · adverbialεἰςfornoun phraseτὸ-noun phraseἐκείνουhisθέλημαwill

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

Servum autem Domini non oportet litigare : sed mansuetum esse ad omnes, docibilem, patientem,

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

ܥܒܕܗ ܕܝܢ ܕܡܪܢ ܠܐ ܚܝܒ ܠܡܬܟܬܫܘ ܐܠܐ ܕܢܗܘܐ ܡܟܝܟ ܠܘܬ ܟܠܢܫ ܘܡܠܦܢ ܘܢܓܝܪܐ ܪܘܚܗ

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

δοῦλον δὲ κυρίου οὐ δεῖ μάχεσθαι ἀλλ᾽ ἤπιον εἶναι πρὸς πάντας, διδακτικόν, ἀνεξίκακον,

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

δοῦλον δὲ κυρίου οὐ δεῖ μάχεσθαι ἀλλ᾽ ἤπιον εἶναι πρὸς πάντας, διδακτικόν, ἀνεξίκακον,

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

δοῦλον δὲ κυρίου οὐ δεῖ μάχεσθαι ἀλλ᾽ ἤπιον εἶναι πρὸς πάντας, διδακτικόν, ἀνεξίκακον,

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

δοῦλον δὲ κυρίου οὐ δεῖ μάχεσθαι ἀλλ᾽ ἤπιον εἶναι πρὸς πάντας, διδακτικόν, ἀνεξίκακον,

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

δοῦλον δὲ κυρίου οὐ δεῖ μάχεσθαι ἀλλ᾽ ἤπιον εἶναι πρὸς πάντας, διδακτικόν, ἀνεξίκακον,

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

δοῦλον δὲ κυρίου οὐ δεῖ μάχεσθαι ἀλλ᾽ ἤπιον εἶναι πρὸς πάντας, διδακτικόν, ἀνεξίκακον,

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

δοῦλον δὲ κυρίου οὐ δεῖ μάχεσθαι ἀλλ᾽ ἤπιον εἶναι πρὸς πάντας, διδακτικόν, ἀνεξίκακον,

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

δοῦλον δὲ κυρίου οὐ δεῖ μάχεσθαι ἀλλ᾽ ἤπιον εἶναι πρὸς πάντας, διδακτικόν, ἀνεξίκακον,

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 Timothy 2:24δοῦλος (II)[The] bond-[The] bond-servδοῦλος (II)δέnownowδέκύριοςof [the] Loof [the] Lordκύριοςοὐnotnotοὐδεῖit behoovesit behoovesδεῖμάχομαιto quarrelto quarrelμάχομαιἀλλάbutbutἀλλάἤπιοςgentlegentleἤπιοςειναιto beto beειναιπρόςtowardtowardπρόςπᾶςall,all,πᾶςδιδακτικόςable to teaable to teach,διδακτικόςἀνεξίκακοςforbearing,forbearing,ἀνεξίκακοςδέωv. I bindv. I bindδέωἔποςn.n. a worn.n. a word, soἔποςεἰμίv. I am, ev. I am, existεἰμίδιδακτόςAdj taughtAdj taught, insδιδακτόςἀνέχωv. I endurv. I endure, beἀνέχωμήNeg.prt. nNeg.prt. not, lμήἄλλοςAdj other,Adj other, anotἄλλοςπρόPrep. befoPrep. beforeπρόμόνοςAdv alone,Adv alone, but,μόνοςἐλεύθεροςAdj free, Adj free, delivἐλεύθεροςεἴτεCj. and ifCj. and if, wheεἴτεδουλεύωv. I am a v. I am a slaveδουλεύωναίDisj.prt. Disj.prt. yes, ναίἔξεστι(ν)v. it is pv. it is permitἔξεστι(ν)κἀκεῖνοςDem.pr. anDem.pr. and he,κἀκεῖνοςπάσχωv. I am acv. I am acted uπάσχωοὐNeg.prt. nNeg.prt. no, noοὐἐμαυτοῦRefl.pr. oRefl.pr. of mysἐμαυτοῦ
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 Timothy 2:24

One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Greek lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.

Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. Imported from the CrossWire SWORD modules — Abbott-Smith, the full Liddell-Scott-Jones, Strong's, Dodson, the Intermediate LSJ, Robinson and Packard on the Greek, Webster and Cawdrey on the English the translators were using. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.

[The] bond-servant now of [the] Lord not it behooves to quarrel but gentle to be toward all, able to teach, forbearing,
δοῦλονdoulos [The] bond-servant G1401 Noun · accusative · singular · masculine
126× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 2 Timothy as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word also means a slave or servant, like in Romans 6:19 and Luke 1:38. It describes someone who is subject to another person or is in a state of subjection. This concept is about being under someone's control.
Amplified meaning
slave, bond servant
Tyndale gloss
slave
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

δοῦλος (doulos) means a slave or servant, often indicating a person in a state of subjection. It can refer to both male and female slaves, with δούλη (doulē) specifically denoting a female slave. The term is used in various contexts in the New Testament, including literal servitude and metaphorical senses of spiritual bondage, as seen in Romans 6:19 and John 8:34.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — θεράπων, δοῦλος, διάκονος, οἰκέτης, ὑπηρέτης from a scan

THE only passage in the N. T. in which θεράπων occurs is Heb. iii. 5: ‘‘ And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant” (ὡς θεράπων). The allusion here to Num. xii. 7 is manifest, where the Septuagint has given θεράπων as its rendering of 12; it has done the same elsewhere (Exod. iv. 10; Deut. iii. 24; Josh. i. 2), yet has not made this its constant rule, frequently rendering it not by θεράπων, but by δοῦλος, out of which latter rendering, no doubt, we have at Rev. xv. 8, the phrase, Μωῦσῆς ὃ δοῦλος τοῦ Θεοῦ. It will 1 Lampe: ‘Christus est Vitis vera, ... et qua talis preponi, quin et opponi, potest omnibus aliis qui etiam sub hoe symbolo in scriptis propheticis pinguntur.’ Six) SYNONYUS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 20 not follow that there is no difference between δοῦλος and θεράπων ; nor yet that there may not be occasions when the one word would be far more fitly employed…

Read the full entry →
Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δοῦλος, -η, -ον,

[in LXX, ὁ δ. nearly always for עֶבֶד; ἡ δ. chiefly for שִׁפְחָה ,אָמָה ;]

in bondage to, subject to: Ro 6:19.

As subst., ὁ, ἡ δ., a slave;

fem., ἡ δ., a female slave, bondmaid (Cremer, 702; DB, iii, 215): Lk 1:38, 48, Ac 2:18 (LXX);

masc., ὁ δ., a slave, bondman: Mt 8:9 18:23, al.; opp. to ἐλεύθερος, I Co 7:22 12:13, Ga 3:28, Eph 6:8, Col 3:11, Re 6:15 13:16…

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

δοῦλος, -η, -ον, (derived by most fr. δέω to tie, bind; by some fr. AEAQ to ensnare, capture, [(?) ἃ]. al.; οἵ. Vanitek p. 322]); serving, subject to: παρεστήσατε τὰ μέλη ὑμῶν δοῦλα τῇ ἀκαθαρσίᾳ, Ro. vi. 19. Then substantively, ἡ δούλη a female slave, bondmaid, handmaid: τοῦ θεοῦ, τοῦ κυρίου, one who worships God and submits to him, Acts ii. 18 (fr. Joel ii. 29 (iii. 2)); Lk. i. 38, 48. ὁ δοῦλος, Sept. for 33; 1. a slave, bondman, man of servile condition; a. properly: opp. to ἐλεύθερος, 1 Co. vii. 21; xii. 13; Gal. iii. 28; Eph. vi. 8; Col. iii. 11; Rev. vi. 15; xiii. 16; xix. 18; opp. to κύριος, δεσπότης, οἶκοδεσπότης, Mt. x, 24; xiii. 27sq.; Lk. xii. 46; Jn. xv. 15; Eph. vi. 5; Col. ii. 22; iv.1; 1 Tim. vi. 1; Tit. ii. 9; and very often. b. metaph. a. one who gives himself up wholly to another’s will, 1 Co. vii. 23; or dominion, τῆς ἁμαρτίας, Jn. vill. 834; Ro. vi. 17, 20; τῆς…

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

| δόλος. For δόλος in the forensic sense, as Deut 2774, cf. the Jewish prayer for vengeance from Rheneia, Sy// 816% (ii/i B.c.) ἐπὶ τοὺς δόλωι φονεύσαντας : see Deissmann LAE, p. 423. Cf. the compound δολοφονέω, BGU II. 388i. 23 (ji/iii A.D.), Sy/Z 324° (i/B.c.). In BGU I. 3261-8 (a will—a pb. 189) we find ταύτῃ τῇ διαθήκῃ δόλος πονηρὸς ἀπέστη (?=améotw). Mommsen (Si/cungsherichte der Akad. su Berlin, phil.-hist. Klasse, 18 Jan. 1894, Ρ. 50) states that he has not met the phrase elsewhere in this connexion, and compares the common formula on graves, ab hoc monumento dolus A much earlier instance of δόλος πονηρός is Sy// 319% (ii/B.C.) μήτε να[υσὶν βοηθείτωσαν δημοσίαι βουλῇ μετὰ δόλου πονηροῦ: cf. OG/S 62912 (Δ.1.. 137) χωρὶ[ς] δόλου πο[νηροῦ, PSI III. 1587 (astrological —?iii/A.D.) διὰ μετεωρισμῶν καὶ κακῶν [δόλ]ων. malus abesto. The first of these inscriptions is about contemporaneous…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δοῦλος (doulos) — slave.

δοῦλος

__A, Cretan dialect δῶλος [Refs], ὁ:—properly born bondman or slave, opposed to one made a slave, τὰ ἀνδράποδα πάντα καὶ δοῦλα καὶ ἐλεύθερα [Refs 5th c.BC+]: then, generally, bondman, slave, opposed to δεσπότης (which see): not in [Refs 8th c.BC+], who twice has feminine δούλη, ἡ, bondwoman, [Refs 8th c.BC+]: frequently of Persians and other nations subject to a despot, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; οὔ τινος δοῦλοι κέκληνται, of the Greeks, [Refs 4th c.BC+] slaves to money, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; λιχνειῶν, λαγνειῶν, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

__A.II adjective (not in [Refs 4th c.BC+], δοῦλος, η, ον, slavish, servile, subject, δ. πόλις [Refs 5th c.BC+]; σῶμα δ., opposed to νοῦς ἐλεύθερος, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; δ. θάνατος, ζυγόν, πούς, [Refs 5th c.BC+] more…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

δοῦλος

doulos

from 1210; a slave (literal or figurative, involuntary or voluntary;

frequently, therefore in a qualified sense of subjection or

subserviency):--bond(-man), servant.

see GREEK for 1210

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δοῦλος, ου, ὁ

Adj. & n.m.

a male slave

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δοῦλος doulos 126x

a male slave, or servant, of various degrees, Mt. 8:9, et al. freq.; a servitor, person of mean condition, Phil. 2:7; fem. δούλη, a female slave; a handmaiden, Lk. 1:38, 48; Acts 2:18; δοῦλος, used figuratively, in a bad sense, one involved in moral or spiritual thraldom, Jn. 8:34; Rom. 6:17, 20; 1 Cor. 7:23; 2 Pet. 2:19; in a good sense, a devoted servant or minister, Acts 16:17; Read the full entry →

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

N-ASM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

sur'-vant ('ebhedh; doulos): A very common word with a variety of meanings, all implying a greater or less degree of inferiority and want of freedom:

(1) The most frequent usage is as the equivalent of "slave" (which see), with its various shades in position (Ge 9:25; 24:9; Ex 21:5; Mt 10:24; Lu 17:7, and often); but also a hired workman where "hired servant" translates Hebrew and Greek expressions which differ from the above.

(2) An attendant in the service of someone, as Joshua was the "servant" the Revised Version (British and American) "minister" of Moses (Nu 11:28).

Smith's Bible Dictionary

[SLAVE]

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

This word sometimes denotes a man who voluntarily dedicates himself to the service of another. Thus Joshua was the servant of Moses; Elisha of Elijah; and Peter, Andrew, Philip, and Paul were servants of Jesus Christ. The servants of Pharaoh, of Saul, and of David, were their subjects in general, and their court officers and counselors in particular. The Philistines, Syrians, and other nation were servants of David, that is, they obeyed and paid him tribute. The servants of God are those who are devoted to his service and obey his holy word.

