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John 1:5 — Word Study

Depth

N1904καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.¶

BSAAndkai theho Lightphōs [true spiritual illumination, shining brightly] inen theho darknessskotia [a lack of spiritual understanding, evil] shines,phainō [radiates, appears] andkai theho darknessskotia [the forces of evil, ignorance] itautos [the Light, Jesus] notou [completely, utterly] grasped [it].katalambanō [grasped, seized]

Word
Listen & take awayJohn 1
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 5 is in this chapter.
Greek ↓ Download MP3 Nestle 1904 — the very text on this page — read by Andy Martin in Erasmian pronunciation.
Say the word Each Greek word carries its transliteration (katalambanō) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
John 1:5quick helps
In a sentenceThe Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not grasped it.
Who is speakingThe author of the Gospel of John, speaking about Jesus.
Where we areThis verse is part of a prologue that introduces the nature of Jesus as the Light.
The hard wordφῶς
Take awayThe Light continues to shine, and darkness cannot overpower it.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause subject verbφαίνω 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 — John 1:5

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 — The Prologue of John's Gospelgenerated

4In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.
5The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6There came a man who was sent from God. His name was John.
7He came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that through him everyone might believe.

John 1:5 presents the profound truth that Jesus, referred to as the Light, shines in the darkness, symbolizing the spiritual ignorance and evil present in the world. The following verses continue to elaborate on the role of John the Baptist as a witness to this Light. This passage sets the stage for understanding the conflict between light and darkness, a theme that recurs throughout the Gospel.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
1John 1:10He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.
2John 3:19–20And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.
3John 12:36–40While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of light.” After Jesus had spoken these things, He went away and was hidden from them.
4Job 24:13–17Then there are those who rebel against the light, not knowing its ways or staying on its paths.
5Proverbs 1:22–29“How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 7 references, hung on the phrase they belong to

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.John 1:10 John 3:19–20 John 12:36–40 Job 24:13–17 Proverbs 1:22–29 Romans 1:28 1 Corinthians 2:14

The Key Word φῶς, phōsgenerated

The noun φῶς (phōs) means 'light' and can refer to both physical light and metaphorical illumination. In this context, it signifies the divine truth and presence of Jesus.

The parsing indicates that it is in the nominative singular neuter form, suggesting that it functions as the subject of the sentence. The use of 'Light' here emphasizes the clarity and revelation that Jesus brings to humanity.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The verse is rendered in the Berean Standard Bible as 'The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.' This wording is consistent across several translations, including the KJV and WEB, which also convey the idea of light confronting darkness.

However, variations appear in the rendering of φαίνει. The ASV and YLT use 'shineth' and 'did shine', respectively, while the BBE opts for 'goes on shining', indicating a continuous action.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main verb in the verse is φαίνει, shines, which is accompanied by a noun phrase τὸ φῶς as the subject. The structure indicates that the Light is actively shining.

Following this, a conjunction καὶ introduces a second clause that states the action of darkness not grasping the Light, with κατέλαβεν as the verb in that clause.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

φῶς appears in the Septuagint as a translation of the Hebrew word אוֹר (or), which also means 'light'. This connection emphasizes the continuity of the theme of light throughout Scripture.

In the LXX, light often symbolizes divine presence and guidance, which aligns with the portrayal of Jesus in this verse as the ultimate source of spiritual illumination.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

John 1:5 tells us that Jesus, described as the Light, shines in the darkness, which represents the evil and ignorance of the world. Importantly, the darkness cannot overcome or grasp the Light, highlighting the victory of Jesus over spiritual darkness.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean that the Light shines in the darkness?

It means that Jesus brings spiritual truth and understanding into a world filled with ignorance and evil, illuminating the path for believers.

How does darkness relate to evil in this passage?

Darkness symbolizes a lack of understanding and the presence of evil, which cannot overpower the Light of Christ.

Why is the verb 'grasped' significant?

The verb indicates that darkness cannot comprehend or seize the Light, emphasizing the power of Jesus over evil.

What does this verse tell us about Jesus?

It affirms that Jesus is the source of light and truth, and that His presence dispels darkness.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. In what ways do I see the Light of Christ shining in my life?
  2. How can I be a witness to the Light in a world filled with darkness?
  3. What are some areas of my life where I need the illumination of Jesus?
  4. How can I help others understand the Light that Jesus offers?

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

Early church writers reference this verse to discuss the nature of Jesus as the Light and the implications for believers in relation to darkness.

Tatian the AssyrianAddress of Tatian to the Greeks, Chapter XIII c. 120–180
The soul is not in itself immortal, O Greeks, but mortal. Yet it is possible for it not to die. If, indeed, it knows not the truth, it dies, and is dissolved with the body, but rises again at last at the end of the world with the body,
Early Church Fathers on John 1 →
IrenaeusAgainst Heresies Book I c. 130–202
For, in discoursing of the Saviour and declaring that all things beyond the Pleroma received form from Him, he says that He is the fruit of the entire Pleroma.
Early Church Fathers on John 1 →
Clement of AlexandriaThe Instructor Book 2 c. 150–215
But he who has the light watches, "and darkness seizes not on him". For how, says Heraclitus, can one escape the notice of that which never sets? Let us by no means, then, veil our selves with the darkness; for the light dwells in us.
Early Church Fathers on John 1 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on John 1:5 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

And the light shineth in darkness,.... Which, through sin, came upon the minds of men; who are naturally in the dark about the nature and perfections of God; about sin, and the consequences of it;

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

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

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

The light shineth in darkness: he had said before, that life was in Christ, in him as in the fountain; and the life in him was the light of men, giving light to men. Now this light which was in him had its emanations (as light in the sun); and the darkness, that is, men of dark minds, (the abstract being put for the concrete), comprehended (that is, received) it not. This was true concerning the Jews in former times, upon whom Christ the true Light had shined in many types and prophecies; it was also true concerning the Jews of that present age, to whom, through the favour of him who had undertaken the redemption of man, the means of grace were continued; through the blindness of their…

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

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. Ver. 5. And the light shineth] The light both of nature and of Scripture. The former is but a dim half-light, a rush candle, that will light a man but into utter darkness. The latter is a clear thorough light: the commandment is a lamp, et lex, lux, and the law is light, Proverbs 6:23. As for the gospel, it is set up as a beacon on a hill, Titus 2:11, επεφανη, or as the sun in the firmament, Luke 1:78-79, bringing "life and immortality to light," 2 Timothy 1:10; where God by his Holy Spirit enlighteneth organ and object, Acts 26:18, and shineth on the heart, in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 4:6. And the…

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

(5) And the light shineth in darkness.—The vision of brightness is present but for a moment, and passes away before the black reality of the history of mankind. The description of Paradise occupies but a few verses of the Old Testament. The outer darkness casts its gloom on every page. But in the moral chaos, too, God said, “Let there be light; and there was light.” The first struggle of light into and through darkness until the darkness received it, rolled back before it, passed away into it—the repeated comprehension of light by darkness, as in the dawn of every morning the night passes into day, and the earth now shrouded in blackness is now bathed in the clear white light of an Eastern…

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

Verse 5. And the light shineth in darkness] By darkness here may be understood: 1. The heathen world, Ephesians 5:8. 2. The Jewish people. 3. The fallen spirit of man. Comprehended it not.] αυτοουκατελαβεν, Prevented it not-hindered it not, says Mr. Wakefield, who adds the following judicious note:-"Even in the midst of that darkness of ignorance and idolatry which overspread the world, this light of Divine wisdom was not totally eclipsed: the Jewish nation was a lamp perpetually shining to the surrounding nations; and many bright luminaries, among the heathen, were never wanting in just and worthy notions of the attributes and providence of God's wisdom; which enabled them to shine in some…

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

5. shineth] Note the present tense; the only one in the section. It brings us down to the Apostle’s own day: now, as of old, the Light shines—in reason, in creation, in conscience,—and shines in vain. Note also the progress: in John 1:1-2 we have the period before Creation; in John 1:3, the Creation; John 1:4, man before the Fall; John 1:5, man after the Fall.in darkness] Better, in the darkness. The Fall is presupposed.and the darkness] Mark the strong connexion between the two halves of Joh 1:5 as also between John 1:4 and John 1:5, resulting in both cases from a portion of the predicate of one clause becoming the subject of the next clause. Such strong connexions are frequent in St John.…

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

The light shineth in darkness - Darkness, in the Bible, commonly denotes ignorance, guilt, or misery. See Isaiah 9:1-2; Matthew 4:16; Acts 26:18; Ephesians 5:8, Ephesians 5:11; Romans 13:12.

Read Albert Barnes on John 1 →

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

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

Modern formal

BSBBerean Standard Bible2020

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it.

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

NETBNew English Translation2006

And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it.

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not.

RVARevised Version, American1894

And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not.

NWBWebster's Bible1833

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

GNVGeneva Bible1599

And that light shineth in the darkenesse, and the darkenesse comprehended it not.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

And the light appears in darkness, and the darkness apprehended it not.

