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Acts 4:20 — Word Study

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N1904οὐ δυνάμεθα γὰρ ἡμεῖς εἴδαμεν καὶ ἠκούσαμεν μὴ λαλεῖν.

BSAnotou we are abledunamai [are not able] forgar [since it is impossible] we ourselvesegō whathos, hē [which things] we have seenhoraō andkai [also] we heardakouō [listened] not to speak.laleō [to utter words]

Word
Listen & take awayActs 4
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 20 is in this chapter.
Say the word Each Greek word carries its transliteration (laleō) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
Acts 4:20quick helps
In a sentencePeter and John assert their inability to remain silent about their experiences.
Who is speakingPeter and John, responding to the authorities.
Where we areIn the aftermath of their arrest, they are defending their actions.
The hard wordδυνάμεθα
Take awayTheir testimony is compelled by their firsthand experiences.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause subjectημεις verbδύναμαι The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
How rare are these words?in the New Testament

Every word here is used elsewhere in the New Testament.

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

Deep Study — Acts 4:20

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 — Peter and John Before the Councilgenerated

19But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than God.
20For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
21After further threats they let them go. They could not find a way to punish them, because all the people were glorifying God for what had happened.
22For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

Acts 4:20 describes Peter and John's response to the religious authorities who commanded them to stop preaching about Jesus. They assert that their experiences compel them to speak, emphasizing the importance of their testimony as witnesses of Christ's works and teachings. This moment highlights the tension between obedience to God and the demands of human authority, a theme that resonates throughout the book of Acts.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
1Acts 2:4–32And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
2Acts 17:16–17While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols.
3Acts 18:5And when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself fully to the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.
4Numbers 22:38“See, I have come to you,” Balaam replied, “but can I say just anything? I must speak only the word that God puts in my mouth.”
5Numbers 23:20I have indeed received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot change it.

The Key Word δυνάμεθα, dunamaigenerated

The verb δυνάμαι, transliterated as dunamai, means 'to be able' or 'to have power.' It indicates capability and is used in various contexts throughout the New Testament, such as in Matthew 6:24 and Mark 2:7. Here, it emphasizes the inability of Peter and John to refrain from speaking about their experiences.

The present indicative form suggests an ongoing ability or state of being. They are not just stating a fact; they are expressing a strong conviction that they cannot help but speak about what they have witnessed.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

This study reads the verse in the Berean Standard Bible, which phrases it as we cannot stop speaking. This is echoed in the KJV and ASV, which use can not but speak and cannot but speak, respectively.

Other translations, like the WEB, say can’t help telling, which conveys a similar sense of compulsion, while the BBE states it is not possible for us to keep from saying, emphasizing the impossibility of silence.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main clause is governed by the verb δυνάμεθα, we are able, which is followed by a prepositional phrase indicating the subject of their speech and a relative clause detailing what they have seen and heard. The structure shows a clear cause-and-effect relationship between their experiences and their compulsion to speak.

The phrase ἃ ἑωράκαμεν καὶ ἠκούσαμεν serves as the object of the verb, specifying the content of their testimony. The use of the conjunction καὶ connects their seeing and hearing, reinforcing the unity of their experiences.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

In Acts 4:20, the Greek words used align with the Septuagint's rendering of Hebrew terms. The term δυνάμεθα (dunamai), meaning 'we are able,' corresponds to the Hebrew יָכֹל (yāḥōl), which conveys the idea of being able or having power.

The phrases εἴδαμεν (horaō), meaning 'we have seen,' and ἠκούσαμεν (akouō), meaning 'we heard,' correspond to the Hebrew רָאָה (rā'āh) and שָׁמַע (shāmaʿ), respectively, which emphasize the importance of witnessing and hearing. Finally, λαλεῖν (laleō), meaning 'to speak,' relates to the Hebrew דָבַר (dāḇar), which also means to speak or declare.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

Acts 4:20 shows Peter and John responding to the authorities. They declare that they cannot stop speaking about what they have seen and heard, emphasizing their commitment to share their experiences of Jesus despite the threats they face.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean that they cannot stop speaking?

It indicates that Peter and John feel a deep compulsion to share their experiences with Jesus, which they believe is essential to their faith and mission.

Why do Peter and John emphasize what they have seen and heard?

Their firsthand experiences serve as the foundation for their testimony and authority as witnesses of Jesus' life and works.

What are the implications of their statement for believers today?

It encourages believers to share their own experiences of faith and the impact of Jesus in their lives, even in the face of opposition.

How does this verse relate to the theme of obedience in Acts?

This verse highlights the tension between obeying God and human authority, a recurring theme in Acts, where the apostles prioritize their divine mission over societal pressures.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. What experiences have I had that compel me to share my faith with others?
  2. How can I be more bold in speaking about what I have seen and heard regarding Jesus?
  3. In what ways do I feel pressured to remain silent about my beliefs, and how can I overcome that?
  4. How can I support others who are sharing their testimonies in the face of opposition?

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

Several early church Fathers referenced this verse to discuss the nature of witness and testimony in the Christian faith. Their comments emphasize the importance of speaking about one's experiences with Christ.

John ChrysostomHOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF Matthew 33.3 c. 347–407
For better than all others he knows the nature of things. He knows that fierceness is not quenched by fierceness but by meekness.
Early Church Fathers on Acts 4 →
John ChrysostomHomily on Acts 10 c. 347–407
"For we cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard:" so that we are witnesses who have a right to be believed. Already these as martyrs have borne testimony: set in the battle against all, they said,
Early Church Fathers on Acts 4 →
Gregory the DialogistForty Gospel Homilies, Homily 30 c. 540–604
"Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." And they went rejoicing from the presence of the council,
Early Church Fathers on Acts 4 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on Acts 4:20 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

For we cannot but speak,.... It was not physically, but morally impossible; or it was not lawful, and therefore they would not speak any other, and they could not avoid speaking, say they, the things

Read John Gill on Acts 4 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

Read Robert Jamieson on Acts 4 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible

We cannot but speak; in a moral, not in a physical sense; they could not restrain speaking, because of the necessity which was laid upon them, and the woe which would have befallen them, if they had not preached the gospel, . If any man denies to bear testimony for man to a truth, he sins; how much more does he sin, who forbears to witness for God, and at the command or the sending of God!

Read Matthew Poole on Acts 4 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. Ver. 20. For we cannot but speak] As Croesus’ dumb son did for his father, Strong affections if they find no vent, the heart will cleave; as the waters undermine when they cannot overflow. ανθρωπε, μηκτεινετονΚροισον.

Read John Trapp on Acts 4 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(20) We cannot but speak . . .—The pronoun is emphatic: “we, for our part” . . . The question at issue was one of bearing witness, and that witness they had received a special command to bear (Acts 1:8).

Read Charles John Ellicott on Acts 4 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

20. the things which we have seen and heard] Better, which we saw and heard. For their testimony related to the whole life of Jesus.

Read Cambridge on Acts 4 →
Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For ... - This is given as a reason why they should obey God rather than man.

Read Albert Barnes on Acts 4 →
Daniel Denison Whedon1808–1885Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

20. Cannot but speak—This cannot is, we suppose, a specimen of what a certain class of theologians absurdly call “a moral inability;” that is, “the cannot is a mere will not.” But the apostles really

Read Daniel Denison Whedon on Acts 4 →

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

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

Modern formal

BSBBerean Standard Bible2020

For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

WEBWorld English Bible2000

for we can’t help telling the things which we saw and heard.”