In its primary sense, the word usually means in the Bible either a hired servant, or one whose service was the property of his master for a limited time and under various restrictions. Joseph is the first whom we read of as sold into bondage, Ge 37:27,28. The households of some of the early…

Nave's Topical Bible

→ Distinguish a bondservant (Greek: doulos), who was a slave, from a hired servant (Greek: diakonos), who was not a slave

→ BOND

Laws of Moses concerning Ex 21:1-11,20,21,26,27,32; Le 19:20-22; 25:6,10,35-55; De 15:12,14,18; 24:7

Kidnapping forbidden De 21:10-14; 24:7; 1Ti 1:10; Re 18:13

Fugitive, not to be returned to his master De 23:15,16

David erroneously supposed to be a fugitive slave 1Sa 25:10

Instances of fugitive

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
41%servant
servant41% · 53×servants31% · 40×slaves11% · 14×slave11% · 14×other renderings7% · 9×

130 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 13 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject37%object22%predicate13%indirect object10%adverbial8%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 126 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,δέbut, on the otheκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
σύ
ἐκμέλοςa limb, memberεἰμίI am, exist
εἰμίI am, exist
οὐNegὅτιthat, since, becοὐκέτιNeg
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theἑαυτοῦ
ἄλλοςother, another, diff
ἀποστέλλωI send forth, seαὐτός
δοῦλος (II)[The] bond-servant126×
what comes after →
αὐτός
Article theὅςλέγωI say, speak
Article the
ἀρχιερεύςhigh priest, chiθεόςGod, a godοἰκοδεσπότηςa head of a hous
ἐκεῖνος
ἐνὅςἀπολύωI release, let g
καίand, even, also, nam
φρόνιμοςintelligent, pruπαραδίδωμιI hand over, delὀκνηρόςslothful, backwa
σύ
δεσπότηςa lord, master, μετάδιά

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

Concordanceδοῦλος (II) · 126× in the New Testament
Matthew Luke Revelation John Romans 1 Corinthians Mark Colossians Galatians Acts Ephesians 2 Peter

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 55 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 Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 85c. AD 40

καὶ αἱ τοσαῦται τῶν τοσούτων ἀλκαί τε καὶ δυνάμεις εὐοπλούντων—ἔχουσι γὰρ τὰς ἐκ φύσεως παρασκευὰς αἷς ἀμύνονται—καθάπερ δοῦλοι δεσπότην κατεπτήχασι καὶ τὰ προσταττόμενα δρῶσι·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.11c. AD 75–95

Ἐκπεμφθεὶς μετὰ τῶν ἀδελφῶν παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπὶ συλλογῇ τῶν καρπῶν θέρους ἀκμάζοντος ὁρᾷ πολὺ τῶν κατὰ συνήθειαν ἐπιφοιτώντων κατὰ τοὺς ὕπνους ὀνειράτων διαφέρουσαν ὄψιν, ἣν περιεγερθεὶς τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ὡς κρινοῦσιν αὐτῷ τὸ σημαινόμενον ἐξέθετο, λέγων…

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 19.7c. AD 100

οὐκ ἔσῃ διγνώμων οὐδὲ γλωσσώδης, ὑποταγήσῃ κυρίοις ὡς τύπῳ θεοῦ ἐν αἰσχύνῃ καὶ φόβῳ: οὐ μὴ ἐπιτάξῃς δούλῳ σου ἡ παιδίσκῃ ἐν πικρίᾳ, τοῖς ἐπὶ τὸν αὐτὸν θεὸν ἐλπίζουσιν, μή ποτε οὐ μὴ φοβηθήσονται τὸν ἐπ’ ἀμφοτέροις θεόν: ὅτι οὐκ ἦλθεν κατὰ πρόσωπον…

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 6th c. AD 1st c. AD 4th c. AD
CdÉ 14 (1939), p. 161-Ptolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites)AD 117–AD 118

ενοικ α 𐅵 … … Οὐεσπασιανοῦ ἐτῶν νζ ἄσημος Διόσκορος δοῦλος Λαβερίας τῆς Πασίωνος κατὰ τὸ 𐅵 μέρος ἀπὸ Ἑλληνίου οὗ τὸ λοιπὸν ἥμισυ μέρος

P.Athen.. 43 VoArsinoitesAD 131

ἐπιτηρήσεως δραχμὰς κη Ἥρων γέρων ἀσκαύλης ἐπιτηρήσεως δραχμὰς ιϛ ἡμῖν δραχμὰς ιη Διονυσιάδος Σαραπίων δοῦλος Παπυρίου ἐπὶ δραχμαῖς μη ἡμῖν δραχμὰς μη Πτολεμαῖος αὐλητὴς Φρεμεὶ ἐπὶ δραχμαῖς ιθ ἡμῖν

P.Fay. 203 descr.Bakchias (Arsinoites)AD 148–AD 150

ταύταις ταῖς ἀνεγνωσμέναις κρίσεσιν διαγορεύει … ἐν ἀνομοίᾳ ὑποθέσει. ἤκουσας τοὺς ἁπλῷ χρήματι πωλοῦντας δοῦλον … ἀνευθύνους εἶναι, ἐπειδάν τις αὐτοῖς τοιοῦτο ἔγκλημα ἐπενέγκῃ οἷον οὗτος· ἐὰν γὰρ μηδὲν

[The] bond-servant now of [the] Lord not it behooves to quarrel but gentle to be toward all, able to teach, forbearing,
δὲde now G1161 Conjunction
2,787× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 2 Timothy as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This is a conjunction that means and, but, or then, used to connect ideas like in Matthew 1:2 and 2 Corinthians 6:15.
Tyndale gloss
then
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

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

post-positive conjunctive particle;

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δέ (de) — then.

δέ,

but: adversative and copulative Particle,

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

II. without preceding μέν,

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

II.2. copulative,

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

δέ

de

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

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

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δέ

Cj.

but, on the other hand, and

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δέ de 2x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

δέ is often redundant,

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

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

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

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

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existσύ
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςκύριοςlord, Lord, mastπεντακισχίλιοιfive thousand
εἰCond
παλαιόςold, ancient, woσύεἰμίI am, exist
εἰμίI am, exist
περιπατέωI walk, conduct ἀναπίπτωI lie down, reclμνημεῖονa tomb, sepulche
οὗτος
δίδωμιI offer, giveθεόςGod, a godπίστιςfaith, belief, t
δέnow2787×
what comes after →
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusθεόςGod, a godκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
αὐτός
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐπί
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςArticle theσύ
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theοὗτοςἸωάννηςJohn
τὶς
Article theαὐτόςὄνομαname, character,

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

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

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

Across the New Testament26 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
[The] bond-servant now of [the] Lord not it behooves to quarrel but gentle to be toward all, able to teach, forbearing,
κυρίουkurios of [the] Lord G2962 Noun · genitive · singular · masculine
718× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Timothy than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for lord or master, used to address God or a person in authority, showing respect and power. In the New Testament, it appears in Matthew 9:38 and Mark 12:9. It signifies a controller or ruler.
Amplified meaning
God, Master
Tyndale gloss
lord: God
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

κύριος is a Greek word meaning 'lord' or 'master,' derived from the concept of authority. It is used in various contexts, referring to God, Jesus, and earthly masters. In the New Testament, it often denotes divine authority, as seen in verses like Matthew 12:8. The term can also express respect when addressing others, such as teachers or magistrates.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — κύριος, δεσπότης from a scan

A MAN, according to the later Greek grammarians, was δεσπότης in respect of his slaves (Plato, Legg. vi. 756 e), therefore οἰκοδεσπότης, but κύριος in regard of his wife and children ; who in speaking either to him or of him, would give him this title of honour; “as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord” (κύριον αὐτὸν καλοῦσα, I Pet. ili. 6: ef. Plutarch, De Virt. Mul. 5. vv. Μίκκα καὶ Meyoro). There is a certain truth in this distinction. Undoubtedly there lies in κύριος the sense of an authority owning limitations—moral limitations it may be; it is implied too that the wielder of this authority will not exclude, in wielding it, a consideration of their good over whom it is exercised; while the δεσπότης exercises a more unrestricted power and absolute domination, confessing no such limitations or restraints. He who addresses another as δέσποτα, puts an emphasis of submission into his…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

κύριος, -α, -ον (also -ος, -ον),

[in LXX (subst.) chiefly for יהוה, also for אָדוֹן, בַּעַל, etc.;]

having power (κῦρος) or authority; as subst., ὁ κ., lord, master;

in general: c. gen. rei, Mt 9:38 20:8, Mk 12:9 13:35, Lk 19:33; τ. σαββάτου, Mt 12:8, Mk 2:28, Lk 6:5; c. gen. pers., δούλου, etc., Mt 10:24, Lk 14:21, Ac 16:16, al.; absol., opp. to οἱ δοῦλοι,

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

κύριος, -ov, 6, (prop. an 2dj. κύριος, -a, - 1, also of two term.; prop. i. q. ὁ ἔχων κῦρος, having power or author ity), [fr. Pind. down], he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has the power of deciding; master, lord; used a. univ. of the possessor and disposer of a thing, the owner, (Sept. for }}18, 5y3): with gen. of the thing, as τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος, Mt. xx. 8; xxi. 40; Mk. xii. 9; Lk. xx. 15; rod θερισμοῦ, Mt. ix. 38; Lk. x. 2; τῆς οἰκίας, the master, Mk. xiii. 35 (Judg. xix. 12); τοῦ πώλου, Lk. xix. 33; τοῦ σαββάτου, possessed of the power to determine what is suitable to the sabbath, and of releasing himself and others from its obligations, Mt. xii. 8; Mk. ii. 28; Lk. vi. 5. with gen. of a pers., one who has control of the person, the master [A. V. lord]; in the household: δούλου, παιδίσκης, οἰκονόμου, Mt. x. 24; Lk. xii. 46 sq.; xiv. 21; xvi. 3, 5; Acts xvi. 16, 19…

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

κύριος BGU III. ο49᾽ (c. A.D. 300) κυρίῳ μου ἀδελφῷ “Hpa, a sister (and probably wife) —P Oxy IV. 7441 (B.c. 1) (= Selections, p. 32) Ἱλαρίωνα (/.—tov)”"Adure τῆι ἀδελφῆι πλεῖστα Χαίρειν, and even a son—zd. I. 123} (iii/iv A.D.) κυρίῳ pov vid Διονυσοθέωνι. (3) It is, however, with the religious use of κύριος that we are specially concerned, and in keeping with the conception of ‘‘lordship,’’ which was so characteristic of Oriental religions, we may begin by noticing its common use in connexion with the cult of the Egyptian God Sarapis. Letters frequently begin with some such formula as—rpd μὲν πάντων εὔχομαί σε ὑιαίνειν (1. by—) καὶ τὸ προσκύνημά cov ποιῶ παρὰ τῷ κυρίῳ Σιαράπιδι, ‘before all else I pray for your health, and I supplicate the lord Sarapis on your behalf”’ (P Fay 127°—ii/iii a.p.), and we may add, owing to the striking resemblance of phraseology to 1 Cor 1024 such…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

κύριος (kurios) — lord: God.

κύριος [ῡ], α, ον,

also ος, ον [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—Thess. κῦρρος [Refs 8th c.BC+]:

I. of persons, having power or authority over, with genitive, Ζεὺς ὁ πάντων κ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; πρὶν ἄν σε κ. στήσω τέκνων put thee in possession of.., [Refs 5th c.BC+], of the god to whom a temple is dedicated, [Refs 2nd c.BC+]; τῶν αὑτοὺ κ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; θανάτου κ. τινός with power of life and death over, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

I.2. κύριός εἰμι with infinitive, I have authority to do, am entitled to do, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; οὗτος κ. ὁρκωμοτεῖν (probably to be read instead of -ῶν) [Refs 5th c.BC+]; -ώτεροι δοῦναι better able to give, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; also κ. τοῦ μὴ μεθυσθῆναι having power not to.., [Refs]: with accusative et infinitive, κ. εἶναι ἢ τοίαν εἶναι [πόλιν] ἢ τοίαν [Refs 5th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

κύριος

kurios

from kuros (supremacy); supreme in authority, i.e. (as noun)

controller; by implication, Master (as a respectful title):-- God,

Lord, master, Sir.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

κύριος, ου, ὁ

n.m.

lord, Lord, master, sir

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

κύριος kyrios 717x

a lord, master, Mt. 12:8; an owner, possessor, Mt. 20:8; a potentate, sovereign, Acts 25:26; a power, deity, 1 Cor. 8:5; the Lord, Jehovah, Mt. 1:22; the Lord Jesus Christ, Mt. 24:42; Mk. 16:19; Lk. 10:1; Jn. 4:1; 1 Cor. 4:5; freq.; κύριε, a term of respect of various force, Sir, Lord, 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
Easton's Bible Dictionary

Lord

There are various Hebrew and Greek words so rendered.

(1.) Heb. Jehovah, has been rendered in the English Bible LORD, printed in small capitals. This is the proper name of the God of the Hebrews. The form “Jehovah” is retained only in Ex. 6:3; Ps. 83:18; Isa. 12:2; 26:4, both in the Authorized and the Revised Version.

(2.) Heb. ‘adon, means one possessed of absolute control. It denotes a master, as of slaves (Gen. 24:14, 27), or a ruler of his subjects (45:8), or a husband, as lord of his wife (18:12).

