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Matthew 17:10 — Word Study

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N1904Καὶ ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντες· τί οὖν οἱ γραμματεῖς λέγουσιν ὅτι Ἠλίαν δεῖ ἐλθεῖν πρῶτον;¶

BSAAndkai askedeperōtaō Himautos theho disciplesmathētēs [pupils, learners] of himautos saying;legō Whytis thenoun [for what reason, therefore] theho scribesgrammateus [teachers of the law, scholars] saylegō thathoti ElijahHēlias [the prophet, Elias] it behoovesdei [is necessary, has to] to comeerchomai first?prōton

Word
Listen & take awayMatthew 17
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 10 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 (prōton) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
Matthew 17:10quick helps
In a sentenceThe disciples question Jesus about the necessity of Elijah's return before the Messiah.
Who is speakingThe disciples are asking Jesus a question.
Where we areThis conversation occurs after the transfiguration of Jesus.
The hard wordδεῖ
Take awayThe disciples seek clarity on a prophetic expectation.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause subject verbἐπερωτάω 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 17:10

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

Context — The Transfiguration and Prophetic Expectationsgenerated

9As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Do not tell anyone about this vision until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
10The disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
11Jesus replied, “Elijah does indeed come, and he will restore all things.
12But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him whatever they wished. In the same way, the Son of Man will suffer at their hands.”

Matthew 17:10 captures a moment where the disciples, having just witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus, inquire about the role of Elijah in the coming of the Messiah. This reflects their understanding of Jewish prophecy, particularly as it relates to the teachings of the scribes. Their question indicates a desire to reconcile their experiences with established beliefs, as seen in the broader context of the prophetic tradition, including references in Malachi 4:5.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
1Matthew 17:3–4Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared before them, talking with Jesus.
2Matthew 11:14And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.
3Matthew 27:47–49When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He is calling Elijah.”
4Malachi 4:5–6Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD.
5Mark 9:11And they asked Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 6 references, hung on the phrase they belong to


The Key Word δεῖ, deigenerated

The verb δεῖ (dei) means 'it is necessary' or 'must be.' It conveys a sense of obligation or necessity, indicating that something must happen. In this context, it emphasizes the importance of Elijah's coming before the Messiah.

This verb is in the present active indicative form, third person singular, suggesting an ongoing necessity. The use of this form indicates that the disciples are not merely asking about a past event but are seeking to understand a present and future expectation.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

In the Berean Standard Bible, the phrase includes must, which aligns with the KJV and ASV, both of which also use must in their translations. This reflects the necessity implied by δεῖ.

However, the Young's Literal Translation opts for it behooves, which, while conveying a similar meaning, emphasizes obligation more than necessity. The BBE translates it as has to, which also captures the sense of requirement.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main verb of the verse is ἐπηρώτησαν, they asked, which governs the entire sentence. The disciples' inquiry is structured around a direct question regarding the necessity of Elijah's coming.

The sentence contains a noun phrase as the subject, οἱ μαθηταὶ (the disciples), and a series of clauses that elaborate on their question. The structure indicates a clear flow from the disciples' action to their inquiry.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

The verb δεῖ does not have a direct equivalent in the Septuagint but carries a similar sense of necessity found in various Hebrew terms. In the context of prophetic literature, it aligns with the expectation of divine actions as seen in texts like Isaiah 40:3.

The term Ἠλίας corresponds to the Hebrew אֵלִיָּהוּ (Eliyahu), which is frequently associated with prophetic expectations within the Jewish tradition, particularly in the context of the coming of the Messiah.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

Matthew 17:10 shows the disciples asking Jesus why the scribes say that Elijah must come first. This question reflects their confusion and desire for understanding regarding the prophecies about Elijah's role before the Messiah.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does the disciples' question about Elijah signify?

The question reveals their understanding of Jewish prophecy and their expectation of Elijah's return before the Messiah's arrival.

Why is it important that Elijah must come first?

This reflects the prophetic tradition, particularly from Malachi, which states that Elijah will return to prepare the way for the Lord.

How does Jesus respond to the disciples' question?

Jesus affirms that Elijah does indeed come and has already come, indicating that the prophecy has been fulfilled in John the Baptist.

What role do scribes play in this context?

Scribes are the teachers of the law who interpret and convey the expectations of the prophets to the people, influencing the disciples' understanding.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. How do I understand the significance of prophetic fulfillment in my own life?
  2. In what ways can I seek deeper understanding of biblical prophecies?
  3. How do the teachings of religious leaders influence my faith and understanding?
  4. What can I learn from the disciples' curiosity and desire for clarity?

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

The early church Fathers provide insights on this verse, discussing the significance of Elijah's role and the disciples' understanding.

Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea by Aquinas c. 310–367
He enjoins silence respecting what they had seen, for this reason, that when they should be filled with the Holy Spirit, they should then become witnesses of these spiritual deeds.
Early Church Fathers on Matthew 17 →
JeromeCatena Aurea by Aquinas c. 347–420
It was a tradition of the Pharisees following the Prophet Malachi, that Elias should come before the coming of the Saviour, and bring back the heart of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers,
Early Church Fathers on Matthew 17 →
JeromeCOMMENTARY ON Matthew 3.17.10 c. 347–420
Unless we know the reasons why the disciples asked about the name of Elijah, their questioning seems foolish and extraordinary.
Early Church Fathers on Matthew 17 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on Matthew 17:10 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

And his disciples asked him, saying,.... That is, these three, Peter, James, and John, before they came to the rest; whilst they were going down the mountain, or from it, to the place where the

Read John Gill on Matthew 17 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, For the exposition, see the notes at Luke 9:28-36.

Read Robert Jamieson on Matthew 17 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Before these words, Mark saith, , And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean. Then he addeth, And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come. The disciples (as appeareth) were as yet very imperfectly instructed in the doctrine of man’ s redemption by Christ, though Christ had before told them, that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so he should be three days and three nights in the belly of the earth. How dull the best of men are to apprehend spiritual mysteries, which are above the reach of our reason! The Jews had a tradition, and retain it to this day, That…

Read Matthew Poole on Matthew 17 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? Ver. 10. Why then say the scribes, &c.] Christ had answered them this question once before; but they were unsatisfied by anything he could say, because strongly possessed with the conceit of an earthly kingdom. But the occasion of the question might be this. Our Saviour had forbidden them to tell any man the vision; hence they might thus debate it. Forasmuch as Elias must first come (so the scribes teach, and they have a text for it, Malachi 4:5), and now he is come, as we have seen in the mount, why shouldest thou, Lord, forbid us to tell it abroad, since this might be an effectual argument with…

Read John Trapp on Matthew 17 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) His disciples asked him.—The context clearly implies that the question came not from the disciples at large, but from the three who had seen the vision, and were brooding over the appearance, and yet more, perhaps, the disappearance, of Elijah, as connected with the tradition of the scribes. If Elijah was to come and prepare the way, why had he thus come from the unseen world for a moment only?