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

and the light in the darkness did shine, and the darkness did not perceive it.

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

and the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness did not perceive it.

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not extinguished it.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

And the light goes on shining in the dark; it is not overcome by the dark.

Word by word, the decisions they made

σκοτίᾳskotia darkness G4653 2 different renderings
darknessASV BSB DBY DRA FBV KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
darkBBE
φαίνει,phainō shines, G5316 3 different renderings
shinesBSB FBV MSB NETB ULB WEB
appearsDBY
shiningBBE
σκοτίαskotia darkness G4653 2 different renderings
darknessASV BSB DBY DRA FBV KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
darkBBE

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.

clauseκαὶAndclauseclausenoun phrase · subjectτὸtheφῶςLightprepositional phrase · adverbialἐνinnoun phraseτῇtheσκοτίᾳdarknessverbφαίνειshinesκαὶandclausenoun phrase · subjecttheσκοτίαdarknessobjectαὐτὸitadverbialοὐnotverbκατέλαβενovercame

Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.


The earliest translations — Latin and Syriac

Every translation is an argument about meaning made by someone who had to commit to one. These two were made while the Greek was still a living language, and they are the oldest opinions we have about what this verse says.

Latin VulgateAD 382–405

et lux in tenebris lucet,/ et tenebræ eam non comprehenderunt./

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

ܘܗܘ ܢܘܗܪܐ ܒܚܫܘܟܐ ܡܢܗܪ ܘܚܫܘܟܐ ܠܐ ܐܕܪܟܗ

The Bible of the Syriac-speaking church, in the language nearest to the Aramaic Jesus spoke.

Shown verse by verse rather than word by word: aligning a Greek word to its Latin or Syriac counterpart automatically would be guesswork, and a wrong alignment is worse than none.


The Greek editions compared — what the manuscripts actually say

Eight printed editions of the Greek New Testament, side by side. Where they agree the wording is settled; where a word is missing from an edition it is marked, so you can see the difference rather than take it on trust.

Nestle-Aland 28th edition2012 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.¶

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.¶

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.¶

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.¶

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.¶

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.¶

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.¶

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.¶

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

Every witness on this verse all agree
Critical editions
Nestle-Aland 28th edition2012Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993SBL Greek New Testament2010Westcott–Hort1881Tregelles1857–1879Tyndale House Greek NT2017
Byzantine / Majority
Byzantine majority text2018
Received Text
Textus Receptus1550/1894

A witness that read differently would show its variant word here, marked.

Word by word, across the editions

Every edition agrees. All 8 printed editions — Nestle-Aland 28, Nestle-Aland 27, SBLGNT, Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, Tyndale House 2017, Textus Receptus (KJV), Byzantine majority — carry every word of this verse, in the same order, with no difference that any translator would render differently.


The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with

This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Greek New Testament — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.

John 1:5καίAndAndκαίthetheφῶςLightLightφῶςἐνininἐνthetheσκοτίαdarknessdarknessσκοτίαφαίνωshines,shines,φαίνωκαίandandκαίthetheσκοτίαdarknessdarknessσκοτίααὐτόςititαὐτόςοὐnotnotοὐκαταλαμβάνωgrasped [itgrasped [it].καταλαμβάνωφαίνωv. I shinev. I shine, appφαίνωκατάPrep. downPrep. down fromκατάφημίv. I sayv. I sayφημίεἰςPrep. intoPrep. into, in,εἰςἐκPrep. fromPrep. from out,ἐκφῶςn.n. lightn.n. light, a sφῶςἀήρn.m. airn.m. airἀήρἑαυτοῦRefl.pr. hRefl.pr. himselἑαυτοῦμήNeg.prt. nNeg.prt. not, lμήσκότοςn.m. & n.nn.m. & n.n. darσκότοςκαταλαμβάνωv. I seizev. I seize tighκαταλαμβάνωλάμπωv. I shinev. I shineλάμπωσυναγωγήn.f. an asn.f. an assemblσυναγωγήἔρημοςAdj desertAdj deserted, dἔρημοςὄναρn.indcl. an.indcl. a dreaὄναρνηστεύωv. I fastv. I fastνηστεύωἐπερωτάωv. I interv. I interrogatἐπερωτάωἔξεστι(ν)v. it is pv. it is permitἔξεστι(ν)
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 John 1:5

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

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

And the Light in the darkness shines, and the darkness it not grasped [it].
καὶkai And G2532 Conjunction
8,978× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in John as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
And or also, a connecting word used to join ideas or words, like in Matthew 2:18 and Hebrews 1:1.
Tyndale gloss
and
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

καί,

conj.,

and.

Copulative.

Connecting single words;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καί (kai) — and.

καί,

conjunction, copulative, joining words and sentences,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καί

kai

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

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

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

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

yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καί

Cj.

and, even, also, namely

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καί kai 9x

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

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

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

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

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
αὐτός
ἐνἐπίπρός
σύ
χάριςgrace, favor, kiπρόςπατήρfather, Father,
ἐγώ
πατήρfather, Father, πρόςθεόςGod, a god
εἰμίI am, exist
αὐτόςArticle theἐγώ
θεόςGod, a god
Article theθέλημαwill, wish, desiδέbut, on the othe
καίAnd8978×
what comes after →
Article the
ἀδελφόςa brotherπατήρfather, Father, μήτηρa mother
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςArticle theπρός
οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, existμήNegδύναμαιI am powerful, a
ὁράωI see, look upon, ex
Article theαὐτόςἀνήρa male human bei
ἐν
Article theπᾶςall, the whole, ὅλοςall, the whole,

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

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

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

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

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

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

ἡ τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

And the Light in the darkness shines, and the darkness it not grasped [it].
τὸho the G3588 Article · nominative · singular · neuter
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in John as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Art-NSN — Article · nominative · singular · neuter
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-NSN Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Neuter

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

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

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

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

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

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

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

And the Light in the darkness shines, and the darkness it not grasped [it].
φῶςphōs Light G5457 Noun · nominative · singular · neuter
72× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Light refers to any kind of luminousness, natural or artificial, and is used in the Bible to describe the light of the sun or a lamp. In Matthew 17:2 and John 11:9-10, it describes Jesus shining like the sun.
Amplified meaning
true spiritual illumination, shining brightly
Tyndale gloss
light
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

φῶς (i.e., *phos*) means 'light' and can refer to both natural and artificial sources. It is used in various contexts, including physical light from the sun or lamps, as well as metaphorical light representing divine truth or spiritual illumination. The New Testament employs it to describe God's presence, the glory of Christ, and the moral clarity of believers. Notably, it appears in verses like Matthew 17:2 and 2 Corinthians 4:6.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — φῶς, φέγγος, φωστήρ, λύχνος, λαμπάς from a scan

Ati these words are rendered, some occasionally, some always, in our Version, by ‘light’; thus, dos at Matt. iv. 16; Rom. xiii. 12, and often; φέγγος at Matt. xxiv. 29; Mark xiii. 24; Luke xi. 33 (it does not occur again) ; φωστήρ at Phil. ii. 15 ; Rev. xxi. 11 (where only it occurs) ; λύχνος at Matt. vi. 22; John v. 35; 2 Pet.i. 19, and elsewhere; though this often by ‘ candle’ (Matt. v. 15; Rev. Xxli. 5); and λαμπὰς at Acts xx. 8, though elsewhere rendered ‘lamp’ (Matt. xxv. 1; Rev. vill. 10), and ‘ torch’ (John xviii. 3). The old grammarians distinguish between φῶς and φέγγος (which are but different forms of one and the same word), that φῶς is the light of the sun or of the day, φέγγος the light or lustre of the moon. The Attic writers, to whom this distinction must belong, if to any, themselves only imperfectly observe it. Thus, in Sophocles φέγγος is three or four times ascribed…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

φῶς (Att.. contr. from φάος; < φάω), gen., φωτός, τό,

[in LXX chiefly for אוֹר ;]

light (opp. to τὸ σκότος, ἡ σκοτία): Mt 17:2, 5, Jo 11:9, 10, II Co 4:6; ἡλίου, Re 22:5; of a lamp, Lk 8:16 11:33, Jo 5:35, Re 18:23; of a supernatural heavenly light, Ac 9:3 12:7 22:6, 9, 11 26:13; hence, ἄγγελος φωτός, II Co 11:14; ὁ κλήρος τ. ἁγίων ἐν τ. φ., Col 1:12; of the divine glory, Re 21:24; by meton., of that which gives light: of fire, Read the full entry →

