Menu

James 2:20 — Word Study

Depth

N1904θέλεις δὲ γνῶναι, ἄνθρωπε κενέ, ὅτι πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων ἀργή ἐστιν;

BSADo you wantthelō [desire to know, wish to understand] howeverde to come to know,ginōskō [proof, demonstration] Oō mananthrōpos foolish,kenos [vain, empty] thathoti <the>ho faithpistis [trust, confidence in God] apart fromchōris [apart from, separate from] <the>ho worksergon [works, actions] worthlessnekros is?eimi

Word
Listen & take awayJames 2
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 20 is in this chapter.
Say the word Each Greek word carries its transliteration (eimi) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
James 2:20quick helps
In a sentenceJames challenges a person’s understanding of faith, asking if they recognize that faith without action is ineffective.
Who is speakingJames, addressing a man he calls foolish, likely to provoke thought.
Where we areIn a section discussing the relationship between faith and works, highlighting the necessity of both.
The hard wordθέλεις
Take awayFaith needs to be accompanied by actions to be meaningful.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause subject verbθέλω 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 — James 2:20

Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.

Context — Faith and Deedsgenerated

19You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20O foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is worthless?
21Was not our father Abraham justified by what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
22You see that his faith was working with his actions, and his faith was perfected by what he did.

James 2:20 presents a critical view on the concept of faith that lacks accompanying actions. James emphasizes that mere belief is insufficient without the demonstration of faith through deeds, illustrated by the example of Abraham in the following verses. This passage is part of a broader argument that faith must be active and evidenced by works, as seen throughout the letter.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
1James 1:26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless.
2Job 11:11–12Surely He knows the deceit of men. If He sees iniquity, does He not take note?
3Psalm 94:8–11Take notice, O senseless among the people! O fools, when will you be wise?
4Proverbs 12:11The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks judgment.
5Jeremiah 2:5This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me, and followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 11 references, hung on the phrase they belong to


The Key Word θέλεις, thelōgenerated

The verb θέλω (thelō) means to will or desire. It expresses a conscious choice or intention, as seen in various contexts where someone expresses a wish or preference.

In this verse, James uses it to challenge the reader's desire for understanding, implying that a true comprehension of faith requires more than mere acknowledgment; it demands action.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

This study uses the Berean Standard Bible (BSB) as the reference point. The BSB's choice of want aligns with the KJV's wilt thou know, both emphasizing a desire for understanding.

However, the translations differ in their rendering of κενέvain (KJV, ASV) contrasts with foolish (BSB, BBE), while ἔργων is rendered as deeds (BSB) or works (KJV, ASV).


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main finite verb is θέλεις, do you want, which governs the entire question. It leads into a subordinate clause that introduces the object of desire, followed by a predicate that describes the state of faith without works.

The structure is straightforward, with the subject being the man addressed, and the linking verb ἐστιν connects the state of faith to its worthlessness.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

In the Septuagint, the word θέλεις (thelō), meaning 'Do you want', is used in various contexts, often reflecting a desire or willingness, corresponding to Hebrew words like חָפֵץ (ḥāp̄ēṣ, 'delight in') and אָבָה (’āḇāh, 'be willing'). This choice emphasizes the inquiry into the man's desire for understanding or proof.

The term γνῶναι (ginōskō), meaning 'to come to know', aligns with the Hebrew יָדַע (yāḏaʿ, 'know'), reinforcing the theme of gaining knowledge or insight. The use of κενέ (kenos, 'foolish') connects to the Hebrew concept of emptiness or vanity, while πίστις (pistis, 'faith') corresponds to אֱמוּנָה (’ĕmūnāh, 'firmness'), highlighting the contrast between genuine faith and worthless actions.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

James 2:20 warns that faith alone, without actions to back it up, is ineffective. James is speaking directly to a person he calls foolish, asking if they truly understand this important truth.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does James mean by faith without deeds?

James is emphasizing that faith must be demonstrated through actions; otherwise, it is ineffective and does not lead to true transformation.

Why does James call the man foolish?

He uses the term to provoke thought, indicating that a lack of understanding about the relationship between faith and works is unwise.

How does this verse relate to the example of Abraham?

James follows this verse by referencing Abraham to illustrate that true faith is evidenced by actions, as Abraham's faith was shown through his willingness to sacrifice Isaac.

Is faith alone enough for salvation?

James argues that while faith is essential, it must be accompanied by actions to be genuine and effective in the life of a believer.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. In what ways can I demonstrate my faith through my actions?
  2. How do I respond to the challenge of being active in my faith?
  3. What examples of faith and works can I find in my own life?
  4. How can I encourage others to understand the importance of faith accompanied by deeds?

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

Early Church Fathers have commented on this verse, discussing the relationship between faith and works, emphasizing the necessity of both in the Christian life.

Augustine of HippoON THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 13 354–430
Holy Scripture should be interpreted in a way which is in complete agreement with those who understood it and not in a way which seems to be inconsistent to those who are least familiar with it.
Early Church Fathers on James 2 →
Cyril of AlexandriaLETTERS 55.2 c. 376–444
Just as faith without works is dead, so the reverse is also true. Therefore let integrity in faith shine forth along with the glories of upright living.
Early Church Fathers on James 2 →
OecumeniusCommentary on James 6th c.
But will you know O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Abraham our father was he not justified by works, offering Isaac his son upon the altar? see that faith did work with his works: and by the works the faith was complete? And…
Early Church Fathers on James 2 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on James 2:20 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

But wilt thou know, O vain man,.... These are the words of the apostle reassuming the argument, that faith without works is dead, useless, and unprofitable; and the man that boasts of his faith, and

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

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Wilt [ theleis (G2309)] thou know. "Vain" men are not willing to know, since they have no wish to do the Wilt [ theleis (G2309)] thou know.

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

But wilt thou know? Either this question is in order to teaching, as ; and then the sense is: If thou hast a mind to know, I shall instruct thee: or, it is a teaching by way of question, as more emphatical and pressing; and then it is as if he had said, Know, O vain man. O vain man; an allusion to an empty vessel, which sounds more than one that is full. The carnal professor to whom he speaks is vain, because empty of true faith and good works, though full of noise and boasting. Objection. Doth not the apostle sin against Christ’ s command, ? Answer. 1. He speaks not of any particular man, but to all in general, of such a sort, viz. who boasted of their faith, and yet did not evidence it by…

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

20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Ver. 20. But wilt thou know] Interrogatio doeturientis, saith Piscator. A question made by one that is desirous to teach. Thou vain man] Gr. Thou empty man; for works without faith are nothing else but a nutshell without a kernel, grapes without juice, chaff without grain, saith Mercer in Jonah 3:8.

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

(20) But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?—“Vain,” i.e., empty and useless. Some copies have a word which means idle, fruitless, workless, in place of that translated “dead”; but the sense is the same either way. “If,” says Bishop Beveridge, “I see fruit growing upon a tree, I know what tree it is upon which such fruit grows. And so, if I saw how a man lives, I know how he believes. If his faith be good, his works cannot but be good too; and if his works be bad, his faith cannot but be bad too: for, wheresoever there is a justifying faith, there are also good works; and wheresoever there are no good works, there is no justifying faith.” Works are the natural…

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

Verse 20. But wilt thou know] Art thou willing to be instructed in the nature of true saving faith? Then attend to the following examples.

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

20. wilt thou know, O vain man …] The term, as applied to men, is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, but is used with something of the same significance in the LXX. of Judges 9:4. The idea is primarily that of “emptiness,” and the Greek adjective is almost literally the equivalent of our empty-headed, as a term of contempt. It answers clearly to the Raca of Mat 5:22.that faith without works is dead] The MSS. vary between “dead” and the adjective rendered “idle” in Matthew 12:36; Matthew 20:3. The meaning is substantially the same. That which is without life is without the activity which is the one proof of life.

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

But wilt thou know - Will you have a full demonstration of it; will you have the clearest proof in the case. The apostle evidently felt that the instances to which he was about to refer, those of Abraham and Rahab, were decisive.

Read Albert Barnes on James 2 →

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

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

Modern formal

BSBBerean Standard Bible2020

O foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is worthless?

WEBWorld English Bible2000

But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

O foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is dead?

NETBNew English Translation2006

But would you like evidence, you empty fellow, that faith without works is useless?

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren?

RVARevised Version, American1894

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren?

NWBWebster's Bible1833

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

GNVGeneva Bible1599

But wilt thou vnderstand, O thou vaine man, that the faith which is without workes, is dead?

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

And dost thou wish to know, O vain man, that the faith apart from the works is dead?

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

And do you wish to know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

Do you want to know, foolish man, that faith without works is useless?

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

You foolish people! Don't you know that trust in God without doing what's right is worthless?

BBEBible in Basic English1949

Do you not see, O foolish man, that faith without works is of no use?

Word by word, the decisions they made

γνῶναι,ginōskō to come to know, G1097 2 different renderings
knowASV DBY DRA KJV LSV NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
you knowFBV
κενέ,kenos foolish, G2756 3 different renderings
vainASV DBY DRA KJV LSV NWB RVA WEB YLT
foolishBBE BSB FBV MSB ULB
emptyNETB
πίστιςpistis faith G4102 2 different renderings
faithASV BBE BSB DBY DRA GNV KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
trustFBV
χωρὶςchōris apart from G5565 2 different renderings
withoutBBE BSB DBY DRA FBV GNV KJV MSB NETB NWB ULB
apart fromASV LSV RVA WEB YLT
ἔργωνergon works G2041 2 different renderings
worksASV BBE DBY DRA KJV LSV NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
deedsBSB MSB

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.

clauseδὲhoweverclausenoun phraseOnoun phraseἄνθρωπεmanκενέfoolishclauseverbθέλειςDo you wantclause · objectclauseverbγνῶναιto come to knowclauseὅτιthatclausenoun phrase · subject-πίστιςfaithprepositional phrase · adverbialχωρὶςapart fromnoun phraseτῶν-ἔργωνworkspredicateἀργήworthlesslinking verbἐστινis

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

Vis autem scire, o homo inanis, quoniam fides sine operibus mortua est ?

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

ܨܒܐ ܐܢܬ ܕܝܢ ܕܬܕܥ ܐܘ ܒܪܢܫܐ ܚܠܫܐ ܕܗܝܡܢܘܬܐ ܕܠܐ ܥܒܕܐ ܡܝܬܐ ܗܝ

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

θέλεις δὲ γνῶναι, ἄνθρωπε κενέ, ὅτι πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων ἀργή ἐστιν;

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

θέλεις δὲ γνῶναι, ἄνθρωπε κενέ, ὅτι πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων ἀργή ἐστιν;

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

θέλεις δὲ γνῶναι, ἄνθρωπε κενέ, ὅτι πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων ἀργή ἐστιν;

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

θέλεις δὲ γνῶναι, ἄνθρωπε κενέ, ὅτι πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων ἀργή ἐστιν;

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

θέλεις δὲ γνῶναι, ἄνθρωπε κενέ, ὅτι πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων ἀργή ἐστιν;

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

θέλεις δὲ γνῶναι, ἄνθρωπε κενέ, ὅτι πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων ἀργή ἐστιν;

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

θέλεις δὲ γνῶναι, ἄνθρωπε κενέ, ὅτι πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων ἐστιν;

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

θέλεις δὲ γνῶναι, ἄνθρωπε κενέ, ὅτι πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων ἐστιν;

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

Every witness on this verse they differ
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

WordEditions carrying itMissing from
ἀργή worthlessNA28, NA27, Tyn, SBL, WH, TregTR, Byz

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.