Read Charles John Ellicott on Matthew 17 →
AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

Verse 10. His disciples] instead of HIS disciples, some MSS., with the Coptic, Armenian, Vulgate, all the Itala except two, and Origen, read simply, οιμαθηται, THE disciples, i.e. those only who had been with him on the mount, Peter, James, and John. Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?] As the disciples saw that Elijah returned to heaven, knowing the tradition of the elders, and the prophecy on which the tradition was founded, Malachi 4:5-6, Behold I send you Elijah the prophet, before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall come; and he shall turn the hearts, &c., it was natural enough for them to inquire what the meaning of the tradition, and the intention of the…

Read AdamClarke on Matthew 17 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?] The truth of the resurrection was new to the disciples, see Mark 9:10. “If thou art the Messiah,” they say, “and shalt rise from the dead, surely the scribes are wrong in teaching that Elijah must precede the Messiah.” Jesus shews that the prophecy of Mal 4:5 was fulfilled in John the Baptist. Others contend that our Lord’s words do not necessarily mean this, but that Malachi’s prediction, though partially fulfilled in John the Baptist, should have a more literal accomplishment before Christ’s second coming.

Read Cambridge on Matthew 17 →
Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See also Mark 9:11-13. Why then say the scribes ... - The disciples appear to have been satisfied now that he was the Messiah.

Read Albert Barnes on Matthew 17 →

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

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

Modern formal

BSBBerean Standard Bible2020

The disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

WEBWorld English Bible2000

His disciples asked him, saying, “Then why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

NETBNew English Translation2006

The disciples asked him, “Why then do the experts in the law say that Elijah must come first?”

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come?

RVARevised Version, American1894

And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come?

NWBWebster's Bible1833

And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes, that Elijah must first come?

GNVGeneva Bible1599

And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the Scribes that Elias must first come?

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

And [his] disciples demanded of him saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first have come?

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

And his disciples questioned him, saying, 'Why then do the scribes say that Elijah it behoveth to come first?'

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

And His disciples questioned Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

His disciples asked him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

And his disciples asked him, saying: Why then do the scribes say that Elias must come first?

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

“So why do the religious teachers say that Elijah has to come first?” his disciples asked.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

And his disciples, questioning him, said, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah has to come first?

Word by word, the decisions they made

ἐπηρώτησανeperōtaō asked G1905 3 different renderings
askedASV BSB DRA FBV GNV KJV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB
questionedLSV YLT
questioningBBE
λέγοντες·legō saying; G3004 2 different renderings
sayingASV DBY DRA GNV KJV LSV NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
sayBBE BSB FBV MSB NETB
λέγουσινlegō say G3004 2 different renderings
sayingASV DBY DRA GNV KJV LSV NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
sayBBE BSB FBV MSB NETB
ἨλίανHēlias Elijah G2243 2 different renderings
elijahASV BBE BSB FBV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
eliasDBY DRA GNV KJV
ἐλθεῖνerchomai to come G2064 2 different renderings
comeASV BSB DBY DRA GNV KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB
to comeBBE FBV YLT

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.

clauseΚαὶAndclauseverbἐπηρώτησανaskedobjectαὐτὸνHimnoun phrase · subjectοἱtheμαθηταὶdisciplesclause · adverbialclauseverbλέγοντεςsayingclauseοὖνthenclauseadverbialΤίWhynoun phrase · subjectοἱtheγραμματεῖςscribesverbλέγουσινsayclauseὅτιthatclauseverbδεῖit behoovesnoun phrase · subjectclausesubjectἨλείανElijahverbἐλθεῖνto comeadverbialπρῶτονfirst

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


The earliest translations — Latin and Syriac

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

Latin VulgateAD 382–405

Et interrogaverunt eum discipuli, dicentes : Quid ergo scribæ dicunt, quod Eliam oporteat primum venire ?

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

ܘܫܐܠܘܗܝ ܬܠܡܝܕܘܗܝ ܘܐܡܪܝܢ ܠܗ ܡܢܐ ܗܟܝܠ ܣܦܪܐ ܐܡܪܝܢ ܕܐܠܝܐ ܘܠܐ ܕܢܐܬܐ ܠܘܩܕܡ

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

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


The Greek editions compared — what the manuscripts actually say

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

Nestle-Aland 28th edition2012 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

Καὶ ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ λέγοντες· τί οὖν οἱ γραμματεῖς λέγουσιν ὅτι Ἠλίαν δεῖ ἐλθεῖν πρῶτον;¶

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

Καὶ ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ λέγοντες· τί οὖν οἱ γραμματεῖς λέγουσιν ὅτι Ἠλίαν δεῖ ἐλθεῖν πρῶτον;¶

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

Καὶ ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ λέγοντες· τί οὖν οἱ γραμματεῖς λέγουσιν ὅτι Ἠλίαν δεῖ ἐλθεῖν πρῶτον;¶

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

Καὶ ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ λέγοντες· τί οὖν οἱ γραμματεῖς λέγουσιν ὅτι Ἠλίαν δεῖ ἐλθεῖν πρῶτον;¶

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

Καὶ ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ λέγοντες· τί οὖν οἱ γραμματεῖς λέγουσιν ὅτι Ἠλίαν δεῖ ἐλθεῖν πρῶτον;¶

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

Καὶ ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντες· τί οὖν οἱ γραμματεῖς λέγουσιν ὅτι Ἠλίαν δεῖ ἐλθεῖν πρῶτον;¶

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

Καὶ ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντες· τί οὖν οἱ γραμματεῖς λέγουσιν ὅτι Ἠλίαν δεῖ ἐλθεῖν πρῶτον;¶

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

Καὶ ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντες· τί οὖν οἱ γραμματεῖς λέγουσιν ὅτι Ἠλίαν δεῖ ἐλθεῖν πρῶτον;¶

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

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

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

Word by word, across the editions

WordEditions carrying itMissing from
αὐτοῦ of himTyn, TR, ByzNA28, NA27, SBL, WH, Treg

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 17:10καίAndAndκαίἐπερωτάωaskedaskedἐπερωτάωαὐτόςHimHimαὐτόςthetheμαθητήςdisciplesdisciplesμαθητήςαὐτόςof himof himαὐτόςλέγωsaying;saying;λέγωτίςWhyWhyτίςοὖνthenthenοὖνthetheγραμματεύςscribesscribesγραμματεύςλέγωsaysayλέγωὅτιthatthatὅτιἨλίαςElijahElijahἨλίαςδεῖit behoovesit behoovesδεῖἔρχομαιto cometo comeἔρχομαιπρῶτοςfirst?first?πρῶτοςἐπίPrep. on, Prep. on, to, aἐπίἀήρn.m. airn.m. airἀήρἑαυτοῦRefl.pr. hRefl.pr. himselἑαυτοῦμανθάνωv. I learnv. I learn, ascμανθάνωφημίv. I sayv. I sayφημίγράμμαn.n. a letn.n. a letter, γράμματὶςIndef.pr. Indef.pr. any oτὶςὅστιςRel.pr. whRel.pr. whosoevὅστιςδέωv. I bindv. I bindδέωπρόPrep. befoPrep. beforeπρόΦαρισαῖοςn.m. a Phan.m. a PhariseeΦαρισαῖοςἐπερωτάωv. I interv. I interrogatἐπερωτάωἀμήνHebr. veriHebr. verily, tἀμήνδιδάσκαλοςn.m. a tean.m. a teacherδιδάσκαλοςοὐκέτιNeg.adv. nNeg.adv. no lonοὐκέτινηστεύωv. I fastv. I fastνηστεύωἐπιτιμάωv. I rebukv. I rebuke, chἐπιτιμάωἆραIrg.prt. aIrg.prt. a partἆρα
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 17:10

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

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

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
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,

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καί (kai) — and.