The old plural form of this Hebrew word is ’adonai. From a superstitious reverence for the name “Jehovah,” the Jews, in reading their Scriptures, whenever that name…

Smith's Bible Dictionary

[GOD]

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

This name belongs to God by preeminence; and in this sense ought never to be given to any creature. Jesus Christ, as the Messiah, the Son of God, and equal with the Father, is often called Lord in Scripture, especially in the writing of Paul. The word LORD, in the English Bible, when printed in small capitals, stands always for JEHOVAH in the Hebrew. See JEHOVAH.

Nave's Topical Bible

→ A prince Jos 13:3; Jud 3:3; 1Sa 5:8; 6:4

→ See GOD

→ See JESUS

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
86%lord
lord86% · 647×master6% · 47×other renderings3% · 22×other renderings5% · 37×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject31%adverbial30%object17%predicate4%indirect object3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 718 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
αὐτόςὄνομαname, character,χάριςgrace, favor, ki
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
ἐν
εἰμίI am, existσύδέbut, on the othe
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakκαλέωI call, invite, πρός
καίand, even, also, nam
ἐγώπατήρfather, Father, ὅτιthat, since, bec
κύριοςof [the] Lord718×
what comes after →
ἐγώ
ἸησοῦςJesusκαίand, even, also,κάθημαιI sit, am seated
Article the
θεόςGod, a godἀμπελώνa vineyardδέbut, on the othe
ἸησοῦςJesus
Χριστόςanointed, the Meκαίand, even, also,μετά
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theοὐNegσωτήρa savior, delive
αὐτός
χρείαneed, necessity,εἰCondλέγωI say, speak

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

Concordanceκύριος · 718× in the New Testament
Acts Luke Matthew 1 Corinthians John Romans 2 Corinthians Ephesians 1 Thessalonians Revelation 2 Thessalonians Mark

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament23 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
The Shepherd of Hermas Philo of Alexandria The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome Josephus
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.48c. AD 40

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.265c. AD 75–95

Τῶν δὲ Ἰσάκου παίδων Ἡσαῦς, περὶ ὃν μάλιστα ὁ πατὴρ ἐσπουδάκει, τεσσαράκοντα γεγονὼς ἔτη γαμεῖ Ἄδαν τὴν Ἥλωνος καὶ Ἀλιβάμην τὴν Εὐσεβεῶνος δυναστευόντων ἐν Χαναναίοις ἀνδρῶν θυγατέρας, ἑαυτὸν ποιήσας τῆς περὶ τὸν γάμον ἐξουσίας κύριον καὶ μηδὲ τῷ…

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 4th c. AD 6th c. AD
P.Grenf. 1 33Thebais104 BC

ὡς ἐτῶν κζ μέση μελίχρως λεύκωμα ὀφθαλμόν, μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύρριν αἱ τρεῖς τῶν Ψεμμίνιος μετὰ κυρίου τοῦ ἑαυτῶν ἀδελφοῦ Παχνούβιος τοῦ προγεγραμμένου καὶ συνπωλουμένου, ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπαρχούσης αὐτοῖς πατρικῆς γῆς

P.Cair. Cat. 10353 descr.Krokodilopolis (Arsinoites108 BC–99 BC

Πανίσκου ἀγορανόμου τῆς ἄνω τοπαρχίας τοῦ Παθυρίτου. ὁμολογεῖ Πετεσοῦχος Πετεαρσεμθέως Τορτομίννει Σχώτου Περσίνη μετὰ κυρίου τοῦ ἑαυτῆς υἱοῦ Πανοβχούνιος τοῦ Ἁρπαήσιος ἐκ τῶν φρουρῶν περὶ τοῦ ἐὰν βεβαιώσῃ αὐτῶι

P.Adl. 20Poinkoris (Diopolites)99 BC

τῆς Βελλέους ὡς ἐτῶν κβ μέσης μελιχρόου στρογγυλοπροσώπου εὐθύρινος οὐλὴ μετώπῳ ἐκ δεξιῶν μετὰ κυρίου Πτολεμαίου τοῦ Ψενμεγχείους ὡς ἐτῶν λε μέσου … πάντες τῶν ἐκ τοῦ Παθυρίτου τὴν

[The] bond-servant now of [the] Lord not it behooves to quarrel but gentle to be toward all, able to teach, forbearing,
οὐou not G3756 Particle · negative
1,622× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 2 Timothy as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This is a strong 'no', used to deny something completely. It appears in the New Testament, such as in Matthew 13:29 and John 1:21. It is a negative answer to a question.
Tyndale gloss
no
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word οὐ (transliterated as ou) is a primary negative particle meaning 'not' or 'no.' It is used to negate verbs or statements, often appearing in various forms depending on the following sound. In the New Testament, it frequently serves to deny facts and is distinct from another negative particle, μή (transliterated as ), which is used for prohibitions or wishes.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

οὐ, before a vowel with smooth breathing οὐκ, before one with rough breathing οὐχ (but improperly οὐχ ἰδού, Ac 2:7, WH, mg.; cf. WH, Intr., § 409; M, Pr., 44, 244),

[in LXX for לֹא, אַיִן, אֵין;]

neg. particle,

not, no, used generally c. indic. and for a denial of fact (cf . μή);

absol. (accented), οὔ, no: Mt 13:29, Jo 1:21 21:5; οὒ οὔ, Mt 5:37, Ja 5:12.

Most freq. negativing a verb or other word, Mt 1:25 10:26, 38, Mk 3:25 9:37, Jo 8:29, Ac 7:5, Ro 1:16, Phl 3:3, al.; in…

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

οὐ before a consonant, οὐκ before a vowel with a smooth breathing, and ody before an aspirated vowel ; but sometimes in the best codd. οὐχ occurs even before a smooth breathing; accordingly LT WH mrg. have adopted οὐχ ἰδού, Acts ii. 7; LT οὐχ ᾿Ιουδαϊκῶς, Gal. ii. 14 (see WH. Introd. § 409); L οὐχ ὀλίγος, Acts xix. 23; οὐχ ἠγάπησαν, Rev. xii. 11; and contrariwise οὐκ before an aspirate, as οὐκ ἕστηκεν, Jn. viii. 44 T; [οὐκ ἕνεκεν, 2 Co. vii. 12 T]; (οὐκ εὗρον, Lk. xxiv. 3; [οὐκ ὑπάρχει, Acts iii. 6] in cod. x [alsoC*; ef. cod. Alex. in 1 ἔβαν. iv. 2,12; Job xix. 16; xxxviiil. 11, 26]); cf. W. $5, 14d. 14; Β. τ; [A. v. Schiitz, Hist. Alphab. Att., Berol. 1875, pp: 54-58 ; Sophocles, Hist. of Grk. Alphab., 1st ed. 1848, p- 64 sq. (on the breathing); Tdf Sept., ed. 4, Proleg. pp: Xxxiii. xxxiv.; Scrivener, Collation ete., 2d ed., p. lv. no. 9; id. cod. Bezae p. xlvii. no. 11 (ef. p. xlii.…

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

ου to make the voyage” (Edd.), and P Amh II. 78?! (a.p. 184) τοιαύτης ο[ὖ]ν αὐθαδίας ἐν αὐτῷ οὔσης οὐ δυνάμενος [ἐν]καρτερεῖν ἐπιδίδωμι, ‘“ his audacity having reached this pitch I can endure no longer and present this petition.” See further Proleg. p. 231 f. In support of the translation ‘‘ I determined not to know” in 1 Cor 2, we may cite P Par 2657 (B.c. 163) (= UPZi. Ρ-. 248) οὐκ ἐκρίναμεν καταχωρῆσαι, ‘we determined not to record,” P Tebt I. 124° (c. B.c. 118) οὐκ (ἐκδρίναμεν ἐξαρ[ιθ]μεῖ[σθαι, “we determined not to be counted,” and the classical formula in P Hamb I. 27° (B.c. 250 (249)) οὐκ ἔφη εἰδέναι, ‘he said that he did not know.” The origin of the double negative οὐ μή is fully discussed by Moulton Pro/eg. p. 187 ff. When we pass to its actual occurrences in the NT, we find that these for the most part are found in passages derived from the OT and in the Sayings of our Lord…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

οὐ (ou) — no.

οὐ,

the negative of fact and statement, as μή of will and thought; οὐ denies, μή rejects; οὐ is absolute, μή relative; οὐ objective, μή subjective. —The same differences hold for all compounds of οὐ and μή, and some examples of οὐδέ and οὐδείς are included below.—As to the Form, see infr. G. USAG[Refs 5th c.BC+]

I. as the negative of single words,

II. as the negative of the sentence.

I. οὐ adhering to single words so as to form a quasi-compound with them:—with Verbs: οὐ δίδωμι withhold, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; οὐκ εἰῶ prevent, [Refs]; οὐκ ἐθέλω refuse, [Refs]; οὔ φημι deny, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; but sometimes οὐ is retained, εἰ δ᾽ ἂν.. οὐκ ἐθέλωσιν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἐάντε.. οὐ (variant{μή}) φῆτε ἐάντε φῆτε [Refs 8th c.BC+] —On the use of οὐ in contrasts, see below [Refs 5th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

οὐ

ou

ouk ook, and (before an aspirate)

ouch ookh

a primary word; the absolute negative (compare 3361) adverb; no or

not:--+ long, nay, neither, never, no (X man), none, (can-)not, +

nothing, + special, un(-worthy), when, + without, + yet but. See also

3364, 3372.

see GREEK for 3361

see GREEK for 3364

see GREEK for 3372

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

οὐ

Neg.prt.

no, not

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

οὐ ou 1x

negative adverb, originally the gen. of ὅς, spelled οὐκ if followed by a word beginning with a vowel and a smooth breathing, οὐχ if followed by a vowel and rough breathing, not, no, Mt. 5:37; 12:43; 23:37; for the peculiarities of its usage (especially as distinct from μή) consult a grammar

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

PRT-N PaRTicle, disjunctive particle Negative

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
82%not
not82% · 1383×certainly6% · 96×surely4% · 70×no longer3% · 50×no2% · 39×other renderings3% · 51×

1,689 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 17 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
adverbial82%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,622 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
εἰμίI am, existἐγώαὐτός
ὅς
ἐγώθερίζωI reap, gatherδέbut, on the othe
ὅτιthat, since, because
σύαὐτόςἐγώ
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakἐνἐπί
σύ
λέγωI say, speakγάρforὅς
οὐnot1622×
what comes after →
εἰμίI am, exist
ἐκArticle theἐγώ
μήNeg
παρέρχομαιI pass byεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come inπίνωI drink, imbibe
οἶδαI know, remember
ὅτιthat, since, becArticle theτίςIrg
γάρfor
εἰμίI am, existθέλωI will, wish, deArticle the
δύναμαιI am powerful, am ab
ἔρχομαιI come, goσῴζωI save, healArticle 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

Concordanceοὐ · 1,622× in the New Testament
John Matthew Luke 1 Corinthians Romans Mark Acts 2 Corinthians Revelation Hebrews 1 John Galatians

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

Across the New Testament26 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 6c. AD 40

ὡς γὰρ τῶν κολοσσιαίων μεγεθῶν τὰς ἐμφάσεις καὶ ἡ βραχυτάτη σφραγὶς τυπωθεῖσα δέχεται, οὕτως τάχα που καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀναγραφείσης ἐν τοῖς νόμοις κοσμοποιίας ὑπερβάλλοντα κάλλη καὶ ταῖς μαρμαρυγαῖς τὰς τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων ψυχὰς ἐπισκιάζοντα βραχυτέροις…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.11c. AD 75–95

ὁ δὲ τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν ἀρχιερέων οὐδενὸς ἀρετῇ δεύτερος Ἐλεάζαρος τῷ προειρημένῳ βασιλεῖ ταύτης ἀπολαῦσαι τῆς ὠφελείας οὐκ ἐφθόνησε πάντως ἀντειπὼν ἄν, εἰ μὴ πάτριον ἦν ἡμῖν τὸ μηδὲν ἔχειν τῶν καλῶν ἀπόρρητον.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.8c. AD 100

ἐγὼ δὲ οὐχ ὡς διδάσκαλος, ἀλλ̓ ὧς εἰς ἐξ ὑμῶν ὑποδείξω ὀλίγα, δἰ ὧν ἐν τοῖς παροῦσιν εὐφρανθήσεσθε.