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

φῶς, φωτός. τό, (contr. fr. φάος, fr. φάω to shine), fr. Hom. (who [as well as Pind.] uses the form φάος) down, Hebr. 18, light (opp. to τὸ σκότος, ἡ σκοτία) ; 1. prop. a. univ.: ὁ θεὸς ὁ εἰπὼν ἐκ σκότους φῶς λάμψαι, 3 Co. iv. 6 (Gen. i. 3); λευκὰ ὡς τὸ φῶς, Mt. xvii. 2; νεφέλη φωτός [Grsb. txt.] i. e. consisting of light, i. q. φωτεινή in RLT Tr WH, Mt. xvii. 5; τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου, of the sun, Jn. xi. 9; τὸ φῶς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ, the light (i.e. illumining power) is not in him, consequently he does not see or distinguish the things about him, Jn. xi. 10; the light emitted bya lamp, Lk. viii. 16; [xi.33L Tr txt. WH]. a heavenly light, such as surrounds angels when they appear on earth: hence ἄγγελος φωτός, 2 Co. xi. 14, and illumines the place where they appear, Acts xii. 7; a light of this kind shone around Paul when he was converted to Christ, Acts xxii. 6, [9], 11[W. 371 (848)]; with…

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

φῶς. For ‘‘light” opposed to “" darkness,” see P Leid Wi. 4 (ii/iii a.p.) (=I1. p. 101) φωτὸς καὶ σκότους. In the imprecatory curse Sy// 891 (= ὃ 1240)" the prayer is uttered that the victim shall enjoy μηδὲ οἴκου, μὴ φωτός, μὴ χρήσεως, μηδὲ κτήσεως. The plur. is applied to ‘‘ windowlights” in P Lond 1179°* (ii/A.p.) (=III. p. 146) φῶτα θυρίδων, and to “‘torches,” as in Ac 167%, in BGU III. 909} (A.D. 359) ἐπελθόντες. . . TH ἡμετέρᾳ οἰκίᾳ καὶ φῶτα ἐπενεγκ[όν]τες ἐνέπρησαν αὐτὴν ἐκ θεματίου. Cf. 20. IV. 120 110 (A.D. 2) where φωτί takes the place οἵ πυρί or φλογί - εὕρωμεν τὰς θύρας τοῦ ἱεροῦ Σαράπειδος θεοῦ μεγίστου ὑφημένας (1 ὑφημμένας) φωτί. This last passage may illustrate Mk 1454 θερμαινόμενος πρὸς τὸ φῶς, where we should translate with the AV ‘‘warmed himself at the ». see C. H. Turner Comm. ad ἢ. in Gore’s New Commentary. The subst. is applied metaph. to those who impart light…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

φῶς (phōs) — light.

φῶς,

contraction for φάος, light (which see). φῴς, ἡ, plural φῷδες, contraction from φωΐς (which see).

Strong's Greek Dictionary

φῶς

phos

from an obsolete phao (to shine or make manifest, especially by rays;

compare 5316, 5346); luminousness (in the widest application, natural

or artificial, abstract or concrete, literal or figurative):--fire,

light.

see GREEK for 5316

see GREEK for 5346

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

φῶς, φωτός, τό

n.n.

light, a source of light

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

φῶς phōs 73x

light, Mt. 17:2; 2 Cor. 4:6; daylight, broad day, Mt. 10:27; Lk. 12:3; radiance, blaze of light, Mt. 4:16; Acts 9:3; 12:7; an instrument or means of light, a light, Mt. 6:23; Acts 16:29; a fire, Mk. 14:54; Lk. 22:56; from the Hebrew, the light of God’s presence, 2 Cor. 11:14; Read the full entry →

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-NSN — Noun · nominative · singular · neuter
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-NSN Part of Speech: Noun Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Neuter

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

lit ('or, ma'or; phos; many other words):

1. Origin of Light

2. A Comprehensive Term

(1) Natural Light

(2) Artificial Light

(3) Miraculous Light

(4) Mental, Moral, Spiritual Light

3. An Attribute of Holiness

(1) God

(2) Christ

(3) Christians

(4) The Church

4. Symbolism

5. Expressive Terms

1. Origin of Light:

The creation of light was the initial step in the creation of life. "Let there be light" (Ge 1:3) was the first word of God spoken after His creative Spirit "moved" upon the primary material out of which He created the heavens and the earth, and which lay, until the utterance of that word, in the chaos of darkness and desolation. Something akin, possibly, to the all-pervasive electro-magnetic activity of the aurora borealis penetrated the chaotic night of the world. The ultimate focusing of light (on the 4th day of creation,

Light

The offspring of the divine command (Gen. 1:3). “All the more joyous emotions of the mind, all the pleasing sensations of the frame, all the happy hours of domestic intercourse were habitually described among the Hebrews under imagery derived from light” (1 Kings 11:36; Isa. 58:8; Esther 8:16; Ps. 97:11). Light came also naturally to typify true religion and the felicity it imparts (Ps. 119:105; Isa. 8:20; Matt. 4:16, etc.), and the glorious inheritance…

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

One of the most wonderful, cheering, and useful of all the works of God; called into being on the first of the six days of creation, by his voice: "Let there be light;" and there was light. No object better illustrates whatever is pure, glorious, spiritual, joyful, and beneficent. Hence the beauty and force of the expressions, "God is light," 1Jo 1:5, and "the Father of lights," Jas 1:17; Christ is the "Sun of righteousness," and "the light of the world," Joh 1:9 8:12. So also the word of God is "a light," Ps 119:105; truth and Christians are lights, Joh 3:19 12:36; prosperity is "light," Es 8:16; and heaven is full of…

Nave's Topical Bible

→ Created Ge 1:3-5; Isa 45:7; 2Co 4:6

→ Miraculous Mt 17:2; Ac 9:3

→ FIGURATIVE AND SYMBOLICAL 1Ki 11:36; Ps 27:1; 119:105,130; Pr 6:23; Ec 2:13; Isa 8:20; 49:6; 58:8; 60:19,20; Mt 4:16; 5:14,16; Lu 2:32; 11:34; 16:8;

Across the New Testament15 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 102 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 Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 29c. AD 40

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.27c. AD 75–95

ταύτης δʼ ὑπʼ ὄψιν οὐκ ἐρχομένης, ἀλλὰ βαθεῖ μὲν κρυπτομένης σκότει, πνεύματος δʼ αὐτὴν ἄνωθεν ἐπιθέοντος, γενέσθαι φῶς ἐκέλευσεν ὁ θεός.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 3.4c. AD 100

τότε ῥαγήσεται πρώϊμον τὸ φῶς σου, καὶ τὰ ἱμάτιά σου ταχέως ἀνατελεῖ, καὶ προπορεύσεται ἔμπροσθέν σου ἡ δικαιοσύνη, καὶ ἡ δόξα τοῦ θεοῦ περιστελεῖ σε.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 6th c. AD 5th c. AD 1st c. AD
P.Fay. 213 descr.Euhemeria (Arsinoites)3 BC

Ἀπολλώνιος Ὥρῳ καὶ … φωτι γεωργοῖς χαίρειν· ἀπέχω παρʼ ὑμῶν τὰ ἐκφόρια τοῦ ὀγδόου καὶ εἰκοστοῦ ἔτους ἀφʼ ὧν

BGU 4 1201Busiris (Herakleopolites)AD 2

λειτουργίας καὶ θυσίας τῶν θεῶν εὕρομεν τὰς θύρας τοῦ ἱεροῦ Σαράπειδος θεοῦ μεγίστου ὑφημμένας φωτί. καὶ ἡμῶν ἀνακραξάντων εἰς τὴν κώμην πρὸς βοήθειαν κατεπήδησεν ὁ γυμνασίαρχος τῆς κώμης καὶ

P.Mil.Vogl. 2 99Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 119

ἣν ἐξεν … ρ … αὐτῶν α … … … ὧν κεκλήρωνται θύρας καὶ φῶτα θυρίδων τρία , τὸν δὲ Ὧρον Τεσενούφεως ἑαυτῶι ἀνοίγειν … υ κεκλη

And the Light in the darkness shines, and the darkness it not grasped [it].
ἐνen in G1722 Preposition
2,743× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in John as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word is a preposition that means in, on, or among something. It's used in many places, like Matthew 7:3 and Luke 7:37, to describe a location or relationship. It can also mean by, with, or during.
Tyndale gloss
in/on/among
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐν,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐν (en) — in/on/among.

ἐν,

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

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

__A WITH DAT.

__A.I OF PLACE,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐν

en

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

one, X quickly,

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

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

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

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

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

preposition.

see GREEK for 1519

see GREEK for 1537

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐν

Prep.

in, on, among

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐν en 2x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐν

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

Lat. in.

PREP. WITH DAT.:

OF PLACE

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

in, upon, ἐν οὔρεσι Hom., etc.

