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John 1:9 — Word Study

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N1904ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον.

BSAWaseimi theho Lightphōs [spiritual illumination] <the>ho truealēthinos [genuine, authentic] whohos, hē enlightensphōtizō [enlightens, shines upon, understanding, wisdom] everypas mananthrōpos comingerchomai [arriving, entering] intoeis [toward, within] theho world.kosmos [the earthly realm, human society]

Word
Listen & take awayJohn 1
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 9 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 (kosmos) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
John 1:9quick helps
In a sentenceThe true Light, which gives understanding to everyone, was arriving in the world.
Who is speakingThe author of the Gospel of John, identifying Jesus as the true Light.
Where we areThis verse is part of the prologue of John's Gospel, establishing Jesus' divine nature.
The hard wordἀληθινὸν
Take awayJesus is presented as the genuine source of spiritual illumination for all humanity.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause subject verbεἰμί The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
How rare are these words?in the New Testament

Every word here is used elsewhere in the New Testament.

Bars are logarithmic — , the commonest word in the Greek New Testament, stands 19,867 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.

Deep Study — John 1:9

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

8He himself was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.
9The true Light who gives light to every man was coming into the world.
10He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.
11He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

John 1:9 introduces Jesus as the true Light, emphasizing His role in providing spiritual illumination to every person. This statement follows the declaration that John the Baptist was not the Light but came to bear witness to it. The context highlights the contrast between the true Light and the darkness of the world, underscoring the significance of Jesus' coming as a transformative event for humanity, as seen in verses like John 1:10 and John 1:11.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
1John 1:4In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.
2John 6:32Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
3John 14:6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
4John 15:1“I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard.
5Isaiah 49:6He says: “It is not enough for You to be My Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the protected ones of Israel. I will also make You a light for the nations, to bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 14 references, hung on the phrase they belong to


The Key Word ἀληθινὸν, alēthinosgenerated

The adjective ἀληθινός means true, genuine, or authentic. It is derived from the word for truth and is used to describe something that is real and trustworthy. In this context, it emphasizes that Jesus is the ultimate source of truth and spiritual illumination, distinguishing Him from false lights or teachings.

The parsing indicates it is in the nominative case, singular, and neuter, suggesting it describes the subject, which is the Light. This usage aligns with John's theme of revealing the true nature of Jesus, contrasting with the falsehoods present in the world.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

In this study, the verse is read in the Berean Standard Bible, which states, 'The true Light who gives light to every man was coming into the world.' The KJV also uses 'the true Light' but phrases it as 'which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.'

The translations generally agree on the concept of Jesus as the true Light, but they differ in wording. For example, every (BSB, ASV, KJV) is used in some versions, while everyone (WEB, FBV) appears in others. Additionally, enlightens (WEB, LSV) is used in some translations, while lighteth (KJV, YLT) is preferred in others.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main clause of the verse is centered around the finite verb ἦν, was, which indicates the state of being of the subject, φῶς, Light. The structure includes a noun phrase as the subject, followed by a participial phrase that describes the action of coming into the world.

The subject is identified as , who, referring to the true Light. The verb φωτίζει, enlightens, serves as the action performed by the subject, with the object being πάντα ἄνθρωπον, every man, indicating the extent of the Light's influence.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

φῶς appears in the Septuagint as a translation of the Hebrew word אוֹר (H216), which means light. This connection emphasizes the continuity of the theme of light from the Old Testament to the New Testament, where God's presence is often associated with light.

ἀληθινός corresponds to the Hebrew word אֱמֶת (H571), meaning truth. This highlights the significance of Jesus as the embodiment of truth and genuine revelation, fulfilling the expectations set forth in the Hebrew Scriptures.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

John 1:9 tells us that Jesus is the true Light, who brings understanding to every person. He was coming into the world to illuminate the lives of all people, contrasting with the darkness that existed before His arrival.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean that Jesus is the true Light?

It means that Jesus is the genuine source of spiritual illumination and truth, distinguishing Him from false teachings and providing understanding to all people.

How does Jesus give light to every man?

Jesus enlightens everyone by revealing the truth about God and His purposes, offering spiritual understanding and wisdom to all who seek Him.

What is the significance of the phrase 'coming into the world'?

This phrase indicates Jesus' incarnation, marking the moment when He entered human history to fulfill God's plan for salvation.

How does this verse relate to the theme of light and darkness in John's Gospel?

This verse introduces the motif of light versus darkness, which is a recurring theme in John's Gospel, emphasizing the transformative power of Jesus' presence in a world filled with darkness.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. In what ways have I experienced the light of Christ in my life?
  2. How can I share the light of Jesus with others in my community?
  3. What does it mean for me to live in the light rather than in darkness?
  4. How can I seek deeper understanding and wisdom from the true Light?

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

Early church writers referenced this verse to highlight the divine nature of Jesus and His role as the true Light.

Clement of AlexandriaThe Stromata Book 2 c. 150–215
He is so lovely, as to be alone loved by us, whose hearts are set on the true beauty, for "He was the true light."
Early Church Fathers on John 1 →
TertullianAgainst Praxeas c. 155–220
Immediately there appears the Word, "that true light, which lighteth man on his coming into the world," and through Him also came light upon the world.
Early Church Fathers on John 1 →
TertullianOn Baptism c. 155–220
But we, with but as poor a measure of understanding as of faith, are able to determine that that baptism was divine indeed, (yet in respect of the command, not in respect of efficacy too,
Early Church Fathers on John 1 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on John 1:9 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

That was the true light,.... Christ is that light, that famous and excellent light, the fountain of all light to all creatures; that gave light to the dark earth at first, and spoke light out of

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

That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

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

That was the true Light: true is sometimes opposed to what is false, ; sometimes to what is typical and figurative, ; sometimes to what is not original, and of itself: in opposition to all these Christ is the true Light; he who alone deserved the name of light, having light in himself, and from himself, , and shining more gloriously than the prophets or apostles. Which lighteth every man that cometh into the world; he lighteth not the Jews only, (as the prophets of old), but both the Jews and Gentiles. Some understand this of the light of reason; but besides that reason is no where in holy writ called light, neither did this illumination agree to Christ as Mediator. It is rather therefore…

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

9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Ver. 9. Which lighteth every man, &c.] Or, that coming into the world, lighteth every man; all, with the light of reason, Job 35:11; his own, with a supernal and supernatural light (to know heavenly things is to ascend into heaven, Proverbs 30:3-4), an affecting, transforming light, 2 Corinthians 3:18, such as maketh a man to be a child of light, Ephesians 5:8; "partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light," Colossians 1:12. Any created understanding at most is but (as Aeschylus saith of fire stolen by Prometheus) παντεχνουπυροςσελας, a beam of that light essential.

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

(9) That was the true Light.—The right rendering of this verse is uncertain. It would, probably, give a better sense to translate it, The true Light which lighteth every man was coming into the world, i.e., was manifesting itself at the time when John was bearing witness and men were mistaking the lamp for the light. (Comp. John 5:35, Note.) The true Light was not “true” as opposed to “false,” but “true” as answering to the perfect ideal, and as opposed to all more or less imperfect representations. The meaning of the Greek is quite clear. The difficulty arises from the fact that in English there is but one word to represent the two ideas. The word for the fuller meaning of “ideally true”…

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

Verse 9. Which lighteth every man] As Christ is the Spring and Fountain of all wisdom, so all the wisdom that is in man comes from him; the human intellect is a ray from his brightness; and reason itself springs from this Logos, the eternal reason. Some of the most eminent rabbins understand Isaiah 60:1, Rise and shine, for thy LIGHT is come, of the Messiah who was to illuminate Israel, and who, they believe, was referred to in that word, Genesis 1:3, And God said, Let there be LIGHT; and there was light. Let a Messiah be provided; and a Messiah was accordingly provided. See Schoettgen. That cometh into the world.] Or, coming into the world - ερχομενονειςτονκοσμον: a common phrase among the…

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

9. That was, &c.] This verse is ambiguous in the Greek. Most of the Ancient Versions, Fathers, and Reformers agree with our translators. Many modern commentators translate—the true Light, which lighteth every man, was coming into the world: but ‘was’ and ‘coming’ are almost too far apart in the Greek for this. There is yet a third way;—there was the true Light, which lighteth every man by coming into the world. ‘Was’ is emphatic: ‘there was the true Light,’ even while the Baptist was preparing the way for Him. The Baptist came once for all; the Light was ever coming.The word for ‘true’ (alêthinos) is remarkable: it means true as opposed to ‘spurious,’ not true as opposed to ‘lying.’ It is…

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

That was the true Light - Not John, but the Messiah. He was not a false, uncertain, dangerous guide, but was one that was true, real, steady, and worthy of confidence.

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 true Light who gives light to every man was coming into the world.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

The true Light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

NETBNew English Translation2006

The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

There was the true light, even the light which lighteth every man, coming into the world.

RVARevised Version, American1894

There was the true light, even the light which lighteth every man, coming into the world.

NWBWebster's Bible1833

That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

GNVGeneva Bible1599

This was that true light, which lighteth euery man that commeth into the world.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

The true light was that which, coming into the world, lightens every man.

