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Colossians 1:21 — Word Study

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N1904καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτε ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καὶ ἐχθροὺς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς,

BSAAndkai yousu [who were formerly alienated] oncepote beingeimi alienatedapallotrioō [separated, estranged] andkai hostileechthros [enemies, at war] <the>ho in minddianoia [thoughts, understanding] inen [occupied, involved] theho deedsergon [works, actions] <the>ho evil,ponēros [wicked, morally wrong]

Word
Listen & take awayColossians 1
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 21 is in this chapter.
Greek ↓ Download MP3 Nestle 1904 — the very text on this page — read by Andy Martin in Erasmian pronunciation.
Say the word Each Greek word carries its transliteration (ponēros) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
Colossians 1:21quick helps
In a sentencePaul reminds the Colossians of their past separation from God and their former hostility toward Him.
Who is speakingThe Apostle Paul, addressing the believers in Colossae.
Where we areIn a section discussing reconciliation through Christ, contrasting past alienation with present acceptance.
The hard wordἀπαλλοτριόω
Take awayThe transformation from alienation to reconciliation is central to the Christian message.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause verbεἰμί 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 — Colossians 1:21

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 — Reconciliation Through Christgenerated

20and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross.
21Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds.
22But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence—
23if indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Colossians 1:21 reflects on the state of believers before their reconciliation with God through Christ. Paul emphasizes that they were once alienated and hostile in their minds, engaging in evil deeds. This highlights the dramatic change that occurs in a believer's life upon accepting Christ, as seen in the surrounding verses where Paul speaks of reconciliation and holiness in Colossians 1:22.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
1Romans 1:30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent new forms of evil; they disobey their parents.
2Romans 5:9–10Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!
3Romans 8:7–8because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
41 Corinthians 6:9–11Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,
5Ephesians 2:1–2And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

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

in your mind byTitus 1:15–16

The Key Word ἀπαλλοτριόω, apallotrioōgenerated

The word ἀπαλλοτριόω (i.e., *apallotriōō*) means to alienate or estrange. It is a perfect passive participle, indicating a completed action with ongoing results — the subjects are described as having been alienated from God.

This alienation signifies a separation from the divine relationship, emphasizing a state of enmity. The use of the perfect tense suggests that this condition has lasting implications, reinforcing the need for reconciliation through Christ.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The Berean Standard Bible (BSB) states, "Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds." This aligns closely with the KJV and ASV, which also describe the state of being alienated and enemies.

However, the BBE phrases it as "who in the past were cut off and at war with God," while the WEB uses "being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds," showing slight variations in wording but maintaining the core meaning.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main clause is governed by the subject ὑμᾶς, you, which is described by the participial phrase ὄντας, being. This is followed by two predicates: ἀπηλλοτριωμένους, alienated, and ἐχθροὺς, hostile, indicating their former state.

The structure highlights the transformation from a state of alienation to reconciliation, with the verbs indicating actions that lead to the current state of believers.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

ἀπαλλοτριόω does not appear in the Septuagint, but its meaning of alienation can be related to the Hebrew concept of separation found in passages discussing estrangement from God.

The term emphasizes a relational distance that is echoed in various Old Testament contexts where Israel is depicted as estranged due to disobedience.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

Colossians 1:21 reminds us that before knowing Christ, we were separated from God and considered enemies in our thoughts, involved in wrong actions. This emphasizes the change that comes through reconciliation with God.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean to be alienated from God?

Being alienated from God refers to a state of separation and enmity due to sin, as described in Ephesians 2:12.

How does reconciliation occur according to this verse?

Reconciliation occurs through Christ's physical body and death, as mentioned in Colossians 1:22, restoring the relationship with God.

What does it mean to engage in evil deeds?

Engaging in evil deeds refers to actions that are morally wrong or sinful, which are contrary to God's will, as seen in Galatians 5:19.

Is everyone alienated from God?

According to scripture, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, leading to alienation, but reconciliation is available through faith in Christ, as stated in Romans 3:23.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. In what ways have I experienced alienation from God in my life?
  2. How can I better understand the significance of my reconciliation with God through Christ?
  3. What are some evil deeds that I need to turn away from in my life?
  4. How can I help others understand their need for reconciliation with God?

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

Early church writers reference this verse to discuss the state of humanity before reconciliation through Christ. Their insights are included here.

IrenaeusAgainst Heresies Book V c. 130–202
And for this cause the apostle, in the Epistle to the Colossians, says, "And though ye were formerly alienated, and enemies to His knowledge by evil works, yet now ye have been reconciled in the body of His flesh, through His death,
Early Church Fathers on Colossians 1 →
TertullianAgainst Marcion Book V c. 155–220
For how is He before all, if He is not before all things? How, again, is He before all things, if He is not "the first-born of every creature"-if He is not the Word of the Creator? Now how will he be proved to have been before all things,
Early Church Fathers on Colossians 1 →
TertullianOn the Resurrection of the Flesh c. 155–220
The apostle indeed teaches, in his Epistle to the Colossians, that we were once dead, alienated, and enemies to the Lord in our minds, whilst we were living in wicked works;
Early Church Fathers on Colossians 1 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on Colossians 1:21 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

And you that were sometime alienated,.... The general blessing of grace and reconciliation, which belongs to the whole body of Christ, the church universal, all the elect of God, whether in heaven or

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

And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled The Colossians are included in this general reconciliation (Colossians 2:13).

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

And you, that were sometime alienated: the particle and, by a Hebraism, is put for therefore, or wherefore, leading the Colossians from the doctrines he had proposed, to consider their own estrangement from God and the things that please him, before they were effectually called by the gospel, being then in such a miserable condition as others were in a state of corrupted nature. See ,3,11,12. And enemies; not only in their outward deportment had they no communion with the true God, but inwardly they hated God as an enemy, and they were hated of him as his enemies; by their willing and nilling that which was contrary to him and his pleasure, in opposing his revealed will, ,21 Ro 1:29,30 5:10…

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

21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled Ver. 21. Enemies in your mind] Haters of God, Romans 1:30, and so, God slayers, 1 John 3:15. Omne peccatum est Deicidium. All sin is a killer of God.

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

(21) Alienated.—Not naturally aliens, but estranged. (See Note on Ephesians 2:12.) By wicked works.—Properly, in your wicked works. The enmity of heart is not properly caused by wicked works, but shown in them, and probably intensified by reflex action through them.

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

Verse 21. And you, that were sometime alienated] All men are alienated from God, and all are enemies in their minds to him, and show it by their wicked works; but this is spoken particularly of the Gentiles. The word απαλλοτριοω, which we render to alienate, to give to another, to estrange, expresses the state of the Gentiles: while the Jews were, at least by profession, dedicated to God, the Gentiles were alienated, that is, given up to others; they worshipped not the true God, but had gods many and lords many, to whom they dedicated themselves, their religious service, and their property. The verb αλλοτριοω, to alienate, being compounded here with the preposition απο, from, signifies to…

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

21–23. The Subject pursued: the special case of the Colossians with regard to Redemption21. you] In the Greek “you” is accusative, and (in the best supported reading) the only verb to govern it is “to reconcile” in Colossians 1:20. (See note on “hath He reconciled” just below.) Thus the construction runs unbroken from Colossians 1:20 into this verse. But there is a break, a paragraph, practically, in the thought and treatment.As in Ephesians 1:13, so here, the Apostle moves from the general case of the “all things” to the particular case of the Colossian believers, included among “the things on the earth.” Cp. also Ephesians 2:1; a close parallel.sometimes] Ideally, before Christ’s work…

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

And you, that were sometime alienated - In this work of reconciling heaven and earth, you at Colossae, who were once enemies of God, have been reached.

Read Albert Barnes on Colossians 1 →

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

Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds,

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds.

NETBNew English Translation2006

And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds,

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works,

RVARevised Version, American1894

And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, yet now hath he reconciled

NWBWebster's Bible1833

And you, that were formerly alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled,

GNVGeneva Bible1599

And you which were in times past strangers and enemies, because your mindes were set in euill workes, hath he nowe also reconciled,

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in mind by wicked works, yet now has it reconciled

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

And you — once being alienated, and enemies in the mind, in the evil works, yet now did he reconcile,

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

And you—once being alienated, and enemies in the mind, in the evil works, yet now He reconciled,

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

At one time, you also were strangers to God and were his enemies in mind and in evil deeds.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

And you, whereas you were some time alienated and enemies in mind in evil works:

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

You once were alienated from God, enemies in the way you thought and the way you acted,

BBEBible in Basic English1949

And you, who in the past were cut off and at war with God in your minds through evil works, he has now made one

Word by word, the decisions they made

ὄνταςeimi being G1510 2 different renderings
wereBBE BSB DBY DRA FBV GNV KJV MSB NETB NWB ULB
beingASV LSV RVA WEB YLT
ἐχθροὺςechthros hostile G2190 3 different renderings
enemiesASV DBY DRA FBV GNV KJV LSV NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
hostileBSB MSB
at warBBE
διανοίᾳdianoia in mind G1271 3 different renderings
mindASV KJV LSV NWB RVA WEB YLT
in mindDBY DRA ULB
thoughtFBV
ἔργοιςergon deeds G2041 2 different renderings
worksASV BBE DBY DRA KJV LSV NWB RVA YLT
deedsBSB MSB NETB ULB WEB
πονηροῖς,ponēros evil, G4190 2 different renderings
evilASV BBE BSB DRA LSV MSB NETB RVA ULB WEB YLT
wickedDBY KJV NWB

