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Matthew 11:30 — Word Study

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N1904 γὰρ ζυγός μου χρηστὸς καὶ τὸ φορτίον μου ἐλαφρόν ἐστιν.¶

BSATheho forgar yokezugos [a wooden beam connecting two animals, symbolizing submission] of Mineegō [is] easychrēstos [light, not burdensome] andkai theho burdenphortion [load, task] of Mineegō lightelaphros [not heavy, easy to carry] is.eimi

Word
Listen & take awayMatthew 11
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 30 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 (eimi) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
Matthew 11:30quick helps
In a sentenceJesus invites the weary to take His yoke, promising that it is easy and His burden is light.
Who is speakingJesus, addressing those who are burdened.
Where we areThis statement is part of a larger teaching where Jesus offers rest to the weary.
The hard wordχρηστὸς
Take awayJesus' way is supportive and not oppressive.
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 — Matthew 11:30

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 — Jesus' Invitation to the Wearygenerated

27All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.
28Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Matthew 11:30 is part of Jesus' teaching where He invites those who are weary to come to Him for rest. He contrasts His yoke with the burdensome expectations of the law, emphasizing His gentleness and humility. This passage highlights the compassionate nature of Jesus' call, inviting people into a relationship that is supportive rather than demanding.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
1Proverbs 3:17All her ways are pleasant, and all her paths are peaceful.
2Micah 6:8He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
3Acts 15:10–28Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?
4Galatians 5:1–18It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
51 John 5:3For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 10 references, hung on the phrase they belong to


The Key Word χρηστὸς, chrēstosgenerated

The word χρηστός is an adjective that means good or kind. It describes something that is pleasant and easy to bear, which is how Jesus characterizes His yoke. The parsing indicates it is singular and masculine, suggesting a specific quality of the yoke He offers.

In this context, Jesus emphasizes that His yoke, which represents His teachings and guidance, is not burdensome but rather supportive and beneficial. This reflects a moral goodness that is characteristic of Jesus' ministry.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

In the Berean Standard Bible, the verse reads easy for χρηστὸς, which is echoed in the KJV and ASV. The BSB aligns with these versions in conveying the idea of something that is light and manageable.

However, the Bible in Basic English translates it as good, indicating a different nuance. The word φορτίον is rendered as burden in most translations, while the New English Translation opts for load, showing a slight variation in interpretation.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The structure of the verse centers around a simple predicate: χρηστὸς and ἐλαφρόν, which describe the subject ζυγός (yoke) and φορτίον (burden). The linking verb ἐστιν connects these descriptions to the subject.

This straightforward construction emphasizes the qualities of Jesus' yoke and burden, making it clear that they are meant to be easy and light, contrasting with the heavier burdens imposed by the law.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

ζυγός appears in the Septuagint, typically referring to a yoke or burden, as in the Hebrew word עֹל (H5923). This connection underscores the idea of submission and authority, which is consistent with Jesus' teaching.

The term φορτίον reflects similar themes in the Septuagint, where it can denote a burden or load, often in a metaphorical sense related to obligations and responsibilities.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

Matthew 11:30 shows Jesus inviting those who are weary to take His yoke, explaining that it is easy and His burden is light. This means that following Him is meant to be a supportive and gentle experience, unlike the heavy burdens often associated with religious laws.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean that Jesus' yoke is easy?

Jesus' yoke being easy means that His teachings and guidance are not burdensome, but rather supportive and helpful for those who follow Him.

How can a burden be light?

A burden can be light when it is manageable and does not weigh heavily on a person, reflecting the compassionate nature of Jesus' call to rest.

Why does Jesus use the metaphor of a yoke?

The metaphor of a yoke illustrates partnership and guidance, suggesting that Jesus invites His followers to share in His work and learn from Him.

What is the significance of Jesus saying His burden is light?

This signifies that following Jesus does not lead to overwhelming demands, but rather to a fulfilling and supportive relationship.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. In what areas of my life do I feel burdened, and how can I bring those to Jesus?
  2. How can I better understand the teachings of Jesus to lighten my load?
  3. What does it mean for me to take on the yoke of Jesus in my daily life?
  4. How can I support others who are feeling heavy burdens in their lives?

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

Early church writers reflect on this verse to discuss the nature of Jesus' teachings and their implications for believers.

TertullianOn Monogamy c. 155–220
And so they upbraid the discipline of monogamy with being a heresy; nor is there any other cause whence they find themselves compelled to deny the Paraclete more than the fact that they esteem Him to be the institutor of a novel…
Early Church Fathers on Matthew 11 →
Apollinaris of LaodiceaFRAGMENT 67 c. 310–390
If the yoke is easy and the burden light, why did he call “the way” “narrow”? It is narrow to the careless, for to the zealous the Lord’s tasks are light.
Early Church Fathers on Matthew 11 →
JeromeVerse 30. c. 347–420
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. How is the Gospel lighter than the Law, when in the Law murder is condemned, but in the Gospel anger is condemned? In what way is the grace of the Gospel easier,
Early Church Fathers on Matthew 11 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on Matthew 11:30 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Christ calls a profession of faith in him, and subjection to his ordinances, a yoke, in allusion to the law of Moses, and in distinction from it; and a

Read John Gill on Matthew 11 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matchless paradox, even among the paradoxically couched maxims in which our Lord delights!

Read Robert Jamieson on Matthew 11 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Ver. 28-30. Our Lord having before showed; 1. That all power was given to him; 2. That none could know the Father but by and in him; closes his discourse with an invitation of persons to him. By the weary and heavy laden, in the text, some understand those that are laden with the sense of their sins, and the feeling the guilt of them. Others understand, with the burden of the law, which the apostles called a yoke, . Mr. Calvin thinks this too strait an interpretation. Others understand heavy laden with trials and afflictions. Christ will give rest to all those of his people that are any ways weary and heavy laden, but in an order first to souls wearied and heavy laden with the burden of…

Read Matthew Poole on Matthew 11 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Ver. 30. For my yoke is easy] After a man is once used to it a little: he cannot fudge so well with it perhaps at first, because an untamed heifer: but after a while, his commandments will be nothing grievous, "I delight to do thy will, O God," saith David. And my burden light] Such as you may as easily bear away as Samson did the gates of Gaza; such as you may well run under, as a horse doth without a load, or a hind upon the mountains. It is no more burden than the wings are to the bird, wherewith it flies aloft where it listeth. χρηστος, useful, opposed to πονηρος, painful, tedious.

Read John Trapp on Matthew 11 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(30) Easy.—The Greek has a wider range of meaning—good, helpful, kind, profitable.My burden is light.—The “burden” of Christ was the commandment that most characterised His teaching—the new commandment that men should love one another; and those who obeyed that commandment would find all to which it bound them light and easy.

Read Charles John Ellicott on Matthew 11 →
AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

Verse 30. For my yoke is easy] My Gospel imposes nothing that is difficult; on the contrary, it provides for the complete removal of all that which oppresses and renders man miserable, viz. sin. The commandments of Christ are not grievous. Hear the whole: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself. Can any thing be more congenial to the nature of man than love?-such a love as is inspired by God, and in which the soul rests supremely satisfied and infinitely happy? Taste, and know, by experience, how good the Lord is, and how worthy his yoke is to be taken, borne, and loved. This most tender invitation of the compassionate Jesus is sufficient to inspire…

Read AdamClarke on Matthew 11 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

28–30. Rest for the heavy laden These words of Jesus are preserved by St Matthew only. The connecting thought is, those alone shall know who desire to learn, those alone shall have rest who feel their burden. The babes are those who feel ignorant, the laden those who feel oppressed.