James 2:20θέλωDo you wantDo you wantθέλωδέhoweverhoweverδέγινώσκωto come to to come to knowγινώσκωOOἄνθρωποςmanmanἄνθρωποςκενόςfoolish,foolish,κενόςὅτιthatthatὅτι<the><the>πίστιςfaithfaithπίστιςχωρίςapart fromapart fromχωρίς<the><the>ἔργονworksworksἔργονἀργόςworthlessworthlessἀργόςεἰμίis?is?εἰμίπείθωv. I persuv. I persuade, πείθωχώραn.f. region.f. region, laχώραἄλφαletter theletter the firsἄλφαἀνήρn.m. a maln.m. a male humἀνήρὀπτάνομαιv. I appeav. I appear, amὀπτάνομαιὅστιςRel.pr. whRel.pr. whosoevὅστιςδικαιόωv. I make v. I make rightδικαιόωἀγνοέωv. I do nov. I do not knoἀγνοέωκαθαρίζωv. I make v. I make cleanκαθαρίζωἐγγύςAdv nearAdv nearἐγγύςἄρτιAdv now, jAdv now, just nἄρτιἀνόητοςAdj foolisAdj foolish, thἀνόητοςἄπιστοςAdj unbeliAdj unbelievingἄπιστοςκοινόωv. I make v. I make uncleκοινόωυἱόςn.m. a sonn.m. a son, desυἱόςκήρυγμαn.n. a pron.n. a proclamaκήρυγμαἐξαποστέλλωv. I send v. I send forthἐξαποστέλλωοἶδαv. I know,v. I know, remeοἶδα
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 James 2:20

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

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

Do you want however to come to know, O man foolish, that <the> faith apart from <the> works worthless is?
θέλειςthelō Do you want G2309 Verb · present · active · indicative · second person · singular
207× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in James as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To will or desire something, as seen in Romans 9:16 and 1 Corinthians 12:6, where it describes a person's intentional choice or preference. This word is about making a conscious decision.
Amplified meaning
desire to know, wish to understand
Tyndale gloss
to will/desire
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

θέλω (thelō) means to will, wish, or desire. It is a common verb in the New Testament, often expressing intention or resolution, and can appear in various constructions, such as with an infinitive or an accusative. The lexicons note its frequent use compared to similar verbs and highlight its role in expressing personal desire or divine will, but they do not indicate significant disagreements among them.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

θέλω (the strengthened form ἐθέλω is found in Hom., and is the more freq. in Attic; v. Rutherford, NPhr., 415 f.),

[in LXX for חפץ ,אבה; c. neg., מאן pi., etc.;]

to will, be willing, wish, desire (more freq. than βούλομαι, q.v., in vernac. and late Gk., also in MGr.; for various views as to its relation to β., v. Thayer, 286; but v. also Bl., §24, s.v.): absol., Ro 9:16, I Co 4:19 12:18, Ja 4:15; τ. θεοῦ θέλοντος, Ac 18:21; c. acc. rei, Mt 20:21, Mk 14:36, Jo 15:7, Ro 7:15, 16, I Co 4:21 7:36, Read the full entry →

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

θέλω (only in this form in the N. T.; in Grk. auth. also ἐθέλω [Veitch 5. v.; Lob. ad Phryn. p. 7; B. 57 (49)]); impf. ἤθελον ; [fut. 3 pers. sing. θελήσει, Rev. xi. 5 WII mrg.]; 1 aor. ἠθέλησα; (derived apparently fr. dey with a fuller aspiration, so that it means prop. to seize with the mind; but Curtius p. 726, ed. 5, regards its root as uncertain [he inclines, however, to the view of Pott, Fick, Vanicek and others, which connects it with a root meaning to hold to]); Sept. for 728 and yan; To WILL, (have in mind,) intend; i. e. 1. to be resolved or determined, to purpose: absol., ὁ θέλων, Ro. ix. 16; τοῦ θεοῦ θέλοντος if God will, Acts xviii. 21; ἐὰν ὁ κύριος θελήσῃ (in Attic ἐὰν θεὸς θέλῃ, ἣν οἱ θεοὶ θέλωσιν [ ef. Lob. u.s.]), 1 Co. iv. 19; Jas. ἵν. 15; καθὼς ἠθέλησε, 1 Co. xii. 18; xv. 38; τί, Ro. vii. 15 sq. 19 sq.; 1 Co. vii. 36; Gal. v.17; with the aorist inf., Mt. xx. 14…

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

θέλω. For the form ἐθέλω, which is wanting in the NT as in the LXX, Nageli (p. 57) refers to the magic papyri and to the poetic 7J/de 111. 1064: it is common in the Attic inscrr. up to the end of iv/B.c., but from B.C. 250 θέλω occurs, and eventually takes its place as the regular form in the Kow (cf. Meisterhans G7. p. 178). For the verb denoting a personal wish or desire we may cite P Petr I. ταῦ (a Will) τὰ [ἐμαυτοῦ διοικεῖν ὡς ἐ]γὼ θέλω, P Oxy VIT. τοῦτ" (B.c. 22) od BE ypade ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐὰν θέλῃς (ci Mt 85), 726. III. 531° (ii/A.p.) περὶ ὧν θέλεις δήλωσόν μοι, P Cairo Preis 48° (ii/A.D.) τὸ μὲν πλοῖόν σοι, ὡς ἠθέλησας, σκέψομαι, and the constant epistolary phrase γινώσκειν σε θέλω, as in P Oxy IV. 74377 (B.c. 2) ὥστ᾽ ἂν τοῦτό σε θέλω γεινώσκειν ὅτι ἐγὼ αὐτῴ διαστολὰς δεδώκειν τὸ βαδίσαι εἰς Τακόνα, ‘I wish you therefore to know…

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

θέλω (thelō) — to will/desire.

θέλω,

see at {ἐθέλω} and add ὅστις ἂν θέλῃ [Refs]

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

θέλω

v.

I will, wish, desire

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

θέλω thelō 208x

to exercise the will, properly by an unimpassioned operation; to be willing, Mt. 17:4; to be inclined, disposed, Rom. 13:3; to choose, Lk. 1:62; to intend, design, Lk. 14:28; to will, Jn. 5:21; 21:22; ἤθελον, I could wish, Gal. 4:20

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAI-2S — Verb · present · active · indicative · second person · singular
present active indicative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAI-2S Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: second Number: Singular

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
9%desiring
desiring9% · 18×i desire5% · 10×wishing4% · 9×willing4% · 8×i want3% · 7×do you desire3% · 7×desires3% · 7×shall desire3% · 7×other renderings65% · 138×

211 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 89 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 207 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
οὐNeg
καίand, even, also,ὅςλέγωI say, speak
ἐάνCond
ὅςγάρforκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
Article the
καίand, even, also,γραμματεύςa scribe, town-cὅπωςhow, in order th
ὅς
γάρforβασιλεύςa king, ruler, eἐγώ
τίςIrg
αὐτόςλέγωI say, speakΠιλᾶτοςPilate
θέλωDo you want207×
what comes after →
δέbut, on the other ha
σύπᾶςall, the whole, οὗτος
Article the
ψυχήthe soul, life, θέλημαwill, wish, desiθεόςGod, a god
ποιέωI do, make
Article theὧδεhereἐν
αὐτός
ἀποκτείνωI put to death, δειγματίζωI hold up as an λέγωI say, speak
καίand, even, also, nam
οὐNegἰάομαιI healδίδωμιI offer, give

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

Concordanceθέλω · 207× in the New Testament
Matthew Luke Mark John 1 Corinthians Romans Acts Galatians 2 Corinthians Revelation Hebrews 1 Timothy

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament22 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 61 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Philo of Alexandria Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 104c. AD 40

τῇ δ’ ἕκτῃ περὶ πάντα καταρτύεται νόος ἀνδρός, οὐδ’ ἕρδειν ἔθ’ ὁμῶς ἔργ’ ἀπάλαμνα θέλει·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.9c. AD 75–95

τούτῳ δὴ πειθόμενος ὡς αἰεὶ τοῖς χρήσιμον ἢ καλόν τι πράττειν δυναμένοις συμφιλοκαλοῦντι καὶ ἐμαυτὸν αἰσχυνόμενος, εἰ δόξαιμι ῥαθυμίᾳ πλέον ἢ τῷ περὶ τὰ κάλλιστα χαίρειν πόνῳ, προθυμότερον ἐπερρώσθην, ἔτι κἀκεῖνα πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις λογισάμενος οὐ…

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.9c. AD 100

αἰσθάνεσθαι οὖν ὀφείλομεν, μὴ ὄντες ἀσύνετοι, τὴν γνώμην τῆς ἀγαθωσύνης τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν, ὅτ̓ ἡμῖν λέγει, θέλων ἡμᾶς μὴ ὁμοίως πλανωμένους ἐκείνοις ζητεῖν, πῶς προσάγωμεν αὐτῷ.

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 7th c. AD
P.Edg. $1Alexandria (?)252 BC

αὐτός τε ἔρρωσαι καὶ τὰ ἄλλα σοί ἐστιν κατὰ νοῦν, εἴη ἂν ὡς ἐγὼ θέλω· ὑγίαινον δὲ καὶ αὐτός. ἐγραψέν μοι Μαιανδρία ὅτι χλαμύδα αὐτὴν κελεύεις ἐξυφᾶναι. νυνὶ μὲν

P.Cair. Zen. 3 59478276 BC–227 BC

αὐτός τε ἔρρωσαι καὶ τὰ λοιπά σοι κατὰ γνώμην ἐστίν, εἴη ἂν ὡς ἐγὼ θέλω· ὑγίαινον δὲ καὶ αὐτός. ἀπέσταλκά σοι κομίζοντα Πολέμωνα χοιρίδιον τριακονθήμερον α καὶ χαλκῶν δραχμὰς

P.Cair. Zen. 4 59575276 BC–227 BC

σὺ καὶ οὕς βούλει καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ κατὰ νοῦν ἐστιν, γένοιτʼ ἂν ὡς ἡμεῖς θέλομεν. ἱκανῶς δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἔχομεν, καί σου μνημονεύομεν ἐν παντὶ καιρῶι, ὥσπερ καὶ προσῆκόν

Do you want however to come to know, O man foolish, that <the> faith apart from <the> works worthless is?
δὲde however G1161 Conjunction
2,787× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in James as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This is a conjunction that means and, but, or then, used to connect ideas like in Matthew 1:2 and 2 Corinthians 6:15.
Tyndale gloss
then
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

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

post-positive conjunctive particle;

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

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

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

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

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

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

δέ (de) — then.

δέ,

but: adversative and copulative Particle,

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

II. without preceding μέν,

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

II.2. copulative,

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

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

δέ

de

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

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

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δέ

Cj.

but, on the other hand, and

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δέ de 2x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

δέ is often redundant,

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

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

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

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

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existσύ
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςκύριοςlord, Lord, mastπεντακισχίλιοιfive thousand
εἰCond
παλαιόςold, ancient, woσύεἰμίI am, exist
εἰμίI am, exist
περιπατέωI walk, conduct ἀναπίπτωI lie down, reclμνημεῖονa tomb, sepulche
οὗτος
δίδωμιI offer, giveθεόςGod, a godπίστιςfaith, belief, t
δέhowever2787×
what comes after →
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusθεόςGod, a godκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
αὐτός
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐπί
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςArticle theσύ
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theοὗτοςἸωάννηςJohn
τὶς
Article theαὐτόςὄνομαname, character,

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

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

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

Across the New Testament26 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Do you want however to come to know, O man foolish, that <the> faith apart from <the> works worthless is?
γνῶναι,ginōskō to come to know, G1097 Verb · second aorist · active · infinitive
221× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in James as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To know or understand something, as in Matthew 22:18 and Mark 5:43, where it means to recognize or perceive.
Amplified meaning
proof, demonstration
Tyndale gloss
to know
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

γινώσκω (ginosko) means to know, perceive, or understand, with a focus on experiential knowledge as opposed to mere intellectual awareness. It is used in various contexts in the New Testament, including recognizing divine truths and personal relationships, as seen in verses like Matthew 22:18 and John 17:3. The word has a rich range of meanings, including to learn, realize, and even to know carnally, as noted in Matthew 1:25.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

γινώσκω (= γιγν-: v. previous word. So also vulgar Attic, in Inscr., v. Thumb, MGV, 207),

[in LXX chiefly for ידע ;]

to be taking in knowledge, come to know, recognize, perceive, understand; in past tenses to know, realize; pass., to become known: c. acc., Mt 22:18, Mk 5:43, Col 4:8, I Th 3:5, al. Pass., Mt 10:26, Phl 4:5, al.; seq. ὅτι, Mt 21:45, Jo 4:1, al.; τί, Mt 6:3; ἀπό, Mk 15:45; ὅ, Ro…

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

γινώσκω (Attic γιγνώσκω, see γίνομαι init.; fr. TNOQ, as βιβρώσκω fr. BPOQ); [impf. ἐγίνωσκον); fut. γνώσομαι ; 2 aor. ἔγνων (fr. TNQMI), impv. γνῶθι, γνώτω, subj. γνῶ (3 pers. sing. γνοῖ, Mk. v. 43; ix. 30; Lk. xix.15 LT Tr WH, for RG γνῷ [B. p. 46 (40); cf. δίδωμε init.]), inf. γνῶναι, ptep. γνούς ; pf. ἔγνωκα (Jn. xvii. 7; 3 pers. plur. ἔγνωκαν for ἐγνώκασι, see reff. in γίνομαι init.); plpf. ἐγνώκειν ; Pass., [pres. 3 pers. sing. γινώσκεται (Mk. xiii. 23 Trmrg.)]; pf. ἔγνωσμαι ; 1 aor. ἐγνώσθην ; fut. γνωσθήgona; in Grk. writ. fr. Hom. down; Sept. for yp; Lat. nosco, novi (i. 6. gnosco, gnovi) ; I. univ. 1. to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of; pass. to become known: with ace., Mt. xxii. 18; Mk. v.43; Actsxxi. 34; 1 Co. iv. 19; 2 Co.ii.4; Col. iv. 8; 1 Th. iii. 5,etc. Pass., Mt. x. 26; Acts ix. 24; Phil. iv. 5, ete.; [impers. γινώσκεται, Mk. xiii. 28 Trmrg.T 2, 7]; τὶ…