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.

clauseκαὶAndclauseclausesubjectὑμᾶςyouadverbialποτεoncelinking verbὄνταςbeingclause · predicatepredicateἀπηλλοτριωμένουςalienatedκαὶandpredicateἐχθροὺςhostilenoun phrase · adverbialτῇ-διανοίᾳin mindprepositional phrase · adverbialἐνinnoun phraseτοῖςthenoun phraseἔργοιςdeedsnoun phraseτοῖς-πονηροῖςevilδὲhoweverclauseadverbialνυνὶnowverbἀποκατήλλαξενHe has reconciled [You]prepositional phrase · adverbialἐνinnoun phraseτῷthenoun phraseσώματιbodynoun phraseτῆςof thenoun phraseσαρκὸςfleshαὐτοῦof Himprepositional phrase · adverbialδιὰthroughnoun phraseτοῦ-θανάτουdeathclause · adverbialverbπαραστῆσαιto presentobjectὑμᾶςyouadjective phrase · second objectἁγίουςholyκαὶandἀμώμουςunblemishedκαὶandἀνεγκλήτουςblamelessprepositional phrase · adverbialκατενώπιονbeforeαὐτοῦHimclauseεἴifclauseγεindeedclauseverbἐπιμένετεyou continuenoun phrase · adverbialτῇ-πίστειin the faithclause · adverbialclauseverbτεθεμελιωμένοιestablishedκαὶandclausepredicateἑδραῖοιfirmκαὶandclauseadverbialμὴnotverbμετακινούμενοιbeing moved awayprepositional phrase · adverbialἀπὸfromnoun phraseτῆςthenoun phraseἐλπίδοςhopenoun phrasenoun phrasenoun phraseτοῦof thenoun phraseεὐαγγελίουgospelclauseobjectοὗthatverbἠκούσατεyou have heardnoun phraseτοῦ-clauseverbκηρυχθέντοςhaving been proclaimedprepositional phrase · adverbialἐνinnoun phraseπάσῃallnoun phraseκτίσειcreationnoun phraseτῇ-prepositional phraseὑπὸundernoun phraseτὸν-οὐρανόνheavenclausenoun phrase · predicateοὗof whichδιάκονοςa ministerlinking verbἐγενόμηνhave becomenoun phrase · subjectἐγὼIΠαῦλοςPaul

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

Et vos cum essetis aliquando alienati, et inimici sensu in operibus malis :

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

ܐܦ ܠܟܘܢ ܕܡܢ ܩܕܝܡ ܢܘܟܪܝܐ ܗܘܝܬܘܢ ܘܒܥܠܕܒܒܐ ܒܪܥܝܢܝܟܘܢ ܡܛܠ ܥܒܕܝܟܘܢ ܒܝܫܐ ܫܝܢܟܘܢ ܗܫܐ

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

καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτε ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καὶ ἐχθροὺς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς,

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτε ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καὶ ἐχθροὺς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς,

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτε ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καὶ ἐχθροὺς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς,

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτε ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καὶ ἐχθροὺς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς,

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτε ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καὶ ἐχθροὺς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς,

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτε ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καὶ ἐχθροὺς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς,

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτε ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καὶ ἐχθροὺς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς,

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτε ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καὶ ἐχθροὺς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς,

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.

Colossians 1:21καίAndAndκαίσύyouyouσύποτέonceonceποτέεἰμίbeingbeingεἰμίἀπαλλοτριόωalienatedalienatedἀπαλλοτριόωκαίandandκαίἐχθρόςhostilehostileἐχθρός<the><the>διάνοιαin mindin mindδιάνοιαἐνininἐνthetheἔργονdeedsdeedsἔργον<the><the>πονηρόςevil,evil,πονηρόςἀπόPrep. fromPrep. from, awaἀπόδιάPrep. throPrep. through, διάπούAdv somewhAdv somewhereπούτέDisj.prt. Disj.prt. and, τέεἰςPrep. intoPrep. into, in,εἰςἐκPrep. fromPrep. from out,ἐκκακόςAdj bad, eAdj bad, evilκακόςσαπρόςAdj rottenAdj rotten, useσαπρόςἀμήνHebr. veriHebr. verily, tἀμήνἀπειθέωv. I disobv. I disobey, rἀπειθέωἤδηAdv now, aAdv now, alreadἤδηἄξιοςAdj worthyAdj worthy, worἄξιοςεἰμίv. I am, ev. I am, existεἰμίὑποπόδιονn.n. a foon.n. a footstooὑποπόδιονὑποκάτωAdv undernAdv underneathὑποκάτωὅλοςAdj all, tAdj all, the whὅλοςἐπίPrep. on, Prep. on, to, aἐπίσυναγωγήn.f. an asn.f. an assemblσυναγωγή
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 Colossians 1:21

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.

And you once being alienated and hostile <the> in mind in the deeds <the> evil,
καὶkai And G2532 Conjunction
8,978× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Colossians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
And or also, a connecting word used to join ideas or words, like in Matthew 2:18 and Hebrews 1:1.
Tyndale gloss
and
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

καί,

conj.,

and.

Copulative.

Connecting single words;

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

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

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

Read the full entry →
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

And you once being alienated and hostile <the> in mind in the deeds <the> evil,
ὑμᾶςsu you G4771 Personal pronoun · second person · accusative · plural
2,892× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Colossians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This Greek word means 'you' and is used to address someone directly, like in John 1:30 and Matthew 26:64. It's a way to emphasize or contrast the person being spoken to. The KJV Bible translates it as 'thou'.
Amplified meaning
who were formerly alienated
Tyndale gloss
you
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

σύ,

pron. of 2nd pers.,

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

σύ (su) — you.

σύ [ῠ],

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

σύ

su

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

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

see GREEK for 4675

see GREEK for 4571

see GREEK for 4671

see GREEK for 5209

see GREEK for 5210

see GREEK for 5213

see GREEK for 5216

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

σύ, σοῦ, σοί, σέ

Pers.pr.

you

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

σύ sy 2x

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

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Pron-2AP — Personal pronoun · second person · accusative · plural
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked plural.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

P-2AP Part of Speech: Personal pronoun Person: second Case: Accusative Number: Plural

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

3,073 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 37 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject28%object24%adverbial23%indirect object20%predicate5%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 2,892 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
λέγωI say, speak
ἀμήνHebrδέbut, on the otheἐγώ
καίand, even, also, nam
ἐγώοὕτωthus, so, in thiμήNeg
ἐν
Article theεἰμίI am, existγίνομαιI come into bein
πρός
ἔρχομαιI come, goἐγώπέμπωI send
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakπαρακαλέωI summon, entreaθέλωI will, wish, de
σύyou2892×
what comes after →
Article the
θεόςGod, a godἐνἁμαρτίαa sin
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theεἰρήνηpeace, peace of οὐNeg
ὅτιthat, since, because
Article theπᾶςall, the whole, οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐν
ἐν
Article theποῖοςIrgΧριστόςanointed, the Me

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

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

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 450 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.48c. AD 40

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.101c. AD 75–95

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

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

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

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

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

P.Grenf. 1 32Pelusion103 BC

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

P.Grenf. 1 41Thebais3 BC

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

And you once being alienated and hostile <the> in mind in the deeds <the> evil,
ποτεpote once G4218 Particle
31× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Colossians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means once or when, referring to a time in the past or future. Paul used it in Romans 7:9 and Galatians 1:13 to talk about his life before meeting Jesus. It can also mean ever or at some point.
Tyndale gloss
once/when
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

ποτέ is an enclitic particle meaning 'once' or 'at some time.' It can refer to both past and future events and is often used in negative constructions or questions. The New Testament uses it in various contexts, such as John 9:13 and Luke 22:32. Some lexicons note its use in hypothetical clauses and questions, while others emphasize its indefinite temporal nature.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ποτέ,

enclitic particle,

once, formerly, sometime: of the past, Jo 9:13, Ro 7:9 11:30, Ga 1:13, 23 2:6 (Lft., in l.), Eph 2:2, 3, 11, 13 5:8, Col 1:21 3:7, I Th 2:5, Tit 3:3, Phm 11, I Pe 2:10 3:5, 20; ἤδη ποτέ, now at length, Phl 4:10; of the fut., Lk 22:32; εἴ πως ἤδη ποτέ, if sometime soon at length, Ro 1:10.

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

ποτέ, an enclitic particle, fr. Hom. down; 1. once, i. e. at some time or other, formerly, aforetime ; a. of the Past: Jn. ix. 13; Ro. vii. 9; xi. 30; Gal. i. 13, 23 [ef. W. § 45, 7]; Eph. ii. 2 sq. 11,13; v. 8; Col. i. 21; iii. 7; 1 Th. ii. 5; Tit. iii. 3; Philem. 11; 1 Pet. ii. 10; iii. 5, 20; ἤδη ποτέ, now at length, Phil. iv. 10. b. of the Future: Lk. xxii. 32; ἤδη ποτέ, now at length, Ro. i. 10. 2. ever: after a negative, οὐδείς ποτε, Eph. v. 29 [B. 202 (175)]; ov... ποτέ, 2 Pet. i. 21; μή more (see μήποτε); after ov μή with the aor. subjunc. 2 Pet. i. 10; ina question, τίς ποτε, 1 Co. ix. 7; Heb.i. 5, 13; ὁποῖοί ποτε, whatsoever, Gal. ii. 6 [but some would render ποτέ here formerly, once; cf. Bp. Lghtft. ad loc. ].