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

He was the true Light, which doth enlighten every man, coming to the world;

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

He was the true Light, which enlightens every man, coming into the world;

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

The true light, which gives light to all men, was coming into the world.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

The true light was coming into the world to give light to everyone.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

The true light, which gives light to every man, was then coming into the world.

Word by word, the decisions they made

ἦνeimi Was G1510 2 different renderings
wasASV BBE BSB DBY DRA FBV GNV KJV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB
he wasLSV YLT
φωτίζειphōtizō enlightens G5461 2 different renderings
enlightensLSV WEB
enlightenYLT
πάνταpas every G3956 3 different renderings
everyASV BBE BSB DBY DRA KJV LSV NWB RVA YLT
everyoneFBV MSB NETB WEB
allULB
ἄνθρωπονanthrōpos man G444 2 different renderings
manASV BBE BSB DBY DRA GNV KJV LSV NWB RVA YLT
menULB

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.

clausenoun phrase · subjectnoun phraseτὸthenoun phraseφῶςLightnoun phraseτὸ-ἀληθινὸνtrueclausesubjectwhoverbφωτίζειenlightensnoun phrase · objectπάνταeveryἄνθρωπονmanverb phrase · verbἮνWasἐρχόμενονcomingprepositional phrase · adverbialεἰςintonoun phraseτὸνtheκόσμονworld

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

Erat lux vera,/ quæ illuminat omnem hominem/ venientem in hunc mundum./

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

ܐܝܬܘܗܝ ܗܘܐ ܓܝܪ ܢܘܗܪܐ ܕܫܪܪܐ ܕܡܢܗܪ ܠܟܠܢܫ ܕܐܬܐ ܠܥܠܡܐ

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

ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον.

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον.

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον.

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον.

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον.

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον.

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον.

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον.

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 1:9εἰμίWasWasεἰμίthetheφῶςLightLightφῶς<the><the>ἀληθινόςtruetrueἀληθινόςὅςwhowhoὅςφωτίζωenlightensenlightensφωτίζωπᾶςeveryeveryπᾶςἄνθρωποςmanmanἄνθρωποςἔρχομαιcomingcomingἔρχομαιεἰςintointoεἰςthetheκόσμοςworld.world.κόσμοςἀληθήςAdj unconcAdj unconcealedἀληθήςφῶςn.n. lightn.n. light, a sφῶςφαίνωv. I shinev. I shine, appφαίνωφημίv. I sayv. I sayφημίArticle thArticle theοὗAdv where,Adv where, whitοὗἀνήρn.m. a maln.m. a male humἀνήρὀπτάνομαιv. I appeav. I appear, amὀπτάνομαικομίζωv. I bringv. I bring, recκομίζωἄξιοςAdj worthyAdj worthy, worἄξιοςλάμπωv. I shinev. I shineλάμπωσκότοςn.m. & n.nn.m. & n.n. darσκότοςπαντοκράτωρn.m. rulern.m. ruler of tπαντοκράτωρπιστόςAdj trustwAdj trustworthyπιστόςἄνDisj.prt. Disj.prt. an unἄνἄχριAdv as farAdv as far as, ἄχριδόξαn.f. honorn.f. honor, renδόξακύριοςn.m. lord,n.m. lord, Lordκύριος
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 1:9

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.

Was the Light <the> true who enlightens every man coming into the world.
ἦνeimi Was G1510 Verb · imperfect · active · indicative · third person · singular
2,457× 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
To be or exist, a basic verb used to describe something or someone, like God saying 'I am' in John 8:58.
Tyndale gloss
to be
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

εἰμί,

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

As substantive verb.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

εἰμί (eimi) — to be.

εἰμί

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

εἰμί

eimi

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

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

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

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

see GREEK for 1488

see GREEK for 1498

see GREEK for 1511

see GREEK for 1527

see GREEK for 2258

see GREEK for 2071

see GREEK for 2070

see GREEK for 2075

see GREEK for 2076

see GREEK for 2771

see GREEK for 2468

see GREEK for 5600

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

εἰμί

v.

I am, exist

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

εἰμί eimi 2x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

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

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-IAI-3S — Verb · imperfect · active · indicative · third person · singular
imperfect active indicative — a continuing action in past time.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

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

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

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

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

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
οὐNeg
ὅτιthat, since, becκαίand, even, also,ὅς
οὗτος
ὅτιthat, since, becλέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,
ὅς
ἐνἄνθρωποςa man, one of thθεόςGod, a god
ἐγώ
ὅτιthat, since, becλέγωI say, speakμετά
σύ
ἐνλέγωI say, speakαὐτός
εἰμίWas2457×
what comes after →
Article the
υἱόςa son, descendenΧριστόςanointed, the Meβασιλείαkingship, sovere
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theοὐNegγάρfor
ἐν
Article theσύαὐτός
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theτὶςἐκεῖthere, yonder, t
ἐγώ
εἰςἄξιοςworthy, worthy oὧδεhere

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

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

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

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

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.2c. AD 75–95

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

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

Was the Light <the> true who enlightens every man coming into the world.
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

Was the Light <the> true who enlightens every man coming into the world.
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
spiritual illumination
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

Was the Light <the> true who enlightens every man coming into the world.
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
<the>19783×
what comes after →
θεόςGod, a god
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
ἸησοῦςJesus
λέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
ἐγώἸησοῦςJesusArticle the
πατήρfather, Father, ance
ἐγώσύαὐτός

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

Was the Light <the> true who enlightens every man coming into the world.
ἀληθινὸνalēthinos true G228 Adjective · nominative · singular · neuter
28× 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
True means being real, genuine, and authentic, like in John 1:9 and 1 Thessalonians 1:9. It describes something or someone that is trustworthy and reliable.
Amplified meaning
genuine, authentic
Tyndale gloss
true
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἀληθινός (transliterated as alēthinos) means true, real, or genuine. It is derived from ἀληθής and is used to describe both people and things that are truthful or correspond to reality. The term appears in various New Testament passages, including Luke and John, where it often contrasts genuine entities with false or counterfeit ones. Notably, Thayer's entry emphasizes its application to God as the true deity, distinguishing Him from idols.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — ἀληθής, ἀληθινός from a scan

Tue Latin ‘verax’ and ‘verus’ would severally represent ἀληθής and ἀληθινός, and in the main reproduce the distinctions existing between them; indeed, the Vulgate does commonly by aid of these indicate whether of the two stands in the original; but we having lost, or nearly lost, ‘ very ᾿ (vrai) as an adjective, retaining it only as an adverb, have ‘true’ alone whereby to render them both. It follows that the difference between the two disappears in our Version: and this by no fault of our Translators—unless, indeed, they erred in not recovering ‘very,’ which was Wiclif’s common translation of ‘verus’ (thus John xv. 1, “I am the verrz vine ’’), and which to recover would have been easy in their time (indeed they actually so use it at Gen. xxvii. 21, 24); as it would not be impossible in ours. We in fact do retain it in the Nicene Creed, where it does excellent service— very God of very…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἀληθινός, -ή, -όν

(< ἀληθής),

[in LXX for אֶמֶת;]

true, in the sense of real, ideal, genuine: Lk 16:11 Jo 1:9 4:23, 37 6:32 7:28 8:16 15:1 17:3 19:35, I Th 1:9, He 8:2 9:24 10:22, I Jo 2:8 5:20, Re 3:7, 14 6:10 15:3 16:7 19:2; = ἀληθής, Re 19:9 21:5 22:6 (MM, VGT, s.v.).†

SYN.: ἀληθής, q.v

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

ἀληθινός, -7, -dv, (freq. in prof. writ. fr. Plato down; [twenty-three times in Jn.’s writ.; only five (ace. to Lchm. six) times in the rest of the N. T.]) ; 1. “that which has not only the name and semblance, but the real nature corresponding to the name” (Tittmann p. 155; [‘‘ particularly applied to express that which is all that it pretends to be, for instance, pure gold as opp. to adulterated metal” Donaldson, New Crat. § 258; see, at length, Trench § viii.]), in every respect corresponding to the idea signified by the name, real and true, genuine; a. opp. to what is fictitious, counterfeit, imaginary, simulated, pretended: θεός (DDN TON, 2 Chr. xv. 3), 1 Th. i. 9; Heb. ix. 14 Lehm.; Jn. xvii. 3; 1 Jn. v. 20. (ἀληθινοὶ φίλοι, Dem. Phil. 3, p. 113, 27.) b. it contrasts realities with their semblances: σκηνή, Heb. viii. 2; the sanctuary, Heb. ix. 24. (ὁ ἵππος contrasted with 6 ἐν τῇ…

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

ἀληθινός is less common still than ἀληθής, but is found in MGr. In P Petr II. 19 (1a)® (iii/B.c.) it is used in a petition by a prisoner who affirms that he has said nothing μηδέποτε ἄτοπον, ὅπερ καὶ ἀληθινόν ἐστι, and again (s¢ vera Jectio) ε ὔ αλιεὺς 26. 2 (3) (B.C. 260), where the writer assures his father εἰ ἐν ἄϊλλοις ἀλύπως ἀπαλλάσσεις εἴη ἂν ὡς ἐγὼ τοῖς θεοῖς ἔσχομεν [χάριν ἀληθ]ινόν, ““1Γ in other matters you are getting on without annoyances, there will be, as we have given, true gratitude to the gods”: cf. Sy// 316 (ii/B.c.) πα]ρασχομένων τῶν κατηγόρων ἀληθινὰς ἀποδείξεις, and the same phrase in BGU IV. 11417 (time of Augustus). Caracalla’s edict, P Giss I. 40 4-27, speaks of οἱ ἀληθινοὶ Αἰγύπτιοι as ‘easily distinguished by their speech.” The word is also found in the fragmentary BGU III. 742%-1f (A.D. 122) εἰ ταῖς ἀληθ[ι]Ἱναῖς ἀντὶ φερνῆς ἡ παραχώρησις ἐγένετο. In an obscure…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἀληθινός (alēthinos) — true.