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

γινώσκω. For γ. followed by ὅτι, see P Par 471} (6. B.C. 153) (= Selecttons, p. 22) γίνωσ (Δ. γίνωσκε) ὅτι πιράσεται ὃ δραπέϊτη)ς μὴ ἀφῖναι ἡμᾶς ἐϊ πὶ τ]ῶν τόπων ἵναι, ‘know that the runaway will try not to allow us to remain on the spot,” 26. 4958 (B.C. 164-58) γίνωσκε σαφῶς ὅτι, ἐὰν ἀναβῶ κἀγὼ προσκυνῆσαι, πρός σε οὐ μ[ὴ] ἐπέλθω. In 2. 32° (B.C. 162) γινώσκετε. .. μὴ ἐσχολαζκέν]αι pe, we have the acc. and inf.: so 7. 444 (B.C. 153) γίνωσκέ με πεπορεῦσθαι εἰς κτλ. For the commen epistolary phrase γινώσκειν σε θέλω ὅτι, see P Oxy IV. 743%7 (B.C. 2) ὥστ᾽ ἂν τοῦτό σε θέλω γεινώσκειν, ὅτι ἐγὼ αὐτῶι διαστολὰς δεδώκειν, BGU III. 8465 (11,Α.1».} γεινώσκειν σαι θέλω, ὅτι οὐχ [ἥλπ]ιζον, ὅτι ἀναβένις εἰς τὴν μητρόπολιν, “1 wish you to know that Thad no hope that you would come up to the metropolis,” 2. I. 274 (ii/A.D.) γινώσκειν oe θέλω ὅτει εἰς γῆν ἐλήλυθα τῇ ς τοῦ Errelp μηνός, “1 wish you to…

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

γινώσκω (ginōskō) — to know.

Included with: γιγνώσκω,

Doric dialect [Refs 5th c.BC+], Aeolic dialect, Ionic dialect, and after [Refs 4th c.BC+] γινώσκω, but γιγνώσκω in early Attic dialect Inscrr., as [Refs] (κατα-), etc.: future γνώσομαι [Refs 8th c.BC+], Doric dialect 3rd.pers. singular γνωσεῖται [Refs] is falsa lectio in [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Cretan dialect form ἀνα-γνώοντι uncertain in [Refs]: perfect ἔγνωκα [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist 2 ἔγνων [Refs 8th c.BC+], Epic dialect dual γνώτην [Refs 8th c.BC+], Doric dialect 3rd.pers. plural ἔγνον [Refs 5th c.BC+]; subjunctive γνῶ, γνῷς, γνῷ [Refs 8th c.BC+], Epic dialect also γνώω, γνώομεν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; infinitive γνῶναι [Refs 8th c.BC+], Epic dialect γνώμεναι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; participle γνούς [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—middle, aorist 1 γνώσασθαι [Refs 4th c.AD+]:—passive, future γνωσθήσομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist ἐγνώσθην [Refs…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

γινώσκω

ginosko

a prolonged form of a primary verb; to "know" (absolutely) in a great

variety of applications and with many implications (as follow, with

others not thus clearly expressed):--allow, be aware (of), feel,

(have) know(-ledge), perceived, be resolved, can speak, be sure,

understand.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

γινώσκω

v.

I come to know, learn, realize

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

γινώσκω ginōskō 222x

to know, whether the action be inceptive or complete and settled; to perceive, Mt. 22:18; Mk. 5:29; 8:17; 12:12; Lk. 8:46; to mark, discern, Mt. 25:24; Lk. 19:44; to ascertain by examination, Mk. 6:38; Jn. 7:51; Acts 23:28; to understand, Mk. 4:13; Lk. 18:34; Jn.…

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-2AAN — Verb · second aorist · active · infinitive
second aorist active infinitive — a completed action, viewed as a whole.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-2AAN Part of Speech: Verb Tense: second Aorist Voice: Active Mood: iNfinitive TVM equivalent: G5629

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
11%know
know11% · 25×having known8% · 18×knew5% · 11×you know5% · 11×knows4% · 9×knowing4% · 9×we know4% · 8×do know4% · 8×other renderings55% · 123×

222 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 82 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
verb96%adverbial3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 221 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
οὐNeg
καίand, even, also,ὅςοὗτος
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςὁράωI see, look uponκατάκειμαιI recline, am ly
οὗτος
ἐνπᾶςall, the whole, πλήνhowever, neverth
ἵναin order that, so th
οὗτοςἀργύριονsilver, a shekelπιστεύωI believe, have
δέbut, on the other ha
οὗτοςεἰCondἐκεῖνος
γινώσκωto come to know,221×
what comes after →
Article the
θεόςGod, a godθέλημαwill, wish, desiπατήρfather, Father,
ὅτιthat, since, because
ἐγγύςnearArticle theἐγώ
αὐτός
καίand, even, also,ἕωςuntil, as far asἐν
τίςIrg
εἰμίI am, existποιέωI do, makeτίςIrg
καίand, even, also, nam
οὐNegεἰςδιχοτομέωI cut in two, sc

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

Concordanceγινώσκω · 221× in the New Testament
John Luke 1 John Matthew 1 Corinthians Acts Mark Romans 2 Corinthians Philippians Galatians Hebrews

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

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 8c. AD 40

Μωυσῆς δὲ καὶ φιλοσοφίας ἐπ’ αὐτὴν φθάσας ἀκρότητα καὶ χρησμοῖς τὰ πολλὰ καὶ συνεκτικώτατα τῶν τῆς φύσεως ἀναδιδαχθεὶς ἔγνω δή, ὅτι ἀναγκαιότατόν ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς οὖσι τὸ μὲν εἶναι δραστήριον αἴτιον, τὸ δὲ παθητόν, καὶ ὅτι τὸ μὲν δραστήριον ὁ τῶν ὅλων…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.9c. AD 75–95

τούτῳ δὴ πειθόμενος ὡς αἰεὶ τοῖς χρήσιμον ἢ καλόν τι πράττειν δυναμένοις συμφιλοκαλοῦντι καὶ ἐμαυτὸν αἰσχυνόμενος, εἰ δόξαιμι ῥαθυμίᾳ πλέον ἢ τῷ περὶ τὰ κάλλιστα χαίρειν πόνῳ, προθυμότερον ἐπερρώσθην, ἔτι κἀκεῖνα πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις λογισάμενος οὐ…

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.5c. AD 100

λογισάμενος οὖν τοῦτο, ὅτι ἐὰν μελήσῃ μοι περὶ ὑμῶν τοῦ μέρος τι μεταδοῦναι ἀφ̓ οὗ ἔλαβον, ὅτι ἔσται μοι τοιούτοις πνεύμασιν ὑπηρετήσαντι εἰς μισθόν, ἐσπούδασα κατὰ μικρὸν ὑμῖν πέμπειν, ἵνα μετὰ τῆς πίστεως ὑμῶν τελείαν ἔχητε τὴν γνῶσιν.

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. BC 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 6th c. AD

r Κάλλιππος Ζήνωνι χαίρειν. γίνωσκέ με ἀναπεπλευκότα διὰ τ … … ὀμνύω σοι τὴν σαυτοῦ σωτηρίαν ἦ μὴν τὴν

PSI 4 437Philadelphia? (Arsinoites)247 BC

r Σπίνθηρ Ζήνωνι χαίρειν. γίνωσκε ἡμᾶς οἰκονομηκότας τὰ περὶ τὰ σκεύη τοῦ πλοίου, ἐπιστόλια εἰληφότας εἰς Μέμφιν καὶ εἰς

P.Cair. Zen. 3 59363Philadelphia (Arsinoites)244 BC

κριθὴν μετὰ Μόσχου καὶ Σωσιθέου· ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ σιτομέτρην συναπόστειλον, ὃς ἀποκαταστήσει πρὸς ἡμᾶς. γίνωσκε δὲ τὰς τιμὰς ἐπευωνιζούσας ἑκάστης ἡμέρας, ὅτε μὲν ἡμιωβέλιον , ὅτε δὲ ὀβολοῦ τέταρτον

Do you want however to come to know, O man foolish, that <the> faith apart from <the> works worthless is?
ō O G5599 Interj
17× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in James than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
An expression of address or surprise, like saying 'oh' or 'O', as in Matthew 15:28 and Acts 1:1.
Tyndale gloss
oh!
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word (ō) is an interjection used primarily as a vocative address, meaning 'O!' or 'Oh!'. It expresses surprise, joy, or pain and appears in various contexts, including direct address and exclamations. In the New Testament, it is found in passages such as Matthew 15:28 and Romans 11:33. The lexicons do not indicate significant disagreement regarding its usage.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

interj., c. vocat.,

O;

in simple address (less freq. than in cl.; M, Pr., 71); Ac 1:1 18:14 27:21, Ro 2:1, 3 9:20, I Ti 6:20; expressing reproof, Ja 2:20;

in exclamations of surprise, etc.: Mt 15:28, Lk 24:25, Ac 13:10, Ro 11:33, Ga 3:1; c. nom. (Bl., § 33, 4), Mt 17:17, Mk 9:19, Lk 9:41.†

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὦ (ō) — oh!.

and ὤ, an exclamation, expressing surprise, joy, or pain, O! oh! with nominative, ὢ τάλας ἐγώ [Refs 5th c.BC+]: also with genitive, ὢ τῆς ἀναισχυντίας [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; with interrogative, ὤ, τί λέγει; [Refs]; in the middle of a sentence, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. with vocative, a mode of address, whether at the beginning of a sentence or in a parenthesis, ὦ Ἀχιλεῦ [Refs 8th c.BC+]; in invocations of the gods, ὦ Ζεῦ τε καὶ Γῆ καὶ πολισσοῦχοι θεοί [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὦ πρὸς θεῶν ὕπεικε [Refs 4th c.BC+]: sometimes following the Verb, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; in different number from the vocative, προσέλθετ᾽, ὦ παῖ, πατρί [Refs 5th c.BC+]

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

o

a primary interjection; as a sign of the vocative case, O; as a note

of exclamation, oh:--O.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

Ij.

O, an exclamation

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὦ ō 17x

O!, Mt. 15:28; Mk. 9:19; Acts 1:1; Rom. 2:1, 3; 11:33

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Interj — Interj
Into Englishhow translators actually render it
100%o
o100% · 17×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 17 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
ἸησοῦςJesusαὐτός
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakπρός
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
περί
πονηρόςevil, bad, wicked
ῥᾳδιούργημαan act of villai
μένDisj
δεῖit is necessary,
O17×
what comes after →
ἄνθρωποςa man, one of the hu
πᾶςall, the whole, Article theμενοῦνDisj
γενεάa generation
ἄπιστοςunbelieving, inc
ἀνόητοςfoolish, thoughtless
καίand, even, also,Γαλάτηςa Galatian
γυνήa woman, wife, my la
μέγας
ΘεόφιλοςTheophilus
ὅς

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

Concordance · 17× in the New Testament
Acts Romans 1 Timothy Luke Matthew Galatians James Mark
Across the New Testament8 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 30 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.