Read Cambridge on Matthew 11 →
Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the Bible

My yoke is easy ... - That is, the services that I shall require are easily rendered. They are not burdensome, like all other systems of religion. So the Christian always finds them.

Read Albert Barnes on Matthew 11 →

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

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

Modern formal

BSBBerean Standard Bible2020

For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

WEBWorld English Bible2000

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

NETBNew English Translation2006

For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.”

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

RVARevised Version, American1894

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

NWBWebster's Bible1833

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

GNVGeneva Bible1599

For my yoke is easie, and my burden light.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

for my yoke [is] easy, and my burden is light.'

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

for My yoke [is] easy, and My burden is light.”

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

For my yoke is sweet and my burden light.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

For my yoke is gentle, and my burden is light.”

BBEBible in Basic English1949

For my yoke is good, and the weight I take up is not hard.

Word by word, the decisions they made

χρηστὸςchrēstos [is] easy G5543 3 different renderings
lightASV BSB DBY DRA FBV GNV KJV LSV MSB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
easyNETB
goodBBE
φορτίονphortion burden G5413 2 different renderings
burdenASV BSB DBY DRA FBV GNV KJV LSV MSB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
loadNETB

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.

clauseγὰρforclauseclausenoun phrase · subjectThenoun phraseζυγόςyokeμουof Mepredicateχρηστὸς[is] easyκαὶandclausenoun phrase · subjectτὸthenoun phraseφορτίονburdenμουof Mepredicateἐλαφρόνlightlinking verbἐστινis

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


The earliest translations — Latin and Syriac

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

Latin VulgateAD 382–405

Jugum enim meum suave est, et onus meum leve.

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

ܢܝܪܝ ܓܝܪ ܒܣܝܡ ܗܘ ܘܡܘܒܠܝ ܩܠܝܠܐ ܗܝ

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

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


The Greek editions compared — what the manuscripts actually say

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

Nestle-Aland 28th edition2012 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

γὰρ ζυγός μου χρηστὸς καὶ τὸ φορτίον μου ἐλαφρόν ἐστιν.¶

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

γὰρ ζυγός μου χρηστὸς καὶ τὸ φορτίον μου ἐλαφρόν ἐστιν.¶

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

γὰρ ζυγός μου χρηστὸς καὶ τὸ φορτίον μου ἐλαφρόν ἐστιν.¶

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

γὰρ ζυγός μου χρηστὸς καὶ τὸ φορτίον μου ἐλαφρόν ἐστιν.¶

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

γὰρ ζυγός μου χρηστὸς καὶ τὸ φορτίον μου ἐλαφρόν ἐστιν.¶

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

γὰρ ζυγός μου χρηστὸς καὶ τὸ φορτίον μου ἐλαφρόν ἐστιν.¶

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

γὰρ ζυγός μου χρηστὸς καὶ τὸ φορτίον μου ἐλαφρόν ἐστιν.¶

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

γὰρ ζυγός μου χρηστὸς καὶ τὸ φορτίον μου ἐλαφρόν ἐστιν.¶

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.

Matthew 11:30TheTheγάρforforγάρζυγόςyokeyokeζυγόςμουof Mineof Mineμουχρηστός[is] easy[is] easyχρηστόςκαίandandκαίthetheφορτίονburdenburdenφορτίονμουof Mineof Mineμουἐλαφρόςlightlightἐλαφρόςεἰμίis.is.εἰμίχράομαιv. I use, v. I use, make χράομαιἐλαύνωv. I drivev. I drive on, ἐλαύνωἐλάσσωνAdj less, Adj less, smallἐλάσσωνὥσπερAdv just aAdv just as, asὥσπερτοιοῦτοςDem.pr. ofDem.pr. of suchτοιοῦτοςἐπίPrep. on, Prep. on, to, aἐπίὅτιCj. that, Cj. that, sinceὅτιγάρCj. forCj. forγάροὐNeg.prt. nNeg.prt. no, noοὐἄξιοςAdj worthyAdj worthy, worἄξιος
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 Matthew 11:30

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

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

The for yoke of Mine [is] easy and the burden of Mine light is.
ho The G3588 Article · nominative · singular · masculine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Matthew 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-NSM — Article · nominative · singular · masculine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-NSM Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Nominative 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

The for yoke of Mine [is] easy and the burden of Mine light is.
γὰρgar for G1063 Conjunction
1,038× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Matthew as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
For is a word used to explain or give a reason, often introducing a justification or clarification, as seen in Matthew 4:18 and Romans 7:1. It's a conjunction that connects ideas and provides additional information.
Tyndale gloss
for
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word γάρ (gar) is a coordinating particle primarily used to introduce reasons or explanations, similar to 'for' in English. It can serve various functions, including causal, explicative, and conclusive, and is often placed after the first word in a clause. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts that clarify or justify preceding statements, aligning with its classical usage.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

γάρ,

co-ordinating particle, contr. of γε ἄρα,

verily then, hence, in truth, indeed, yea, then, why, and when giving a reason or explanation, for, the usage in NT being in general accord with that of cl.;

explicative and epexegetic: Mt 4:18 19:12, Mk 1:16 5:42 16:4, Lk 11:30, Ro 7:1, I Co 16:5, al.

Conclusive, in questions, answers and exclamations: Mt 9:5 27:23, Lk 9:25 22:27, Jo 9:30, Ac 8:31 16:37 19:35,

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

γάρ, a conjunction, which ace. to its composition, γέ and dpa (i. 4. ἄρ), is properly a particle of affirmation and conclusion, denoting truly therefore, verily as the case stands, “ the thing is first aflirmed by the particle yé, and then is referred to what precedes by the force of the particle dpa” (Klotz ad Devar. ii. 1, p. 232; οἵ. Kiihner ii. p. 724; [Jelf § 786; W. 445 (415) sq-]). Now since by a new affirmation not infrequently the reason and nature of something previously mentioned are set forth, it comes to pass that, by the use of this particle, either the reason and cause of a foregoing statement is added, whence arises the causal or argumentative force of the particle, for (Lat. nam, enim; Germ. denn) ; or some previous declaration is explained, whence γάρ takes on an ex plicative force: YP Sor, the fact is, namely (Lat. videlicet, Germ. ndmilich). Thus the force of the…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

γάρ (gar) — for.

γάρ

(γε, ἄρα), causal conjunction, used alone or with other Particles.