ἀληθῐνός, ή, όν,

agreeable to truth:

1. of persons, truthful, trusty, στράτευμα, φίλοι, [Refs 5th c.BC+]. adverb -νῶς, φιλεῖν[Refs 5th c.BC+]: superlative -ώτατα[Refs 2nd c.BC+]

2. of things, true, genuine, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; especially of purple, πορφυρίς[Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἰχθύς Amph.26; πέλαγος[Refs 4th c.BC+]; τὰ ἀ. real objects, opposed to τὰ γεγραμμένα, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; of persons, ἐς ἀ. ἄνδρ᾽ ἀποβῆναι to turn out a genuine man, [Refs 3rd c.BC+]: Astron., true (opposed to φαινόμενος apparent), of risings and settings, [Refs 4th c.BC+]

II. adverb -νῶς truly, really, opposed to γλίσχρως, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ζῶντα ἀ. really alive, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II.2. honestly, straightforwardly, [Refs]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀληθινός

alethinos

from 227; truthful:--true.

see GREEK for 227

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀληθινός, η, ον

Adj

true, real, genuine

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀληθινός alēthinos 28x

sterling, Lk. 16:11; real, Jn. 6:32; 1 Thess. 1:9; unfeigned, trustworthy, true, Jn. 19:35

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἀληθινός ἀληθής agreeable to truth:

of persons, truthful, trusty, Xen., Dem.

of things, true, real, Plat.; ἐς ἀλ. ἄνδρ᾽ ἀποβῆναι to turn out a true man, Theocr.:—adv. -νῶς, truly, really, Plat., etc.

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

A-NSN Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Neuter

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
96%true
true96% · 27×sincere4% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
predicate50%object25%subject18%adverbial7%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 28 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
φῶςlight, a source γίνομαιI come into beinὅτεwhen
καίand, even, also, nam
πιστόςtrustworthy, faiμαρτυρέωI witness, testiζάωI live
εἰμίI am, exist
λόγοςa word, speech, ἀλλάbut, except
ἐμός
Article the
μόνοςonly, solitary, deso
Article the
ἀληθινόςtrue28×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theδίκαιοςjust, righteous,εἰμίI am, exist
Article the
πέμπωI sendἔχωI have, hold, poἀρχήruler, beginning
ὅς
φωτίζωI illuminate, brπήγνυμιI pitch a tent
εἰμίI am, exist
ὅτιthat, since, bec
θεόςGod, a god
καίand, even, also,

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

Concordanceἀληθινός · 28× in the New Testament
Revelation John 1 John Hebrews 1 Thessalonians Luke
Across the New Testament6 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 27 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Ignatius of Antioch Josephus The Didache The Shepherd of Hermas
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.32c. AD 40

ὁ δὲ νοῦς οὗτος γεώδης ἐστὶ τῷ ὄντι καὶ φθαρτός, εἰ μὴ ὁ θεὸς ἐμπνεύσειεν αὐτῷ δύναμιν ἀληθινῆς ζωῆς·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.34c. AD 75–95

τοιαύτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ παρθένος γῆ καὶ ἀληθινή.

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 17.3c. AD 96

ἔτι δὲ καὶ περὶ Ἰὼβ οὕτως γέγραπται: Ἰὼβ δὲ ἦν δίκαιος καὶ ἄμεμπτος, ἀληθινός, θεοσεβής, ἀπεχόμενος ἀπὸ παντὸς κακοῦ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
5th c. AD 6th c. AD 8th c. AD 2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD
P.Petr. 2 19 (1)Arsinoites301 BC–202 BC

δοὺς τὰ πιστὰ Μηζάκωι μηθέν με εἰρηκέναι σοι καθʼ αὐτοῦ μηδέποτε ἄτοπον ὅπερ καὶ ἀληθινόν ἐστιν καὶ ὡς ἂν τοῦτο ποιήσηις ἀξιώσας αὐτὸν μεταπέμψασθαί με καὶ διέσθαι με ἐκ

P.Hamb. 1 37AD 101–AD 200

ἐστι μιμνήσκεσθαι τῆς καλοκαγαθίας σου καὶ τοῦ ἤθους σου τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φιλοσόφου. σὺ γὰρ ἀληθινὸς φιλόσοφος καὶ εὐσχήμων γεγένησαι … … … τῇ δίκῃ καὶ ἡμεῖς ὑπὸ σοῦ βέλτιον

CdÉ 43 (1968), p. 338Oxyrhynchos ?AD 226–AD 275

r Φοῦσκος Σαραπίωνι τῶι ἀληθινῷ μωρῷ πλεῖστα χαίρειν. πολλά σοι ἐνετειλάμην ἀναπλεῦσαι τῶι Παχὼν μηνὶ καὶ μέχρι τούτου λέγεταί

Was the Light <the> true who enlightens every man coming into the world.
hos, hē who G3739 Relative pronoun · nominative · singular · neuter
1,407× 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 word which is a pronoun used to ask for or identify something, as seen in John 5:11. It can also be used to describe a person or thing, such as in Mark 15:23. This word helps to clarify or specify what is being talked about.
Tyndale gloss
which
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

ὅς is a pronoun meaning 'who,' 'which,' 'what,' or 'that.' It serves as both a demonstrative and a relative pronoun, agreeing in gender with its antecedent. The New Testament uses it in various constructions, including phrases like ὃς μὲν... ὃς δέ to indicate contrasting subjects. Notably, it can express purpose or cause in certain contexts.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὅς, ἥ, ὅ,

the postpositive article (ἄρθρον ὑποτακτικόν).

As demonstr. pron. = οὗτος, ὅδε, this, that, also for αὐτός, chiefly in nom.: ὅς δέ, but he (cf. ἦ δὲ ὅς, freq. in Plat.), Mk 15:23, Jo 5:11; ὃς μὲν . . . ὃς δέ, the one . . . the other, Mt 21:35 22:5 25:15, Lk 23:33, Ac 27:14, Ro 14:5, I Co 11:21, II Co 2:16, Ju 22; neut., ὃ μὲν . . . ὃ δέ, the one . . . the other, some . . . some, Mt 13:8, 23, Read the full entry →

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

ὅς 455 ὅς iii. 5 [RG], 6; Heb. vi. 10; ix. 20; Jas. ii. 5; 1 In. iii. 24; Jude 15; for other exx. see below; ἐν ὥρᾳ 7 οὐ γινώoxet, Mt. xxiv. 50; τῇ παραδύσει 9 παρεδώκατε, Mk. vii. 13 ; add, Lk. ii. 20; v. 9; ix. 435 xii. 46; xxiv. 25; Jn. xvii. 5; Acts ii. 22; xvii. 31; xx. 38; 2 Co. xii. 21; 2Th.i. 4; Rev. xviii. 6; ef. W. § 24,1; [B. as above]. Rarely attraction oceurs where the verb governs the dative [but see below]: thus, κατέναντι οὗ ἐπίστευσε θεοῦ for xarévavre θεοῦ, ᾧ ἐπίστευσε (See κατέναντι). Ro. iv. 17; φωνῆς, ἧς ἔκραξα (for 7 (al. ἥν, οἴ. W. 164 (154 sq.) Β. 287 (217)}7), Acts xxiv. 21, οἵ. Is. vi. 4; (7γετο δὲ καὶ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ τε πιστῶν, οἷς ἥδετο καὶ ὧν ἠπίστει πολλούς, for καὶ πολλοὺς τούτων, οἷς ἠπίστει, Xen. Cyr. ὅ, 4, 39; ὧν ἐγὼ ἐντετύχηκα οὐδείς; for οὐδεὶς τούτων, οἷς ἐντετ. Plato, Gorg. p. 509 ἃ.; Protag. p. 361 6.; derep.7 p.531e.; παρ᾽ ὧν βοηθεῖς, οὐδεμίαν λήψει…

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

ος is found as a demonstrative pronoun in P Ryl II. 14415 (complaint of assault—a.D. 38) ὃς δὲ ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου ἄλογον ἀηδίαν μοι ἐπιχειρήσας παρεχρήσατό μοι πολλὰ καὶ ἄσχημα, ‘“whereupon he opposing me made a brutal and odious attack upon me and subjected me to much shameful mishandling” (Edd.): cf. Mk 15%, Jn 51. For ὃς μέν... ὃς δέ, “the one . . the other,” as in Mt 21° a/., see P Oxy IX. 1189? (c. A.D. 117) ἐπιστολὰς δύο ds ἔγραψα ἣν μὲν σοὶ ἣν δὲ Σαβείνῳ, and for ὃς δέ solétarium see PSI. IV. 313° (iii/iv A.D.) with the editor’s note. Ὃς ἄν (ἐάν) c. conj. = ‘‘ whosoever ” may be illustrated Ly P Par 4622 (B.c. 153) (= Witkowski*, p. 87), περὶ dv ἂν βούληι γράφε, P Grenf I. 30% (B.c. 103) ἐφ} οἷς ἂν οὖν ὑμῶν προσδέωνται, P Oxy IV. 743%% (B.C. 2) ἐν ols ἐὰν σοῦ προσδέηται, °° ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐὰν θέλῃς. For the comparative usage of ὃς ἄν and ὃς ἐάν, see Thackeray Gr. i. p. 68, cited s.v. ἄν.…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὅς (hos, hē) — which.