Do you want however to come to know, O man foolish, that <the> faith apart from <the> works worthless is?
ἄνθρωπεanthrōpos man G444 Noun · vocative · singular · masculine
548× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in James as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means a human being, and is used in the Bible to describe people, like in John 16:21 and Romans 7:1.
Tyndale gloss
a human
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἄνθρωπος (i.e., *anthropos*) means 'man' or 'human being,' encompassing both males and females. It is derived from roots meaning 'man-faced' and is used in various contexts throughout the New Testament, such as to distinguish humans from God and animals. The term can imply human frailty and is often used in phrases that reflect human nature or condition.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἄνθρωπος, -ου, ὁ,

[in LXX chiefly for אָדָם, אִישׁ, also for אֱנוֹשׁ, etc.;]

man:

generically, a human being, male or female (Lat. homo): Jo 16:21; c. art., Mt 4:4 12:35, Mk 2:27, Jo 2:25, Ro 7:1, al; disting. from God, Mt 19:6, Jo 10:33, Col 3:23, al.; from animals, etc., Mt 4:19, Lk 5:10, Re 9:4, al.; implying human frailty and imperfection, I Co 3:4; σοφία ἀνθρώπων,

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

ἄνθρωπος, -ov, 6, [perh. fr. ἀνήρ and oy, i. e. man’s face; Curtius § 422; Vaniéek p.9. From Hom. down]; man. Tt is used 1. univ., with ref. to the genus or nature, without distinction of sex, a human being, whether male or female: Jn. xvi. 31. And in this sense a. with the article, generically, so as to include all human individuals: Mt. iv. 4 (ἐπ᾿ ἄρτῳ ζήσεται 6 ἄνθρωπος) ; Mt. xii. 35 (ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἄνθ. every good person); Mt. xv. 11, 18; Mk. ii. 27; vil. 15, 18, 20; Lk.iv.4; Jn. ii. 25 [W. § 18, 8]; vii. 51; Ro. vii.1,ete. b. so that a man is distinguished from beings of a different race or order; a. from animals, plants, ete.: Lk. v.10; Mt.iv.19; xii. 12; 2 Pet. ii. 16; Rev. ix. 4, 7, 10, 15,18; xi. 13, ete. β. from God, from Christ as divine, and from angels: Mt. x. 32; xix. 6; Mk. x. 9; Lk. 11. 15 [Ὁ WH om., L Tr br.] (opp. to angels); Jn. x. 33; Acts x. 26; xiv.11; 1 Th. ii. 13…

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

ἄνθρωπος, like ἀνήρ, has kept its differentia practically unchanged from Homer to MGr. It is interesting to notice its philosophical abstract ἀνθρωπότης vouched for as fairly popular Greek by Vettius Valens (p. 346%, in antith. to ἀθανασία), passing into Christian theology (see LS and Sophocles Zex.), and current in MGr. The NT has no trace of the curious misuse by which the principal difference between a. and ἀνήρ is ignored: Tob 65 ἀνθρώπου ἢ γυναικός. P Flor |. 61 (a.p. 86-8) ἄξιος μ[ὲ]ν ἧς μαστιγωθῆναι, διὰ σεαυτοῦ [κ]Ἰατασχὼν ἄνθρωπον εἰσχήμονα καὶ yuv[ai]kas is not parallel, as a. only means as little is Jn 772. (Grimm). Another case of ἄνθρωπος invading the sphere of ἀνήρ is the Matthzean locution ἄ, οἰκοδεσπότης, βασιλεύς, φαγός etc. though not Attic: Mt may have got it from LXX (so Lev 21° ἀνθρώπου ἱερέως). Some papyrus passages may be cited, though little is needed. The…

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

ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos) — a human.

ἄνθρωπος, ἡ,

Attic dialect crasis ἅνθρωπος, Ionic dialect ὥνθρωπος, for ὁ ἄνθρ-:— man, both as a generic term and of individuals, [Refs 8th c.BC+], opposed to gods, ἀθανάτων τε θεῶν χαμαὶ ἐρχομένων τ᾽ ἀνθρώπων[Refs 8th c.BC+]; πρὸς ἠοίων ἢ ἑσπερίων ἀνθρώπων the men of the east or of the west, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; even of the dead in the Isles of the Blest,[Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. [Refs 5th c.BC+] uses it both with and without the Article to denote man generically, ὁ ἄ. θείας μετέσχε μοίρας[Refs]; ὁ ἄ. the ideal man, humanity, ἀπώλεσας τὸν ἄ., οὐκ ἐπλήρωσας τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν[Refs 2nd c.AD+]

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἄνθρωπος

anthropos

from 435 and ops (the countenance; from 3700); man-faced, i.e. a human

being:--certain, man.

see GREEK for 435

see GREEK for 3700

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἄνθρωπος, ου, ὁ

n.m.

a man, one of the human race

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἄνθρωπος anthrōpos 550x

a human being, Jn. 16:21; Phil. 2:7; an individual, Rom. 3:28, et al. freq.; used also pleonastically with other words, Mt. 11:19; et al.; met. the spiritual frame of the inner man, Rom. 7:22; Eph. 3:16; 1 Pet. 3:4

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἄνθρωπος prob. from ἀνήρ, ὤψ, manfaced man, Lat. homo (not vir), opp. to gods, ἀθανάτων τε θεῶν, χαμαὶ ἐρχομένων τ᾽ ἀνθρώπων Il.

with or without the Art. to denote man generally, Plat., etc.

in pl. mankind, ἀνθρώπων, ἀνδρῶν ἠδὲ γυναικῶν Il.; ὁ ἄριστος ἐν ἀνθρώποις ὄρτυξ the best quail in the world, Plat.; μάλιστα, ἥκιστα ἀνθρώπων most, least of all, Hdt., etc.

with another Subst., to give it a contemptuous sense, ἄνθρ. ὑπογραμματεύς, συκοφάντης, Oratt.; so homo histrio Cic.:—so, ἄνθρωπος or ὁ ἄνθρωπος was used alone, the man, the fellow, Plat.:— also in vocat. it was addressed contemptuously to slaves, ἄνθρωπε or ὦ 'νθρωπε, sirrah! you sir! Hdt., Plat.

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-VSM — Noun · vocative · singular · masculine
vocative — the one being addressed.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-VSM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Vocative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

See ANTHROPOLOGY.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Man

(1.) Heb. ‘Adam, used as the proper name of the first man. The name is derived from a word meaning “to be red,” and thus the first man was called Adam because he was formed from the red earth. It is also the generic name of the human race (Gen. 1:26, 27; 5:2; 8:21; Deut. 8:3). Its equivalents are the Latin homo and the Greek anthropos (Matt. 5:13, 16). It denotes also man in opposition to woman (Gen. 3:12; Matt. 19:10).

(2.) Heb. ‘ish, like the Latin vir and Greek aner, denotes properly a man in opposition to a woman (1 Sam. 17:33;

→ CREATED Ge 1:26,27; 2:7; 5:1,2; De 4:32; Job 4:17; 10:2,3,8,9; 31:15; 33:4; 35:10; Ps 8:5; 100:3; 119:73; 138:8; 139:14; Ec 7:29; Isa 17:7; 42:5; 43:7; 45:12; 64:8; Jer 27:5; Zec 12:1; Mal 2:10; Mr 10:6; Heb 2:7

See CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD, below

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
59%man
man59% · 328×men33% · 185×a man2% · 13×other renderings6% · 33×

559 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 21 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject43%adverbial24%object17%predicate9%indirect object5%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 548 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
υἱόςa son, descendenκοινόωI make unclean, ἀπό
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
εἰςπρόςδέbut, on the othe
ὁράωI see, look upon, ex
καίand, even, also,ἐξέρχομαιI go out, come oλέγωI say, speak
ἐκ
DisjλέγωI say, speakεἰμίI am, exist
ἐγώ
γάρforὅτιthat, since, becΠαῦλοςPaul
ἄνθρωποςman548×
what comes after →
Article the
δέbut, on the otheπατήρfather, Father, Article the
οὗτος
ὅςδίκαιοςjust, righteous,καίand, even, also,
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theλέγωI say, speakεἰμίI am, exist
εἰμίI am, exist
ὑπόκαίand, even, also,Article the
ἐν
Article theμαλακόςsoft, effeminateπνεῦμαwind, breath, sp

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

Concordanceἄνθρωπος · 548× in the New Testament
Matthew Luke John Mark Acts 1 Corinthians Romans Revelation Galatians 1 Timothy Hebrews Ephesians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament24 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 708 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 25c. AD 40

τὴν γοῦν ἀνθρώπου γένεσιν ἀναγράφων ἐν τοῖς ἔπειτα διαρρήδην ὁμολογεῖ, ὡς ἄρα κατ’ εἰκόνα θεοῦ διετυπώθη (Gen.

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 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 6th c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. BC 3rd c. AD
P.Cair. Zen. 3 59301Philadelphia (Arsinoites)251 BC

Ψύχεως. καλῶς ἂν οὖν ποιήσαις διέμενος αὐτόν, καθὰ ἐν πόλει μοι ἐπηγγείλω. ἔστιν γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ἡμῖν χρήσιμος. ἔρρωσο. ἔτους λϛ, Παχώνς.

P.Giss. 1 39Theben206 BC–181 BC

ἀεὶ χρόνου. ἐὰν δέ τίς σοι ἐπέλθηι ἔκ τε τοῦ ἐμοῦ ὀνόματος ἢ ἄλλου ἀνθρώπου, ἀνεπιεικὲς ἐκστήσω αὐτὸν ἀπὸ σοῦ περὶ αὐτῶν καὶ βεβαιώσω σοι αὐτὰ ἀπὸ συναλλαγμάτων καὶ

P.Grenf. 1 37Thebais109 BC

ντων ὑμῶν διαλήψεως … καὶ οὐδὲ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν οὐδενός … ς ἀξιοῦμεν … ἀνθρώπου ἀλόγως … ὀφείλει ἡμῖν διάφορα … θαι ἀλλʼ ἀποστερέσαι … ησας ἀλλά … τας

Do you want however to come to know, O man foolish, that <the> faith apart from <the> works worthless is?
κενέ,kenos foolish, G2756 Adjective · vocative · singular · masculine
18× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in James than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means something is empty, either literally or figuratively, as seen in Ephesians 5:6 and Colossians 2:8. It can describe empty words or actions that have no purpose or value. The Bible uses this word to emphasize the importance of meaningful actions.
Amplified meaning
vain, empty
Tyndale gloss
empty
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

κενός is an adjective meaning 'empty' or 'vain.' It can describe things that contain nothing or are devoid of value, as seen in various contexts in the New Testament, such as in Mark 12:3 and 1 Corinthians 15:10. The term also applies to people, indicating being empty-handed or lacking spiritual substance, as noted in James 2:20. The lexicons agree on its primary meanings, with no significant disagreement.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — κενός, μάταιος from a scan

THESE words nowhere in the N.T. occur together; but on several occasions in the Septuagint, as for instance at Job xx. Seen Xk es οὐ! 1%. Δ. clos ἐσ ie nC lemontaor Rome, Cor. 6; and not unfrequently in classical Greek; as in Sophocles (Hlec. 324); in Aristotle (Hthic. Nic. i. 2. 1); and in Plutarch (Adv. Colot. 17). We deal with them here solely in their ethical use; for seeing that μάταιος knows, at least in Scripture, no other use, it is only as ethically employed that κενός can be brought into comparison with it, or the words made the subject of discrimination. The first, κενός, is ‘ empty,’ ‘ leer,’ ‘ gehaltlos,’ ‘ inanis’ ; the second, μάταιος, ‘ vain,’ ‘ eitel ’ (‘idle’), ‘ erfolglos,’ ‘ vanus.’ In the first is characterized the hollowness, in the second the aimlessness, or, if we may use the word, the resultlessness, connected as it is with μάτην, of that to which this epithet…

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

κενός, -ή, -όν,

[in LXX chiefly for ריק and cognate forms;]

empty (Ge 37:24, Jg 7:16). Metaph.,

empty, vain: λόγοι, Eph 5:6; ἀπάτη, Col 2:8; κήρυγμα, πίστις, I Co 15:14;

vain, fruitless: ἡ χάρις, I Co 15:10; κόπος, I Co 15:58; ἡ εἴσοδος, I Th 2:1; κενά, Ac 4:25(LXX); εἰς κενόν, in vain, to no purpose (Diod., LXX; cl. διὰ κενῆς),

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

κενός, -7, -όν, [fr. Hom. down], Sept. for DP, Ps PD ete., empty ; 1. prop. of places, vessels, ete., which contain nothing (Judg. vii. 16; Gen. xxxvii. 24); metaph. empty, vain; devoid of truth: λόγοι, Eph. v. 6 (Ex. v. 9); ἀπάτη. Col. ii. 8; κήρυγμα, πίστις, 1 Co. xy. 14. 57 of men, empty-handed; without a gift: ἀποστέλλειν and ἐξαποστέλλειν τινὰ κενόν (Gen. xxxi. 42; Deut. xv. 13; xvi. 16), Mk. xii.3; Lk.i.53; xx.10sq.; metaph. des¢itute of spiritual wealth, of one who boasts of his faith as a transcendent possession, yet is without the fruits of faith, Jas. ii. 20. 3. metaph. of endeavors, labors, acts, which result in nothing, vain, fruitless, without effect: ἡ χάρις. 1 Co. xv. 10; κόπος, ib. 58; ἡ εἴσοδος, 1 Th. ii. 1; neut. plur. κενά, things that will not succeed, Acts iv. 25 (fr. Ps. ii. 1); εἰς κενόν, in vain, to no purpose, [ef. W. 592 (551)]: 2 Co. vi.1; Gal. ii. 2; Phil.…

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

κενός (kenos) — empty.