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

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

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

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

PREP PREPosition

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
And the Light in the darkness shines, and the darkness it not grasped [it].
τῇho the G3588 Article · dative · singular · feminine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in John as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

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

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

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

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

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

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

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

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

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

And the Light in the darkness shines, and the darkness it not grasped [it].
σκοτίᾳskotia darkness G4653 Noun · dative · singular · feminine
17× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Darkness refers to a lack of light or understanding. In John 1:5, it says that Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness. It can also mean a time of secrecy or a state of spiritual blindness.
Amplified meaning
a lack of spiritual understanding, evil
Tyndale gloss
darkness
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word σκοτία (skotia) means darkness or gloom, both literally and metaphorically. It can refer to physical darkness, secrecy, or spiritual ignorance and moral darkness, as seen in various New Testament passages. The term is derived from σκότος and is used to describe both a lack of light and a state of spiritual blindness.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

† σκοτία, -ας, ἡ

[in LXX: Jb 28:3 (אֹפֶל), Mi 3:6 (חָשְׁכָה), Is 16:3 * ;]

in late writers = σκότος,

darkness: Jo 6:17 20:1. Metaph.,

of secrecy (opp. to ἐν τ. φωτί): Mt 10:27, Lk 12:3;

of spiritual darkness: Mt 4:16, Jo 1:5 8:12 12:35, 46, I Jo 1:5 2:8, 9, 11.†

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

σκοτία, -as, 7, [on its deriv. ef. σκηνή], (Thom. Mag. σκύτος κ. τὸ σκύτος" TO δὲ σκοτία οὐκ ἐν χρήσει sc. in Attic {cf. Moeris 8. v.; L. and S.s. v. σκύτος, fin.]), darkness: prop. the darkness due to want of daylight, Jn. vi. 17; xx. 13 ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ (λαλεῖν τι), unseen, in secret, (i. q. ἐν κρυπτῷ. Jn. xviii. 20), privily, in private, opp. to ἐν τῷ φωτί, Mt. x. 27; Lk. xii. 3; metaph. used of ignorance of divine things, and its associated wickedness, and the resultant misery: Mt. iv. 16 LTrWH; Jn. i. 5; viii. 12; xii. 35, 46; 1 Jn. i. δ: ii, 8 sq. 11. (Ap. Rh 4, 1698; Anth. 8, 187. 190; for πε τα Mic. iii. 6; for de& Job xxviii. 3.)

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

σκοτία (skotia) — darkness.

σκοτί-α, ἡ,

(σκότος) darkness, gloom, [NT+3rd c.BC+]

II. in Architecture, scotia, cavetto, a sunken moulding, so called from the dark shadow it casts, [Refs 1st c.BC+]

III. Σκοτιά, epithet of Aphrodite in Egypt, [Refs]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

σκοτία

skotia

from 4655; dimness, obscurity (literally or

figuratively):--dark(-ness).

see GREEK for 4655

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

σκοτία, ας, ἡ

n.f.

darkness

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

σκοτία skotia 16x

darkness, Jn. 6:17; 20:1; privacy, Mt. 10:27; Lk. 12:3; met. moral or spiritual darkness, Jn. 1:5 (2x); 8:12; 12:35, 46; 1 Jn. 1:5; 2:8, 9, 11*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

σκοτία σκοτία, ἡ, σκότος darkness, gloom, Anth.

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Easton's Bible Dictionary

Darkness

The plague (the ninth) of darkness in Egypt (Ex. 10:21) is described as darkness “which may be felt.” It covered “all the land of Egypt,” so that “they saw not one another.” It did not extend to the land of Goshen (ver. 23).

When Jesus hung upon the cross (Matt. 27:45; Luke 23:44), from the “sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.”

On Mount Sinai, Moses (Ex. 20:21) “drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.” This was the “thick cloud upon the mount” in which Jehovah was when he spake unto Moses there. The Lord dwelt in the cloud upon the mercy-seat (1 Kings…

is spoken of as encompassing the actual presence of God, as that out of which he speaks, --the envelope, as it were, of divine glory. (Exodus 20:21; 1 Kings 8:12) The plague of darkness in Egypt was miraculous. The darkness "over all the land," (Matthew 27:45) attending the crucifixion has been attributed to an eclipse, but was undoubtedly miraculous, as no eclipse of the sun could have taken place at that time, the moon being at the full at the time of the passover. Darkness is also, as in the expression "land of darkness," used for the state of the dead, (Job 10:21,22) and frequently, figuratively, for ignorance and unbelief, as the privation of spiritual light. (

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The absence of natural light, Ge 1:2, and hence figuratively a state of misery and adversity, Job 18:6 Ps 107:10 Isa 8:22 9:1; also the absence of the sun and stars, and hence the fall of chief men and national convulsions, Isa 13:10 Ac 2:20. "Works of darkness," are the impure mysteries practiced in heathen worship, Eph 5:11. "Outer darkness" illustrates the gloom of those on whom the gates of heaven are closed, Mt 8:12. The darkness in Egypt,

→ Over the face of the earth Ge 1:2; Job 38:9; Jer 4:23

→ Called NIGHT Ge 1:5

→ God creates Isa 45:7

→ Miraculous

In Egypt Ex 10:21,22; Ps 105:28

At Mount Sinai Ex 20:21; Heb 12:18

At the crucifixion Mt 27:45; Mr 15:33

→ FIGURATIVE

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
88%darkness
darkness88% · 14×dark6% · 1×when dark6% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial47%subject35%predicate18%

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
Article the
ἐνὅτιthat, since, becκαίand, even, also,
καίand, even, also, nam
ΚαφαρναούμPropεἰμίI am, exist
ἐν
κάθημαιI sit, am seated
μήNeg
ἵναin order that, s
πρωΐearly in the morning
ἔρχομαιI come, go
σκοτίαdarkness17×
what comes after →
λέγωI say, speak
ἐν
εἰμίI am, exist
ἕωςuntil, as far asκαίand, even, also,
φῶςlight, a source of l
ὁράωI see, look upon
φαίνωI shine, appear, see
καίand, even, also,
αὐτός
οὐNeg

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

Concordanceσκοτία · 17× in the New Testament
John 1 John Matthew Luke
Across the New Testament4 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
And the Light in the darkness shines, and the darkness it not grasped [it].
φαίνει,phainō shines, G5316 Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · singular
31× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
rarer in John than elsewhere in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means to shine or appear, and can be used literally or figuratively, as in John 1:5 and 2 Peter 1:19. It can also mean to bring something to light or make it visible, like in Matthew 2:7 and Hebrews 11:3.
Amplified meaning
radiates, appears
Tyndale gloss
to shine/appear
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

φαίνω (phaino) means to bring to light or cause to appear, and can also mean to shine or be seen. It is used in various contexts, from physical light to metaphorical appearances in thoughts or judgments. The New Testament employs it in verses such as John 1:5 and Matthew 1:20, indicating both literal and figurative senses. There is some variation in how lexicons describe its usage, particularly regarding its passive forms.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

φαίνω

[in LXX for אור hi., ראה ni., etc. ;]

Act.,

to bring to light, cause to appear (so most freq. in cl.).

Absol., to give light, shine (Hom., Plat., al.): Jo 1:5 5:35, II Pe 1:19, I Jo 2:8, Re 1:16 8:12 18:23 21:23.

Pass., to come to light, appear, be manifest: Mt 2:7 13:26 24:27, 30, Lk 9:8, Phl 2:15, He 11:3, I Pe 4:18 (LXX); opp. to ἀφανίζεσθαι, Ja 4:14; c. dat. pers. (Bl. § 54, 4), Mt 1:20 2:13, 19, Mk 16:9; c. nom. pred.,

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

φαίνω; [1 aor. act. subjune. 3 pers. sing. avy, LT WH in Rev. viii. 12; xviii. 23, (see below and dvadaivw; W §15 5. v.; B.41(35))]; Pass., pres. φαίνομαι; 2 aor. ἐφάνην; 2 fut. φανήσομαι and (in 1 Pet. iv. 18) φανοῦμαι (cf. Kithner § 343s. v.; [Veitchs.v.]); (φάω) ; in Grk. writ. fr. Hom. down; to bring forth into the light, cause to shine; to show. In bibl. Grk. 1. Active intransitively, to shine, shed light, (which the Grks. [commonly (cf. L. and S.s. ν. A. IT.)] express by the passive), Sept. for VND: τὸ φῶς φαίνει, Jn. i. 5; 1 Jn. ii. 8; ὁ λύχνος, Jn. v. 85; 2 Pet. i. 19, (1 Mace. iv. 50; Gen. i. 17); ὁ ἥλιος, Rev. i. 16 ; ὁ ἥλ. καὶ ἡ σελήνη, Rev. xxi. 23; ἡ ἡμέρα, Rey. viii. 12 Ree. 2. Passive, a. to shine, be bright or resplendent: ἡ ἡμέρα, Rev. viii. 12 Tr [(see above); xviii. 23 RG Tr—but see Veitchs.v.; moreover, the foll. exx. should be brought under the next head; see Meyer…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

φαίνω (phainō) — to shine/appear.