ὅς, ἥ, ὅ,

genitive οὗ, ἧς, οὗ, etc.; dative plural οἷς, αἷς, οἷς, etc.: Epic dialect forms, genitive ὅου (probably replacing Οο) in the phrases ὅου κλέος οὔ ποτ᾽ ὀλεῖται [Refs 8th c.BC+]; feminine ἕης [Refs 8th c.BC+]; elsewhere only ἧς [Refs]; dative plural οἷς, οἷσι, ᾗς, ᾗσι (never αἷς or αἷσι in [Refs 8th c.BC+] — _pronoun_ used,

__A as demonstrative by the side of οὗτος, ὅδε, and the Article ὁ, ἡ, τό: in post-Homeric Gr. this use survived only in a few special phrases.

__B as a Relat. by the side of the Article ὅ, ἥ, τό (see. ὁ, ἡ, τό, c):—this demonstrative and Relat. pronoun must not be confounded with the Possess. ὅς, ἥ, ὅν. (With Gr. Relat. ὅς, ἥ, ὅ cf. Sanskrit Relat. yas, yā, yad, Lithuanian jis, ji (he, she), Oslav. i, ja, je (he, she…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὅς ἥ ὅ

hos

he hay, and neuter

ho ho

probably a primary word (or perhaps a form of the article 3588); the

relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what,

that:--one, (an-, the) other, some, that, what, which, who(-m, -se),

etc. See also 3757.

see GREEK for 3588

see GREEK for 3757

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὅς, ἥ, ὅ

Rel.pr.

who, which, what, that

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὅς hos 1x

who, which, what, that, Mt. 1:16, 23, 25; in NT interrog. ἐφ’ ὅ, wherefore, why, Mt. 26:50; in NT ὅς μὲν ... ὅς δέ, for ὁ μὲν ... ὁ δέ, Mt. 21:35; 2 Cor. 2:16

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

R-NSN Part of Speech: Relative pronoun Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Neuter

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
25%which
which25% · 356×whom20% · 291×who17% · 238×that14% · 199×what8% · 117×whatever2% · 30×whose2% · 29×other renderings10% · 145×other renderings2% · 25×

1,430 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 60 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
object40%subject29%adverbial26%indirect object3%predicate3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,407 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
ἐν
ἡμέραa dayαὐτόςἵναin order that, s
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςἔχωI have, hold, poυἱόςa son, descenden
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakἀπόλλυμιI destroy, lose,δοῦλος (II)
διά
ἐκεῖνοςΧριστόςanointed, the Meαὐτός
εἰς
καίand, even, also,ἐγώοἰκίαa house, househo
ὅςwho1407×
what comes after →
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theμεθερμηνεύωI translate, intκαίand, even, also,
οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, existἔξεστι(ν)it is permitted,γινώσκωI come to know,
Article the
θεόςGod, a godυἱόςa son, descendenκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
καίand, even, also, nam
σύποιέωI do, makeαὐτός
δέbut, on the other ha
ἄνDisjἑξήκονταIndecτριάκονταIndec

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

Concordanceὅς · 1,407× in the New Testament
Acts Luke John Matthew Romans Mark Hebrews Revelation 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Colossians Ephesians

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 33c. AD 40

ἵν’ οὖν μὴ αἰεὶ συμφερόμεναι στασιάζωσι καὶ πόλεμος ἀντ’ εἰρήνης ἐπικρατῇ τὴν ἀκοσμίαν ἐν κόσμῳ τιθείς, οὐ μόνον ἐχώρισε φῶς καὶ σκότος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅρους ἐν μέσοις ἔθετο διαστήμασιν, οἷς ἀνεῖρξε τῶν ἄκρων ἑκάτερον·

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

πῶς τὸ Σοδομιτῶν ἔθνος θεὸς κατεστρέψατο χολωθεὶς αὐτοῖς ἐφ' οἷς ἡμάρτανον.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 4.8c. AD 100

Μωϋσῆ Μωϋσῆ, κατάβηθι τὸ τάχος, ὅτι ἠνόμησεν ὁ λαός σου, οὓς ἐξήγαγες ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, καὶ συνῆκεν Μωϋσῆς καὶ ἔριψεν τὰς δύο πλάκας ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ: καὶ συνετρίβη αὐτῶν ἡ διαθήκη, ἵνα ἡ τοῦ ἠγαπημένου Ἰησοῦ ἐγκατασφραγισθῇ εἰς τὴν καρδίαν ἡμῶν…

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 2nd c. BC
P.Grenf. 1 32Pelusion103 BC

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

P.Adl. 15Pathyris (?)101 BC

ἐδάνεισεν Ὧρος Ὥρου Ὥρωι Νεχούτου ὡς ἐτῶν ν μέσος μελίχρως ὑποκλαστὸς ἀναφάλακρος μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν οὖς ἀριστερὸν τετρημένον πυροῦ ἀρτάβας τεσσαράκοντα ἓξ κριθῆς ἑξήκοντα ἐννέα , ἴσους ἀτόκους, ὧν ἀπόδοσιν

P.Adl. 17Krokodilopolis (Pathyrites)100 BC

τῆς ἐπιγονῆς τῶν ἐκ Παθύρεως ὡς ἐτῶν ν μέσος μελίχρως τετανὸς ἀναφάλακρος μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν οὖς ἀριστερὸν τετρημένον χαλκοῦ ταλάντων πέντε . προπωλητὴς καὶ βεβαιωτὴς τῶν κατὰ τὴν ὠνὴν ταύτην

Was the Light <the> true who enlightens every man coming into the world.
φωτίζειphōtizō enlightens G5461 Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · singular
11× 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
To illuminate means to shine light on something, making it brighter and more visible, as in Luke 11:36. It can also mean to enlighten someone spiritually, as in John 1:9.
Amplified meaning
enlightens, shines upon, understanding, wisdom
Tyndale gloss
to illuminate
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

φωτίζω (phōtizō) means to illuminate or enlighten, both literally and metaphorically. It covers a range of meanings from shining light to spiritual enlightenment, and it is used in various New Testament contexts, such as in Luke 11:36 and John 1:9. The word can also imply bringing something to light or making it known, as seen in 1 Corinthians 4:5.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

φωτίζω

(< φῶς)

[in LXX for אוֹר hi, ירה hi., etc. ;]

intrans., to shine, give light (Arist., Plut., a1.): seq. ἐπί, Re 22:5.

Trans.

to illumine, enlighten (Diod., Plut., al.): c. acc., Lk 11:36, Re 21:23; pass., Re 18:1. Metaph., of spiritual enlightenment (Ps 118 (119):130, Si 45:17, al.): Jo 1:9, Eph 1:18 3:9, R, txt., He 6:4 10:32;

to bring to light, make known (Polyb.): I Co 4:5, Eph 3:9, R, mg., II Ti 1:10 (cf. Kennedy, Sources, 107 f.).†

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

φωτίζω : fut. φωτίσω (Rev. xxii.5 L WH; 1Co. iv. 5), Attic φωτιῶ (Rev. xxii. 5 GT Tr); 1 aor. eparica; pf. pass. ptep. πεφωτισμένος ; 1 aor. pass. ἐφωτίσθην ; ib intrans. to give light, to shine, (Aristot., Theophr., Plut., al.; Sept. for "ἴδ, Num. viii. 2, etc.): ἐπί τινα, Rev. xxii. 5 (Rom. WH br. ἐπί]. 2. trans. a. prop. to enlighten, light up, illumine: τινέ, Lk. xi. 36; τὴν πόλιν, Rey. xxi. 23 (ἀκτῖσι τὸν κόσμον, of the sun, Diod. 3, 48, Sept. for 183); ἡ γῆ ἐφωτίσθη ἐκ τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ, [A.V was lightened] shone with his glory, Rev. xviii. 1. b. to bring to light, iangh evident: τὰ κρυπτὰ τοῦ σκότους, 1 Co. iv. 5; [Eph. iii. 9 ace. to the reading of Τ L br. WH tat. (but see c.)], (ri af αἵρεσίν τινος, the preference, opinion, of one, Polyb. 23, 3,10; τὴν ἀλήθειαν, Epict. diss. 1, 4, 31; πεφωτισμένων τῶν πραγμάτων ὑπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας, Leian. cal. non tem. ered. 32); te cause something…

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

φωτίζω. For the literal sense ‘‘ enlighten,” ‘‘illumine,” as in Lk 1135, cf, Wiinsch 4 p. 16% (iii/a.D.) ὁρκίζω σε τὸν θεὸν τὸν φωτίζοντα καὶ σκοτίζοντα τὸν κόσμον. The metaph. usage ‘‘bring to light,” ‘‘make known,” as in 2 Tim τοῦ

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

φωτίζω (phōtizō) — to illuminate.