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

ποτέ, an indefinite temporal particle = ‘fat any time, at some time,” ‘‘once,” ‘‘formerly”’: cf. PSI V. 484? (B.c. 258-7) ὥς ποτε αὐτῶι ἐδόκει, P Oxy IV. 7457 (c. A.D. 1) οὐκ οἶδας yap πῶς μοι ἐχρήσατο ἐν ᾿Οξυρύγχοις οὐχ ὡς λύσα v>TL ἀλλ᾽ ὥς τινί ποτε ἀποστερητῆι μὴ ἀποδεδωκότι, “*you don’t know how he treated me at Oxyrhynchus (?), not like a man who had paid but like a defrauder and a debtor” (Edd.), P Fay 11076 (A.D. 94) “Hpwva τόν ποτε ἡγούμί(ενον), ‘ Heron the former president,” P Ryl IL. 243° (ii/A.D.) ὅσα ποτὲ οὖν ἐὰν ἀναίναγλώσῃς ls τὴν τοῦ κλήρου κατεργασίαν, ἡμεῖν ἐνλόγησον ἐπὶ λόγου. ““υυΐ down to our account everything you expend on the cultivation of the > ες μοί ποτε περὶ τούτου, ‘“‘you once had a conversation with me on this subject” (Edd.), P Par 57414 (iii/a.p.) (= Selections, p. 113) ἐξορκίζω σε, δαῖμον, ὅστις ποτ᾽ οὖν εἶ, and P Oxy XIV. τόϑ8ο1" (iii/iv a.p.)…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ποτέ (pote) — once/when.

Included with: πότε,

Ionic dialect κότε, Doric dialect πόκα [Refs 3rd c.BC+]:—interrogative Particle used in direct and indirect questions, when? at what time? [Refs 8th c.BC+]; πότ᾽ ἆρ; ={πότε} with ἆρα [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. indefinite ποτε (Attic dialect, also [Refs 4th c.BC+], Ionic dialect κοτε, Doric dialect ποκα, Aeolic dialect ποτα [Refs 7th c.BC+]

II.1. at some time or other, at some time, τάχ᾽ ἄν ποτε θυμὸν ὀλέσσῃ [Refs 8th c.BC+]; π. καὶ ἄλλοτε at certain other times, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II.2. in hypothetical clauses, questions, etc., at any time, ever, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; compare εἴ ποτε: also with relatives (compare δήποτε), Ζεὺς ὅστις ποτ᾽ ἐστίν [Refs 4th c.BC+]; ὅποι ποτέ, ὅπου π., etc., [Refs 5th c.BC+]; after πω, πη, see at {πώποτε, πήποκα}: very frequently…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ποτέ

pote

from the base of 4225 and 5037; indefinite adverb, at some time,

ever:--afore-(any, some-)time(-s), at length (the last), (+ n- )ever,

in the old time, in time past, once, when.

see GREEK for 4225

see GREEK for 5037

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ποτέ

Disj.prt.

at one time or other

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ποτε pote 29x

enclitic particle, once, some time or other, either past or future; formerly, Jn. 9:13; at length, Lk. 22:32; at any time, ever, Eph. 5:29; Heb. 2:1; intensive after interrogatives, ever, 1 Cor. 9:7; Heb. 1:5

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ποτέ enclit. Particle:

at some time or other, at some time, Hom., etc.

at any time, ever, Soph., etc.; often after relat. words, ὅστις ποτέ, ὅστις δήποτε, ὅστις δηποτοῦν, v. δήποτε; also after πω, v. πώποτε; and after negatives, when it often becomes one word with the negat., οὔποτε, μήποτε, οὐδέποτε, μηδέποτε.

in correl. clauses it stands first, with accent, ποτὲ μέν . . , ποτὲ δέ . . , at one time . . , at another . . , Lat. modo . . , modo . . , Plat.

of some unknown point of time,

the past, once, erst, Il., Trag.; in telling a story, once upon a time, Ar.

the future, at some time, Il., etc.:—with imperat., Lat. tandem aliquando, Soph.

in questions, τίς ποτε; Lat. qui tandem? who in the world? Aesch., etc.; v. τίποτε; τίπτε.

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

PRT PaRTicle, disjunctive particle

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
45%once
once45% · 13×formerly14% · 4×at any time14% · 4×at last7% · 2×ever7% · 2×at any time?3% · 1×former3% · 1×at one time3% · 1×other renderings3% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial94%object6%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 54 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
γάρfor
εἰμίI am, existοὐδείςno one, none, noοὔτεNeg
σύ
καίand, even, also,γάρfor
Article the
Φαρισαῖοςa Phariseeσύ
ὅς
πίστιςfaith, belief, tἐν
μήNeg
λέγωI say, speakἐπείafter, for, sinc
ποτέonce31×
what comes after →
ἐν
Article theλόγοςa word, speech,
εἰμίI am, exist
οὐδείςno one, none, noμακράνfar awayἀπαλλοτριόωI estrange, alie
οὐNeg
μήNegλαόςa people, the cr
σύ
Article theἄχρηστοςunprofitable, us
Article the
ἑαυτοῦἄγγελοςan angel, messen

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

Concordanceποτέ · 31× in the New Testament
Ephesians Galatians 1 Peter Hebrews Romans 2 Peter Colossians 1 Corinthians 1 Thessalonians John Luke Matthew
Across the New Testament15 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 16c. AD 40

προλαβὼν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς ἅτε θεὸς ὅτι μίμημα καλὸν οὐκ ἄν ποτε γένοιτο δίχα καλοῦ παραδείγματος οὐδέ τι τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἀνυπαίτιον, ὃ μὴ πρὸς ἀρχέτυπον καὶ νοητὴν ἰδέαν ἀπεικονίσθη, βουληθεὶς τὸν ὁρατὸν κόσμον τουτονὶ δημιουργῆσαι προεξετύπου τὸν νοητόν,…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.101c. AD 75–95

εἰ δʼ ἐπὶ πλέον ποτὲ χειμάσαιμι, μὴ δείσητε τῶν ὄμβρων τὸ μέγεθος·

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

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

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

φροντιεῖ σου. ἀπέσταλκα δέ σοι καὶ ἐρίων μνᾶς τρεισήμισυ , καθαρὸν δὲ ὅσον ἄν ποτε ἀποβῆι. τοῦτο ἀνοίσουσίν σοι οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι. ἀπέσταλκα δέ σοι καὶ τὸ καταλειφθὲν στρούθειον ἔρρωσο.

ἔπιπλα τάς τε προκτήσεις τῶν ἐγγαιδίων ἐξιδιασάμενοι ἀπηνέγκαντο καὶ ἀπʼ ἐκείνου διὰ παρευρέσεως ἀεί ποτε ἀντιποιούμενοι τῶν ἡμετέρων παρʼ ἕκαστον καταβλάπτοντες διασείουσιν. ἐνήλικοι δὲ γενόμεναι κατὰ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον κληρονομήσασαι

P.Amh. 2 82ArsinoitesAD 306–AD 337

πόλεως τινὲς ἀπόντα εἵλαντο εἰς λογογραφίαν ἀνεπιτήδειον ὄντα καὶ γράμματα σχεδὸν ἐπιστάμενον οὐδὲ πολιτευσάμενόν ποτε. καὶ μετὰ ἡμέρας … ἀνελθὼν ἐπὶ τῆς μητροπόλεως καὶ τοῦτο μαθὼν οὐδὲ ἔκκλητον ποιεῖσθαι

And you once being alienated and hostile <the> in mind in the deeds <the> evil,
ὄνταςeimi being G1510 Verb · present · active · participle · accusative · plural · masculine
2,457× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Colossians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To be or exist, a basic verb used to describe something or someone, like God saying 'I am' in John 8:58.
Tyndale gloss
to be
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

εἰμί is a Greek verb meaning 'to be' or 'to exist.' It serves various functions, such as a substantive verb for persons and things, and as a copula linking subjects and predicates. The New Testament frequently uses it in passages like John 1:1 and Matthew 24:3. Notably, it can also express possibility, as seen in Hebrews 9:5.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

εἰμί,

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

As substantive verb.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

εἰμί (eimi) — to be.

εἰμί

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

εἰμί

eimi

the first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a

primary and defective verb; I exist (used only when emphatic):--am,

have been, X it is I, was. See also 1488, 1498, 1511, 1527, 2258,

2071, 2070, 2075, 2076, 2771, 2468, 5600.

see GREEK for 1488

see GREEK for 1498

see GREEK for 1511

see GREEK for 1527

see GREEK for 2258

see GREEK for 2071

see GREEK for 2070

see GREEK for 2075

see GREEK for 2076

see GREEK for 2771

see GREEK for 2468

see GREEK for 5600

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

εἰμί

v.