I. introducing the reason or cause of what precedes, for, τῷ γὰρ ἐπὶ φρεσὶ θῆκε θεὰ λευκώλενος Ἥρη· κήδετο γ. Δαναῶν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; but frequently in explanation of that which is implied in the preceding clause, πολλάων πολίων κατέλυσε κάρηνα.. τοῦ γὰρ κράτος ἐστὶ μέγιστον [Refs]

I. b in simple explanations, especially after a Pronoun or demonstrative adjective, ἀλλὰ τόδ᾽ αἰνὸν ἄχος κραδίην καὶ θυμὸν ἱκάνει· Ἕκτωρ γ. ποτε φήσει [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ὃ δὲ δεινότατον.. ὁ Ζεὺς γ... [Refs 5th c.BC+]; frequently in introducing proofs or examples, μαρτύριον δέ· Δήλου γ. καθαιρομένης.. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τεκμήριον δέ· οὔτε γ. Λακεδαιμόνιοι.. [Refs 4th c.BC+]; in full, τεκμήριον δὲ…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

γάρ

gar

a primary particle; properly, assigning a reason (used in argument,

explanation or intensification; often with other particles):--and, as,

because (that), but, even, for, indeed, no doubt, seeing, then,

therefore, verily, what, why, yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

γάρ

Cj.

for

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

γάρ gar 1x

for; it is, however, frequently used with an ellipsis of the clause to which it has reference, and its force must then be variously expressed: Mt. 15:27; 27:23, et al.; it is also sometimes epexegetic, or introductory of an intimated detail of circumstances, now, then, Mt. 1:18

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

γάρ for, Lat. enim, and like it, regularly placed after the first word of a sentence: to introduce the reason:

ARGUMENTATIVE, to introduce the reason for a statement, which usually precedes:—when it precedes the statement, it may be rendered since, as, Ἀτρείδη, πολλοὶ γὰρ τεθνᾶσιν Ἀχαιοί, χρὴ πόλεμον παῦσαι Il.

the statement of which γάρ gives the reason may be omitted, οὐ γάρ τί μοι Ζεὺς ἦν ὁ κηρύξας τάδε [yes], for it was not Zeus, etc., Soph.; ἔστι γὰρ οὕτω [yes], for so it is, i. e. yes certainly, Plat.; οἵδ᾽ οὐκέτ᾽ εἰσί: τοῦτο γάρ σε δήξεται [I say this], for it will sting thee, Eur.: —in Conditional Propositions, where the Condition is omitted, it may be transl. for otherwise, else, οὐ γὰρ ἄν με ἔπεμπον πάλιν, (sc. εἰ μὴ ἐπίστευον)…

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

for (ki (conjunction), le, from 'el (preposition), and various other words. In the New Testament also the words are various, chiefly gar, kai gar, hoti (conjunctions); anti apo eis dia (accusative), epi (dative and accusative), peri (genitive), pros (genitive and accusative), huper (genitive) (prepositions)): the English Revised Version and the American Standard Revised Version give in many cases more literal or more accurate renderings than those in the King James Version.

In the New Testament the most important preps. from a doctrinal point of view are anti, "face to face," "over against," "instead," "on behalf of," peri, "around," "about," "concerning," huper, "over," "on behalf of." The first has been claimed as stating the substitutionary nature of Christ's sacrifice as contrasted with huper and peri, more frequently used of it. But, although anti in the New Testament often means…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
97%for
for97% · 1050×other renderings3% · 33×

1,083 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 11 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,038 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
αὐτόςἐγώσύ
οὐNeg
οὐδείςno one, none, noαὐτόςλαλέωI speak, say
εἰμίI am, exist
θάλασσαthe sea, lakeλυπέωI pain, grieve, καθεύδωI sleep, am slee
οὗτος
εἰςαὐτόςδιά
καίand, even, also, nam
εἰμίI am, existκύριοςlord, Lord, mastἐγώ
γάρfor1038×
what comes after →
Article the
πατήρfather, Father, θεόςGod, a godArticle the
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theσύἐν
σύ
ὅτιthat, since, becἐνοὐNeg
αὐτός
Article theοὗτοςλέγωI say, speak
ὅτιthat, since, because
Article theδιάἐν

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

Concordanceγάρ · 1,038× in the New Testament
Romans Matthew 1 Corinthians Luke Hebrews Acts 2 Corinthians John Mark Galatians 1 Thessalonians Revelation

1 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 4c. AD 40

καὶ γὰρ λόγον καὶ ἀκοὴν ὑπερβάλλει μείζω καὶ σεμνότερα ὄντα ἢ ὡς θνητοῦ τινος ὀργάνοις ἐναρμοσθῆναι.

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 1.7c. AD 100

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

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

ἀποκαταστῆναι , ἔτι καὶ νῦν καλῶς ποιήσεις παρακαλῶν σαυτὸν καὶ τοὺς παρʼ ἡμῶν· προσπέπτωκεν γὰρ Παῶν ἀναπλεῖν ἐν τῶι Τῦβι μηνὶ μετὰ δυνάμεων ἱκανῶν πρὸς τὸ καταστεῖλαι τοὺς ἐν

P.Grenf. 1 37Thebais109 BC

ἀλλʼ ἀποστερέσαι … ησας ἀλλά … τας κατὰ κοινόν … ἐπίσκεψιν ποιησάσθαι. … τούτων γὰρ γενομένων ἐσόμεθα βεβοηθημένοι ὑφʼ ὑμῶν. ἔρρωσθε. ἔτους θ Φαρμοῦθι κζ, ἐπιλέγματος ἀναγνωσθέντος τοῦ ὑπομνήματος

P.Bad. 2 16Pathyris89 BC

ποιήσετε συνγεινόμενοι εἰς τοῦτον τόπον ἐν ἀσφαλείαι ὑπάρχοντα συντηρηθῆναι τοῦτον τῶι κυρίωι βασιλεῖ· οὕτω γὰρ πράσσοντες καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὰ πράγματα εὔνοιαν διατηροῦντες … ε … παρὰ τῶν ἐπάνω

The for yoke of Mine [is] easy and the burden of Mine light is.
ζυγόςzugos yoke G2218 Noun · nominative · singular · masculine
6× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Matthew than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
A yoke is a wooden beam that connects two animals, like oxen, for pulling a load. In the Bible, it also means being under someone's authority or control, like a law or obligation, as seen in Matthew 11:29-30 and Galatians 5:1. It can also refer to a balance, like the scales in Revelation 6:5.
Amplified meaning
a wooden beam connecting two animals, symbolizing submission
Tyndale gloss
yoke/scales
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

ζυγός (zugos) means yoke, often used metaphorically to signify bondage or submission to authority, as seen in Matthew 11:29-30 and Galatians 5:1. It can also refer to a balance or scales, as in Revelation 6:5. The word is derived from the root meaning to join, reflecting its literal and figurative uses.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ζυγός (in cl. more freq. τὸ ζυγόν), -οῦ, ὁ

(< ζεύγνυμι),

[in LXX for עֹל, מֹאזְנַיִם, etc.;]

a yoke; metaph., of bondage or submission to authority: Mt 11:29, 30, Ac 15:10, Ga 5:1, I Ti 6:1.

a balance: Re 6:5 (cf. Is 40:12, al.).†

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

ζυγός, -ov, ὁ, for which in Grk. writ. before Polyb. τὸ ζυγόν was more com., (fr. Cevyrupt) ; 1. a yoke; a. prop. such as is put on draught-cattle. b. metaph. used of any burden or bondage: as that of slavery, 1 Tim. vi. 1 (Lev. xxvi. 13), δουλείας, Gal. ν. 1 (Soph. Ai. 944; δουλοσύνης, Dem. 322, 12); of troublesome laws imposed on one, esp. of the Mosaic law, Acts xv. 10; Gal. ν. 1; hence the name is so transferred to the commands of Christ as to contrast them with the commands of the Pharisees which were a veritable ‘yoke’; yet even Christ’s commands must be submitted to, though easier to be kept : Mt. xi. 29 sq. (less aptly in Clem. Rom. 1 Cor. 16, 17 Christians are called οἱ ὑπὸ τὸν ζυγὸν τῆς χάριτος ἐλθόντες [ εἴ. Harnack ad loc.]). 2. a balance, pair of scales: Rev. vi. 5 (as in Is. xl. 12; Ley. xix. 36; Plat. rep. 8, 550 e.; Ael. v. h. 10, 6…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ζυγός (zugos) — yoke/scales.