φωτίζω,

future φωτίσω [NT]:—I. absolutely, shine, give light, ὁ ἄνθραξ [οὐ δύναται] φωτίζειν ὥσπερ ἡ φλόξ [Refs 4th c.BC+]

II. transitive, illuminate, ὁ ἥλιος φ. τὸν κόσμον [Refs 1st c.BC+] —passive, τὸ φωτιζόμενον, opposed to τὸ φωτίζον,[Refs 2nd c.AD+]; of a planet, [Refs 5th c.AD+]

II.2. bring to light, make known, τὴν ἑκατέρων αἵρεσιν [NT+2nd c.BC+]:—passive, γράμματα ἑαλωκότα καὶ πεφωτισμένα [Refs 2nd c.BC+]

II.3. enlighten, instruct, teach, φ. τινάς, πῶς.. [LXX+NT]

II.4. illuminate with spiritual light, ὁ ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ πεφωτισμένος [Refs]

II.4. b in a special sense, baptize, in passive, [NT]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

φωτίζω

photizo

from 5457; to shed rays, i.e. to shine or (transitively) to brighten

up (literally or figuratively):--enlighten, illuminate, (bring to,

give) light, make to see.

see GREEK for 5457

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

φωτίζω

v.

I illuminate, bring to light

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

φωτίζω phōtizō 11x

to light, give light to, illuminate, shine upon, Lk. 11:36; Rev. 18:1; 21:23; met. to enlighten spiritually, Jn. 1:9; Eph. 1:18; 3:9; Heb. 6:4; 10:32; to reveal, to bring to light, make known, 1 Cor. 4:5; 2 Tim. 1:10; intrans. shine, Rev. 22:5*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

φωτίζω φωτίζω, to enlighten, illuminate: to instruct, teach, NTest.

to bring to light, publish, id. NTest.

to enlighten spiritually, and then to baptize, id. NTest.

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
18%enlightened
enlightened18% · 2×having been enlightened18% · 2×will bring to light9% · 1×enlighten9% · 1×having brought to light9% · 1×illuminated9% · 1×will enlighten9% · 1×may light9% · 1×other renderings9% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
verb91%adverbial9%

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
ὅς
ἀληθινόςtrue, real, genuἐν
καίand, even, also, nam
ὅς
θεόςGod, a god
Article the
ἀστραπήa flash of lightning
Article the
θάνατοςdeath
Article the
φωτίζωenlightens11×
what comes after →
Article the
κρυπτόςhidden, secretὀφθαλμόςthe eye
σύ
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
ἄνθρωποςa man, one of th
τίςIrg
Article the
δέbut, on the other ha
ζωήlife

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

Concordanceφωτίζω · 11× in the New Testament
Revelation Ephesians Hebrews 1 Corinthians 2 Timothy John Luke
Across the New Testament7 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 10 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
Philo of AlexandriaWho is the Heir of Divine Things 307c. AD 40

καθάπερ γὰρ ἡ φλὸξ καίει μὲν τὴν παραβληθεῖσαν ὕλην, φωτίζει δὲ τὸν γείτονα ἀέρα, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἐμπίπρησι μὲν τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ἡ ἀρετή, φέγγους δὲ τὴν ὅλην ἀναπίμπλησι διάνοιαν.

Was the Light <the> true who enlightens every man coming into the world.
πάνταpas every G3956 Adjective · accusative · singular · masculine
1,242× 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 all or every, as in Matthew 3:10 and Romans 7:8, where it refers to everything or all people, emphasizing the universal nature of God's message.
Tyndale gloss
all
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word πᾶς (i.e., *pas*) means 'all' or 'every' and appears in various forms, including masculine, feminine, and neuter. It is used in the New Testament to denote totality, as in 'all things' or 'every kind,' and can function as an adjective or pronoun. Notably, it can also imply 'the whole' when used with definite articles, as seen in verses like Matthew 28:18.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν, gen., παντός, πάσης, παντός,

[in LXX chiefly for כֹּל;]

all, every.

As adj.,

c. subst. anarth., all, every, of every kind: Mt 3:10 4:23, Mk 9:49, Lk 4:37, Jo 2:10, Ac 27:20, Ro 7:8, Re 18:17, al. mult.; pl., all, Ac 22:15, Ro 5:12, He 1:6, al.; of the highest degree, π. ἐξουσία (προθυμία, χαρά), Mt 28:18,

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

πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν, en. παντός, πάσης, παντός, [dat. plur. Lchm. πᾶσι ten times, -σιν seventy-two times; Tdf. -σι five times (see Proleg. p. 98 sq.), -ow seventy-seven times; Treg. -ow eighty-two times; WH -ox fourteen times, -ow sixty-eight times; see N, v (ἐφελκυστικόν)], Hebr. 75, [fr. Hom. down], all, every; it is used I. adjectively, and 1. with anarthrous nouns; a. any, every one (86. of the class denoted by the noun annexed to mas); with the Singular: as πᾶν δένδρον, Mt. iii. 10; πᾶσα θυσία, Mk. ix. 49 [T WH Tr mrg. om. Tr txt. br. the cl.]; add, Mt. v.11; xv. 13; Lk. iv. 37; Jn.ii. 10; xv.2; Acts ii.43; v.42; Ro. xiv. 11; 1 Co. iv. 17; Rev. xviii. 17, and very often; πᾶσα ψυχὴ ἀνθρώπου, Ro. ii. 9 (πᾶσα ἀνθρ. ψυχή, Plat. Phaedr. p- 249e.); πᾶσα συνείδησις ἀνθρώπων, 2 Co. iv. 2; mas λεγόμενος θεός, 2 Th. ii. 4; πᾶς ἅγιος ἐν Χριστῷ, Phil. iv. 21sqq. with the Plural, all or any that are…

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

παῖς. In Gnomon 41 (¢. A.D. 150) it is laid down—éav Αἰγύπτιος ἐκ κοπρίας [ἀν]έληται παῖδα καὶ τοῦτον υἱοποιήσηται, μετὰ θάνατον τεταρτολο[ γεῖτ]αι, ““1Γ an Egyptian shall take up a child from the dungheap, and adopt him as a son, he shall be mulcted after his death to the extent of one fourth of his property.” For παῖς applied to a female child see P Strass I. 41° (A.D. 250) ἐκδικῆσαι τὰ τῆς παιδός, and P Oxy 1 5215 (A.D. 325) εΠδαμὲν τὴν παῖδα ἔχουσαν κατὰ τῶν εἰσχίων ἀμυχὰς μετὰ πελιωμάτων (see 76. II. p. 319), ““νγῈ saw that the girl had wounds on her hips with livid spots”: cf. Lk 8° (for voc. of address see Pro/eg. pp. 70, 235). The word is commonly applied to slaves, as in Lk 77 a/., e.g. P Lille 27 (iii/B.c.), where 11 male slaves are enumerated under the heading παῖδες, then 2 female slaves, and then again 3 male slaves: cf. P Strass I. 405 (a. p. 569) Κολλοῦθος Βίκτορος…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

πᾶς (pas) — all.

πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν,

__AAeolic dialect παῖς, παῖσα [Refs 7th c.BC+] feminine πάνσα [Refs 8th c.BC+], Epic dialect and Delph. πάντεσσι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; also Locrian dialect πάντεσιν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; πάντοις [Refs 2nd c.BC+] as accusative masculine in [LXX+7th c.BC+], etc. (but in compounds sometimes long in Attic dialect, [Refs].]—Coll. pronoun, when used of a number, all; when of one only, the whole; of the several persons in a number, every.

