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Colossians 3:2 — Word Study

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N1904τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε μὴ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

BSAThe [things]ho aboveanō [in heaven, on high] do set [your] minds onphroneō [think, reason, focus] not [excluding] the [things]ho [the temporal, worldly concerns] onepi theho earth. [upon the earth]

Word
Listen & take awayColossians 3
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 2 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 () — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
Colossians 3:2quick helps
In a sentencePaul instructs believers to focus their thoughts on heavenly matters rather than worldly concerns.
Who is speakingThe Apostle Paul, addressing the Christian community in Colossae.
Where we areThis verse is part of a passage encouraging believers to live in light of their new life in Christ.
The hard wordφρονέω
Take awayOur thoughts should be directed toward spiritual realities.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause verbφρονέω 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 3:2

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 — Living in the Light of Christgenerated

1Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Colossians 3:2 is a directive from Paul to the believers in Colossae, urging them to set their minds on spiritual matters that align with their identity in Christ. This instruction follows the call in verse 1 to seek the things above, where Christ reigns. The passage emphasizes a shift in focus from earthly concerns to the eternal realities of faith, reflecting a key theme in Paul's letters about the transformative power of Christ in the believer's life.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
1Colossians 3:1Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
21 Chronicles 22:19Now set your heart and soul to seek the LORD your God. Get started building the sanctuary of the LORD God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the holy articles of God into the temple that will be built for the Name of the LORD.”
31 Chronicles 29:3Moreover, because of my delight in the house of my God, I now give for it my personal treasures of gold and silver, over and above all that I have provided for this holy temple:
4Psalm 62:10Place no trust in extortion, or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.
5Psalm 91:14“Because he loves Me, I will deliver him; because he knows My name, I will protect him.

The Key Word φρονέω, phroneōgenerated

The verb φρονέω (phroneō) means to think or reason, and is used in the imperative form here, commanding the audience to actively engage their minds. It is derived from a root meaning 'mind' and encompasses the idea of directing one's thoughts and intentions.

This command emphasizes the importance of mindset in the life of a believer, suggesting that one's thoughts should be aligned with the values and realities of heaven rather than being consumed by the temporary concerns of the world.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The Berean Standard Bible translates the verse as 'Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.' This is echoed in the Webster Bible and Young's Literal Translation, which maintain a similar structure.

However, the King James Version uses 'Set your affection on things above,' which shifts the focus slightly from the act of setting one's mind to the emotional aspect of affection. The American Standard Version adds specificity with 'the things that are above,' while the Basic English Bible opts for 'Keep your mind on the higher things.'


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main verb of the verse is φρονεῖτε, do set your minds, which governs the entire clause. The structure includes a command to focus on heavenly matters, with a negation that specifies what should not be the focus — earthly things.

The sentence is structured to emphasize the contrast between the two focuses: 'things above' as the subject of the verb and 'earthly things' as the object of the negation.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

In the Septuagint, the word ἄνω (anō), meaning 'above,' is used to translate Hebrew terms that convey a sense of height or elevation, such as מַ֫עַל (ma'al) and עֶלְיוֹן (elyon). This choice emphasizes the contrast between the heavenly realm and earthly concerns.

The word μὴ (), meaning 'not,' aligns with the Hebrew אַל (al), which serves as a negation. Coupled with γῆς (gēs), translating the Hebrew אֶ֫רֶץ (erets), meaning 'earth,' this construction reinforces the admonition to avoid fixation on worldly matters.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

Colossians 3:2 instructs believers to focus their thoughts on heavenly matters rather than on the concerns of this world. This reflects the new identity they have in Christ, who is seated at the right hand of God.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean to set your mind on things above?

Setting your mind on things above means prioritizing spiritual values and focusing on the eternal rather than being distracted by worldly concerns.

How can I practically apply this verse in my daily life?

You can apply this verse by spending time in prayer and scripture, seeking to align your thoughts and actions with God's will and purpose.

What are examples of earthly things that might distract me?

Earthly things can include material possessions, social status, and other temporal concerns that can lead you away from spiritual priorities.

Why is it important to focus on things above?

Focusing on things above helps to cultivate a mindset that reflects the values of God's kingdom, encourages spiritual growth, and strengthens your relationship with Christ.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. What are some specific 'things above' that I can focus on in my life?
  2. How do I currently balance my thoughts between earthly concerns and spiritual matters?
  3. In what ways can I encourage others to set their minds on things above?
  4. What distractions do I need to remove to better focus on my relationship with God?

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

Several early church writers reference this verse to discuss the importance of focusing on spiritual matters over worldly concerns. Their insights provide a deeper understanding of Paul's teaching.

Shepherd of HermasShepherd of Hermas, Vision 1 c. 140
But such as entertain wicked thoughts in their minds are bringing upon themselves death and captivity; and especially is this the case with those who set their affections on this world, and glory in their riches,
Early Church Fathers on Colossians 3 →
Pope Urban I d. 230
) rather things above, and not things on the earth;
Early Church Fathers on Colossians 3 →
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus LactantiusThe Divine Institutes, Book 3, Chapter XII c. 250–325
This is the reason why no one obeys their precepts; inasmuch as they either train men to vices, if they defend pleasure; or if they uphold virtue, they neither threaten sin with any punishment, except that of disgrace only,
Early Church Fathers on Colossians 3 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on Colossians 3:2 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

Set your affections on things above,.... For unless the affections are set on them, they will never be sought after in a proper manner.

Read John Gill on Colossians 3 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. [ Ta (G3588) anoo (G507) phroneite (G5426)] 'Set your mind on (stronger than seek) the things above, not on the things,' etc.

Read Robert Jamieson on Colossians 3 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Set your affection on things above: that the hearts of believers here might be where their treasure is, the apostle here repeats his exhortation, using another word, importing they should intensely mind things above, , viz. the inheritance reserved in heaven for us, , with heart and affections, together with all that Gcd hath appointed to be a furtherance to the enjoyment of it; not curiously to search the deep things of God, which cannot be found out, but to mind things above with sobriety, . Not on things on the earth; taking off the mind and heart from all that is opposite to heavenly things, viz. not only those human, carnal ordinances and ceremonies, , with ,19, but also from the eager…

Read Matthew Poole on Colossians 3 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Ver. 2. Set your affections on things] Things above outlast the days of heaven, and run parallel with the life of God and line of eternity. Things on earth are mutable and momentary, subject to vanity and violence; when we grasp them most greedily we embrace nothing but smoke, which wrings tears from our eyes, and vanisheth into nothing. Here then the wise man’ s question takes place, "Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?" Proverbs 23:5. Wilt thou rejoice in a thing of nought? Amos 6:13. Most people are nailed to the earth, as Sisera was by Jael: they go bowed downward, as that woman in the Gospel that had a…

Read John Trapp on Colossians 3 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

III. (1-4) As the partaking of the death of Christ taught the negative lesson of death to the Law, so the partaking of His resurrection teaches the positive lesson of the spiritual life. We observe that this celebrated passage occupies a place at the close of the doctrinal portion of the Epistle, exactly corresponding to the even greater passage on the unity of the Church in God in the Epistle to the Ephesians (Ephesians 4:1-16). It is unlike that passage, because, summing up the main teaching of this Epistle, it dwells simply on the close personal relation of all souls to God in Jesus Christ, who is at once “the image of God,” and the one Mediator between God and man. It is like it (and…

Read Charles John Ellicott on Colossians 3 →
AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

Verse 2. Set your affection on things above] τααςωφρονειτε. Love heavenly things; study them; let your hearts be entirely engrossed by them. Now, that ye are converted to God, act in reference to heavenly things as ye did formerly in reference to those of earth; and vice versa. This is a very good general rule: "Be as much in earnest for heavenly and eternal things, as ye formerly were for those that are earthly and perishing."