ζῠγόν, τό,

also ζυγός, ὁ, (in various senses), [NT+5th c.BC+]: rarely in plural, ζυγοί [LXX+5th c.BC+]: Delph. δυγός (which see).

I. yoke of a plough or carriage, ζ. ἵππειον [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ὑπὸ ζυγόφιν (i.e. ζυγοῦ) λύον ἵππους [Refs 8th c.BC+]. 'to be in the same boat', [Refs 3rd c.BC+]

I.2. metaphorically, ἐπὶ ζυγὸς αὐχένι κεῖται [Refs 6th c.BC+]; ἐπαυχένιον λαβεῖν ζ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; δούλιον ζ. the yoke of slavery, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; δουλείας, ἀνάγκης ζ., [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐπιτιθέναι τινὶ ζυγὰ τοῦ μὴ.. so as to prevent.., [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. crossbar of the φόρμιγξ, [Refs 8th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ζυγός

zugos

from the root of zeugnumi (to join, especially by a "yoke"); a

coupling, i.e. (figuratively) servitude (a law or obligation); also

(literally) the beam of the balance (as connecting the scales):--pair

of balances, yoke.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ζυγός, οῦ, ὁ

n.m.

a yoke, heavy burden, pair of scales

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ζυγός zygos 6x

also spelled ζυγόν, ου, τό (n-2c), pr. a cross bar or band; a yoke; met. a yoke of servile condition, 1 Tim. 6:1; a yoke of service or obligation, Mt. 11:29, 30; Acts 15:10; Gal. 5:1; the beam of a balance; a balance, Rev. 6:5*

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

N-NSM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

yok:

(1) The usual word is `ol (Ge 27:40, etc.), less commonly the (apparently later) form moTah (Isa 58:6, etc.; in Nab 1:13 moT), which the Revised Version (British and American) in Jer 27; 28 translates "bar" (a most needless and obscuring change). The Greek in Apocrypha (Sirach 28:19, etc.) and in the New Testament (Mt 11:29 f, etc.) is invariably zugos. Egyptian monuments show a yoke that consisted of a straight bar fastened to the foreheads of the cattle at the root of the horns, and such yokes were no doubt used in Palestine also; but the more usual form was one that rested on the neck (Ge 27:40, etc.). It was provided with straight "bars" (moToth in

Yoke

(1.) Fitted on the neck of oxen for the purpose of binding to them the traces by which they might draw the plough, etc. (Num. 19:2; Deut. 21:3). It was a curved piece of wood called ’ol.

(2.) In Jer. 27:2; 28:10, 12 the word in the Authorized Version rendered “yoke” is motah, which properly means a “staff,” or as in the Revised Version, “bar.”

These words in the Hebrew are both used figuratively of severe bondage, or affliction, or subjection (Lev. 26:13; 1 Kings 12:4; Isa. 47:6; Lam. 1:14; 3:27).…

Smith's Bible Dictionary

A well-known implement of husbandry, frequently used metaphorically for subjection , e.g. (1 Kings 12:4,9-11; Isaiah 9:4; Jeremiah 5:5) hence an "iron yoke" represents an unusually galling bondage. (28:48; Jeremiah 28:13) A pair of oxen, so termed as being yoked together. (1 Samuel 11:7; 1 Kings 19:19,21) The Hebrew term is also applied to asses, (Judges 19:10) and mules, (2 Kings 5:17) and even to a couple of riders. (Isaiah 21:7) The term is also applied to a certain amount of land, (

A symbol of subjection and servitude, 1Ki 12:4; an iron yoke, of severe oppression, De 28:48. The ceremonial law was a yoke, a burden-some restriction, Ac 15:10 Ga 5:1. The withdrawing or breaking of a yoke denoted a temporary or an unlimited emancipation form bondage, Isa 58:6 Jer 2:20, and sometimes the disowning of rightful authority, Jer 5:5. The iron yoke imposed by our sins, none but God can remove, La 1:14; but the yoke of Christ’s service is easy and…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
67%yoke
yoke67% · 4×a yoke17% · 1×pair of scales17% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
object50%adverbial33%subject17%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 6 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
αἴρωI raise, lift up
γάρfor
Article the
ἐπιτίθημιI put, place upon, l
θεόςGod, a god
πάλινagain, further, on t
μήNeg
ὑπό
εἰμίI am, exist
ζυγόςyoke
what comes after →
ἐγώ
ἐπίχρηστόςuseful, gentle,
ἐπί
Article the
δουλείαslavery, bondage
ἐνέχωI am angry with,
δοῦλος (II)
Article the
ἐν
Article the

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

Concordanceζυγός · 6× in the New Testament
Matthew 1 Timothy Acts Galatians Revelation
Across the New Testament5 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 44 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Clement of Rome The Didache
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 116c. AD 40

ὅ τε μέγας ἡγεμὼν ἡμέρας ἥλιος διττὰς καθ’ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν ἀποτελῶν ἰσημερίας, ἔαρι καὶ μετοπώρῳ, τὴν μὲν ἐαρινὴν ἐν κριῷ, τὴν δὲ μετοπωρινὴν ἐν ζυγῷ, ἐναργεστάτην παρέχεται πίστιν τοῦ περὶ τὴν ἑβδόμην θεοπρεποῦς·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 8.213c. AD 75–95

βαρὺν γὰρ ὑπʼ ἐκείνῳ ζυγὸν αὐτοὺς ὑπενεγκεῖν·

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 16.17c. AD 96

ὁρᾶτε, ἅνδρες ἀγαπητοί, τίς ὁ ὑπογραμμὸς ὁ δεδομένος ἡμῖν: εἰ γὰρ ὁ κύριος οὕτως ἐταπεινοφρόνησεν, τί ποιήσωμεν ἡμεῖς οἱ ὑπὸ τὸν ζυγὸν τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ δἰ αὐτοῦ ἐλθόντες;

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 5th c. AD 7th c. AD 2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD
P.Corn. 4Pathyris112 BC

ὁμολογεῖ Πετῆς Πεατίου τέκτων Ὥρωι Νεχούτου τοῦ Ἀγατρέους Πέρσηι τῆς ἐπιγονῆς εἶ μὴν κατασκεῦσαι ζυγὸν ἁμαξικὸν καὶ κόφινον ἄρεστα ἕως Τῦβι γ τοῦ ζ ἔτους. ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ποιῇ

P.Fay. 121Euhemeria (Arsinoites)AD 110

Βελλῆνος Σαβῖνος Γεμείνωι τῶι ἰδίωι χαίρειν. εὖ ποιήσεις δοὺς Οὐηστείνωι εἰς τὸν ζυγὸν αὐτοῦ ζυγόδεσμον καινὸν στερεόν, ὃ καὶ ἀλείψεις ἐπιμελῶς, ἐκ τῶν ἐν τῆι κιβωτῶι τῶν

110215AD 201–AD 250

δίδονται ἑκάστωι ὀνηλάτῃ ἐν τῇ γράστει ὀψωνίου μηνιαίου δραχμαὶ δεκαὲξ καὶ σανδαλίων ζυγὸν ὥς φησιν Πετεχῶνσις

The for yoke of Mine [is] easy and the burden of Mine light is.
μουegō of Mine G3165 Personal pronoun · first person · genitive · singular
1,872× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
In plain English
Tyndale gloss
I/we
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

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

pers. pron.