I am, exist

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

εἰμί eimi 2x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

εἰμί The whole of the pres. ind. (except 2nd sg. εἶ) may be enclitic when εἰμί is the Copula; but the 3rd sg. is written ἔστι in certain cases of emphasis, e. g. ἔστι μοι, I have: when used as Verb Subst., it retains the accent in all persons. as Substantive Verb, to be, to exist, οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ οὗτος ἀνήρ, οὐδ᾽ ἔσσεται Od.; τεθνηῶτος, μηδ᾽ ἔτ᾽ ἐόντος id. Od.; οὐκέτ᾽ ἔστι he is no more, Eur.; θεοὶ αἰὲν ἐόντες Il.; ἐσσόμενοι posterity, id. Il.; ζώντων καὶ ὄντων Ἀθηναίων Dem.:—so of cities, etc., ὄλωλεν, οὐδ᾽ ἔτ᾽ ἔστι Τροία (cf. Troja fuit), Eur.

of things, to be, exist, εἰ ἔστιν ἀληθέως [ἡ τράπεζα] Hdt.; ἕως ἂν ὁ πόλεμος ἦι so long as it last, Thuc.

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

V-PAP-APM Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: Participle Case: Accusative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
26%is
is26% · 619×are9% · 228×was7% · 176×being6% · 138×it is5% · 112×will be4% · 87×am3% · 80×were3% · 67×other renderings37% · 901×

2,408 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 139 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
linking verb87%verb13%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 2,457 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
ὅτιthat, since, becκαίand, even, also,ὅς
οὗτος
ὅτιthat, since, becλέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,
ὅς
ἐνἄνθρωποςa man, one of thθεόςGod, a god
ἐγώ
ὅτιthat, since, becλέγωI say, speakμετά
σύ
ἐνλέγωI say, speakαὐτός
εἰμίbeing2457×
what comes after →
Article the
υἱόςa son, descendenΧριστόςanointed, the Meβασιλείαkingship, sovere
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theοὐNegγάρfor
ἐν
Article theσύαὐτός
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theτὶςἐκεῖthere, yonder, t
ἐγώ
εἰςἄξιοςworthy, worthy oὧδεhere

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

Concordanceεἰμί · 2,457× in the New Testament
John Luke Matthew Acts Mark 1 Corinthians Romans Revelation 1 John 2 Corinthians Hebrews Galatians

67 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 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 1.2c. 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 1.2c. AD 100

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

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

Βερενίκης τῆς ἀδελφῆς θεῶν Φιλομητόρων ἔτους ιε, ἐφʼ ἱερέων καὶ ἱερειῶν καὶ κανηφόρου τῶν ὄντων καὶ οὐσῶν, μηνὸς Ἐπεὶφ κε. ἐν Παθύρει, ἐφʼ Ἑρμίου τοῦ παρὰ Πανίσκου ἀγορανόμου. ἀπέδοτο

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

Βερενίκης τῆς ἀδελφῆς θεῶν φιλομητόρων ἔτους ιϛ, ἐφʼ ἱερέων καὶ ἱερειῶν καὶ κανηφόρου τῶν ὄντων καὶ οὐσῶν, μηνὸς Τῦβι ιη ἐν Παθύρει ἐφʼ Ἑρμίου τοῦ παρὰ Πανίσκου ἀγορανόμου. ἀπέδοτο

And you once being alienated and hostile <the> in mind in the deeds <the> evil,
ἀπηλλοτριωμένουςapallotrioō alienated G526 Verb · perfect · passive · participle · accusative · plural · masculine
3× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Colossians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To be alienated or separated from something, like being estranged from God, as in Ephesians 2:12 and 4:18.
Amplified meaning
separated, estranged
Tyndale gloss
to alienate
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἀπαλλοτριόω (i.e., *apallotrioō*) means to alienate or estrange. It is built from the prefix ἀπ- and a root meaning 'to be a stranger.' The New Testament references include Ephesians 2:12 and 4:18, and Colossians 1:21, where it describes being estranged from God or others.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἀπ-αλλοτριόω, -ῶ,

[in LXX for זוּר, נזר, etc.;]

to alienate, estrange; pass.: Eph 2:12 4:18, Col 1:21 (MM, VGT, s.v.; Cremer, 95, 633).†

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

ἀπ-αλλοτριόω, -ὥ: pf. pass. ptep. ἀπηλλοτριωμένος ; to alienate, estrange; pass. to be rendered ἀλλότριος, to be shut out from one’s fellowship and intimacy: τινός, Eph. ji. 12; iv. 18; se. rod θεοῦ, Col. i. 21, (equiv. to 74/, used of those who have estranged themselves fr. God, Ps. Ivii. (Iviii.) 4; Is. i. 4 [Ald. ete.]; Ezek. xiv. 5,7; [Test. xii. Patr. test. Benj. § 10]; τῶν πατρίων δογμάτων, 3 Mace. i. 3; ἀπαλλοτριοῦν τινα τοῦ καλῶς ἔχοντος, Clem. Rom. 1 Cor. 14,2). (In Grk. writ. fr. [Hippoer.,] Plato down.)

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

ἀπαλλοτριόω. δ») 22684 (Olbia on Euxine, iii/B.c.) οὐδενὸς δ᾽ ἀπηλλοτρίaoe οὐδὲν τῶν ὑπαρχόντων. 70. 86012. 13 (in dialect, Delphi, ii/B.c.) ὡσα[ζύτω]ς δὲ μηδὲ ἀπαλλοτριωσάτω "Acla. . ., εἰ δὲ ἀπαλλοτριωοίη καθ᾽ ὁποῖον τρόπον KTA. OG/S 383158 (118.6.) μήτε αὑτῶι καταδουλώσασθαι, μήτε εἰς ἕτερον ἀπαλλοτριῶσαι. Dittenberger (Sy// II. p. 10, n®) cites another Delphian inscr. with ἀπαλλοτριώουσα. Cf. also Sy// 22912 (iii/B.c., Orchomenus in Arcadia—in dialect) μὴ ἐξέστω μηθενὶ ἀπαλλοτριῶ[σαι ἐντὸς ἐτ]έων εἴ[κΊοσι (sc. γᾶν κλᾶρον ἢ οἰκίαν), P Lond 1157 zerso (4) (illiterate, A.D. 246) (= III. Pp: III) ἀπολοτριοῦσται, apparently for ἀπαλλοτριοῦσθαι (Edd.). The compound ἐξαλλ. is more common: thus P Giss I. 2i-24 (B.c. 173), BGU IV. 1167 (B.c. 12), 26. 118718 (i/B.c.), P Oxy VIII. 11189 (i/ii A.D.), of the ‘‘ alienation” of property. Note also the verbal ἀνεξαλλοτρίωτον in P Ryl IL. 177" (A.D.…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἀπαλλοτριόω (apallotrioō) — to alienate.

ἀπαλλοτρι-όω,

perfect ἀπηλλοτρίωκα[Refs 4th c.BC+]:—estrange, alienate, ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν τὸν ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης τόπον [same place]; λόγον -οῦντα κακίας[Refs 1st c.AD+]:—passive, to be alienated, τινός from one, [Refs 2nd c.BC+]; πρός τινα towards one, [Refs 5th c.BC+]ill-suited for.., [Refs]

2. of property, alienate, [Refs 4th c.BC+]:—passive, [Refs 3rd c.AD+]

3. of things, separate, distinguish, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. b alter, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. c remove, in Surgery, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]:—active, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀπαλλοτριόομαι

apallotrioo

from 575 and a derivative of 245; to estrange away, i.e. (passively

and figuratively) to be non-participant:-- alienate, be alien.

see GREEK for 575

see GREEK for 245

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀπαλλοτριόομαι

v.

I estrange, alienate

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀπαλλοτριόω apallotrioō 3x

pass. to be alienated from, be a stranger to; alien, Eph. 2:12; 4:18; Col. 1:21*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἀπαλλοτριόω to estrange, alienate, Aeschin., Arist.

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

V-RPP-APM Part of Speech: Verb Tense: peRfect Voice: Passive Mood: Participle Case: Accusative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
100%alienated
alienated100% · 3×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
verb67%predicate33%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 3 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
εἰμίI am, exist
διάνοιαunderstanding, iποτέDisj
Χριστόςanointed, the Messia
χωρίςapart from, with
ἀπαλλοτριόωalienated
what comes after →
Article the
πολιτείαcitizen body, ciζωήlife
καίand, even, also, nam
ἐχθρόςhated, hostile,

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

Concordanceἀπαλλοτριόω · 3× in the New Testament
Ephesians Colossians
Across the New Testament2 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
And you once being alienated and hostile <the> in mind in the deeds <the> evil,
καὶkai and G2532 Conjunction
8,978× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Colossians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
And or also, a connecting word used to join ideas or words, like in Matthew 2:18 and Hebrews 1:1.
Tyndale gloss
and
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

καί,

conj.,

and.

Copulative.

Connecting single words;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καί (kai) — and.

καί,

conjunction, copulative, joining words and sentences,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καί

kai

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

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

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

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

yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καί

Cj.

and, even, also, namely

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καί kai 9x

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ἡ τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

And you once being alienated and hostile <the> in mind in the deeds <the> evil,
ἐχθροὺςechthros hostile G2190 Adjective · accusative · plural · masculine
32× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Colossians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Enemy refers to someone who is hostile or hateful, like Satan or a personal adversary. It is used in Romans 11:28 and Matthew 13:28 to describe those who oppose God or His people. This concept is important for understanding spiritual warfare.
Amplified meaning
enemies, at war
Tyndale gloss
enemy
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἐχθρός (i.e., *echthros*) means hated or hostile and can refer to an enemy. It is derived from ἔχθος (hatred) and is used in both passive and active senses, describing someone who is hated or who actively hates. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts discussing enmity, particularly against God or others, such as in Romans 5:10 and Matthew 5:43. Thayer notes some debate on its passive versus active use in certain verses.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐχθρός, -ά, -όν

(< ἔχθος, hatred), [in LXX chiefly for אוׄיֵב, also for צַר, etc.;]

hated, hateful (Hom.): opp. to ἀγαπητός, Ro 11:28.