Read AdamClarke on Colossians 3 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. Set your affection &c.] Not “affections,” but “affection,” affectus, the tendency, bias, of the mind.—More lit., “think the things &c.”; in the sense not of articulate thought but rather of character, as we call a man thoughtful, high-thoughted, and the like. R.V., well, Set your mind &c. Latin Versions, sapite, Luther, Trachtet nach dem, was droben ist.—The verb, phronein, appears (itself or its cognates) e.g. Matthew 16:23; Romans 8:5; Philippians 2:5; Philippians 3:19 (the exact antithesis to this passage).Grace only can fix the “affection” heavenward; but the Christian, none the less, is to use thought and will in the matter.things on the earth] Lit. and better, the things, &c.—Cp.…

Read Cambridge on Colossians 3 →
Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Set your affection - Margin, “or mind.” Greek” think of” - φρονεῖτε phroneite. The thoughts should be occupied about the things where Christ now dwells, where our final home is to be, where our great interests are.

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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

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

NETBNew English Translation2006

Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth,

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth.

RVARevised Version, American1894

Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth.

NWBWebster's Bible1833

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

GNVGeneva Bible1599

Set your affections on things which are aboue, and not on things which are on the earth.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

have your mind on the things [that are] above, not on the things [that are] on the earth;

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

the things above mind ye, not the things upon the earth,

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

mind the things above, not the things on the earth,

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

Think about the things above, not about the things on earth.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

Fix your mind on what's above, not what's here on earth.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

Keep your mind on the higher things, not on the things of earth.

Word by word, the decisions they made

φρονεῖτεphroneō do set [your] minds on G5426 2 different renderings
mindASV BBE DBY DRA FBV LSV RVA WEB YLT
thinkULB
γῆς. earth. G1093 2 different renderings
earthBBE DBY FBV GNV KJV LSV NETB NWB ULB WEB
upon the earthASV DRA RVA YLT

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.

clauseclausenoun phrase · objectτὰThe thingsἄνωaboveverbφρονεῖτεset [your] minds onclauseadverbialμὴnotnoun phrase · objectτὰthe thingsprepositional phraseἐπὶonnoun phraseτῆςtheγῆςearth

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

quæ sursum sunt sapite, non quæ super terram.

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

ܕܠܥܠ ܐܬܪܥܘ ܘܠܐ ܕܒܐܪܥܐ

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

τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε μὴ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε μὴ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε μὴ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε μὴ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε μὴ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε μὴ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε μὴ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε μὴ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

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 3:2The [thingsThe [things]ἄνωaboveaboveἄνωφρονέωdo set [youdo set [your] mφρονέωμήnotnotμήthe [thingsthe [things]ἐπίononἐπίthetheγῆearth.earth.γῆἀντίPrep. instPrep. instead oἀντίφρήνn.f. the mn.f. the mind, φρήνοὐNeg.prt. nNeg.prt. no, noοὐἐκPrep. fromPrep. from out,ἐκὑψηλόςAdj high, Adj high, loftyὑψηλόςνήπιοςAdj an infAdj an infant, νήπιοςπότεIrg.prt. wIrg.prt. when, πότεφοβέωv. I fear,v. I fear, am tφοβέωκάθημαιv. I sit, v. I sit, am seκάθημαιθρόνοςn.m. a thrn.m. a throne, θρόνοςκατοικέωv. I dwellv. I dwell in, κατοικέωμήτεNeg.cj. noNeg.cj. nor, neμήτε
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 3:2

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

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

The [things] above do set [your] minds on not the [things] on the earth.
τὰho The [things] G3588 Article · accusative · 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-APN — Article · accusative · plural · neuter
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked plural neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-APN Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Accusative Number: Plural Gender: Neuter

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 [things]19783×
what comes after →
θεόςGod, a god
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
ἸησοῦςJesus
λέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
ἐγώἸησοῦςJesusArticle the
πατήρfather, Father, ance
ἐγώσύαὐτός

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

The [things] above do set [your] minds on not the [things] on the earth.
ἄνωanō above G507 Adverb
9× 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
Meaning upward or on top, this word is used in John 11:41 and Hebrews 12:15 to describe something above or higher. It can also mean up to the top or brim.
Amplified meaning
in heaven, on high
Tyndale gloss
above
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἄνω (anō) is an adverb meaning 'up' or 'above,' derived from the root ἀνά. It is used in various contexts, such as indicating direction (upwards) or referring to higher places, including heaven. The New Testament references include Acts 2:19 and Galatians 4:26, where it describes the heavenly Jerusalem. Dodson notes it can also refer to 'things above' or heaven.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἄνω,

adv.

(< ἀνά),

up, upwards: Jo 11:41, He 12:15;

above (opp. to κάτω): Ac 2:19; with art. ἡ, Ga 4:26, Phl 3:14; τά, Jo 8:23, Col 3:1, 2; ἕως ἄ. (up to the brim), Jo 2:7 (Cremer, 106; MM, VGT, s.v.).†

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

ἄνω, adv., [fr. Hom. down]; a. above, in a higher place, (opp. to κάτω) : Acts ii. 19; with the article, ὁ, ἡ, τὸ ἄνω : Gal. iv. 26 (ἡ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλήμ the upper i. 6. the heavenly Jerusalem) ; Phil. iii. 14 (ἡ ἄνω κλῆσις the calling made in heaven, equiv. to ἐπουράνιος, Heb. iii. 1); the neut. plur. ra ἄνω as subst., heavenly things, Col. iii. 1 sq.; ἐκ τῶν ἄνω from heaven, Jn. viii. 23. ἕως ἄνω, Jn. ii. 7 (up to the brim). Ὁ. upwards, up, on high: In. xi. 41 (αἴρω) ; Heb. xii. 15 (ἄνω φύει)." ἀνώγαιον and ἀνώγεον, see under ἀνάγαιον.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἄνω (anō) — above.