I.

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μέ (me) — me.

ἐγώ,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐγώ

me

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

see GREEK for 1691

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐγώ egō 2x

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

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Pron-1GS — Personal pronoun · first person · genitive · singular
genitive — of, from, belonging to.
Agrees with anything else marked singular.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

P-1GS Part of Speech: Personal pronoun Person: first Case: Genitive Number: Singular

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Easton's Bible Dictionary

Mine

The process of mining is described in Job 28:1-11. Moses speaks of the mineral wealth of Palestine (Deut. 8:9). Job 28:4 is rightly thus rendered in the Revised Version, “He breaketh open a shaft away from where men sojourn; they are forgotten of the foot [that passeth by]; they hang afar from men, they swing to and fro.” These words illustrate ancient mining operations.

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

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

The for yoke of Mine [is] easy and the burden of Mine light is.
χρηστὸςchrēstos [is] easy G5543 Adjective · nominative · singular · masculine
7× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Matthew as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means good or kind, describing something or someone that is useful and pleasant, like good food in Luke 5:39 or a kind person in Ephesians 4:32. It is about being morally good and gracious.
Amplified meaning
light, not burdensome
Tyndale gloss
good/kind
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word χρηστός (i.e., *chrestos*) is built from the verb χράομαι and conveys meanings related to being useful, good, or kind. It applies to things that are pleasant or serviceable, as well as to people who are gracious or virtuous. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts emphasizing kindness and moral goodness, such as in Ephesians 4:32 and Romans 2:4.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

χρηστός, -ή, -όν

(< χράομαι),

[in LXX chiefly for טוֹב (freq. of God: Ps 24 (25):8, al.), also for יָקָר (Ez 27:22 28:13), יָשָׁר (Pr 2:21 א A) ;]

serviceable, good;

of things, good, pleasant: of food (as often in cl.), οἶνος, Lk 5:39; ζυγός, Mt 11:30 (EV, easy); in ethical sense, ἤθη, I Co 15:33;

of persons, good, kind, gracious: Eph 4:32; of God, Lk 6:35, I Pe 2:3; τ. χρηστὸν (= ἡ χρηστότης) τοῦ θεοῦ, Ro 2:4.†

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

χρηστός, -7, -dv, (χράομαι), fr. Hdt. down, Sept. for 370; 1. prop. fit for use, useful; virtuous, good: ἤθη χρηστά, 1 Co. xv. 33 ([Treg. χρῆστα (but ef. B. 11)], see ἦθος, 3). 2. manageable, i. 6. mild, pleasant, (opp. to harsh, hard, sharp, bitter): of things, χρηστότερος οἶνος, pleasanter, Lk. v. 39 [here TTr txt. χρηστός ; so WII in br.] (of wine also in Plut. mor. p. 240 d. [i.e. Lacaen. apophtheg. (Gorg. 2); p. 1073 a. (i. e. de com. notit. 28)]; of food and drink, Plat. de rep. 4 p. 438 a.; σῦκα, Sept. Jer. xxiv. 8, 5); 6 ζυγός (opp. to burdensome), Mt. xi. 30 [A. V. easy]; of persons, kind, benevolent: of God, 1 Pet. ii. 8 ΓΑ. V. gracious] fr. Ps. xxxiii. (xxxiv.) χρηστότης 9; τὸ χρηστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ i. η. ἡ χρηστότης [W. § 34, 2], Ro. ii. 4; of men, εἴς τινα towards one, Eph. iv. 32; ἐπί τινα, Lk. vi. 35 [here of God; in both pass. A. V.…

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

χρηστός, **virtuous,’” excellent,” as in 1 Cor 1538, is well illustrated by P Oxy III. 642 (ii/A.D.) ἀπολαύσωμεν τῷ χρηστῷ ὑμῶν ἤθει, 72. XIV. 1663" (ii/iii A.D.) διὰ τὸ ἦθος τὸ χρηστόν, ‘on account of his excellent character,”’ and 26. VII. 10701° (iii/a.D.), a pompous letter from a man to his wife in which he speaks of τῶν χρηστῶν ἐλπίδων τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποισι νε[[σ]]νομισμένων, ‘‘the good hopes that are held by mankind”’ (Ed.). See also the citation from the Avircius inscr. σοῦ, πατρίς. The thought of ‘‘gracious,’”’ as in Lk 6535, appears in P Leid W*-?5 (ii/iii A.D.) (=I. p. 103) κλῦτί μοι (Δ κλῦθί μοι), ὃ χρηστὸς ἐν βαζάνοις (/. Bac-), βοήθησον ἐν ἀνάγκαις, and in such ἃ προσκύνημα as Predsigke 1581 ᾿Ανδρόμαχος.. ἀφίκετο πρὸς ᾿Αμενώθην χρηστὸν θεὸν... Kal ὁ θεὸς αὐτῶι ἐβοήθησε. Note also the common use of the adj. as ἃ descriptive epithet in sepulchral inscrr., e.g. Prezsighke 94 dupe…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

χρηστός (chrēstos) — good/kind.

χρηστός, ή, όν,

(χράομαι) of things, like{χρήσιμος}, useful, good of its kind, serviceable, [τόξα] χρηστὰ οὐδέν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; [γῆ] [Refs 5th c.BC+]; οἰκία, opposed to μοχθηρά, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἡ χ. μέλιττα, opposed to οἱ κηφῆνες, [Refs 4th c.BC+]: frequently of wholesome food, μελίτωμα [Refs]; ποτόν, σῖτος, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: with genitive, for a thing, νεύρων for the sinews, [Refs 4th c.BC+] (but pleasant to taste, nice, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of victims and omens, auspicious, ἱρά, σφάγια, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τελευτὴ χ. a happy end or issue, [Refs]: plural, τὰ χ., as substantive, benefits, kindnesses, [Refs]; χρηστόν τι συμβουλεύειν, χρηστὰ ἐπιτηδεύειν, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; χρηστὰ λέγειν, πράττειν, etc., [Refs 4th c.BC+] also, happy event, ἐκτελοῖτο δὴ τὰ χ. [Refs 4th c.BC+]; prosperity, success, τὰ χ. δ᾽ αὔθ᾽ ἕκαστ᾽ ἔχει φίλους [Refs 5th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