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

NETBNew English Translation2006

for it is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

For we can not but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

for we cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard.

RVARevised Version, American1894

for we cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard.

NWBWebster's Bible1833

For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

GNVGeneva Bible1599

For we cannot but speake the things which we haue seene and heard.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

for as for us we cannot refrain from speaking of the things which we have seen and heard.

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

for we cannot but speak what we did see and hear.'

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

for we cannot but speak what we saw and heard.”

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

We are not able to stop speaking about the things we have seen and heard.”

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

We can't help talking about what we've seen and heard!”

BBEBible in Basic English1949

For it is not possible for us to keep from saying what we have seen and have knowledge of.

Word by word, the decisions they made

εἴδαμενhoraō we have seen G1492 3 different renderings
we have seenBBE BSB DBY DRA KJV MSB NETB NWB ULB
sawASV LSV RVA WEB
seeYLT
ἠκούσαμενakouō we heard G191 2 different renderings
heardASV BSB DBY DRA FBV GNV KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB
hearYLT
λαλεῖν.laleō to speak. G2980 2 different renderings
speakASV DRA KJV LSV NETB NWB RVA YLT
speakingBSB DBY MSB ULB

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.

clauseδὲButclausenoun phrase · subject-noun phraseΠέτροςPeterκαὶandἸωάνηςJohnadverbialἀποκριθέντεςansweringverbεἶπονsaidprepositional phrase · adverbialπρὸςtoαὐτούςthemclauseΕἰWhetherclausepredicateδίκαιόνrightlinking verbἐστινit isprepositional phrase · adverbialἐνώπιονbeforenoun phraseτοῦ-ΘεοῦGodnoun phrase · subjectclauseclauseobjectὑμῶνto youverbἀκούεινto listenadverbialμᾶλλονratherthanclausenoun phrase · objectτοῦ-ΘεοῦGodclauseverbκρίνατεyou must judgeclauseγὰρforclauseadverbialοὐnotverbδυνάμεθαare ablesubjectἡμεῖςweclause · objectnoun phrase · objectclauseobjectwhatverb phrase · verbεἴδαμενwe have seenκαὶandἠκούσαμενheardadverbialμὴnotverbλαλεῖνto speak

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

Non enim possumus quæ vidimus et audivimus non loqui.

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

ܠܐ ܓܝܪ ܡܫܟܚܝܢ ܚܢܢ ܕܡܐ ܕܚܙܝܢ ܘܫܡܥܢ ܕܠܐ ܢܡܠܠܝܘܗܝ

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

οὐ δυνάμεθα γὰρ ἡμεῖς εἴδαμεν καὶ ἠκούσαμεν μὴ λαλεῖν.

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

οὐ δυνάμεθα γὰρ ἡμεῖς εἴδαμεν καὶ ἠκούσαμεν μὴ λαλεῖν.

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

οὐ δυνάμεθα γὰρ ἡμεῖς εἴδαμεν καὶ ἠκούσαμεν μὴ λαλεῖν.

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

οὐ δυνάμεθα γὰρ ἡμεῖς εἴδαμεν καὶ ἠκούσαμεν μὴ λαλεῖν.

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

οὐ δυνάμεθα γὰρ ἡμεῖς εἴδαμεν καὶ ἠκούσαμεν μὴ λαλεῖν.

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

οὐ δυνάμεθα γὰρ ἡμεῖς εἴδαμεν καὶ ἠκούσαμεν μὴ λαλεῖν.

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

οὐ δυνάμεθα γὰρ ἡμεῖς εἴδαμεν καὶ ἠκούσαμεν μὴ λαλεῖν.

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

οὐ δυνάμεθα γὰρ ἡμεῖς εἴδαμεν καὶ ἠκούσαμεν μὴ λαλεῖν.

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.

Acts 4:20οὐnotnotοὐδύναμαιwe are ablewe are ableδύναμαιγάρforforγάρημειςwe ourselvewe ourselvesημειςὅςwhatwhatὅςοἶδαwe have seewe have seenοἶδακαίandandκαίἀκούωwe heardwe heardἀκούωμήnotnotμήλαλέωto speak.to speak.λαλέωμήNeg.prt. nNeg.prt. not, lμήArticle thArticle theοὗAdv where,Adv where, whitοὗὀπτάνομαιv. I appeav. I appear, amὀπτάνομαιὁράωv. I see, v. I see, look ὁράωοὐNeg.prt. nNeg.prt. no, noοὐλέγωv. I say, v. I say, speakλέγωἔξεστι(ν)v. it is pv. it is permitἔξεστι(ν)μόνοςAdv alone,Adv alone, but,μόνοςδουλεύωv. I am a v. I am a slaveδουλεύωσῴζωv. I save,v. I save, healσῴζωὥσπερAdv just aAdv just as, asὥσπερτοιοῦτοςDem.pr. ofDem.pr. of suchτοιοῦτοςἄνDisj.prt. Disj.prt. an unἄνἄχριAdv as farAdv as far as, ἄχριπόθενIrg.adv. wIrg.adv. whenceπόθενἀληθήςAdj unconcAdj unconcealedἀληθήςοὖςn.n. the en.n. the earοὖς
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 Acts 4:20

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.

not we are able for we ourselves what we have seen and we heard not to speak.
οὐou not G3756 Particle · negative
1,622× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
rarer in Acts than elsewhere 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

not we are able for we ourselves what we have seen and we heard not to speak.
δυνάμεθαdunamai we are able G1410 Verb · present · no voice stated · indicative · first person · plural
209× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Acts as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To be able or have power, as in Matthew 6:24 and Mark 2:7, meaning to have the capability or strength to do something.
Amplified meaning
are not able
Tyndale gloss
be able
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

δύναμαι, transliterated as dunamai, means 'to be able' or 'to have power.' It can refer to personal ability, permission, or opportunity. In the New Testament, it appears in various contexts, such as in Matthew 6:24 and Mark 2:7. The lexicons indicate that it can be used with an infinitive or an accusative, but there is some variation in the forms and usages noted in different sources.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δύναμαι, depon.,

[in LXX chiefly for יָכֹל ;]

to be able, have power, whether by personal ability, permission, or opportunity: c. inf. (M, Pr., 205; WM, § 44, 3) pres., Mt 6:24, Mk 2:7, Jo 3:2, I Co 10:21, al.; c. inf. aor., Mt 3:9, Mk 1:45, Jo 3:3, 4 Ro 8:39, al.; c. acc., to be able to do something: Mk 9:22, Lk 12:26; II Co 13:8; absol., to be able, capable, powerful: Read the full entry →