κενός, ή, όν,

Ionic dialect and poetry κεινός [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Epic dialect also κενεός, as always in [Refs 8th c.BC+] (except in Il.[same places], and κενός [Refs 8th c.BC+], and in Doric dialect, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; Aeolic dialect κέννος, accusative to Greg. Cor.p.610 [Refs 5th c.BC+]; but οἱ Αἰολεῖς.. οὐ λέγουσι κέννος Choerob.in [Refs], from κενϝος, kenevos,[Refs 5th c.AD+] κενευϝός [Refs]

I. mostly of things, empty, opposed to πλέως, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; opposed to πλήρης, [Refs]; opposed to μεστός, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; τὸ κ. (i.e. τάλαντον) the empty one, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; χώματα κεινά, ={κενοτάφια}, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; κατέθισαν ἐπὶ κενευϝῶν (i.e. τάφων genitive singular) [Refs 5th c.AD+]; κ. χρόνος a pause in music, Anon.[Refs 1st c.AD+]; of wool and wine, uncertain meaning in…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

κενός

kenos

apparently a primary word; empty (literally or figuratively):--empty,

(in) vain.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

κενός, ή, όν

Adj

empty, vain, hollow

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

κενός kenos 18x

empty; having nothing, empty-handed, Mk. 12:3; met. vain, fruitless, void of effect, Acts 4:25; 1 Cor. 15:10; εἰς κενόν, in vain, to no purpose, 2 Cor. 6:1; hollow, fallacious, false, Eph. 5:6; Col. 2:8; inconsiderate, foolish, 1 Thess. 3:5; Jas. 2:20

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

κενός of things, empty, opp. to πλέως or πλήρης, Hom., Hdt., attic

metaph. empty, vain, κενὰ εὔγματα Od.; κ. ἐλπίς Aesch., etc.:—in adverbial usages, neut. pl., κενεὰ πνεύσας Pind.; διὰ κενῆς to no purpose, in vain, Ar., Thuc.

of persons,

c. gen. void, destitute, bereft, τοῦ νοῦ, φρενῶν Soph.; συμμάζων Eur.

empty-handed, Hom., Hdt., attic:— bereft of her mate, λέαινα Soph.: — empty of wit, empty-headed, id. Soph., Ar.

comp. and Sup. κενώτερος, -ώτατος, Plat., etc.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Adj-VSM — Adjective · vocative · singular · masculine
vocative — the one being addressed.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

A-VSM Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Vocative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
39%vain
vain39% · 7×void17% · 3×empty17% · 3×empty-handed17% · 3×vain things?6% · 1×foolish6% · 1×

18 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 6 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
adverbial50%predicate28%second object11%object6%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 18 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
εἰς
μήNegπῶςοὐNeg
ἐξαποστέλλωI send forth
πλουτέωI become richἀτιμάζωI disgrace, dish
οὐNeg
ἐγώὅτιthat, since, bec
ἀποστέλλωI send forth, send,
καίand, even, also,
δέρωI flay, flog, scourg
αὐτός
κενόςfoolish,18×
what comes after →
γίνομαιI come into being, a
ἀλλάbut, exceptArticle the
τρέχωI run, exercise myse
DisjοὐδέNeg
ἄραDisj
Article the
καίand, even, also, nam
Article the
ἐν
κύριοςlord, Lord, mast

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

Concordanceκενός · 18× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians Luke 1 Thessalonians Philippians 2 Corinthians Acts Colossians Ephesians Galatians James Mark
Across the New Testament11 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 51 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 Polycarp The Didache
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 29c. AD 40

ὧν τὸ μὲν ἐπεφήμισε σκότος, ἐπειδὴ μέλας ὁ ἀὴρ τῇ φύσει, τὴν δ’ ἄβυσσον, πολύβυθον γὰρ τό γε κενὸν καὶ ἀχανές·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.166c. AD 75–95

Τῶν γὰρ Αἰγυπτίων διαφόροις ἀρεσκομένων ἔθεσι καὶ τὰ παρʼ ἀλλήλοις ἐκφαυλιζόντων νόμιμα καὶ διὰ τοῦτο δυσμενῶς ἐχόντων πρὸς ἀλλήλους, συμβαλὼν αὐτῶν ἑκάστοις καὶ διαπτύων τοὺς λόγους οὓς ἐποιοῦντο περὶ τῶν ἰδίων κενοὺς καὶ μηδὲν ἔχοντας ἀληθὲς…

The DidacheThe Didache 2.5c. AD 100

οὐκ ἔσται ὁ λόγος σου ψευδής, οὐ κενός, ἀλλὰ μεμεστωμένος πράξει,

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 3rd c. BC 4th c. AD 6th c. AD
JJP 16 - 17 (1971), p. 137 [9758]Karanis (Arsinoites)AD 147

παρέσχηκε διὰ πύλης Καρανίδος ἐρημοφυλακίας Σύρος ἐξάγων καμήλους κενοὺς δύο . ἔτους δεκάτου Ἀντωνείνου Καίσαρος τοῦ κυρίου Φαρμοῦθι ἑβδόμῃ καὶ εἰκάδι κζ Καρανίδοσ

P.Ross.Georg. 2 29AD 101–AD 200

δ κνήκου κεράμια β φακοῦ ἀρτάβη α χορτοσπέρμου ἀρτάβη α ἄλλα ὁμοίως ἐν σφυρῖδι κενῇ μέτρα βόες τέλειαι δ μόσχος τέλειος α ἄλλοι ὑποδεέστεροι β

P.Stras. 8 790Theadelphia (Arsinoites)AD 160

καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἀριστοδήμου ἀρουρ δ προσόδων ἑξηκονταρούρου ἀρουρ α 𐅵 … ἐν τοῖς κενοῖς ἐδάφεσι ἀρουρ δ καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἀριστοδήμου ἀρουρ δ προσόδων ἑξηκονταρούρου ἀρουρ … 𐅵

Do you want however to come to know, O man foolish, that <the> faith apart from <the> works worthless is?
ὅτιhoti that G3754 Conjunction
1,293× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in James as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This Greek word means 'that' or 'because', used to introduce a reason or explanation. It appears in the New Testament, such as in Matthew 3:9 and Romans 8:38. It helps to show cause and effect in sentences.
Tyndale gloss
that/since: that
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ὅτι (hoti) is a conjunction primarily meaning 'that' or 'because.' It introduces objective clauses, often following verbs of perception or declaration, and can also serve as a causal particle. The New Testament frequently employs it in this way, such as in Matthew 5:4-12. There is some variation in how lexicons describe its usage, particularly regarding its pleonastic function in direct discourse.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὅτι,

conjc. (prop. neut. of ὅστις).

As conjc, introducing an objective clause, that;

after verbs of seeing, knowing, thinking, saying, feeling: Mt 3:9 6:32 11:25, Mk 3:28, Lk 2:49, Jo 2:22, Ac 4:13, Ro 1:13 8:38 10:9, Phl 4:15, Ja 2:24, al.; elliptically, Jo 6:46, Phl 3:12, al.

After εἶναι (γίνεσθαι): defining a demonstr. or pers. pron., Jo 3:19 16:19, Ro 9:6, I Jo 3:16 al.; c. pron. interrog., Mt 8:27, Mk 4:41,

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

ὅτι [properly neut. of ὅστις], a conjunction [fr. Hom. down], (Lat. quod [ef. W. § 53,8 b.; B. § 139, 51; § 149, 87), marking I. the substance or contents (of a statement), that; 1. joined to verbs of saying and declaring (where the ace. and infin. is used in Lat.) : ἀναγγέλλειν, Acts xiv. 27; διηγεῖσθαι, Acts ix. 273; εἰπεῖν, Mt. xvi. 20; xxviii. 7,13; Jn. vii. 42; xvi. 15; 1Co.i.15; λέγειν, Mt. iii. 9; vill. 11; Mk. iii. 28; Lk. xv.7; Jn. xvi. 20; Ro. iv. 9 [T Tr WH om. L br. ὅτι}; ix. 2, and very often; προεἰρηκέναι, 2 Co. vii. 3; before the ὅτι in Acts xiv. 22 supply λέγοντες, contained in the preceding παρακαλοῦντες [ef. B. §151, 11]; ὅτι after γράφειν, 1 Co. ix.10; 1 Jn. 11. 12-14; μαρτυρεῖν, Mt. xxiii. 31; Jn. i. 34; iii. 28; iv. 44; ὁμολογεῖν, Heb. xi. 13; δεικνύειν, Mt. xvi. 21; δηλοῦν, 1 Co. i. 11; διδάσκειν, 1 Co. xi. 14. after ἐμφανίζειν. Heb. xi. 14; δῆλον (ἐστίν), 1 Co.…

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

οτι. (1) For ὅτι, ‘‘that,” introducing an objective clause after verbs of knowing, saying, etc., cf. P Tebt II. 4098 (A.D. 5) εἰδὼ[ς ὅ]τι ἐξίι)ουσίαν αὐτῶν ἔχει kal Λυσίμαχος kal σύ, ΚΕ knew that both you and Lysimachus had plenty of them” (Edd.), P Fay 109° (early i/A.D.) νομίσας ὅτι (cf. Mt 517) κιχρᾷς por αὐτούς, ““ consider that you are lending them (sc. staters) to me’’ (Edd.), BGU III. 8464* (ii/a.p.) (= Selections, p. 93) γεινώσκειν σαι θέλω, ὅτι οὐχ [HA] Lov, ὅτι ἀναβένις (1. ἀναβαίνεις) els τὴν μητρόπολιν, “1 wish you to know that I had no hope that you were coming up to the metropolis,” 74.9 αἴγραψά σοι, ὅτι γυμνός εἰμει, “1 wrote you that I am naked,” and P Tebt II. 420+ (iii/A.D.) οἴδατε ὅτι ἀπὸ ζημίας ἠμί, ‘‘ You know that I am blameless.” Ὅτι, however, is frequently omitted, e.g. BGU IIL. 8153(ii/a.p.) γεινόσκιν σε θέλω [τὴ]ν ἐπιστολήν σου ἔλαβε (corrected by another hand…

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

ὅτι (hoti) — that/since: that.

ὅτῐ,

Epic dialect ὅττῐ (both in [Refs 8th c.BC+]: conjunction, to introduce an objective clause, that, after Verbs of seeing or knowing, thinking or saying; in [Refs 8th c.BC+] —Usage:

I. when ὅτι introduces a statement of fact:

I. a in [Refs 8th c.BC+] always with indicative, the tense following the same rules as in English, ἤγγειλ᾽ ὅττι ῥά οἱ πόσις ἔκτοθι μίμνε πυλάων [Refs 8th c.BC+]

I. b in Attic dialect, ὅτι takes indicative after primary tenses, indicative or optative after secondary tenses, e.g. ἐνδείκνυμαι ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι σοφός [Refs 5th c.BC+] news came that Megara had (literal has) revolted, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: sometimes optative and indicative are found in the same sentence, ἔλεγον, ὅτι Κῦρος μὲν τέθνηκεν, Ἀριαῖος δὲ πεφευγὼς.. εἴη [Refs 5th c.BC+].. and the accusative with infinitive…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὅτι

hoti

neuter of 3748 as conjunction; demonstrative, that (sometimes

redundant); causative, because:--as concerning that, as though,

because (that), for (that), how (that), (in) that, though, why.

see GREEK for 3748

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὅτι

Cj.

that, since, because

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὅτι hoti 1x

originally was the neuter of ὅστις, that, Mt. 2:16, 22, 23; 6:5, 16; often used pleonastically in reciting another’s words, Mt. 9:18; Lk. 19:42; Acts 5:23; as a causal particle, for that, for, because, Mt. 2:18; 5:3, 4, 5; 13:13; because, seeing that, since, Lk. 23:40; Acts 1:17

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
64%that
that64% · 856×because19% · 252×for16% · 209×other renderings1% · 12×

1,329 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
adverbial16%object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,293 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
σύ
λέγωI say, speakγάρforδέbut, on the othe
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςσύδέbut, on the othe
οἶδαI know, remember
οὐNegκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakμαθητήςa learner, disciπερί
γινώσκωI come to know, lear
οὗτοςκαίand, even, also,αὐτός
ὅτιthat1293×
what comes after →
Article the
θεόςGod, a godκύριοςlord, Lord, mastπατήρfather, Father,
οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, existοἶδαI know, rememberδύναμαιI am powerful, a
ἐγώ
εἰμίI am, existοὐNegArticle the
οὗτος
εἰμίI am, existArticle theποιέωI do, make
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
Article theῥῆμαa thing spokenζητέωI seek, search f