Actively, hating, hostile: Ro 5:10, I Co 15:25, II Th 3:15; c. gen. pers. (cl.), Ja 4:4; τ. διανοίᾳ, Col 1:21; ἐ. ἄνθρωπος, Mt 13:28; as subst., ὁ ἐ., an enemy, I Co 15:26; the devil, Mt 13:39, Lk 10:19; c. gen. pers., Mt 22:44

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

ἐχθρός, -a, -όν, (ἔχθος hatred) ; Sept. numberless times for 2y8, also for \¥, several times for δὰ) and NIWN, a hater ; 1. passively, hated, odious, hateful (in Hom. only in this sense): Ro. xi. 28 (opp. to ἀγαπητός). 2. actively, hostile, hating and opposing another: 1 Co. xv. 25; 2 Th. iii. 15; w. gen. of the pers. hated or opposed, Jas. iv. 4 Lechm.; Gal. iv. 16, ef. Meyer or Wieseler on the latter pass. used of men as at enmity with God by their sin: Ro. νυ. 10 (ef. Ro. viii. 7; Col. i. 21; Jas. iv. 4) [but many take ἐχθρ. here (as in xi. 28, see 1 above) passively; cf. Meyer]; τῇ διανοίᾳ, opposing (God) in the mind, Col. i. 21; ἐχθρὸς ἄνθρωπος, a man that is hostile, a certain enemy, Mt. xiii. 28; ὁ ἐχθρός, the hostile one (well known to you), i. e. κατ᾽ ἐξοχήν the devil, the most bitter enemy of the divine government: Lk. x. 19, ef. Mt. xiii. 39 (and eccl. writ.). ὁ ἐχθρός (and…

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

ἐχθρός. The Commagene rescript of Antiochus I. ἐπ45---παρανόpor δὲ γνώμηι κατὰ δαιμόνων τιμῆς καὶ χωρὶς ἡμετέρας ἀρᾶς παρὰ θεῶν ἐχθρὰ πάντα (OG/S 383757—mid. i/B.c.). On the forms ἐκθρός, which occurs several times in Cod. Bezae, and éxx@pds, see Cronert Mem. Herc. p. 89. MGr ἐχτρός, ὀχτρός.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐχθρός (echthros) — enemy.

ἐχθρός, ά, όν,

(ἔχθος) hated, hateful, of persons and things, frequently from [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἐ. γάρ μοι κεῖνος ὁμῶς Ἀΐδαο πύλῃσι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἐχθρὸν δέ μοί ἐστιν c.infinitive, 'tis hateful to me to.., [Refs 8th c.BC+]; compare θεοισεχθρός.

II. active, hating, hostile, first in [Refs 8th c.BC+] averse from insolence, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

III. as substantive, ἐχθρός, ὁ, enemy, where the active and passive senses frequently coincide, [Refs 8th c.BC+] is one who has been φίλος, but is alienated; πολέμιος one who is at war; δυσμενής one who has long been alienated and refuses to be reconciled.

IV. regular comparative ἐχθρότερος [Refs 4th c.BC+]; superlative -ότατος [Refs 5th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐχθρός

echthros

from a primary echtho (to hate); hateful (passively, odious, or

actively, hostile); usually as a noun, an adversary (especially

Satan):--enemy, foe.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐχθρός, ά, όν

Adj

hated, hostile, an enemy

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐχθρός echthros 32x

hated, under disfavor, Rom. 11:28; inimical, hostile, Mt. 13:28; Col. 1:21; as a subst., an enemy, adversary, Mt. 5:43, 44; 10:36; Lk. 27:35

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐχθρός ἐχθρός, ή, όν ἔχθος hated, hateful, Hom., etc.; ἐχθρόν μοί ἐστιν, c. inf., 'tis hateful to me to . . , Il.

act. hostile, at enmity with, τινι Thuc., etc.

as Subst., ἐχθρός, ὁ, one's enemy, Hes., etc.; ὁ Διὸς ἐχθρός Aesch.; οἱ ἐμοὶ ἐχθροί Thuc.

the regul. comp. and Sup. ἐχθρότερος, -τατος are rare: the irreg. ἐχθίων, ἔχθιστος being more used.

adv. ἐχθρῶς, Plat., etc.; comp. ἐχθροτέρως, Dem.

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
63%enemies
enemies63% · 20×enemy34% · 11×hostile3% · 1×

32 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 3 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
object44%subject28%predicate16%adverbial9%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 32 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
τίθημιI put, placeἀγαπάωI loveαὐτός
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀπαλλοτριόωI estrange, alie
αὐτός
φημίI say
δέbut, on the other ha
Article the
ἐκ
σωτηρίαdeliverance, sal
ἐχθρόςhostile32×
what comes after →
σύ
ὑποπόδιονa footstoolκαίand, even, also,ὑποκάτωunderneath
Article the
ἄνθρωποςa man, one of thσπείρωI sow, spread, sσταυρόςa cross
αὐτός
ὑποπόδιονa footstoolκαίand, even, also,
καίand, even, also, nam
σπείρωI sow, spread, sοὐδείςno one, none, no
ἐγώ
καίand, even, also,οὗτος

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

Concordanceἐχθρός · 32× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew Romans 1 Corinthians Acts Hebrews Revelation 2 Thessalonians Colossians Galatians James Mark
Across the New Testament13 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 167 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas The Didache
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 2.10c. AD 40

οὐ κυρίως δὲ οὗτοι βοηθοὶ ἀλλὰ καταχρηστικῶς λέγονται, εὑρίσκονταί γέ τοι πρὸς ἀλήθειαν καὶ πολέμιοι, ὥσπερ καὶ τῶν πόλεων ἔστιν ὅτε οἱ σύμμαχοι προδόται καὶ αὐτόμολοι καὶ ἐν ταῖς φιλίαις οἱ κόλακες ἀντὶ ἑταίρων ἐχθροί.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.181c. AD 75–95

ἐχορήγησε δὲ οὗτος ὁ Μελχισεδὲκ τῷ Ἁβράμου στρατῷ ξένια καὶ πολλὴν ἀφθονίαν τῶν ἐπιτηδείων παρέσχε καὶ παρὰ τὴν εὐωχίαν αὐτόν τε ἐπαινεῖν ἤρξατο καὶ τὸν θεὸν εὐλογεῖν ὑποχειρίους αὐτῷ ποιήσαντα τοὺς ἐχθρούς.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 12.10c. AD 100

ἐπεὶ οὖν μέλλουσιν λέγειν, ὅτι Χριστὸς υἱὸς Δαυείδ ἐστιν, αὐτὸς προφητεύει Δαυείδ, φοβούμενος καὶ συνίων τὴν πλάνην τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν: Εἷπεν κύριος τῷ κυρίῳ μου: Κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου, ἕως ἂν θῶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου.

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 3rd c. AD 2nd c. BC 4th c. AD
PapCongr. XXVI (Geneva 2010) p. 323-329Philadelphia ? (Arsinoites)AD 6

ἀπεδείκνυέν τε ἑαυτὸν εἶναι ἀπὸ κώμης Ψώφθεως τοῦ Μεμφίτου· ὑπὸ δέ τινων ἐχθρῶν κατὰ συνοχὴν γενόμενος ἠνηγκάσθη χειρογραφῆσαι κατασπεῖραι περὶ κώμην Φιλαδέλφειαν ἀπὸ τῆς Λιβίας προσόδου ἀρούρας

P.Prag. 2 125 col. 2AD 123–AD 124

ἀγνοεῖν ἐπὶ τοῦ π … υπονοοῦμεν Ἀπολλ … καὶ Μύσθην Ἰσίωνος … ὄντας ἐχθροὺς … καὶ ἀτάκτους τω … εἰκὰς τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος μηνὸς … αὐτοὺς σὺν ἑτέροις ἐν

C.Clergé 4 172Narmuthis (Arsinoites)AD 190

στρατηγῷ, λέγοντες ἀφανὴν ἐμὲ εἶναι καὶ προσεφώνησαν οὕτως καὶ ἐκ τούτου ὁ προφήτης ἐστὶν ἐχθρός μου καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς τὸ ἐνποιήσας μήνυσέν με ὡς ἐγκαταλελοιπέναι τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ τὰς

And you once being alienated and hostile <the> in mind in the deeds <the> evil,
τῇho <the> G3588 Article · dative · singular · feminine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Colossians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Art-DSF — Article · dative · singular · feminine
dative — to, for, with — the one it is done to or by.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-DSF Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Dative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

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

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

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

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

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

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

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

And you once being alienated and hostile <the> in mind in the deeds <the> evil,
διανοίᾳdianoia in mind G1271 Noun · dative · singular · feminine
12× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Colossians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The mind or understanding, like the faculties of the heart. This word describes the ability to think and reason, as seen in Luke 1:51 and Ephesians 4:18. It's about the way we think and understand things.
Amplified meaning
thoughts, understanding
Tyndale gloss
mind
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