__A.I in plural, all, πάντες τε θεοὶ πᾶσαί τε θέαιναι [Refs 8th c.BC+]; πάντες ὅσοι.. [Refs 8th c.BC+]; πάντας ᾧ ἂνπεριτυγχάνῃ, for ὅσοις ἄν, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: also with the Article, see.below [Refs 5th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

πᾶς

pas

including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all,

any, every, the whole:--all (manner of, means), alway(-s), any (one),

X daily, + ever, every (one, way), as many as, + no(-thing), X

thoroughly, whatsoever, whole, whosoever.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν

Adj

all, the whole, every kind of

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

πᾶς pas 1x

all; in the sg. the whole, entire, usually when the substantive has the article, Mt. 6:29; 8:32; Acts 19:26; every, only with an anarthrous subst., Mt. 3:10; 4:4; pl. all, Mt. 1:17, et al. freq.; πάντα, in all respects, Acts 20:35; 1 Cor. 9:25; 10:33; 11:2; by a Hebraism, a negative with πᾶς is sometimes equivalent to οὐδείς or μηδείς, Mt. 24:22; Lk. 1:37; Acts 10:14; Read the full entry →

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

A-ASM Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
62%all
all62% · 789×all things12% · 156×every12% · 150×everyone6% · 76×everything3% · 34×other renderings3% · 40×other renderings2% · 19×

1,264 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 28 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
subject40%adverbial30%object21%predicate5%indirect object3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,242 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
αὐτόςσύλόγοςa word, speech,
ἐν
καίand, even, also,ἀλλάbut, exceptἐγώ
Article the
αὐτόςὅςArticle the
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakδείκνυμιI point out, shoπροσφέρωI bring to, offe
ἐπί
καίand, even, also,ἐγώεἰμίI am, exist
πᾶςevery1242×
what comes after →
Article the
ἔθνοςa race, people, λαόςa people, the crπιστεύωI believe, have
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theχορτάζωI feed, satisfyδιά
σύ
εἰμίI am, existἐνκαίand, even, also,
γάρfor
Article theσύοὗτος
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theοὗτοςὅς

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

Concordanceπᾶς · 1,242× in the New Testament
Acts Luke Matthew 1 Corinthians Romans Mark John Revelation Hebrews 2 Corinthians Ephesians Colossians

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 10c. AD 40

καὶ γὰρ πατὴρ ἐκγόνων καὶ δημιουργὸς τῶν δημιουργηθέντων στοχάζεται τῆς διαμονῆς καὶ ὅσα μὲν ἐπιζήμια καὶ βλαβερὰ μηχανῇ πάσῃ διωθεῖται, τὰ δὲ ὅσα ὠφέλιμα καὶ λυσιτελῆ κατὰ πάντα τρόπον ἐκπορίζειν ἐπιποθεῖ·

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

ὡς οἱ Νώχου ἔγγονοι πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐπῴκησαν.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.4c. AD 100

πεφανέρωκεν γὰρ ἡμῖν διὰ πάντων τῶν προφητῶν, ὅτι οὕτε θυσιῶν οὔτε ὁλοκαυτωμάτων οὔτε προσφορῶν χρῄζει, λέγων ὅτε μέν:

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

γῆ Σενπελαίας, βορρᾶ γῆ Πανᾶτος ἀπηλιώτου ποταμός, λιβὸς Ἀραμείους, ἢ οἳ ἂν ὦσι γείτονες πάντων πάντοθεν. ἐπρίατο Πετεαρσεμθεὺς Πανοβχούνιος ὡς ἐτῶν μ χαλκοῦ τάλαντα δύο . προπωλητὴς καὶ βεβαιωτὴς

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

ἐτῶν λ χαλκοῦ δραχμῶν τρισχιλίων . προπωληταὶ καὶ βεβαιωταὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν ὠνὴν ταύτην πάντων Νεχούτης καὶ ὁ σὺν αὐτῷ οἱ ἀποδόμενοι, ὃν ἐδέξατο Πακοῖβις ὁ πριάμενος. Ἑρμίας ὁ

BGU 3 1000Pathyris99 BC

χαλκοῦ δραχμὰς δισχιλίας καὶ διακοσίας . προπωλητὴς καὶ βεβαιωτὴς τῶν κατὰ τὴν ὠνὴν ταύτην πάντων Πανοβχοῦνις ὁ ἀποδόμενος, ὃν ἐδέξατο Εὔνους ὁ πριάμενος. Ἑρμίας ὁ παρὰ Πανίσκου κεχρημάτικα.

Was the Light <the> true who enlightens every man coming into the world.
ἄνθρωπονanthrōpos man G444 Noun · accusative · singular · masculine
548× 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 means a human being, and is used in the Bible to describe people, like in John 16:21 and Romans 7:1.
Tyndale gloss
a human
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἄνθρωπος, -ου, ὁ,

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

man:

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos) — a human.

ἄνθρωπος, ἡ,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἄνθρωπος

anthropos

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

being:--certain, man.

see GREEK for 435

see GREEK for 3700

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἄνθρωπος, ου, ὁ

n.m.

a man, one of the human race

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἄνθρωπος anthrōpos 550x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

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

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

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

Read the full entry →
Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-ASM — Noun · accusative · singular · masculine
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-ASM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

See ANTHROPOLOGY.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Man

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

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

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

See CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD, below

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

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

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 548 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
υἱόςa son, descendenκοινόωI make unclean, ἀπό
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
εἰςπρόςδέbut, on the othe
ὁράωI see, look upon, ex
καίand, even, also,ἐξέρχομαιI go out, come oλέγωI say, speak
ἐκ
DisjλέγωI say, speakεἰμίI am, exist
ἐγώ
γάρforὅτιthat, since, becΠαῦλοςPaul
ἄνθρωποςman548×
what comes after →
Article the
δέbut, on the otheπατήρfather, Father, Article the
οὗτος
ὅςδίκαιοςjust, righteous,καίand, even, also,
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theλέγωI say, speakεἰμίI am, exist
εἰμίI am, exist
ὑπόκαίand, even, also,Article the
ἐν
Article theμαλακόςsoft, effeminateπνεῦμαwind, breath, sp

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

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

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 708 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 25c. AD 40

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.16c. AD 75–95

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

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 6th c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. BC 3rd c. AD
P.Cair. Zen. 3 59301Philadelphia (Arsinoites)251 BC

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

P.Giss. 1 39Theben206 BC–181 BC

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

P.Grenf. 1 37Thebais109 BC

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

Was the Light <the> true who enlightens every man coming into the world.
ἐρχόμενονerchomai coming G2064 Verb · present · no voice stated · participle · accusative · singular · masculine
635× 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 come or go is the meaning of this word, used in many applications, such as in Matthew 8:9 and Romans 9:9. The KJV translates it in various ways, including come, go, and enter.
Amplified meaning
arriving, entering
Tyndale gloss
to come/go
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἔρχομαι (i.e., *erchomai*) means 'to come' or 'to go.' It is used in various contexts, often indicating arrival or return, and can apply to both people and events. The New Testament frequently employs this term, notably in references to the coming of the Messiah (e.g., Mt 11:3). Lexicons note its use with various prepositions to indicate direction or purpose.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἔρχομαι,

[in LXX very freq. for בּוֹא, also for הלךְ ni., אתה, etc., 34 words in all ;]

to come;

of persons, either as arriving or returning from elsewhere: Mt 8:9, Mk 6:31, Lk 7:8, Jo 4:27, Ro 9:9, al.; seq. ἀπό, Mk 5:35 7:1, Jo 3:2, al.; ἐκ, Lk 5:17, Jo 3:31, al.; εἰς, Mk 1:29, al.; διά seq. εἰς, Mk 7:31; ἐν (Cremer, 263 f., but v.s. ἐν), Ro 15:29,

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

ἔρχομαι, impy. ἔρχου. ἔρχεσθε, (for the Attic ἴθι, tre fr. εἶμι); impf. ἠρχόμην (for ἤειν and ya more com. in Attic) ; fut. ἐλεύσομαι; ---- (on these forms cf. [esp. Rutherford, New Phryn. p. 103 sqq.; Veitch 5. v.]; Matthiae § 234; Bttm. Ausf. Spr. ii. 182 sq.; Kriiger § 40 5. v.; Kiihner §343; W.§ 15s. v.; [B. 58 (50)]); pf. ἐλήλυθα; plpf. ἐληλύθειν; 2 aor. ἦλθον and (occasionally by LT Tr WH [together or severally ]—as Mt. vi. 10; [vii. 25, 27; x.13; xiv. 34; xxv. 86; Mk. i. 29; vi. 29; Lk. i. 59; ii. 16; v. 7; Vi. 17; viii. 35; x1. 2; xxiii. 33; xxiv. 1,23]; Jn. [1.39 (40); iii. 26]; iv. 27; [xii. 97; Acts xii. 10; [xiv. 24]; xxviii. 14 sq. etc.) in the Alexandrian form ἦλθα (see ἀπέρχομαι init. for reff.); Sept. for x13, rarely for ANN and 72; [fr. Hom. down] ; I. to come; 1. prop. a. of persons; a. univ. to come from one place into another, and used both of persons arriving,—as in…

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

ἔρχομαι. P Fay 123!5 (c A.D. 100) ἐλήλυθεν γὰρ Τεύφιλος ᾿Ιουδαῖος λέγων [ὅ]τι ἤχθην is γεωργίαν, ‘ Teuphilus the Jew has come saying, ‘I have been pressed in as a cultivator’” (Edd.) will serve as an instance of the ordinary use of this very common verb: the mention of the Jew Teuphilus (or Theophilus) is interesting. A few miscellaneous exx. may be added which illustrate NT constructions or phrases— with Jn 5*% cf. P Lond 427 (B.c. 168) (= I. p. 30, Se/ections, Ῥ. 10) εἰς πᾶν τι ἐληλυθυῖα διὰ τὴν τοῦ σίτου τιμήν, ‘ having come to the last extremity because of the high price of corn,” P Vat A® (B.c. 168) (= Witkowski’, p. 65) τοῦ παιδίου σου els τὰ ἔσχατα ἐληλυθότος, P Flor IL. 212° (A.D. 254) els τοσαύτην ἀτυχίαν ἦλθες. . . ὡς μὴ ἔχειν σε ἀρτά[β]ην μίαν λωτίνου: with Jn 939 cf. P Tor I. 1 ἴ1 39 (B.c. 116) ἔρχεσθαι ἐπὶ τὸ κριτήριον : with Jn 18, cf. the late P Iand I. 21% (vi/vii A.D.)…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἔρχομαι (erchomai) — to come/go.