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 4th c. AD 6th c. AD

δὲ γενόμεναι κατὰ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον κληρονομήσασαι ταξάμεναι τὰ καθήκοντα τέλη θεᾶι Βερενίκηι κυριεύομεν. ὅθεν οὐκ ἀποδιδόντων τὰ ἡμέτερα ἐπεδώκαμεν ἐν τῶι λ ἔτει προσανγελίαν Ἡρακλείδει γενομένωι ἀρχιφυλακίτηι τοῦ Παθυρίτου

C.Erbstreit16Diospolis Magna (Theben)135 BC

ι ἀρουρῶν πρόκτησιν … ένου αὐτὸν ἐν συνεδρίωι καὶ συγχώρησιν … ειν, ἐν ἧι οὐκ εὐδοκεῖ ὁ πατήρ. ὅθεν καταβεβραβευμένοι … ήρου συνεριου ἀξιοῦμεν, ἐὰν φαίνηται, συντάξαι γράψαι, οἷς

P.Adl. 2Pathyris125 BC

ὠνῆς ἐν πίστει διὰ τῶν περὶ τὸν Πανεβχοῦνιν ἐκτελειωθεῖσαν τῶι … ἔτει ἀντὶ ὀφειλημάτων, οὐκ ἐπελευσομένους τὸν Πανερέα καὶ τὴν Σενενοῦπιν περὶ ὀφειλημάτων μηδὲ περὶ ἄλλου μηδενός. ταῦτα δὲ

[The] bond-servant now of [the] Lord not it behooves to quarrel but gentle to be toward all, able to teach, forbearing,
δεῖdei it behooves G1163 Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · singular
102× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Timothy than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This means it is necessary or must be done, like when Jesus said it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem in Matthew 16:21.
Tyndale gloss
be necessary
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

δεῖ is an impersonal verb meaning 'it is necessary' or 'one must,' derived from δέω. It covers a range of uses, often indicating obligation or necessity, and appears in various constructions, such as with infinitives or accusatives. In the New Testament, it is used in verses like Matthew 26:54 and Acts 5:29. The lexicons note that it differs from similar terms like ὀφείλει, which expresses moral obligation.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δεῖ impersonal (δέω),

[in LXX chiefly for infin. with לְ ;]

one must, it is necessary: c. inf., Mt 26:54, Mk 13:7, Ac 5:29, al.; c. acc. et inf., Mt 16:21, Mk 8:31, Jo 3:7, Ac 25:10, al.; with ellipse of acc., Mt 23:23; of acc., and inf., Mk 13:14, Ro 1:27 8:26; οὐ (μὴ) δεῖ (non licet), ought not, must not: Ac 25:24, Read the full entry →

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δεῖ (dei) — be necessary.

δεῖ:

subjunctive δέη, sometimes contraction δῆ (in codices of Comedy texts, as [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὁπόσου κα δῆ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; infinitive δεῖ; participle δέον (see. infr. IV): imperfect ἔδει, Ionic dialect ἔδεε: future δεήσει [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist I ἐδέησε [Refs 5th c.BC+] —Impers. from δέω (A), there is need (the sense of moral obligation, properly belonging to χρή, is later, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

I. c.accusative person et infinitive, it is needful for one to do, one must, once in [Refs 8th c.BC+] why need the Argives fight? [Refs 8th c.BC+]: with nominative of the pronoun, ἡγούμην.. δεῖν.. μεγαλοψυχότερος φαίνεσθαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]: rarely with dative person, there is need of.. for.., θεοῖσι προσβαλεῖν χθονὶ ἄλλην δεήσει γαῖαν [Refs 5th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

δεῖ

dei

3d person singular active present of 1210; also deon deh-on'; neuter

active participle of the same; both used impersonally; it is (was,

etc.) necessary (as binding):--behoved, be meet, must (needs), (be)

need(-ful), ought, should.

see GREEK for 1210

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δεῖ

v.

it is necessary, inevitable

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δεῖ dei 101x

it is binding, it is necessary, it is proper; it is inevitable, Acts 21:22

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

δεῖ from δέω1, to bind c. acc. pers. et inf., δεῖ τινὰ ποιῆσαι it is binding on one to do a thing, one must, one ought, Lat. oportet, Hom., etc.:—rarely, δεῖ σε ὅπως δείξεις ῀ δεῖ σε δεῖξαι, Soph.: —rarely also c. dat. pers. et inf., there is need for one to do, δεῖ τινὶ ποιήσαι Eur., Xen.

c. acc. rei et inf., δεῖ τι γενέσθαι Thuc., etc.:—for the phrase οἴομαι δεῖν, v. οἴομαι:— when used absol., an inf. may be supplied, μὴ πεῖθ᾽ ἃ μὴ δεῖ (sc. πείθειν) Soph., etc.

(from δέω2, to want), c. gen. rei, there is need of, there is wanting, Lat. opus est re, οὐδὲν δεῖ τινός Hdt., attic:—phrases, πολλοῦ δεῖ there wants much, far from it; ὀλίγου δεῖ there wants little, all but:— in answers, πολλοῦ γε δεῖ, πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ far from it, Ar., Dem.; πλεῦνος δεῖ it…

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAI-3S — Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · singular
present active indicative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
53%it behooves
it behooves53% · 56×it is necessary8% · 9×it was necessary for7% · 7×it is necessary for7% · 7×it was necessary6% · 6×necessary3% · 3×needing3% · 3×other renderings12% · 13×other renderings2% · 2×

106 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
verb100%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 102 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
ὅς
ἐναὐτόςὥραan hour, season
ὅτιthat, since, because
αὐτόςλέγωI say, speakσύ
ἐγώ
πατήρfather, Father, εὐαγγελίζωI bring good newτίςIrg
σύ
οἶκοςa house, househoλέγωI say, speakτίςIrg
οὐNeg
ὅπουwhere, whitherἔτοςa yearκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
δεῖit behooves102×
what comes after →
ἐγώ
λαλέωI speak, sayσύνσυναποθνῄσκωI die together w
αὐτός
εἰςπολύςmuch, many, ofteἐκ
Article the
υἱόςa son, descendenἀναγινώσκωI readβασιλείαkingship, sovere
γάρfor
Article theγίνομαιI come into beinοὗτος
σύ
οὖνtherefore, thenγεννάωI beget, bring fεἷςone

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

Concordanceδεῖ · 102× in the New Testament
Acts Luke John Matthew Revelation Mark 1 Corinthians 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians Hebrews Romans Titus

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament19 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 19 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

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

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.23c. AD 75–95

ὁ δʼ ἡμέτερος νομοθέτης ἀκραιφνῆ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἔχοντα τὸν θεὸν ἀποφήνας ᾠήθη δεῖν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐκείνης πειρᾶσθαι μεταλαμβάνειν καὶ τοὺς μὴ ταῦτα φρονοῦντας μηδὲ μὴν πιστεύοντας ἀπαραιτήτως ἐκόλασε.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 4.1c. AD 100

Δεῖ οὖν ἡμᾶς περὶ τῶν ἐνεστώτων ἐπιπολὺ ἐραυνῶντας ἐκζητεῖν τὰ δυνάμενα ἡμᾶς σώζειν.

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 2nd c. BC 4th c. AD
P.Edg. $1Syrien253 BC

λοιπὰ τὰ ἐνταῦθα ὡς ἂν ἐκποιῆι πειρῶ ἐπισκοπεῖν· οὕτως γὰρ ἡμῖν μᾶλλον ἔσται τὰ δέοντα. καὶ τὰ γενημάτια δὲ ἵνα τρόπωι τινὶ συγκομισθῆι ἐπιμελές σοι ἔστω. καὶ ἐάν τι

P.Grenf. 1 11Arsinoites182 BC

προσταχθέντος Ἑρμοκράτει τῶι ἀρχιφυλακίτηι, τὸν ὅρκον ἐπιτελεσθῆναι, τοῦ δὲ χρόνου ἐν ὧι τὸν ὅρκον ἔδει ἐπιτελεῖσθαι μήπω ἐνεστηκότος, ἐπέδωκάν σοι ἄλλο ὑπόμνημα κατʼ ἐμοῦ ἐπιβαλόντι ἐπὶ τοὺς τοπους

P.Dryton 43155 BC–143 BC

ἐδώκαμεν αὐτῶι γράστεως τοῖς κτήνεσι … ἐφʼ ἁμάξης εἰς δέοντα … … που πυροῦ ιθ 𐅵 … … αὐταὶ ἐν τῶι ἐπὶ κλίμακος

[The] bond-servant now of [the] Lord not it behooves to quarrel but gentle to be toward all, able to teach, forbearing,
μάχεσθαιmachomai to quarrel G3164 Verb · present · no voice stated · infinitive
4× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Timothy than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To quarrel or fight, as seen in Acts 7:26 and 2 Timothy 2:24, where it means to dispute or argue with someone.
Amplified meaning
strive, contentious
Tyndale gloss
to quarrel
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word μάχομαι (*machomai*) means to fight or quarrel. It can refer to physical combat or metaphorically to disputes and arguments. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts of conflict, such as Acts 7:26 and 2 Timothy 2:24. The entries indicate a range of uses, from literal fighting to legal disputes, but do not show significant disagreement among lexicons.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

μάχομαι,

[in LXX chiefly for ריב, also for נצה ni., etc.;]

to fight: Ac 7:26.

to quarrel, dispute: II Ti 2:24, Ja 4:2; πρὸς ἀλλήλους, Jo 6:52 (cf. δια-μάχομαι).†

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

μάχομαι ; impf. 3 pers. plur. ἐμάχοντο ; [allied with μάxaipa; Curtius §459; Vanicek p. 687; fr. Hom. down]; to fight: prop. of armed combatants, or those who engage in a hand-to-hand struggle, Acts vii. 26; trop. of those who engage in a war of words, fo quarrel, wrangle, dis2 Tim. ii. 24; πρὸς ἀλλήλους, Jn. vi. 52 [ef. W. § 31,5; B.§ 133, 8]; of those who contend at law for property and privileges, Jas. iv. 2. [Comp.: διαμάχομαι. SYN. see πόλεμος, b.]|

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

μάχομαι. The metaph. use of this verb (cf. s.v. μάχη) is seen in the sententious letter of a brother to his sister, P Oxy I. 120° (iv/A.D.) χρὴ γάρ τινα ὁρῶντα αἱαυτὸν ἐν δυστυχίᾳ κἂν ἀναχωρῖν καὶ μὴ ἁπλῶς μάχαισθαι (/. μάχεσθαι) τῷ δεδογμένῳ, ‘when a man finds himself in adversity he ought to give way and not fight stubbornly against fate’’ (Edd.) : cf. Kaibel 1039! κύμασι μάχεσθαι χαλεπόν, and Sy// 737°%° (c. A.D. 175) where, with reference to the magistrates appointed to keep order in assemblies, it is laid down—emuretμια δὲ ἔστω τὰ αὐτὰ τῷ εὐκόσμῳ μὴ ἐκβαλόντι τοὺς μαχο-

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μάχομαι (machomai) — to quarrel.

μάχομαι [ᾰ],

Ionic dialect present optative μαχέοιτο [Refs 8th c.BC+]; participle μαχεόμενος variant in [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Epic dialect μαχειόμενος [Refs 8th c.BC+]: Epic dialect imperfect μαχέσκετο [Refs 8th c.BC+]: future μαχήσομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]; μαχέσομαι, δια-μαχεσόμεθα (as variant) [Refs]; also in late Prose, [Refs 8th c.BC+]: aorist ἐμαχεσάμην [Refs 8th c.BC+]; infinitive μαχέσασθαι [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; participle μαχεσσαμένω [Refs 8th c.BC+]: perfect μεμάχημαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]: late aorist ἐμαχέσθην [Refs 1st c.AD+]future μαχεσθήσομαι only [Refs 4th c.BC+]:—fight, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; μάχην μ. [Refs 8th c.BC+] mostly of armies and persons fighting as parts of armies, but sometimes of single combat, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; between men and beasts, [Refs 8th c.BC+]:—Constr.: with dative person, fight with, i. e. against, one, ἀνδράσιν ἶφι μ.…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

μάχομαι

machomai

middle voice of an apparently primary verb; to war, i.e.

(figuratively) to quarrel, dispute:--fight, strive.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

μάχομαι

v.

I engage in battle, fight, strive

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

μάχομαι machomai 4x

to fight; to quarrel, Acts 7:26; 2 Tim. 2:24; to contend, dispute, Jn. 6:52; Jas. 4:2*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

μάχομαι Dep. to fight, Hom., etc.; c. dat. pers. to fight with, i. e. against, one, id. Hom., etc.; μ. ἀντία and ἐναντίον τινός Il.; ἐπί τινι, πρός τινα id. Il.; but, μ. σύν τινι with the sanction, under the auspices of a deity, Od., Xen.; κατὰ σφέας μαχέονται will fight by themselves, Il.; καθ᾽ ἕνα μ. to fight one against one, in single combat, Hdt.:— τὸ μήπω μεμαχημένον the force that had not yet come into action, Thuc.

generally, to quarrel, wrangle, dispute with one, to oppose, gainsay, τινι Il., Plat.

to contend for the mastery in games, πὺξ μάχεσθαι Il.; παγκράτιον μ. Ar.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PNN — Verb · present · no voice stated · infinitive
present no voice stated infinitive — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PNN Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: middle or passive depoNent Mood: iNfinitive TVM equivalent: G5738

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

kwor'-el: Originally (1) "a complaint" (compare "querulous"), or (2) "a cause of complaint," and so (3) "a contention."

(1) In the King James Version Mr 6:19 (the Revised Version (British and American) "set herself"; the colloquial "had it in for him" is an exact translation) and Col 3:13 (momphe, "complaint"; so the Revised Version (British and American)).