φαίνω,

[Refs 8th c.BC+], Epic dialect also φαείνω (which see):—future φᾰνῶ, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Ionic dialect φᾰνέω (ἀπο-) [Refs 5th c.BC+], optative φᾰνοίην [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist 1 ἔφηνα [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Doric dialect ἔφᾱνα [Refs 5th c.BC+]subjunctive, ἀπο-φάνῃ uncertain reading in [Refs]; φάνῃς [Refs 4th c.BC+]; so in late Prose, (ἐξ-) [NT+2nd c.AD+]; Epic dialect iterative φάνεσκε (intransitive) [Refs 8th c.BC+]: perfect πέφαγκα [Refs 4th c.BC+]perfect πέφηνα (see. below[Refs], Doric dialect3rd.pers. plural ἐκ-πεφάναντι [Refs 5th c.BC+]; pluperfect ἐπεφήνειν [Refs 2nd c.AD+]:—middle, future infinitive φᾰνεῖσθαι [Refs 8th c.BC+], Ionic dialect φᾰνέομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]; the forms φανῆσθον and Doric dialect imperative φάνευ are corrupt in [Refs 5th c.BC+]aorist 1 ἐφηνάμην (transitive) [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—passive, Ionic dialect imperfect…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

φαίνω

phaino

prolongation for the base of 5457; to lighten (shine), i.e. show

(transitive or intransitive, literal or figurative):-- appear, seem,

be seen, shine, X think.

see GREEK for 5457

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

φαίνω

v.

I shine, appear, seem

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

φαίνω phainō 31x

to cause to appear, bring to light; absol. to shine, Jn. 1:5; 5:35; 2 Pet. 1:19; 1 Jn. 2:8; Rev. 1:16; 8:12; 21:23; mid./pass. to be seen, appear, be visible, Mt. 1:20; 2:7, 13, 19; τὰ φαινόμενα, things visible, things obvious to the senses, Heb. 11:3; φαίνομαι, to appear, seen, be in appearance, Mt. 23:27; Lk. 24:11; to appear in thought, seen in idea, be a notion, Mk.…

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Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

φαίνω φάω Act. to bring to light, make to appear, Hom., etc.:—Mid. to exhibit as one's own, Soph.

to shew forth, make known, reveal, disclose, shew, Od., Soph. etc.: γόνον Ἑλένηι φ. to shew her a child, i. e. grant her to bear one, Od.

of sound, to make it clear to the ear, make it ring clear, id. Od., Aesch.

to make clear, explain, expound, Hdt.

in attic to inform against one, to indict, impeach, Ar.:— to inform of a thing as contraband, id. Ar.: Pass., τὰ φανθέντα articles informed against as contraband, Dem.

absol. to give information, Xen.

φαίνειν φρουράν at Sparta, to proclaim a levy, call out the array, id. Xen.

absol. to give light, Od.; so of the sun, moon, etc., φ. τινί Ar., Theocr.; so of the Dioscuri shining in mid-air, Eur.; ἀγανὴ φαίνουσ᾽ ἐλπίς soft shining hope, Aesch.

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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
10%shining
shining10% · 3×shines10% · 3×appeared10% · 3×may appear6% · 2×appearing6% · 2×appears6% · 2×appear6% · 2×it may be shown as3% · 1×other renderings42% · 13×

31 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
verb81%linking verb13%object3%adverbial3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 31 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
μήNeg
ὅπωςhow, in order thἡμέραa dayοὐNeg
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀνατολήrising of the suκαίωI ignite, light,
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
ἄγγελοςan angel, messen
ὅπωςhow, in order that,
προσεύχομαιI pray, pray forαὐτός
τότεthen
ποιέωI do, makeκαίand, even, also,
φαίνωshines,31×
what comes after →
Article the
ἄνθρωποςa man, one of thσημεῖονa sign, miracle,δέbut, on the othe
ἐν
αὐχμηρόςdingy, dusky, obArticle theσύ
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakArticle the
κατά
ὄναρindcl
καίand, even, also, nam
Article the

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

Concordanceφαίνω · 31× in the New Testament
Matthew Revelation John Luke Mark 1 John 1 Peter 2 Corinthians 2 Peter Hebrews James Philippians
Across the New Testament13 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 26 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 Ignatius of Antioch The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 141c. AD 40

ὅμοιον δή τι πεπονθέναι καὶ τὸ γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων φαίνεται καθ’ ἑκάστην γενεὰν ἀμυδροτέρας λαμβανόντων τάς τε τοῦ σώματος καὶ τὰς τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις καὶ ποιότητας.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.24c. AD 75–95

φανεῖται γὰρ σκοπουμένοις οὕτως οὐδὲν οὔτʼ ἄλογον αὐτοῖς οὔτε πρὸς τὴν μεγαλειότητα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν ἀνάρμοστον·

Clement of RomeSecond Clement 12.4c. AD 96

ὃν τρόπον οὖν σου τὸ σῶμα φαίνεται, οὕτως καὶ ἡ ψυχή σου δῆλος ἔστω ἐν τοῖς καλοῖς ἔργοις.

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 1st c. AD
P.Athen.. 19ArsinoitesAD 153

καιρῷ. λήμψομαι δὲ τὰ ἐκ δημοσίου χρήματα καὶ σπέρματα· βεβαίωσις ἥδε … λοιπῶν τὰ φαίνονται καὶ ἐπιτελέσω τὰ τῆς κληρουχίας γεωργικὰ ἔργα πάντα ὅσα καθήκει· ἐὰν φαίνηται μισθῶσαι. Ὄννωφρις

P.Cair. Isid. 101ArsinoitesAD 300

καὶ μετὰ τὸν χρόνον παραδώσω τὰς ἀρούρας ἀπὸ καλάμης καθὼς καὶ ἐγὼ παρέλαβα, ἐὰν φαίνεται μισθῶσαι. καὶ ἐπερωτηθεῖσα ὡμολόγησα. Αὐρηλία Σερηνίλλα διʼ ἐμοῦ Ζωίλου υἱοῦ μεμίσθωκα ὡς πρόκιται. Αὐρήλιοι

P.Col. 7 179Karanis (Arsinoites)AD 300

τὸν χρόνον παραδώσω τὸν ἐλαιῶνα τετευχότα τῶν δε… πάντων ὡς καὶ ἐγὼ παρέλαβον, ἐὰν φαίνεται μισθῶσαι. καὶ ἐπερωτηθεὶς ὡμολόγησα. αὐρηλία Θερμουθᾶρις μεμίσθωκα ἐπὶ ἡμίσει μέρει ὡς πρόκιται. Αὐρήλιος Μίκκαλος

And the Light in the darkness shines, and the darkness it not grasped [it].
καὶkai and G2532 Conjunction
8,978× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in John as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
And or also, a connecting word used to join ideas or words, like in Matthew 2:18 and Hebrews 1:1.
Tyndale gloss
and
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

καί,

conj.,

and.

Copulative.

Connecting single words;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καί (kai) — and.

καί,

conjunction, copulative, joining words and sentences,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καί

kai

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

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

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

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

yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καί

Cj.

and, even, also, namely

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καί kai 9x

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ἡ τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

And the Light in the darkness shines, and the darkness it not grasped [it].
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 John as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Art-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
the19783×
what comes after →
θεόςGod, a god
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
ἸησοῦςJesus
λέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
ἐγώἸησοῦςJesusArticle the
πατήρfather, Father, ance
ἐγώσύαὐτός

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

And the Light in the darkness shines, and the darkness it not grasped [it].
σκοτίαskotia darkness G4653 Noun · nominative · singular · feminine
17× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Darkness refers to a lack of light or understanding. In John 1:5, it says that Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness. It can also mean a time of secrecy or a state of spiritual blindness.
Amplified meaning
the forces of evil, ignorance
Tyndale gloss
darkness
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word σκοτία (skotia) means darkness or gloom, both literally and metaphorically. It can refer to physical darkness, secrecy, or spiritual ignorance and moral darkness, as seen in various New Testament passages. The term is derived from σκότος and is used to describe both a lack of light and a state of spiritual blindness.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

† σκοτία, -ας, ἡ

[in LXX: Jb 28:3 (אֹפֶל), Mi 3:6 (חָשְׁכָה), Is 16:3 * ;]

in late writers = σκότος,

darkness: Jo 6:17 20:1. Metaph.,

of secrecy (opp. to ἐν τ. φωτί): Mt 10:27, Lk 12:3;

of spiritual darkness: Mt 4:16, Jo 1:5 8:12 12:35, 46, I Jo 1:5 2:8, 9, 11.†

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

σκοτία, -as, 7, [on its deriv. ef. σκηνή], (Thom. Mag. σκύτος κ. τὸ σκύτος" TO δὲ σκοτία οὐκ ἐν χρήσει sc. in Attic {cf. Moeris 8. v.; L. and S.s. v. σκύτος, fin.]), darkness: prop. the darkness due to want of daylight, Jn. vi. 17; xx. 13 ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ (λαλεῖν τι), unseen, in secret, (i. q. ἐν κρυπτῷ. Jn. xviii. 20), privily, in private, opp. to ἐν τῷ φωτί, Mt. x. 27; Lk. xii. 3; metaph. used of ignorance of divine things, and its associated wickedness, and the resultant misery: Mt. iv. 16 LTrWH; Jn. i. 5; viii. 12; xii. 35, 46; 1 Jn. i. δ: ii, 8 sq. 11. (Ap. Rh 4, 1698; Anth. 8, 187. 190; for πε τα Mic. iii. 6; for de& Job xxviii. 3.)