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

Concordanceὅτι · 1,293× in the New Testament
John Luke Matthew Acts Mark 1 John Revelation 1 Corinthians Romans 2 Corinthians Galatians Philippians

2 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
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 8c. AD 40

Μωυσῆς δὲ καὶ φιλοσοφίας ἐπ’ αὐτὴν φθάσας ἀκρότητα καὶ χρησμοῖς τὰ πολλὰ καὶ συνεκτικώτατα τῶν τῆς φύσεως ἀναδιδαχθεὶς ἔγνω δή, ὅτι ἀναγκαιότατόν ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς οὖσι τὸ μὲν εἶναι δραστήριον αἴτιον, τὸ δὲ παθητόν, καὶ ὅτι τὸ μὲν δραστήριον ὁ τῶν ὅλων…

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

ὅτι τῶν ἐθνῶν ἕκαστον ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκισάντων προσηγορεύθη.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.3c. AD 100

ὅτι ἀληθῶς βλέπω ἐν ὑμῖν ἐκκεχυμένον ἀπὸ τοῦ πλουσίου τῆς πηγῆς κυρίου πνεῦμα ἐφ̓ ὑμᾶς.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. BC 6th c. AD
C.Erbstreit14Diospolis Magna (Theben)187 BC

καὶ τὴν εἰκοστὴν τοῦ ἐγκυκλίου καὶ τὰ ἄλλα τὰ καθήκοντα. … ται Προῖτος, καθʼ ὅτι πρόκειται … ἑξήκοντα ἓξ τετρωβόλου καὶ τῆς … … τοπογραμματέως τοῦ Παθυρίτου … ἀρουρῶν

P.Grenf. 1 10 p. 24Hermonthis149 BC

ι τοῖς ἐνκαλουμένοις τὸ ἀντίγραφον τῆς ἐντεύξεως λαβεῖν παρ … τ … … πίστιν ὅτι ἀπαντησα … ἐπὶ τὸ ἐν τῆι αὐλῆι κριτήριον ἐν ἡμέραις λ οὐκ ο

P.Bour. 10Pathyris89 BC

δʼ ἐπιχειροῦντας μὴ ὑπακούειν σου … υτέραι στάσει ἐχομένους ἀσφαλισάμενος μέχρι τοῦ καὶ ἡμᾶς ὅτι τάχος ἐπιβαλεῖν πρὸς σέ. ἔρρωσοἔρρωσο ἔτους κϛ Φαμενὼθ ιϛ

Do you want however to come to know, O man foolish, that <the> faith apart from <the> works worthless is?
ho <the> G3588 Article · nominative · singular · feminine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in James as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Art-NSF — Article · nominative · singular · feminine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-NSF Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

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

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

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

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

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

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

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

Do you want however to come to know, O man foolish, that <the> faith apart from <the> works worthless is?
πίστιςpistis faith G4102 Noun · nominative · singular · feminine
243× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in James than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Faith is the meaning of this word, which involves trust and confidence in God or Jesus Christ. It's used in Matthew 8:10 and Romans 1:8, showing reliance on God's power and promises.
Amplified meaning
trust, confidence in God
Tyndale gloss
faith
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

πίστις (pistis) is a feminine noun meaning faith, belief, or trust, derived from the verb πείθω (to persuade). It encompasses a range of meanings, primarily focusing on religious faith in God or Christ, and includes concepts of fidelity and assurance. In the New Testament, it appears in various contexts, often linked to salvation and the Christian faith, as seen in verses like Matthew 8:10 and Romans 1:8.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

πίστις, -εως, ἡ

(< πείθω),

[in LXX chiefly for אֱמוּנָה;]

in active sense, faith, belief, trust, confidence, in NT always of religious faith in God or Christ or spiritual things: Mt 8:10, Lk 5:20, Ac 14:9, Ro 1:8, I Co 2:5, II Co 1:24, I Ti 1:5, al.; c. gen. obj., Mk 11:22, Ac 3:16, Ro 3:22,

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

πίστις, -ews, 9, (πείθω [q-v-]), fr. [Hes., Theogn., Pind. ], Aeschyl., Hdt. down; Sept. for 93308, several times for Ax and IDR; faith; i.e. 1. conviction of the truth of anything, belief, (Plat., Polyb., Joseph., Plut.; θαυμάσια καὶ μείζω πίστεως, Diod. 1, 86); in the N. T. of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervor born of faith and conjoined with τὸς: Heb. xi. 1 (where πίστις is called ἐλπιζομένων trdcraces, πραγμάτων ἔλεγχος οὐ βλεπομένων) ; Opp. to εἶδος, 2 Co. vy. 7; joined with ἀγάπη and ἐλπίς, 1 Co. xiii. 13. a. when it relates to God, πίστις is the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ: Heb. xi. 6; xii. 2; xiii. 7; πίστις ἐπὶ θεόν, Heb. vi. 1; ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν ἡ πρὸς τὸν θεόν, by which ye…

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

πίστις. In accordance with its common NT usage, πίστις is used of ‘faith,’’ ‘‘ confidence” in a person in such passages as P Strass I. 4138 (c. A.D. 250), when in a legal process a witness is charged—as πρεσβύτης Kal πίστεως ἄξιος εἰπὲ ἃ οἶδας ἐν τῷ πρά[γματ]ι, and P Oxy XIV. τό27} (a.D. 342) διὰ τὴν περὶ ἡμᾶς μετριότητα καὶ πίστις (/. πίστιν), ‘owing to your clemency to us and confidence in us’’ (Edd.). In P Lond 233! (a.D. 345) (ΞΞ 11. p. 273, Chrest. I. p. 68) the editor translates τῇ σῇ πίστ(ε)ν as apparently = ‘‘at your discretion” or ‘“‘on your own credit.” P Tebt II. 418% (iii/A.D.) shows 5. ἀπολάβῃς παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ καλῇ πίστει, “‘receive it back from me in good faith’’ (Edd.): cf. P Oxy 1. 711: 11. (a.p. 303) νομίζουσα τούτους τὴν καλήν μοι πίστειν ἀποσώζειν, ‘thinking that they would preserve my good name” (Edd.). With the conjunction of πίστις and ἀλήθεια in τ Tim 27 cf. P Oxy I.…

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

πίστις (pistis) — faith.

πίστις, ἡ,

genitive εως, Ionic dialect ιος [Refs 5th c.BC+]; dative πίστει, Ionic dialect πίστῑ [Refs 5th c.BC+]: (πείθομαι):—trust in others, faith, first in [Refs 8th c.BC+]: generally, persuasion of a thing, confidence, assurance, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἡ βεβαιοτάτη π., ἀταραξία καὶ π. βέβαιος, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; σωφροσύνης π. ἔχειν περί τινος to be persuaded of his probity, [Refs 4th c.BC+]

2. in subjective sense, good faith, trustworthiness, honesty, [Refs 6th c.BC+]

2. b of things, credence, credit, τὰν π. σμικρὰν παρ᾽ ἔμοιγ᾽ ἔχει [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. c καλῇ π., = Latin bona fide, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; αἱ κατὰ πίστιν γεινόμεναι κληρονομίαι, = Latin hereditates fideicommissariae, [Refs]

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

πίστις

pistis

from 3982; persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious

truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially

reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, constancy in such

profession; by extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth

itself:--assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.

see GREEK for 3982

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

πίστις, εως, ἡ

n.f.

faith, belief, trust

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

πίστις pistis 243x

faith, belief, firm persuasion, 2 Cor. 5:7; Heb. 11:1; assurance, firm conviction, Rom. 14:23; ground of belief, guarantee, assurance, Acts 17:31; good faith, honesty, integrity, Mt. 23:23; Gal. 5:22; Tit. 2:10; faithfulness, truthfulness, Rom. 3:3; in NT faith in God and Christ, Mt. 8:10; Acts 3:16, et al. freq.; ἡ πίστις, the…

Read the full entry →
Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

πίστις πίστις, ιος, ἡ, πείθομαι trust in others, faith, Lat. fides, fiducia, Hes., Theogn., attic; c. gen. pers. faith or belief in one, Eur.:— generally, persuasion of a thing, confidence, assurance, Pind., attic

good faith, trustworthiness, faithfulness, honesty, Lat. fides, Theogn., Hdt., attic

in a commercial sense, credit, trust, πίστις τοσούτων χρημάτων ἐστί μοι παρά τινι I have credit for so much money with him, Dem.; εἰς πίστιν διδόναι τί τινι id. Dem.

in Theol. faith, belief, as opp. to sight and knowledge, NTest.

that which gives confidence: hence,

an assurance, pledge of good faith, warrant, guarantee, Soph., Eur.; πίστιν καὶ ὅρκια ποιεῖσθαι to make a treaty by exchange of assurances and oaths, Hdt.; οὔτε π. οὔθ᾽ ὅρκος μένει Ar.; πίστιν διδόναι to give assurances, Hdt.; διδόναι καὶ λαμβάνειν to…

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-NSF — Noun · nominative · singular · feminine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-NSF Part of Speech: Noun Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

fath:

1. Etymology

2. Meaning: a Divergency

3. Faith in the Sense of Creed

4. A Leading Passage Explained

5. Remarks

6. Conclusion

In the Old Testament (the King James Version) the word occurs only twice: De 32:20 ('emun); Hab 2:4 ('emunah). In the latter the Revised Version (British and American) places in the margin the alternative rendering, "faithfulness." In the New Testament it is of very frequent occurrence, always representing pistis, with one exception in the King James Version (not the Revised Version (British and American)), Heb 10:23, where it represents elpis, "hope."

1. Etymology:

The history of the English word is rather interesting than important; use and contexts, alike for it and its Hebrew and Greek parallels, are…

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Faith

Faith is in general the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true (Phil. 1:27; 2 Thess. 2:13). Its primary idea is trust. A thing is true, and therefore worthy of trust. It admits of many degrees up to full assurance of faith, in accordance with the evidence on which it rests.

Faith is the result of teaching (Rom. 10:14-17). Knowledge is an essential element in all faith, and is sometimes spoken of as an equivalent to faith (John 10:38; 1 John 2:3). Yet the two are distinguished in this respect, that faith includes in it assent, which is an act of the will in addition to the act of the understanding.…

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The assent of the understanding to any truth. Religious faith is assent to the truth of divine revelation and of the events and doctrines contained in it. This may be merely historical, without producing any effect on our lives and conversation; and it is then a dead faith, such as even the devils have. But a living or saving faith not only believes the great doctrines of religion as true, but embraces them with the heart and affections; and is thus the source of sincere obedience to the divine will, exhibited in the life and conversation. Faith in Christ is a grace wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit, whereby we receive Christ as our Savior, our Prophet, Priest, and King, and love and obey him as such. This living faith in Christ is the means of salvation-not meritoriously, but instrumentally. Without it there can be no forgiveness of sins, and no holiness of life; and they who are…

Nave's Topical Bible

→ General scriptures concerning 2Sa 22:31; Ps 2:12; 5:11; 7:1; 9:9,10; 18:30; 32:10; 33:18,19; 34:1-8,22; 36:7; 40:4; 64:10; 78:5-7; 84:5,12; 112:5,7,8; 118:8,9; 125:1; 147:11; Pr 3:5; 14:26; 22:19; 28:25; 29:25; 30:5; Isa 10:20; 14:32; 26:3; 30:15; 57:13; Jer 17:7,8; 39:18; Na 1:7; Mt 9:22; 21:21,22; Mr 9:23,24; 11:23,24; Lu 7:50; 8:48-50; 17:5; 18:8; Joh…

Across the New Testament24 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
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 57c. AD 40

τὸ δὲ μέγεθος τῆς περὶ τὸν ἥλιον δυνάμεως καὶ ἀρχῆς ἐμφανεστάτην πίστιν ἔχει τὴν λεχθεῖσαν ἤδη·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.14c. AD 75–95

τὸ σύνολον δὲ μάλιστά τις ἂν ἐκ ταύτης μάθοι τῆς ἱστορίας ἐθελήσας αὐτὴν διελθεῖν, ὅτι τοῖς μὲν θεοῦ γνώμῃ κατακολουθοῦσι καὶ τὰ καλῶς νομοθετηθέντα μὴ τολμῶσι παραβαίνειν πάντα κατορθοῦται πέρα πίστεως καὶ γέρας εὐδαιμονία πρόκειται παρὰ θεοῦ·

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 6th c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 5th c. AD
P.Fay. 122Euhemeria (Arsinoites)AD 100

Σισόιν τὸν τέκτονα ἀποτεῖσαι καὶ πέμψεις εἰς Χαλῶθιν ἐάν τινα εὕρῃς κατὰ παρόντας ἔχοντα πίστιν πολλήν, πέμψεις δὲ τὰ πρὸς τὴν ρο … … πρὸ ἡμερῶν τριῶν … ες.