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

δύναμαι, depon. verb, pres. indic. 2 pers. sing. δύνασαι and, acc. to a rarer form occasional in the poets and fr. Polyb. on to be met with in prose writ. also (cf. Lob. ad Phryn. p. 359; [ WH. App. p.168; W.§ 18, 2b.; Veitch 8. v.]), δύνῃ (Mk. ix. 22 sq. L T Tr WH; [Lk. xvi. 2 T WH Tr txt. ]; Rey. ii. 2); impf. ἐδυνάμην and Attic ἠδυνάμην, between which forms the Mss. and editions are almost everywhere divided, [in Mk. vi. 19; xiv. 5; Lk. Vili. 19; xix. 3; Jn. ix. 33; xii. 39 all edd. read 78., so RG in Mt. xxvi. 9; Lk. i. 22; Jn. xi. 37; Rev. xiv. 3; on the other hand, in Mt. xxii. 46; Lk. i. 22; Jn. xi. 37; Rey. xiv. 3, L T Tr WH all read ἐδ., so T WH in Mt. xxvi. 9; RGin Mt. xxii. 46. Cf. WH. App. p. 162; W. § 12, 1b.; B. 83 (29) ]; fut. δυνήσομαι ; 1 aor. ἠδυνήθην and (in Mk. vii. 24 T WH, after codd. 8B only; in Mt. xvii. 16 cod. B) ἠδυνάσθην (cf. [WH τι. 5. and p. 169]; Kiihner §…

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

δύναμαι. The following exx. of this common verb may be cited— P Par 471° (c. B.C. 153) (= Selections, p. 22) ἐνβέβληκαν (sc. οἱ θεοὶ) ὑμᾶς εἰς ὕλην μεγάλην Kal οὗ δυνάμεθα ἀποθανεῖν, ““they have cast us into a great forest, where we may possibly die,” P Oxy IV. 743% (B.c. 2) οὐκ ἠδυνάσθην συντυχεῖν ᾿Α., “1 was unable to meet A.,” 26. 7γ4413 (B.c. 1) [ΞΞ Selections, p. 33) πῶς δύναμαί σε ἐπιλαθεῖν ; ‘how can I forget you?”, P Lond 144™ (?i/a.p.) (ΞΞ 11. p. 253) ἵνα δυνηθῇ τὸ παιδάριόν μου ἐλθεῖν mpd[s ple, P Oxy LIT. 47218 (4 A.D. 130) οὐ δύναται γὰρ κεκλέφθαι τὸ μηδ᾽ ἀρχὴν γενόμενον μὴ δυνατὸν δ᾽ εἶναι, ‘for it is impossible for that to have been stolen which neither ever existed at all nor could exist” (Edd.). It takes an ace. ve? (as in Lk 1255) in P Ryl IL. 7758 (A.p. 192) οὐ yap δύναμαι κοσμητείαν. In P Leid {50 (ii/B.c.) ἔφη δύνασθαι τὰ ἔργα πάντα ἐπιτελέσιν ἐν ἡλι (?—was ὀλίγαις…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δύναμαι (dunamai) — be able.

δύνᾰμαι [ῠ],

2nd pers. singular δύνασαι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Aeolic dialect and Doric dialect δύνᾳ [Refs 7th c.BC+]; δύνῃ is subjunctive, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Ionic dialect 3rd.pers. plural δυνέαται [Refs 5th c.BC+]; subjunctive δύνωμαι, Ionic dialect 2nd pers. singular δύνηαι [Refs 8th c.BC+]: imperfect 2nd pers. singular ἐδύνω [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Ionic dialect 3rd.pers. plural ἐδυνέατο [Refs 5th c.BC+]: future δυνήσομαι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Doric dialect δυνᾱσοῦμαι [Refs 4th c.BC+]: aorist ἐδυνησάμην [Refs 8th c.BC+], Epic dialect δυν- [Refs]; subjunctive δυνήσωνται [Refs 7th c.BC+], never in good Attic dialect, falsa lectio in [Refs 4th c.BC+]passive forms, Epic dialect, Ionic dialect, Lyric poetry, ἐδυνάσθην or δυνάσθην [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Trag. and Attic dialect Prose ἐδυνήθην [Refs 5th c.BC+]: perfect δεδύνημαι [Refs 4th c.BC+] —The double…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

δύναμαι

dunamai

of uncertain affinity; to be able or possible:--be able, can (do, +

-not), could, may, might, be possible, be of power.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δύναμαι

v.

I am powerful, am able

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δύναμαι dynamai 210x

to be able, either intrinsically and absolutely, which is the ordinary signification; or, for specific reasons, Mt. 9:15; Lk. 16:2 See ability; (be) able; can.

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

δύναμαι decl. in pres. and imperf. like ἵσταμαι Dep.

to be able, capable, strong enough to do, c. inf., Hom., etc.; but the inf. is often omitted, Ζεὺς δύναται ἅπαντα [sc. ποιεῖν] Od.; so also, μέγα δυνάμενος very powerful, mighty, id. Od.; οἱ δυνάμενοι men of power, Eur., Thuc.; δυνάμενος παρά τινι having influence with him, Hdt., etc.

to be able, i. e. to dare or bear to do a thing, οὐδὲ ποιήσειν δύναται Od.; οὐκέτι ἐδύνατο βιοτεύειν Thuc.

with ὡς and a Sup., ὡς ἐδύναντο ἀδηλότατα as secretly as they could, id. Thuc.; ὡς δύναμαι μάλιστα as much as I possibly can, Plat.; or simply ὡς ἐδύνατο in the best way he could, Xen.

to pass for, i. e.

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PNI-1P — Verb · present · no voice stated · indicative · first person · plural
present no voice stated indicative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PNI-1P Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: middle or passive depoNent Mood: Indicative Person: first Number: Plural

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

a'-b'-l: The Greek dunamai, "to have power," may refer either to inherent strength, or to the absence of in external obstacles, or to what may be allowable or permitted. The Greek ischuo, as in Lu 13:24; Joh 21:6, refers always to the first of the above meanings. The use of the word as an adjective the King James Version of 2Co 3:6, is misleading, and has been properly changed in the Revised Version (British and American) into "sufficient as ministers," i.e. "hath fitted us to be ministers."

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
38%able
able38% · 78×you are able12% · 24×being able10% · 21×he is able5% · 10×you able3% · 7×be able3% · 7×will be able3% · 6×they were able3% · 6×other renderings23% · 48×

207 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 33 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 209 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
οὐNeg
καίand, even, also,σύὅτιthat, since, bec
μήNeg
καίand, even, also,ἸησοῦςJesusὥστεso that, therefo
οὐδείςno one, none, nothin
καίand, even, also,οὐκέτιNegἐν
Article the
πρόςμᾶλλονmore, ratherοὐρανόςthe sky, the hea
πῶς
αὐτόςλέγωI say, speakDisj
δύναμαιwe are able209×
what comes after →
Article the
υἱόςa son, descendenθεόςGod, a godπροσέρχομαιI come near, con
αὐτός
θεραπεύωI care for, atteμηδέNegδέωI bind
σῴζωI save, heal
βασιλεύςa king, ruler, eαὐτόςArticle the
ἔρχομαιI come, go
πρόςκαίand, even, also,
ἐγώ
καθαρίζωI make cleanποιέωI do, makeνῦνnow, already, at

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

Concordanceδύναμαι · 209× in the New Testament
John Mark Matthew Luke Acts 1 Corinthians Revelation Hebrews James Ephesians Romans 1 Timothy

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 159 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 21c. AD 40