διάνοια refers to the mind or understanding, encompassing thoughts, intentions, and the faculty of thinking. It appears in various New Testament contexts, such as Luke 1:51 and Ephesians 4:18, often relating to the disposition of the heart and intellect. The term is derived from roots meaning 'through' and 'to think,' highlighting its connection to deep thought and comprehension.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

διάνοια, -ας, ἡ

[in LXX chiefly for לֵב, לֵבָב ;]

the understanding, mind: Lk 1:51, Eph 4:18, Col 1:21, I Pe 1:13, II Pe 3:1, I Jo 5:20; pl., Eph 2:3; in quotations from LXX, Mt 22:37, Mk 12:30, Lk 10:27, He 8:10 10:16 (Cremer, 79, 438).†

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

διάνοια, -as, ἡ, (διά and vods), Sept. for 35 and 325; very freq. in Grk. writ. fr. [Aeschyl.] Hdt. down; a: the mind as the faculty of understanding, feeling, desiring : Mt. xxii. 37; Mk. xii. 30 [Tr mrg. br.]; Lk.x. 27; Eph. 1.18 Rec. ; iv. 18; Heb. viii. 10; x. 16; 1 Pet. 1.18. 2. understanding: 1 Jn. v. 20. 3. mind i. e. spirit (Lat. animus), way of thinking and feeling: Col. i. 21; Lk. i. 51; 2 Pet. iii. 1. 4. thought; plur. contextually in a bad sense, evi! thoughts: Eph. ii. 3, as in Num. xv. 39 μνησθήσεσθε πασῶν τῶν ἐντολῶν κυρίου . . καὶ ov διαστραφήσεσθε ὀπίσω τῶν διανοιῶν ὑμῶν.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

διάνοια (dianoia) — mind.

διάνοιᾰ, ἡ,

Aeolic dialect διανοιΐα [Refs 7th c.BC+], poetry also διανοίᾱ accusative to [Refs]:— thought, i.e. intention, purpose, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τῇ διανοίᾳ in the spirit of his action, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐξ ὅλης τῆς δ. with all one's heart, [NT+2nd c.AD+]

2. thought, notion, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. process of thinking, thought, ὁ ἐντὸς τῆς ψυχῆς πρὸς αὑτὴν διάλογος.. ἐπωνομάσθη δ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; especially discursive thought, opposed to νόησις, [Refs 5th c.AD+]

III. thinking faculty, intelligence, understanding, ὡς μεταξύ τι δόξης τε καὶ νοῦ τὴν δ. οὖσαν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; opposed to σῶμα, [LXX+4th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

διάνοια

dianoia

from 1223 and 3563; deep thought, properly, the faculty (mind or its

disposition), by implication, its exercise:-- imagination, mind,

understanding.

see GREEK for 1223

see GREEK for 3563

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

διάνοια, ας, ἡ

n.f.

understanding, intellect, mind

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

διάνοια dianoia 12x

pr. thought, intention; the mind, intellect, understanding, Mt. 22:37; Mk. 12:30; Lk. 10:27; an operation of the understanding, thought, imagination, Lk. 1:51; insight, comprehension, 1 Jn. 5:20; mode of thinking and feeling, disposition of mind and heart, the affection, Eph. 2:3; Col. 1:21

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

διάνοια διάνοια, ης, ἡ, from διανοέομαι ndianoi a_hs fem a thought, intention, purpose, Hdt., attic; διάνοιαν ἔχειν ῀ διανοεῖσθαι, c. inf., Thuc.

a thought, notion, opinion, Lat. cogitatum, Hdt., Plat.

intelligence, understanding, id. Plat.

the thought or meaning of a word or passage, id. Plat.; τῇ διανοίᾳ as regards the sense, Dem.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-DSF — Noun · dative · singular · feminine
dative — to, for, with — the one it is done to or by.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-DSF Part of Speech: Noun Case: Dative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

mind (nous, dianoia, sunesis):

1. No Precision in the Terms Used:

We look in vain in the Old Testament and New Testament for anything like scientific precision in the employment of terms which are meant to indicate mental operations.

In the Old Testament lebh is made to stand for the various manifestations of our intellectual and emotional nature. We are often misled by the different renderings in the different versions, both early and late.

Sometimes nephesh or "soul" is rendered by "mind" (De 18:6 the King James Version, "desire of his soul" or "mind"); sometimes ruah or "spirit" (Ge 26:35, "grief of mind," ruah). Here Luther renders the term Herzeleid ("grief of heart"), and the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) animum. Sometimes lebh is used, as in

Across the New Testament9 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 40 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

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

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.44c. AD 75–95

τὸ γὰρ φυτὸν ὀξύτητος καὶ διανοίας ὑπῆρχε.

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 19.3c. AD 96

ἴδωμεν αὐτὸν κατὰ διάνοιαν καὶ ἐμβλέψωμεν τοῖς ὄμμασιν τῆς ψυχῆς εἰς τὸ μακρόθυμον αὐτοῦ βούλημα: νοήσωμεν, πῶς ἀόργητος ὑπάρχει πρὸς πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν αὐτοῦ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 4th c. AD 7th c. AD 2nd c. BC 5th c. AD
P.Mil.Vogl. 1 24Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 117

ἐξ αὐτοψίας ἐθεάσατό με κλαίοντα πλείστοις δάκρυσιν. τί οὖν ἐστιν; ἐγὼ πεπεισμένος μου τῇ διανοίᾳ μηθὲν κακῷ ἢ πονηρῷ συνειδώς, δοκῶ μηδὲν παθεῖν· ὃ ἐὰν οὖν ἐφίδω πῶς μου

P.Worp 24Hermopolis bzw. Panopolis (?)AD 201–AD 400

αὐτῷ ἐ.είνετο. ἄλλως γὰρ χλαμύδας ε … ἄλλως δὲ ὑμεῖς ἔχετε πρὸς ἐμὲ τὴν διάνοιαν ὑμῶν … θε … … τιεχω ἠνέγκαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἵνα λοιπὀν τὴν μονήν

P.Berl.Zill. 6AntinoopolisAD 527–AD 565

καὶ ἑξῆς ἅπαντα χρόνον ἑκουσίᾳ γνώμῃ καὶ προαιρέσει διὰ ἀμετανοήτῳ καὶ ἀδόλῳ βουλήσει, ὀρθῇ διανοίᾳ, ἅμα δὲ καὶ ὀμνύμενοι τὴν ἁγίαν καὶ ὁμοούσιον τριάδα καὶ τὴν νίκην καὶ διαμονὴν

And you once being alienated and hostile <the> in mind in the deeds <the> evil,
ἐνen in G1722 Preposition
2,743× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Colossians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word is a preposition that means in, on, or among something. It's used in many places, like Matthew 7:3 and Luke 7:37, to describe a location or relationship. It can also mean by, with, or during.
Amplified meaning
occupied, involved
Tyndale gloss
in/on/among
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The most frequent preposition in the New Testament, 2,752 occurrences. In, on, at, among, within — its force comes almost entirely from the word it is attached to. What it does here is put the events inside a community rather than at a distance: they were fulfilled among us.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐν,

prep, (the most freq. of all in NT), c. dat. (= Heb. בְּ, Lat. in, c. abl.).

Of place, c. dat. rei, pers., in, within, on, at, by, among: ἐν τ. πόλει, Lk 7:37; τ. οφθαλμῷ, Mt 7:3; τ. κοιλίᾳ, Mt 12:40; τ. ὄρει, II Pe 1:18; τ. θρόνῳ, Re 3:21; τ. δεξιᾷ τ. θεοῦ, Ro 8:34; ἐν ἡμῖν , Lk 1:1; of books, ἐν τ. βιβλίῳ, Ga 3:10; τ. νόμῳ, Mt 12:5, al.; ἐν τοῖς τ. Πατρός, in my Father's house (RV; cf. M, Pr., 103)…

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

ἐν Χριστῷ, ἐν Χριστῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ, ἐν κυρίῳ, (οἴ. Fritzsche, Com. on Rom. vol. ii. p. 82 544.; W. 389 (364); Weiss, Bibl. Theol. des N. T. §§ 84 b., 149 c.), ingrafied as it were in Christ, in fellowship and union with Christ, with the Lord: Ro. iii. 24; vi. 11, 23; viii. 39; 1Co.i.4; 2 Co. iii. 14; Gal. ii. 4; iii. 14, 26, 28; v. 6; Eph.i. 3 [Rec. om. ἐν]; ii. 6 sq. 10,13; 1 Tim.i.14; 2 Tim.i. 1,13; ii-1; 1 Pet. iii. 16; v.10; στήκειν ἐν κυρίῳ, Phil. iv. 1; iva εὑρεθῶ ἐν αὐτῷ, that I may be found (by God and Christ) most intimately united to him, Phil. iii. 9; εἶναι ἐν Χριστῷ "Inc. 1 Co. i. 30; οἱ ἐν Xp. "Ina. Ro. viii. 1; 1 Pet. v. 14; κοιμᾶσθαι ἐν Χριστῷ, θνήσκειν ἐν κυρίῳ, to fall asleep, to die, mindful of relationship to Christ and confiding in it [W. u.s.], 1 Co. xv. 18; Rey. xiv. 13. Since such union with Christ is the basis on which actions and virtues rest, the expression is…