καί,

conjunction, copulative, joining words and sentences,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καί

kai

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

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

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

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

yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καί

Cj.

and, even, also, namely

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καί kai 9x

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ἡ τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
ἐπηρώτησανeperōtaō asked G1905 Verb · aorist · active · indicative · third person · plural
56× 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 question or seek information is what this word means, used by Jesus in Mark 11:29 and by the disciples in Luke 2:46.
Tyndale gloss
to question
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἐπερωτάω (i.e., *eperotao*) is composed of the prefix ἐπ- and the root ἐρωτάω. It means to inquire, question, or demand and is used in various contexts, including consulting God (Romans 10:20). In the New Testament, it appears in passages like Mark 12:34 and Matthew 16:1. Some sources note a distinction in its use, particularly regarding formal requests.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐπ-ερωτάω, -ῶ

[in LXX chiefly for שָׁאַל, also for דָּרַשׁ, etc. ;]

to in­quire of, consult, question: c. acc pers., Mk 12:34, Lk 2:46, al.; c. dupl. acc, Mk 7:17 11:29, Lk 20:40, al.; c. acc pers., seq. λέγων, Mt 12:18, Mk 9:11; εἰ, Mk 8:23, Lk 23:6, al.; ἐ. θεόν, Ro 10:20 (LXX).

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

ἐπ-ερωτάω, -ῶ ; impf. ἐπηρώτων: fut. ἐπερωτήσω; 1 aor. ἐπηρώτησα: 1 aor. pass. ptep. émepwrnbeis ; Sept. mostly for 78wW, sometimes for W171, 1. fo accost one with an inquiry, put a question to, inquire of, ask, interrogate, [ἐπί directive, uniformly in the N.T.; Mey. on Mk. xi. 29 (ef. ἐπί, D. 2)]: τινά, Mk. ix. 325 xii. 34; Mt. xxii. 46; Lk. ii. 46; 1 Co. xiv. 35; Jn. xviii. 21 RG: τινά τι; ask one any thing, Mk. vii. 17 LT Tr WH; xi. 29; Lk. xx. 40; τινὰ περί τινος, one about a thing, Mk. vii. 17 RG; (Lk. ix. 45 Lehm.], (Hdt. 1, 32; Dem. 1072, 12): foll. by λέγων with the words used by the questioner, Mt. xii. 10; xvii. 10; Mk. ix. 11; xii. 18; Lk. iii.10, 145 xx. 27; xxiii. 3 [R G L], and often in the Synoptic Gospels; foll. by εἰ, whether, Mk. viii. 23; xv. 445 Lk. xxiii. 6; or some other form of the indirect question, Acts xxiii. 34; ἐπηρώtov λέγοντες [LT Tr WH om. dey. ], τίς…

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

ἐπερωτάω. For this verb in its ordinary NT sense of ‘‘ask,” see P Hib I. 7215 (B.c. 241) ἀποσταλεὶς “A. πρὸς τὸν [ἐν τῶι] ἀδύτωι X. ἐπηρώτα εἰ ὑπάρχει ἐν τῶι ἱερῶν... ἡ σφραγίς, “Ας having been sent to Ch. in the sanctuary asked him if | the seal was in the temple”; P Flor III. 331° (ii/a-D.) ἐπερωτώμενος im[d] σου περὶ τῶν ἐντὸς περιχώμα[τος ἀν]αγραφομένων .. . προσφωνῶ ὡς ὑπόκειται. For a “remarkably early example” of the stipulatory formula ἐπερωτηθεὶς ὡμολόγησα cf. P Oxy VI. 90529 (a.p. 170) (= Selectzons, p. 87) κυρία ἡ συνγραφὴ δισσὴ γραφεῖσα πρὸς τὸ ἑκάτερον μέρος ἔχειν μοναχόν, καὶ ἐπερωτη[θέν)τες ἑαυτοῖς ὡμολόγησαν, ‘the contract is valid, being written in duplicate in order that each party may have one: and in answer to the formal question they declared to each other their consent.” Other examples of the same formula (cf. Modica /ntroduzione, p. 128) are P Gen I. 4251 (A.D.…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐπερωτάω (eperōtaō) — to question.

ἐπερωτ-άω,

Ionic dialect ἐπειρ-, consult, inquire of, with accusative person, [Refs 5th c.BC+], cf. Oracle texts cited in [LXX+4th c.BC+]:—passive, to be questioned, asked a question, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. with accusative of things, ask a question, ταῦτα, τάδε, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; also, ask about a thing, [[Refs 5th c.BC+]; σμικρόν τι τῶν ῥηθέντων call it in question, [Refs 5th c.BC+] inquire what.., [Refs 5th c.BC+] inquire about, [LXX]passive, τὸ ἐπερωτηθέν the question asked, variant in [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. with accusative person et of things, [Refs 5th c.BC+].

4. absolutely, put a question, especially of a chairman putting a question to the vote, [Refs 4th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐπερωτάω

eperotao

from 1909 and 2065; to ask for, i.e. inquire, seek:--ask (after,

questions), demand, desire, question.

see GREEK for 1909

see GREEK for 2065

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐπερωτάω

v.

I interrogate, question, demand of

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐπερωτάω eperōtaō 56x

to interrogate, question, ask, Mt. 12:10; 17:10; in NT to request, require, Mt. 16:1; from the Hebrew, ἐπερωτᾶν τὸν θεόν, to seek after, desire an acquaintance with God, Rom. 10:20

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐπερωτάω ionic ἐπειρ- fut. ήσω to inquire of, question, consult, τὸν θεόν Hdt., Thuc., etc.; τινὰ περί τινος Hdt.:—Pass. to be questioned, asked a question, Thuc.

c. acc. rei, to ask a thing or about a thing, Hdt.:—c. acc. pers. et rei, ἐπ. τοὺς προφήτας τὸ αἴτιον id. Hdt.:—absol. to put the question, Dem.

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

V-AAI-3P Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Aorist Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: third Number: Plural

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
11%questioning
questioning11% · 6×asked9% · 5×questioned9% · 5×he was asking9% · 5×asking9% · 5×he questioned9% · 5×they asked5% · 3×they questioned5% · 3×other renderings34% · 19×

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

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 56 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
ξηρόςdry, withered, dἀνάστασιςa rising again, ἡγεμώνa governor
αὐτός
χείρa handκαίand, even, also,φοβέωI fear, am terri
Φαρισαῖοςa Pharisee
Article theπροσέρχομαιI come near, con
πειράζωI try, tempt, test
Σαδδουκαῖοςa Sadducee
ἡμέραa day
Article the
ἐπερωτάωasked56×
what comes after →
αὐτός
Article theλέγωI say, speakτίςIrg
δέbut, on the other ha
αὐτόςὑπό
Article the
μαθητήςa learner, disciπατήρfather, Father, ἸησοῦςJesus
σύ
εἷςoneεἰCond
εἷςone
ἐκ

