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Ephesians 1:4 — Word Study

Depth

N1904καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ

BSAeven askathōs He choseeklegō [selected, elected] usegō inen Himautos [in union with Christ] beforepro [prior to, preceding] [the] foundationkatabolē [beginning, conception] of [the] worldkosmos [the cosmos, creation] to beeimi for usegō holyhagios [set apart, sanctified] andkai blamelessamōmos [without fault, unblemished] beforekatenōpion [before Him, in His sight] Himautos inen loveagapē [unconditional, divine affection]

Word
Listen & take awayEphesians 1
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 4 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 (agapē) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
Ephesians 1:4quick helps
In a sentenceGod chose us in Christ before the world began, so that we would be holy and blameless in His sight.
Who is speakingThe Apostle Paul, addressing the believers in Ephesus.
Where we areThis verse is part of a larger section praising God for His blessings and plan for salvation.
The hard wordἐξελέξατο
Take awayGod's choice of us was intentional and predestined.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause verbἐκλέγω 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 — Ephesians 1:4

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 — God's Choice and Purposegenerated

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.
4For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love
5He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,
6to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.

Ephesians 1:4 reveals that God chose believers in Christ before the foundation of the world. This choice was made so that they would be holy and blameless in His presence, emphasizing God's plan for salvation and the importance of holiness in the life of a believer. This idea resonates with the broader themes found throughout the New Testament regarding God's sovereignty and grace, as seen in Romans 8:29.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
1Deuteronomy 7:6–7For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth.
2Psalm 135:4For the LORD has chosen Jacob as His own, Israel as His treasured possession.
3Isaiah 41:8–9“But you, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend—
4Isaiah 42:1“Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.
5Isaiah 65:8–10This is what the LORD says: “As the new wine is found in a cluster of grapes, and men say, ‘Do not destroy it, for it contains a blessing,’ so I will act on behalf of My servants; I will not destroy them all.

The Key Word ἐξελέξατο, eklegōgenerated

The verb ἐκλέγω (eklegō) means 'to choose' or 'to select.' It is in the aorist middle indicative form, indicating a completed action taken by the subject, which in this case is God. This word conveys the idea of intentional selection for a specific purpose, highlighting God's sovereignty in choosing individuals for salvation.

In this context, the choice is made 'in Him,' referring to Christ, which signifies that believers' identity and purpose are found in their relationship with Jesus. This emphasizes the communal aspect of salvation, as it is not just an individual choice but part of God's overarching plan for His people.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

In this verse, the Berean Standard Bible uses the phrase He chose us, which is echoed in the ASV and KJV. Other translations like YLT render it as did choose, which emphasizes the action taken.

The term foundation appears in most translations, including the BSB, KJV, and WEB, while beginning is used in the FBV and ULB. This reflects a slight variation in how the foundational aspect of the world is understood.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main verb of the sentence is ἐξελέξατο, He chose, which governs the entire clause. The subject is 'He' (God), and the object is 'us,' indicating whom God has chosen. The phrase 'in Him' provides the context for this choice, linking it to Christ.

The structure includes several prepositional phrases that describe the timing ('before the foundation of the world') and purpose ('to be holy and blameless in His presence'), which elaborate on the significance of God's choice.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

ἐξελέξατο has a parallel in the Septuagint with the Hebrew word בָּחַר (bāḥar), meaning 'to choose' or 'to select.' This connection highlights the continuity of God's choosing from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

The term καταβολῆς corresponds to the Hebrew concept of 'foundation' or 'beginning,' reinforcing the idea of God's plan established from the very start of creation.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

Ephesians 1:4 tells us that God chose us in Christ before the world was created. He did this so that we could be holy and blameless in His sight. This shows how much God loves us and desires a relationship with us.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean that God chose us?

It means that God intentionally selected individuals to be part of His family and to fulfill His purposes, as seen in the context of salvation.

Why is being holy and blameless important?

Being holy and blameless reflects God's character and is essential for a relationship with Him, as He is perfectly pure.

How does this verse relate to predestination?

This verse is often cited in discussions of predestination, as it emphasizes God's foreknowledge and intentional choice of believers before the creation of the world.

What does 'in love' signify in this context?

It indicates that God's choice and purpose for us are rooted in His unconditional love, which motivates His actions towards humanity.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. In what ways can I live out my identity as chosen by God?
  2. How does understanding my purpose as holy and blameless affect my daily decisions?
  3. What does it mean for me to be in Christ, and how does that shape my relationship with God?
  4. How can I better reflect God's love in my interactions with others?

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

Early church Fathers have commented on this verse to emphasize God's predestining grace and the importance of holiness for believers.

Clement of AlexandriaThe Stromata Book 6 c. 150–215
For it were no longer seemly that the friend of God, whom "God hath fore-ordained before the foundation of the world" to be enrolled in the highest "adoption," should fall into pleasures or fears,
Early Church Fathers on Ephesians 1 →
TertullianOn the Apparel of Women Book II c. 155–220
We have been predestined by God, before the world was, (to arise) in the extreme end of the times. And so we are trained by God for the purpose of chastising, and (so to say) emasculating, the world.
Early Church Fathers on Ephesians 1 →
Origen of AlexandriaEPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS c. 185–253
One might ask if this is not contradicted by the prophetic saying “In your sight shall no living being be justified.” … One may answer, taking refuge in the double meanings of prophecy,
Early Church Fathers on Ephesians 1 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on Ephesians 1:4 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

According as he hath chosen us in him,.... This choice cannot be understood of a national one, as Israel of old were chosen by the Lord; for the persons the apostle writes to were not a nation; nor

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

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Hath chosen us , [ exelexato (G1586)] - 'chose us out for

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

God blesseth us with all spiritual blessings according as he hath chosen us; election being the fountain from whence those blessings come, so that God doeth nothing for us in carrying on the work of our salvation, but what he had in his eternal counsel before determined. Chosen us; separated us in his purpose and decree from others, (whom he left out of that gracious act of his will), and determined that we should be holy and unblamable, &c. In him; either: 1. By and through Christ, (as in the former verse), for his sake, and upon the account of his merit as the procuring cause, not of our election, but sanctification; q.d. God hath chosen us, that we should be made holy and unblamable by…

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

4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Ver. 4. He hath chosen us in him] Christ was mediator therefore from eternity, viz. by virtue of that human nature which he should assume. That we should be holy] God elected us as well to the means as to the end. Note this against libertines. For as they could not come safe to land that left the ship; so neither can men come to heaven but by holiness. Cyrus was moved to restore the captivity by finding himself before appointed to this glorious service 170 years before he was born, Isaiah 44:28. Should not we likewise be excited to good works by this that…

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

(4) According as (i.e., inasmuch as) he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.—Again it should be, He chose us for Himself. The eternal election of God is inseparably connected with the blessing of the Spirit. This passage stands alone in St. Paul’s Epistles in its use of this word “chosen” in connection with God’s eternal purpose, “before the foundation of the world”—a phrase only applied elsewhere to the eternal communion of the Son with the Father (John 17:24), and to the foreordaining of His sacrifice in the divine counsels (1 Peter 1:20). The word “chosen” itself is used by our Lord of His choice of the Apostles (John 6:70; John 13:18; John 15:16-19); but in one case…

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

Verse 4. According as he hath chosen us in him] As he has decreed from the beginning of the world, and has kept in view from the commencement of the religious system of the Jews, (which the phrase sometimes means,) to bring us Gentiles to the knowledge of this glorious state of salvation by Christ Jesus. The Jews considered themselves an elect or chosen people, and wished to monopolize the whole of the Divine love and beneficence. The apostle here shows that God had the Gentiles as much in the contemplation of his mercy and goodness as he had the Jews; and the blessings of the Gospel, now so freely dispensed to them, were the proof that God had thus chosen them, and that his end in giving…

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

4. According as he hath chosen, &c.] Better, According as He chose, &c. The time-reference is the same as just above; to the Divine premundane deed of purpose.—“Chosen”:—out of mankind. See Romans 8:33 and its context for commentary on the idea of the word. The word “elect” (chosen) is generally used in N. T. in connexions where the highest level of Divine purposes, or spiritual privileges, is in view. In the O. T., Israel is “My people, My chosen” (Isaiah 43:20). In the N. T. the chosen are “the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16; cp. Galatians 3:29; Romans 4:11). As with the Old so with the New Israel the choice is emphatically sovereign; “not according to our works” (2 Timothy 1:9). On the…

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

According as - The importance of this verse will render proper a somewhat minute examination of the words and phrases of which it is composed.

Read Albert Barnes on Ephesians 1 →

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

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

Modern formal

BSBBerean Standard Bible2020

For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love

WEBWorld English Bible2000

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love,

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love

NETBNew English Translation2006

For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love.

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love:

RVARevised Version, American1894

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love:

NWBWebster's Bible1833

According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

GNVGeneva Bible1599

As hee hath chosen vs in him, before the foundation of the worlde, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in loue:

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

according as he has chosen us in him before [the] world's foundation, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love;

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

according as He did choose us in him before the foundation of the world, for our being holy and unblemished before Him, in love,

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

according as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, for our being holy and unblemished before Him, in love,

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

God chose us in him from the beginning of the world, that we may be holy and blameless in his sight in love .

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

As he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in his sight in charity.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

just as he chose us to be in him before the beginning of this world, so that in love we could be holy and without fault before him.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

Even as he made selection of us in him from the first, so that we might be holy and free from all evil before him in love:

Word by word, the decisions they made

ἐξελέξατοeklegō He chose G1586 5 different renderings
he choseASV BSB DRA FBV LSV MSB NETB RVA WEB
chosenGNV KJV NWB
has chosenDBY
did chooseYLT
choseULB
καταβολῆςkatabolē [the] foundation G2602 2 different renderings
foundationASV BSB DBY DRA GNV KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA WEB YLT
beginningFBV ULB
εἶναιeimi to be G1511 2 different renderings
to beBSB FBV MSB
beingLSV YLT
ἀμώμουςamōmos blameless G299 4 different renderings
blamelessBSB DBY MSB ULB
unblemishedLSV NETB YLT
without blemishASV RVA
without faultFBV

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.

clausepredicateΕὐλογητὸςBlessed [be]noun phrase · subjectnoun phrasethenoun phrasenoun phraseΘεὸςGodκαὶandΠατὴρFathernoun phrasenoun phraseτοῦof thenoun phraseΚυρίουLordἡμῶνof usnoun phraseἸησοῦJesusΧριστοῦChristnoun phrasethe [One]clauseverbεὐλογήσαςhaving blessedobjectἡμᾶςusprepositional phrase · adverbialἐνwithnoun phraseπάσῃeverynoun phraseεὐλογίᾳblessingπνευματικῇspiritualprepositional phrase · adverbialἐνinnoun phraseτοῖςtheἐπουρανίοιςheavenly realmsprepositional phrase · adverbialἐνinΧριστῷChristclauseκαθὼςjust asclauseverbἐξελέξατοHe choseobjectἡμᾶςusprepositional phrase · adverbialἐνinαὐτῷHimprepositional phrase · adverbialπρὸbeforenoun phraseκαταβολῆς[the] foundationκόσμουof [the] worldclause · adverbiallinking verbεἶναιto besubjectἡμᾶςfor usadjective phrase · predicateἁγίουςholyκαὶandἀμώμουςblamelessprepositional phrase · adverbialκατενώπιονbeforeαὐτοῦHimprepositional phrase · adverbialἐνinἀγάπῃloveclause · adverbialverbπροορίσαςhaving predestinedobjectἡμᾶςusprepositional phrase · adverbialεἰςforυἱοθεσίανdivine adoption as sonsprepositional phrase · adverbialδιὰthroughnoun phraseἸησοῦJesusΧριστοῦChristprepositional phrase · adverbialεἰςtoαὐτόνHimselfprepositional phrase · adverbialκατὰaccording tonoun phraseτὴνthenoun phraseεὐδοκίανgood pleasurenoun phraseτοῦof thenoun phraseθελήματοςwillαὐτοῦof Himprepositional phrase · adverbialεἰςtonoun phraseἔπαινον[the] praisenoun phraseδόξηςof [the] glorynoun phraseτῆςof thenoun phrasenoun phraseχάριτοςof graceαὐτοῦof Himclausesecond objectἧςwhichverbἐχαρίτωσενHe has freely givenobjectἡμᾶςusprepositional phrase · adverbialἐνinnoun phraseτῷtheclauseverbἨγαπημένῳBeloved [One]

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

sicut elegit nos in ipso ante mundi constitutionem, ut essemus sancti et immaculati in conspectu ejus in caritate.

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

ܐܝܟܢܐ ܕܩܕܡ ܓܒܢ ܒܗ ܡܢ ܩܕܡ ܬܪܡܝܬܗ ܕܥܠܡܐ ܕܢܗܘܐ ܩܕܝܫܐ ܘܕܠܐ ܡܘܡ ܩܕܡܘܗܝ ܘܒܚܘܒܐ ܩܕܡ ܪܫܡܢ ܠܗ

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

καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ

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.