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

ἐν 210 contract—time of Augustus) ἱμάτια γυναικεῖα ἐν apyv(plov) δραχμαῖς ἑκατόν, P Oxy IV. 7247 (A.D. 155) ἐξ ὧν ἔσχες τὴν πρώτην δόσιν ἐν δραχμαῖς τεσσαράκοντα, 70. I. 565 (A.D. 211) δανειζομένη. .. ἀργύριον ἔντοκον ἐν δραχμαῖς ἑξακισχειλίαις, and P Grenf II. 778 (iii/iv a.p.) (=Selections, Pp. 120) το]ὺς μισθοὺς. . ὄντας ἐν δραχμαῖς τριακοσίαις τεσσαράκοντα. Similar are P Oxy IV. 7084 (a.p. 188) yopou . . ἐν (1vpod)(apraBats) ’B, BGU 1. 724 (a.p. 191) ἐξέκοψαν πλεῖστον τόπον ἐν ἀρούραις πέντε: with which may be compared Eph 2!° τὸν νόμον τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐν δόγμασιν, “consisting in.” In P Lond 9215 (ii/iii a.p.) (ΞΞ 111. P- 134) γεγονέναι ἐν ἀμπέλῳ = ‘to be planted with vines.” A predicative use of ἐν is seen in P Hib I. 421° (B.c. 262) δώσομεν Λευκίωι ἐν ὀφειλήματι, ‘asa debt,” P Petr I. 1215 (cf. II. p. 22) ὅσα δὲ ᾿Αξιοθέα προσενήνεγκται ἐμ φερνῆι, “ἐᾷς dowry,” and P Tebt I. 120 135…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐν (en) — in/on/among.

ἐν,

poetry ἐνί, εἰν, εἰνί [Refs 8th c.BC+], forms used by Epic dialect and Lyric Poets as the metre requires, but only as falsa lectio in Trag., εἰν [Refs 5th c.BC+] ἰν [Refs]

__PREP. WITH DAT. AND ACC. Radical sense, in, into.

__A WITH DAT.

__A.I OF PLACE,

__A.I.1 in, νήσῳ ἐν ἀμφιρύτῃ [Refs 8th c.BC+]; with names of cities or islands, as ἐν Ἀθήνῃς, ἐν Τροίῃ, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; where ἐν is used, it = in the district of.., ὲν Ἐλευσῖνι [Refs] in my arms, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἐν αὑτῷ εἶναι to be in one's senses, be oneself, ἔτ᾽ ἐν σαυτῷ (variant -τοῦ) γενοῦ [Refs 5th c.BC+]

__A.I.1.b ἐν τοῖς ἰχθύσιν in the fish-market, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; so ἐν τοῖν δυοῖν ὀβολοῖν ἐθεώρουν ἄν in the two-obol seats, [Refs 4th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐν

en

a primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or

state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or

constructively), i.e. a relation of rest (intermediate between 1519

and 1537); "in," at, (up-)on, by, etc.:--about, after, against, +

almost, X altogether, among, X as, at, before, between, (here-)by (+

all means), for (... sake of), + give self wholly to, (here-)in(-to,

-wardly), X mightily, (because) of, (up-)on, (open-)ly, X outwardly,

one, X quickly,

X shortly, (speedi-)ly, X that, X there(-in, -on),

through(-out), (un-)to(-ward), under, when, where(-with), while,

with(-in). Often used in compounds, with substantially the same

import; rarely with verbs of motion, and then not to indicate

direction, except (elliptically) by a separate (and different)

preposition.

see GREEK for 1519

see GREEK for 1537

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐν

Prep.

in, on, among

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐν en 2x

followed by the dat., in, Mt. 8:6; Mk. 12:26; Rev. 6:6,; upon, Lk. 8:32; among, Mt. 11:11; before, in the presence of, Mk. 8:38; in the sight, estimation of, 1 Cor. 14:11; before, judicially, 1 Cor. 6:2; in, of state, occupation, habit, Mt. 21:22; Lk. 7:25; Rom. 4:10; in the case of, Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐν

e)nprepe)ni/prep ei)nprep ei)ni/prep in, among. c. dat.

Lat. in.

PREP. WITH DAT.:

OF PLACE

in, ἐν νήσῳ, ἐν Τροίῃ, etc., Hom., etc.:—elliptic, ἐν Ἀλκινόοιο (sc. οἴκῳ) Od.; εἰν Ἀΐδαο Il.; ἐν παιδοτρίβου at the school of the training master, Ar.

in, upon, ἐν οὔρεσι Hom., etc.

in the number of, amongst, ἐν Δαναοῖς, etc., Hom.; and with Verbs of ruling, ἄρχειν, ἀνάσσειν ἐν πολλοῖς to be first or lord among many, i. e. over them, id. Hom.; cf. ὁ, τό B. III. 3.

in one's hands, within one's reach or power, Lat. penes, Hom., etc.; ἐν σοὶ γάρ ἐσμεν Soph.; ἐν τῷ θεῷ τὸ τέλος ἦν Dem.

in respect of, ἐν γήρᾳ in point of age, Soph.

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

PREP PREPosition

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

A principal thing to notice about this preposition, which in the King James Version represents about 16 Hebrew and as many Greek words and prepositions, is that, in hundreds of cases (especially in the Old Testament, but frequently also in the New Testament) in the Revised Version (British and American) the rendering is changed to more exact forms ("to," "unto," "by," "upon," "at," "with," "among," "for," "throughout," etc.; compare e.g. Ge 6:16; 13:8; 17:7,9,12; 18:1; Ex 8:17; Le 1:9, etc.); while, nearly as often, "in" is substituted for divergent forms of the King James Version (e.g. Ge 2:14; 17:11; 31:54; 40:7; 49:17; Ex…

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
And you once being alienated and hostile <the> in mind in the deeds <the> evil,
τοῖςho the G3588 Article · dative · plural · neuter
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Colossians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Art-DPN — Article · dative · plural · neuter
dative — to, for, with — the one it is done to or by.
Agrees with anything else marked plural neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-DPN Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Dative Number: Plural Gender: Neuter

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

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

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

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

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

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

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

And you once being alienated and hostile <the> in mind in the deeds <the> evil,
ἔργοιςergon deeds G2041 Noun · dative · plural · neuter
169× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Colossians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This term refers to work, toil, or occupation, and can also imply an act or deed. In the Bible, it is used to describe various tasks and activities, such as Jesus' work on earth and the deeds of Christians.
Amplified meaning
works, actions
Tyndale gloss
work
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἔργον, transliterated as ergon, means 'work' or 'deed' and is derived from a root meaning 'to work.' It encompasses a wide range of meanings, including tasks, actions, and products of labor. In the New Testament, it is frequently used to describe both human actions and divine works, appearing in verses like John 3:21 and Ephesians 2:10.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἔργον, -ου, τό (originally Ϝέργον, work), [very freq. in LXX, chiefly for מַעֲשֶׂה, מְלָאכָה, also for עֲבֹדָה, פֹּעַל, etc. ;]

work, task, employment: Mk 13:34, Jo 4:34 17:4, Ac 13:2, Phl 1:22 2:30, I Th 5:13, al.; of an enterprise or undertaking (De 15:10, Wi 2:12), Ac 5:38.

a deed, action: Tit 1:16, Ja 1:25 . disting. from λόγος, Lk 24:19, Ro 15:18, II Th 2:17

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

ἔργον, -ου, τό, anciently Fepyov, (Germ.Werk, [ Eng. work; ef. Vanitek p. 9227); Sept. for Ὁ}, 772y, and countless times for man and wy; work i. 6. 1. business, employment, that with which any one is occupied : Mk. xiii. 34 (διδόναι τινὶ τὸ ἔργον αὐτοῦ); Acts xiv. 26 (πληροῦν) ; 1 Tim. iii. 1; thus of the work of salvation committed by God to Christ: διδόναι and τελειοῦν, Jn. xvii. 4; of the work to be done by the apostles and other Christian teachers, as well as by the presiding officers of the religious assemblies, Acts xiii. 2; xv. 38; 1 Th. v. 13; Phil. i. 22; τὸ ἔργον τινός, yen. of the subj., the work which one does, service which one either performs or ought to perform, 1 Th. v. 13; ἔργον ποιεῖν τινος to do the work of one (i. 6. incumbent upon him), εὐαγγελιστοῦ, 2 Tim. iv.5; τὸ ἔργον τινός i. e. assigned by one and to be done for his sake: τὸ ἔργον τοῦ θεοῦ τελειοῦν, used of…

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

ἔργον. A few miscellaneous exx. of this common word (MGr ἔργο) will suffice : P Petr II. 11 (1) (mid. iii/B.c.) εἰ δυνατόν ἐστιν καὶ μηθέν σε τῶν ἔργων κωλύει, πειράθητι ἐλθεῖν els τὰ ᾿Αρσινόεια, P Par 667: (i/B.c.) ὧν τὰ ἔργα ἀναβάλουσιν (1 --λλ--}, ‘‘whose work is postponed,” P Oxy XII. 1457} (B.C. 4-3) O[vous] θηλήας δύο. . ἐργαζομένας pov τὰ ἴδια ἔργα, P Ryl II. 154° (a.p. 66) τὰ kat’ ἔϊτο]ς γεωργικὰ ἔργα πάντα, and P Tebt 11. 423% (early iii/A.D.) ἄλλοτέ σοι ἔγραψα ὑπομιμνήσκων περὶ τῶν ἔργων. In P Giss I. 201° (ii/A.D.) the word is almost = ‘‘ sample ”—épyé[fo]par τὰ ἔρια! . . . ἃ] ἔγραψας... ὁποῖ]ον δέ σοι χρῶ[μ]α ἀρέσκει, [δήλω]σον δι᾽ ἐπι[σ]τολῆς ἢ μεικρὸν ἔρ[γο]ν (or ἔρ[ιο Jv, see 5.U. ἀρέσκω) αὐτοῦ…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἔργον (ergon) — work.