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

Concordanceἐπερωτάω · 56× in the New Testament
Mark Luke Matthew Acts John 1 Corinthians Romans
Across the New Testament7 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 30 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome
JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 6.123c. AD 75–95

εἰπόντος δὲ τοῦ ἱερέως μὴ ἀποκρίνεσθαι τὸν θεόν ἀλλʼ οὐ δίχα αἰτίας, εἶπεν ὁ Σαοῦλος, πυνθανομένοις ἡμῖν φωνὴν οὐ δίδωσιν ὁ θεὸς, ὃς πρότερον αὐτὸς προεμήνυσε πάντα καὶ μηδʼ ἐπερωτῶσιν ἔφθασε λέγων, ἀλλʼ ἔστι τι λανθάνον ἐξ ἡμῶν ἁμάρτημα πρὸς αὐτὸν…

Clement of RomeSecond Clement 12.2c. AD 96

ἐπερωτηθεὶς γὰρ αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος ὑπό τινος, πότε ἥξει αὐτοῦ ἡ βασιλεία, εἶπεν: Ὅταν ἔσται τὰ δύο ἕν, καὶ τὸ ἔξω ὡς τὸ ἔσω, καὶ τὸ ἄρσεν μετὰ τῆς θηλείας οὔτε ἅρσεν οὔτε θῆλυ.

The Shepherd of HermasThe Shepherd of Hermas 3.8.9c. AD 140

ἐπηρώτων δὲ αὐτὴν περὶ τῶν καιρῶν, εἰ ἤδη συντέλειά ἐστιν.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. AD 5th c. AD 7th c. AD
P.Berl.Leihg. 1 23Theadelphia (Arsinoites)AD 252

ἄξιον δραχμῶν κ, καὶ μετὰ τὸν χρόνον παραδώσω ὡς παρέλαβον, ἐὰν φαίνηται μισθῶσαι, καὶ ἐπερωτηθεὶς ὡμολόγησα. ἔτους β Αὐτοκρατόρων Καισάρων Γαΐου Οὐιβίου Τρεβωνιανοῦ Γάλλου καὶ Γαΐου Οὐιβίου Ἀφεινίου Γάλλου

Καρανίδα καὶ Πτολεμαίδα Νέαν τῆς Ἡρακλείδου μερίδος ὑπὲρ τοῦ διεληλυθότος τρίτου ἔτους πλήρης, καὶ ἐπερωτηθεὶς ὡμολόγησα. Αὐρήλιος Ἀφροδίσιος ἀπέσχον τὸ ἐκφόριον ὡς πρόκιται. ἔτους δ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Μάρκου

ÉdP 3 (1936), p. 27- no. 13Karanis (Arsinoites)AD 297

χρόνον παραδώσω τὰς ἀρούρας ἀπὸ ἀναπαύματος καὶ καλάμης ἐξ ἴσου. ἡ μίσθωσις κυρία, καὶ ἐπερωτηθεὶς ὡμολόγησα. Αὐρήλιος Νεμεσῖνος μεμίσθωκα ὡς πρόκιται. ἔτους β τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Δομιτιανοῦ Σεβαστοῦ, Φαῶφι

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
αὐτὸνautos Him G846 Personal pronoun · accusative · singular · masculine
5,550× 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 pronoun refers to a person or thing, like 'he', 'she', or 'it'. It is used in the Bible to emphasize a person or thing, like in John 2:25 where it says 'he himself knew'.
Tyndale gloss
it/s/he
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

αὐτός, -ή, -ό,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

αὐτός (autos) — it/s/he.

αὐτός

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

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

αὐτός

autos

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

those, together, very, which. Compare 848.

see GREEK for 109

see GREEK for 1438

see GREEK for 848

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

αὐτός, αὐτή, αὐτό

Pers.pr.

he, she, it, they, them, same

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

αὐτός autos 5x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P-ASM Part of Speech: Personal pronoun Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
οἱho the G3588 Article · nominative · plural · 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-NPM — Article · nominative · plural · masculine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked plural masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-NPM Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Nominative Number: Plural 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

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
μαθηταὶmathētēs disciples G3101 Noun · nominative · plural · masculine
261× 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 disciple is a learner or pupil, like the twelve who followed Jesus, as mentioned in Matthew 10:1 and Luke 8:9. This word is used to describe someone who follows a teacher or leader. It is often used in the context of Jesus' teachings.
Amplified meaning
pupils, learners
Tyndale gloss
disciple
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word μαθητής (i.e., *mathetes*) means a learner or disciple, derived from the verb for learning, μανθάνω (*manthanō*). It refers primarily to a follower of a teacher, especially in the context of Jesus and his twelve apostles, but also applies to early Christians generally. The term appears frequently in the New Testament, notably in Matthew and Acts.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

μαθητής, -οῦ, ὁ (μανθάνω),

[in LXX only as v.l. (A) in Je 13:21 20:11 26 (46):9*;]

a disciple: opp. to διδάσκαλος, Mt 10:24, Lk 6:40; Ἰωάννου, Mt 9:14, Lk 7:18, Jo 3:25; τ. Φαρισαίων, Mt 22:16, Mk 2:18, Lk 5:33; Μωυσέως, Jo 9:28; Ἰησοῦ, Lk 6:17 7:11 19:37, Jo 6:66 7:3 19:38; esp. the twelve, Mt 10:1 11:1, Read the full entry →

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

μαθητής, -οῦ, 6, (μανθάνω), a learner, pupil, disciple: univ., opp. to διδάσκαλος, Mt. x. 24; Lk. vi. 40; τινός. one who follows one’s teaching: ᾿Ιωάννου, Mt. ix. 14; Lk. vii. 18 (19); Jn. iii. 25; τῶν Φαρισ., Mt. xxii. 16; Mk. ii. 18; Lk. v.33; Moicéas, Jn. ix. 28; of Jesus,— in a wide sense, in the Gospels, those among the Jews who favored him, joined his party, became his adherents: Jn. vi. 663; νἱῖ. 8; xix. 38; ὄχλος μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ, Lk. vi. 17; of p. αὐτοῦ ἱκανοί, Lk. vii. 11; ἅπαν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν pad. Lk. xix. 37; but especially the twelve apostles : Mt. x. 1; xi. 1; xii. 1; Mk. viii. 27; Lk. viii. 9; Jn. ii. 2; iii. 22, and very often; also simply of μαθηταί, Mt. xiii. 10; xiv. 19; Mk. x. 24; Lk. ix. 16; Jn. vi. 11 [Rec.], etc.; in the Acts of μαθηταί are all those who confess Jesus as the Messiah, Christians: Acts vi. 1 sq. 7; ix. 19; xi. 26, and often; with τοῦ κυρίου added…

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

μαθητής. In a return of hieroglyphic inscribers, P Oxy VII. 1029%5 (A.D. 107), the tepdyAvdor declare on oath that the list is Part V. exhaustive, and that there were no apprentices or strangers versed in their art—opvvopev . . . μηδὲ ἔχει[ν] μαθητὰς ἢ ἐπιξένους χρωωμένους (/. χρωμ-) τῇ τέχνῃ εἰς τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν ἡμέραν. The word is probably to be read in BGU I. 3281. 84 (ii/A.D.). The distinction between μάθημα and μάθησις is well seen in PSI I. 948% (ii/a.D.) προσεδρεύει is τὰ μαθήpara: ζηλοῖ yap τὴν μάθησιν, ‘he is regular in attendance at his studies, for he is eager in acquiring knowledge”: cf. also P Oxy X. 12968 (iii/A.D.) ἀμερίμνη οὖν, πάτερ, χάριν τῶν μαθημάτων ἡμῶν, ‘do not be anxious, father, about my studies” (Edd.), 26. IV. 724° (A.D. 155) πρὸς μάθησιν σημείων --α contract of apprenticeship to a shorthand-writer, and from the inserr. /Mfde VII. 4497 πᾶσαν μάθησιν ὑμνοποιὸν…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μαθητής (mathētēs) — disciple.