Ephesians 1:4καθώςeven aseven asκαθώςἐκλέγωHe choseHe choseἐκλέγωημαςususημαςἐνininἐναὐτόςHimHimαὐτόςπρόbeforebeforeπρόκαταβολή[the] found[the] foundatioκαταβολήκόσμοςof [the] woof [the] worldκόσμοςειναιto beto beειναιημαςfor usfor usημαςἅγιοςholyholyἅγιοςκαίandandκαίἄμωμοςblamelessblamelessἄμωμοςκατενώπιονbeforebeforeκατενώπιοναὐτόςHimHimαὐτόςἐνininἐνἀγάπηloveloveἀγάπηκατάPrep. downPrep. down fromκατάἐκPrep. fromPrep. from out,ἐκεἰςPrep. intoPrep. into, in,εἰςἀήρn.m. airn.m. airἀήρἑαυτοῦRefl.pr. hRefl.pr. himselἑαυτοῦκαταβάλλωv. I cast,v. I cast, lay καταβάλλωεἰμίv. I am, ev. I am, existεἰμίἄλφαletter theletter the firsἄλφαἀγαπάωv. I lovev. I loveἀγαπάωκομίζωv. I bringv. I bring, recκομίζωἁγνόςAdj pure, Adj pure, chastἁγνόςθάλπωv. I cheriv. I cherish, nθάλπωσυναγωγήn.f. an asn.f. an assemblσυναγωγήἔρημοςAdj desertAdj deserted, dἔρημοςἐπερωτάωv. I interv. I interrogatἐπερωτάωκαταβολήn.f. a foun.f. a foundatiκαταβολήπρολέγωv. I forewv. I forewarnπρολέγωγράφωv. I writev. I writeγράφω
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 Ephesians 1:4

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.

even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
καθὼςkathōs even as G2531 Adverb
179× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Ephesians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
As or just as something is, like in Luke 1:2 and John 5:23, showing a comparison or similarity.
Tyndale gloss
as/just as
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word καθώς (kathōs) is an adverb meaning 'just as' or 'according as.' It is built from the roots meaning 'down' and 'as,' and is used to express comparisons, proportions, or conditions. In the New Testament, it appears in various contexts, often introducing clauses that clarify or compare actions or states, such as in Luke 1:2 and John 5:23. The lexicons do not show significant disagreement on its usage.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

καθώς, (i.e. καθ’ ὡς), Hellenistic for καθά, q.v., καθάπερ, καθό, καθότι (Mayser, 485; Rutherford, NPhr., 495; Bl., § 78, 1),

according as, even as, just as, as: Lk 1:2 (v.s. καθά), 24:39, Jo 5:23, Ac 7:48, I Co 8:2, Ga 3:6, al.; seq. οὕτως, Lk 11:30, Jo 3:14, II Co 1:5, Col 3:13, I Jo 2:6, al.; seq. καί, Jo 15:9, I Co 15:49, I Jo 2:18, al.; οὕτως . . . κ., Lk 24:24; id. with…

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

καθώς (i. 6. καθ᾽ ὡς), a particle found occasionally in prof. auth. fr. Aristot. down for the Attic καθά and καθό, but emphatically censured by Phryn. and the Atticists ; cf. Sturz, De dial. Maced. ete. p. 74 sqq.; Lob. ad Phryn. Ρ. 425 sq.; [W. 26 (25)]; 1. according as, Just as, even as: in the first member of a comparison, Lk. vi. 31; 1 Jn. ii. 27; foll. by οὕτως in the second member [ef. W. § 53, 5], Lk. xi. 80; xvii. 26; Jn. iii. 14; Qo. 5 xed Col. iii. 13; 1 Jn. ii. 6; foll. by καί also, Jn. xv. 9; xvii. 18; xx. 21; 1 Jn. ii. 18; iv.17; 1Co.xv.49; itis annexed to preceding words after the demonstrative οὕτως, Lk. xxiv. 24; with οὕτως unexpressed, Mt. xxi. 6; xxviii. 6; Mk. xvi. 7; Lk. i. 2, 55, 70; xi.1; Jn. i. 23; v. 28; heer 47 [here LT Tr WH ὡς]; xv. 8; Ro.i.13; xv. 7}; 1 Co. viii. 25 x. 6; 2Co.i. 14; ix. 8; xi. 12; Eph. iv. 17, and often; καθὼς διδάσκω, agreeably to my method…

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

καθώς. P Oxy X. τ2995 (iv/a.p.) καθὼς ἐνετιλάνμην (1. -ἀμην) σ[ο]ι [περ]ὶ λωβιν μαχερῶν καὶ περὶ πιπεράδιον, ‘do as I told you about the . . . of knives and the pepper” (Edd.) is a good parallel to the construction in 1 Tim 1°. Other exx. of the particle, which is condemned by the Atticists (Lob. Phryn. p. 426), are P Eleph 185 (B.c. 223-2) kaQa[s συντέταῖχεν Μνήσαρχοϊίς, P Lille I. 264 (iii/B.c.) τὴν δὲ λοιπὴν γ[ῆν ἑτο]ιμάζω, εἰ μὴ ἀκολουθεῖς ἅπαντα καθώς ἐστιν ἐπὶ τῆς διαγραφῆς, P Oxy ΧΙ]. 1453} (B.c. 30-29) εἶ μὴν προστατήσ{ειν] τοῦ λύχνου τῶν προδεδηλωμέν[ων] ἱερῶν καθὼς πρόκειται, ‘that we will superintend the lamps of the above mentioned temples, as aforesaid” (Edd.), and from the | inserr. A/ichel 230° (ii/B.c. ad fin.) καθὼς Kal πρότερον. MGr…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καθώς (kathōs) — as/just as.

καθώς,

adverb ={καθά}, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; even as, [NT]

2. how, ὑπομιμνῄσκειν κ... Aristeas 263,[NT]

II. of Time, as, when,[LXX+2nd c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

καθώς

kathos

from 2596 and 5613; just (or inasmuch) as, that:--according to,

(according, even) as, how, when.

see GREEK for 2596

see GREEK for 5613

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καθώς

Adv

just as, as

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καθώς kathōs 182x

as, just as, in the manner that, Mt. 21:6; 26:24; how, in what manner, Acts 15:14; according as, Mk. 4:33; inasmuch as, Jn. 17:2; of time, when, Acts 7:17

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

καθώς = καθά, Hdt., NTest.

how, NTest.

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

az: Conj. and adverb (usually Greek hos hosper, kathos), designating:

(1) Likeness: (a) between nouns (Ge 3:5; Jud 6:5; Php 2:8; Heb 11:27,29); (b) between verbs (Lu 6:36; Joh 5:30; 1Co 10:7); (c) between adjectives (1Co 15:48).

(2) Limitation (with respect to a particular aspect or relation) (1Pe 4:15,16).

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
99%even as
even as99% · 182×other renderings1% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial10%object5%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 179 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
ἐγώπατήρfather, Father, βλασφημέωI speak evil aga
σύ
ἐνκαθαρισμόςcleansing, purifδιατίθημιI appoint, make
ἀλλάbut, except
οὐδείςno one, none, noἀρέσκωI please, serveἄνθρωποςa man, one of th
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakἐπίἀγαπάωI love
ἵναin order that, so th
σύΤίτιοςTitusοὗτος
καθώςeven as179×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theἐνἐγώ
γράφωI write
Article theἐνὅτιthat, since, bec
λέγωI say, speak
Article theαὐτόςδεῦτεcome hither, com
ἐγώ
οὐNegθεωρέωI behold, look aποιέωI do, make
Article the
πατήρfather, Father, κόσμοςthe world, univeκλῆμαa branch, shoot

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

Concordanceκαθώς · 179× in the New Testament
John 1 Corinthians Luke Romans 1 Thessalonians 2 Corinthians Acts Ephesians 1 John Hebrews Mark Colossians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament21 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Polycarp The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Change of Names 23c. AD 40

οὐκοῦν κύριος ἀφρόνων ἐπιδέδεικται τὸν ἄρχοντος ἐπανατεινάμενος οἰκεῖον φόβον, θεὸς δὲ βελτιουμένων γράφεται, καθὼς καὶ νῦν·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.163c. AD 75–95

ὡς δʼ ἧκον εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον, ἀπέβαινε τῷ Ἁβράμῳ καθὼς ὑπενόησε·

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 1st c. AD 3rd c. AD 6th c. AD 4th c. AD
P.Alex. 7Dionysias (Arsinoites)AD 113

τὰ γράμματα. Διόσκορος τοῦ δεῖνα δεδάνεικα τὰς τοῦ ἀργυρίου ἐπισήμου κεφαλαίου δραχμὰς εἴκοσι τέσσαρες καθὼς πρόκειται … ἔτους ἑκκαιδεκάτου Αὐτοκράτορος Καίσαρος Νέρουα Τραιανοῦ Σεβαστοῦ Γερμανικοῦ Δακικοῦ.

P.Amh. 2 111Herakleia (ArsinoitesAD 132

μηδενί. Πακῦσις Πακύσιος ἀπέχω τὰς προκειμένας ἀργυρίου δραχμὰς διακοσίας εἴκοσι τέσσαρας καὶ οὐδὲν ἐνκαλῶ καθὼς πρόκειται. ἐντέτακται διὰ τοῦ ἐν Ἡρακλείᾳ γραφείου.

P.Amh. 2 113Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 157

μητρὸς χωρὶς ἄλλων ἃς ὥφειλεν μοι ὁ ταύτης ἀδελφὸς Στοτοῆτις πρεσβύτερος ἀργυρίου δραχμὰς ἑκατὸν καθὼς πρόκειται. Στοτοῆτις ἔγραψα ὑπὲρ τοῦ πατρός.

even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
ἐξελέξατοeklegō He chose G1586 Verb · aorist · middle · indicative · third person · singular
22× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Ephesians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means to select or choose someone or something. Jesus chose his disciples, as seen in Luke 6:13 and John 15:16. It represents God's intentional selection of people for a purpose.
Amplified meaning
selected, elected
Tyndale gloss
to select
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἐκλέγω (eklegō) means to choose or select, primarily in a middle voice, indicating a choice made for oneself. It appears in the New Testament in contexts such as Jesus choosing his disciples and God's selection of individuals for special favor. The term encompasses both personal and divine choices, with references to the elect among people and things.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐκ-λέγω

[in LXX chiefly for בָּחַר ;]

to pick out, choose. In NT always mid. (exc. Lk 9:35, ἐκλελεγμένος, WH, ἀγαπητός, R, mg.), to pick out for oneself, choose (cf. M, Pr., 157 f.): c. acc rei, Lk 10:42 14:7; c. acc pers., Ac 6:5 15:22, 25; of Christ (v. supr.), Lk 9:35; of Christ's choice of disciples, Lk 6:13, Jo 6:70 13:18 15:16, 19 Ac 1:2; of the Divine choice: of persons, Mk 13:20, Ac 1:24 13:17 15:7, Read the full entry →

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

ἐκ-λέγω : pf. pass. ptep. ἐκλελεγμένος, once in Lk. ix, 35 Lmre. T Tr WH; Mid., impf. ἐξελεγόμην (Lk. xiv. 7); 1 aor. ἐξελεξάμην ; in Grk. writ. fr. Hdt. down; Sept. for 33; 10 pick out, choose; in the N. T. (exc. Lk. ix. 35, where the reading is doubtful) always mid., ἐκλέγομαι, to pick or choose out for one’s self: ti, Lk. x. 425\ xiv. 7; τινά, one from among many (of Jesus choosing his disciples), Jn. vi. 70; xiii. 18; xv. 16; Acts i. 2; ἀπό τινων, from a number of persons (Sir. xlv. 16), Lk. vi. 133 ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου, Jn. xv. 19; used of choosing one for an office, Acts vi. 5; foll. by ἔκ τινων, Acts i. 24; to discharge some business, Acts xv. 22, 25; ἐν ἡμῖν (al. ὑμῖν) ἐξελέaro ὁ θεός, foll. by the ace. and inf. denoting the end, God made choice among ιι 1. 6. in our ranks, Acts xv. 7, where formerly many, misled by the Hebr. 3 ὝΠ3 (1 5. xvi. 9; 1 K. viii. 16, ete., and the Sept. of…

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

ἐκλέγω. The middle of this verb, which is used in all its NT occurrences, may be illustrated by PSI IV. 422 (iii/B.c.) ταῦτα τὰ ἀσθενέστερα ἐγλεξάμενος, P Meyer 812 (A.D. 151) μέχρι TOY . . . τῶν σωμάτων τὰς ἀποφορὰς ἐγλεγομένου, P Oxy II. 237}}.8 (A.D. 186) δούλο]υς καὶ ἀπελευ[ϑέρου]ς χορηγίας ἐκλεγομένων, and P Flor II. 228? (iii/a.p.) κάλλ[ισ)τόν ἐστιν ἐγλέξασθαι αὐτά : also γὼ 653° (B.C. 91) τὰ δὲ πίπτοντα διάφορα ἐκ τῶν μυστηρίων ἐγλεγόντω οἱ κατασταθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ δάμου πέντε. On the use of the middle in Lk 147 ἐξελέγοντο, ‘‘they picked out for themselves,” and so ‘‘chose,’’ see Pro/eg. p. 157.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐκλέγω (eklegō) — to select.

ἐκλέγω,

future passive ἐκλεγήσεσθαι [Refs]: perfect passive ἐξείλεγμαι [Refs 5th c.BC+], and in middle sense, [Refs 4th c.BC+]:—pick or single out, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; especially of soldiers, rowers, etc., [Refs 5th c.BC+] —passive [Refs]select, recondite, [Refs 4th c.BC+] Oen.23:—middle, pick out for oneself, choose, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. Lit. Crit., select, λέξεις καλάς [Refs 1st c.BC+]; compare ἐκλογή.

3. middle, of God, elect, choose, [LXX+NT]

4. ἐκλέγειν τὰς πολιὰς (i.e. τρίχας) pull out one's grey hairs, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. levy taxes or tribute, χρήματα παρά τινος [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἔκ τινων [Refs 4th c.BC+]; take toll of, χαλκοῦς [Refs 5th c.BC+]

III. declare,[Refs]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐκλέγω

eklegomai

middle voice from 1537 and 3004 (in its primary sense); to

select:--make choice, choose (out), chosen.

see GREEK for 1537

see GREEK for 3004

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐκλέγομαι

v.