(2) In 2Ki 5:7 ('anah, "be opportune," the Revised Version margin "an occasion").

(3) In the King James Version Le 26:25 (loose translation of naqam, "vengeance"; so the Revised Version (British and American)).

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
25%quarreling
quarreling25% · 1×quarrel25% · 1×you quarrel25% · 1×arguing25% · 1×

4 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
verb75%adverbial25%

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
αὐτός
ὁράωI see, look upon
δεῖit is necessary, ine
οὐNeg
ἐπιτυγχάνωI attain, obtain, ac
δύναμαιI am powerful, a
μάχομαιto quarrel
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
συναλλάσσωI compel, urgeπολεμέωI make war, cont
οὖνtherefore, then
πρός
ἀλλάbut, except
ἤπιοςplacid, gentle

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

Concordanceμάχομαι · 4× in the New Testament
2 Timothy Acts James John
Across the New Testament4 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
Philo of AlexandriaWho is the Heir of Divine Things 101c. AD 40

ἴσως ἄν τις εἴποι μάχεσθαι τοῦτο τῷ πεπιστευκέναι·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.177c. AD 75–95

καὶ βοηθεῖν αὐτοῖς δοκιμάσας οὐκ ἀνέμεινεν, ἀλλʼ ἐπειχθεὶς καὶ κατὰ πέμπτην ἐπιπεσὼν νύκτα τοῖς Ἀσσυρίοις περὶ Δάνον, οὕτως γὰρ ἡ ἑτέρα τοῦ Ἰορδάνου προσαγορεύεται πηγή, καὶ φθάσας πρὶν ἐν ὅπλοις γενέσθαι τοὺς μὲν ἐν ταῖς κοίταις ὄντας ἀπέκτεινε…

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
SB 4 7330AD 101–AD 200

ρ … ὁ Διόσκορος σήμερον δέκα ἡμέρας ἀπρόιτός ἐστιν καὶ εἰς πάντα τὰ ἔργα μάχομαι, ἕως ἂν αὐτὰ ἀνύσω. ὁ κεραμεὺς καθʼ ἧς ἡμέρας διενοχλεῖ μοι. ἔρρωσο. … α

P.Oxy. 1 120OxyrhynchosAD 201–AD 300

ἐνακούεις. χρὴ γάρ τινα ὁρῶντα ἑαυτὸν ἐν δυστυχίᾳ καὶ ἂν ἀναχωρεῖν καὶ μὴ ἁπλῶς μάχεσθαι τῷ δεδογμένῳ. μετρίων γὰρ καὶ δυστυχῶν γένεσιν ἔχοντες οὐδὲ οὕτω ἑαυτοῖς προσέχομεν. τέως μὲν

P.Gen. 1 54Philadelphia? (Arsinoites)AD 326–AD 375

γνώμην μου ὅτι γνώμη ὅποιά ἐστιν. μάτυρός ἐστιν ὁ θεὸς ὅτι οὐ διὰ λῆμμα μάχομαι ἀλλὰ μάχομαι διὰ σέ. ἐπειδὴ πράσσεις θέλω σε πάντοτε καλῶς ἔχειν ἀλλὰ θέλομέν σε

[The] bond-servant now of [the] Lord not it behooves to quarrel but gentle to be toward all, able to teach, forbearing,
ἀλλ᾽alla but G235 Conjunction
638× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Timothy than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
But is a strong opposing word, used in Matthew 5:15 and John 7:16. It shows contrast or surprise, like in the phrase 'but God' in Romans 3:31.
Tyndale gloss
but
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἀλλά (alla) is an adversative particle, meaning 'but' or 'otherwise.' It is derived from the neuter plural of ἄλλος and is used to introduce opposition or contrast in sentences. In the New Testament, it often appears in contexts that involve negation or exceptions, such as in Matthew 5:15 and John 16:2. The lexicons note its stronger adversative force compared to δέ.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἀλλά (ἀλλ’ usually bef. α and υ, often bef. ε and η, rarely bef. ο and ω, never bef. ι; Tdf., Pr., 93 f.; WH, App., 146),

adversative particle,

stronger than δέ; prop. neuter pl. of ἄλλος, used adverbially, with changed accent; hence prop. otherwise, on the other hand (cf. Ro 3:31);

opposing a previous negation, but: οὐ (μὴ) . . . ἀ., Mt 5:15, 17 Mk 5:39, Jo 7:16, al.; rhetorically subordinating but not entirely negativing what precedes, οὐ . . . ἀ., not so much . . . as, Mk 9:37, Mt 10:20, Jo 12:44, al.; with ellipse of the negation, Mt 11:7-9

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

ἀλλά, an adversative particle, derived from ἄλλα, neut. of the adj. ἄλλος, which was originally pronounced ἀλλός (cf. Klotz ad Dévar. ii. p. 1 sq.), hence properly, other things se. than those just mentioned. It differs from δέ, as the Lat. at and sed from autem, [ef. W. 441 sq. (411)]. 1. But. So related to the preceding words that it serves to introduce 1. an opposition to concessions; nevertheless, notwithstanding: Mt. xxiv. 6; Mk. xiii. 20; xiv. 28; Jn. xvi. 7, 20; Acts iv. 17; vii. 48; Ro. v. 14 sq.; x. 16; 1 Co. iv. 4; 2 Co. vii. 6; Phil. ii. 27 (ἀλλ᾽ ὁ θεός etc.), ete. 2. an objection: Jn. vii. 27; Ro. x. 18 sq.; 1 Co. xv. 35; Jas. ii. 18. 3. an exception: Lk. xxii. 53; Ro. iv. 2; 1 Co. viii. 7; xe 29: 4. a restriction: Jn. xi. 42; Gal. iv. 8; Mk. xiv. 36. 5. an ascensive transition or gradation, nay rather, yea moreover: Jn. xvi. 2; 2 Co. i. 9; esp. with καί added, Lk. xii. 7…

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

ἀλλά. The closeness οἱ ἀλλά to πλήν appears in more uses than one. Armitage Robinson, Zp/estans, p. 205, has a note on a quasi-resumpltive use of ἀλλά in Eph 524 which is closely paralleled by that of πλήν in ver. 33. Then there are instances of ἀλλά = ‘‘except.” ‘This is clear where we have ἀλλ᾽ ἤ (as in 2 Cor 13%): thus P Petr 11. 9 (3)® (B.c. 24139) ὥστε μηθένα εἶναι ἐνταῦθα ἀλλ᾽ ἢ ἡμᾶς, ‘ There is no one left here except ourselves” (Ed.), 2d. 46 (α)" (B.C. 209) καὶ μὴ ὑποκεῖσθαι πρὸς ἄλλο μηδὲν add’ ἢ τὴν mpoyeypap[μέν]ην ἐγγύην, “has not been pledged for any other purpose than the aforesaid security” (1α.), P Lond 89738 (a.p. 84) (=TIII. p. 207) ὃ μέντοιγε οὐ θέλων. ἀλλὰ ἢ ἀνάγκηι. In P Tebt I. το 419 (B.c. 92) μὴ ἐξέστω Φιλίσκωι γυναῖκα ἄλλην. μ γυ…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἀλλά (alla) — but.

ἀλλά,

conjunction, originally neuter plural of ἄλλος, otheruise: used adversatively to limit or oppose words, sentences, or clauses, stronger than δέ:

I. in simple oppositions, but,

I.1. after negative clauses, οὐ κακός, ἀλλ᾽ ἀγαθός[Refs 8th c.BC+]

I.1. b after a simple negative, ἦ παραφρονεῖ; οὔκ, ἀλλ᾽ ὕπνος μ᾽ ἔχει[Refs 5th c.BC+]

I.1. c frequently after οὐ μόνον, μὴ μόνον, with or without καί, οὐ μόνον ἅπαξ, ἀ. πολλάκις[Refs 5th c.BC+], either, not only.. but.., μὴ ὅτι ἰδιώτην τινά, ἀλλὰ τὸν μέγαν βασιλέα[Refs 5th c.BC+]; or, not only not.. but.., οὐχ ὅπως κωλυταὶ.. γενήσεσθε, ἀλλὰ καὶ.. περιόψεσθε[Refs 5th c.BC+]; the negative form is ἀλλ᾽ οὐδέ, μὴ ὅτι ὑπὲρ ἄλλου, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ ὑπὲρ ἐμαυτοῦ δίκην εἴρηκα[Refs 4th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀλλά

alla

neuter plural of 243; properly, other things, i.e. (adverbially)

contrariwise (in many relations):--and, but (even), howbeit, indeed,

nay, nevertheless, no, notwithstanding, save, therefore, yea, yet.

see GREEK for 243

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀλλά

Cj.

but, except

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀλλά alla 638x

but; however; but still more; ἀλλάγε, at all events; ἀλλή, unless, except. Ἀλλά also serves to introduce a sentence with keenness and emphasis, Jn. 16:2; Rom. 6:5; 7:7; Phil. 3:8

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἀλλά Conjunct., properly neut. pl. of ἄλλος (with changed accent) otherwise, but, stronger than δέ:

to oppose single clauses, but, Lat. autem, the preceding clause being negat., οὐ μόνον ἅπαξ, ἀλλὰ πολλάκις Plat.; so, οὐχ (or μὴ) ὅτι, οὐχ (or μὴ) ὅπως, are followed by ἀλλά or ἀλλά καὶ . . . , not only . . . , but . . .

after a negative ἀλλά sometimes = ἀλλ᾽ ἤ, except, but, ἔπαισεν οὔτις ἀλλ᾽ ἐγώ Soph.

to oppose whole sentences, but, yet, Lat. at:— used by Hom., with imperat. or subj., to remonstrate, encourage, persuade, like Lat. tandem, ἀλλ᾽ ἴθι, ἀλλ᾽ ἄγε, ἀλλὰ ἴωμεν, Hom.

joined with other Particles, ἀλλ᾽ ἄρα, or, ἀλλ᾽ οὖν, but then, however, Hdt., etc.

ἀλλὰ γάρ, Lat. enimvero, but really, certainly, attic

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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
92%but
but92% · 591×instead2% · 15×other renderings4% · 25×other renderings2% · 12×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial10%object6%predicate3%subject2%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 638 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
οἶδαI know, rememberκατεργάζομαιI work out, prodἐπιγινώσκωI come to know,
σύ
λέγωI say, speakγράφωI writeἐν
ἐγώ
ἀπόκρατέωI lay hold of, oθέλημαwill, wish, desi
εἰμίI am, exist
οὐNegοὐδείςno one, none, noΜωϋσῆςMoses
θεόςGod, a god
Article theἄνομοςlawless, sinful,
ἀλλάbut638×
what comes after →
Article the
Article theπέμπωI sendθεόςGod, a god
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theπᾶςall, the whole, ἐν
οὐNeg
πᾶςall, the whole, ἐνδύναμαιI am powerful, a
ἐν
πᾶςall, the whole, Article theδύναμιςmight, power, ma
ἵναin order that, so th
φανερόωI make clear, viπληρόωI fill, fulfill,σῴζωI save, heal

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

Concordanceἀλλά · 638× in the New Testament
John 1 Corinthians Romans 2 Corinthians Mark Matthew Luke Acts Galatians 1 Peter Hebrews Philippians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 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 1.1c. AD 75–95

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

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.8c. AD 100

ἐγὼ δὲ οὐχ ὡς διδάσκαλος, ἀλλ̓ ὧς εἰς ἐξ ὑμῶν ὑποδείξω ὀλίγα, δἰ ὧν ἐν τοῖς παροῦσιν εὐφρανθήσεσθε.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. BC 6th c. AD
P. Grenf. 1 21Pathyris127 BC

ἐπὶ Διονυσίου ἀγορανόμου ἐν τῶι ϛ ἔτους ἐπὶ τοῦ Φιλομήτορος, ἣ διασαφεῖ τά τε ἄλλα καὶ ἐπίτροπον Ἑρμ … φιλον ὄντα συγγενῆ κατέστησεν καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκετικῶν σωμάτων δ

P.Grenf. 1 44Pathyris127 BC

ἐπὶ Διονυσίου ἀγορανόμου ἐν τῶι ϛ ἔτει ἐπὶ τοῦ Φιλομήτορος ἣ διασαφεῖ τά τε ἄλλα καὶ ἐπίτροπον Ἑρμ … φιλον ὄντα συγγενῆ κατέστησεν καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκετικῶν σωμάτων δ

P.Grenf. 1 37Thebais109 BC

νῦν οὐδενός … ς ἀξιοῦμεν … ἀνθρώπου ἀλόγως … ὀφείλει ἡμῖν διάφορα … θαι ἀλλʼ ἀποστερέσαι … ησας ἀλλά … τας κατὰ κοινόν … ἐπίσκεψιν ποιησάσθαι. … τούτων γὰρ

[The] bond-servant now of [the] Lord not it behooves to quarrel but gentle to be toward all, able to teach, forbearing,
ἤπιονēpios gentle G2261 Adjective · accusative · singular · masculine
2× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Timothy than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Being gentle means being kind and mild in your actions and words, like in 1 Thessalonians 2:7 and 2 Timothy 2:24. It is about being soft and considerate towards others.
Amplified meaning
gentle, mild
Tyndale gloss
gentle
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἤπιος (i.e., *ēpios*) means mild, gentle, or kind. It is used to describe both people and sentiments, conveying a sense of affability or soothing nature. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts emphasizing gentleness, such as in 1 Thessalonians 2:7 and 2 Timothy 2:24. The lexicons do not present significant disagreements on its meaning.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

* ἤπιος, -α, -ον,

mild, gentle: I Th 2:7 (WH, R, mg., νήπιος); seq. πρός, II Ti 2:24.†

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

ἤπιος, -a, -ov, rarely of two terminations, (apparently derived fr. ἔπος, εἰπεῖν, so that it prop. means affable [so Etym. Magn. 434, 20; but ef. Vaniéek p. 32]); fr. Hom. down; mild, gentle: 1 Th. ii. 7 (where L WH νήπιος, q. v. fin.) ; πρός τινα, 2 Tim. ii. 24." “Hp, Lchm. “Hp [on the breathing in codd. see ΤᾺ Proleg. p. 107], (1) watchful, fr. 1337 to be awake), Er, one of the ancestors of Christ : Lk. iii. 28.