μᾰθητ-ής, οῦ, ὁ,

learner, pupil, τῆς Ἑλλάδος [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of dancing, [Refs 4th c.BC+]: frequently in Attic dialect of the pupils of philosophers and rhetoricians, οὐ θέμις πλὴν τοῖς μ. λέγειν [Refs 5th c.BC+] with genitive _of things_, τούτου τοῦ μαθήματος μ. a studentofit, [Refs]; μ. ἰατρικῆς a student of medicine,[Refs]; apprentice, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

μαθητής

mathetes

from 3129; a learner, i.e. pupil:--disciple.

see GREEK for 3129

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

μαθητής, οῦ, ὁ

n.m.

a learner, disciple, pupil

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

μαθητής mathētēs 261x

a disciple, Mt. 10:24, 42, et al.

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

μαθητής μα^θητής, οῦ, μανθάνω a learner, pupil, Lat. discipulus, Hdt., Plat., etc.

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

N-NPM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Nominative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
90%disciples
disciples90% · 241×disciple10% · 26×other renderings1% · 2×

269 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
subject54%adverbial15%indirect object14%object11%predicate6%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 261 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
αὐτόςλέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,
δέbut, on the other ha
Article the
ἄλλοςother, another, diff
Article theκαίand, even, also,δέbut, on the othe
εἰμίI am, exist
οὐNegΜωϋσῆςMosesἈριμαθαίαArimathea
δώδεκαIndec
Article the
μαθητήςdisciples261×
what comes after →
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,ὅτιthat, since, bec
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusὄχλοςa crowdδέbut, on the othe
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςἔρημοςdeserted, desolaτίςIrg
σύ
ἵναin order that, sοὐNegποιέωI do, make
καίand, even, also, nam
ἔρχομαιI come, goποιέωI do, makeεὑρίσκωI find

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

Concordanceμαθητής · 261× in the New Testament
John Matthew Mark Luke Acts

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament5 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Sacrifices of Abel and Cain 7c. AD 40

οἱ δὲ ἀνθρώπων μὲν ὑφηγήσεις ἀπολελοιπότες, μαθηταὶ δὲ εὐφυεῖς θεοῦ γεγονότες, τὴν ἄπονον ἐπιστήμην ἀνειληφότες, εἰς τὸ ἄφθαρτον καὶ τελεώτατον γένος μετανίστανται κλῆρον ἀμείνω τῶν προτέρων ἐνδεδεγμένοι, ὧν ὁ Ἰσαὰκ θιασώτης ἀνωμολόγηται.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.200c. AD 75–95

λίαν γὰρ ἦν περὶ τοὺς ξένους φιλάνθρωπος καὶ μαθητὴς τῆς Ἁβράμου χρηστότητος.

Ignatius of AntiochThe Letters of Ignatius 1.1.2c. AD 110

ἀκούσαντες γὰρ δεδεμένον ἀπὸ Συρίας ὑπὲρ τοῦ κοινοῦ ὀνόματος καὶ ἐλπίδος, ἐλπίζοντα τῇ προσευχῇ ὑμῶν ἐπιτυχεῖν ἐν Ῥώμῃ θηριομαχῆσαι, ἵνα διὰ τοῦ ἐπιτυχεῖν δυνηθῶ μαθητὴς εἶναι, ἰδεῖν ἐσπουδάσατε:

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 1st c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 1st c. BC
P.Mich. 3 170OxyrhynchosAD 49

λαύρας τῆς αὐτῆς Παρεμβολῆς· διὸ ἀξιῶ ἀναγράψεσθαι τὸν υἱὸν ἐν τοῖς τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἔτους μαθηταῖς ὡς καθήκει. εὐτυχεῖτε. Δίδυμος σεσημείωμαι. ἔτους δεκάτου Τιβερίου Κλαυδίου Καίσαρος Σεβαστοῦ Γερμανικοῦ Αὐτοκράτορος μηνὸς

P.Oxy. 2 310 descr.OxyrhynchosAD 56

Σεβαστοῦ Γερμανικοῦ Αὐτοκράτορος, Παῦνι κ Σεβαστῆι. διαγεγράφηκεν ὑπὲρ γερδιακοῦ α ἔτους Τευμενούθεως Ἀπίων Τρύφωνος μαθητής, α ἔτους διὰ Θέωνος δραχμὰς δέκα πέντε, γίνονται ιε. Ἐπὶφ ι ὁ αὐτὸς Ἀπίων

P.Mich. 3 171OxyrhynchosAD 58

Ἀμμωνίου λαύρας Ἱππέων Κάμπου· διὸ ἀξιῶ ἀναγράψασθαι τὸν Ἀμοιτᾶν ἐν τοῖς τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἔτους μαθηταῖς ὡς καθήκει. εὐτυχεῖτε. Ἰσχυριον σεσημείωμαι. ἔτους ε Νέρωνος Κλαυδίου Καίσαρος Σεβαστοῦ Γερμανικοῦ Αὐτοκράτορος μηνὸς

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
αὐτοῦautos of him G846 Personal pronoun · genitive · singular · masculine
5,550× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Matthew as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This pronoun refers to a person or thing, like 'he', 'she', or 'it'. It is used in the Bible to emphasize a person or thing, like in John 2:25 where it says 'he himself knew'.
Tyndale gloss
it/s/he
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

αὐτός, -ή, -ό,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

αὐτός (autos) — it/s/he.

αὐτός

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

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

αὐτός

autos

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

those, together, very, which. Compare 848.

see GREEK for 109

see GREEK for 1438

see GREEK for 848

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

αὐτός, αὐτή, αὐτό

Pers.pr.

he, she, it, they, them, same

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

αὐτός autos 5x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
λέγωI say, speak
καίand, even, also,δέbut, on the otheἸησοῦςJesus
πρός
λέγωI say, speakἔρχομαιI come, goδέbut, on the othe
ἐν
Article theαὐτόςεὑρίσκωI find
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakοὗτοςὁράωI see, look upon
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςσύθεόςGod, a god
αὐτόςof him5550×
what comes after →
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusμαθητήςa learner, disciθεόςGod, a god
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theλέγωI say, speakαὐτός
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςτίςIrgκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
ἐν
Article theαὐτόςὅς
εἰς
Article theδικαιοσύνηjustice, justnesἹεροσόλυμαJerusalem

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
λέγοντες·legō saying; G3004 Verb · present · active · participle · nominative · plural · masculine
2,255× 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 to say or speak, and it is used by Jesus and others in the New Testament to share teachings and tell stories. It appears in Matthew 9:34 and John 1:29.
Tyndale gloss
to say
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