I choose, elect

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐκλέγομαι eklegomai 22x

to pick out; in NT to choose, select, Lk. 6:13; 10:42; in NT to choose out as the recipients of special favor and privilege, Acts 13:17; 1 Cor. 1:27

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-AMI-3S — Verb · aorist · middle · indicative · third person · singular
aorist middle indicative — a completed action, viewed as a whole.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-AMI-3S Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Aorist Voice: Middle Mood: Indicative Person: third Number: Singular

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
32%chose
chose32% · 7×has chosen14% · 3×having chosen9% · 2×he chose9% · 2×he had chosen5% · 1×you have chosen5% · 1×they chose5% · 1×having chosen out5% · 1×other renderings18% · 4×

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

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 22 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
ὅς
ἐκλεκτόςchosen, elect, cἅγιοςset apart, holy,ἀναδείκνυμιI show forth, sh
ἐγώ
ἀλλάbut, exceptσύ
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςπλῆθοςa multitude
κόσμοςthe world, universe
Article the
Article the
ἐγώ
ἐκλέγωHe chose22×
what comes after →
Article the
θεόςGod, a godπατήρfather, Father, πτωχόςpoor, destitute
ἀλλάbut, except
ἵναin order that, sἐγώ
σύ
καίand, even, also,ἐκ
ἀνήρa male human being,
ἐκπέμπωI send
κολοβόωI cut short, shorten
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

Concordanceἐκλέγω · 22× in the New Testament
Acts John Luke 1 Corinthians Ephesians James Mark
Across the New Testament7 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 76 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus The Epistle of Barnabas The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Philo of Alexandria
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Migration of Abraham 60c. AD 40

„οὐχ ὅτι πολυπληθεῖτε παρὰ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, προείλετο κύριος ὑμᾶς καὶ ἐξελέξατο — ὑμεῖς γάρ ἐστε ὀλιγοστοὶ παρὰ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη —, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὸ ἀγαπᾶν κύριον ὑμᾶσ“ (Deut.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 7.372c. AD 75–95

νῦν οὖν ἐπεὶ καὶ τῷ προγόνῳ ἡμῶν Ἰακώβῳ δυοκαίδεκα παίδων γενομένων ἴστε τὸν Ἰούδαν ἀποδειχθέντα βασιλέα, καὶ ἐμὲ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἓξ ὄντων προκριθέντα καὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν λαβόντα παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ μηδένα τούτων δυσχεράναντα, οὕτως ἀξιῶ κἀγὼ τοὺς ἐμαυτοῦ…

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 3.1c. AD 100

οὐ ταύτην τὴν νηστείαν ἐγὼ ἐξελεξάμην, λέγει κύριος, οὐκ ἄνθρωπον ταπεινοῦντα τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ,

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 6th c. AD
ZPE 106 (1995), p. 216- no. 10Karanis (Arsinoites)AD 152

ἐξ οὗ χρόνου τὰς προκειμένας … κέκτημαι … … καὶ τῆς οἰκίας τὰ ἐνοίκια ἐξελεξάμην τῶν κατʼ ἔτος δημοσίων … … εἰς τὸ δημόσιον. τῷ δὲ ιγ ἔτει Ἀντωνίνου

P.Oslo 3 160AD 251–AD 300

θέλῃ ὁ ὑοβοσκὸς κατελθεῖν μετὰ τῶν χοιριδίων, σὺ ἀπελθὼν τὸν ἄριστον ἁπάντων ἄρσενα τετμημένον ἐκλεξάμενος, ἐπιθεὶς τῇ ὄνῳ σου, πέμψον μοι διὰ νυκτὸς, ἐπεὶ σπουδή ἐστιν, ἢ τὸν μάγειρον

SB 12 11144AD 501–AD 700

αἵματος καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἐντέρου, δεινῶς γὰρ βασανίζεται. … κόσμον τοῦτον. τὰ γὰρ μωρὰ ἐξελέξατο ὁ θεὸς ἵνα καταισχύνῃ … Χριστόν, ὑμεῖς δὲ φρόνιμοι ἐν Χριστῷ. ὁ θεὸς ὤφειλεν

even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
ἡμᾶςegō us G3165 Personal pronoun · first person · accusative · plural
1,872× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
In plain English
Tyndale gloss
I/we
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

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

pers. pron.

I.

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μέ (me) — me.

ἐγώ,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐγώ

me

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

see GREEK for 1691

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐγώ egō 2x

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

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Pron-1AP — Personal pronoun · first person · accusative · plural
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked plural.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

P-1AP Part of Speech: Personal pronoun Person: first Case: Accusative Number: Plural

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

US, pronoun objective case of we.

Give us this day our daily bread.

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

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

Us, pron. oblique case of we

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

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

even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
ἐνen in G1722 Preposition
2,743× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Ephesians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word is a preposition that means in, on, or among something. It's used in many places, like Matthew 7:3 and Luke 7:37, to describe a location or relationship. It can also mean by, with, or during.
Tyndale gloss
in/on/among
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐν,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐν (en) — in/on/among.

ἐν,

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

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

__A WITH DAT.

__A.I OF PLACE,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐν

en

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

one, X quickly,

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

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

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

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

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

preposition.

see GREEK for 1519

see GREEK for 1537

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐν

Prep.

in, on, among

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐν en 2x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐν

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

Lat. in.

PREP. WITH DAT.:

OF PLACE

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

in, upon, ἐν οὔρεσι Hom., etc.

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

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

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

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

PREP PREPosition

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
αὐτῷautos Him G846 Personal pronoun · dative · singular · masculine
5,550× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Ephesians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This pronoun refers to a person or thing, like 'he', 'she', or 'it'. It is used in the Bible to emphasize a person or thing, like in John 2:25 where it says 'he himself knew'.
Amplified meaning
in union with Christ
Tyndale gloss
it/s/he
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

αὐτός is a pronoun meaning 'self' or 'the same,' used to emphasize distinction or opposition. It can function as a reflexive pronoun and appears frequently in the New Testament, often in contexts that highlight contrast or identity, such as in Luke 5:37 and John 2:25. The entries indicate that it can also be used in various grammatical constructions, including with articles to denote sameness.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

αὐτός, -ή, -ό,

determinative pron., in late Gk. much more freq. than in cl. (WM, 178 f.; Jannaris, HGG, §1399).

Emphatic (so always in nom. exc. when preceded by the art., v. infr., iii);

self (ipse), expressing opposition, distinction, exclusion, etc., αὐ. ἐκχυθήσεται, Lk 5:37; αὐ. ἐγινώσκεν, Jo 2:25; αὐ. ὑμεῖς, Jo 3:28; καὶ αὐ. ἐγώ, Ro 15:14; αὐ. Ἰησοῦς, Jo 2:24; αὐ. καὶ οἱ μετ’ αὐτοῦ, Mk 2:25; ὑμεῖς αὐ., Mk 6:31; esp. (as freq in cl.) αὐ. ὁ, Mt 3:4, Mk 6:17, Jo 16:27, I Th 3:11, al.; in late Gk., sometimes…

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

αὐτός, -7, -d, pron. (“derived from the particle αὖ with the added force of a demonstrative pronoun. In itself it signifies nothing more than again, applied to what has either been previously mentioned or, when the whole discourse is looked at, must necessarily be .upplied.” Klotz ad Devar. ii. p. 219; [see Vaniéek p. 268]). It is used by the bibl. writ. both of the O. T. and of the N. T. far more frequently than the other pronouns; and in this very frequent and almost inordinate use of it, they deviate greatly from prof. auth.; cf. B. § 127, 9. [On classic usage ef. Hermann, Opusce. i. 308 sqq., of which dissertation a summary is given in his edition of Viger pp- 732-736.] I. self, as used (in all persons, genders, numbers) to distinguish a person or thing from or contrast it with another, or to give him (it) emphatic prominence. ik When used to express Opposition or Distinction, it is…

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

αὐτός. The weakening of the old distinction between αὐτὸς 6 and ὁ αὐτός, especially in Luke, is noted in Proleg. p. 91, and paralleled from Hellenistic. We may add (cf. Linleitung p. 145f.) Sy// 8071 (ii/A.D.) αὐταῖς ταῖς ἡμέραις, where Dittenberger remarks ‘‘expectaveris ταῖς αὐταῖς," OG/S 383! (Antiochus of Commagene, i/8.c.) τὴν αὐτήν τε κρίσιν, for which Ditt. desiderates ταύτην τὴν κρίσιν, P Iib I. 30° (B.c. 265) αὐτὸς Ὧρος “the said H.,’’ P Lille I. 238 (B.C, 221) οὗ μ[ισ]θωτὴς Ἡρώδ[ης] ὁ αὐτός “ce méme L.,”’ P Oxy VI. 892% (A.D. 338) τῆς αὐτῆς πόλεως, 26. VIII. 1105 (A.D. 254) τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἀμφοδογραμματέως “the said a.’’: all these seem to be practically identical, with αὐτός differing little from ἐκεῖνος. The combination αὐτὸ τοῦτο may be illustrated by P Grenf I. 114 (literary, ii/B.c.) “ for this reason ” (Ed.) as in 2 Pet 1°, P Ryl 11. 77°9 (a.p. 192) καὶ αὐτὰ ταῦτα ἀσφαλίσομαι…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

αὐτός (autos) — it/s/he.

αὐτός

(Cretan dialect ἀϝτός [Refs] (also αὐτόν[Refs], reflexive pronoun, self:—in oblique cases used for the personal pronoun, him, her, it:—with Article, ὁ αὐτός, ἡ αὐτή, τὸ αὐτό (also ταὐτόν), etc., the very one, the same.

I. self, myself, thyself, etc., accusative to the person of the Verb: frequently joined with ἐγώ, σύ, etc. (see. below 10),

I.1. one's true self, the soul, not the body, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; reversely, body, not soul, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; oneself, as opposed to others who are less prominent, as king to subject, [Refs]; man to wife and children, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; warrior to horses, [Refs 8th c.BC+], or to weapons, [Refs]; shepherd to herd, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; seamen to ships, [Refs]: generally, whole to parts,[Refs 5th c.BC+]: absolutely, the Master, as in the [Refs 4th c.BC+]…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

αὐτός

autos

from the particle au (perhaps akin to the base of 109 through the idea

of a baffling wind) (backward); the reflexive pronoun self, used

(alone or in the comparative 1438) of the third person , and (with the

proper personal pronoun) of the other persons:--her, it(-self), one,

the other, (mine) own, said, (self-), the) same, ((him-, my-, thy-

)self, (your-)selves, she, that, their(-s), them(-selves), there(-at,

- by, -in, -into, -of, -on, -with), they, (these) things, this (man),

those, together, very, which. Compare 848.

see GREEK for 109

see GREEK for 1438

see GREEK for 848

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

αὐτός, αὐτή, αὐτό

Pers.pr.

he, she, it, they, them, same

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

αὐτός autos 5x

self, very; alone, Mk. 6:31; 2 Cor. 12:13; of one’s self, of one’s own motion, Jn. 16:27; used also in the oblique cases independently as a personal pron. of the third person; ὁ αὐτός, the same; unchangeable, Heb. 1:12; κατὰ τὸ αὐτό, at the same time, together, Acts 14:1; ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό, in one and the same place, Mt. 22:34; at the same time, together, Acts 3:1

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

αὐτός self, Lat. ipse:— in the oblique cases simply for the personal Pron., him, her, it:— with the Artic. ὁ αὐτός, ἡ αὐτή, τὸ αὐτό (or ταὐτόν), etc., the very one, the same.

self, myself, thyself, etc., acc. to the person of the Verb., Hom., etc.:

oneself, one's true self, the soul, not the body, Od.; or opp. to others, as king to subjects, parent to children, man to wife, etc., Hom.; hence absol. for the master, τίς οὗτος;—Αὐτός, i. e. Socrates, Ar.; similarly in neut. αὐτὸ δείξει the result will shew, Eur.

of oneself, of one's own accord, Lat. sponte, Hom., Soph.

by oneself, alone, αὐτός περ ἐών although alone, Il.; αὐτοί ἐσμεν we are by ourselves, i. e. among friends, Ar.

in Plat., τὸ δίκαιον αὐτό right in itself, the idea of right, etc.; cf. αὐτοάνθρωπος.

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

P-DSM Part of Speech: Personal pronoun Case: Dative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
52%him
him52% · 3025×them25% · 1488×it6% · 323×her4% · 250×other renderings10% · 587×other renderings3% · 188×

5,861 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 92 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
object33%adverbial28%indirect object19%subject18%predicate3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 5,561 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
λέγωI say, speak
καίand, even, also,δέbut, on the otheἸησοῦςJesus
πρός
λέγωI say, speakἔρχομαιI come, goδέbut, on the othe
ἐν
Article theαὐτόςεὑρίσκωI find
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakοὗτοςὁράωI see, look upon
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςσύθεόςGod, a god
αὐτόςHim5550×
what comes after →
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusμαθητήςa learner, disciθεόςGod, a god
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theλέγωI say, speakαὐτός
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςτίςIrgκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
ἐν
Article theαὐτόςὅς
εἰς
Article theδικαιοσύνηjustice, justnesἹεροσόλυμαJerusalem

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

Concordanceαὐτός · 5,550× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew John Mark Acts Revelation Romans Hebrews 1 John 1 Corinthians Ephesians 2 Corinthians

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
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

περὶ τοῦ γένους Ἀδάμου καὶ τῶν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ δέκα γενεῶν τῶν μέχρι τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ.