ἔργον,

Doric dialect ϝέργον [Refs 6th c.BC+], Elean ϝάργον [Refs 6th c.BC+] weorc (neuter) 'work', Avest. var[schwa]za-):— work, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; especially in plural, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; τὰ σ᾽ αὐτῆς ἔργα κόμιζε see to thine own tasks, [Refs 8th c.BC+]

1. in [Refs 8th c.BC+]works or deeds of war, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἐν τῷ ἔ. during the action, [Refs 6th c.BC+]; ἔργου ἔχεσθαι to engage in battle, [Refs]

2. of peaceful contests, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; also ἔργα θῆκε κάλλιστ᾽ ἀμφὶ κόμαις placed [the reward of] noble deeds about his hair, [Refs]

3. of works of industry,

3. a of tillage, tilled lands, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; οὔτε βοῶν οὔτ᾽ ἀνδρῶν φαίνετο ἔργα [Refs] —the title of Hesiod's work; πατρώϊα ἔ. their father's lands, [Refs 8th c.BC+] will neither go to our farms, [Refs]…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἔργον

ergon

from a primary (but obsolete) ergo (to work); toil (as an effort or

occupation); by implication, an act:--deed, doing, labour, work.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἔργον, ου, τό

n.n.

work, labor, action, deed

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἔργον ergon 169x

anything done or to be done; a deed, work, action, Jn. 3:21; Eph. 2:10; 2 Cor. 9:8, et al. freq.; duty enjoined, office, charge, business, Mk. 13:34; Jn. 4:34, et al. freq.; a process, course of action, Jas. 1:4; a work, product of an action or process, Acts 7:41; Heb. 1:10; substance in effect, Rom. 2:15

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἔργον ἔργον, ου, τό, Ε῎ργω work, Hom., etc.; τὰ σαυτῆς ἔργα κόμιζε mind your own business, Hom.:

in Il. mostly of deeds of war, πολεμήϊα ἔργα Il., etc.; so, ἐν τῷ ἔργῳ during the action, Thuc.; ἔργου ἔχεσθαι to engage in battle, id. Thuc.

of works of industry, tilled lands, fields, farms, Hom.; οὔτε βοῶν οὔτ᾽ ἀνδρῶν ἔργα (cf. Virgil's hominumque boumque labores), Il.; ἔργα Ἰθάκης the tilled lands of Ithaca, Od.; so in attic, τὰ κατ᾽ ἀγροὺς ἔργα, etc.:—then, generally, property, wealth, possessions, ἔργον ἀέξειν Od.

of women's work, weaving, Hom.

of other occupations, θαλάσσια ἔργα fishing, as a way of life, Od.; periphr., ἔργα δαιτός works of feasting, Il.; so, ἔργα θήρας, etc. Xen., etc.:—in attic also of all kinds of works, such as…

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-DPN — Noun · dative · plural · neuter
dative — to, for, with — the one it is done to or by.
Agrees with anything else marked plural neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-DPN Part of Speech: Noun Case: Dative Number: Plural Gender: Neuter

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
59%works
works59% · 103×work29% · 51×deeds7% · 13×deed3% · 5×other renderings2% · 4×

176 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 7 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
adverbial47%object33%subject14%predicate5%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 169 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
κατάσύἐκ
ἐκ
οὐNegὅτιthat, since, becσύ
καλόςbeautiful, good, wor
Article theπαρέχωI offer, provideπερί
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
πρόςεἰςἐν
ἐν
δυνατόςpowerful, able, DisjπλουτέωI become rich
ἔργονdeeds169×
what comes after →
Article the
θεόςGod, a godπατήρfather, Father, χείρa hand
αὐτός
καίand, even, also,πονηρόςevil, bad, wickeἐν
ἀγαθόςgood
καίand, even, also,δόξαhonor, renown, gὅς
ὅς
ποιέωI do, makeἐγώδίδωμιI offer, give
νόμοςa law, the Mosaic La
οὐNegἐάνCondὅτιthat, since, bec

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

Concordanceἔργον · 169× in the New Testament
John Revelation James Romans Acts Hebrews 1 Corinthians Galatians Titus 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Matthew

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 285 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 9c. AD 40

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.19c. AD 75–95

ἰστέον οὖν, ὅτι πάντων ἐκεῖνος ἀναγκαιότατον ἡγήσατο τῷ καὶ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ μέλλοντι βίον οἰκονομήσειν καλῶς καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις νομοθετεῖν θεοῦ πρῶτον φύσιν κατανοῆσαι καὶ τῶν ἔργων τῶν ἐκείνου θεατὴν τῷ νῷ γενόμενον οὕτως παράδειγμα τὸ πάντων ἄριστον…

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 3rd c. BC 6th c. AD 1st c. AD
P.Cair. Zen. 2 59291Philadelphia (Arsinoites)252 BC

Ζήνωνι χαίρειν Ἁρμάεις καὶ Τεῶς. ἐνέβημεν εἰς τὰ ἔργα ἀπὸ ἔτους λδ, σοῦ συντάξαντος ἡμῖν τοῖς ἔργοις προσέχειν τετράμηνον. ἔστιν δὲ ἡμῖν μῆνες

P.Cair. Zen. 2 59296Arsinoites251 BC

τοὺς … διώρυγι καὶ εἰς … ὡς τῶν δ … γίνονται δραχμαὶ ρνδ γίνονται ἔργων δραχμαὶ φκβ εἰσὶ δὲ φ καὶ ὥστε Ἄνδρωνι εἰς τοὺς ἐν Φιλαδελφείαι φυλακίτας καὶ

P.Cair. Zen. 3 59369Krokodilopolis (Arsinoites)242 BC

ὅτι ἐπίστῃ με ε οικοτημον. καλῶς οὖν ποιήσεις γράψας Ἀγήνορι ὅπως ἀφεθεὶς πρὸς τοῖς ἔργοις γένωμαι καὶ μὴ ἐν τῆι φυλακῆι καταφθαρῶ. ἔρρωσο. ἔτους ζ, Ἐπεὶφ

And you once being alienated and hostile <the> in mind in the deeds <the> evil,
τοῖςho <the> G3588 Article · dative · plural · neuter
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Colossians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Art-DPN — Article · dative · plural · neuter
dative — to, for, with — the one it is done to or by.
Agrees with anything else marked plural neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-DPN Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Dative Number: Plural Gender: Neuter

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

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

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

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

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

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

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

And you once being alienated and hostile <the> in mind in the deeds <the> evil,
πονηροῖς,ponēros evil, G4190 Adjective · dative · plural · neuter
78× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Colossians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for evil or bad, describing something that causes harm or is morally wrong, used in the New Testament to describe people and things, like in Matthew 7:11 and Ephesians 5:16.
Amplified meaning
wicked, morally wrong
Tyndale gloss
evil/bad
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

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

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

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

πονηρός, -ά, -όν

(< πονέω, to toil),

[in LXX chiefly for רַע;]

of persons, oppressed by toils (Hes.);

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

bad, worthless;

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

in ethical sense, bad, evil, wicked;

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

πονηρός (ponēros) — evil/bad.

πονηρός, ά, όν,

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

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

πονηρός

poneros

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

see GREEK for 4192

see GREEK for 2556

see GREEK for 4550

see GREEK for 4191

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

πονηρός, ά, όν

Adj

evil, bad, wicked

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

πονηρός ponēros 78x

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

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Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

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

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

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

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Adj-DPN — Adjective · dative · plural · neuter
dative — to, for, with — the one it is done to or by.
Agrees with anything else marked plural neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

A-DPN Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Dative Number: Plural Gender: Neuter

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ev'-'-l, e'-vil ra`; poneros, @kakos, @kakon:

In the Bible it is represented as moral and physical. We choose to discuss the subject under these heads. Many of the evils that come upon men have not been intended by those who suffer for them. Disease, individual and national calamity, drought, scarcity of food, may not always be charged to the account of intentional wrong. Many times the innocent suffer with, and even for, the guilty. In such cases, only physical evil is apparent. Even when the suffering has been occasioned by sin or dereliction of duty, whether the wrong is active or passive, many, perhaps the majority of those who are injured, are not accountable in any way for the ills which come upon them. Neither is God the author of moral evil. "God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man" (Jas 1:13).

Nave's Topical Bible

→ APPEARANCE OF, TO BE AVOIDED Ro 14:1-23; 1Co 8:7-13; 10:28-33; 1Th 4:11,12; 5:22

→ INSTANCES OF

Paul, in refusing to eat what had been offered to idols 1Co 8:13

In supporting himself 1Co 9:7-23

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

79 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 12 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
object28%adverbial26%predicate22%subject19%

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

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

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

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

Counted over the 172 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Philo of Alexandria The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 154c. AD 40

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.22c. AD 75–95

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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