χρηστός

chrestos

from 5530; employed, i.e. (by implication) useful (in manner or

morals):--better, easy, good(-ness), gracious, kind.

see GREEK for 5530

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

χρηστός, ή, όν

Adj

useful, gentle, pleasant, kind

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

χρηστός chrēstos 7x

useful, profitable; good, agreeable, Lk. 5:39; easy, as a yoke, Mt. 11:30; gentle, benign, kind, obliging, gracious, Lk. 6:35; Eph. 4:32; Rom. 2:4; 1 Pet. 2:3; good in character, disposition, etc., virtuous, 1 Cor. 15:33*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

χρηστός χρηστός, ή, όν verb. adj. of χράομαι like χρήσιμος useful, good of its kind, serviceable, τινι Hdt., Eur.; of victims and omens, boding good, auspicious, Hdt.; τελευτὴ χρηστή a happy end or issue, id. Hdt.:— τὰ χρηστά, as Subst., good services, benefits, kindnesses, id. Hdt.; χρηστὰ συμβουλεύειν Ar.

in moral sense, good, opp. to μοχθηρός, Plat.; τὸ χρηστόν, opp. to τὸ αἰσχρόν, Soph.

of men, good, a good man and true; generally, good, honest, worthy, trusty, Hdt., Soph., etc.;—also like χρήσιμος, of good citizens, useful, deserving, Ar., Thuc., etc.

οἱ χρηστοί, like οἱ ἀγαθοί, Lat. optimates, Xen.

of the gods, kind, propitious, Hdt.

good, mild, kind, kindly, NTest.:—in bad sense, simple, silly, like εὐήθης, Ar., Plat.; ὦ χρηστέ Dem.

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

A-NSM Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
43%good
good43% · 3×kind29% · 2×kindness14% · 1×easy14% · 1×

7 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
predicate71%subject14%object14%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 7 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
ἐγώ
ζυγόςa yoke, heavy bu
παλαιόςold, ancient, worn o
Article the
αὐτός
ὅτιthat, since, bec
Article the
ὅτιthat, since, bec
ἦθοςhabit, manner, custo
φθείρωI corrupt, spoil
χρηστός[is] easy
what comes after →
εἰμίI am, exist
ἐπί
Article the
θεόςGod, a godκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
καίand, even, also, nam
Article the
ὁμιλίαintercourse, compani
κακόςbad, evil
εὔσπλαγχνοςtender-hearted, merc
χαρίζομαιI show favor to,

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

Concordanceχρηστός · 7× in the New Testament
Luke 1 Corinthians 1 Peter Ephesians Matthew Romans
Across the New Testament6 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 20 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 3.215c. AD 40

οὐκ ἂν δὲ ἔφθασεν, εἰ μὴ ὁ καλῶν χρηστὸς ἦν.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.56c. AD 75–95

ὡς ὅσα καὶ μέτριος ἐδόκει πρότερον διὰ τὸν ἐκ σοῦ φόβον ἠρέμει καὶ οὐχὶ φύσει χρηστὸς ἦν.

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 14.4c. AD 96

γέγραπται γάρ: Χρηστοὶ ἔσονται οἰκήτορες γῆς, ἄκακοι δὲ ὑπολειφθήσονται ἐπ αὐτῆς: οἱ δὲ παρανομοῦντες ἐξολεθρευθήσονται ἀπ̓ αὐτῆς.

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

πάντας. ἐὰν δέ σοι ἐμπέσῃ ὀψαρίδιν σιναπηρόν, ἀγόρασον καὶ ταρίχευσον ἡμῖν ἐάν τι ποιῇς χρηστόν, περιποίησον εἰς οἶκον ἀδελφῶν. τὰ δʼ ἄλλα ἔρρωσο. ἔτους ιγ Τιβερίου Καίσαρος Σεβαστοῦ, Ἐπεὶφ

P.Oxy. 12 1455OxyrhynchosAD 275

ἡμῶν Αὐρηλιανοῦ Σεβαστοῦ τύχην παρέξειν ἡμερησίως ἐν ᾧ ἔχω ἐργαστηρίῳ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἔλαιον χρηστὸν πρὸς διάπρασιν καὶ ὑπηρεσίαν τῆς πόλεως εἰς τὸ μηδεμίαν ἐνέδραν ἐπακολουθεῖν, ἢ ἔνοχος εἴην

P.Herm. 3Hermopolis (?)AD 317–AD 323

χαίρειν. προσειπεῖν σε ἀναγκαῖον τὸν τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων σοφίας προστάτην καὶ ἡμῖν ἡδὺν καὶ χρηστόν· θεῶν δὲ ἔργον παρασχέσθαι τὰς ἀφορμάς. ηὐτύχηται γοῦν μοι τὸ τυχεῖν τοῦ ἀρίστου τῶν

The for yoke of Mine [is] easy and the burden of Mine light is.
καὶkai and G2532 Conjunction
8,978× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Matthew as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
And or also, a connecting word used to join ideas or words, like in Matthew 2:18 and Hebrews 1:1.
Tyndale gloss
and
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

καί,

conj.,

and.

Copulative.

Connecting single words;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καί (kai) — and.

καί,

conjunction, copulative, joining words and sentences,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καί

kai

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

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

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

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

yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καί

Cj.

and, even, also, namely

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καί kai 9x

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ἡ τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

The for yoke of Mine [is] easy and the burden of Mine light is.
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 Matthew 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

The for yoke of Mine [is] easy and the burden of Mine light is.
φορτίονphortion burden G5413 Noun · nominative · singular · neuter
6× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Matthew than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
A burden or load, like the cargo of a ship in Acts 27:10, or a task given to someone, as in Matthew 11:30 and Galatians 6:5. This word refers to something carried or borne. It is used to describe a weight or responsibility.
Amplified meaning
load, task
Tyndale gloss
burden
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

φορτίον (phortion) is a diminutive form of φόρτος, meaning a burden or load. It can refer to physical loads like a ship's cargo, as well as metaphorical burdens, such as the obligations imposed by religious laws (e.g., Matthew 11:30, Galatians 6:5). The term is used in various contexts, including commerce and personal responsibilities.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

φορτίον, -ου, τό

(dimin. of φόρτος),

[in LXX chiefly for מַשָּׂא ;]

a burden, load: of the cargo of a ship (Hdt., al.), Ac 27:10; metaph., Mt 11:30 23:4, Lk 11:46, Ga 6:5.†

SYN.: βάρος (q.v.), ὄγκος

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

φορτίον, -ov, τό, (dimin. of φόρτος, but dimin. only in form not in signif.; cf. Bim. Ausf. Spr. ii. p. 440; [W. § 2,1. fin.]), fr. Hes. down, Sept. for xm, a burden, load: of the freight or lading of a ship (often so in Grk. writ. fr. Hes. opp. 645, 695 down), Acts xxvii. 10 GL TTr WH. Metaph.: of burdensome rites, plur., [Mt. xxiii.4]; Lk. xi.46; of the obligations Christ lays upon his followers, and styles a ‘burden’ by way of contrast to the precepts of the Pharisees the observance of which was most oppressive, Mt. xi. 30 (αὐτὸς μόνος δύναται Baστάσαι Ζήνωνος φορτίον, Diog. Laért. 7, 5, 4 (171); see ᾧυγός, 1 b.); of faults, the consciousness of which oppresses the soul, Gal. vi. 5 [yet ef. Bp. Lghtft. ad loc. Syn. see ὄγκος, fin.]