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

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

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

Πακοίβιος ἱερεὺς 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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

ὡς ἐτῶν νε μέσος ἢ ἐλάσσων μελίχρως μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν ὑπόσκνιφος, καὶ Πετεαρσοῆρις Σχώτου τῶν αὐτῶν ἱερέων ὡς ἐτῶν ν μέσος ἢ ἐλασσων μελίχρως μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν ὑπόσκνιφος, ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑπάρχοντος

even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
πρὸpro before G4253 Preposition
47× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Ephesians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means before something in time or place, like in Matthew 11:10 where John the Baptist is sent before Jesus. It can also mean superior to something, showing importance or priority. It appears in Acts 12:6 and James 5:9.
Amplified meaning
prior to, preceding
Tyndale gloss
before
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word πρό (pro) is a preposition meaning 'before' and is used with the genitive case. It covers various contexts, including spatial (in front of), temporal (prior to), and preferential (above or rather than). In the New Testament, it appears in verses like Matthew 11:10 and John 12:1. Notably, it can also indicate a sense of superiority or preeminence.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

πρό,

prep. c. gen.,

[in LXX chiefly for לִפְנֵי;]

before;

of place: Ac 12:6, 14 14:13, Ja 5:9; π. προσώπου (= Heb. לִפְנֵי, De 3:18, Ma 3:1, al.; Bl., § 40, 9), Mt 11:10, Mk 1:2, Lk 1:76 7:27 9:52 10:1, Ac 14:13;

of time: Mt 8:29 24:38, Lk 11:38 21:12, Jo 11:55 13:1 17:24, Ac 5:36 21:38, I Co 2:7 4:5,

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

πρό, a prep. foll. by the Genitive, (Lat. pro), [fr. Hom. down], Sept. chiefly for +339, before; used a. of Place: πρὸ τῶν θυρῶν, τῆς θύρας, ete., Acts y. 23 RG; xii. 6, 14; xiv. 13; Jas.v.9; by a Hebraism, πρὸ προσώmov with the gen. of a pers. before (the face of) one (who is following) [B. 319 (274)]: Mt. xi. 10; Mk.i. 2; Lk.i. 76; vil. 27; ix.52; x.1, (Mal. iii. 1; Zech. xiv. 20; Deut. iii. 18). Ὁ. of Time: πρὸ τούτων τῶν ἡμερῶν, Acts ν. 86; xxi. 38; [πρὸ τοῦ πάσχα, Jn. xi.55]; ace.toalater Greek idiom, πρὸ ἐξ ἡμερῶν τοῦ πάσχα, prop. before six days reckoning from the Passover, which is equiv. to ἕξ ἡμέρας πρὸ τοῦ πάσχα, on the sixth day before the Passover, Jn. xii. 1 (πρὸ δύο ἐτῶν τοῦ σεισμοῦ, Am.i.1; πρὸ μιᾶς ἡμέρας τῆς Μαρδοχαϊκῆς ἡμέρας, 2 Mace. xv. 36; exx. fr. prof. writ. are cited by W. 557 (518) ; [οῇ. B. 8181, 11]; fr. eccles. writ. by Hilgenfeld, Die Evangelien ete. pp…

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

πρό is found 48 times in the NT, including 9 times with the articular inf., and always c. gen. (1) For the Zoca/ use “" before,”’ “‘ in front of,” which is rare in the NT (Ac}, Jas!), we may cite P Petr II. 45111-. 24 (B.c. 246) (= III. p. 334) πρὸ [τῆς πύλης] ὅδον ἐξήνεγκαν, and OGIS 50'* (mid. iii/B.c.) ἀναθεῖναι πρὸ τοῦ ved τοῦ Διονύgov. We have found no instances in our sources of the Hebraizing πρὸ προσώπου (Mt 111° (from LXX), Lk 9%), but for mpd ὀφθαλμῶν (2 Macc 817, 3 Macc 44) cf. BGU II. 302 8 (A.D. 215) πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν θέμενος [τ]ὰ κελευσθέντα, similarly Aristeas 284, and OG/S 2108 (c, A.b. 247) πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἔχουσι τὰ περὶ τούτου κελευσθέντα : see Deissmann 2.44, p. 183f. The thought of preference, as in Jas 512, τ Pet 4°, appears in the common epistolary phrase πρὸ mavtay—P Oxy II. 294°° (A.D. 22) πρ]ὸ μὲν πάντων σεαυτοῦ ἐπιμέλου εἵν᾽ ὑ[γιαίνῃς, 2. 2921! (c. A.D. 25) πρὸ δὲ…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

πρό (pro) — before.

πρό,

before, forth:

__A PREP. WITH GENIT.:

__A.I of Place, before, in front of, ἠγερέθοντο π. ἄστεος [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἔμπροσθε π. (variant) τῆς ἀκροπόλιος, ὄπισθε δὲ τῶν πυλέων [Refs 5th c.BC+]; π. δόμων, π. δωμάτων, in front of, i.e. outside the house, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὴν π. τοῦ Ἡραίου νῆσον before or off the Heraeum, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; π. χειρῶν at hand, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

__A.I.2 with Vbs. of motion, π. δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ αὐτῶν κύνες ἤϊσαν [Refs 8th c.BC+]

__A.I.3 before, in front of, for the purpose of shielding or guarding, π. Τρώων ἑσταότ᾽ [Refs 8th c.BC+]: hence, in defence of, μάχεσθαι.. π. τε παίδων καὶ π. γυναικῶν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὀλέσθαι π. πόληος, Latin pro patria mori, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; π. τοξευμάτων as a defence against…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

πρό

pro

a primary preposition; "fore", i.e. in front of, prior (figuratively,

superior) to:--above, ago, before, or ever. In the comparative, it

retains the same significations.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

πρό

Prep.

before

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

πρό pro 47x

before, of place, in front of, in advance of, Mt. 11:10; Lk. 1:76; Acts 5:23; before, of time, Mt. 5:12; Lk. 11:38; before an infin. with the gen. of the article, before, before that, Mt. 6:8; Lk. 2:21; before, above, in preference, Jas. 5:12; 1 Pet. 4:8

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

πρό before, Lat. prae:

PREP. WITH GENIT.:

of Place, before, in front of, πρὸ ἄστεος, πρὸ πυλάων Hom.; οὐρανόθι πρό Il.; χωρεῖν πρὸ δόμων to come out in front of, Soph.

before, in front of, for the purpose of shielding or guarding, στῆναι πρὸ Τρώων Il.:— in defence of, for, μάχεσθαι πρὸ γυναικῶν id. Il.; ὀλέσθαι πρὸ πόληος, Lat. pro patria mori, id. Il.

πρὸ ὁδοῦ further on the road, i. e. forwards, onward, Il.: (hence φροῦδος).

of Time, before, πρὸ γάμοιο Od.; πρὸ ὁ τοῦ ( = ὁ πρὸ τοῦ) ἐνόησεν one before the other, Il.; πρὸ τοῦ θανάτου Plat., etc.; πρὸ πολλοῦ long before, Hdt.; τὸ πρὸ τούτου before this, before, Thuc.; πρὸ τοῦ (often written προτοῦ) before, Hdt., attic

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

PREP PREPosition

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

be-for': The translation of a great variety of Hebrew and Greek words. "Haran died before (the English Revised Version "in the presence of," literally "before the face of") his father Terah" (Ge 11:28). To be "before" God is to enjoy His favor (Ps 31:22). "The Syrians before" (Isa 9:12 the Revised Version, margin "on the east," as "behind," owing to the position of Canaan, relative to Syria, implies the west).

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
94%before
before94% · 44×just outside2% · 1×ago2% · 1×above2% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial92%predicate6%object2%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 47 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
προφήτηςa prophet, poetἐκεῖνοςΑἰγύπτιοςEgyptian
ἐγώ
ἄγγελοςan angel, messenἀγαπάωI love
θεόςGod, a god
Article theἀψευδήςnot guilty of fa
ἔχωI have, hold, posses
χρείαneed, necessity,ὅς
ἄγγελοςan angel, messenger
Article theἀποστέλλωI send forth, se
πρόbefore47×
what comes after →
Article the
σύθύραa door, opportunκατακλυσμόςa deluge, flood
πρόσωπονthe face, countenanc
σύαὐτόςArticle the
ἐγώ
καταβαίνωI go down, come κλέπτηςa thiefγίνομαιI come into bein
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
Article theκαίand, even, also,δέbut, on the othe
καταβολήa foundation, deposi
κόσμοςthe world, unive

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

Concordanceπρό · 47× in the New Testament
John Acts Luke Matthew Galatians 1 Corinthians 1 Peter 2 Timothy James 2 Corinthians Colossians Ephesians
Across the New Testament17 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 143 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Clement of Rome Polycarp Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 26c. AD 40

χρόνος γὰρ οὐκ ἦν πρὸ κόσμου, ἀλλ’ ἢ σὺν αὐτῷ γέγονεν ἢ μετ’ αὐτόν·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.16c. AD 75–95

γέγονε γὰρ πρὸ ἐτῶν δισχιλίων, ἐφʼ ὅσον πλῆθος αἰῶνος οὐδʼ αὐτῶν οἱ ποιηταὶ τὰς γενέσεις τῶν θεῶν, μήτι γε τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων πράξεις ἢ τοὺς νόμους ἀνενεγκεῖν ἐτόλμησαν.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 16.7c. AD 100

πρὸ τοῦ ἡμᾶς πιστεῦσαι τῷ θεῷ ἦν ἡμῶν τὸ κατοικητήριον τῆς καρδίας φθαρτὸν καὶ ἀσθενές, ὡς ἀληθῶς οἰκοδομητὸς ναὸς διὰ χειρός, ὅτι ἦν πλήρης μὲν εἰδωλολατρείας καὶ ἦν οἶκος δαιμονίων διὰ τὸ ποιεῖν, ὅσα ἦν ἐναντία τῷ θεῷ,

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 6th c. AD 1st c. AD
P.Cair. Zen. 3 59309Alexandria (?)251 BC

εὐχαριστοῦντες ὅτι οἰκονομήσω περὶ τῶν χαλκῶν τῶν ὀφειλομένων ἡμῖν, καὶ νῦν δὲ καλῶς ποιήσεις πρὸ τοῦ Διότιμον ἀναπλεῦσαι φροντίσας ὅπως ἂν εἰς τοὺς ἐνοφειλομένους χαλκοῦς κομίσηι ὃ ἄν ποτέ

P.Grenf. 2 37Pathyris109 BC

κώμης καθέσταται Πατσεοῦς Πατῆτος ὁ τὴν ἐντολὴν ἐπιδεικνὺς χειρογραφήσας ὡς εἴθισται καὶ διαστολὴν λαβὼν προ

P.Grenf. 1 32Pelusion103 BC

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

even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
καταβολῆςkatabolē [the] foundation G2602 Noun · genitive · singular · feminine
11× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Ephesians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Beginning can mean a founding or conception. In Hebrews, it refers to the conception of a child, while in Matthew and Revelation, it means the foundation of the world.
Amplified meaning
beginning, conception
Tyndale gloss
beginning
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word καταβολή (katabole) is derived from the verb καταβάλλω and generally means a laying down or foundation. It encompasses concepts such as the act of sowing or depositing, particularly in relation to conception, as seen in Hebrews 11:11. The term is used metaphorically in the New Testament to refer to foundational aspects of the world, appearing in verses like Matthew 13:35 and Ephesians 1:4.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

** κατα-βολή, -ῆς, ἡ

(< καταβάλλω),

[in LXX: II Mac 2:29*;]

a laying down: εἰς κ. σπέρματος, He 11:11 (EV, to conceive seed).

a foundation (of a house, II Mac 2:29): metaph., ἀπὸ κ. κόσμου, Mt 13:35(LXX) (om. κόσμου, WH, R, mg.), Mt 25:34, Lk 11:50, He 4:3 9:26, Re 13:8 17:8; πρὸ κ. κόσμου, Jo 17:24, Eph 1:4, I Pe 1:20.†

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

κατα-βολή, -ῆς, ἡ, (καταβάλλω, q. V-); ing or laying down: τοῦ σπέρματος (sc. εἰς τὴν μήτραν), the injection or depositing of the virile semen in the womb, Leian. amor. 19; Galen, aphorism. iv. § 1; of the seed of animals and plants, Philo de opif. mund. §§ 22, 45; σπέρματα τὰ εἰς γῆν ἢ μήτραν καταβαλλόμενα, Antonin. 4, 36; accordingly many interpret the words Σάρρα δύναμιν eis καταβολὴν σπέρματος ἔλαβε in Heb. xi. 11, she received power to conceive seed. But since it belongs to the male καταβάλλειν τὸ σπέρμα, not to the female, this interpretation cannot stand [ (ace. to the reading of WH mre. αὐτῇ Σάρρᾳ, Abr. remains the subj. of AaBev; but see 2 below)]; οἵ. Bleek [and, on the other side, Kurtz] ad loc. 2. a founding (laying down a foundation): eis καταβ. σπέρματος, to found a posterity, Heb. xi. 11 [but ef. above] (τυραννίδος, Polyb. 13, 6, 2; dua τῇ πρώτῃ καταβολῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων…

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

καταβολή. Like its verb (see s.v. καταβάλλω) this noun is frequently found in the sense of ‘‘ payment,”’ e.g. P Par 62¥- 18 (c. B.C. 170) τῶν St καταβολῶν σύμβολα λαμβανέτωσαν παρὰ τοῦ τραπεζίτου, BGU IV. 1135® (prob. B.c. 10) τῇ μην[ιαίᾳ κ]αταβολῇ, P Lond 1171 verso! (A.D. 42) (= III. p. 106) is καταβολὴν τῷ ἐγλήμπτορι τοῦ μέλιτος καὶ κηροῦ, P Strass I. 26! (iv/a.D.) ἡ γὰρ προθεσμία τῆς καταβολῆς συνέστηκεν. See also P Eleph 23'8 (B.C. 223--2) with reference to land ἔχειν pe ταύτης προσβολὴν καὶ κατ[α]βολήν, ἃ καὶ ἐπιδέδειχά σοι. With the noun in Heb 11" cf. καταβολαῖος used of a “‘ store-place,”” P Fay 110% % (A.D. 94).

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καταβολή (katabolē) — beginning.