ἄνω,

__BAeolic dialect ὄνω, adverb, (ἀνά):

I. with Verbs implying Motion, upwards, ἄ. ὤθεσκε ποτὶ λόφον[Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἄ. ἀπὸ θαλάσσης ἀναπλεῖν up stream, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἡ ἄ. ὁδός the upward road, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἄ. ἰόντι going up the country (i.e. inland, see[Refs 5th c.BC+]; πέμπειν ἄ., i.e. from the nether world, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. with Verbsimplying Rest, aloft, on high, [Refs], etc.; τὸ ἄ.[Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. b on earth, opposed to the world below, νέρθε κἀπὶ γῆς ἄ.[Refs 5th c.BC+]; οἱ ἄ. the living, opposed to οἱ κάτω the dead, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὰ ἄ. πράγματα the world above, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἄνω

ano

adverb from 473; upward or on the top:--above, brim, high, up.

see GREEK for 473

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἄνω

Adv

up, above, things above, heaven

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἄνω anō 9x

above, Acts 2:19; Gal. 4:26; Col. 3:1; up, upwards, Jn. 11:41; ὁ, ἡ, τό, ἄνω, that which is above, Jn. 8:23; ἕως ἄνω, to the top

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Adv — Adverb
adverb — it qualifies the verb, and never changes form.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

ADV ADVerb or adverb and particle combined

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
60%above
above60% · 6×upward10% · 1×up10% · 1×brim10% · 1×upwards10% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial56%object22%predicate11%subject11%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 9 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
ἐκβραβεῖονa prizeΧριστόςanointed, the Me
ἕωςuntil, as far as
αὐτός
ὀφθαλμόςthe eye
Article the
οὐρανόςthe sky, the heaven
Article the
δέbut, on the other ha
Article the
ἄνωabove
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
λέγωI say, speakσημεῖονa sign, miracle,
εἰμίI am, exist
σύ
ἹεροσόλυμαProp
ἐλεύθεροςfree, delivered
κλῆσιςa calling, summons
Article the
ζητέωI seek, search for,
οὗwhere, whither,

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

Concordanceἄνω · 9× in the New Testament
John Colossians Acts Galatians Hebrews Philippians
Across the New Testament6 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 18 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
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 41c. AD 40

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 3.140c. AD 75–95

κοιλαίνεται δὲ καθʼ ἕκαστον πλευρὸν κοιλαίνουσά πως κατὰ παλαιστὴν τὸ ἔδαφος ἕλικος περιθεούσης τό τε ἄνω καὶ τὸ κάτω μέρος τοῦ σώματος, καθʼ ἕκαστον δὲ τῶν ποδῶν καὶ ταύτῃ ἐλήλατο κρίκος οὐκ ἄπωθεν τοῦ ἐπιθέματος, διʼ ὧν ᾔεσαν στελεοὶ χρύσεοι ξύλου…

Clement of RomeSecond Clement 19.4c. AD 96

ἐὰν ἐπὶ τοῖς νῦν χρόνοις ταλαιπωρῇ: μακάριος αὐτὸν ἀναμένει χρόνος: ἐκεῖνος ἄνω μετὰ τῶν πατέρων ἀναβιώσας εὐφρανθήσεται εἰς τὸν ἀλύπητον αἰῶνα.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 1st c. AD 3rd c. AD 2nd c. BC 4th c. AD
P.Lond. 3 p. 18 no. 678Krokodilopolis (Pathyrites)100 BC–99 BC

τῶν ὄντων καὶ οὐσῶν μηνὸς Χοιὰκ … ἐν Κροκοδίλων πόλει ἐπὶ Πανίσκου ἀγορανόμου τῆς ἄνω τοπαρχίας τοῦ Παθυρίτου. ἀπέδοτο Πετεσοῦχος Σχώτου ἱερεὺς Σούχου καὶ Ἀφροδίτης ὡς ἐτῶν νδ ἐλάσσων

BGU 3 999Pathyris100 BC

Πατσεοῦς Πέρσης τῆς ἐπιγονῆς ὡς ἐτῶν ν μέσος μελίχρως τετανὸς μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν οὐλὴ ὀδόντι ἄνω ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπαρχούσης αὐτῷ οἰκίας ᾠκοδομημένης καὶ ἐστεγασμένης τῆς οὔσης ἐν τῷ ἀπὸ νότου

P.Adl. 20Poinkoris (Diopolites)99 BC

ἐκ τοῦ Παθυρίτου τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν τῶι πατρὶ τοῦ Ὥρου γῆν ἀρουρῶν … ἐν τῶι ἄνω πεδίωι Κροκοδίλων πόλεως ἀπὸ σφραγῖδος μιᾶς ἀναγραφομένης εἰς Ψενμ … τῶν πενταρούρων, νότου γῆ

The [things] above do set [your] minds on not the [things] on the earth.
φρονεῖτεphroneō do set [your] minds on G5426 Verb · present · active · imperative · second person · plural
26× 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 to think or reason, as in Romans 12:3, where Paul encourages believers to think soberly about themselves.
Amplified meaning
think, reason, focus
Tyndale gloss
to reason
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word φρονέω (phroneo) is built from the root meaning 'mind' and encompasses thinking, understanding, and being disposed in a certain way. It appears in various contexts, such as having opinions, being mindful, or directing one's thoughts towards specific matters. In the New Testament, it is notably used in Romans, Philippians, and Corinthians to express concepts of mindset and intention.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

φρονέω, -ῶ

(< φρήν),

[in LXX: De 32:29, Za 9:2 (חָכָם), Ps 93 (94):8 (שָׂכַל hi.), Is 44:18 (בִּין) ib. 28, Es 8:13, Wi 1:1 14:30, I Mac 10:20, II Mac 9:12; 14:8, 26 * ;]

to have understanding (Hom., al.).

to think, to be minded in a certain way: ὡς νήπιος, I Co 13:11; c. acc. (usually neut., adj., or pron., as freq. in cl.), ὃ δεῖ, Ro 12:3; ἃ, Ac 28:22; τοῦτο, Phl 3:15; τι ἑτέρως, ib.; οὐδὲν ἄλλο, Ga 5:10; τ. αὐτὸ φ. (Deiss., BS, 256), to be of the same mind, II Co 13:11, Phl 2:2 4:2; id. seq. εἰς (ἐν) ἀλλήλους(οις), Ro 12:16 15:5; τ. ἓν…

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

φρονέω, -@; impf., 1 pers. sing. ἐφρόνουν, 2 pers. plur. ἐφρονεῖτε ; fut. 2 pers. plur. φρονήσετε ; pres. pass. impv. 3 pers. sing. φρονείσθω, Phil. ii. 5 RG (see 3 below) ; (φρήν) ; fr. Hom. down; 1. to have understanding, be wise, (Hom., al.). 2. to feel, to think: absol. ὡς νήπιος ἐφρόνουν, 1 Co. xiii. 11 ; το have an opinion of one’s self, think of one’s self: μὴ ὑπερφρονεῖν map’ ὃ δεῖ φρονεῖν, Ro. xii. 8 (μεῖζον φρονεῖν ἢ κατ᾽ ἄνδρα, Soph. Ant. 768) ; φρονεῖν eis τὸ σωφρονεῖν, [R. V. so to think as to think soberly], to be modest, not to let one’s opinion (though just) of himself exceed the bounds of modesty, ibid. ; ὑπὲρ 6 γέγραπται, in one’s opinion of one’s self to go beyond the standard prescribed in Scripture, 1 Co. iv. 6 RG (ef. B. 394 sq. (838); W. § 64,4]. with an ace. of the thing, to think, judge: ἃ φρονεῖς, what your opinion is, Acts xxviii. 22; οὐδὲν ἄλλο, Gal. v. 10…