οὗ χάριν τῆς ἀρίστης αὑτοῦ φύσεως οὐκ ἐφθόνησεν οὐσίᾳ μηδὲν ἐξ αὑτῆς ἐχούσῃ καλόν, δυναμένῃ δὲ πάντα γίνεσθαι.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.215c. AD 75–95

Σάρρα δὲ γεννηθέντα τὸν Ἰσμαῆλον ἐκ τῆς δούλης αὐτῆς Ἀγάρης τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἔστεργεν οὐδὲν ἀπολείπουσα τῆς πρὸς ἴδιον υἱὸν εὐνοίας, ἐτρέφετο γὰρ ἐπὶ τῇ τῆς ἡγεμονίας διαδοχῇ, τεκοῦσα δʼ αὐτὴ τὸν Ἴσακον οὐκ ἠξίου παρατρέφεσθαι τούτῳ τὸν Ἰσμαῆλον ὄντα…

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
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. BC 6th c. AD
P.Edg. $1Syrien253 BC

τε ἐπιμελόμενος ἵνα ὑγιαίνηις καὶ ἡμῖν γράφων ἐάν τί σοι βούληι γίνεσθαι ὧν ἡμεῖς δυνάμεθα. καλῶς δʼ ἂν ποιήσαις ἀγοράσας ἡμῖν ἵνα ὡς ἂν παραγενώμεθα ἔχωμεν μέλιτος τοῦ βελτίστου

P.Cair. Zen. 3 59330Philadelphia? (Arsinoites)249 BC

φόρωι τοῦ λζ ἔτους, συνφωνήσας Ἡρακλείδης μετὰ Θοτέως αὐτοὶ ἄνευ ἡμῶν διελογίσαντο καὶ οὐ δυνάμεθα παρακολουθῆσαι τί πεποιήκασιν ἕως τοῦ νῦν, οὐδὲ αἰτούμενοι τὸν λόγον ἐτόλμησαν ἡμῖν δοῦναι. καὶ

τι καταπεφύτευκεν ἀμπέλωι, κατεγνωκὼς τῶι γυναῖκας ἡμᾶς εἶναι καὶ ἑτέρωι τόπωι κατοικούσας μὴ εὐχερῶς δύνασθαι ἐπιβαλεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν σημαινομένην κτῆσιν. Διὸ καταπεφευγυῖαι ἐπὶ σὲ, ἀξιοῦμεν, ἐὰν φαίνηται, μεταπεμψάμενον αὐτὸν

not we are able for we ourselves what we have seen and we heard not to speak.
γὰρgar for G1063 Conjunction
1,038× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
rarer in Acts than elsewhere in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
For is a word used to explain or give a reason, often introducing a justification or clarification, as seen in Matthew 4:18 and Romans 7:1. It's a conjunction that connects ideas and provides additional information.
Amplified meaning
since it is impossible
Tyndale gloss
for
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

γάρ,

co-ordinating particle, contr. of γε ἄρα,

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

γάρ (gar) — for.

γάρ

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

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

γάρ

gar

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

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

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

therefore, verily, what, why, yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

γάρ

Cj.

for

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

γάρ gar 1x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

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

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

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

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

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

1,083 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 11 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,038 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
αὐτόςἐγώσύ
οὐNeg
οὐδείςno one, none, noαὐτόςλαλέωI speak, say
εἰμίI am, exist
θάλασσαthe sea, lakeλυπέωI pain, grieve, καθεύδωI sleep, am slee
οὗτος
εἰςαὐτόςδιά
καίand, even, also, nam
εἰμίI am, existκύριοςlord, Lord, mastἐγώ
γάρfor1038×
what comes after →
Article the
πατήρfather, Father, θεόςGod, a godArticle the
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theσύἐν
σύ
ὅτιthat, since, becἐνοὐNeg
αὐτός
Article theοὗτοςλέγωI say, speak
ὅτιthat, since, because
Article theδιάἐν

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

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

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 4c. AD 40

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.2c. AD 75–95

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

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

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

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

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

P.Grenf. 1 37Thebais109 BC

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

P.Bad. 2 16Pathyris89 BC

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

not we are able for we ourselves what we have seen and we heard not to speak.
ἡμεῖςegō we ourselves G3165 Personal pronoun · first person · nominative · plural
1,872× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
In plain English
Tyndale gloss
I/we
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

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

pers. pron.

I.

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μέ (me) — me.

ἐγώ,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐγώ

me

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

see GREEK for 1691

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐγώ egō 2x

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

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Pron-1NP — Personal pronoun · first person · nominative · plural
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked plural.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

P-1NP Part of Speech: Personal pronoun Person: first Case: Nominative Number: Plural

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

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

not we are able for we ourselves what we have seen and we heard not to speak.
hos, hē what G3739 Relative pronoun · accusative · plural · neuter
1,407× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Acts as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The word which is a pronoun used to ask for or identify something, as seen in John 5:11. It can also be used to describe a person or thing, such as in Mark 15:23. This word helps to clarify or specify what is being talked about.
Amplified meaning
which things
Tyndale gloss
which
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὅς, ἥ, ὅ,

the postpositive article (ἄρθρον ὑποτακτικόν).

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὅς (hos, hē) — which.

ὅς, ἥ, ὅ,

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

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὅς ἥ ὅ

hos

he hay, and neuter

ho ho

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

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

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

etc. See also 3757.

see GREEK for 3588

see GREEK for 3757

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὅς, ἥ, ὅ

Rel.pr.

who, which, what, that

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὅς hos 1x

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

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

R-APN Part of Speech: Relative pronoun Case: Accusative Number: Plural Gender: Neuter

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

1,430 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 60 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
object40%subject29%adverbial26%indirect object3%predicate3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,407 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
ἐν
ἡμέραa dayαὐτόςἵναin order that, s
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςἔχωI have, hold, poυἱόςa son, descenden
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakἀπόλλυμιI destroy, lose,δοῦλος (II)
διά
ἐκεῖνοςΧριστόςanointed, the Meαὐτός
εἰς
καίand, even, also,ἐγώοἰκίαa house, househo
ὅςwhat1407×
what comes after →
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theμεθερμηνεύωI translate, intκαίand, even, also,
οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, existἔξεστι(ν)it is permitted,γινώσκωI come to know,
Article the
θεόςGod, a godυἱόςa son, descendenκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
καίand, even, also, nam
σύποιέωI do, makeαὐτός
δέbut, on the other ha
ἄνDisjἑξήκονταIndecτριάκονταIndec

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

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

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 33c. AD 40

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 15Pathyris (?)101 BC

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

P.Adl. 17Krokodilopolis (Pathyrites)100 BC

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

not we are able for we ourselves what we have seen and we heard not to speak.
εἴδαμενhoraō we have seen G1492 Verb · second aorist · active · indicative · first person · plural
320× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
rarer in Acts than elsewhere in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This verb means to see or perceive, used in the Bible to describe spiritual awareness or insight. In Matthew 25:13 and John 10:4, it refers to recognizing God's presence or will. The verb is often used to encourage believers to seek spiritual understanding and discernment.
Tyndale gloss
to perceive: see
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word οἶδα (i.e., *oida*) is derived from the root of εἶδον (i.e., *eidon*), meaning 'to see' or 'to perceive.' It primarily conveys the idea of knowing or having knowledge, often used in contexts where one has seen or understood something. The New Testament employs it in various constructions, indicating knowledge of things, people, or concepts.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