ἔρχομαι

[Refs 8th c.BC+]: imperfect ἠρχόμην [Refs 5th c.BC+]; frequently in later Prose, [LXX+NT+2nd c.AD+]; in Attic dialect rare even in compounds, ἐπ-ηρχόμην [Refs 5th c.BC+]future ἐλεύσομαι, [Refs 8th c.BC+], Ionic dialect, Trag. [Refs 5th c.BC+], in Attic dialect Prose only in [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist, Epic dialect and Lyric poetry ἤλῠθον [Refs 8th c.BC+]; but ἦλθον is more frequently even in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Epic dialect infinitive ἐλθέμεναι, -έμεν, [Refs 8th c.BC+] unaugmented unless ἐξ-ελύθη [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Doric dialect ἦνθον [Refs 5th c.BC+]; participle ἐνθών [Refs 6th c.BC+]; subjunctive ἔνθῃ [Refs]; Laconian dialect ἔλσῃ, ἔλσοιμι, ἐλσών, [NT+5th c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. plural ἤλθοσαν [LXX+2nd c.BC+]; ἤλυθα [Refs 4th c.AD+]perfect ἐλήλῠθα (not in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; syncopated. plural ἐλήλῠμεν, -υτε, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Epic dialect…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἔρχομαι

erchomai

middle voice of a primary verb

(used only in the present and imperfect tenses, the others being

supplied by a kindred (middle voice)

eleuthomai el-yoo'-thom-ahee, or (active)

eltho el'-tho,

which do not otherwise occur)

to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and

figuratively):--accompany, appear, bring, come, enter, fall out, go,

grow, X light, X next, pass, resort, be set.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἔρχομαι

v.

I come, go

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἔρχομαι erchomai 632x

to come, to go, to pass. By the combination of this verb with other terms, a variety of meaning results, which, however, is due, not to a change of meaning in the verb, but to the adjuncts. Ὁ ἐρχόμενος, He who is coming, the expected Messiah, Mt. 11:3

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἔρχομαι to come or go, Hom., etc.

to come or go back, return, Od.; in full, αὖτις, ἄψ, πάλιν ἐλθεῖν id. Od.

c. acc. cogn., ὁδόν or κέλευθον ἐλθεῖν to go a journey, Hom., Aesch.; ἀγγελίην ἐλθεῖν to go a message, Il.

c. gen. loci, πεδίοιο ἐλθεῖν over or across the plain, id. Il.

c. part. fut., to denote the object, ἔρχομαι οἰσόμενος I go to fetch, id. Il.; μαρτυρήσων ἦλθον Aesch., etc.:—like an auxiliary Verb, ἔρχομαι λέξων I am going to tell, I intend to say (as in French je vais dire), Hdt.

the aor. part. ἐλθών is often added to another Verb, κάθηρον ἐλθών come and cleanse, Il., etc.

Post-Homeric phrases:

εἰς λόγους ἔρχεσθαί τινι to come to speech with, Hdt., Soph.

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PNP-ASM — Verb · present · no voice stated · participle · accusative · singular · masculine
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PNP-ASM Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: middle or passive depoNent Mood: Participle Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
14%coming
coming14% · 92×having come13% · 81×came11% · 73×come9% · 55×comes7% · 44×they came3% · 22×he came3% · 18×he comes2% · 16×other renderings38% · 241×

642 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 91 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
verb92%adverbial7%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 635 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, existβροχήa heavy rain
Article the
εὐλογέωI blessεἰμίI am, existκαίand, even, also,
ὅτιthat, since, because
αὐτόςἀκούωI hear, listenνομίζωI think, suppose
αὐτός
μαθητήςa learner, disciλέγωI say, speakἐπί
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theὅτανwhen, whensoeverὅτεwhen
ἔρχομαιcoming635×
what comes after →
πρός
αὐτόςσύἐγώ
Article the
ὥραan hour, seasonἸησοῦςJesusκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
εἰς
Article theτόποςa placeΚαφαρναούμProp
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theὁράωI see, look uponἔρχομαιI come, go
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theεἰςἡμέραa day

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

Concordanceἔρχομαι · 635× in the New Testament
John Matthew Luke Mark Acts Revelation 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Romans Galatians Hebrews 1 John

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 423 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome The Didache
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 27c. AD 40

καὶ γὰρ εὔλογον τῷ ὄντι πρῶτον αὐτὸν εἰς γένεσιν ἐλθεῖν, ἄριστόν τε ὄντα τῶν γεγονότων κἀκ τοῦ καθαρωτάτου τῆς οὐσίας παγέντα, διότι θεῶν ἐμφανῶν τε καὶ αἰσθητῶν ἔμελλεν οἶκος ἔσεσθαι ἱερώτατος.

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 5.9c. AD 100

ὅτε δὲ τοὺς ἰδίους ἀποστόλους τοὺς μέλλοντας κηρύσσειν τὸ εὐαγγέλιον αὐτοῦ ἐξελέξατο, ὄντας ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν ἁμαρτίαν ἀνομωτέρους, ἵνα δείξῃ, ὅτι οὐκ ἦλθεν καλέσαι δικαίους, ἀλλὰ ἁμαρτωλούς, τότε ἐφανέρωσεν ἑαυτὸν εἶναι υἱὸν θεοῦ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 6th c. AD 1st c. AD
P.Cair. Zen. 3 59469276 BC–227 BC

καὶ ἵνʼ ἀεὶ διδῶσιν οἱ ἐκεῖθεν ποιά τινα· τὴν δὲ τιμὴν αὐτοῦ ὡς ἂν ἔλθῃς δώσουσι. καί, εἰ δυνατόν, Ἕρμωνα πρόδομα λαβεῖν ἄχρι τῶν Λαμέδοντος.

P.Lond. 7 2009Philadelphia (Arsinoites)247 BC

καὶ ἐν τῶι β ἔτει … τῆι ζ εἰς τὴν η ἦλθεν μετά μεθυόντων … τινων καὶ ἔκρουσεν τὴν θύραν κελεύων ἄνοιξον ἵνα πίωμεν. ἐμοῦ δὲ

P.Grenf. 1 32Pelusion103 BC

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

Was the Light <the> true who enlightens every man coming into the world.
εἰςeis into G1519 Preposition
1,766× 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 means toward or into, indicating direction or purpose, as seen in Matthew 8:23 and Mark 1:45. It can also imply a sense of movement or action. The KJV translates it in various ways.
Amplified meaning
toward, within
Tyndale gloss
toward
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

εἰς is a preposition meaning 'into' or 'to,' used with the accusative case. It indicates direction, entrance, or limit, applicable to place, time, and figurative purposes. The New Testament frequently employs it to express movement toward locations or states, as seen in passages like Matthew 8:23. It can also denote relationships or results, such as 'for' or 'among.'

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

εἰς,

prep. c. acc.,

expressing entrance, direction, limit, into, unto, to, upon, towards, for, among (Lat. in, c. acc.).

Of place.

After verbs of motion;

of entrance into: Mt 8:23 9:7, Mk 1:45, Lk 2:15 8:31, al.;

of approach, to or towards: Mk 11:1, Lk 6:8 19:28, Jo 11:31 21:6, al.;

before pl. and collective nouns, among: Mk 4:7 8:19, 20, Lk 11:49, Jo 21:23, al.;

Of a limit reached, unto, on, upon: Mt 8:18, 21:1, Mk…

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

εἰς, a Prep. governing the Accusative, and denoting entrance into, or direction and limit: into, to, towards, for, among. It is used A. Property I. of Place, after verbs of going, coming, sailing, flying, falling, living, leading, carrying, throwing, sending, etc. ; 1. of a place entered, or of entrance into a place, into; and 8. it stands before nouns designating an open place, a hollow thing, or one in which an object can be hidden: as εἰς (τὴν) πόλιν, Mt. xxvi. 18; xxviii. 11; Mk. i. 45, and often; εἰς r. οἶκον, Mt. ix. 7; συναγωγήν, Acts xvii. 10; πλοῖον, Mt. viii. 23; Jn. vi. 17; Acts xxi. 6; θάλασσαν, Mt. xvii. 27; ἄβυσσον, Lk. viii. 31; οὐρανόν, Lk. ii. 15; κόσμον, In. 1. 9; iii. 19, ete.; τὰ ἴδια, Jn. i. 11; xvi. 32; Acts xxi. 6; ἀποθήκην, Mt. iii. 12; εἰς ra ὦτα, Lk. i. 44; εἰς τὰς ζώνας or ζώνην, Mt. x. 9; Mk. vi. 8, etc.; εἰς ἀέρα, 1 Co. xiv. 9; eis πῦρ, Mk. ix. 22, ete.…