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

φρονέω. According to Kennedy (2 67) ad Phil 17) φρονέω ‘seems always to keep in view the advection which thought (of a practical kind) takes.” Hence its usec. acc. in such passages as P Ryl 11. 1281 (c, a.p. 30) Zovapis . . ἀλλότρια φρονήσασα ἐνκαταλιποῦσα τὸ ἐλαιούργιον ἀπηλλάγη, ‘* Soueris changed her mind, left the mill, and departed” (Edd.), and P Oxy IT. 282" (a... 30-5) ἡ δὲ ἀλλότρια φρονήσασα τῆς κοινῆς συμβιώϊσεως)] κατὰ πέρ[α]ς ἐξῆλθε, ‘‘ but she became dissatisfied with our union, and finally left the house ” (Edd.). For τὸ ἕν φρονεῖν in Phil 2? Deissmann (BS p. 256) cites the sepulchral epitaph 7AZ4e 149 (Rhodes —ii/B.c.) in which it is said of a married couple—rtaira λέγοντες ταὐτὰ φρονοῦντες ἤλθομεν τὰν ἀμέτρητον ὁδὸν εἰς ᾿Αἴΐδαν. Cf. also OGZS 66ο85 (i/a.p.) ἐὰν δὲ καὶ δύο ἔπαρχοι τὸ αὐτὸ πεφρονηκότες ὦσι. The phrase νοῶν καὶ φρονῶν, “being sane and in my right mind,” is…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

φρονέω (phroneō) — to reason.

φρον-έω,

Epic dialect subjunctive φρονέῃσι [Refs 8th c.BC+]: Epic dialect imperfect φρόνεον [Refs 8th c.BC+]: future -ήσω[Refs 5th c.BC+], etc.: aorist ἐφρόνησα [Refs 5th c.BC+]: perfect πεφρόνηκα [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—passive, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; imperative φρονείσθω variant for{φρονεῖτε} in [NT]:—to be minded, either of reflection or of purpose: hence,

I. have understanding, be wise, prudent, rare in [Refs 8th c.BC+] best both in battle and counsel, [Refs 8th c.BC+]: but frequently in Trag. and Attic dialect, [Ζῆνα] τὸν φρονεῖν βροτοὺς ὁδώσαντα [Refs 5th c.BC+]; λίαν φ. to be over-wise, [Refs 5th c.BC+]understanding, prudence, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; κράτιστοι φρονεῖν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὸ μὴ φρονοῦν, of an infant, [Refs 4th c.BC+]full-grown, [Refs 4th c.BC+] to be wise in respect of the…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

φρονέω

phroneo

from 5424; to exercise the mind, i.e. entertain or have a sentiment or

opinion; by implication, to be (mentally) disposed (more or less

earnestly in a certain direction); intensively, to interest oneself in

(with concern or obedience):--set the affection on, (be) care(-ful),

(be like-, + be of one, + be of the same, + let this) mind(-ed),

regard, savour, think.

see GREEK for 5424

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

φρονέω

v.

I think, judge, observe

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

φρονέω phroneō 26x

to think, to mind; to be of opinion, Acts 28:22; Phil. 1:7; to take thought, be considerate, Phil. 4:10; to entertain sentiments or inclinations of a specific kind, to be minded, Rom. 12:16; 15:5; 1 Cor. 13:11; 2 Cor. 13:11; Gal. 5:10; Phil. 2:2; 3:16; 4:2; to be in a certain frame of mind, Rom. 12:3; Phil. 2:5; to imagine…

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Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

φρονέω φρονέω, φρήν to think, to have understanding, to be sage, wise, prudent, ἄριστοι μάχεσθαί τε φρονέειν τε best both in battle and counsel, Il.; τὸ μὴ φρονοῦν, of an infant, Aesch.; οἱ φρονοῦντες the wise, Soph.; τὸ φρονεῖν ῀ φρόνησις, wisdom, understanding, id. Soph.:—with Advs., εὖ φρονεῖν Hdt., Trag.; καλῶς φρ. Od., etc.

to be minded in a certain way, to mean, intend, purpose, c. inf., Il.; φρόνεον [ἰέναι] were minded to go, id. Il.:—absol., φρονῶν ἔπρασσον prudens faciebam, purposely, Soph.; τοῦτο φρονεῖ ἡ ἀγωγὴ ἡμῶν this is what your bringing us here means, Thuc.

with a neut. adj., φρ. τινί τι to be so and so minded towards him, πατρὶ φίλα φρονέων kindly minded towards him, Hom.; so, κακὰ φρονέουσι ἀλλήλοισιν…

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Easton's Bible Dictionary

On

Light; the sun, (Gen. 41:45, 50), the great seat of sun-worship, called also Bethshemesh (Jer. 43:13) and Aven (Ezek. 30:17), stood on the east bank of the Nile, a few miles north of Memphis, and near Cairo, in the north-east. The Vulgate and the LXX. Versions have “Heliopolis” (“city of the sun”) instead of On in Genesis and of Aven in Ezekiel. The “city of destruction” Isaiah speaks of (19:18, marg. “of Heres;” Heb. ‘Ir-ha-heres, which some MSS. read Ir-ha-heres, i.e., “city of the sun”) may be the name given to On, the prophecy being that the time will come when that city which was known as the “city of the sun-god” shall become the “city of destruction” of the sun-god, i.e., when idolatry shall cease, and the worship…

Smith's Bible Dictionary

(abode or city of the sun), a town of lower Egypt, called BETH-SHEMESH in (Jeremiah 43:13) On is better known under its Greek name Heliopolis. It was situated on the east side of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, just below the point of the Delta, and about twenty miles northeast of Memphis. The chief object of worship at Heliopolis was the sun, whose temple, described by Strabo, is now only represented by the single beautiful obelisk, of red granite so feet 2 inches high above the pedestal which has stood for more than 4000 years, having been erected by Usirtesen, the second king of the twelfth dynasty. Heliopolis was anciently famous for its learning, and Eudoxus and Plato studied under its priests. The first mention of this place in the Bible is in the history of Joseph, to whom we read Pharaoh gave "to wife Asenath the daughter…

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

See HELIOPOLIS.

Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary

pain; force; iniquity

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
13%minding
minding13% · 4×think10% · 3×regarding7% · 2×regards7% · 2×be of mind7% · 2×you think3% · 1×mind3% · 1×do be minded3% · 1×other renderings47% · 14×

30 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 22 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 26 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
Article the
οὗτος
ἐγώτέλειοςperfect, full-gr
οὐNeg
ὅτιthat, since, bec
ὑψηλόςhigh, lofty
μήNegArticle the
ὅς
ἀκούωI hear, listen
φρονέωdo set [your] minds on26×
what comes after →
Article the
Article theδέbut, on the otheἡμέραa day
ἀλλάbut, except
φοβέωI fear, am terriφρονέωI think, judge, Article the
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theεἰCondοὗτος
ἐν
ἀλλήλωνσύκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
μήNeg
Article the

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

Concordanceφρονέω · 26× in the New Testament
Philippians Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Acts Colossians Galatians Matthew Mark
Across the New Testament9 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 AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.67c. AD 40

κατὰ δὲ τὸν τόπον τῆς φρονήσεως δύο εἰσὶ ποιοί, ὅ τε φρόνιμος καὶ ὁ φρονῶν, οὓς ἄνθρακι καὶ λίθῳ πρασίνῳ παραβέβληκεν.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.155c. AD 75–95

διὰ τοῦτο καὶ φρονεῖν μεῖζον ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ τῶν ἄλλων ἠργμένος καὶ τὴν περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ δόξαν, ἣν ἅπασι συνέβαινεν εἶναι, καινίσαι καὶ μεταβαλεῖν ἔγνω.

Clement of RomeSecond Clement 1.1c. AD 96

Ἀδελφοί, οὕτως δεῖ ἡμᾶς φρονεῖν περὶ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὡς περὶ θεοῦ, ὡς περὶ κριτοῦ ζώντων καὶ νεκρῶν: καὶ οὐ δεῖ ἡμᾶς μικρὰ φρονεῖν περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. BC 2nd c. AD 2nd c. BC 4th c. AD 6th c. AD
BASP 22 (1985), p. 327 no. 3Karanis (Arsinoites)AD 82–AD 96

ετ … … ἐν Πτολεμαίδι Εὐεργέτιδι τοῦ Ἀρσινοίτου νομοῦ. τάδε διέθετο νοῶν καὶ φρονῶν Πεθεὺς πρεσβύτερος Πεθέως … μητρὸς Πτολέμας ὡς ἐτῶν … … … μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν οὐλὴ

P.Oxy. 3 489OxyrhynchosAD 116

ἐπαγομένων δ Σεβαστῇ, ἐν Ὀξυρύγχων πόλει τῆς Θηβαίδος, ἀγαθῇ τύχηι. τάδε διέθετο νοῶν καὶ φρονῶν Διονύσιος Ἁρποκρατίωνος τοῦ Σαραπίωνος μητρὸς Ἐσορσόιτος ἀπʼ Ὀξυρύγχων πόλεως ἐν ἀγυιᾷ. ἐφʼ ὃν μὲν

Aegyptus 58 (1978), p. 117-118 no. IPtolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites)AD 178–AD 179

Πτολεμαίδι Εὐεργέτιδι τοῦ Ἀρσινοίτου νομοῦ διὰ Παπειρίου Κλ … ἀγορανόμου. τάδε διέθετο νοῶν καὶ φρονῶν Μάρων Σαραπίωνος … ἠγορανομηκότων τῆς Ἀρσινοιτῶν πόλεως ἀπὸ ἀμφόδου Διονυσίου Τόπων ὡς ἐτῶν ξ

The [things] above do set [your] minds on not the [things] on the earth.
μὴ not G3361 Particle · negative
1,060× 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
Not is a word used to show that something is not true or is not happening, like in phrases that say 'lest' or 'God forbid', as seen in various parts of the New Testament.
Amplified meaning
excluding
Tyndale gloss
not
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

μή,

subjective negative particle,

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

As a neg. adv., not;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μή (mē) — not.

μή,

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

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

μή

me

a primary particle of qualified negation (whereas 3756 expresses an

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

interrogative implying a negative answer (whereas 3756 expects an

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

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

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

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

3373, 3375, 3378.

see GREEK for 3756

see GREEK for 3362

see GREEK for 3363

see GREEK for 3364

see GREEK for 3372

see GREEK for 3373

see GREEK for 3375

see GREEK for 3378

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

μή

Neg.prt.

not, lest

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

μή mē 1x

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

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

PRT-N PaRTicle, disjunctive particle Negative

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The [things] above do set [your] minds on not the [things] on the earth.
τὰho the [things] G3588 Article · accusative · 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'.
Amplified meaning
the temporal, worldly concerns
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-APN — Article · accusative · plural · neuter
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked plural neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-APN Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Accusative Number: Plural Gender: Neuter

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 [things]19783×
what comes after →
θεόςGod, a god
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
ἸησοῦςJesus
λέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
ἐγώἸησοῦςJesusArticle the
πατήρfather, Father, ance
ἐγώσύαὐτός

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

The [things] above do set [your] minds on not the [things] on the earth.
ἐπὶepi on G1909 Preposition
886× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
rarer in Colossians than elsewhere in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
A preposition meaning upon, to, or against, often used to show location or direction, like in Matthew 6:10 where Jesus teaches us to pray for God's will to be done on earth. It can also indicate a sense of time or order.
Tyndale gloss
upon/to/against
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἐπί (epi) is a preposition that indicates a relationship of superposition, often translated as 'on,' 'upon,' or 'over.' It can govern the genitive, dative, or accusative cases, covering meanings related to place, time, authority, and various figurative uses. In the New Testament, it frequently appears with the accusative case, especially in contexts of motion or direction, such as in Matthew 14:28.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐπί (before a smooth breathing ἐπ’, before a rough breathing ἐφ’),

prep. c. gen., dat., acc. (acc. most freq. in NT),

with primary sense of superposition, on, upon.

C. gen.,

of place, answering the question, where?

of the place on which, on, upon: ἐπὶ (τ.) γῆς, Mt 6:10, 19, al.; τ. κεφαλῆς, I Co 11:10; τ. νεφελῶν, Mt 24:30, al.; like ἐν, in constr. praegn. after verbs of motion: βάλλειν, Mk 4:26; σπείρειν, ib. 31; ἔρχεσθαι, He 6:7, al.; fig., ἐπ’ ἀληθείας (MM, s.v. ἀ.); of the subject of thought or speech, Ga 3:16; of power or authority, over, πάντων,

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

ἐπί, [before a rough breathing ἐφ᾽ (occasionally in Mss. én’; see 6. g. Ps. exly. (exlvi.) 3), and also in some instances before a smooth breathing (as ἐφ᾽ ἐλπίδι, Acts ii. 26 L; Ro. viii. 20 (21) Tdf.); 566 ἀφεῖδον. It neglects elision before proper names beginning with a vowel (exe. Αἴγυπτον Acts vii. 10, 18) and (at least in Tdf.’s txt.) before some other words, see the Proleg. p. 94 sq.; cf. W. §5,1a.; B. p. 10], a preposition [fr. the Skr. local prefix dpi; Curtius $335], joined to the gen., the dat., and the ace. ; its primary signification is upon (Lat. super; [cf. W. 374 (350) note). A. with the Genitive [cf. W. § 47, g.; B. 336 (289)]; I. of Place; and 1. of the place on which; a. upon the surface of (Lat. in or super with the abl., Germ. auf with the dat.); after verbs of abiding, remaining, standing, going, coming, etc.; of doing anything: ἐπὶ κλίνης, Mt. ix. 2; Lk. xvii. 34…