οἶδα, (from same root as εἶδον, q.v.),

[in LXX chiefly for ידע;]

pf. with pres. meaning (plpf. as impf.; on irregular tense-forms, v. App.),

to have seen or perceived, hence, to know, have knowledge of: c. acc. rei, Mt 25:13, Mk 10:19, Jo 10:4, Ro 7:7, al.; c. acc. pers., Mt 26:72, Jo 1:31, Ac 3:16, al.; τ. θεόν, I Th 4:5, Tit 1:16, al.; c. acc. et inf., Lk 4:41, al.; seq. ὅτι, Mt 9:6,

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

οἶδα καὶ τὰς προστιμή[σεις τῶν] ὀθονίων ἕως τοῦ ν (ἔτους), ““ἀπᾷ they remit to the overseers of the temples and the chief priests and priests the arrears on account of both the tax for overseers and the values of woven cloths up to the soth year”’ (Edd.): see the editors’ note ad 7. and P Rey L}xxxvii-cvii with the note on p. 175, also OG/ZS go! (Rosetta stone— B.C. 196) τῶν τ᾽ εἰς TO βασιλικὸν συντελουμένων ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς βυσσίνων ὀθονίων ἀπέλυσεν τὰ δύο μέρη, {0.25 τὰς τιμὰς τῶν μὴ συντετελεσμένων εἰς τὸ βασιλικὸν βυσσίνων ὀθ[ονίων. On the manufacture of ὀθόνιον (Suid. λεπτὸν ὕφασμα) see Otto Préester i. p. 300f., and cf. the Zeno letter PSI VI. 599 (iii/B.c.), where mention is made of 3 slaves and 1 woman as engaged on the manufacture of each ὀθόνιον. The word ὀθονιοπώλης,, ‘“a linen-seller,”’ is restored by Wilcken in P Leid 13 (B.c. 99) (=I. p. 52); for ὀθονιακός, ‘a…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

εἴδω (eidō) — to perceive: understand.

εἴδω,

no active present in use, ὁράω being used:—middle, see.below [Refs 4th c.BC+]: aorist 2 εἶδον always in sense of see (so in present and aorist 1 middle, to be seen, i.e. seem): but perfect οἶδα, in present sense, know. (With ἔ-ϝιδον, compare (ϝ) είδομαι, (ϝ) εῖδος, Latin videre; with (ϝ) οῖδα, cf. Sanskrit véda, Gothic wait, O[Refs 5th c.BC+] wát 'know'.)

__A aorist 2 εἶδον (late εἶδα [Refs 5th c.AD+]aorist to ὁράω, Epic dialect ἴδον, iterative ἴδεσκε [Refs 8th c.BC+], late Aeolic dialect εὔιδον [Refs]; imperative ἴδε (in Attic dialect written as adverb ἰδέ, behold! Hdn.Gr.2.23), ἴδετ; subjunctive ἴδω, Epic dialect ἴδωμι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; optative ἴδοιμ; infinitive ἰδεῖν, Epic dialect ἰδέει; participle ἰδών: hence, future ἰδησῶ [Refs 3rd c.BC+] —middle, aorist 2 εἰδόμην, Epic dialect…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

οἶδα οιδα ὁράω

eido

a primary verb; used only in certain past tenses, the others being

borrowed from the equivalent 3700 and 3708; properly, to see

(literally or figuratively); by implication, (in the perfect tense

only) to know:--be aware, behold, X can (+ not tell), consider, (have)

know(-ledge), look (on), perceive, see, be sure, tell, understand,

wish, wot. Compare 3700.

see GREEK for 3700

see GREEK for 3708

see GREEK for 3700

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

οἶδα

v.

I know, remember

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-2AAI-1P — Verb · second aorist · active · indicative · first person · plural
second aorist active indicative — a completed action, viewed as a whole.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-2AAI-1P Part of Speech: Verb Tense: second Aorist Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: first Number: Plural

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
28%having seen
having seen28% · 105×i saw12% · 45×see9% · 33×he saw7% · 26×saw5% · 19×they saw3% · 13×knew3% · 12×do see3% · 10×other renderings31% · 118×

381 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 50 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 320 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
οὐNeg
σύὅτιthat, since, becκαίand, even, also,
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀκούωI hear, listenἐγώοἶδαI know, remember
ἐγώ
ἀπόλλυμιI destroy, lose,ὅςοὔτεNeg
μήNeg
πλανάωI lead astray, dArticle theἨλίαςElijah
σύ
κύριοςlord, Lord, mastφοβέωI fear, am terriπᾶςall, the whole,
οἶδαwe have seen320×
what comes after →
ὅτιthat, since, because
Article theἀληθήςunconcealed, truπᾶςall, the whole,
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusγραφήa writing, passaἄνθρωποςa man, one of th
γάρfor
ὅτιthat, since, becArticle theπότεIrg
τίςIrg
αἰτέωI ask, request, ἀποκρίνομαιI answer, replyποιέωI do, make
αὐτός
Article theἀλλάbut, exceptκαίand, even, also,

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

Concordanceοἶδα · 320× in the New Testament
John 1 Corinthians Matthew Luke Mark Acts 2 Corinthians Romans 1 John 1 Thessalonians Revelation Philippians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 60 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 41c. AD 40

τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδεν ὅτι πρῶτον μέν ἐστι σπορὰ καὶ φυτεία, δεύτερον δὲ τῶν σπαρέντων καὶ φυτευθέντων αὔξησις, ἡ μὲν εἰς τὸ κάτω ῥίζας ἀποτείνουσα οἱονεὶ θεμελίους, ἡ δ’ εἰς τὸ ἄνω πρὸς ὕψος αἰρομένων καὶ στελεχουμένων;

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.285c. AD 75–95

Προϊὼν δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς Μεσοποταμίας χρόνῳ παρῆν εἰς τὴν Χαρράν, καὶ ποιμένας ἐν τοῖς προαστείοις καταλαβὼν καὶ παῖδας ἐφήβους καὶ παρθένους ὑπέρ τινος ἱδρυμένους φρέατος συνδιέτριβεν αὐτοῖς χρῄζων ποτοῦ εἴς τε λόγους αὐτοῖς ἀφικνούμενος ἀνέκρινεν αὐτούς,…

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 9.9c. AD 100

οἶδεν ὁ τὴν ἔμφυτον δωρεὰν τῆς διδαχῆς αὐτοῦ θέμενος ἐν ἡμῖν.

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. 2 17Thebais137 BC

Πόρτιτος τῶν προκειμένων πάντων. ἔγραψεν Δρύτων Παμφίλου ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν διὰ τὸ φάσκειν αὐτοὺς μὴ εἰδέναι γράμματα. ἔτους λδ Τῦβι θ.

P.Adl. 4Ptolemais (Oberägypten)110 BC

δίκης. ἔγραψεν ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ψεμμίνιος Διονύσιος Ἀρχεδήμου Βερενικεὺς ἀξιωθεὶς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ διὰ τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι γράμματα. ἔτους η Τῦβι κδ.