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

σκοτία (skotia) — darkness.

σκοτί-α, ἡ,

(σκότος) darkness, gloom, [NT+3rd c.BC+]

II. in Architecture, scotia, cavetto, a sunken moulding, so called from the dark shadow it casts, [Refs 1st c.BC+]

III. Σκοτιά, epithet of Aphrodite in Egypt, [Refs]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

σκοτία

skotia

from 4655; dimness, obscurity (literally or

figuratively):--dark(-ness).

see GREEK for 4655

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

σκοτία, ας, ἡ

n.f.

darkness

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

σκοτία skotia 16x

darkness, Jn. 6:17; 20:1; privacy, Mt. 10:27; Lk. 12:3; met. moral or spiritual darkness, Jn. 1:5 (2x); 8:12; 12:35, 46; 1 Jn. 1:5; 2:8, 9, 11*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

σκοτία σκοτία, ἡ, σκότος darkness, gloom, Anth.

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
Easton's Bible Dictionary

Darkness

The plague (the ninth) of darkness in Egypt (Ex. 10:21) is described as darkness “which may be felt.” It covered “all the land of Egypt,” so that “they saw not one another.” It did not extend to the land of Goshen (ver. 23).

When Jesus hung upon the cross (Matt. 27:45; Luke 23:44), from the “sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.”

On Mount Sinai, Moses (Ex. 20:21) “drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.” This was the “thick cloud upon the mount” in which Jehovah was when he spake unto Moses there. The Lord dwelt in the cloud upon the mercy-seat (1 Kings…

is spoken of as encompassing the actual presence of God, as that out of which he speaks, --the envelope, as it were, of divine glory. (Exodus 20:21; 1 Kings 8:12) The plague of darkness in Egypt was miraculous. The darkness "over all the land," (Matthew 27:45) attending the crucifixion has been attributed to an eclipse, but was undoubtedly miraculous, as no eclipse of the sun could have taken place at that time, the moon being at the full at the time of the passover. Darkness is also, as in the expression "land of darkness," used for the state of the dead, (Job 10:21,22) and frequently, figuratively, for ignorance and unbelief, as the privation of spiritual light. (

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The absence of natural light, Ge 1:2, and hence figuratively a state of misery and adversity, Job 18:6 Ps 107:10 Isa 8:22 9:1; also the absence of the sun and stars, and hence the fall of chief men and national convulsions, Isa 13:10 Ac 2:20. "Works of darkness," are the impure mysteries practiced in heathen worship, Eph 5:11. "Outer darkness" illustrates the gloom of those on whom the gates of heaven are closed, Mt 8:12. The darkness in Egypt,

→ Over the face of the earth Ge 1:2; Job 38:9; Jer 4:23

→ Called NIGHT Ge 1:5

→ God creates Isa 45:7

→ Miraculous

In Egypt Ex 10:21,22; Ps 105:28

At Mount Sinai Ex 20:21; Heb 12:18

At the crucifixion Mt 27:45; Mr 15:33

→ FIGURATIVE

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
88%darkness
darkness88% · 14×dark6% · 1×when dark6% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial47%subject35%predicate18%

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
Article the
ἐνὅτιthat, since, becκαίand, even, also,
καίand, even, also, nam
ΚαφαρναούμPropεἰμίI am, exist
ἐν
κάθημαιI sit, am seated
μήNeg
ἵναin order that, s
πρωΐearly in the morning
ἔρχομαιI come, go
σκοτίαdarkness17×
what comes after →
λέγωI say, speak
ἐν
εἰμίI am, exist
ἕωςuntil, as far asκαίand, even, also,
φῶςlight, a source of l
ὁράωI see, look upon
φαίνωI shine, appear, see
καίand, even, also,
αὐτός
οὐNeg

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

Concordanceσκοτία · 17× in the New Testament
John 1 John Matthew Luke
Across the New Testament4 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
And the Light in the darkness shines, and the darkness it not grasped [it].
αὐτὸautos it G846 Personal pronoun · accusative · singular · neuter
5,550× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in John as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This pronoun refers to a person or thing, like 'he', 'she', or 'it'. It is used in the Bible to emphasize a person or thing, like in John 2:25 where it says 'he himself knew'.
Amplified meaning
the Light, Jesus
Tyndale gloss
it/s/he
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

αὐτός, -ή, -ό,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

αὐτός (autos) — it/s/he.

αὐτός

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

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

αὐτός

autos

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

those, together, very, which. Compare 848.

see GREEK for 109

see GREEK for 1438

see GREEK for 848

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

αὐτός, αὐτή, αὐτό

Pers.pr.

he, she, it, they, them, same

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

αὐτός autos 5x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Pron-ASN — Personal pronoun · accusative · singular · neuter
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

P-ASN Part of Speech: Personal pronoun Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Neuter

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

5,861 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 92 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
object33%adverbial28%indirect object19%subject18%predicate3%

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
λέγωI say, speak
καίand, even, also,δέbut, on the otheἸησοῦςJesus
πρός
λέγωI say, speakἔρχομαιI come, goδέbut, on the othe
ἐν
Article theαὐτόςεὑρίσκωI find
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakοὗτοςὁράωI see, look upon
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςσύθεόςGod, a god
αὐτόςit5550×
what comes after →
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusμαθητήςa learner, disciθεόςGod, a god
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theλέγωI say, speakαὐτός
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςτίςIrgκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
ἐν
Article theαὐτόςὅς
εἰς
Article theδικαιοσύνηjustice, justnesἹεροσόλυμαJerusalem

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

And the Light in the darkness shines, and the darkness it not grasped [it].
οὐou not G3756 Particle · negative
1,622× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in John as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This is a strong 'no', used to deny something completely. It appears in the New Testament, such as in Matthew 13:29 and John 1:21. It is a negative answer to a question.
Amplified meaning
completely, utterly
Tyndale gloss
no
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word οὐ (transliterated as ou) is a primary negative particle meaning 'not' or 'no.' It is used to negate verbs or statements, often appearing in various forms depending on the following sound. In the New Testament, it frequently serves to deny facts and is distinct from another negative particle, μή (transliterated as ), which is used for prohibitions or wishes.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

οὐ, before a vowel with smooth breathing οὐκ, before one with rough breathing οὐχ (but improperly οὐχ ἰδού, Ac 2:7, WH, mg.; cf. WH, Intr., § 409; M, Pr., 44, 244),

[in LXX for לֹא, אַיִן, אֵין;]

neg. particle,

not, no, used generally c. indic. and for a denial of fact (cf . μή);

absol. (accented), οὔ, no: Mt 13:29, Jo 1:21 21:5; οὒ οὔ, Mt 5:37, Ja 5:12.

Most freq. negativing a verb or other word, Mt 1:25 10:26, 38, Mk 3:25 9:37, Jo 8:29, Ac 7:5, Ro 1:16, Phl 3:3, al.; in…

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

οὐ before a consonant, οὐκ before a vowel with a smooth breathing, and ody before an aspirated vowel ; but sometimes in the best codd. οὐχ occurs even before a smooth breathing; accordingly LT WH mrg. have adopted οὐχ ἰδού, Acts ii. 7; LT οὐχ ᾿Ιουδαϊκῶς, Gal. ii. 14 (see WH. Introd. § 409); L οὐχ ὀλίγος, Acts xix. 23; οὐχ ἠγάπησαν, Rev. xii. 11; and contrariwise οὐκ before an aspirate, as οὐκ ἕστηκεν, Jn. viii. 44 T; [οὐκ ἕνεκεν, 2 Co. vii. 12 T]; (οὐκ εὗρον, Lk. xxiv. 3; [οὐκ ὑπάρχει, Acts iii. 6] in cod. x [alsoC*; ef. cod. Alex. in 1 ἔβαν. iv. 2,12; Job xix. 16; xxxviiil. 11, 26]); cf. W. $5, 14d. 14; Β. τ; [A. v. Schiitz, Hist. Alphab. Att., Berol. 1875, pp: 54-58 ; Sophocles, Hist. of Grk. Alphab., 1st ed. 1848, p- 64 sq. (on the breathing); Tdf Sept., ed. 4, Proleg. pp: Xxxiii. xxxiv.; Scrivener, Collation ete., 2d ed., p. lv. no. 9; id. cod. Bezae p. xlvii. no. 11 (ef. p. xlii.…

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

ου to make the voyage” (Edd.), and P Amh II. 78?! (a.p. 184) τοιαύτης ο[ὖ]ν αὐθαδίας ἐν αὐτῷ οὔσης οὐ δυνάμενος [ἐν]καρτερεῖν ἐπιδίδωμι, ‘“ his audacity having reached this pitch I can endure no longer and present this petition.” See further Proleg. p. 231 f. In support of the translation ‘‘ I determined not to know” in 1 Cor 2, we may cite P Par 2657 (B.c. 163) (= UPZi. Ρ-. 248) οὐκ ἐκρίναμεν καταχωρῆσαι, ‘we determined not to record,” P Tebt I. 124° (c. B.c. 118) οὐκ (ἐκδρίναμεν ἐξαρ[ιθ]μεῖ[σθαι, “we determined not to be counted,” and the classical formula in P Hamb I. 27° (B.c. 250 (249)) οὐκ ἔφη εἰδέναι, ‘he said that he did not know.” The origin of the double negative οὐ μή is fully discussed by Moulton Pro/eg. p. 187 ff. When we pass to its actual occurrences in the NT, we find that these for the most part are found in passages derived from the OT and in the Sayings of our Lord…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

οὐ (ou) — no.