P.Mich. 3 188Bakchias (Arsinoites)AD 120

ὁμολογῶν Ἑρμᾶς ἀποδοῦναι τὸ προκίμενον ἀργύριον ἀποδότω σὺν καὶ τῶι προκιμένωι ἀργυρίῳ … τῆς πίστεως περὶ αὐτὴν τὴν Ταπεκῦσιν οὔσης. ὑπογραφεὺς τῆς Ταπεκύσιος καὶ τοῦ αὐτῆς κυρίου Ἀμμώνιος Διοσκύρου

P.Fam.Tebt. 27Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 132

δούλην Ἀθηνάριον ταύτην τοιαύτην ἀναπόρριφον πλὴν ἐπαφῆς καὶ ἱερᾶς νόσου τῆι ἰδίᾳ αὐτοῦ Οὐαλερίου πίστει ἧς ἐὰν εὕρῃ τιμῆς τοῖς προσελευσομένοις ἀγορασταῖς, τῆς βεβαιώσεως πάσῃ βεβαιώσει ἐξακολουθούσης τῇ Ἡρακλείᾳ,

Do you want however to come to know, O man foolish, that <the> faith apart from <the> works worthless is?
χωρὶςchōris apart from G5565 Adverb
41× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in James than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Without something, like in John 15:5 where Jesus says we can do nothing without him. It can also mean separately or apart from something.
Amplified meaning
apart from, separate from
Tyndale gloss
without
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

χωρίς (chōris) is an adverb meaning 'separately' or 'apart from.' It can also function as a preposition with the genitive, indicating separation or absence, as seen in various New Testament verses like John 20:7 and Romans 3:21. The word conveys a sense of being distinct or independent, and it can imply a lack of connection or association with something.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

χωρίς

adv.,

separately, apart: Jo 20:7.

As prep., c. gen.,

separate from, apart from, without (practically equiv. to ἄνευ; v. Field, Notes, 103): Mt 13:34, Mk 4:34, Lk 6:49, Jo 1:3 15:5, Ro 3:21, 28 4:6 7:8, 9 10:14, I Co 4:8 11:11, II Co 12:3, Eph 2:12, Phl 2:14, I Ti 2:8 5:21, Phm 14, He 4:15 7:7, 20 9:7, 18 9:22, 28 10:28 11:6, 40 12:8, 14 (οὗ χωρίς; v. Bl., § 82, 3), Ja 2:18, 20, 26;

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

χωρίς, (XAQ, see χώρα [cf. Curtius § 192]), adv., fr. Hom. down ; 1. separately, apart: Jn. xx. 7. 2. as a prep. with the zen. [W. § 54, 6]; a. without any pers. or thing (making no use of, having no association with, apart from, aloof from, ete.) : 1 Co. [iv. 8]; xi. 11; Phil. ii. 14; 1 Tim. ii. 8; v. 21; Heb. [ii. 9 Treg. mrg.]; sxi. 40; παραβολῆς, without making use of a parable, Mt. ‘xiii. 34; Mk. iv. 34; ὁρκωμοσίας, Heb. vii. 20 (21), 21; +x: αἵματος, Heb. ix. 7, 18; αἱματεκχυσίας, Heb. ix. 22; without i. e. being absent or wanting: Ro. vii. 8sq. [R.V. apart from]; Heb. xi. 6; xii. 8,14; Jas. ii. 18 (Rec. ἐκ)» 20, 26, [in these three exx. R. V. apart from]; without connection and fellowship with one, Jn. xv. 5 [R.V. apart from]; destitute of the fellowship and blessings of one: χωρὶς Χριστοῦ [cf. W. 8 54,2 ἃ.; R. V. separate Srom Christ], Eph. ii. 12; without the intervention…

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

χωρίς I. as δᾶν. “‘separately,’’ Jn 207: Bauer (A@ZNT ad 1.) aptly compares Ignat. Zra//. 11 οὐ δύναται οὖν κεφαλὴ χωρὶς γεννηθῆναι ἄνευ μελῶν, ‘now it is not possible that a head should be born separately without members.” For an ex. from the Kowwy cf. the medical receipt P Oxy VIII. 10884! (early i/A.D.) λῆα ποιήσας Kal χωρὶς ἕκαστον ἀναπλάσας μεθ᾽ ὕδατος, ‘ pound and work them up separately with water ’’ (Ed.).

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

χωρίς (chōris) — without.

χωρίς,

adverb, also χωρί, which see: (see. χῆρος):— separately, apart, once in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; χίλια τάλαντα.. χ. θέσθαι set them apart, in reserve, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; χ. οἰκεῖν live apart, have an independent establishment, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; χ. γενόμενοι being separated, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; μή με χ. αἰτιῶ without evidence, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; χ. ποιῆσαι distinguish, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; χ. βλέπειν look two ways, squint, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; opposed to κοινῇ, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; opposed to κοινόν, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; χ. δέ.. and separately, and besides, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; separately, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; λέγειν χ. περὶ ἑκάστου Legal cited in [Refs 4th c.BC+]; περὶ τὸ ἓν καὶ χ. about the one and without [the one] [Refs 4th c.BC+]; otherwise, χ. δὲ μηδαμῶς [Refs 5th c.BC+]; χ. ἢ ὁκόσοι except so many as.., [Refs 5th c.BC+]; also χ. εἰ μή (condemned by Ps.-[Refs 1st…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

χωρίς

choris

adverb from 5561; at a space, i.e. separately or apart from (often as

preposition):--beside, by itself, without.

see GREEK for 5561

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

χωρίς

Adv

apart from, without

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

χωρίς chōris 41x

can function as an improper prep., apart, Jn. 20:7; apart from, parted from, Jn. 15:5; Jas. 2:18, 20, 26; alien from, Eph. 2:12; apart from, on a distinct footing from, 1 Cor. 11:11; apart from, distinct from, without the intervention of, Rom. 3:21, 28; 4:6; apart from the company of, independently of, 1 Cor. 4:8; Heb. 11:40 without the presence of, Heb. 9:28; without the agency of, Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

χωρίς separately, asunder, apart, by oneself or by themselves, Hom.; κεῖται χ. ὁ νεκρός Hdt.; χ. θέσθαι to set apart, keep in reserve, Thuc.; χ. οἰκεῖν to live apart, Dem.; μή με χ. αἰτιῶ accuse me not without evidence, Soph.; χ. ποιεῖν to distinguish, Isocr.; χωρὶς δέ . . , and separately, besides, Thuc.: — separately, one by one, Lys.; χωρὶς ἤ except, χ. ἢ ὅτι except that, Hdt.; χ. ἢ ὅκοσοι except so many as, id. Hdt.

metaph. of different nature, kind, or quality, Soph., Eur.

as prep. c. gen. without, Aesch., Soph., etc.; χ. Ζηνός without his help or will, Lat. sine Diis, Soph.

separate from, apart or aloof from, far from, χ. ἀνθρώπων στίβου id. Soph.; ἡ ψυχὴ χ. τοῦ σώματος Plat.

independent of, without reckoning, not to mention, besides, Hdt., Aesch.

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

ADV ADVerb or adverb and particle combined

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
50%apart from
apart from50% · 20×without35% · 14×besides8% · 3×out of3% · 1×separate from3% · 1×itself3% · 1×

40 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 6 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial93%predicate7%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 41 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
ὄχλοςa crowdγίνομαιI come into beinνόμοςa law, the Mosai
ἀνήρa male human being,
τετρακισχίλιοιfour thousandοὔτεNeg
δέbut, on the other ha
νυνίnow, already, atεἰCond
οὐNeg
ὅσοςἀρχιερεύςhigh priest, chi
πίστιςfaith, belief, trust
Article the
χωρίςapart from41×
what comes after →
δέbut, on the other ha
παραβολήa parable, compaArticle theπᾶςall, the whole,
Article the
ἔργονwork, labor, actπαρεκτόςbesides, outsideσῶμαbody, flesh
γυνήa woman, wife, my la
καίand, even, also,ἐν
ἐγώ
οὐNegβασιλεύωI rule, reign, rτελειόωI complete, acco
ἔργονwork, labor, action,
νόμοςa law, the Mosaiνεκρόςdead, a corpse

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

Concordanceχωρίς · 41× in the New Testament
Hebrews Romans James 1 Corinthians John Matthew 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians Ephesians Luke Mark Philemon
Across the New Testament13 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 8 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.83c. AD 40

ἐπεὶ πῶς ἀναγνώσεται χωρὶς ὀμμάτων ὁ ἀσκητής;

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.102c. AD 75–95

δεσπότας γὰρ ἁπάντων ὑμᾶς εἶναι πεποίηκα τῶν τε χερσαίων καὶ νηκτῶν καὶ ὅσα τὴν μετάρσιον αἰώραν ἔχει καὶ φοράν, χωρὶς αἵματος·

The Shepherd of HermasThe Shepherd of Hermas 25.1.6c. AD 140

παρά τινων ἐλάμβανε τὰς ῥάβδους ξηρὰς καὶ βεβρωμένας ὡς ὑπὸ σητός: ἐκέλευσεν ὁ ἄγγελος τοὺς τὰς τοιαύτας ῥάβδους ἐπιδεδωκότας χωρὶς ἱστάνεσθαι.

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.Col. 4 90Philadelphia? (Arsinoites)245 BC

ἱματισμὸς ἐτῶν γ, ὡς τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ δραχμαὶ κ, γίνονται δραχμαὶ ξ, γίνονται δραχμαὶ ϙε χωρὶς τῆς ἐλαιομετρίας. δέομαι οὖν σου ὅπως αἵ τε δίκελλαι, ἐπειδὴ μόνος πράσσομαι, ἀποκατασταθῶσιν, αὐτός

P.Cair. Zen. 3 59361Arsinoites244 BC

1 Δημήτριος Κρίτωνι χαίρειν. τῆς γεγενημένης οἰκονομίας τὰ ἀντίγραφα Ἰάσονα κομίζοντα τῆς Πολέμωνος μερίδος χωρὶς τοῦ χιλιαρούρου ἀμπελῶνος τοῦ περὶ τὴν Φυλακιτικὴν Νῆσον ἀργυρίου ταλάντοῦ α δραχμῶν Β πρὸς

P.Mich. Zen. 67Arsinoites244 BC

ἔχω μγ καὶ τοῦ Μεχὶρ τῆι λ παρὰ Πύρρου αἶγας νε καὶ ἐρίφους ιζ χωρὶς τῶν ι ὧν παρελαβ … … παρὰ Ἑρμίου αἶγας ϙ ἐρίφους ξ γίνονται αἶγες

Do you want however to come to know, O man foolish, that <the> faith apart from <the> works worthless is?
τῶνho <the> G3588 Article · genitive · plural · neuter
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in James as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Art-GPN — Article · genitive · plural · neuter
genitive — of, from, belonging to.
Agrees with anything else marked plural neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-GPN Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Genitive Number: Plural Gender: Neuter

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

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

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

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

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

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

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

Do you want however to come to know, O man foolish, that <the> faith apart from <the> works worthless is?
ἔργωνergon works G2041 Noun · genitive · plural · neuter
169× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in James than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This term refers to work, toil, or occupation, and can also imply an act or deed. In the Bible, it is used to describe various tasks and activities, such as Jesus' work on earth and the deeds of Christians.
Amplified meaning
works, actions
Tyndale gloss
work
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ἔργον (ergon) — work.

ἔργον,

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

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

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

3. of works of industry,

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

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἔργον

ergon

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

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

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἔργον, ου, τό

n.n.

work, labor, action, deed

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἔργον ergon 169x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

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

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

of women's work, weaving, Hom.