Chrest.Wilck. 12Pathyris89 BC

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

not we are able for we ourselves what we have seen and we heard not to speak.
καὶkai and G2532 Conjunction
8,978× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Acts as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
And or also, a connecting word used to join ideas or words, like in Matthew 2:18 and Hebrews 1:1.
Amplified meaning
also
Tyndale gloss
and
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

καί,

conj.,

and.

Copulative.

Connecting single words;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καί (kai) — and.

καί,

conjunction, copulative, joining words and sentences,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καί

kai

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

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

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

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

yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καί

Cj.

and, even, also, namely

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καί kai 9x

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ἡ τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

not we are able for we ourselves what we have seen and we heard not to speak.
ἠκούσαμενakouō we heard G191 Verb · aorist · active · indicative · first person · plural
428× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Acts as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To hear or listen, not just with our ears but also to understand and obey, as Jesus says in Mark 4:3 and Matthew 11:15. It involves paying attention to what is being said and responding accordingly.
Amplified meaning
listened
Tyndale gloss
to hear
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἀκούω, transliterated as akouo, means 'to hear' or 'to listen.' It covers a range of meanings from simply hearing sounds to understanding and obeying what is said. In the New Testament, it appears in various contexts, including commands to listen (e.g., Mk 4:3) and references to understanding (e.g., 1 Cor 14:2). The lexicons do not show significant disagreement.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἀκούω,

[in LXX chiefly for שׁמע;]

to hear, listen, attend, perceive by hearing, comprehend by hearing.

Intrans.: Mk 4:3 7:37, Ja 2:5, Re 2:7, al.; τ. ὠσίν, Mt 13:15(LXX); c. cogn. dat., ακοῇ ἀ. (v.s. ἀκοή), Mt 13:14, Ac 28:26(LXX); ὁ ἔχων ὦτα (οὖς) ἀκούειν, ἀκουσάτω, Mt 11:15, Mk 4:23, Re 2:7, al.

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

ἀκούω [on the use of the pres. in a pf. sense ef. W. 274 sq. (258); B. 203 (176)]; impf. ἤκουον ; fut. (in best Grk. usage) ἀκούσομαι, Jn. v. 25 RGL, 28 RGL; Acts iii. 22; vii. 37 RG; xvii. 32; [xxi. 22]; xxv. 22; xxviii. 28; [Ro. x. 14 Tdf.], and (a later form) ἀκούσω. Mt. xii. 19; xiii. 14, (both fr. the Sept.) ; [Jn. x. 16; xvi. 13 Tr WH mrg.; Acts xxviii. 26]; Ro. x. 14 ΓΒ 617; and T Tr WH in Jn. v. 25, 28, (ef. W.82 (79); B. 53 (46) [Veitch 5. v.]); [1 aor. ἤκουσα; Jn. iii. 32, ete.]; pf. ἀκήκοα; Pass.,[ pres. ἀκούομαι; 1 fut.axovaOncopar]; 1 aor. ἠκούσθην ; [fr. Hom. down]; tohear. I. absol. 1. tobe endowed with the faculty of hearing (not deaf): Mk. vii. 37; Lk. vii. 22; Mt.xi.5. 2. to attend to (use the faculty of hearing), consider what is or has been said. So in exhortations: ἀκούετε, Mk. iv. 3; ἀκούσατε, Jas. ii. 5; ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκουέτω, Mt. xi. 15; xiii. 9, [in both T…

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

ἀκούω. The verb is of course common enough, and needs little or no illustration, having few peculiarities. Its use for a judicial hearing (as Ac 2523) may be paralleled with P Tand οἷ (ii/A.p.) Kal [pé]x [pr] τούτου οὔπο ἠκούσθ[ημ]εν, and P Oxy VII. 1032 (A.p. 162), where the epistrategus endorses a petition with ἀκουσθήσεται. So in BGU IL. 511i? (= Chrest. 1. p. 26), an account written about A.D. 200 of a trial before Claudius, we have ἀκούει Κλαύδιος Καῖσα[ρ Σέβαστος ᾿Ισιδώρου] γυμνασιάρχου πόλεως ᾿Α[λεξανδρέων] κατὰ ᾿Αγρίππου βασιλέω[ς]. The last example will illustrate ἀκούειν with normal gen. of person: P Par 485 (B.C. 153) (= Witkowski*® p. 91) ἀκούσαντες . . τὰ περὶ σοῦ συνβεβηκότα will serve for accus. vez, and will also illustrate the common use with περί, since the phrase is a mixture of ἀκ. περὶ σοῦ and ἀκ. τά σοι συνβεβηκότα (Witk.).…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἀκούω (akouō) — to hear.

ἀκούω:

Epic dialect imperfect ᾰκουον[Refs 8th c.BC+]future ἀκούσομαι (active ἀκούσω first in [NT+4th c.BC+]aorist ἤκουσα, Epic dialect ᾰκουσα[Refs 8th c.BC+]perfect ἀκήκοα, Laconian dialect ἄκουκα[Refs 1st c.AD+]; ἤκουκα is a late form, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; later Ionic dialect ἀκήκουκα[Refs 3rd c.BC+]: pluperfect ἀκηκόειν[Refs 5th c.BC+]; old Attic dialect ἠκηκόη[Refs 5th c.BC+] —rare in middle, present (see. below [Refs]: Epic dialect imperfect ἀκούετο[Refs 8th c.BC+]: aorist ἠκουσάμην[Refs 2nd c.BC+]:—passive, future ἀκουσθήσομαι[Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist ἠκούσθην[Refs 5th c.BC+]: perfect ἤκουσμαι[Refs 1st c.BC+]; ἀκήκουσμαι is uncertain in [Refs 2nd c.AD+]: pluperfect ἤκουστο[Refs 4th c.BC+], (παρ-) [Refs 1st c.AD+]:—hear, [Refs 8th c.BC+]: properly with accusative of thing heard, genitive of person from whom it is heard, ταῦτα Καλυψοῦς ἤκουσα[Refs…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀκούω

akouo

a primary verb; to hear (in various senses):--give (in the) audience

(of), come (to the ears), (shall) hear(-er, -ken), be noised, be

reported, understand.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀκούω

v.

I hear, listen

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀκούω akouō 428x

some list the future active as a middle deponent, ἀκούσομαι, to hear; to hearken, listen to, Mk. 4:3; Lk. 19:48; to heed, obey, Mt. 18:15; Acts 4:19; to understand, 1 Cor. 14:2; to take in or admit to mental acceptance, Mk. 4:33; Jn. 8:43, 47

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἀκούω Root ΑΚΟϜ to hear, Hom., etc. —Construct., properly, c. acc. of thing heard, gen. of pers. from whom it is heard, ταῦτα Καλυψοῦς ἤκουσα Od.; the gen. pers. may be omitted, ἀκήκοας λόγον Soph., or the acc. rei, ἄκουε τοῦ θανόντος id. Soph.:—often however c. gen. rei, to have hearing of a thing.

c. gen. objecti, to hear of, hear tell of, ἀκ. πατρός Od.; so c. acc., Od.:—so, ἀκ. περί τινος.

the pers. from whom the thing is heard takes a prep., ἀκούειν τι ἀπό, ἔκ, παρά, πρός τινος, Il., attic

to know by hearsay, εἴ που ἀκούεις Od.; so Plat., etc.

absol. to hearken, give ear, to begin a proclamation, ἀκούετε λεώι hear, O people.

to listen to, give ear to, Il.

to obey, c. gen., or more rarely c. dat., id. Il.