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

ἤπιος. In Archiv v. p. 166 No. 17 Rubensohn publishes a sepulchral inscr. (late Rom.) stating that potp’ ὀλοὴ θανάτοιο had brought Sarapion down els ᾿Αἴδαο, and describing him as— μειλείχιον πάντ[εσσἼ]ι Kal ἤπιον ἀνθρώποισι. This illustrates well the idea of outward mildness or mildness towards others which Tittmann finds in the adj. (Syov. i. p. 140, ““qui hance lenitatem in aliis ferendis monstrat’’), and which appears in botin its NT occurrences (1 Th 27 Xe ACP De, 2 Tim 24). The adj. is found ¢ev in the semi-literary invocation to Isis, P Oxy XI. 13801, 88155 (early ii/a.D.).

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἤπιος (ēpios) — gentle.

ἤπῐος, α, ον,

also ος, ον [Refs 8th c.BC+]

1. of persons, gentle, kind, πατὴρ ὣς ἤπιος αἰεί [Refs 8th c.BC+]; of a monarch, ἀγανὸς καὶ ἤ[Refs 8th c.BC+]; of the gods, σωτῆρας.. ἠπίους θ᾽ ἡμῖν μολεῖν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; οὐδέ πω ἤπιος appeased, [NT]

2. of feelings, words, etc., εἴ μοι κρείων Ἀγαμέμνων ἤπια εἰδείη had kindly feeling towards me, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; μῦθος ἤ. [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ὀργαί, φρένες, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. of heat and cold, mild, less intense, τὸ πνῖγος -ώτερον γέγονεν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἠπιώτεραι αἱ θέρμαι, of a fever, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὰ τοῦ πυρετοῦ ἤπια[Refs 4th c.BC+]; of river-currents, -ώτερα ῥεύματα [Refs 4th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἤπιος

epios

probably from 2031; properly, affable, i.e. mild or kind:--gentle.

see GREEK for 2031

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἤπιος, α, ον

Adj

placid, gentle

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἤπιος ēpios 2x

mild, gentle, kind, 2 Tim. 2:24; 1 Thess. 2:7*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἤπιος of persons, gentle, mild, kind, πατὴρ δ᾽ ὣς ἤπιος ἦεν Hom.:—c. dat. pers., id. Hom., Trag.

of sentiments, ἤπια εἰδέναι to have kindly feelings, Hom.; πρὸς τὸ ἠπιώτερον καταστῆσαί τινα to bring him to a milder mood, Thuc.

act. soothing, assuaging, of medicines, Il., etc.

ἤπιον ἦμαρ, c. inf., a day favourable for beginning a thing, Hes.

adv. ἠπίως, Hdt., Soph.

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
100%gentle
gentle100% · 1×

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
γίνομαιI come into being, a
ἀλλάbut, except
ἀλλάbut, except
μάχομαιI engage in batt
ἤπιοςgentle
what comes after →
ἐν
μέσοςmiddle, in the m
εἰμίI am, exist
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

Concordanceἤπιος · 2× in the New Testament
1 Thessalonians 2 Timothy
Across the New Testament2 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Life of Moses 1.72c. AD 40

εἰμὶ δὲ τὴν φύσιν ἤπιος καὶ γνησίοις ἱκέταις ἵλεως.

[The] bond-servant now of [the] Lord not it behooves to quarrel but gentle to be toward all, able to teach, forbearing,
εἶναιeimi to be G1511 Verb · present · active · infinitive
2,123× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
In plain English
Tyndale gloss
to be
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

εἰμί,

with various uses and significations, like the English verb to be.

As substantive verb.

Of persons and things, to be, exist: Ac 17:28, Jo 1:1 8:58 17:5, al; ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν (for past ptcp.), Re 1:4, 8 4:8 11:17 16:5 (v. Swete, Ap., 5; M, Pr., 228); τὰ (μὴ) ὄντα, Ro 4:17, I Co 1:28.

Of times, events, etc., to be, happen, take place: Mt 24:3, Mk 14:2 15:42, Lk 21:23, Jo 4:6, 23 5:10, al.

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

εἰμί (fr. ἔω, whence ἐμέ in inscriptions [7]; Aeol. ἐμμὲ (Curtius (yet ἔμμε, so G. Meyer) 8 564; Veitch p. 2287), impv. ἴσθι, ἔστω, less usual ἤτω, 1 Co. xvi. 22; Jas. v.12; Clem. Rom. 1 Cor. 48,5; [1 Mace. x. 31; Ps. ciii. (civ.) 31]; Plat. rep. 2 p. 361 ¢. [here it has given place to ἔστω (or ἴτω), see Stallb. ad loc.; Veitch p. 200 sq.; 3 pers. plur. ἔστωσαν, Lk. xii. 35; 1 Tim. iii. 12], inf. εἶναι ; impf. —ace. to the more ancient and elegant form, ἦν, 2 pers. ἦσθα (Mt. xxvi. 69; Mk. xiv. 67), rarer form ἧς (Mt. RKV. 1235 dn ΧΙ: 9]. 92); xxI LS. Reyna 15 G@ ΕΣ Tr WH), 3 pers. ἦν, 1 pers. plur. jer, — ace. to the mid. form, com. in later Grk. [ef. Veitch p. 226], ἤμην (Mt. xxv. 35sq.; [on Acts xi. 11 ef. WH. Intr. § 404]; Gal.i.10, etc.), plur. ἤμεθα (Mt. xxiii. 30 G L T Tr WH; Acts xxvii. 37 L T Tr WH; [Gal. iv. 3 TWH Tr mrg.; Eph. ii. 3 T Tr WH; Bar. i. 19]); cf. Lob. ad Phryn.…

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

εἰμί. Middle forms in the flexion of εἰμί other than the present tense (cf. however MGr εἶμαι, -σαι, etc.) begin to appear very early in the dialects and are well established in the papyri. Thus the Ist sing. impf. ἤμην, which always takes the place of the class. ἢ in the NT (but see Ac 2018 D) may be illustrated from PSI IV. 36274 (B.c. 251-0) ἤμην δὲ πρὸς τῶι λαμβάνειν τὸν χαλκόν, P Magd 65 (B.c. 221) ἤμην γυμνός, P Par 57 (B.c. 129) ὧν ἤμην δι᾽ αὐτῶν [π]αραμε[μετ]ρηκ[υῖα, P Oxy IIT. 526% (ii/A.p.) οὐκ ἤμην ἀπαθὴς ἀλόγως σε καταλείπιν. For ist plur. ἤμεθα see P Petr IT. 4 (7)° (B.C. 255-4) τεθλιμμένοι ἤμεθα : cf. Ac 2737, Eph 23, as contrasted with the act. ἦμεν in Ac 111 (NB), 1612, Rom 7° a/.: the two forms are found together in Gal 4% (SDFG). The non-classical ἧς (Lob. Phryx. p. 149) is found sefzes in the NT as compared with ἦσθα (from an old perf. form ἤησθα), which is confined…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

εἶναι (einai) — to exist.

εἰμί

(sum), Aeolic dialect ἔμμι [Refs 7th c.BC+]; Cretan dialect ἠμί [Refs]; 2nd pers. singular εἶ, Epic dialect and Ionic dialect εἰς [Refs 8th c.BC+], Epic dialect and Doric dialect ἐσσί [Refs 8th c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. singular ἐστί, Doric dialect ἐντί [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. dual ἐστόν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; 1st pers. plural ἐσμέν, Epic dialect and Ionic dialect εἰμέν (also in [Refs 5th c.BC+], Doric dialect εἰμές [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. plural εἰσί (-ίν), Epic dialect and Ionic dialect ἔασι (-ιν) [Refs 8th c.BC+], Doric dialect ἐντί [Refs 5th c.BC+], Epic dialect and Lyric poetry also in middle form ἔσσο [Refs 8th c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. singular ἔστω (ἤτω [LXX+5th c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. plural ἔστωσαν, but ἔστων [Refs 8th c.BC+], and early Attic dialect Inscrr., [Refs 2nd c.BC+]subjunctive ὦ, ᾖς, ᾖ, Epic dialect ἔω [Refs 8th c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. singular ἔῃ…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

εἰμί ἐιμί

einai

present infinitive from 1510; to exist:--am, was. come, is, X lust

after, X please well, there is, to be, was.

see GREEK for 1510

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

εἰμί eimi 2x

to be, to exist, Jn. 1:1; 17:5; Mt. 6:30; Lk. 4:25, freq.; ἐστί[ν], it is possible, proper, Heb. 9:5; a simple linking verb (“copula”) to the subject and predicate, and therefore in itself affecting the force of the sentence only by its tense, mood, etc., Jn. 1:1; 15:1, freq.; it also forms a frequent circumlocution with the participles of the present and perfect of other verbs, Mt. 19:22; Mk. 2:6

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAN — Verb · present · active · infinitive
present active infinitive — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAN Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: iNfinitive TVM equivalent: G5721

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
75%be
be75% · 95×being12% · 15×be?6% · 8×other renderings6% · 7×other renderings2% · 2×

127 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 11 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

[The] bond-servant now of [the] Lord not it behooves to quarrel but gentle to be toward all, able to teach, forbearing,
πρὸςpros toward G4314 Preposition
700× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 2 Timothy as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
A preposition showing direction or relationship, like towards or with something, as seen in Mark 5:11 and John 18:16. This means indicating movement or direction. It's about showing proximity or connection.
Tyndale gloss
to/with
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

πρός is a preposition that indicates direction, proximity, or relation. It can be used with the genitive to denote motion from a place, with the dative for local proximity, and with the accusative to express motion towards a place or object. In the New Testament, it appears in various contexts, such as Acts 27:34 for benefit and Mark 5:11 for proximity.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

πρός,

prep. c. gen., dat., acc.

C. gen., of motion from a place, from the side of, hence metaph., in the interests of, Ac 27:34 (cf. Page, in l.).

C. dat., of local proximity, hard by, near, at: Mk 5:11, Lk 19:37, Jo 18:16 20:11, 12, Re 1:13.

C. acc., of motion or direction towards a place or object, to, towards.

Of place,

after verbs of motion or of speaking and other words with the idea of direction: ἔρχομαι, ἀναβαίνω, πορεύομαι, λέγω, ἐπιστολή, etc., Mt 3:14, Mk 6:51, Lk 11:5, Jo 2:3,

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

πρός, a preposition, i.q. Epic mpori, from πρό and the adverbial suffix τι, (cf. the German vor . . . hin [Curtius § 381]); it is joined I. with the AccusaTIvE, to, towards, Lat. ad, denoting direction towards athing, or position and state looking towards a thing (W. § 49h. p. 404 (378)): it is used 1. of the goal or limit towards which a movement is directed: πρός twa or τι, a. prop. after verbs of going, departing, running, coming, ete.: ἄγω, Jn. xi. 15; ἀναβαίνω, Mk. vi. 51; Jn. xx. 17; Acts xv. 2; ἀνακάμπτω, Mt. ii. 12; Acts xvili. 21; ἀνέρχομαι, Gal. i. 17 [1]. Tr mrg. arépy.]; ἀπέρχομαι, Mt. » xiv. 25 [Rec.]; Mk. iii. 13, etc.; πρὸς ἑαυτόν, to his house, Lk. xxiv. 12 [T om. L Trbr. WH reject the ys.; Tr reads mp. αὐτόν ; some connect the phrase w. θαυμάζων (see 2 Ὁ. below) ]; Jn. xx. 10 [Ὁ Tr αὐτούς, WH air. (cf. s. v. αὑτοῦ sub fin.)]; γίνεσθαι πρός τινα, to come to one, 1 Co.…

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

πρός reference to place PSI IV. 31178 (iv/A.D.?) πρ]ὸς τὴν Aavitk.ay τῆς κοίλης Dupials. Headlam (on Herodas VII. 123) holds that τὰ πρὸς τὴν θύραν in Mk 2? ‘‘is surely idiomatic (not vulgar as Moulton thinks) ‘spots which commanded the door’”: cf. Mt 310, Lk 35. For πρός, ‘‘with,” as in Jn ΤΡ, Heb 41%, cf. Epict. iv. 9. 13 πρὸς ὃν οὐδείς ἐστί σου πιθανώτερος (see Sharp Ξε, p. 92). And for the possibility that the difficult πρός in Mk 63, οἷ", 14%, Jn 1}, 1 Jn 1?, is to be explained as an Aramaism, see Rendel Harris Prologue to S. John’s Gospel p. 8f., and Burney Avamaic Origin of the Fourth Gospel p. 28 f. (6) of time = ‘‘for’’ (a time) and no longer—BGU I. 1131? (A.D. 143) βουλόμενος παρεπιδημεῖν πρὸς καιρόν (cf. Lk 818), P Oxy I. 6714 (A.D. 338) πρὸς ὀλίγον εἰσχύει, ‘‘withstands but for a short time” (cf. Jas 4), and P Flor III. 282° (A.D. 520) πρὸς ὅλον χρόνον. (c) of mental…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

πρός (pros) — to/with.