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

εἰς ἁλιέων εἰς ᾿Αλεξάνδριί[αν (P Oxy II. 2943 = Selections, Ρ- 34): see further Pro/eg. pp. 234 f., 245. For εἰς in the wide sense in which we use ‘‘for” we may cite such passages as P Lille I. 261 (iii/B.c.) ἔγραψάς μοι περὶ τῆς εἰς THY σησαμείαν γῆς, 20." ἕως ἂν] μάθωμεν περὶ τῶν κ[εχρ]ηματισμένων εἰς τὸν νομόν, P Petr II. 11 (1)" (mid. iii/B.c.) (= Witkowski*, p. 8) ἀπὸ τούτου τὸ μὲν ἥμυσυ εἰς τὰ δέοντα ὑπελιπόμην, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν εἰς τὸ δάνειον κατέβαλον, P Lond 43? (ii/B.c.) (=I. p. 48, Witkowski’, p- 110) ἕξεις ἐφόδιον εἰς τὸ γῆρας, P Tebt I. 577 (8.6. 118) προστε]τάχασι δὲ καὶ τὰ els τὴν ταφὴν τοῦ “Amos, P Oxy I. 379 (A.D. 149) (= Selections, p. 49) ἐγένετο ἐνθάδε ἡ τροφεῖτις εἰς υἱὸν tod ΤΠεσούριος, ‘‘there was concluded here the nursing-contract for the son of Pesouris”; and the recurring formulae in a private account of ς. A.D. 15 τό. 1V. 736° θρύων εἰς τοὺς ἄρτους (ὀβολοὶ δύο)…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

εἰς (eis) — toward.

ἐν εἰς

or ἐς, PREP. WITH ACC. ONLY:—both forms are found in [Refs 8th c.BC+], Ionic dialect poets, and early metrical Inscrr.; ἐς is best attested in [Refs 5th c.BC+], and is found in nearly all early Ionic dialect Inscrr. (except [Refs 5th c.BC+]; and usually in Attic dialect Prose (except [Refs 5th c.BC+] is used before vowels for the sake of meter; ἐς was retained in the phrases ἐς κόρακας (whence the Verb σκορακίζω), ἐς μακαρίαν. Aeolic dialect poets have εἰς before vowels, ἐς before consonants, and this is given as the rule in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; compare ἐν, ἰν. The diphthong is genuine in Aeolic dialect εἰς, but spurious in Attic dialect-Ionic dialect) Radical sense into, and then more loosely, to:

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

εἰς

eis

a primary preposition; to or into (indicating the point reached or

entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etc.);

also in adverbial phrases:--(abundant-)ly, against, among, as, at,

(back-)ward, before, by, concerning, + continual, + far more

exceeding, for (intent, purpose), fore,

+ forth, in (among, at, unto, -so much that, -to), to the

intent that, + of one mind, + never, of, (up-)on, + perish, + set at

one again, (so) that, therefore(-unto), throughout, til, to (be, the

end, -ward), (here-)until(-to), ...ward, (where-)fore, with. Often

used in composition with the same general import, but only with verbs

(etc.) expressing motion (literally or figuratively).

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

εἰς

Prep.

into, in, among, till, for

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

εἰς

into, to c. acc.

PREP. WITH ACC. ONLY. Radical sense, into, and then to:

OF PLACE, the commonest usage, εἰς ἅλα into or to the sea, Hom., etc.:—properly opposed to ἐκ, ἐς σφυρὸν ἐκ πτέρνης from head to foot, Il.; εἰς ἔτος ἐξ ἔτεος from year to year, Theocr.:—then, with all Verbs implying motion or direction, ἰδεῖν εἰς οὐρανόν Il.; εἰς ὦπα ἰδέσθαι to look in the face, id. Il.:—in Hom. and Hdt. also c. acc. pers., where the attic use ὡς, πρός, παρά.

with Verbs which express rest in a place, when a previous motion into or to it is implied, ἐς μέγαρον κατέθηκε, i. e. he brought it into the house, and put it there, Od.; παρεῖναι ἐς τόπον to go to a place and be there, Hdt.

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

PREP PREPosition

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
33%into
into33% · 595×to32% · 570×for10% · 185×in9% · 160×unto4% · 69×toward2% · 44×other renderings8% · 145×other renderings2% · 29×

1,797 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 37 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial95%predicate3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,766 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
βάλλωI cast, throw, rεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come inδέbut, on the othe
εἰσέρχομαιI go in, come in, en
καίand, even, also,μήNegαὐτός
ἔρχομαιI come, go
καίand, even, also,αὐτόςοὗτος
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςἐκκόπτωI cut out, cut oπόλιςa city
ἐγώ
εἰμίI am, existκαίand, even, also,δίδωμιI offer, give
εἰςinto1766×
what comes after →
Article the
αἰώνan age, a cycle οἶκοςa house, househoοὐρανόςthe sky, the hea
αὐτός
Article theκαίand, even, also,οὗτος
ἹεροσόλυμαJerusalem
καίand, even, also,εἰςὅτιthat, since, bec
ὅς
καίand, even, also,δέbut, on the otheἄνDisj
σύ
καίand, even, also,μήNegἐν

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

Concordanceεἰς · 1,766× in the New Testament
Acts Luke Matthew John Mark Romans Revelation 2 Corinthians Hebrews 1 Peter 1 Corinthians Ephesians

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 9c. AD 40

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

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

ὅτι λιμοῦ τὴν Χαναναίαν καταλαβόντος εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀπῆρε καὶ διατρίψας ἐν αὐτῇ τινα χρόνον ὑπέστρεψεν ὀπίσω.

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 3rd c. BC 6th c. AD 2nd c. BC
P.Grenf. 2 33Pathyris101 BC

καὶ τοῖς μετόχοις γῆς σιτοφόρου λεγομένης Νεχθαραῦτι θεοῦ μεγάλου παρὰ τῶν ἱερέων ἐτῶν δέκα εἰς τὰ ἐνλιπόντα αὐτῷ ἑτέρων , τεσσάρων εἰς συμπλήρωσιν ἐτῶν πέντε , ὥστε γεωργῆσαι ἧς

BGU 3 999Pathyris100 BC

καὶ ἀπηλιώτου τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς Εὐνόου οἰκίας λιβὸς ῥύμη ἐφ ᾧ ἀνοίξει τὴν θύραν εἰς τὴν Ὀρσηοῦς οἰκίαν ἢ οἳ ἂν ὦσι γείτονες πάντοθεν. ἐπρίατο Πετεσοῦχος Νεχθανούπιος ὡς ἐτῶν

P.Adl. 17Krokodilopolis (Pathyrites)100 BC

ος, βορρᾶ γῆ Σχώτου τοῦ Τρύφωνος, ἀπηλιώτου τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς γῆς, λιβὸς ἡ φέρουσα εἰς τὸ Κρόνειον ὁδός, ἢ οἳ ἂν ὦσι γείτονες πάντοθεν. ἐπρίατο Ὧρος Νεχούτου Πέρσης τῆς

Was the Light <the> true who enlightens every man coming into the world.
τὸνho the G3588 Article · accusative · singular · masculine
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-ASM — Article · accusative · singular · masculine
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-ASM Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

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

Was the Light <the> true who enlightens every man coming into the world.
κόσμον.kosmos world. G2889 Noun · accusative · singular · masculine
185× 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
The Greek word for world can mean an orderly arrangement or decoration, but also refers to the world and its inhabitants, as seen in Acts 17:24 and Romans 4:13.
Amplified meaning
the earthly realm, human society
Tyndale gloss
world
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

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

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

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

κόσμος, -ου, ὁ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

κόσμος (kosmos) — world.

κόσμος, ὁ,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

κόσμος

kosmos

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

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

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

see GREEK for 2865

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

κόσμος, ου, ὁ

n.m.

the world, universe

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

κόσμος kosmos 186x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

N-ASM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

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

Nave's Topical Bible

→ See EARTH

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

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

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 185 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
εἰςἐνἐκ
καταβολήa foundation, deposi
ἀπόπρό
ἐν
εἰμίI am, existεἴδωλονan idol, false gφωστήρa light, brillia
ἀρχήruler, beginning
ἀπό
δέbut, on the other ha
Article the
κόσμοςworld.185×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theὅςἀγαπάωI love
οὗτος
ἔρχομαιI come, goβλέπωI look, seeεἰς
εἰμίI am, exist
ἐγώκαίand, even, also,φῶςlight, a source
Article the
δέbut, on the otheἀκολουθέωI accompany, attποίημαa thing made
οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, existδύναμαιI am powerful, aφείδομαιI spare, abstain

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

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

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

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

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

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

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

ἡ τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

ὁ κύριος ἀπροσωπολήμπτως κρινεῖ τὸν κόσμον.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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