λέγω (legō) is a primary Greek verb meaning 'to say' or 'to speak.' It encompasses a range of uses, including expressing thoughts, making declarations, and narrating events. The New Testament frequently employs it in direct speech and as a way to convey meaning, such as in Matthew 27:11. Abbott-Smith notes its distinction from similar verbs like λαλέω.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — λαλέω, λέγω, λαλιά, λόγος from a scan

In dealing with synonyms of the N. T. we plainly need not concern ourselves with such earlier, or even contemporary, uses of the words which we are discriminating, as lie altogether outside of the N. T. sphere, when these uses do not illustrate, and have not affected, their Scriptural employment. It follows from this that all those contemptuous uses of λαλεῖν as to talk at random, as one ἀθυρόστομος, or with no door to his lips, might do; of λαλιά, as chatter («Kpacia λόγου ἄλογος, Plato, Defin. 416)—for I cannot believe that we are to find this at John iv. 42—may be dismissed and set aside. The antithesis in the line of Eupolis (Meineke, /ragm. Com. Gr. p. 174), Λαλεῖν ἄριστος, ἀδυνατώτατος λέγειν, does little or nothing to illustrate the matter in hand. The distinction which indeed exists between the words may in this way be made clear. There are two leading aspects under which speech…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

λέγω,

[in LXX very freq., chiefly for אמר; λέγει for נְאֻם, Ge 22:16, al.;]

in Hom., to pick out, gather, reckon, recount.

In Hdt. and Att., to say, speak, affirm, declare: absol., Ac 13:15 24:10; seq. orat. dir., Mt 9:34, Mk 3:11, Jo 1:29, al.; seq. ὅτι recit., Mk 3:21, Lk 1:24, Jo 6:14, al.; acc. et. inf., Lk 11:18, Jo 12:29, al.; after another verb of speaking, προσφωνεῖν κ. λέγειν, Mt 11:17, al.; ἀπεκρίθη (ἐλάλησεν) λέγων (καὶ λέγει; Dalman…

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

λέγω (in the N. T. only the pres. and impf. act. and pres. pass. are in use; 3 pers. plur. impf. ἔλεγαν, Jn. xi. 56 Tdf. [ef. ἔχω, init.]): I. in its earliest use in Hom. to lay (like Lat. lego, Germ. legen; οἵ. J. G. Miiller in Theol. Stud. u. Krit. for 1835, p. 127 sqq.; Curtius § 538) ; to cause to lie down, put to sleep; 1. to collect, gather; to pick out. 2. lo lay with, count with; to enumerate, recount, narrate, describe; [οἷ. Eng. tale, Germ. ztihlen). II. to put word to word in speaking, join words together, i. e. to say (how it differs fr. λαλεῖν, see under that word ad init.) ; once so by Hom. in 1]. 2, 222 [yet ef. Schmidt, Syn. i. ch. 1, §§ 20; 48, 2; L. and S. s. vy. B. II. 2]; often in Pind., and by far the most com. use in Attic; Sept. more than thirteen hundred times for 728; often also for D8} (saying, dictum); very rarely for 1393; and soin N.T. 1. univ. a. absol. to…

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

λέγω. (1). “‘I say, speak”: see e.g. P Par 47 {= Selections, Ῥ- 21 ff.), ¢. B.C. 153, which is addressed on the verso—mpds τοὺς τὴν ἀλήθεαν λέγοντες (—-as), P Fay 12378 (c. A.D. 100) γνώσομαι yap εἰ ἀληθῶς λέγι, “1 will find out whether he is speaking the truth,” P Ryl 11. 7615 (late li/A.D.) ἃ καὶ ἀναγνώσομαι λεγομένου τοῦ [π]ράγματος, “1 will read them when the case is argued” (Edd.), P Flor II. 1327 (A.D. 257) ἔλεζξ]αν πεποιηκέναι ταῦτα ἀγνοίᾳ, ‘they said they had done this in ignorance,” and the magical P Par 5741238 (iii/A.D.) (= Selectzons, p. 113) λόγος λεγόμενος ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ, ‘ invocation to be uttered over the head (of the possessed one).”” For the phrase τὸ αὐτὸ λέγειν, cf. I Cor 11°, Weiss (Meyer 15 ad 1) cites a sepulchral inscr. of husband and wife from Rhodes, /J/Ae 149 (ii/B.c.) ταὐτὰ λέγοντες ταὐτὰ φρονοῦντες ἤλθομεν τὰν ἀμέτρητον ὁδὸν εἰς ᾿Αἴδαν. (2). Closely…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

λέγω (legō) — to say.

λέγω,

__B pick up, etc.: tenses for signification 1 and 11, future λέξω [Refs 8th c.BC+]: aorist ἔλεξα [Refs 4th c.BC+]:—middle, future in passive sense λέξομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist ἐλεξάμην [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Epic dialect ἐλέγμην [Refs 8th c.BC+]:—passive, aorist ἐλέχθην [Refs 8th c.BC+]-; post-[Refs 8th c.BC+]perfect εἴλοχα (κατ-, συν-), passive εἴλεγμαι, in these senses rarely λέλεγμαι (see. the compounds); also future λεγήσομαι (συλ-): aorist 2 ἐλέγην (κατ-, συν-):—gather, pick up, ὀστέα.. λέγωμεν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; αἱμασιάς τε λέγων picking out stones for building walls, [Refs 8th c.BC+]:—middle, gather for oneself, ἐπὶ δὲ ξύλα πολλὰ λέγεσθε [Refs 8th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

λέγω

lego

a primary verb; properly, to "lay" forth, i.e. (figuratively) relate

(in words (usually of systematic or set discourse; whereas 2036 and

5346 generally refer to an individual expression or speech

respectively; while 4483 is properly to break silence merely, and 2980

means an extended or random harangue)); by implication, to mean:--ask,

bid, boast, call, describe, give out, name, put forth, say(-ing, on),

shew, speak, tell, utter.

see GREEK for 2036

see GREEK for 5346

see GREEK for 4483

see GREEK for 2980

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

λέγω

v.

I say, speak

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

λέγω legō 2x

to lay, to arrange, to gather; to say, Mt. 1:20; to speak, make an address or speech, Acts 26:1; to say mentally, in thought, Mt. 3:9; Lk. 3:8; to say in written language, Mk. 15:28; Lk. 1:63; Jn. 19:37; to say, as distinguished from acting, Mt. 23:3; to mention, speak of, Mk. 14:71; Lk. 9:31; Read the full entry →

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAP-NPM — Verb · present · active · participle · nominative · plural · masculine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked plural masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAP-NPM Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: Participle Case: Nominative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
35%saying
saying35% · 480×says13% · 175×i say12% · 164×he says9% · 122×say5% · 70×he was saying3% · 42×they say2% · 31×other renderings17% · 225×other renderings4% · 48×

1,357 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 107 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
verb98%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 2,255 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
αὐτόςἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
αὐτός
πρόςμαθητήςa learner, disciἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theοὗτοςἐγώ
ἸησοῦςJesus
Article theδέbut, on the otheγόνυa knee
ἀμήνHebr
ἀμήνHebrαὐτόςλέγωI say, speak
λέγωsaying;2255×
what comes after →
αὐτός
Article theτίςIrgκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
Article the
μαθητήςa learner, disciἸησοῦςJesusΠέτροςPeter
σύ
ὅτιthat, since, becοὐNegἐάνCond
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theπρόςαὐτός
ὅτιthat, since, because
Article theοὗτοςσύ

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

Concordanceλέγω · 2,255× in the New Testament
Luke John Matthew Mark Acts Revelation Hebrews Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians James Galatians

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

Across the New Testament25 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 1,290 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 5c. AD 40

οὐ μὴν διὰ τοῦθ’ ἡσυχαστέον, ἀλλ’ ἕνεκα τοῦ θεοφιλοῦς καὶ ὑπὲρ δύναμιν ἐπιτολμητέον λέγειν, οἴκοθεν μὲν οὐδέν, ὀλίγα δ’ ἀντὶ πολλῶν, ἐφ’ ἃ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην διάνοιαν φθάνειν εἰκὸς ἔρωτι καὶ πόθῳ σοφίας κατεσχημένην.