πρός,

preposition, expressing direction,

__A on the side of, in the direction of, hence with genitive, dative, and accusative, from, at, to: Epic dialect also προτί and ποτί, in [Refs 8th c.BC+] usually with accusative, more rarely with dative, and each only once with genitive, [Refs 8th c.BC+]:—dialectal forms: Doric dialectποτί (which see) and ποί, but Cretan dialect πορτί [Refs], Argive προτ(ί) [Refs 7th c.BC+] πός [Refs 4th c.BC+]., also sometimes in Asia Minor in compounds, see at {ποσάγω},{ποσφέρω}; Aeolic dialect πρός [Refs 7th c.BC+]; πρές [Refs 6th c.AD+]; Pamphylian περτ (ί) [Refs] (With προτί, πρός cf. Sanskrit práti 'towards, near to, against, back, etc.', Slavonic protiv[ucaron], Lett. pret 'against', Latin pretium: ποτί (which see) and πός are not cognate) [Refs 4th c.BC+] refers to that from which something…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

πρός

pros

a strengthened form of 4253; a preposition of direction; forward to,

i.e. toward (with the genitive case, the side of, i.e. pertaining to;

with the dative case, by the side of, i.e. near to; usually with the

accusative case, the place, time, occasion, or respect, which is the

destination of the relation, i.e. whither or for which it is

predicated):--about, according to , against, among, at, because of,

before, between, (where-)by, for, X at thy house, in, for intent, nigh

unto, of, which pertain to, that, to (the end that), X together, to

(you) -ward, unto, with(-in). In the comparative case, it denotes

essentially the same applications, namely, motion towards, accession

to, or nearness at.

see GREEK for 4253

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

πρός

Prep.

to, towards, with

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

πρός pros 700x

from; met. for the benefit of, Acts 27:34; with a dative, near, by, at, by the side of, in the vicinity of, Mk. 5:11; Lk. 19:37; with an accusative, used of the place to which anything tends, to, unto, towards, Mt. 2:12; 3:5, 13; at, close upon, Mt. 3:10; Mk. 5:22; near to, in the vicinity of, Mk. 6:45; after verbs of speaking, praying, answering to a charge, etc., to, Mt. 3:15; 27:14; of place where, with, in, among, by, at, etc., Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

πρός prep. with gen., implying motion from a place; with dat., abiding at a place; with acc., motion to a place

WITH GEN.,

of Place, from, from forth, Hom., Soph.

on the side or quarter of, νήσοισι πρὸς Ἤλιδος islands looking (as it were) from Elis, i. e. towards Elis, Od.; πρὸς τοῦ Ἑλλησπόντου ἵδρυται μᾶλλον ἢ τοῦ Στρύμονος lies more towards (i. e. nearer) the Hellespont than the Strymon, Hdt.; ἐστρατοπεδεύοντο πρὸς Ὀλύνθου Thuc., etc.:—often with words denoting the points of the compass, δύω θύραι εἰσίν, αἱ μὲν πρὸς βορέαο, αἱ δ᾽ αὖ πρὸς νότου one looking north wards, the other south wards, Od.; so, οἰκέουσι πρὸς νότου ἀνέμου Hdt., etc.

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

PREP PREPosition

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
69%to
to69% · 506×with7% · 48×for6% · 42×toward4% · 30×against3% · 21×at3% · 20×unto2% · 18×other renderings5% · 37×other renderings1% · 10×

732 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
adverbial93%predicate5%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 700 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
ἔρχομαιI come, go
καίand, even, also,Article theνύξthe night, night
λέγωI say, speak
καίand, even, also,δέbut, on the otheἸησοῦςJesus
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakArticle theπαραγίνομαιI appear, come,
αὐτός
ἄγωI leadφέρωI carry, bear, bμαθητήςa learner, disci
ἐγώ
ὑπέρσῶμαbody, fleshυἱόςa son, descenden
πρόςtoward700×
what comes after →
Article the
πατήρfather, Father, θεόςGod, a godμαθητήςa learner, disci
αὐτός
Article theλέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,
σύ
καίand, even, also,ἐνἔρχομαιI come, go
ἐγώ
καίand, even, also,Article theοὐNeg
ἀλλήλων
τίςIrgλέγωI say, speakμήNeg

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

Concordanceπρός · 700× in the New Testament
Luke Acts John Mark Matthew 2 Corinthians 1 Corinthians Hebrews Romans Ephesians 1 Thessalonians Galatians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament26 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 3c. AD 40

ἡ δ’ ἀρχή, καθάπερ ἔφην, ἐστὶ θαυμασιωτάτη κοσμοποιίαν περιέχουσα, ὡς καὶ τοῦ κόσμου τῷ νόμῳ καὶ τοῦ νόμου τῷ κόσμῳ συνᾴδοντος καὶ τοῦ νομίμου ἀνδρὸς εὐθὺς ὄντος κοσμοπολίτου πρὸς τὸ βούλημα τῆς φύσεως τὰς πράξεις ἀπευθύνοντος, καθ’ ἣν καὶ ὁ σύμπας…

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 2.3c. AD 100

τούτων οὖν μενόντων τὰ πρὸς κύριον ἁγνῶς, συνευφραίνονται αὐτοῖς σοφία, σύνεσις, ἐπιστήμη, γνῶσις.

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 4th c. AD 6th c. AD
P.Grenf. 1 28Krokodilopolis (Pathyrites)109 BC

r … πυρὸν νέον καθαρὸν ἄδολον μέτρωι ὧι καὶ παρείληφεν καὶ ἀποκαθεστάμενον εἰς οἶκον πρὸς αὐτὸν ἰδίοις ἀνηλώμασιν. ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀποδῶι ἐν τῶι ὡρισμένωι χρόνωι ἢ μὴ ποιῆ

P.Amh. 2 48Pathyris107 BC

παρεχέτω τὸν οἶνον μόνιμον ἕως Ἁθὺρ λ τοῦ δεκάτου ἔτους, καὶ ἀποκαταστησάτω εἰς οἶκον πρὸς αὐτὴν τοῖς ἰδίοις. ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀποδῷ ἐν τῷ ὡρισμένῳ χρόνῳ ἀποτεισάτω ἑκάστου κεραμίου

P.Grenf. 1 30Pathyris104 BC

πᾶσι χαίρειν καὶ ἐρρωμένοις διὰ παντὸς εὐημερεῖν. ὑγιαίνομεν δὲ καὶ αὐτοί. μεταλαβόντες τοὺς συντετελεσμένους πρὸς τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς Ἑρμωνθίτας ἀγῶνας μεγάλως ἐχάρημεν. ἐπεὶ οὖν προκεχειρίκαμεν προστάτην τοῦ μεγίστου θεοῦ Νεχθφαραῦτος

[The] bond-servant now of [the] Lord not it behooves to quarrel but gentle to be toward all, able to teach, forbearing,
πάντας,pas all, G3956 Adjective · accusative · plural · masculine
1,242× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Timothy than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means all or every, as in Matthew 3:10 and Romans 7:8, where it refers to everything or all people, emphasizing the universal nature of God's message.
Amplified meaning
all men, all people
Tyndale gloss
all
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word πᾶς (i.e., *pas*) means 'all' or 'every' and appears in various forms, including masculine, feminine, and neuter. It is used in the New Testament to denote totality, as in 'all things' or 'every kind,' and can function as an adjective or pronoun. Notably, it can also imply 'the whole' when used with definite articles, as seen in verses like Matthew 28:18.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν, gen., παντός, πάσης, παντός,

[in LXX chiefly for כֹּל;]

all, every.

As adj.,

c. subst. anarth., all, every, of every kind: Mt 3:10 4:23, Mk 9:49, Lk 4:37, Jo 2:10, Ac 27:20, Ro 7:8, Re 18:17, al. mult.; pl., all, Ac 22:15, Ro 5:12, He 1:6, al.; of the highest degree, π. ἐξουσία (προθυμία, χαρά), Mt 28:18,

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

πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν, en. παντός, πάσης, παντός, [dat. plur. Lchm. πᾶσι ten times, -σιν seventy-two times; Tdf. -σι five times (see Proleg. p. 98 sq.), -ow seventy-seven times; Treg. -ow eighty-two times; WH -ox fourteen times, -ow sixty-eight times; see N, v (ἐφελκυστικόν)], Hebr. 75, [fr. Hom. down], all, every; it is used I. adjectively, and 1. with anarthrous nouns; a. any, every one (86. of the class denoted by the noun annexed to mas); with the Singular: as πᾶν δένδρον, Mt. iii. 10; πᾶσα θυσία, Mk. ix. 49 [T WH Tr mrg. om. Tr txt. br. the cl.]; add, Mt. v.11; xv. 13; Lk. iv. 37; Jn.ii. 10; xv.2; Acts ii.43; v.42; Ro. xiv. 11; 1 Co. iv. 17; Rev. xviii. 17, and very often; πᾶσα ψυχὴ ἀνθρώπου, Ro. ii. 9 (πᾶσα ἀνθρ. ψυχή, Plat. Phaedr. p- 249e.); πᾶσα συνείδησις ἀνθρώπων, 2 Co. iv. 2; mas λεγόμενος θεός, 2 Th. ii. 4; πᾶς ἅγιος ἐν Χριστῷ, Phil. iv. 21sqq. with the Plural, all or any that are…

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

παῖς. In Gnomon 41 (¢. A.D. 150) it is laid down—éav Αἰγύπτιος ἐκ κοπρίας [ἀν]έληται παῖδα καὶ τοῦτον υἱοποιήσηται, μετὰ θάνατον τεταρτολο[ γεῖτ]αι, ““1Γ an Egyptian shall take up a child from the dungheap, and adopt him as a son, he shall be mulcted after his death to the extent of one fourth of his property.” For παῖς applied to a female child see P Strass I. 41° (A.D. 250) ἐκδικῆσαι τὰ τῆς παιδός, and P Oxy 1 5215 (A.D. 325) εΠδαμὲν τὴν παῖδα ἔχουσαν κατὰ τῶν εἰσχίων ἀμυχὰς μετὰ πελιωμάτων (see 76. II. p. 319), ““νγῈ saw that the girl had wounds on her hips with livid spots”: cf. Lk 8° (for voc. of address see Pro/eg. pp. 70, 235). The word is commonly applied to slaves, as in Lk 77 a/., e.g. P Lille 27 (iii/B.c.), where 11 male slaves are enumerated under the heading παῖδες, then 2 female slaves, and then again 3 male slaves: cf. P Strass I. 405 (a. p. 569) Κολλοῦθος Βίκτορος…

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

πᾶς (pas) — all.

πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν,

__AAeolic dialect παῖς, παῖσα [Refs 7th c.BC+] feminine πάνσα [Refs 8th c.BC+], Epic dialect and Delph. πάντεσσι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; also Locrian dialect πάντεσιν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; πάντοις [Refs 2nd c.BC+] as accusative masculine in [LXX+7th c.BC+], etc. (but in compounds sometimes long in Attic dialect, [Refs].]—Coll. pronoun, when used of a number, all; when of one only, the whole; of the several persons in a number, every.