οὐ,

the negative of fact and statement, as μή of will and thought; οὐ denies, μή rejects; οὐ is absolute, μή relative; οὐ objective, μή subjective. —The same differences hold for all compounds of οὐ and μή, and some examples of οὐδέ and οὐδείς are included below.—As to the Form, see infr. G. USAG[Refs 5th c.BC+]

I. as the negative of single words,

II. as the negative of the sentence.

I. οὐ adhering to single words so as to form a quasi-compound with them:—with Verbs: οὐ δίδωμι withhold, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; οὐκ εἰῶ prevent, [Refs]; οὐκ ἐθέλω refuse, [Refs]; οὔ φημι deny, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; but sometimes οὐ is retained, εἰ δ᾽ ἂν.. οὐκ ἐθέλωσιν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἐάντε.. οὐ (variant{μή}) φῆτε ἐάντε φῆτε [Refs 8th c.BC+] —On the use of οὐ in contrasts, see below [Refs 5th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

οὐ

ou

ouk ook, and (before an aspirate)

ouch ookh

a primary word; the absolute negative (compare 3361) adverb; no or

not:--+ long, nay, neither, never, no (X man), none, (can-)not, +

nothing, + special, un(-worthy), when, + without, + yet but. See also

3364, 3372.

see GREEK for 3361

see GREEK for 3364

see GREEK for 3372

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

οὐ

Neg.prt.

no, not

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

οὐ ou 1x

negative adverb, originally the gen. of ὅς, spelled οὐκ if followed by a word beginning with a vowel and a smooth breathing, οὐχ if followed by a vowel and rough breathing, not, no, Mt. 5:37; 12:43; 23:37; for the peculiarities of its usage (especially as distinct from μή) consult a grammar

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

PRT-N PaRTicle, disjunctive particle Negative

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
82%not
not82% · 1383×certainly6% · 96×surely4% · 70×no longer3% · 50×no2% · 39×other renderings3% · 51×

1,689 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 17 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial82%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,622 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
εἰμίI am, existἐγώαὐτός
ὅς
ἐγώθερίζωI reap, gatherδέbut, on the othe
ὅτιthat, since, because
σύαὐτόςἐγώ
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakἐνἐπί
σύ
λέγωI say, speakγάρforὅς
οὐnot1622×
what comes after →
εἰμίI am, exist
ἐκArticle theἐγώ
μήNeg
παρέρχομαιI pass byεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come inπίνωI drink, imbibe
οἶδαI know, remember
ὅτιthat, since, becArticle theτίςIrg
γάρfor
εἰμίI am, existθέλωI will, wish, deArticle the
δύναμαιI am powerful, am ab
ἔρχομαιI come, goσῴζωI save, healArticle the

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

Concordanceοὐ · 1,622× in the New Testament
John Matthew Luke 1 Corinthians Romans Mark Acts 2 Corinthians Revelation Hebrews 1 John Galatians

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

Across the New Testament26 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 6c. AD 40

ὡς γὰρ τῶν κολοσσιαίων μεγεθῶν τὰς ἐμφάσεις καὶ ἡ βραχυτάτη σφραγὶς τυπωθεῖσα δέχεται, οὕτως τάχα που καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀναγραφείσης ἐν τοῖς νόμοις κοσμοποιίας ὑπερβάλλοντα κάλλη καὶ ταῖς μαρμαρυγαῖς τὰς τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων ψυχὰς ἐπισκιάζοντα βραχυτέροις…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.11c. AD 75–95

ὁ δὲ τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν ἀρχιερέων οὐδενὸς ἀρετῇ δεύτερος Ἐλεάζαρος τῷ προειρημένῳ βασιλεῖ ταύτης ἀπολαῦσαι τῆς ὠφελείας οὐκ ἐφθόνησε πάντως ἀντειπὼν ἄν, εἰ μὴ πάτριον ἦν ἡμῖν τὸ μηδὲν ἔχειν τῶν καλῶν ἀπόρρητον.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.8c. AD 100

ἐγὼ δὲ οὐχ ὡς διδάσκαλος, ἀλλ̓ ὧς εἰς ἐξ ὑμῶν ὑποδείξω ὀλίγα, δἰ ὧν ἐν τοῖς παροῦσιν εὐφρανθήσεσθε.

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

δὲ γενόμεναι κατὰ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον κληρονομήσασαι ταξάμεναι τὰ καθήκοντα τέλη θεᾶι Βερενίκηι κυριεύομεν. ὅθεν οὐκ ἀποδιδόντων τὰ ἡμέτερα ἐπεδώκαμεν ἐν τῶι λ ἔτει προσανγελίαν Ἡρακλείδει γενομένωι ἀρχιφυλακίτηι τοῦ Παθυρίτου

C.Erbstreit16Diospolis Magna (Theben)135 BC

ι ἀρουρῶν πρόκτησιν … ένου αὐτὸν ἐν συνεδρίωι καὶ συγχώρησιν … ειν, ἐν ἧι οὐκ εὐδοκεῖ ὁ πατήρ. ὅθεν καταβεβραβευμένοι … ήρου συνεριου ἀξιοῦμεν, ἐὰν φαίνηται, συντάξαι γράψαι, οἷς

P.Adl. 2Pathyris125 BC

ὠνῆς ἐν πίστει διὰ τῶν περὶ τὸν Πανεβχοῦνιν ἐκτελειωθεῖσαν τῶι … ἔτει ἀντὶ ὀφειλημάτων, οὐκ ἐπελευσομένους τὸν Πανερέα καὶ τὴν Σενενοῦπιν περὶ ὀφειλημάτων μηδὲ περὶ ἄλλου μηδενός. ταῦτα δὲ

And the Light in the darkness shines, and the darkness it not grasped [it].
κατέλαβεν.¶katalambanō grasped [it]. G2638 Verb · second aorist · active · indicative · third person · singular
15× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in John than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To grasp or seize something, whether physically or mentally, is the meaning of this word. It can also mean to overtake or comprehend, as seen in 1 Corinthians 9:24 and Philippians 3:12-13. This concept is used to describe spiritual pursuits and understanding.
Amplified meaning
grasped, seized
Tyndale gloss
to grasp
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

καταλαμβάνω means to seize, grasp, or comprehend, and can refer to both physical and mental actions. It covers a range of meanings from overtaking or catching up with someone, to understanding or perceiving something. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts such as Mark 9:18 and John 1:5. The lexicons indicate that it can also imply being surprised or overtaken by events.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

κατα-λαμβάνω,

[in LXX for נשׂג hi., לכד, etc.;]

to lay hold of, seize, appropriate: Mk 9:18; c. acc. rei, I Co 9:24, Phl 3:12, 13.

to overtake: as carrel. of διώκω (Field, Notes, 158 f.), Ro 9:30; ἡ ἡμέρα, I Th 5:4; of evils, Jo 1:5 12:35 (cf. 6:17 T); hence, to surprise, discover: Jo 8:[3, 4],

Of mental action, to apprehend, comprehend; so mid., in NT (M, Pr., 158): Eph 3:18; seq. ὅτι, Ac 4:13 10:34; c. acc. et inf., Ac 25:25 (MM, Exp., xv).†

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

κατα-λαμβάνω: 2 aor. κατέλαβον; pf. inf. κατειληφέναι ; Pass., pf. 3 pers. sing. κατείληπται (Jn. vill. 4 as given in LT Tr WI txt.), pf. ptep. κατειλημμένος ; 1 aor. κατειλήφθην (Jn. vili. 4 R**e*G) [on the augm. ef. W. § 12, 6], and κατεληφθην (Phil. iii. 12 RG), and xareλήμφθην (ibid. LT Tr WH; on the p see 8. v. M, p); Mid., pres. καταλαμβάνομαι; 2 aor. κατελαβόμην; cf. Kiihner i. p. 856; [Veitch, 5. v. λαμβάνω]; Sept. for YW, 339, also for 30, ete.; [fr. Hom. down]; to lay hold of; i. 6. 1. to lay hold of so as to make one’s own, to obtain, attain to: w. the ace. of the thing; the prize of victory, 1 Co. ix. 24; Phil. iii. 12 sq. 5 τὴν δικαιοσύνην, Ro. ix. 30; 1. 4- to make one’s own, to take into one’s self, appropriate: ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ (i. 6. τὸ φῶς) οὐ Kaτέλαβεν, Jn. i. 5. 2. to seize upon, take possession of, (Lat. occupare); 8. of evils overtaking one (so in Grk. writ. fr. Hom.…