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

ὅπως Ἅβραμος ὁ πρόγονος ἡμῶν ἐξελθὼν ἐκ τῆς Χαλδαίων γῆς κατέσχε τὴν τότε μὲν Χαναναίαν νῦν δὲ Ἰουδαίαν λεγομένην.

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 6th c. AD 1st c. AD 4th c. AD
P.Grenf. 2 33Pathyris101 BC

τὸ ἐπιβάλλον αὐτῷ μέρος ἧς ἐμισθώσατο σὺν Πακοίβι Σχώτου καὶ τοῖς μετόχοις γῆς σιτοφόρου λεγομένης Νεχθαραῦτι θεοῦ μεγάλου παρὰ τῶν ἱερέων ἐτῶν δέκα εἰς τὰ ἐνλιπόντα αὐτῷ ἑτέρων ,

P.Stras. 2 89Pathyris100 BC

ἑτερᾶς· νότου γῆ Τακοίμιος, βορρᾶ γῆ Χενσθώτου, ἀπηλιώτου Ἀείους, λιβὸς περίχωμα, τῆς δʼ ἄλλης λεγομένης Πκρώ· νότου γῆ Σενπελαίας, βορρᾶ γῆ Πανᾶτος ἀπηλιώτου ποταμός, λιβὸς Ἀραμείους, ἢ οἳ ἂν

P.Adl. 16Pathyris100 BC

οἱ Φίβιος τοῦ Πανεχάτου υἱοί, ἀπηλιώτου ὁδὸς βασιλική, λιβὸς γῆ Ψεμμώνθου τοῦ Πανεχάτου, ἄλλης λεγομένης Φαμούνιος νότου γῆ Παθώτου τοῦ Πατοῦτος, βορρᾶ γῆ Πατσεοῦτος τοῦ Φίβιος, ἀπηλιώτου ποταμός, λιβὸς

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
τίtis Why G5101 Interrogative pronoun · accusative · singular · neuter
562× 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 interrogative pronoun is used to ask questions like who, which, or what, as seen in Matthew 3:7 and Mark 11:28. It seeks information about a person or thing. This term is essential in direct and indirect questions.
Tyndale gloss
which?
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

τίς is an interrogative pronoun meaning 'who,' 'which,' or 'what,' used in both direct and indirect questions. It can function as a substantive, adjective, or adverb, appearing in various contexts throughout the New Testament, such as in Matthew 3:7 and John 18:23. The neuter form τί also means 'what' or 'which.' There are instances where τίς may be used interchangeably with other pronouns like ποῖος.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

τίς, neut., τί, gen., τίνος, interrog. pron., [in LXX for מָה ,מִי ;] in masc. and fem.,

who, which, what?; in neut., which, what?, used both in direct and in indirect questions.

As subst.,

masc., fem.: τίς; who, what?, Mt 3:7 26:68; Mk 11:28, Lk 9:9, al. mult.; c. gen. partit., Ac 7:52, He 1:5, al; seq. ἐκ (= gen. partit.), Mt 6:27, Lk 14:28, Jo 8:46; = ποῖος, Mk 4:41 6:2, Lk 19:3,

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

τὶς, τὶ. ἘΣ what follows, εἰ καί lays less emphasis upon it; although it is evident that εἰ καί can often be substituted for καὶ ei.” Cf. Herm. Vig. p. 829 sq.; W. 444 (413); Ellic. on Phil. ii. 17; Schmalfeld, Griech. Syntax, § 41; Paley, Grk. Particles, p. 31]. 8. εἰ μή, a. in a conditional protasis, with the same sequence of moods and tenses as the simple εἰ, see 1. above, if not, unless, except, [W. 477 (444) sqq.; B. 345 (297)]: Mt. xxiv. 22; Jn. ix. 33; | xv. 22, 24; Ro. vii. 7, ete. b. it serves, with the entire. following sentence, to limit or correct what has just been said, only, save that, (Lat. nisi quod), [B. 359 (308) ]: Mk. vi. 5; 1 Co. vii. 17 (where Paul by the addition εἰ μὴ ἑκάστῳ κτλ. strives to prevent any one in applying what had been said a little while before, viz. οὐ δεδούλωται . . ἐν τοιούτοις to his own case, from going too far) ; in ironical answers, unless…

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

τις (indef. pron.), ‘* someone, something’’: P Vat ΑἸ (B.c. 168) (= UPZi. p. 303) πᾶς τις πειρᾶται. . ., P Lond 421° (B.C. 168) (= Selections, p. 10) εἰς πᾶν τι ἐληλυθυῖα διὰ, τὴν τοῦ σίτου τιμήν, ‘having come to the last extremity because of the high price of corn,’’ P Oxy IV. 7421° (B.c. 2) ἐάν τι δύνῃ... δὸς ἐργασίαν, “if you can, give your attention to it’’ (Edd.), 2d. I. 120% (iv/a.D.) τινα ὁρῶντα αἱαυτὸν (/. ἑαυτὸν) ἐν δυστυχίᾳ, ““α man finding himself in adversity,’ 13 ἀποστῖλόν pot τινα ἢ Γοῦνθον ἢ ᾿Αμμώνιον, “send someone to me, either Gunthus or Ammonius” (Edd.). P Oxy VI. 937°" (ili/A.D.) γ]ράψον ἐκεῖ TO kat’ εἶδος ὅτι τι kal τι εἴληφας is translated by the editors ‘* write the list there, that you have received so and so.” They 3) ες remark that it is simpler to take τι καί τι as analogous to τὸ καὶ τό than ‘‘to take τί kal τί as an indirect interrogative, ὅτι being…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

τίς (tis) — which?.