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-AAI-1P — Verb · aorist · active · indicative · first person · plural
aorist active indicative — a completed action, viewed as a whole.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-AAI-1P Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Aorist Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: first Number: Plural

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
20%having heard
having heard20% · 88×hearing10% · 45×hear9% · 39×i heard7% · 31×heard6% · 28×you have heard4% · 18×he should hear4% · 16×you hear2% · 9×other renderings37% · 161×

435 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 90 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
verb89%adverbial11%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 428 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
ὁράωI see, look uponαὐτόςβλέπωI look, see
Article the
πᾶςall, the whole, καίand, even, also,εἰμίI am, exist
ὅς
ἀκούωI hear, listenπᾶςall, the whole, λόγοςa word, speech,
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theὅτανwhen, whensoeverὡςas, like as, how
οὖςthe ear
ἔχωI have, hold, poArticle the
ἀκούωwe heard428×
what comes after →
Article the
λόγοςa word, speech, μαθητήςa learner, disciπερί
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theοὐNegβλέπωI look, see
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theοὗτοςὅτιthat, since, bec
ὅτιthat, since, because
εἶπονI say, speakἸησοῦςJesusἔρχομαιI come, go
αὐτός
καίand, even, also,πολύςmuch, many, ofteσυζητέωI seek together,

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

Concordanceἀκούω · 428× in the New Testament
Acts Luke Matthew John Revelation Mark 1 John Hebrews Ephesians Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Timothy

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 515 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 2.16c. AD 40

ὅταν οὖν λέγῃ „ἰδεῖν τί καλέσει", ἄκουε ἴσον τῷ, διὰ τί καλέσει καὶ προσκαλέσεται καὶ ἀσπάσεται τούτων ἕκαστον ὁ νοῦς·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.184c. AD 75–95

καὶ ὁ μὲν ταῦτʼ ἀκούσας θυσίαν προσφέρει τῷ θεῷ κελευσθεὶς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 7.3c. AD 100

ἀκούσατε, πῶς περὶ τούτου πεφανέρωκαν οἱ ἱερεῖς τοῦ ναοῦ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 2nd c. AD 5th c. AD 7th c. AD 3rd c. AD
P.Lond. 7 2011Pharbaithos (Arsinoites)244 BC

r Παταικίων Ζήνωνι χαίρειν. ἀκηκόαμεν παρὰ Πύρρου τοὺς αἰπόλους ἀναχωρεῖν. τὸν μὲν οὖν Λιμναῖον ἔφη ἤδη ἀπεληλυθέναι, Δημήτριον δὲ

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

ϛ ἔτους τινὰ δὲ ἐν τῶι Μεμφίτηι, ἃ εἶχεν Παμῆς καὶ Ἀμεννεύς, οὓς νῦν ἀκούομεν μεταγηγοχέναι εἰς τὸν Ἡρακλεοπολίτην ἄνευ ἡμῶν, Ἀμμώνιος δʼ ὁ οἰκονόμος ἀπαγήοχεν αὐτοὺς καὶ τὰ

P.Grenf. 2 36Pathyris96 BC

ἡμῖν κακὸν ἐποίησεν ἀλλʼ ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων ἐπιμεμέληται, περὶ ὧν, ἐὰν αἱρῆτε, γράψατέ μοι. ἠκούσαμεν τὸν μῦν καταβεβρωκέναι τὸν σπόρον. καλῶς ἡμῖν ὦδε, ἢ ἐν Διοσπόλει ἐὰν αἱρῆσθε, πυρὸν

not we are able for we ourselves what we have seen and we heard not to speak.
μὴ not G3361 Particle · negative
1,060× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
rarer in Acts than elsewhere in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Not is a word used to show that something is not true or is not happening, like in phrases that say 'lest' or 'God forbid', as seen in various parts of the New Testament.
Tyndale gloss
not
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

μή,

subjective negative particle,

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

As a neg. adv., not;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μή (mē) — not.

μή,

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

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

μή

me

a primary particle of qualified negation (whereas 3756 expresses an

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

interrogative implying a negative answer (whereas 3756 expects an

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

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

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

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

3373, 3375, 3378.

see GREEK for 3756

see GREEK for 3362

see GREEK for 3363

see GREEK for 3364

see GREEK for 3372

see GREEK for 3373

see GREEK for 3375

see GREEK for 3378

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

μή

Neg.prt.

not, lest

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

μή mē 1x

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

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

PRT-N PaRTicle, disjunctive particle Negative

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Counted over the 1,321 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

not we are able for we ourselves what we have seen and we heard not to speak.
λαλεῖν.laleō to speak. G2980 Verb · present · active · infinitive
298× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Acts as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To speak or talk, as in Matthew 9:33 and 12:46, where Jesus speaks to the crowds. It can also mean to utter words, like in Revelation 4:1. This word is often translated as preach, say, or tell in the KJV.
Amplified meaning
to utter words
Tyndale gloss
to speak
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

λαλέω (laleo) means to talk or speak, often implying a vocal utterance. It can refer to both human speech and the sounds made by animals or inanimate objects. The New Testament uses it in various contexts, such as to convey messages or make declarations (e.g., Matthew 9:33). Notably, it differs from λέγω (lego), which focuses more on the meaning of what is said.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — λαλέω, λέγω, λαλιά, λόγος from a scan

In dealing with synonyms of the N. T. we plainly need not concern ourselves with such earlier, or even contemporary, uses of the words which we are discriminating, as lie altogether outside of the N. T. sphere, when these uses do not illustrate, and have not affected, their Scriptural employment. It follows from this that all those contemptuous uses of λαλεῖν as to talk at random, as one ἀθυρόστομος, or with no door to his lips, might do; of λαλιά, as chatter («Kpacia λόγου ἄλογος, Plato, Defin. 416)—for I cannot believe that we are to find this at John iv. 42—may be dismissed and set aside. The antithesis in the line of Eupolis (Meineke, /ragm. Com. Gr. p. 174), Λαλεῖν ἄριστος, ἀδυνατώτατος λέγειν, does little or nothing to illustrate the matter in hand. The distinction which indeed exists between the words may in this way be made clear. There are two leading aspects under which speech…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

λαλέω, -ῶ,

[in LXX chiefly for דּבר pi., also for אמר, etc.;]

to utter: of inanimate things, Re 4:1 10:4; metaph., He 11:4 12:24.

to talk, speak, say: absol., Mt 9:33 12:46, Mk 5:35, Lk 8:49; seq. ὡς, I Co 13:11, Re 13:11; εἰς, I Co 14:9; ἐκ, Mt 12:34; c. acc. rei, Mt 10:19, Mk 11:32, Jo…