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

ἐπὶ ξένης εἶναι, and P Giss I. 2115 μένε ἐπὶ ἑαυτοῦ, “stay at home.” The sense of ‘‘near,’’ “‘in the vicinity of”’ appears in P Ryl II. 127° (A.D. 29) κοιμωμένον μον ἐπὶ τῆς θύρας: cf. Ac 5°% and see Jn 6᾽", 211 ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης, where the rendering ‘“‘ near the sea,’ or, as we should say, “fon the shore,” is to be preferred (cf. Abbott /ok. Gr. p- 261). In P Lond 11688 (a.p. 18) (= III. p. 136) ἐν τοῖς ἀπὸ A(Bos μέρεσι ἐπὶ ταῖς οὔσαις γειτνίαις, ἐπί is almost = ἐν." The local force still underlies the meaning of such a phrase as ἐπ᾿ ἀληθείας (cf. Mk 1214) in the census paper P Oxy II. 255}5 (A.D. 48) (= Selections, p. 47), where it is stated that the return is ‘“‘sound”’ and rests “on a true basis "᾿-ἐ]ξ [ὑ]γιοῦς kal ἐπ᾽ ἀληθείας. Cf. also P Lille I. 264 (iii/B.c.) τὴν δὲ λοιπὴν γ[ῆν ἑτο]ιμάζω, εἰ μὴ ἀκολουθεῖς ἅπαντα καθὼς ἐπὶ τῆς διαγραφῆς τ[ο]ῦ [εἰς τὸ] τε ἔτος σπόρου μεμισθῶσϑαι…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐπί (epi) — upon/to/against.

ἐπί,

Thess. (before τ) [Refs 3rd c.BC+], to denote the being upon or supported upon a surface or point.

__A WITH GEN.:

__A.I of Place,

__A.I.1 with Verbs of Rest, upon, [Refs 8th c.BC+]: without a Verb expressed, ἔγχεα ὄρθ᾽ ἐ. σαυρωτῆρος (i.e. σταθέντα) [Refs]; ἔκλαγξαν ὀϊστοὶ ἐπ᾽ ὤμων the arrows on his shoulders, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: also with Verbs of Motion, where the subject rests upon something, as on a chariot, a horse, a ship, φεύγωμεν ἐφ᾽ ἵππων on our chariot, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; τὴν κλεῖδα περιφέρειν ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ to carry the key about on his person, [Refs 5th c.BC+] walk on tiptoe, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of places, upon, if the place is an actual support, [Refs]; ἐ. τοῦ εὐωνύμον on the left, ἐ. τῶν πλευρῶν on the flanks, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; but most frequently, in, rarely in [Refs 8th c.BC+] in the country. [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἐπ᾽ οἰκήματος κατίσαι…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐπί

epi

a primary preposition; properly, meaning superimposition (of time,

place, order, etc.), as a relation of distribution (with the genitive

case), i.e. over, upon, etc.; of rest (with the dative case) at, on,

etc.; of direction (with the accusative case) towards, upon,

etc.:--about (the times), above, after, against, among, as long as

(touching), at, beside, X have charge of, (be-, (where-))fore, in (a

place, as much as, the time of, -to), (because) of, (up-)on (behalf

of), over, (by, for) the space of, through(-out), (un-)to(-ward),

with. In compounds it retains essentially the same import, at, upon,

etc. (literally or figuratively).

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐπί

Prep.

on, to, against, on the basis of, at

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐπί epi 890x

(1) with the gen., upon, on, Mt. 4:6; 9:2; 27:19; in, of locality, Mk. 8:4; near upon, by, at, Mt. 21:19; Jn. 21:1; upon, over, of authority, Mt. 2:22; Acts 8:27; in the presence of, especially in a judicial sense, 2 Cor. 7:14; Acts 25:9; in the case of, in respect of, Jn. 6:2; Gal. 3:16; in the time of, at the time of, Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐπί

on, upon with gen., dat., and acc.

prep. with gen., dat., and acc.: Radic. signf. upon.

WITH GEN.:

of Place,

with Verbs of Rest, upon or on, κεῖσθαι ἐπὶ χθονός Il.; ἐφ᾽ ἵππου on horse-back, etc.; ἐπὶ γῆς upon earth, Soph.; ἐπ᾽ ἀγροῦ in the country, Od.; also at or near, ἐπὶ Λήμνου off Lemnos, Hdt., etc.:—with Verbs of motion, the sense is pregnant, ἐπ᾽ ἠπείροιο ἔρυσσαν drew the ship upon the land and left it there, Il., etc.; ἀναβῆναι ἐπὶ τῶν πύργων Xen.

not strictly of Place, μένειν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς to remain in the command, id. Xen.; ἐπὶ τῶν πραγμάτων engaged in business, Dem.: —of ships, ὁρμεῖν ἐπ᾽ ἀγκύρας to ride at (i. e. in dependence on an) anchor, Hdt.

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

PREP PREPosition

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Easton's Bible Dictionary

On

Light; the sun, (Gen. 41:45, 50), the great seat of sun-worship, called also Bethshemesh (Jer. 43:13) and Aven (Ezek. 30:17), stood on the east bank of the Nile, a few miles north of Memphis, and near Cairo, in the north-east. The Vulgate and the LXX. Versions have “Heliopolis” (“city of the sun”) instead of On in Genesis and of Aven in Ezekiel. The “city of destruction” Isaiah speaks of (19:18, marg. “of Heres;” Heb. ‘Ir-ha-heres, which some MSS. read Ir-ha-heres, i.e., “city of the sun”) may be the name given to On, the prophecy being that the time will come when that city which was known as the “city of the sun-god” shall become the “city of destruction” of the sun-god, i.e., when idolatry shall cease, and the worship…

Smith's Bible Dictionary

(abode or city of the sun), a town of lower Egypt, called BETH-SHEMESH in (Jeremiah 43:13) On is better known under its Greek name Heliopolis. It was situated on the east side of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, just below the point of the Delta, and about twenty miles northeast of Memphis. The chief object of worship at Heliopolis was the sun, whose temple, described by Strabo, is now only represented by the single beautiful obelisk, of red granite so feet 2 inches high above the pedestal which has stood for more than 4000 years, having been erected by Usirtesen, the second king of the twelfth dynasty. Heliopolis was anciently famous for its learning, and Eudoxus and Plato studied under its priests. The first mention of this place in the Bible is in the history of Joseph, to whom we read Pharaoh gave "to wife Asenath the daughter…

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

See HELIOPOLIS.

Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary

pain; force; iniquity

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
28%upon
upon28% · 258×on22% · 203×to8% · 77×in7% · 62×over7% · 59×at6% · 57×against4% · 38×for4% · 37×other renderings13% · 116×

907 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 46 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
adverbial91%predicate6%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 886 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
οὐρανόςthe sky, the heaαὐτόςλευκόςwhite, bright
αὐτός
δέbut, on the otheφιάληa shallow and flκεφαλήthe head
κάθημαιI sit, am seated
Article theκαίand, even, also,γυνήa woman, wife, m
πίπτωI fall, fall under
δέbut, on the otheκαίand, even, also,Article the
ἔρχομαιI come, go
ὁδόςa way, road, jouγάρforκαίand, even, also,
ἐπίon886×
what comes after →
Article the
γῆthe earth, soil,κεφαλήthe headθρόνοςa throne, seat
αὐτός
καίand, even, also,Article theὅτιthat, since, bec
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
Article theὅςκαίand, even, also,
σύ
καίand, even, also,Article theπᾶςall, the whole,
ἐγώ
καίand, even, also,Article theὅς

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

Concordanceἐπί · 886× in the New Testament
Acts Luke Revelation Matthew Mark John Romans Hebrews 2 Corinthians 1 Corinthians Ephesians 1 Peter

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament26 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 29c. AD 40

εἶθ’ ὕδατος ἀσώματον οὐσίαν καὶ πνεύματος καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἑβδόμου φωτός, ὃ πάλιν ἀσώματον ἦν καὶ νοητὸν ἡλίου παράδειγμα καὶ πάντων ὅσα φωσφόρα ἄστρα κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἔμελλε συνίστασθαι.

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

ὡς Ἅβραμος ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἀσσυρίους ἐκστρατεύσας ἐνίκησε καὶ τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους τῶν Σοδομιτῶν ἔσωσε καὶ τὴν λείαν ἣν ἔλαβον ἀφείλετο.

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 2nd c. BC 1st c. AD 4th c. AD
P.Stras. 2 89Pathyris100 BC

ἣν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐωνήσατο παρὰ Πανοβχούνιος τοῦ Τοτόηους ἐν τῷ ιε ἔτει Παῦνι γ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀρχείου, μιᾶς μὲν ἐν τῷ ἀπὸ λιβὸς πεδίωι, γείτονες· νότου γῆ Πατοῦτος τοῦ

P.Lond. 3 p. 18 no. 678Krokodilopolis (Pathyrites)100 BC–99 BC

καὶ ἱερειῶν καὶ κανηφόρου τῶν ὄντων καὶ οὐσῶν μηνὸς Χοιὰκ … ἐν Κροκοδίλων πόλει ἐπὶ Πανίσκου ἀγορανόμου τῆς ἄνω τοπαρχίας τοῦ Παθυρίτου. ἀπέδοτο Πετεσοῦχος Σχώτου ἱερεὺς Σούχου καὶ Ἀφροδίτης

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

ἐδέξατο Πακοῖβις ὁ πριάμενος. Ἑρμίας ὁ παρὰ Πανίσκου κεχρημάτικα. ἔτους ιϛ Τῦβι λ. τέτακται ἐπὶ τὴν ἐν Κροκοδίλων πόλει τράπεζαν ἐφʼ ἧς Παγκράτης δεκάτης ἐνκυκλίου διʼ Ἀπολλωνίου τελώνου Πακοῖβις

The [things] above do set [your] minds on not the [things] on the earth.
τῆςho the G3588 Article · genitive · 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-GSF — Article · genitive · singular · feminine
genitive — of, from, belonging to.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-GSF Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Genitive 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
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

The [things] above do set [your] minds on not the [things] on the earth.
γῆς. earth. G1093 Noun · genitive · singular · feminine
250× 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 earth or ground, referring to soil, a region, or the entire globe, as seen in Luke 21:35 and Acts 1:8.
Amplified meaning
upon the earth
Tyndale gloss
earth: soil
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word γῆ () means 'earth' or 'land' and is used in various contexts, including the physical ground, cultivated land, and regions or countries. It appears frequently in the New Testament, often contrasting with 'heaven' or 'sea.' The lexicons indicate a consensus on its meanings, which encompass both the solid part of the globe and the concept of territory.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

γῆ, γῆς, ἡ,

[in LXX for אֶרֶץ, אֲדָמָה, etc.;]

the earth, world: Lk 21:35, Ac 1:8, He 11:13, Re 3:10, al.; opp. to οὐρανός, Mt 5:18 11:25, Mk 13:27, al.

land;

opp. to sea or water: Mk 4:1, Lk 5:3, Jo 6:21, al.;

as subject to cultivation: Mt 13:5, Mk 4:8, Lk 13:7,

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

γῆ; gen. γῆς, 7, (contr. fr. yéa, poet. γαῖα), Sept. very often for γι and ΤΣ, earth; 1. arable land: Mt. xiii. 5, 8, 23; Mk. iv. 8, 20, 26, 28, 31; Lk. xiii. 7; xiv. 35 (34); Jn. xii. 24; Heb. vi. 7; Jas. v. 7; Rev. ix. 4; of the earthy material out of which a thing is formed, with the implied idea of frailty and weakness: ἐκ γῆς χοϊκός, 1 Co. xv. 47. 2. the ground, the earth as a standing-place, (Germ. Boden) : Mt. x. 29; xv. 35; xxiii. 85; xxvii. 51; Mk. viii. 6; ix. 20; xiv. 35; Lk. xxii. 44 [L br. WH reject the pass.]; xxiv. 5; Jn. viii. 6, 8, [i.e Rec.]; Acts ix. 4, 8. 3. the main /and, opp. to sea or water: Mk. iv. 1; vi. 47; Lk. ν. 8; viii. 27; Jn. vi. 21; xxi. 8 sq. 11; Rev. xii. 12. 4. the earth as a whole, the world (Lat. terrarum orbis); a. the earth as opp. to the heavens: Mt. v. 18, 35; vi.10; xvi.19; xviii. 18; xxiv. 35; Mk. xiii. 31; Lk. ii. 14; Jn. xii. 32; Acts ii. 19…

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

γῆ. The rare plural forms of this word which are found in the LXX may be illustrated from the Ptolemaic papyri of 1i/B.c., e.g. BGU III. 993329 (νος 128-7) γῶν τε καὶ οἰκιῶν, P Tor I. 12° (B.c. 116) ἕνεκεν τοῦ kal τῶν γῶν μὴ μετεσχηκέναι αὐτήν, P Tebt I. 6% (B.c. 140-39) yas τε καὶ ἕτερα : see Thackeray G7. i. p. 143. In MGr, beside ἢ γῆ, we have the indeclinable ἢ γῆς, τῆς γῆς, etc. : see Thumb Handbook, p. 57. The familiar Biblical ἔπὶ γῆς appears in P Ryl 11. $78 (early iii/A.b.) 6 αὐτὸς ὁριοδείκτης ἐπέδειξα ἐπὶ γῆς (restored from 1.*), “1 the said surveyor have verified it on the spot”: the editors suggest that ἐπὶ γῆς should be read in P Thead 54% and 55%. It may be observed that γῆ in papyri is regularly ‘‘land” in small or moderate quantities, a sense never found in NT, where γῆ is always antithetic to sky or sea, or denotes a district or country, The LXX and papyri, in their use…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

γῆ (gē) — earth: planet.