καταβολ-ή, ἡ,

throwing down: hence, sowing, [Refs]; especially of begetting, κ. σπέρματος, σπερμάτων, [NT+5th c.BC+]; ἡ Ῥωμύλου σπορὰ καὶ κ. [Refs 1st c.AD+]

__b congenital defect, ἀπὸ ξυγγενικῆς αἰτίας καὶ κ. [Refs 1st c.AD+]

__c Astrology texts, nativity, ἡ ἐξ ἀρχῆς κ. [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

2. paying down, especially by instalments, καταβάλλειν τὰς κ. [Refs 4th c.BC+]; τὸ ἀργύριον ἔφερε καταβολὴν τῇ πόλει paid money as a deposit (by way of caution),[Refs 2nd c.BC+], etc.; ἔχειν τῆς γῆς.. καταβολήν liability for rent, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: plural, instalments, [Refs 3rd c.AD+]

II. laying of a foundation: hence, building, structure, [LXX+3rd c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καταβολή

katabole

from 2598; a deposition, i.e. founding; figuratively,

conception:--conceive, foundation.

see GREEK for 2598

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καταβολή, ῆς, ἡ

n.f.

a foundation, depositing, sowing

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καταβολή katabolē 11x

pr. a casting down; laying the foundation, foundation; beginning, commencement, Mt. 13:35; 25:34; conception in the womb, Heb. 11:11

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

καταβολή καταβολή, ἡ, καταβάλλω a throwing or laying down, NTest.

metaph.,

a foundation, beginning, Pind., NTest.

a paying down, by instalments, Dem.

a periodical attack of illness, a fit, access, Plat.

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

foun-da'-shun:

In Hebrew the words for "foundation" are mostly derivatives from yacadh, "to found," and in Greek two words are used: one, katabole, of "foundation of the world" (Mr 13:35; 15:34; Lu 11:50; Joh 17:24, etc.); the other, themelios, of the foundation of a building (Lu 6:48,49; 14:29; Ac 16:26, etc.), in which sense it is also used metaphorically in various connections (Christ the foundation of the church, 1Co 3:11; or the apostles and prophets the foundation, with Christ as corner-stone, Eph 2:20; the…

Torrey's New Topical Textbook

- The lowest part of a building, and on which it rests

Lu 14:29; Ac 16:26

- FIGURATIVELY APPLIED TO

. The heavens

2Sa 22:8

. The earth

Job 38:4; Ps 104:5

. The world

Ps 18:15; Mt 13:35

. The mountains

De 32:22

. The ocean

Ps 104:8

. Kingdoms

Ex 9:18

- LAID FOR

. Cities

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
82%foundation
foundation82% · 9×conception9% · 1×founding9% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial100%

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
ἀπό
κρύπτωI hide, conceal,βασιλείαkingship, sovereἐκχέωI pour out, shed
πρό
ἐγώαὐτόςμένDisj
εἰς
δύναμιςmight, power, ma
καταβολή[the] foundation11×
what comes after →
κόσμοςthe world, universe
ἀπόεἰμίI am, existγίνομαιI come into bein
σπέρμαseed, offspring
λαμβάνωI receive, take

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

Concordanceκαταβολή · 11× in the New Testament
Hebrews Matthew Revelation 1 Peter Ephesians John Luke
Across the New Testament7 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn Sobriety 45c. AD 40

ὡς γάρ, οἶμαι, καταβολὴ πυρετοῦ νόσος ἐστὶν οὐ μέρους ἀλλ’ ὅλου σώματος, οὕτως ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς ἀρρώστημά ἐστι κακία.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 12.64c. AD 75–95

Ὑποστησάμενοι τοίνυν ποιήσασθαι τὴν τράπεζαν δύο μὲν καὶ ἡμίσους πηχῶν τὸ μῆκος, ἑνὸς δὲ τὸ εὖρος, τὸ δʼ ὕψος ἑνὸς καὶ ἡμίσους, κατεσκεύαζον ἐκ χρυσοῦ τὴν ὅλην τοῦ ἔργου καταβολὴν ποιούμενοι.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 5.5c. AD 100

ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοῦτο, ἀδελφοί μου: εἰ ὁ κύριος ὑπέμεινεν παθεῖν περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμῶν, ὢν παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου κύριος ᾧ εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου: Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ̓ εἰκόνα καὶ καθ̓ ὁμοίωσιν ἡμετέραν: πῶς οὖν ὑπέμεινεν ὑπὸ χειρὸς ἀνθρώπων παθεῖν;

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 7th c. AD 5th c. AD 8th c. AD 2nd c. AD
P.Lond. 2 p. 163-165 no. 354Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites8 BC–5 BC

κατʼ ἔτος εἰς λόγον πυροῦ ἀρτάβας ω καὶ ἀργυρίου δραχμὰς Αφ. καὶ ἐν τῆι καταβολῇ ἀνέγκλητοι μέχρι τοῦ νῦν γεγονότες, διὰ δὲ τὸ μηδὲν ὀφείλειν ἐπεφθονημένοι ὑπό τινων ἐκ

P.Lond. 3 p. 107-108 no. 906Euhemeria (Arsinoites)AD 128

παντὸς κατʼ ἔτος σύνπαντι λόγῳ ἀργυρίου δραχμῶν διακοσίων ἑξήκοντα τεσσάρων , ὧν καὶ τὴν καταβολὴν ποιησόμεθα κατὰ μῆνα ἕκαστον ταῖς ι κ λ τὸ αἱροῦν ἐξ ἴσου, τῶν εἰς

PSI 12 1236Philagris (Arsinoites)AD 128

πόλεως, ἀντίγραφον· ε ἔτους Αὐτοκράτορος Καίσαρος Τραιανοῦ Ἁδριανοῦ σεβαστοῦ διέγραψαν Εἰρηναῖος καὶ Ἥρων πράκτορες καταβολῇ μεθʼ ἕτερα, καὶ Ἐπεὶφ ιγ εἰς ἀρίθμησιν Παχὼν ἀργυρίου δραχμὰς τρισχιλίας· γίνονται δραχμαὶ Γ·

even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
κόσμουkosmos of [the] world G2889 Noun · genitive · singular · masculine
185× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Ephesians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for world can mean an orderly arrangement or decoration, but also refers to the world and its inhabitants, as seen in Acts 17:24 and Romans 4:13.
Amplified meaning
the cosmos, creation
Tyndale gloss
world
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

κόσμος (kosmos) is derived from a root meaning 'order' or 'decoration.' It encompasses a range of meanings from 'ornament' to 'the universe' and 'mankind.' In the New Testament, it refers to the material world, human society, and worldly affairs, with verses such as 1 Peter 3:3 highlighting its use for adornment. The term also carries ethical connotations, often contrasting the godly with the ungodly.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — κόσμος, αἰών from a scan

Κόσμος our Translators have rendered ‘ world’ in every instance but one (1 Pet. iii. 3); αἰών often, though by no means invariably so; for (not to speak of εἰς αἰῶνα) see Ephes. ii. 2, 7; Col.i. 26. It may be a question whether we might not have made more use of ‘age’ in our Version: we have employed it but rarely,—only, indeed, in the two places which I have cited last. ‘Age’ may sound to us inadequate now: but it is quite possible that, so used, it would little by little have expanded and adapted itself to the larger meaning of the Greek word for which it stood. One must regret that, by this or some other like device, our Translators did not mark the difference between κόσμος (=mundus), the world contemplated under aspects of space, and αἰών (=seculum), the same contemplated under aspects of time; for the Latin, no less than the Greek, has two words, where we have, or have acted as…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

κόσμος, -ου, ὁ

[in LXX: Ge 2:1, De 4:19 17:3, Is 24:21 40:26 (צבא), Ex 33:5, 6, Je 2:32 4:30, Ez 7:20 16:11 23:40 (עֲדִי), Is 61:10 (כְּלִי), al., Wi 2:24 and freq., Si 6:30, al;]

order (Hom., Plat., al.).

ornament, adornment, esp. of women (Hom., al.): I Pe 3:3.

Later, the world or universe, as an ordered system (Plat., al.): Ac 17:24, Ro…

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

κόσμος, -ου, ὃ; 1. in Grk. writ. fr. Hom. down, an apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order. 2. asin Grk. writ. fr. Hom. down, ornament, decoration, adornment: évdicews ἱματίων, 1 Pet. iii. 3 (Sir. vi. 30; xxi. 21; 2 Mace. ii. 2: Sept. for nay of the arrangement of the stars, ‘the heavenly hosts,’ as the ornament of the heavens, Gen. ii. 1; Deut. iv. 19; xvii. 3; Is. xxiv. 21; xl. 26; besides occasionally for “y; twice for NINDA, Prov. xx. 29; Is. iii. 19). 3. the world, i. e. the universe (quem κόσμον Graeci nomine ornamenti appellarunt, eum nos a perfecta absolutaque elegantia mundum, Plin. h. n. 2, 3; in which sense Pythagoras is said to have been the first to use the word, Plut. de place. philos. 2, 1, 1 p. 886 ¢.; but ace. to other accounts he used it of the heavens, Diog. L. 8, 48, of which it is used several times also by other Grk. writ. [see Menag. on Diog.…

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

κόσμος. Interesting exx. of ὁ κόσμος, ‘‘ the world,” are afforded by OG/S 4583 (c. B.C. 9) (= Priene 105), where the birthday of the divine Augustus is referred to as the beginning of good news to the world—ptev δὲ τῶι κόσμωι τῶν δι᾽ αὐτὸν εὐανγελίζων ἡ γενέθλιος] τοῦ θεοῦ, and Sy// 376%! where, on the occasion of the proclamation of the freedom of all the Greeks at the Isthmian games in a.D. 67, the Emperor Nero is described as 6 τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου κύριος Νέρων. With the hyperbolical usage in Rom 15. we may compare a sepulchral inscr, from Egypt, in which a certain Seratus states that he lies between mother and brother—éy καὶ ἡ σωφροσύνη κατὰ τὸν κόσμον λελάληται (Archiv ν. p. 169, No. 245): see also P Lond 98110 (iv/a.p.) (= III. p. 242, Chrest. I. p. 157) ἡ yap εὐφημία σου, πάτερ, περιεκύκλωσεν τὸν κ[όσ]μον ὅλον ὡς ἀγαθὸν marépa—a letter to a bishop. Other exx. of the word are ΟΟ 15…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

κόσμος (kosmos) — world.

κόσμος, ὁ,

order, κατὰ κόσμον in order, duly, εὖ κατὰ κ. [Refs 8th c.BC+]; οὐ κατὰ κ. shamefully, [Refs 8th c.BC+] to sit in order, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; κ. φέρειν bear becomingly, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; κόσμῳ οὐδενὶ κοσμηθέντες in no sort of order, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; φεύγειν, ἀπιέναι οὐδενὶ κ., [Refs], etc.; ἀτάκτως καὶ οὐδενὶ κ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; οὐκέτι τὸν αὐτὸν κ. no longer in the same order, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: generally, of things, natural order, γίνεται τῶν τεταρταίων ἡ κατάστασις ἐκ τούτου τοῦ κ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. good order, good behaviour [Refs 5th c.BC+]; κ. χείρ, of a beggar, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; κοῖλος μήν short month, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; ἐξηγεομένων.. τὸν κ. αὐτοῦ the…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

κόσμος

kosmos

probably from the base of 2865; orderly arrangement, i.e. decoration;

by implication, the world (in a wide or narrow sense, including its

inhabitants, literally or figuratively (morally)):--adorning, world.

see GREEK for 2865

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

κόσμος, ου, ὁ

n.m.

the world, universe

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

κόσμος kosmos 186x

(1) pr. order, regular disposition; ornament, decoration, embellishment, 1 Pet. 3:3; (2) the world, the material universe, Mt. 13:35; the world, the aggregate of sensitive existence, 1 Cor. 4:9; the lower world, the earth, Mk. 16:15; the world, the aggregate of mankind, Mt. 5:14; the world, the public, Jn. 7:4; in NT the present order of things, the secular world, Jn. 18:36; the human race external to the Jewish nation, the heathen world, Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

κόσμος κόσμος, ου, order, κόσμῳ and κατὰ κόσμον in order, duly, Il., etc.; μὰψ ἀτὰρ οὐ κατὰ κόσμον id. Il.; οὐδενὶ κόσμῳ in no sort of order, Hdt., attic

good order, good behaviour, decency, Aesch., Dem.

the form, fashion of a thing, Od., Hdt.

of states, order, government, Hdt., Thuc.

an ornament, decoration, embellishment, dress, Il., etc.; esp. of women, Lat. mundus muliebris, id. Il., Hes., etc.:—in pl. ornaments, Aesch., etc.

metaph. honour, credit, Hdt., Soph., etc.

a regulator, title of the chief magistrate in Crete, Arist.

the world or universe, from its perfect order, Lat. mundus, Plat., etc.

mankind, as we use "the world," NTest.

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

N-GSM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Genitive Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The earth on which we dwell, 1Sa 2:8; its inhabitants, Joh 3:16, or a large number of them, Joh 12:19. In several places it is equivalent to "land," meaning the Roman Empire, or Judea and its vicinity, Lu 2:1 4:3 Ac 11:28. It also denotes the objects and interests of time and sense, Ga 6:14 1Jo 2:15.

Nave's Topical Bible

→ See EARTH

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
98%world
world98% · 183×other renderings2% · 4×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial34%subject23%object21%predicate18%indirect object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 185 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
εἰςἐνἐκ
καταβολήa foundation, deposi
ἀπόπρό
ἐν
εἰμίI am, existεἴδωλονan idol, false gφωστήρa light, brillia
ἀρχήruler, beginning
ἀπό
δέbut, on the other ha
Article the
κόσμοςof [the] world185×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theὅςἀγαπάωI love
οὗτος
ἔρχομαιI come, goβλέπωI look, seeεἰς
εἰμίI am, exist
ἐγώκαίand, even, also,φῶςlight, a source
Article the
δέbut, on the otheἀκολουθέωI accompany, attποίημαa thing made
οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, existδύναμαιI am powerful, aφείδομαιI spare, abstain

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

Concordanceκόσμος · 185× in the New Testament
John 1 John 1 Corinthians Romans Matthew 2 Peter Hebrews James Colossians 1 Peter 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament20 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 24 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus Clement of Rome The Shepherd of Hermas Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 3c. AD 40

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

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

ἡ τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 4.12c. AD 100

ὁ κύριος ἀπροσωπολήμπτως κρινεῖ τὸν κόσμον.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. AD 1st c. AD 2nd c. BC
P.Oxy. 76 5098OxyrhynchosAD 1–AD 100

τοῦ κόσμου φυλάξας … … βοηθείας υ … … … ον … δὲ καὶ τοῦ μηδενα

P. Münch. 3 80Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 103–AD 114

τῶν ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τέκνων μέρη δύο ἀκολούθως τῇ τῶν … ων γνώμῃ παρέξ γυναικείου κόσμου, ἐφʼ ὃν χρόνον περίεστι ὁ εἷς καὶ ἕκαστος αὐτῶν ὁλοσχερῆ ἐξουσίαν πωλεῖν ὑποτίθεσθαι χρᾶσθαι

P.Mil.Vogl. 2 84Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 138

δὲ δυσὶ θυγατρᾶσι Ταορσενούφι καὶ Τεφορσάϊτι, χωρὶς οὗ προφέρεται κατεσκευακέναι αὐταῖς χρυσοῦ καὶ ἀργύρου κόσμου καὶ ἱματισμοῦ, δοῦναι εἰς θαλλισμοῦ λόγον ἑκάστῃ ἀργυρίου δραχμὰς ε … , πρὸς τοὺς

even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
εἶναιeimi to be G1511 Verb · present · active · infinitive
2,123× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
In plain English
Tyndale gloss
to be
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

εἰμί,

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

As substantive verb.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

εἶναι (einai) — to exist.