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

λαλέω, -@; impf. 3 pers. sing. ἐλάλει, plur. ἐλάλουν; fut. AaAjow; 1 aor. ἐλάλησα; pf. λελάληκα; Pass., pres. λαλοῦμαι; pf. λελάλημαι; 1 aor. ἐλαλήθην; 1 fut. λαληθήcopa; [ἴτ. Soph. down]; found in bibl. Grk. much more freq. than in prof. auth., in Sept. times without number for 739 or 135, more rarely for V8; prop. to uller a sound (ef. [onomatop. /a-/a, ete.] Germ. lallen), to emit a voice, make one’s self heard ; hence to utter or form words with the mouth, to speak, haying reference to the sound and pronunciation of the words and in general the form of what is uttered, while λέγω refers to the meaning and substance of what is spoken; hence λαλεῖν is employed not only of men, esp. when chatting and prattling, but also of animals (of birds, Mosch. 3, 47 ; of locusts, Theoer. 5, 34; λαλοῦσι μέν, οὐ φράζουσι δέ, of dogs and apes, Plut. mor. ii. p. 909 a.), and so of inanimate things (as…

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

λαλέω. In P Amh II. 1315 (early ii/A.D.) a brother writes to his sister with reference to the management of certain family property, stating that he will remain where he is until he learns that all is safely settled, and adding—eédml{w δὲ θεῶν θελόντων ἐκ τῶν λαλουμένων διαφεύξεσθαι Kal μετὰ τὴν πεντεκαιδεκάτην ἀναπλεύσειν, “ but I hope, if the gods will, to escape from the talking and after the fifteenth to return home.’”’ See also P Oxy I. 1198 (ii/iii A.D.) (= Selections, p- 103) where the naughty boy writes to his father— οὐ θέλις ἀπενέκκειν μετ᾽ ἐσοῦ els ᾿Αλεξανδρίαν, od μὴ γράψω σε ἐπιστολήν, οὔτε λαλῶ σε, οὔτε υἱγένω σε εἶτα, “if you refuse to take me along with you to Alexandria, I won’t write you a letter, or speak to you, or wish you health henceforth,” P Fay 1264 (ii/iii A.D.) ἤκουσα φίλον Tod πατρός μου λαλοῦνTos περὶ σοῦ ὅτι πεμψεν (/. ἔπεμψεν) ἐπὶ τὴν πενθερά (/.—pav) σου…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

λαλέω (laleō) — to speak.

λᾰλ-έω,

talk, chat, prattle, ἕπου καὶ μὴ λάλει [Refs 5th c.BC+]: with dative, talk to one, λαλῶν ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς σεαυτῷ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; opposed to λέγω, λαλεῖν ἄριστος, ἀδυνατώτατος λέγειν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; λαλῶν μὲν.., λέγων δέ.. [Refs 4th c.BC+]

__b generally, talk, speak, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. talk of, τινα [Refs 3rd c.BC+]:—passive, πρᾶγμα κατ᾽ ἀγορὰν λαλούμενον [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. in later writers, ={λέγω}, speak, λαλεῖ οὐθὲν τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων πλὴν ἀνθρώπου [NT+5th c.BC+]; χειρσὶν ἅπαντα λαλήσας, of a pantomime, [NT+3rd c.BC+]passive, λαληθήσεταί σοι ὅ τι σε δεῖ ποιεῖν it shall be told thee.., [NT]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

λαλέω

laleo

a prolonged form of an otherwise obsolete verb; to talk, i.e. utter

words:--preach, say, speak (after), talk, tell, utter. Compare 3004.

see GREEK for 3004

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

λαλέω

v.

I speak, say

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

λαλέω laleō 296x

to make vocal utterance; to babble, to talk; in NT absol. to exercise the faculty of speech, Mt. 9:33; to speak, Mt. 10:20; to hold converse with, to talk with, Mt. 12:46; Mk. 6:50; Rev. 1:12; to discourse, to make an address, Lk. 11:37; Acts 11:20; 21:39; to make announcement, to make a declaration, Lk. 1:55; to make mention, Jn. 12:41; Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

λαλέω λαλός to talk, chat, prattle, babble, Ar., etc.:—generally, to talk, say, Soph.

c. acc. to talk of, Theocr.

in late Gr., just like λέγω, to speak, NTest., Thuc.:—Pass., λαληθήσεταί σοι it shall be told thee, NTest.

the proper sense, to chatter, is sometimes opp. to articulate speech, as of monkeys, λαλοῦσι μὲν φράζουσι δὲ οὔ Plut.; of locusts, to chirp, Theocr.

of musical sounds, αὐλῶι λαλεῖν id. Theocr.

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
20%speaking
speaking20% · 61×speak13% · 39×spoke9% · 27×he was speaking4% · 12×i speak3% · 10×speaks3% · 10×he spoke3% · 8×we speak3% · 8×other renderings41% · 123×

298 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 81 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 298 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
εἰμίI am, existκαίand, even, also,σύ
αὐτός
ἔτιstill, yet, evenοὗτοςδέbut, on the othe
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςθύραa door, opportunθεόςGod, a god
ὅς
πᾶςall, the whole, λόγοςa word, speech, ἀργόςidle, lazy, thou
οὗτος
ὥραan hour, seasonποιέωI do, makeὡςas, like as, how
λαλέωto speak.298×
what comes after →
Article the
λόγοςa word, speech, ἸησοῦςJesusἑπτάIndec
αὐτός
Article theὁράωI see, look uponκαίand, even, also,
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theὅςβλέπωI look, see
σύ
ἵναin order that, sArticle theἔτιstill, yet, even
ἐν
Article theσύΠέργηPerga

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

Concordanceλαλέω · 298× in the New Testament
Acts John 1 Corinthians Luke Matthew Mark Hebrews Revelation 2 Corinthians 1 Thessalonians Ephesians James

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 661 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Ignatius of Antioch The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 3.101c. AD 40

διὰ τοῦτο Μωυσῆν ἀνακέκληκε καὶ ἐλάλησεν αὐτῷ ὁ θεός.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 5.349c. AD 75–95

καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ φθεγξαμένου πάλιν ἀκούσας ἠξίου λαλεῖν ἐπὶ τοῖς χρωμένοις·

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 6th c. AD 4th c. AD 7th c. AD 3rd c. AD
BGU 3 822ArsinoitesAD 105

ἀπαιτεῖς τὴν ἐνμένουσαν ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ σου τὸ ἐνοίκιον. ἵνα εὕρωμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς εὔλογον λαλῆσαι αὐτῇ, γράψον Κουπανηοῦτι ἐπιστολήν, προστάξας, ἵνα εὕρῃ εὔλογον πρὸς αὐτὴν λαλῆσαι. θερμῶς ἀσπάζεταί σε

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

περὶ ἀργυρωματίων σὺν Κέρτῳ. εὔχομαί σε ἰσχύειν. περὶ Πτολλαρίωνος ἡ μήτηρ μέμφεται. οὐκ ἐμοὶ λαλεῖ, ἀλλὰ καὶ φεύγει με ἐὰν ἴδῃ, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἐμοῖς ἀπομέμφεται αὐτόν. ἐγὼ ἐπιτιμῶ Πτολλαρίωνι·

P.Wisc. 2 73OxyrhynchitesAD 122–AD 123

περὶ τῶν ὀσπριδίων. περὶ τούτου οὐδὲν τετέλεσται. τὴν γὰρ ἀτιμίαν Θέων σοι κατʼ ὄψιν λαλήσει. ταχέως οὖν σπεῦσον, ὡς ἔγραψας, πρὸς ἡμᾶς γενέσθαι. ἀσπάζονταί σε οἱ ἐν οἴκωι πάντες.

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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