__A.I in plural, all, πάντες τε θεοὶ πᾶσαί τε θέαιναι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; πάντες ὅσοι.. [Refs 8th c.BC+]; πάντας ᾧ ἂνπεριτυγχάνῃ, for ὅσοις ἄν, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: also with the Article, see.below [Refs 5th c.BC+]

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

πᾶς

pas

including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all,

any, every, the whole:--all (manner of, means), alway(-s), any (one),

X daily, + ever, every (one, way), as many as, + no(-thing), X

thoroughly, whatsoever, whole, whosoever.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν

Adj

all, the whole, every kind of

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

πᾶς pas 1x

all; in the sg. the whole, entire, usually when the substantive has the article, Mt. 6:29; 8:32; Acts 19:26; every, only with an anarthrous subst., Mt. 3:10; 4:4; pl. all, Mt. 1:17, et al. freq.; πάντα, in all respects, Acts 20:35; 1 Cor. 9:25; 10:33; 11:2; by a Hebraism, a negative with πᾶς is sometimes equivalent to οὐδείς or μηδείς, Mt. 24:22; Lk. 1:37; Acts 10:14; Read the full entry →

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

A-APM Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Accusative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ol: Used in various combinations, and with different meanings.

(1) All along, "Weeping all along as he went" (Jer 41:6), i.e. throughout the whole way he went, feigning equal concern with the men from Shiloh, etc., for the destruction of the Temple, so as to put them off their guard.

(2) All in all, "That God may be all in all" (1Co 15:28, Greek: panta en pasin, "all things in all (persons and) things"). "The universe, with all it comprises, will wholly answer to God's will and reflect His mind" (Dummelow).

(3) All one, "It is all one" (Job 9:22), "it makes no difference whether I live or die."

(4) At all, "If thy father miss me at all" (1Sa 20:6), "in any way," "in the least."

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
62%all
all62% · 789×all things12% · 156×every12% · 150×everyone6% · 76×everything3% · 34×other renderings3% · 40×other renderings2% · 19×

1,264 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 28 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
subject40%adverbial30%object21%predicate5%indirect object3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,242 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
αὐτόςσύλόγοςa word, speech,
ἐν
καίand, even, also,ἀλλάbut, exceptἐγώ
Article the
αὐτόςὅςArticle the
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakδείκνυμιI point out, shoπροσφέρωI bring to, offe
ἐπί
καίand, even, also,ἐγώεἰμίI am, exist
πᾶςall,1242×
what comes after →
Article the
ἔθνοςa race, people, λαόςa people, the crπιστεύωI believe, have
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theχορτάζωI feed, satisfyδιά
σύ
εἰμίI am, existἐνκαίand, even, also,
γάρfor
Article theσύοὗτος
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theοὗτοςὅς

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

Concordanceπᾶς · 1,242× in the New Testament
Acts Luke Matthew 1 Corinthians Romans Mark John Revelation Hebrews 2 Corinthians Ephesians Colossians

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 10c. AD 40

καὶ γὰρ πατὴρ ἐκγόνων καὶ δημιουργὸς τῶν δημιουργηθέντων στοχάζεται τῆς διαμονῆς καὶ ὅσα μὲν ἐπιζήμια καὶ βλαβερὰ μηχανῇ πάσῃ διωθεῖται, τὰ δὲ ὅσα ὠφέλιμα καὶ λυσιτελῆ κατὰ πάντα τρόπον ἐκπορίζειν ἐπιποθεῖ·

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

ὡς οἱ Νώχου ἔγγονοι πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐπῴκησαν.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.4c. AD 100

πεφανέρωκεν γὰρ ἡμῖν διὰ πάντων τῶν προφητῶν, ὅτι οὕτε θυσιῶν οὔτε ὁλοκαυτωμάτων οὔτε προσφορῶν χρῄζει, λέγων ὅτε μέν:

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.Stras. 2 89Pathyris100 BC

γῆ Σενπελαίας, βορρᾶ γῆ Πανᾶτος ἀπηλιώτου ποταμός, λιβὸς Ἀραμείους, ἢ οἳ ἂν ὦσι γείτονες πάντων πάντοθεν. ἐπρίατο Πετεαρσεμθεὺς Πανοβχούνιος ὡς ἐτῶν μ χαλκοῦ τάλαντα δύο . προπωλητὴς καὶ βεβαιωτὴς

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

ἐτῶν λ χαλκοῦ δραχμῶν τρισχιλίων . προπωληταὶ καὶ βεβαιωταὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν ὠνὴν ταύτην πάντων Νεχούτης καὶ ὁ σὺν αὐτῷ οἱ ἀποδόμενοι, ὃν ἐδέξατο Πακοῖβις ὁ πριάμενος. Ἑρμίας ὁ

BGU 3 1000Pathyris99 BC

χαλκοῦ δραχμὰς δισχιλίας καὶ διακοσίας . προπωλητὴς καὶ βεβαιωτὴς τῶν κατὰ τὴν ὠνὴν ταύτην πάντων Πανοβχοῦνις ὁ ἀποδόμενος, ὃν ἐδέξατο Εὔνους ὁ πριάμενος. Ἑρμίας ὁ παρὰ Πανίσκου κεχρημάτικα.

[The] bond-servant now of [the] Lord not it behooves to quarrel but gentle to be toward all, able to teach, forbearing,
διδακτικόν,didaktikos able to teach, G1317 Adjective · accusative · singular · masculine
2× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Timothy than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word describes someone who is able to teach or instruct others, like in 1 Timothy 3:2 and 2 Timothy 2:24 where it's a quality of a church leader. It means being skilled at teaching or guiding others.
Amplified meaning
apt to teach, skilled in instruction
Tyndale gloss
able to teach
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

διδακτικός (didaktikos) means 'apt or able to teach.' It is derived from the verb διδάσκω (didasco), which means 'to teach.' This term appears in the New Testament in 1 Timothy 3:2 and 2 Timothy 2:24, highlighting qualities desirable in teachers.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

διδακτικός, -ή, -όν

(= cl. διδασκαλικός)

apt at teaching: I Ti 3:2, II Ti 2:24.†

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

διδακτικός, -7, -όν, (i. 4. διδασκαλικός in Grk. writ.), apt and skilful in teaching: 1 Tim. iii. 2; 2 Tim. ii. 24. (διδακτικὴ ἀρετή, the virtue which renders one teachable, docility, Philo, praem. et poen. § 4; [de congressu erud. 8 11)

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

διδακτικός. Grimm’s citation from Philo is the more welcome in that even Vettius Valens (p. 150?®—adverb pp. 1584, 3044) still uses διδασκαλικός, which Grimm notes as the classical see under διδάσκαλος. MGr keeps δασκαλικός, “ΕΓ a school-master.” form :

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

διδακτικός (didaktikos) — able to teach.

δῐδακ-τικός, ή, όν,

apt at teaching, [NT+1st c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

διδακτικός

didaktikos

from 1318; instructive ("didactic"):--apt to teach.

see GREEK for 1318

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

διδακτικός, ή, όν

Adj

able to teach, apt to teach

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

διδακτικός didaktikos 2x

apt or qualified to teach, 1 Tim. 3:2; 2 Tim. 2:24*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

διδακτικός δι^δακτικός, ή, όν adjdi^daktik os_h_on suff_acc διδάσκω apt at teaching, NTest.

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
100%able to teach
able to teach100% · 2×

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
φιλόξενοςhospitable
κόσμιοςorderly, virtuou
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
πρός
διδακτικόςable to teach,
what comes after →
ἀνεξίκακοςenduring evil, patie

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

Concordanceδιδακτικός · 2× in the New Testament
1 Timothy 2 Timothy
Across the New Testament2 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
[The] bond-servant now of [the] Lord not it behooves to quarrel but gentle to be toward all, able to teach, forbearing,
ἀνεξίκακον,anexikakos forbearing, G420 Adjective · accusative · singular · masculine
1× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 2 Timothy than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Not resentful means patiently enduring difficult situations, as seen in 2 Timothy 2:24. It's about being forbearing and not holding grudges. This attitude is essential for Christians.
Amplified meaning
patient, not resentful
Tyndale gloss
not resentful
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἀνεξίκακος (anexikakos) is built from the roots for 'to endure' and 'evil.' It describes a quality of being patient or forbearing in the face of wrongs or suffering. This term appears in the New Testament, specifically in 2 Timothy 2:24, where it conveys the idea of enduring difficulties without resentment. The lexicons consistently emphasize its meaning related to patience under adversity.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

*† ἀνεξί-κακος, -ον

(< fut., ἀνέξομαι, κακός),

patiently forbearing (cf. ἀνεξικακία, Wi 2:19; and v. MM, VGT, s.v.): II Ti 2:24.†

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

ἀνεξί-κακος, -ov, (fr. the fut. of ἀνέχομαι, and κακόν; ef. classic ἀλεξίκακος, duvnoixaxos), patient of ills and wrongs, forbearing: 2 Tim. ii. 24. (Leian. jud. voe. 9; [Justin M. apol. 1, 16 init.; Pollux 5, 138].)

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

ἀνεξίκακος. P Tebt II. 2729 (a medical fragment, late ii/A.D.), gives a literary citation for the word, εἰ γὰρ avet[(]kakos ἐν τοῖς [λ]οιποῖς Sy μὴ ὑπομένοι τὸ δίψ[ος], ‘for if he has general endurance but is nevertheless unable to bear the thirst” (Edd.). Vettius Valens has it, p. 382), οὐκ ἄποροι καθίστανται, ἐπιτάραχοι δὲ Kal ἀνεξίκακοι, ἐγκρατεῖς περὶ τὰς τῶν αἰτίων ἐπιφοράς. Though Lucian (zud. voc. 9) is posterior in date to Paul and to Wisd 218 (ἀνεξικακία), he is adequate evidence for the earlier use of the word in “profane ” Greek !

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἀνεξίκακος (anexikakos) — not resentful.

ἀνεξῐκᾰκ-ος, ον,

enduring pain or evil, [Refs 1st c.AD+]; forbearing, long-suffering, [NT]. adverb -κως[Refs 2nd c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀνεξίκακος

anexikakos

from 430 and 2556; enduring of ill, i.e. forbearing:--patient.

see GREEK for 430

see GREEK for 2556

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀνεξίκακος, ον

Adj

enduring evil, patient of evil

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀνεξίκακος anexikakos 1x

enduring or patient under evils and injuries, 2 Tim. 2:24*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἀνεξίκακος ἀνέχομαι, κακόν enduring evil, forbearing, long-suffering, NTest., Luc.

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
100%forbearing
forbearing100% · 1×

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

Concordanceἀνεξίκακος · 1× in the New Testament
2 Timothy
Across the New Testament1 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Sources on this page. Lexicons and dictionaries imported from the CrossWire SWORD modules — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, Dodson, the Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones, Robinson and Packard, Webster and Cawdrey. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Harper, 1889 — Grimm’s Wilke’s Clavis Novi Testamenti, translated, revised and enlarged by Joseph Henry Thayer) is public domain and is set here from the Internet Archive page scan greekenglishlex00grim; it is uncorrected OCR, marked as such on the entry itself, and the Strong’s numbers — which Thayer’s own edition does not carry — were matched by lemma against the other modules on this page. Trench’s Synonyms of the New Testament (Macmillan, 1880) and Moulton and Milligan’s Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (Hodder & Stoughton, 1930, which entered the United States public domain on 1 January 2026) are set from Internet Archive page scans synonymsofnewtes00treniala and vocabularyofgree00mouluoft, and are likewise uncorrected OCR matched to Strong’s numbers by lemma. Trench treats a group of words at once, so the same essay stands on the page of each word it compares. The Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary is © 1993 and is used here by permission for non-commercial use, www.teknia.com/greek-dictionary. The full Liddell-Scott-Jones and the Hebrew word data (TAHOT) come from STEPBible.org, CC BY 4.0. Brown-Driver-Briggs is the OpenScriptures digitisation, public domain. Syntax analysis is the Nestle 1904 Lowfat treebank (biblicalhumanities.org); the concordance and morphology are built from the tagged Nestle 1904 text. Septuagint occurrences use the Open Scriptures Septuagint lemma index, derived from CCAT (University of Pennsylvania) and the Rahlfs 1935 dataset by Eliran Wong, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — used here on a non-commercial ministry site. Greek of Josephus and Barnabas from the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0. Commentaries and the Ante-Nicene Fathers are public-domain texts hosted on this site. Everyday Greek from the Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri, CC BY 3.0, with dates and provenance from the Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis. Philo and the Apostolic Fathers from Open Greek and Latin (First1KGreek), CC BY-SA 4.0. The apparatus and the fifth Greek column are the SBL Greek New Testament, © 2010 SBL and Logos Bible Software, CC BY 4.0. The Latin is the Clementine Vulgate (public domain); the Syriac New Testament is the ETCBC edition (MIT licence). The Hebrew behind the Greek is computed here from the Septuagint index and TAHOT, not taken from any aligned edition. The translation spread and the per-word edition marks come from the Translators Amalgamated Greek NT (STEPBible, CC BY 4.0); clause roles from the Nestle 1904 Lowfat treebank (CC BY-SA 4.0); place identifications and their confidence from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding (CC BY 4.0), with map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Gospel parallels are computed here from shared uncommon vocabulary, not taken from any printed harmony. Cross references are the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and the subject headings are Nave’s Topical Bible, both public domain. Works under Creative Commons licences are used unchanged apart from markup removal.

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