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

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-GPN — Noun · genitive · plural · neuter
genitive — of, from, belonging to.
Agrees with anything else marked plural neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-GPN Part of Speech: Noun Case: Genitive Number: Plural Gender: Neuter

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Nave's Topical Bible

→ GOOD

Jesus an example of Joh 10:32; Ac 10:38

Holy women should manifest 1Ti 2:10; 5:10

God remembers Ne 13:14; with Heb 6:9,10

Will be brought into judgment Ec 12:14; with 2Co 5:10

In the judgment, will be an evidence of faith Mt 25:34-40; with Jas 2:14-20

Servants should be patterns of Tit 2:7

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

176 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 7 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial47%object33%subject14%predicate5%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 169 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
κατάσύἐκ
ἐκ
οὐNegὅτιthat, since, becσύ
καλόςbeautiful, good, wor
Article theπαρέχωI offer, provideπερί
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
πρόςεἰςἐν
ἐν
δυνατόςpowerful, able, DisjπλουτέωI become rich
ἔργονworks169×
what comes after →
Article the
θεόςGod, a godπατήρfather, Father, χείρa hand
αὐτός
καίand, even, also,πονηρόςevil, bad, wickeἐν
ἀγαθόςgood
καίand, even, also,δόξαhonor, renown, gὅς
ὅς
ποιέωI do, makeἐγώδίδωμιI offer, give
νόμοςa law, the Mosaic La
οὐNegἐάνCondὅτιthat, since, bec

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

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

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 285 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 9c. AD 40

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.19c. AD 75–95

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

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

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

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

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

P.Cair. Zen. 2 59296Arsinoites251 BC

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

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

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

Do you want however to come to know, O man foolish, that <the> faith apart from <the> works worthless is?
ἀργήnekros worthless G692 Adjective · nominative · singular · feminine
8× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in James than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Idle means being inactive or unemployed, as seen in Matthew 20:3 and 1 Timothy 5:13. It can also describe something as useless or ineffective. The KJV translates it as barren, idle, or slow.
Tyndale gloss
idle
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

ἀργός is an adjective meaning inactive or idle, derived from the negative prefix ἀ- and ἔργον (work). It describes a state of laziness or uselessness, applicable to both people and things, as seen in verses like Matthew 20:3 and 1 Timothy 5:13. The term can also imply being unproductive or ineffective, as in James 2:20.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — βραδύς, νωθρός, ἀργός from a scan

In a careful article which treats of these words, Schmidt expresses in German the ultimate conclusions about them whereat he has arrived; which it may be worth while to ὃ σιν. SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 383 repeat, as some instruction may be gotten from them. Βραδύς, he states, would best be represented in German by ‘langsam,’ with ταχύς, or else with ὠκύς (Homer, Odys. Vili. 329), or with ἀγχίνους for its antithesis; νωθρός by ‘triage,’ with ὀξύς for its proper opposite; while he morally identifies ἀργός with the German ‘faul,’ or with ‘ unthitig,’ and finds in ἐνεργός the proper antithesis of this. Let us examine these words a little closer. Βραδύς differs from the words with which it is here brought into comparison, that no moral fault or blame is necessarily involved in it; so far indeed from this, that of the three occasions on which it is used in the N. T., two are in honour…

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

ἀργός, -όν

(in late Gk., incl. NT, -ή, -όν; < ἀ- neg., ἔργον),

[in LXX: III Ki 6:7 (מַסָּע?), Wi 14:5 15:15, Si 37:11 38:28*;]

inactive, idle: Mt 20:3, 6, I Ti 5:13, Tit 1:12, II Pe 1:8. Metaph., of things, inactive, ineffective, worthless: ῥῆμα, Mt 12:36; πίστις, Ja 2:20 (v. Cremer, 259 f.).†

SYN.: βραδύς, slow; νωθρός, sluggish (Tr., Syn., § civ).

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

ἀργός, -dv, and in later writ. fr. Aristot. hist. anim. 10, 40 [vol. i. p. 627*, 15] on and consequently also in the N. T. with the fem. apyn, which among the early Greeks Epimenides alone is said to have used, Tit.i. 12; ef. Lob. ad Phryn. p. 104 sq.; id. Paralip. p. 455 sqq.; W. 68 (67), [cf. 24; B. 25 (23)], (contr. fr. depyos which Hom. uses, fr. a priv. and ἔργον without work, without labor, doing nothing), inactive, idle; a. free from labor, at leisure, (ἀργὸν εἶναι, Hdt. 5, 6): Mt. xx. 8, 6 [Rec.]; 1 Tim. v. 18. b. lazy, shunning the labor which one ought to perform, (Hom. Il. 9, 320 6, τ᾽ ἀεργὸς ἀνήρ, 6, τε πολλὰ éopyas) : πίστις, Jas. ii. 20 (LT Tr WH for RG νεκρά); γαστέρες ἀργαί i. 6. idle gluttons, fr. Epimenides, Tit. i. 12 (Nicet. ann. 7, 4. 135 ἃ. εἰς ἀργὰς γαστέρας ὀχετηγήσας) ; ἀργὸς καὶ ἄκαρπος εἴς τι, 2 Ῥοῦ. i. 8. ὁ. of things from which no profit is derived, although…

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

ἀργός. The various connotations of the verb appear in its source, the adj. ἀργός (aFepyds), the opposite of ἐνεργός, ‘‘at work”). Thus in P Lond 9158 (a census-return of A.D. 160-1) (= III. p. 27) a certain Apollonius is described as belonging to the ‘‘leisured” class of Memphis (τῶν ἀπὸ Mépdews ἀργῶν, a ‘practically certain” reading): cf. for the same description ΒΟῸΣ III. 8335 (A.p. 173-4). In BGU IV. 1078** (a.p. 39) a man writes to his sister, ἐὰν λάβω τὰ κερμάμια (Ὁ κεράμια), ὄψομαι τί pe Set ποιεῖν" οὐ γὰρ ἀργὸν δεῖ με καθῆσθαι. Ῥ Lond 1170 τεγεοῖτ» 488. (see below) has ὄνος ἃ ἀργός, ‘‘ travelling light,” as against others with loads. In P Flor I. 1*@ and P Amh II. 97° (both ii/A.1.) ἐλαιουργίου ἀργοῦ = ‘fan oil-press which is out of working order”; similarly P Oxy X. 1269%* (early ii/A.D.) ἑτέρα (sc. κιβωτός) ἀργή “another out of use” (Edd.). In νι. 533° (iii/A.D.), τὸ ἀργόν is…

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

ἀργός (argos) — idle.

ἀργός, όν,

__Blater ή, όν [Refs 4th c.BC+]:—properly not working the ground, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; idle, lazy, opposed to ἐργάτις, [Refs 6th c.BC+]; ἀ. τὴν διάνοιαν[Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἂν ἀ. ᾖ if he have no trade, [Refs 4th c.BC+]: with genitive of things, idle at a thing, free from it, τῶν οἴκοθεν from domestic toils, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἀ. αἰσχρῶν slow to evil, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

__B.2 of things, δόρυ[Refs 5th c.BC+]; of money, lying idle, yielding no return, opposed to ἐνεργός, [Refs 4th c.BC+] and 20; of land, lying fallow, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; opposed to πεφυτευμένος, [Refs 3rd c.AD+]; διατριβὴ ἀ. in which nothing is done, fruitless, [Refs 5th c.BC+]. adverb ἀργῶς, ἐπιμέλεσθαι[Refs 5th c.BC+]

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀργός

argos

from 1 (as a negative particle) and 2041; inactive, i.e. unemployed;

(by implication) lazy, useless:--barren, idle, slow.

see GREEK for 1

see GREEK for 2041

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀργός, ή, όν

Adj

idle, lazy, thoughtless

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀργός argos 8x

pr. inactive, unemployed, Mt. 20:3, 6; idle, averse from labor, 1 Tim. 5:13; Tit. 1:12; met. 2 Pet. 1:8; unprofitable, hollow, or by impl., injurious, Mt. 12:36; Jas. 2:20*

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Adj-NSF — Adjective · nominative · singular · feminine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

A-NSF Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
56%idle
idle56% · 5×lazy11% · 1×worthless11% · 1×careless11% · 1×idle?11% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial38%predicate38%second object13%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 8 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
ῥῆμαa thing spoken
πᾶςall, the whole,
ἀγοράmarket-place
Article the
ἡμέραa day
Article the
καίand, even, also, nam
δέbut, on the othe
δέbut, on the other ha
μόνοςalone, but, only
ἀργόςworthless
what comes after →
ὅς
λαλέωI speak, say
μανθάνωI learn, ascertain
περιέρχομαιI move about, ma
ἀλλάbut, except
καίand, even, also,
εἰμίI am, exist
οὐδέNeg
ἄκαρποςunfruitful, barr

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

Concordanceἀργός · 8× in the New Testament
Matthew 1 Timothy 2 Peter James Titus
Across the New Testament5 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome The Didache
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.32c. AD 40

τότε γὰρ γίνεται, οὐκέτι πλάττεται, εἰς ψυχήν, οὐκ ἀργὸν καὶ ἀδιατύπωτον, ἀλλ’ εἰς νοερὰν καὶ ζῶσαν ὄντως·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 7.96c. AD 75–95

Διαλιπὼν δὲ ὀλίγον χρόνον ἔγνω δεῖν ἐπὶ τοὺς Παλαιστίνους ἐκστρατεύειν, καὶ μηδὲν ἀργὸν μηδὲ ῥᾴθυμον ἐν τοῖς πράγμασιν ὁρᾶν γινόμενον, ἵνʼ ὡς τὸ θεῖον αὐτῷ προεῖπε καταστρεψάμενος τοὺς πολεμίους ἐν εἰρήνῃ τὸ λοιπὸν τοὺς ἐκγόνους αὐτοῦ βασιλεύοντας…

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 34.4c. AD 96

προτρέπεται οὖν ἡμᾶς πιστεύοντας ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας ἐπ’ αὐτῷ, μὴ ἀργοὺς μηδὲ παρειμένους εἶναι ἐπὶ πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθόν.

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. BC 4th c. AD 6th c. AD

σαγὰς μήτε τὰ λοιπὰ ἐργαλεῖα τῶν ὄνων, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ τοιούτου οἱ ὄνοι μου ἀργοὶ καθεστήκασι. διὸ ἐπιδίδωμί σοι τὸ ὑπόμνημα ὅπως ἀσφαλισάμενος τὸν ἐγκαλούμενον ἐξαποστείλῃς ἐφʼ οὓς καθήκει

P.Oxy. 10 1269OxyrhynchosAD 101–AD 125

ὁμογνησίου ἀδελφοῦ Ἰσᾶτος σκευῶν καὶ ἄλλων προσφωνῶ εἶναι τὰ ὑπογεγραμμένα· κιβωτὸς κειμένου παρακλειδίου, ἑτέρα ἀργή, κάδος χαλκοῦς, κλείς ἡ καὶ λακάνη ἣν ὑποτέθειται Εἰσᾶς περιὼν Πανάρητι πρὸς ἀργυρίου δραχμὰς

P.Brem. 13Hermopolis (?)AD 114–AD 115

Ἑρμαῖος Ἀπολλωνίωι τῶι τιμιωτάτωι χαίρειν. Πετεμενεκῦσιν τὸν ὁριοδείκτην φασὶν ἀναβεβηκέναι πρὸς σὲ καὶ καθήμεθα ἀργοὶ αὐτὸν ἐκδεχόμενοι ἐν ἀναμετρήσει κοίτης ἀρουρῶν ια καὶ πρὸς ὁμορούσης ὑπολόγωι τῆς μητροπόλεως. ζητεῖται

Do you want however to come to know, O man foolish, that <the> faith apart from <the> works worthless is?
ἐστιν;eimi is? G1510 Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · singular
2,457× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in James as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To be or exist, a basic verb used to describe something or someone, like God saying 'I am' in John 8:58.
Tyndale gloss
to be
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

εἰμί,

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

As substantive verb.

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

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

Read the full entry →
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.…

Read the full entry →
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…

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

εἰμί (eimi) — to be.

εἰμί

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

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

εἰμί

eimi

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

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

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

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

see GREEK for 1488

see GREEK for 1498

see GREEK for 1511

see GREEK for 1527

see GREEK for 2258

see GREEK for 2071

see GREEK for 2070

see GREEK for 2075

see GREEK for 2076

see GREEK for 2771

see GREEK for 2468

see GREEK for 5600

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

εἰμί

v.

I am, exist

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

εἰμί eimi 2x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

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

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

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

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

2,408 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 139 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
linking verb87%verb13%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 2,457 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
οὐNeg
ὅτιthat, since, becκαίand, even, also,ὅς
οὗτος
ὅτιthat, since, becλέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,
ὅς
ἐνἄνθρωποςa man, one of thθεόςGod, a god
ἐγώ
ὅτιthat, since, becλέγωI say, speakμετά
σύ
ἐνλέγωI say, speakαὐτός
εἰμίis?2457×
what comes after →
Article the
υἱόςa son, descendenΧριστόςanointed, the Meβασιλείαkingship, sovere
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theοὐNegγάρfor
ἐν
Article theσύαὐτός
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theτὶςἐκεῖthere, yonder, t
ἐγώ
εἰςἄξιοςworthy, worthy oὧδεhere

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

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

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 1c. AD 40

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.2c. AD 75–95

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

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

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.

Everything we make is available for free because of a generous community of supporters.

Donate