εἰμί

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

εἰμί ἐιμί

einai

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

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

see GREEK for 1510

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

εἰμί eimi 2x

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

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

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

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

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

even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
ἡμᾶςegō for us G3165 Personal pronoun · first person · accusative · plural
1,872× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
In plain English
Tyndale gloss
I/we
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

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

pers. pron.

I.

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μέ (me) — me.

ἐγώ,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐγώ

me

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

see GREEK for 1691

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐγώ egō 2x

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

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Pron-1AP — Personal pronoun · first person · accusative · plural
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked plural.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

P-1AP Part of Speech: Personal pronoun Person: first Case: Accusative Number: Plural

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

US, pronoun objective case of we.

Give us this day our daily bread.

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

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

Us, pron. oblique case of we

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

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

even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
ἁγίουςhagios holy G40 Adjective · accusative · plural · masculine
234× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Ephesians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
In the Bible, this word means holy or set apart, describing God and things dedicated to Him. It appears in Luke 1:49 and John 17:11, highlighting God's purity and majesty.
Amplified meaning
set apart, sanctified
Tyndale gloss
holy
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἅγιος (i.e., *hagios*) means holy or sacred, derived from a root indicating reverence. It refers to things and places dedicated to God, such as temples, and to persons, including angels and saints. In the New Testament, it is often applied to God, Christ, and believers, emphasizing moral purity and separation for divine service. Notably, it can also imply a sense of veneration.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — ἱερός, ὅσιος, ἅγιος, ἁγνός from a scan

‘Iepos, probably the same word as the German ‘hehr’ (see Curtius, Grundziige, vol. v. p. 369), never in the N. T., and very seldom elsewhere, implies any moral excellence. It is singular how seldom the word is found there, indeed only twice (1 Cor. ix. 13; 2 Tim. iii. 15) ; and only once in the Septuagint (Josh. vi. 8: ἱεραὶ cadrvyyes); four times in 2 Maccabees, but not else in the Apocrypha; being in none of these instances employed of persons, who only are moral agents, but always of things. To persons the word elsewhere also is of rarest application, though examples are not wanting. Thus ἱερὸς ἄνθρωπος is in Aristophanes (Rane, 652) a man initiated in the mysteries ; kings for 328 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. § uxxxvut. Pindar (Pyth. v. 97 [Diss., 131 Heyn.]) are ἱεροί, as having their dignity from the gods; for Plutarch the Indian gymnosophists are ἄνδρες ἱεροὶ καὶ αὐτόνομοι (De…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἅγιος, -α, ον

(< τό ἅγός, religious awe; ἅζω, to venerate),

[in LXX chiefly for קֹ֫דֶשׁ;]

primarily, dedicated to the gods, sacred (Hdt.; rare in Att., never in Hom., Hes. and Trag., who use ἁγνός), hence, holy, characteristic of God, separated to God, worthy of veneration. Its highest application is to God himself, in his purity, majesty, and glory: Lk 1:49, Jo 17:11, Re 4:8. Hence

of things and places which have a claim to reverence as sacred to God, e.g. the Temple: Mt 24:15, He 9:1;

of persons employed by him, as angels: I Th 3:13; prophets,

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

ἅγιος, -a, -ov, (fr. τὸ dyos religious awe, reverence ; dl, ἅζομαι, to venerate, revere, esp. the gods, parents, [Curtius § 1187), rare in prof. auth.; very frequent in the sacred writ.; in the Sept. for wap; 1. properly reverend, worthy of veneration: τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ, Lk. i. 49; God, on account of his incomparable majesty, Rev. iv. 8 (Is. vi. 3, ete.), i. q. ἔνδοξος. Hence used a. of things which on account of some connection with God possess a certain distinction and claim to reverence, as places sacred to God which are not to be profaned, Acts vii. 83; τόπος ἅγιος the temple, Mt. xxiv. 15 (on which pass. see βδέλυγμα, ¢.); Acts vi. 13; xxi. 28; the holy land or Palestine, 2 Mace. i. 29; ii. 18; τὸ ἅγιον and τὰ ἅγια [W. 177 (167)] the temple, Heb. ix. 1, 24 (cf. Bleek on Heb. vol. ii. 2, p. 477 sq.) ; spec. that part of the temple or tabernacle which is called ‘the holy place’…

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

ἅγιος. The adjective is common as a title of the gods in the inscriptions, e. σ. OGZS 3781 (A.D. 18-9) θεῷ ἁγίῳ ὑψίστῳ : cf. 26, 721' ὃ δαδοῦχος τῶν ἁγιωτάτων ᾿Εἰλευσῖνι μυστηρίων. The superlative may be further illustrated (cf. Jude?) from the oldest recovered Christian letter P Amh I. 3(a)iii 22f. (between A.D. 264 (265) and 282 (281)) τοῖς κατ᾽ αἰὐτὸν ἁγιωτάτοις προ[εστῶσι]: cf. Deissmann Z4Z, p. 192 ff. For τὸ ἅγιον as “temple” cf. OGZS 56° (the Canopus inscr. of Ptolemy III, B.c. 239) καθιδρῦσαι [sc. ἄγαλμα Χρυσοῦν διάλιθον] ἐν τῶι ἁγίωι. : ἁγιότης, ἁγιωσύνη. ᾿Αγιότης, as a title, is found in the late P Giss I. 55° (vi/A.D.) addressed by one “‘ papa” or ‘‘ bishop ” to another --ἠξιώθην. . . γράψαι πρ[ὸ]ς τὴν σὴν ἁγιότητα]. Fora similar use of ἡ ἁγιωσύνη with reference to an ἐπίσκοπος, see the Pe/agfa-Legenden (ed. Usener) p. 107, cf. p. 84, On the “‘profane” warrant for ἁγιωσύνη…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἅγιος (hagios) — holy.

ἅγιος [ᾰ], α, ον,

devoted to the gods:

I. in good sense, sacred, holy:

I.1. of things, especially temples, ἈΦροδίτης ἱρὸν ἅ.[Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἱρο᾽ν Ἡρακλέος ἅ.[Refs 5th c.BC+]; μητρός.. ἐστι πατρὶς ἁγιώτερον[Refs 4th c.BC+]; ἅ., τό, temple, [LXX+NT]Holy of Holies, [NT]

I.2. of persons, holy, pure, [LXX+5th c.BC+] οἱ ἅ. the Saints, [NT] πνεῦμα ἅ. the Holy Spirit, [NT] adverb ἁγίως καὶ σεμνῶς ἔχειν[Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. in bad sense, accursed, execrable, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; rare in Attic dialect (see. above). (Possibly cognate with Sanskrit yajati 'sacrifice'.)

ἅγιος (hagios) — holy: saint.

ἅγιος [ᾰ], α, ον,

devoted to the gods:

I. in good sense, sacred, holy:

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἅγιος

hagios

from hagos (an awful thing) (compare 53, 2282); sacred (physically,

pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially,

consecrated):--(most) holy (one, thing), saint.

see GREEK for 53

see GREEK for 2282

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἅγιος, ία, ον

Adj

set apart, holy, sacred

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἅγιος hagios 233x

separate from common condition and use; dedicated. Lk. 2:23; hallowed; used of things, τὰ ἅγια, the sanctuary; and of persons, saints, e.g., members of the first Christian communities; pure, righteous, ceremonially or morally; holy

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἅγιος ἄγος devoted to the gods, sacred, holy, Lat. sacer:

of things, esp. temples, Hdt., Xen., etc.: τὸ ἅγιον the Temple, τὰ ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων theHoly of Holies, NTest.

of persons, holy, pure, Ar.; adv. ἁγίως, Isocr., NTest.—The word never occurs in Hom. or Trag., ἁγνός being used instead.

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
72%holy
holy72% · 165×saints25% · 56×other renderings3% · 7×

228 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 8 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
adverbial45%subject16%object16%predicate14%indirect object5%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 234 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
πνεῦμαwind, breath, spεἰςπᾶςall, the whole,
πνεῦμαwind, breath, spirit
ἐνπίμπλημιI fillκαίand, even, also,
εἰμίI am, exist
πνεῦμαwind, breath, spἵναin order that, s
καίand, even, also, nam
δίκαιοςjust, righteous,δυνατόςpowerful, able, προφήτηςa prophet, poet
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
αὐτόςἐλάχιστοςthe smallest, leἀσπάζομαιI greet, salute,
ἅγιοςholy234×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theἄμωμοςblamelessπῦρfire, trials
Article the
θεόςGod, a godκύωνa dogἀναγινώσκωI read
πνεῦμαwind, breath, spirit
βλασφημέωI speak evil agaδιδάσκωI teachἐπί
εἰμίI am, exist
ἀκούωI hear, listenὅστιςὅτιthat, since, bec
ἐν
Χριστόςanointed, the MeArticle theἀγάπηlove

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

Concordanceἅγιος · 234× in the New Testament
Acts Revelation Romans Luke Hebrews Ephesians 1 Corinthians Matthew 1 Peter 2 Corinthians Mark Colossians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 438 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 89c. AD 40

Ἐπεὶ δ’ ὁ σύμπας κόσμος ἐτελειώθη κατὰ τὴν ἑξάδος ἀριθμοῦ τελείου φύσιν, τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν ἡμέραν ἑβδόμην ἐσέμνυνεν ὁ πατὴρ ἐπαινέσας καὶ ἁγίαν προσειπών·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 3.125c. AD 75–95

καὶ ὁ μὲν πᾶς ναὸς ἅγιον ἐκαλεῖτο, τὸ δʼ ἄβατον τὸ ἐντὸς τῶν τεσσάρων κιόνων τοῦ ἁγίου τὸ ἅγιον.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 6.15c. AD 100

ναὸς γὰρ ἅγιος, ἀδελφοί μου, τῷ κυρίῳ τὸ κατοικητήριον ἡμῶν τῆς καρδίας.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 7th c. AD 5th c. AD 8th c. AD 4th c. AD
P.Col. 3 58Philadelphia? (Arsinoites)249 BC

περὶ τοῦ ὀρόβου Τηλέμαχον ἰδεῖν ἢ Ἀρτέμωνα. Μητροδώρωι τὴν παρὰ Νέστου ἐντολὴν ἀποδοῦναι. Ἀγίαν τὸν παρὰ Μακίνου ὑπηρέτην ἰδεῖν. ἐκ τῆς ὑπερορίας τῶν ὑποδιφθέρων τί τέλος ἐστίν. Φοίνικα

τὸ προσκύνημα τοῦ ἁγίου τόπου καὶ τοῦ γράψαντος παρὰ πᾶσι τοῖς θεοῖς Φιλόσοφος

⳨ τῷ ἁγίῳ μοναστηρίῳ ἄπα Δωροθέου … … … … η … ω ἀπὸ ἐποικίου Νειλάμμωνος παρὰ

even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
καὶkai and G2532 Conjunction
8,978× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Ephesians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
And or also, a connecting word used to join ideas or words, like in Matthew 2:18 and Hebrews 1:1.
Tyndale gloss
and
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

καί,

conj.,

and.

Copulative.

Connecting single words;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καί (kai) — and.

καί,

conjunction, copulative, joining words and sentences,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καί

kai

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

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

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

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

yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καί

Cj.

and, even, also, namely

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καί kai 9x

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ἡ τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
ἀμώμουςamōmos blameless G299 Adjective · accusative · plural · masculine
9× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Ephesians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for blameless means being without fault or blemish, like Christ in Hebrews 9:14 and 1 Peter 1:19. It describes someone who is morally pure and faultless. This idea is also found in Ephesians 1:4 and 5:27.
Amplified meaning
without fault, unblemished
Tyndale gloss
blameless
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἄμωμος (amomos) means 'blameless' or 'without blemish.' It is often used in a sacrificial context to describe victims that are unblemished, as well as ethically to refer to individuals who are faultless. The New Testament employs this term in relation to Christ's sinless life and in descriptions of believers' moral purity. It is synonymous with terms like ἀμίαντος and ἄσπιλος.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἄ-μωμος, -ον

(< μῶμος, q.v.),

[in LXX chiefly for תָּמִים];

of sacrificial victims, without blemish: of Christ, He 9:14, I Pe 1:19; ethically, unblemished, faultless: Eph 1:4 5:27, Phl 2:15, Col 1:22, Ju 24, Re 14:5 (Cremer, 425, 788; MM, VGT, s.v.).†

SYN.: ἀμίαντος, ἄσπιλος.