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

καταλαμβάνω. Many of the NT meanings of this common verb can be paralleled from our sources. Thus P Oxy XII. 14131} (A.D. 270-5) κατείληφα πόρον, τουτέστιν γενήματα ἀποκείμενα ἐν τῷ Μονίμου, “1 have impounded the property, that is to say produce deposited at the farmstead of Monimus’”’ (Edd.), Syll 933° (iv/B.c.) οἵδε] κατέλαβον τὰν χώρ[αν καὶ ἐτείχιξ]αν τὰν méAtw—then follow the names of colonists who ‘© appropriated ”’ the land: this is Paul’s regular use of the verb in active and passive. In the letter of Epicurus to a child, discovered at Herculaneum, 1764 (= Se/ectzons, p. 5), the philosopher writes—a]elypeba εἰς Λάμψακον. . . kal ἐκεῖ κατειλήφαμεν ὑγ[ι]αίνοντας Θεμίσταν Kal τοὺς λοιποὺς [pQAof[v]s, ‘‘we have arrived at Lampsacus, and there we have found Themistas and the rest of our friends in good health’’: cf. P Tebt I. 155 (p.c. 114) ἡμῶν συνεκπηδησάντων κατέλαβονον (/.…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καταλαμβάνω (katalambanō) — to grasp.

καταλαμβάνω,

future -λήψομαι[Refs 5th c.BC+], Ionic dialect -λάμψομαι[Refs 7th c.BC+]: perfect -είληφα[Refs 5th c.BC+] c.BC)), -λελάβηκα [Refs 6th c.BC+]:—passive, Ionic dialect aorist -ελάμφθην[Refs]; -ελάφθην [Refs 4th c.BC+]: perfect in middle sense, [Refs 1st c.BC+]:—seize, lay hold of, with accusative, τοῦ κατὰ νῶτα λαβών [Refs 8th c.BC+]; πάντα φυλακαῖς κ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; φάσκων Ποσειδῶ πρότερον Ἀθηνᾶς καταλαβεῖν αὐτήν (i.e. τὴν πόλιν) [Refs 5th c.BC+]; later, simply, arrive at a place, [Refs 6th c.AD+], etc.:—middle, seize for oneself, τὰ πρήγματα [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὰ ἄλλοι οὐ κατελάβοντο matters which others had not preoccupied, [Refs 2nd c.BC+] —passive, of a person, ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ καταληφθείς possessed, [Refs 3rd…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καταλαμβάνω

katalambano

from 2596 and 2983; to take eagerly, i.e. seize, possess, etc.

(literally or figuratively):--apprehend, attain, come upon,

comprehend, find, obtain, perceive, (over-)take.

see GREEK for 2596

see GREEK for 2983

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καταλαμβάνω

v.

I seize tight hold of, overtake, comprehend

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καταλαμβάνω katalambanō 15x

to lay hold of, grasp; to obtain, attain, Rom. 9:30; 1 Cor. 9:24; Phil. 3:12, 13; to seize, to take possession of, Mk. 9:18; to come suddenly upon; overtake, surprise, Jn. 12:35; 1 Thess. 5:4; to detect in the act, seize, Jn. 8:3, 4; met. to comprehend, apprehend, Jn. 1:5; mid. to understand, perceive, Acts 4:13; 10:34; 25:25; Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

καταλαμβάνω fut. -λήψομαι ionic -λάμψομαι perf. -είληφα ionic plup. -λελαβήκεε Pass., ionic aor1 -ελάμφθην to seize upon, lay hold of, Lat. occupare, Od., Hdt., attic:—Mid. to seize for oneself, Lat. capesso, Hdt.

to seize, overpower, of death and fatigue, Hom.

to seize with the mind, apprehend, comprehend, Plat.

to catch, overtake, come up with, τοὺς φεύγοντας Hdt.: of mischances, to overtake, befall, id. Hdt.

to surprise, catch, find, Lat. deprehendo, with a partic., κ. τινὰ ζῶντα id. Hdt.; καταλαμβάνει τοὺς ἄρχοντας ἐξιόντας Dem., etc.

impers., καταλαμβάνει τινά, c. inf., like the attic συμβαίνει, it happens to one, it is one's fortune to do so and so, τοῦτον κατέλαβε κεῖσθαι Hdt.

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-2AAI-3S — Verb · second aorist · active · indicative · third person · singular
second aorist active indicative — a completed action, viewed as a whole.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-2AAI-3S Part of Speech: Verb Tense: second Aorist Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: third Number: Singular

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
13%having grasped
having grasped13% · 2×have grasped13% · 2×may grasp13% · 2×grasped13% · 2×i grasped7% · 1×you may grasp7% · 1×grasp7% · 1×i shall grasp7% · 1×other renderings20% · 3×

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

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 15 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
ἸωάννηςJohnεἰCondὅς
αὐτός
ἐάνCond
οὐNeg
αὐτός
μοιχείαadultery
ἐν
γυνήa woman, wife, my la
Article the
καταλαμβάνωgrasped [it].15×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
ἵστημιI cause to standArticle the
ὅτιthat, since, because
ἄνθρωποςa man, one of thοὐNeg
ῥήγνυμιI break, break forth
αὐτός
ἐπαυτοφώρῳin the very act
μοιχεύωI commit adulter
μηδείςno one, nothing
ἄξιοςworthy, worthy o

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

Concordanceκαταλαμβάνω · 15× in the New Testament
John Acts Philippians 1 Corinthians 1 Thessalonians Ephesians Mark Romans
Across the New Testament8 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 43 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaThat the Worse Attacks the Better 129c. AD 40

γέγηθε δὲ καὶ χαίρει, ὅταν ὥσπερ ἐναυγασθεὶς ἴδῃ καὶ καταλάβῃ τὸν νοῦν τοῦ δηλουμένου πράγματος ἄκρως·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 4.12c. AD 75–95

στάσις οὖν αὐτοὺς οἵαν ἴσμεν οὔτε παρʼ Ἕλλησιν οὔτε παρὰ βαρβάροις γενομένην κατέλαβεν, ὑφʼ ἧς ἅπαντας ἀπολέσθαι κινδυνεύσαντας ἔσωσε Μωυσῆς οὐ μνησικακῶν, ὅτι παρʼ ὀλίγον ἦλθε καταλευσθεὶς ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἀποθανεῖν.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 4.1c. AD 100

φύγωμεν οὑν τελείως ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἔργων τῆς ἀνομίας, μήποτε καταλάβῃ ἡμᾶς τὰ ἔργα τῆς ἀνομίας: καὶ μισήσωμεν τὴν πλάνην τοῦ νῦν καιροῦ, ἵνα εἰς τὸν μέλλοντα ἀγαπηθῶμεν.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
4th c. AD 3rd c. AD 6th c. AD 7th c. AD 5th c. AD
P. Princ. 2 65Philadelphia (Arsinoites)AD 39

αλ … … ξαι αὐτῶι ἕως καταβῶι καὶ μὴ ἐμποδισθήτω τὰ ἐκεῖ ἕως ὅτου καταλάβῃ … εαν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀριθμήσεως. … ἔρρωσο. ἔτους γ Γαίου Καίσαρος Σεβαστοῦ Γερμανικοῦ, Μεσορὴ

P.Turner 34Diospolis Parva (?)AD 216

ἁπάντων ἐνδομενείας τε συμβόλων καὶ ὀσπρέων καὶ ἀργυρίου ὧν μόλις πολυπραγμονήσας τὸ καθʼ ἓν κατελαβόμην, νομὴν ἔχειν εἰς ταῦτα μόνη βεβούληται, ἐπιχειρήσασα μὲν κατʼ ἀρχὰς τῶν ὑπαρχόντων τὴν νομὴν

P.Flor. 2 248Theadelphia (Arsinoites)AD 257

Διονυσιάδος παρέχητε ὁπότερʼ ὑμῶν ὑπὸ ἄξονα ἀποφερόμενον εἰς Ἰβιῶνα Ἀργαίου καὶ ἡ ὥρα αὐτὸν καταλάβῃ τοῦ καταχθῆναι παρʼ ὑμῖν παράσχετε αὐτῷ τροφὰς καὶ τῷ ταυρελάτῃ τὴν συνήθην δαπάνην. ἀναγνόντες

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

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