γῆ, ἡ,

occasionally in [Refs 8th c.BC+]: dual γαῖν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; γῶν [Refs 2nd c.BC+]:—earth (including land and sea, [Refs 7th c.BC+] opposed to heaven, or land opposed to sea, Γῆ τε καὶ Ἠέλιος καὶ Ἐρινύες [Refs 8th c.BC+]; τίς γ; [Refs 8th c.BC+]; κατὰ γῆν on land, by land, opposed to ναυσί, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; opposed to ἐκ θαλάσσης, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐπὶ γῆς on earth, opposed to νέρθε, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; κατὰ γῆς below the earth, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: genitive with local Adverbs, ἵνα γῆς [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ποῦ, ποῖ, ὅποι γ., [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. earth, as an element, [Refs 6th c.BC+]

2. b γῆν καὶ ὕδωρ αἰτεῖν, as tokens of submission, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

γῆ

ge

contracted from a primary word; soil; by extension a region, or the

solid part or the whole of the terrene globe (including the occupants

in each application):--country, earth(-ly), ground, land, world.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

γῆ, γῆς, ἡ

n.f.

the earth, soil, land

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

γῆ gē 250x

earth, soil, Mt. 13:5; Mk. 4:8, et al.; the ground, surface of the earth, Mt. 10:29; Lk. 6:49, et al.; the land, as opposed to the sea or a lake, Lk. 5:11; Jn. 21:8, 9, 11; the earth, world, Mt. 5:18, 35, et al.; by synec. the inhabitants of the earth, Mt. 5:13; 6:10; 10:34; a land, region, tract, country, territory, Mt. 2:20; 14:34;by way of eminence, the chosen land, Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

γῆ earth opp. to heaven, or land opp. to sea, Hom., etc.; κατὰ γῆν on land, by land, Thuc.; κατὰ γῆς Xen.:— ἐπὶ γῆς on earth, Soph.; κατὰ γῆς below the earth, Trag.:—the gen. with local adverbs, ἵνα γῆς, ποῦ γῆς, ubi terrarum, where in (in what quarter of) the world, where on earth, Soph., etc.

earth, as an element, opp. to air, water, fire, Plat.

a land, country, Aesch., etc.; γῆν πρὸ γῆς from land to land, id. Aesch.

the earth or ground as tilled, Soph., Plat.

a lump of earth, in the phrase γῆν καὶ ὕδωρ αἰτεῖν, γῆν καὶ ὕδωρ διδόναι, in token of submission, Hdt.

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

urth ('adhamah, 'erets, 'aphar; ge, oikoumene):

In a hilly limestone country like Palestine, the small amount of iron oxide in the rocks tends to be oxidized, and thereby to give a prevailing reddish color to the soil. This is especially the case on relatively barren hills where there is little organic matter present to prevent reddening and give a more blackish tinge.

'Adhamah (compare 'adham, "a man," and Adam) is from 'adham, "to be red," and is used in the senses: "earth" (Ex 20:24), "land" (Ps 105:35), a "land" or country (Isa 14:2), "ground" (Ge 4:11), "the earth" (Ge 7:4).

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Earth

(1.) In the sense of soil or ground, the translation of the word adamah’. In Gen. 9:20 “husbandman” is literally “man of the ground or earth.” Altars were to be built of earth (Ex. 20:24). Naaman asked for two mules’ burden of earth (2 Kings 5:17), under the superstitious notion that Jehovah, like the gods of the heathen, could be acceptably worshipped only on his own soil.

(2). As the rendering of ’erets, it means the whole world (Gen. 1:2); the land as opposed to the sea (1:10). Erets also denotes a country (21:32); a plot of ground (23:15); the ground on which a man stands (33:3); the inhabitants of the earth (6:1; 11:1); all the world except Israel (

Smith's Bible Dictionary

The term is used in two widely-different senses: (1) for the material of which the earth’s surface is composed; (2) as the name of the planet on which man dwells. The Hebrew language discriminates between these two by the use of separate terms, adamah for the former, erets for the latter. Adamah is the earth in the sense of soil or ground, particularly as being susceptible of cultivation. (Genesis 2:7) Erets is applied in a more or less extended sense-- (1) to the whole world, (Genesis 1:1) (2) to land as opposed to sea, (Genesis 1:10) (3) to a country, (Genesis 21:32) (4) to a plot of ground, (Genesis 23:15) and (5) to…

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

In both Hebrew and Greek the same word is used to denote the earth as a whole, and a particular land. Only the context can enable us to decide in which of these senses it is to be taken in a given passage.

Thus in Mt 27:45 we might, so far as the original word is concerned, render either "there was darkness over all the land," or over all the earth. The expression "all the earth" is sometimes used hyperbolically for a large portion of it, Ezr 1:2. The word is used of the whole world, etc. In a moral sense, earthly is opposed to what is heavenly, spiritual and holy, Joh 3:31 1Co 15:47 Col 3:2

Across the New Testament14 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 1,727 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 Shepherd of Hermas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 26c. AD 40

Φησὶ δ’ ὡς „ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν", τὴν ἀρχὴν παραλαμβάνων | οὐχ ὡς οἴονταί τινες τὴν κατὰ χρόνον·

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

ὅπως Ἅβραμος ὁ πρόγονος ἡμῶν ἐξελθὼν ἐκ τῆς Χαλδαίων γῆς κατέσχε τὴν τότε μὲν Χαναναίαν νῦν δὲ Ἰουδαίαν λεγομένην.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.7c. AD 100

λέγει δὲ πάλιν πρὸς αὐτούς: Μὴ ἐγὼ ἐνετειλάμην τοῖς πατράσιν ὑμῶν ἐκπορευομένοις ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, προσενέγκαι μοι ὁλοκαυτώματα καὶ θυσίας;

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 2nd c. BC 3rd c. BC 1st c. AD
P.Stras. 2 89Pathyris100 BC

Σούχου καὶ Ἀφροδίτης ὡς ἐτῶν μ εὐμεγέθης μελίχρως μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν αὐτῷ μερίδα γῆς σιτοφόρου ἐν τῷ περὶ Παθῦρειν πεδίωι σφραγίδων τεσσάρων , ἣν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐωνήσατο παρὰ

P.Lond. 3 p. 18 no. 678Krokodilopolis (Pathyrites)100 BC–99 BC

μελίχρως μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν ἀδύνατος ὄμμασι τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν αὐτῶι ἐν τῶι ἄνω πεδίωι περὶ Πάθυριν γῆν ἤπειρον σιτοφόρον ἀρουρῶν … ἧς γείτονες νότουπλατεῖαὁδός, βορρᾶ … περίχωμα … προπεπρα

BGU 3 1000Pathyris99 BC

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

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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