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

ἄμωμος, -ov, (μῶμος), without blemish, free from faultiness, as a victim without spot or blemish: 1 Pet. i. 19 (Lev. xxii. 21); Heb. ix. 14; in both places allusion is made to the sinless life of Christ. Ethically, without blemish, faultless, unblamable: Eph. i. 4; v. 27; Col. i. 22; Phil. ii. 15 LTTrWH; Jude 24; Rey. xiv. 5. (Often in Sept.; [Hesiod, Simon., Iambl.], Hdt. 2, 177; Aeschyl. Pers. 185; Theoer. 18, 25.) [Syn. see Trench § ciii.; Tittmann i. 29 sq.]

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

ἄμωμος. The word is found in a sepulchral epitaph from Thessalonica C/G 1974, also in the sepulchral poem referred to under apapavros—Sikvis σέλας αἰὲν ἄμωμον. Nageli(p. 25) " αν further cites the Paris magical papyrus, 1. 1311. For the use of "Apwpos as a proper name, see Fick-Bechtel Dee griechischen Personennamen, Ὁ. 213. Hort (on 1 Pet. 119) points out that the Biblical use of ἄμωμος, properly ‘‘ without blame,” was affected by the Hebrew D4 ‘*blemish,” for rendering which the LXX translators caught at the curiously similar μῶμος. ay. For the rapid decay of this particle in Hellenistic vernacular, reference may be made to Pro/eg. pp. 165-9, 197-201 : a few additional points may be brought in. First comes the use with relatives and conjunctions, normally but by no means universally taking the subjunctive. Here in i/ and ii/A.D. ἐάν greatly predominated over ἄν, except with ὅπως, ὡς…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἄμωμος (amōmos) — blameless.

ἄμωμος, ον,

blameless, [Refs 7th c.BC+]; without blemish, εἶδος ἄ.[Refs 8th c.BC+]

2. unblemished, of victims, etc., [LXX+NT+1st c.AD+]

3. unimpaired, perfect, ὑγίεια[Refs 4th c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἄμωμος

amomos

from 1 (as a negative particle) and 3470; unblemished (literally or

figuratively):--without blame (blemish, fault, spot), faultless,

unblamable.

see GREEK for 1

see GREEK for 3470

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἄμωμος, ον

Adj

blameless

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἄμωμος without blame, blameless, Hdt., Aesch.

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
63%blameless
blameless63% · 5×unblemished25% · 2×without blemish13% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
predicate44%second object33%adverbial11%object11%

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
καίand, even, also, nam
ἅγιοςset apart, holy,κιννάμωμονcinnamon
θεόςGod, a god
τέκνονa child, descend
προσφέρωI bring to, offer
ἑαυτοῦ
ἀμνόςa lamb
ὡςas, like as, how
αὐτός
δόξαhonor, renown, g
ἄμωμοςblameless
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀνέγκλητοςirreproachable, ἄσπιλοςunstained, undefθυμίαμαincense
κατενώπιονbefore the face of
αὐτός
μέσοςmiddle, in the middl
γενεάa generation
Article the
θεόςGod, a god
ἐν
ἀγαλλίασιςexultation, exhi

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

Concordanceἄμωμος · 9× in the New Testament
Ephesians Revelation 1 Peter Colossians Hebrews Jude Philippians
Across the New Testament7 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 60 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Ignatius of Antioch Josephus Clement of Rome The Shepherd of Hermas
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.50c. AD 40

ἐὰν μέντοι γε τὰ ἄμικτα καὶ σύγκλυδα εἰς ταὐτὸν ἄγῃς, χώριζε καὶ διάκρινε τῆς καθαρᾶς καὶ ἀμιάντου φύσεως τῆς ἀναφερούσης τὰ ἄμωμα τῷ θεῷ, αὕτη δέ ἐστι τὸ θυσιαστήριον·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 3.279c. AD 75–95

καὶ διὰ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν οἱ τὴν ἱερατικὴν στολὴν φοροῦντες ἄμωμοί τέ εἰσι καὶ περὶ πάντα καθαροὶ καὶ νηφάλιοι, πίνειν οἶνον ἕως οὗ τὴν στολὴν ἔχουσι κεκωλυμένοι·

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 36.2c. AD 96

διὰ τούτου ἀτενίζομεν εἰς τὰ ὕψη τῶν οὐρανῶν, διὰ τούτου ἐνοπτριζόμεθα τὴν ἄμωμον καὶ ὑπερτάτην ὄψιν αὐτοῦ, διὰ τούτου ἠνεῴχθησαν ἡμῶν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ τῆς καρδίας, διὰ τούτου ἡ ἀσύνετος καὶ ἐσκοτωμένη διάνοια ἡμῶν ἀναθάλλει εἰς τὸ φῶς, διὰ τούτου…

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 2nd c. AD 5th c. AD

1 Οὐαλερίαν Μάρκου θυγατέρα Ἰνγένουαν ἀπὸ Καισαρείας τῆς Μαυρειτανίας εὔνουν φιλόστοργον σεμνὴν ἄμωμον

PSI Congr. 11 12Koptos bzw. Oxyrhynchos (?)AD 201–AD 300

ἀσφάλτου Συριακῆς μνᾶ α … κρόκου μνα- δραχμαί … γιγγιδιου ἐξόχου ὀγκίαι δ … ἀμώμου ἐξόχου ὀγκίαι β

P.Coll.Youtie 2 86AD 201–AD 400

2 … λίτρ … ἀμώμου λίτραι β κόστου λίτρα α στύρακος λίτρα α δ μαστίχης λίτρα α δ θυμιαμάτων

even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
κατενώπιονkatenōpion before G2714 Preposition
3× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Ephesians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Refers to being directly in front of something or someone, like standing before God's glory in Jude 24. It emphasizes a sense of presence or awareness. In Ephesians 1:4, it describes being in God's sight.
Amplified meaning
before Him, in His sight
Tyndale gloss
before
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word κατενώπιον (katenōpion) is an adverb meaning 'before' or 'in the presence of.' It is built from the roots meaning 'down' and 'face.' The New Testament uses it in contexts such as Ephesians 1:4 and Colossians 1:22, indicating a metaphorical presence before God. Moulton & Milligan note its distinction from Hebraistic constructions.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

† κατενώπιον

adv.

(= Hom., κατένωπα),

[in LXX: Ps 43 (44):15, al.;]

over against, before: c. gen., τ. δόξης, Ju 24; metaph. (cf. κατέναντι, and v. Lft., Col 1:22), τ. θεοῦ, Eph 1:4, Col 1:22.†

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

κατενώπιον, like κατέναντι, is to be removed from the category of Hebraistic constructions : see further s.v. ἐνώπιον. With its usage in Eph 14, Col 178, Jude ** (cf. 2 Cor 217 A, 1219 A) we may compare the sixth century Christian amulet BGU III. 954° (= Selections, p. 133) κλίνω τὴν κεφαλήν [po]v κα -τ--ενώπιόν σου.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

κατενώπιον (katenōpion) — before.

κατένωπα

[Refs 2nd c.AD+], κατενῶπα or κατ᾽ ἐνῶπα [Refs 3rd c.BC+], over against, right opposite, c.genitive, [Refs 8th c.BC+]:—alsoκατεν-ενώπιον, τινος [LXX+NT+6th c.AD+].

Included with: κατεξᾰγιάζω,

assay, [Refs]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

κατενώπιον

katenopion

from 2596 and 1799; directly in front of:--before (the presence of),

in the sight of.

see GREEK for 2596

see GREEK for 1799

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

κατενώπιον

Adv

before the face of

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

κατενώπιον katenōpion 3x

can function as an improper prep., in the presence of, in the sight of, before; Eph. 1:4; Col. 1:22; Jude 24*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

κατενώπιον = κατένωπα, NTest.

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

PREP PREPosition

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

be-for': The translation of a great variety of Hebrew and Greek words. "Haran died before (the English Revised Version "in the presence of," literally "before the face of") his father Terah" (Ge 11:28). To be "before" God is to enjoy His favor (Ps 31:22). "The Syrians before" (Isa 9:12 the Revised Version, margin "on the east," as "behind," owing to the position of Canaan, relative to Syria, implies the west).

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
67%before
before67% · 2×the presence of33% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial100%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 3 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
ἄμωμοςblameless
καίand, even, also,
ἀνέγκλητοςirreproachable, blam
καίand, even, also,
ἵστημιI cause to stand, st
καίand, even, also,
κατενώπιονbefore
what comes after →
αὐτός
ἐν
Article the
δόξαhonor, renown, g

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

Concordanceκατενώπιον · 3× in the New Testament
Colossians Ephesians Jude
Across the New Testament3 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
αὐτοῦautos Him G846 Personal pronoun · genitive · singular · masculine
5,550× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Ephesians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This pronoun refers to a person or thing, like 'he', 'she', or 'it'. It is used in the Bible to emphasize a person or thing, like in John 2:25 where it says 'he himself knew'.
Tyndale gloss
it/s/he
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

αὐτός is a pronoun meaning 'self' or 'the same,' used to emphasize distinction or opposition. It can function as a reflexive pronoun and appears frequently in the New Testament, often in contexts that highlight contrast or identity, such as in Luke 5:37 and John 2:25. The entries indicate that it can also be used in various grammatical constructions, including with articles to denote sameness.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

αὐτός, -ή, -ό,

determinative pron., in late Gk. much more freq. than in cl. (WM, 178 f.; Jannaris, HGG, §1399).

Emphatic (so always in nom. exc. when preceded by the art., v. infr., iii);

self (ipse), expressing opposition, distinction, exclusion, etc., αὐ. ἐκχυθήσεται, Lk 5:37; αὐ. ἐγινώσκεν, Jo 2:25; αὐ. ὑμεῖς, Jo 3:28; καὶ αὐ. ἐγώ, Ro 15:14; αὐ. Ἰησοῦς, Jo 2:24; αὐ. καὶ οἱ μετ’ αὐτοῦ, Mk 2:25; ὑμεῖς αὐ., Mk 6:31; esp. (as freq in cl.) αὐ. ὁ, Mt 3:4, Mk 6:17, Jo 16:27, I Th 3:11, al.; in late Gk., sometimes…

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

αὐτός, -7, -d, pron. (“derived from the particle αὖ with the added force of a demonstrative pronoun. In itself it signifies nothing more than again, applied to what has either been previously mentioned or, when the whole discourse is looked at, must necessarily be .upplied.” Klotz ad Devar. ii. p. 219; [see Vaniéek p. 268]). It is used by the bibl. writ. both of the O. T. and of the N. T. far more frequently than the other pronouns; and in this very frequent and almost inordinate use of it, they deviate greatly from prof. auth.; cf. B. § 127, 9. [On classic usage ef. Hermann, Opusce. i. 308 sqq., of which dissertation a summary is given in his edition of Viger pp- 732-736.] I. self, as used (in all persons, genders, numbers) to distinguish a person or thing from or contrast it with another, or to give him (it) emphatic prominence. ik When used to express Opposition or Distinction, it is…

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

αὐτός. The weakening of the old distinction between αὐτὸς 6 and ὁ αὐτός, especially in Luke, is noted in Proleg. p. 91, and paralleled from Hellenistic. We may add (cf. Linleitung p. 145f.) Sy// 8071 (ii/A.D.) αὐταῖς ταῖς ἡμέραις, where Dittenberger remarks ‘‘expectaveris ταῖς αὐταῖς," OG/S 383! (Antiochus of Commagene, i/8.c.) τὴν αὐτήν τε κρίσιν, for which Ditt. desiderates ταύτην τὴν κρίσιν, P Iib I. 30° (B.c. 265) αὐτὸς Ὧρος “the said H.,’’ P Lille I. 238 (B.C, 221) οὗ μ[ισ]θωτὴς Ἡρώδ[ης] ὁ αὐτός “ce méme L.,”’ P Oxy VI. 892% (A.D. 338) τῆς αὐτῆς πόλεως, 26. VIII. 1105 (A.D. 254) τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἀμφοδογραμματέως “the said a.’’: all these seem to be practically identical, with αὐτός differing little from ἐκεῖνος. The combination αὐτὸ τοῦτο may be illustrated by P Grenf I. 114 (literary, ii/B.c.) “ for this reason ” (Ed.) as in 2 Pet 1°, P Ryl 11. 77°9 (a.p. 192) καὶ αὐτὰ ταῦτα ἀσφαλίσομαι…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

αὐτός (autos) — it/s/he.

αὐτός

(Cretan dialect ἀϝτός [Refs] (also αὐτόν[Refs], reflexive pronoun, self:—in oblique cases used for the personal pronoun, him, her, it:—with Article, ὁ αὐτός, ἡ αὐτή, τὸ αὐτό (also ταὐτόν), etc., the very one, the same.

I. self, myself, thyself, etc., accusative to the person of the Verb: frequently joined with ἐγώ, σύ, etc. (see. below 10),

I.1. one's true self, the soul, not the body, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; reversely, body, not soul, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; oneself, as opposed to others who are less prominent, as king to subject, [Refs]; man to wife and children, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; warrior to horses, [Refs 8th c.BC+], or to weapons, [Refs]; shepherd to herd, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; seamen to ships, [Refs]: generally, whole to parts,[Refs 5th c.BC+]: absolutely, the Master, as in the [Refs 4th c.BC+]…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

αὐτός

autos

from the particle au (perhaps akin to the base of 109 through the idea

of a baffling wind) (backward); the reflexive pronoun self, used

(alone or in the comparative 1438) of the third person , and (with the

proper personal pronoun) of the other persons:--her, it(-self), one,

the other, (mine) own, said, (self-), the) same, ((him-, my-, thy-

)self, (your-)selves, she, that, their(-s), them(-selves), there(-at,

- by, -in, -into, -of, -on, -with), they, (these) things, this (man),

those, together, very, which. Compare 848.

see GREEK for 109

see GREEK for 1438

see GREEK for 848

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

αὐτός, αὐτή, αὐτό

Pers.pr.

he, she, it, they, them, same

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

αὐτός autos 5x

self, very; alone, Mk. 6:31; 2 Cor. 12:13; of one’s self, of one’s own motion, Jn. 16:27; used also in the oblique cases independently as a personal pron. of the third person; ὁ αὐτός, the same; unchangeable, Heb. 1:12; κατὰ τὸ αὐτό, at the same time, together, Acts 14:1; ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό, in one and the same place, Mt. 22:34; at the same time, together, Acts 3:1

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

αὐτός self, Lat. ipse:— in the oblique cases simply for the personal Pron., him, her, it:— with the Artic. ὁ αὐτός, ἡ αὐτή, τὸ αὐτό (or ταὐτόν), etc., the very one, the same.

self, myself, thyself, etc., acc. to the person of the Verb., Hom., etc.:

oneself, one's true self, the soul, not the body, Od.; or opp. to others, as king to subjects, parent to children, man to wife, etc., Hom.; hence absol. for the master, τίς οὗτος;—Αὐτός, i. e. Socrates, Ar.; similarly in neut. αὐτὸ δείξει the result will shew, Eur.

of oneself, of one's own accord, Lat. sponte, Hom., Soph.

by oneself, alone, αὐτός περ ἐών although alone, Il.; αὐτοί ἐσμεν we are by ourselves, i. e. among friends, Ar.

in Plat., τὸ δίκαιον αὐτό right in itself, the idea of right, etc.; cf. αὐτοάνθρωπος.