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

φορτίον, (1) ‘‘burden,’”’ ‘‘load’’: P Oxy WII. 10493 (account of transport—late ii/a.D.) ὄνο(ι) 8 φο(ρτία) ἢ, “9 donkeys, 8 loads” (see the editor’s note). (2) ‘‘ freight,” “cargo,” as in Ac 271° (TR φόρτος): P Oxy VIII. 1153 (i/A.D.) payment by Heraclas the boatman (ὃ vautiKkds) of 600 drachmae (ὑπὲρ) τῶν φορτίων αὐτοῦ, ‘for his freights,” P Lond 9487 (A.D. 236) (= III. p. 220), the shipmaster is to receive 100 drachmae for freightage, 40 paid in advance and the remaining 60 on the safe delivery of the cargo— ἅπερ φορτία παραδώσει σῷα Kal ἀκακούργητα. The hitherto rare form φόρετρον is found = ‘‘ freight” in P Petr IT. 30 (a)}8 (Ptol.), P Ryl II. 2095: 34 (early iii/A.D.), P Oxy XII. 158918 (early iv/A.D.), and numerous exx. in Preisigke III. Index p. 341, and the new verb φορετρίζω in P Oxy VII. 106918 (iii/a.D.), and 74. XII. 15893®…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

φορτίον (phortion) — burden.

φορτ-ίον, τό,

load, burden, freight, [LXX+7th c.BC+]; φέρων ἀνθράκων φ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. plural, wares, merchandise, [Refs 8th c.BC+]

2. b especially of agricultural produce, crops, [Refs 3rd c.BC+]

3. of a child in the womb, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἔρωτος falsa lectio in [Refs 6th c.BC+]

4. metaphorically, μεῖζον φ. ἢ καθ᾽ αὑτὸν αἰρόμενον taking too heavy a burden upon him, [NT+4th c.BC+]; χρυσοῦν φ., of wealth, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

φορτίον

phortion

diminutive of 5414; an invoice (as part of freight), i.e.

(figuratively) a task or service:--burden.

see GREEK for 5414

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

φορτίον, ου, τό

n.n.

a burden, freight

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

φορτίον phortion 6x

a load, burden; of a ship, freight, cargo, Acts 27:10; met. a burden of imposed precepts, etc., Mt. 11:30; 23:4; Lk. 11:46 (2x); of faults, sins, etc., Gal. 6:5*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

φορτίον φορτίον, ου, τό, φόρτος a load, burden, Ar., Xen.

a ship's freight or lading, Lycurg.: in pl. wares, merchandise, Hes., Hdt., attic

of a child in the womb, Xen.

metaph., φ. ἄρασθαι to take a heavy burden upon one, Dem.

Dim. only in form.

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

bur'-dn.

1. In the Old Testament:

In the Old Testament more than one word is rendered "burden."

(1) massa', from a root nasa' "he lifted up." Thus literally any load is called massa' (Ex 23:5; Nu 4:15,24,27 ff; 2Ki 5:17; 8:9). Figuratively, people are a burden (Nu 11:11,17; De 1:12; 2Sa 15:33; 19:35). A man may be a burden to himself (Job 7:20). Iniquities are a burden (Ps 38:4). Taxes may be a burden (Ho 8:10).

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Burden

(1.) A load of any kind (Ex. 23:5). (2.) A severe task (Ex. 2:11). (3.) A difficult duty, requiring effort (Ex. 18:22). (4.) A prophecy of a calamitous or disastrous nature (Isa. 13:1; 17:1; Hab. 1:1, etc.).

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A weight or load, on body or soul; often used figuratively, to denote afflictions, failings, sins, Ps 38:4 55:22 Ga 6:2; services under law, Mt 23:4; official responsibilities, Ex 18:22 De 1:12; and especially prophetic messages, not always of a threatening character, Isa 19:1. In this last sense the Hebrew word may be rendered "oracle," "divine declaration," or "prophecy," as in Pr 31:31,1.

Nave's Topical Bible

→ FIGURATIVE

Of oppressions Isa 58:6; Mt 23:4; Lu 11:46; Ga 6:2

Of the prophetic message Isa 13:1; 15:1; 17:1; 19:1

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
50%burdens
burdens50% · 3×burden33% · 2×load17% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
object50%subject17%second object17%predicate17%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 6 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
καίand, even, also,προσψαύωI touch lightlyμόνοςalone, but, only
δέbut, on the other ha
δεσμεύωI bind, put in c
ἄνθρωποςa man, one of the hu
Article the
ἴδιοςone’s own, private,
Article the
φορτίονburden
what comes after →
ἐγώ
ἐλαφρόςlight, not burde
βαρύςheavy, weighty, burd
καίand, even, also,
δυσβάστακτοςdifficult to carry
καίand, even, also,
καίand, even, also, nam
Article the
βαστάζωI carry, carry away,

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

Concordanceφορτίον · 6× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew Acts Galatians
Across the New Testament4 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Unchangeableness of God 98c. AD 40

πρὸς γὰρ τῷ μὴ τυγχάνειν ὑποδρόμων ἐφ’ οὓς ἐπείγονται, πολλάκις αὐτοῖς πλωτῆρσι καὶ φορτίοις ἀνατραπεῖσαι λύπην μὲν φίλοις, ἡδονὴν δὲ ἐχθροῖς ἐμπαρέσχον.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.32c. AD 75–95

Ἰούδας δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ὢν τῶν Ἰακώβου παίδων ἐμπόρους ἰδὼν Ἄραβας τοῦ Ἰσμαηλιτῶν γένους ἀρώματα καὶ Σύρα φορτία κομίζοντας Αἰγυπτίοις ἐκ τῆς Γαλαδηνῆς μετὰ τὴν ἀναχώρησιν τὴν Ῥουβήλου τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς συνεβούλευεν ἀνιμήσασι τὸν Ἰώσηπον ἀπεμπολῆσαι τοῖς…

The Shepherd of HermasThe Shepherd of Hermas 26.2.4c. AD 140

ἐνδεδυμέναι δὲ ἦσαν λινοῦς χιτῶνας καὶ περιεζωσμέναι ἦσαν εὐπρεπῶς, ἔξω τοὺς ὤμους ἔχουσαι τοὺς δεξιοὺς ὡς μέλλουσαι φορτίον τι βαστάζειν.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. BC 2nd c. BC 1st c. AD 1st c. BC
P.Mich. 5 251Talei (Arsinoites)AD 19

ὁμολογῶ πεπρακέναι Πιμῶτι Ὀρσενούφιος μητρὸς Τελεμάσιος τοὺς ὑπάρχοντάς μοι ψιλοὺς τόπους σὺν τοῖς ἐνοῦσι φορτίοις ἐν Ταλεὶ τῆς Πολέμωνος μερίδος, ὧν μέτρα νότου ἐπὶ βορρᾶ πήχεις εἴκοσι , λιβὸς