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Pron-GSM — Personal pronoun · genitive · singular · masculine
genitive — of, from, belonging to.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

P-GSM Part of Speech: Personal pronoun Case: Genitive Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
52%him
him52% · 3025×them25% · 1488×it6% · 323×her4% · 250×other renderings10% · 587×other renderings3% · 188×

5,861 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 92 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
object33%adverbial28%indirect object19%subject18%predicate3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 5,561 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
λέγωI say, speak
καίand, even, also,δέbut, on the otheἸησοῦςJesus
πρός
λέγωI say, speakἔρχομαιI come, goδέbut, on the othe
ἐν
Article theαὐτόςεὑρίσκωI find
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakοὗτοςὁράωI see, look upon
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςσύθεόςGod, a god
αὐτόςHim5550×
what comes after →
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusμαθητήςa learner, disciθεόςGod, a god
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theλέγωI say, speakαὐτός
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςτίςIrgκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
ἐν
Article theαὐτόςὅς
εἰς
Article theδικαιοσύνηjustice, justnesἹεροσόλυμαJerusalem

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

Concordanceαὐτός · 5,550× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew John Mark Acts Revelation Romans Hebrews 1 John 1 Corinthians Ephesians 2 Corinthians

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
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

περὶ τοῦ γένους Ἀδάμου καὶ τῶν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ δέκα γενεῶν τῶν μέχρι τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ.

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

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

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

Πακοίβιος ἱερεὺς 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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

ὡς ἐτῶν νε μέσος ἢ ἐλάσσων μελίχρως μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν ὑπόσκνιφος, καὶ Πετεαρσοῆρις Σχώτου τῶν αὐτῶν ἱερέων ὡς ἐτῶν ν μέσος ἢ ἐλασσων μελίχρως μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν ὑπόσκνιφος, ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑπάρχοντος

even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
ἐνen in G1722 Preposition
2,743× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Ephesians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word is a preposition that means in, on, or among something. It's used in many places, like Matthew 7:3 and Luke 7:37, to describe a location or relationship. It can also mean by, with, or during.
Tyndale gloss
in/on/among
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐν,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐν (en) — in/on/among.

ἐν,

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

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

__A WITH DAT.

__A.I OF PLACE,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐν

en

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

one, X quickly,

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

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

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

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

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

preposition.

see GREEK for 1519

see GREEK for 1537

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐν

Prep.

in, on, among

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐν en 2x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐν

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

Lat. in.

PREP. WITH DAT.:

OF PLACE

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

in, upon, ἐν οὔρεσι Hom., etc.

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

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

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

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

PREP PREPosition

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
even as He chose us in Him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before Him in love
ἀγάπῃagapē love G26 Noun · dative · singular · feminine
116× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Ephesians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Unconditional love or affection, like the love God shows to humanity in John 3:16. It's also used to describe love between people, like in John 13:35.
Amplified meaning
unconditional, divine affection
Tyndale gloss
love
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἀγάπη (i.e., *agape*) means love, particularly the spiritual love between God and humanity, as well as among individuals. It is often associated with goodwill and esteem, distinguishing it from other forms of love like friendship or romantic love. In the New Testament, it appears frequently in the context of Christian teachings on love, such as in John 13:35 and Romans 5:8. The plural form refers to communal love feasts.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

† ἀγάπη, -ης, ἡ

[in LXX for אַהֲבָה, which is also rendered by ἀγάπησις and φιλία;]

love, goodwill, esteem. Outside of bibl. and eccl. books, there is no clear instance (with Deiss., LAE, 18:4, 70:2, cf. the same writer in Constr. Quar., ii, 4; and with MM, VGT, s.v., cf. Dr. Moulton in Exp. Times, xxvi, 3, 139). In NT, like ἀγαπάω, -ῶ,

Of men's love:

to one another, Jo 13:35;

to God, I Jo 2:5.

Of divine love;

God's love: to men, Ro 5:8; to Christ, Jo 17:26;

Christ's love to men: Ro 8:35.

In pl., love feasts: Ju 12 (DB, iii, 157).

SYN.: φιλία. ἀ., signifying properly (v.s. ἀγαπάω) love which chooses its object, is taken over from LXX, where its connotation is more general, into NT, and there used exclusively to express that spiritual bond of love…

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

ἀγάπη, -ἧς, ἡ, ἃ purely bibl. and eccl. word (for Wyttenbach, following Reiske’s conjecture, long ago restored ἀγαπήσων in place of ἀγάπης, ὧν in Plut. sympos. quaestt. 7, 6, 3 [vol. viii. p. 835 ed. Reiske]). Prof. auth. fr. [Aristot.], Plut. on used ἀγάπησις. “The Sept. use ἀγάπη for 138, Cant. ii. 4, 5, 7; iii. 5, 10; v. 8; vii. 6; viii. 4,6, 7; [It is noticeable that the word first makes its appearance as a current term in the Song of Sol.;—certainly no undesigned evidence respecting the idea which the Alex. translators had of the love in this Song” (Zezschwitz, Profangraec. u. bibl. Sprachgeist, p. 63)]; Jer. ii. 2; Eccl. ix. 1,6; [2 S. xiii. 15]. It occurs besides in Sap. iii. 9; vi. 19. In Philo and Joseph. I do not remember to have met with it. Nor is it found in the N. T. in Acts, Mk., or Jas.; it occurs only once in Mt. and Lk., twice in Heb. and Rey., but frequently in the…

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

ἀγαπη use in connexion with Ptolemy on the Rosetta stone, OG/S got (B.C. 196) ἠγαπημένου ὑπὸ τοῦ POa. Cf. a Munich papyrus in Chrest. I. 1091" (end of iii/B.c.), where Wilcken restores [Πτολεμαῖ]ος αἰωνόβιος ἠγα[πημένος ὑπὸ τῆς Ισιδος]. It may be noted that in Mk 10% Field (Λίοζες, Pp. 34) suggests the translation ‘‘caressed” for ἠγάπησεν, comparing Plut. Peric/. 1: ξένους τινὰς ἐν ἹΡώμῃ πλουσίους, κυνῶν τέκνα καὶ πιθήκων ἐν τοῖς κόλποις περιφέροντας καὶ ἀγαπῶντας (fondling) ἰδὼν ὁ Καῖσαρ. .. ἠρώτησεν εἰ παιδία παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς οὐ τίκτουσιν αἱ γυναῖκες. Β. L. Gildersleeve (Justin Martyr, p. 135) suggests that ‘the larger use of [ἀγαπᾶν] in Christian writers is perhaps due to an avoidance of φιλεῖν in the sense of ‘kissing.”” He says Xenophon made the two words absolute synonyms, comparing MZemorahsilia ii. 7. 9 with 12; while he deprecates refinements in Jn 2111", since ‘the Evangelist…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἀγάπη (agapē) — love.

ἀγάπ-η, ἡ,

love, [LXX+2nd c.BC+] O; of the love of husband and wife, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

2. especially love of God for man and of man for God, [LXX+1st c.AD+]:—also brotherly love, charity, [NT]

II. in plural, love-feast, [NT]

III. alms, charity, [Refs 4th c.AD+]

IV. ἀγάπη θεῶν, title of Isis, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀγάπη

agape

from 25; love, i.e. affection or benevolence; specially (plural) a

love-feast:--(feast of) charity(-ably), dear, love.

see GREEK for 25

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀγάπη, ης, ἡ

n.f.

love

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀγάπη agapē 116x

love, generosity, kindly concern, devotedness; pl. love-feasts, Jude 12

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἀγάπη Deriv. uncertain. love: esp. brotherly love, charity; the love of God for man and of man for God, NTest.

in pl. a love-feast, id. NTest.

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

luv ('ahebh, 'ahabhah, noun; phileo, agapao, verb; agape, noun): Love to both God and man is fundamental to true religion, whether as expressed in the Old Testament or the New Testament. Jesus Himself declared that all the law and the prophets hang upon love (Mt 22:40; Mr 12:28-34). Paul, in his matchless ode on love (1Co 13), makes it the greatest of the graces of the Christian life--greater than speaking with tongues, or the gift of prophecy, or the possession of a faith of superior excellence; for without love all these gifts and graces, desirable and useful as they are in themselves, are as nothing, certainly of no permanent value in the sight of God. Not that either Jesus or Paul underestimates the faith from which all the graces proceed, for this grace is recognized as…

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Love

This word seems to require explanation only in the case of its use by our Lord in his interview with “Simon, the son of Jonas,” after his resurrection (John 21:16, 17). When our Lord says, “Lovest thou me?” he uses the Greek word agapas; and when Simon answers, he uses the Greek word philo, i.e., “I love.” This is the usage in the first and second questions put by our Lord; but in the third our Lord uses Simon’s word. The distinction between these two Greek words is thus fitly described by Trench:, ”Agapan has more of judgment and deliberate choice; philein has more of attachment and peculiar personal affection. Thus the ‘Lovest thou’ (Gr. agapas) on the lips of the Lord seems to Peter at this moment too cold a word, as though his Lord were keeping him at a distance, or at least not inviting him to draw near, as in the…

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

GOD IS LOVE; AND HE THAT DWELLETH IN LOVE DWELLETH IN GOD, AND GOD IN HIM, 1Jo 4:16. Love is a chief attribute of Jehovah, the length and breadth and height and depth of which are beyond comprehension, for they are infinite, Eph 3:18,19. Between the three Persons of the Godhead, love is unutterable full, perfect, and blissful; towards holy angels and Christians, God’s love is an infinite fatherly complacency and affection; towards sinners, it is immeasurable compassion. It is shown in all his works and ways, and dictated his holy law, but is most signally displayed in the gospel, Joh 3:16. "Herein is love."

Holy love in man would make the whole heart and soul supremely delight in and obey God, and cordially and practically love all beings according to their character-the good…

Nave's Topical Bible

→ OF CHILDREN FOR PARENTS

See CHILDREN

→ OF GOD, LOVE OF

→ OF MAN FOR GOD Ex 20:6; De 5:10; 6:5; 7:9; 10:12; 11:1,13,22; 13:3; 30:6,16,20; Jos 22:5; 23:11; Ps 18:1; 31:23; 37:4; 45:10,11; 63:5,6; 69:35,36; 73:25,26; 91:14; 97:10; 116:1; 145:20; Pr 8:17; 23:26; Isa 56:6,7; Jer 2:2,3; Mt 22:37,38; Mr 12:29,30,32,33; Lu 11:42;

Across the New Testament24 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas The Shepherd of Hermas Polycarp
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Unchangeableness of God 69c. AD 40

παρό μοι δοκεῖ τοῖς προειρημένοις δυσὶ κεφαλαίοις, τῷ τε „ὡς ἄνθρωπος“ καὶ τῷ „οὐχ ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὁ θεὸς“ ἕτερα δύο συνυφῆναι ἀκόλουθα καὶ συγγενῆ, φόβον τε καὶ ἀγάπην·

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

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

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 21.7c. AD 96

τὸ ἀξιαγάπητον τῆς ἁγνείας ἦθος ἐνδειξάσθωσαν, τὸ ἀκέραιον τῆς πραΰτητος αὐτῶν βούλημα ἀποδειξάτωσαν, τὸ ἐπιεικὲς τῆς γλώσσης αὐτῶν διὰ τῆς σιγῆς φανερὸν ποιησάτωσαν, τὴν ἀγάπην αὐτῶν μὴ κατὰ προσκλίσεις, ἀλλὰ πᾶσιν τοῖς φοβουμένοις τὸν θεὸν ὁσίως…

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
4th c. AD 6th c. AD 5th c. AD 7th c. AD 3rd c. AD
P.Got. 11AD 201–AD 325

πᾶσι τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἐν κυρίῳ βοηθεῖν, καὶ ταύταις ἀγομέναις πρὸς τὸν ἐπίτροπον ἐπιδώσεις τὴν ἀγάπην σου, διʼ ὧν ἐὰν παράσχῃ αὐταῖς. ἐρρῶσθαί σε εὔχομαι ἐν κυρίῳ.

ἐν Διὸς Πόλει, ἵνα οὖν μαρτυρήσῃ ἡμῖν τὰ τῆς ἐν θεῷ σου ἀγάπης. προσαγόρευε ἐν κυρίῳ τὴν ποθεινοτάτην ἡμῶν θυγατέρα Μαρκιανὴν μετὰ καὶ ὅλων τῶν ἐν τῷ

P.Lond. 6 1914Herakleopolites bzw. KynopolitesAD 335

ὅτι ἡμάρτησα καὶ ἐπαρῳνήθην ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ ὅτι τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ὕβρισα. ἐποίησεν δὲ καὶ ἀγάπην ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ᾑμέρᾳ Ἑλλην ὢν διὰ τὸ ἁμάρτημα ὃ ἐποίησεν.

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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