P.Mich. 10 584Bakchias (Arsinoites)AD 84

ἕκαστον δὲ τῶν προγεγραμμένων κρατεῖν καὶ κυριεύειν ὧν κεκλήρωται τόπων σὺν τοῖς ἐν ἑκάστοις φορτίοις πᾶσι καὶ καθαιροῦντας καὶ ἀνοικοδομοῦντας καὶ ἐπισκευάζοντας καὶ συντελοῦντας ἐν αὐτοῖς ἃ ἐὰν βούλωνται

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

ἀπὸ τῆς προκειμένης ἡμέρας, ἕκαστος δὲ ἀποίσεται ἃ ἔχει ἐν ὅλοις τοῖς τόποις ἴδια φορτία, ἃ καὶ ἀποθήσεται ἐν ὧι κεκλήρωται μέρος ἐν μησὶ δυσί · κοινὸν δὲ εἶναι

The for yoke of Mine [is] easy and the burden of Mine light is.
μουegō of Mine G3165 Personal pronoun · first person · genitive · singular
1,872× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
In plain English
Tyndale gloss
I/we
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

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

pers. pron.

I.

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μέ (me) — me.

ἐγώ,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐγώ

me

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

see GREEK for 1691

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐγώ egō 2x

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

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Pron-1GS — Personal pronoun · first person · genitive · singular
genitive — of, from, belonging to.
Agrees with anything else marked singular.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

P-1GS Part of Speech: Personal pronoun Person: first Case: Genitive Number: Singular

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Easton's Bible Dictionary

Mine

The process of mining is described in Job 28:1-11. Moses speaks of the mineral wealth of Palestine (Deut. 8:9). Job 28:4 is rightly thus rendered in the Revised Version, “He breaketh open a shaft away from where men sojourn; they are forgotten of the foot [that passeth by]; they hang afar from men, they swing to and fro.” These words illustrate ancient mining operations.

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

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

The for yoke of Mine [is] easy and the burden of Mine light is.
ἐλαφρόνelaphros light G1645 Adjective · nominative · singular · neuter
2× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Matthew than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Something that is easy to carry or bear, as seen in Matthew 11:30. This word means light or easy, and is used to describe a burden that is not heavy or difficult.
Amplified meaning
not heavy, easy to carry
Tyndale gloss
light
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἐλαφρός (i.e. *elaphros*) means 'light' or 'not burdensome.' It is used in contexts referring to weight, ease, and even metaphorically for light-mindedness. In the New Testament, it appears in Matthew 11:30 and 2 Corinthians 4:17, where it describes the lightness of Jesus' yoke and afflictions, respectively. The lexicons agree on its basic meaning, with no significant disagreements noted.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐλαφρός, -ά, -όν

[in LXX chiefly for קַל, קָלָל ;]

light in weight easy to bear: Mt 11:30; θλίψρις (EV, our light affliction), II Co 4:17.†

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

ἐλαφρός, -d, -dv, light in weight, quick, agile; a light φορτίον is used fig. concerning the commandments of Jesus, easy to be kept, Mt. xi. 30; neut. τὸ ἐλαφρόν, substantively, the lightness: τῆς θλίψεως ΓΑ. V. our light affliction], 2 Co. iv. 17. (From Hom. down.)

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

ἐλαφρός occurs literally in P Giss I. 477 (time of Hadrian) ὁ] μὲν γὰρ Oapat . . . τὸ μεῖζον ἐλα[φ]ρότατος ὡς μὴ κάμνειν τὸν φοροῦντα αὐτὸν [ἠ]γοράσθη κτλ., and Preistghke 315 (a sepulchral inscr.) ἐλαφρά σοι γῆ γένοιτο, ‘‘szt tibe terra levis.’ For the verb ἐλαφρίζω see Sy/7 33058 (Roman age) ἵνα μὴ 80 ἁ Gperépa πόλις, ἀλλὰ ἐλαφρισθῇ, and for ἐλαφρύνω the Christian P Gen I. 1452 (Byz.) ἐϊχαφρυνθῆναι τῶν χρεῶν. See also Caguat IV. 292% (Pergamon—B.c. 130) περὶ ἐλαφροτοκίας, ‘as regards lowering of interest.” The adj. ἐλαφρός (—ts) survives in MGr beside ἀλαφρός.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐλαφρός (elaphros) — light.

ἐλαφρ-ός, ά, όν,

and in [Refs 5th c.BC+] ός, όν: (see. ἐλαχύς);— light in weight, τόν οἱ ἐ. ἔθηκε (i.e. λᾶαν) [Refs 8th c.BC+]; opposed to βαρύς, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; in Epitaphs, γαῖαν ἔχοις ἐλαφράν 'sit tibi terra levis', [Refs] adverb, τά (i.e. δένδρεα)[Refs 8th c.BC+]

2. light to bear, easy, καί κεν ἐλαφρότερος πόλεμος Τρώεσσι γένοιτο [Refs 8th c.BC+]: later, comparative ἐλαφρώτερον ἄλγος [Refs 1st c.BC+]; ἐλαφρόν [ἐστι] 'tis light, easy, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; easy to understand, [προβλήματα] ἐ. καὶ πιθανά [Refs 1st c.AD+]; ἐν ἐλαφρῷ ποιήσασθαί τι to make light of a thing, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; οὐκ ἐν ἐ. no light matter, [Refs 3rd c.BC+] adverb -ρῶς, φέρειν ζυγόν to bear it lightly, [Refs 5th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐλαφρός

elaphros

probably akin to 1643 and the base of 1640; light, i.e. easy:--light.

see GREEK for 1643

see GREEK for 1640

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐλαφρός, ά, όν

Adj

light, not burdensome

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐλαφρός elaphros 2x

light, not heavy, Mt. 11:30; 2 Cor. 4:17*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐλαφρός ἐλαφρός, ή, όν ἐλαφρός = Lat. lev-is light in weight, Il., Hdt., attic:— adv. lightly, buoyantly, Od.

light to bear, not burdensome, easy, Il.; ἐλαφρόν [ἐστι] 'tis light, easy, Aesch., etc.; ἐν ἐλαφρῷ ποιεῖσθαί τι to make light of a thing, Hdt.

light in moving, nimble, Lat. agilis, Hom., Aesch.; ἐλαφρὰ ἡλικία the age of active youth, Xen.; οἱ ἐλαφροί light troops, Lat. levis armatura, id. Xen.

lightminded, thoughtless, Eur.

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

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 Testament2 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
The Shepherd of Hermas
The Shepherd of HermasThe Shepherd of Hermas 16.1.6c. AD 140

τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα τὸ ἐπερωτώμενον καὶ λαλοῦν κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπίγειόν ἐστι καὶ ἐλαφρόν, δύναμιν μὴ ἔχον: καὶ ὅλως οὐ λαλεῖ, ἐὰν μὴ ἐπερωτηθῇ.

The for yoke of Mine [is] easy and the burden of Mine light is.
ἐστιν.¶eimi is. G1510 Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · singular
2,457× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Matthew 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-PAI-3S — Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · singular
present active indicative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.2c. AD 75–95

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

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

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

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