τίς

__B Interrog. pronoun τίς, Elean and Laconian dialect τίρ (which see), τί:—genitive Epic dialect and Ionic dialect τέο [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Trag. and Attic dialect τοῦ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Ionic dialect, Trag., and Attic dialect τίνος [Refs 5th c.BC+]; dative Ionic dialect τέῳ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; no dative in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Trag. and Attic dialect τῷ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Aeolic dialect τίῳ [Refs 7th c.BC+]; τίνι first in [NT+8th c.BC+]; genitive Epic dialect τέων [Refs 8th c.BC+], and as monosyllable [Refs]; Trag. and Attic dialect τίνων [Refs 5th c.BC+]; dative τίσι first in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Ionic dialect τέοισι [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Aeolic dialect τίοισι [Refs 7th c.BC+]; Boeotian dialect τά [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Megarian dialect σά [Refs 5th c.BC+]: of the plural [Refs 8th c.BC+] with genitive τέω; ποῖος (what? which?) is sometimes preferred (especially in neuter…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

τίς

tis

probably emphatic of 5100; an interrogative pronoun, who, which or

what (in direct or indirect questions):--every man, how (much), +

no(-ne, thing), what (manner, thing), where (-by, -fore, -of, -unto, -

with, -withal), whether, which, who(-m, -se), why.

see GREEK for 5100

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

τίς, τί

Irg.pr.

who, which, what

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

Τίτιος Titios 1x

Titius, pr. name, Acts 18:7*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

τίς in direct questions, who? which? neut. what? which? Lat. quis, quae, quid?, Hom., etc.: relating to other words in the same case, τίς δ᾽ οὗτος ἔρχεαι; who art thou that comest? Il.; τίν᾽ ὄψιν σὴν προσδέρκομαι; what face is this I see of thine? Eur.:— τίς ἄν or κεν, with the opt., expresses doubt, who could, who would do so? Hom.: —in double questions, τί λαβόντα τί δεῖ ποιεῖν; what has one received and what must one do? Dem.; so, τίς πόθεν εἶς ἀνδρῶν; who and whence art thou? Od.

τίς with Particles: τίς γάρ; Lat. quisnam? why who? who possibly? Il., etc.; τίς δή; who then? Theogn.; τίς δῆτα; Soph.; τίς ποτε; who in the world? who ever? Xen.

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

I-ASN Part of Speech: Interrogative pronoun Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Neuter

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
48%what
what48% · 273×who21% · 117×why18% · 101×which5% · 29×whom5% · 29×other renderings3% · 19×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
object30%adverbial25%predicate24%subject21%

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakπρόςἐπερωτάωI interrogate, q
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςἸησοῦςJesusκαίand, even, also,
καίand, even, also, nam
εἰμίI am, existοὗτοςθεόςGod, a god
διά
αὐτόςλέγωI say, speakεἶπονI say, speak
Disj
ἐσθίωI eatπῶςποιέωI do, make
τίςWhy562×
what comes after →
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theοὗτοςκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
Article the
πνεῦμαwind, breath, spσημεῖονa sign, miracle,μαθητήςa learner, disci
ἐγώ
καίand, even, also,λέγωI say, speakδιώκωI pursue, persec
ποιέωI do, make
Article theἵναin order that, sὅτιthat, since, bec
οὖνtherefore, then
εἶπονI say, speakποιέωI do, makeεἰμίI am, exist

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

Concordanceτίς · 562× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew John Mark Acts Romans 1 Corinthians Revelation 2 Corinthians Hebrews Ephesians Galatians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 601 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 4c. AD 40

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

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

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

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.5c. AD 100

πλήρης εἰμὶ ὁλοκαυτωμάτων, καὶ στέαρ ἀρνῶν καὶ αἷμα ταύρων καὶ τράγων οὐ βούλομαι, οὐδ̓ ἂν ἔρχησθε ὀφθῆναί μοι, τίς γὰρ ἐξεζήτησεν ταῦτα ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ὑμῶν;

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

ἂν ὦσι γείτονες πάντοθεν· μὴ ἐξέστω δὲ τῷ καθόλου ἐπὶ τὴν διαθήκην ταύτην ἄλλῳ τινὶ ἐπέρχεσθαι, εἰ δὲ μὴ ἄκυρον ἔστω καὶ προσαποτεισάτω ὁ ἐπιφέρων ὕστερον … ἄλλον τῆς

P.Cair. Cat. 10364 descr.Pathyris126 BC–102 BC

προγεγραμμένου ἵππου, καὶ μὴ ἐπελεύσεσθαί σοι ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ. ἐὰν δὲ ἐπέλθωμεν ἢ ἄλλος τις ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἥ τʼ ἔφοδος ἄκυρος ἔσται καὶ προσαποτείσομέν σοι χαλκοῦ τάλαντα πέντε.

BGU 6 1260Pathyris102 BC

σημαινομένης ἀρούρης μιᾶς , καὶ μὴ ἐπελεύσασθαι Νεχθανοῦπιν καὶ τοὺς τούτου υἱοὺς μηδʼ ἄλλον τινὰ τῶν παρʼ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὸν Πετεαρσεμθεία μηδʼ ἐπʼ ἄλλον τινὰ τῶν παρʼ αὐτοῦ περὶ

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
οὖνoun then G3767 Conjunction
496× 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 therefore or then, showing a consequence. It appears in Matthew 3:10 and Romans 5:9 to connect ideas and events.
Amplified meaning
for what reason, therefore
Tyndale gloss
therefore/then
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word οὖν (oun) is a particle used to express consequence, sequence, or to resume a narrative. It translates to 'therefore,' 'then,' or 'accordingly,' and appears frequently in the New Testament, such as in Matthew 3:10 and Romans 5:9. It can also serve in exhortations and questions, indicating what follows logically from previous statements.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

οὖν,

particle expressing consequence or simple sequence (never standing first in a sentence),

wherefore, therefore, then: Mt 3:10, Lk 3:9, Jo 8:38, Ac 1:21, Ro 5:9, al.; in exhortations, Mt 3:8, Lk 11:35, Ac 3:19, Ro 6:12, al.; in questions, Mt 13:28, Mk 15:12, Jo 8:[5], Ro 6:1, al.; continuing a…

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

οὖν ἃ conj. indicating that something follows from another necessarily; [al. regard the primary force of the particle as confirmatory or continuative, rather than illative; cf. Passow, or L.andS.s. v.; Kiihner § 508, 1 ii. p- 707 sqq.; Biiumlein p. 173 sqq.; Kriiger § 69, 52; Donaldson p. 571; Rost in a program “ Ueber Ableitung ” u.s.w. p.2; Klotz p. 717; Hartung ii. 4]. Hence it is used in drawing a conclusion and in connecting sentences together logically, then, therefore, accordingly, consequently, these things being so, [ (Klotz, Rost, al., have wished to derive the word fr. the neut. ptep. ὄν (cf. ὄντως) ; but see Baumlein or Kiihner u.s.); ef. W. § 53, 8]: Mt. iii. 10; x. 32 (since persecutions are not to be dreaded, and consequently furnish no excuse for denying me [οἵ. W. 455 (424)]); Mt. xviii. 4; Lk. iii.9; xvi. 27; In. viii. 38 (καὶ ὑμεῖς οὖν, and ye accordingly, i. e.…

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

οὖν. This common particle, which occurs in the NT nearly 500 times, is used in our sources in a variety of connexions, the exact shade of meaning being determined by the context. (1) For the causal meaning ‘‘therefore” we may cite BGU II. 423" (ii/aA.p.) (= Sevectzons, p. 91) Kal καλῶς pol ἐστιν. ἐρωτῶ ce οὖν, κύριέ pou πατήρ, γράψον μοι ἐπιστόλιον πρῶτον μὲν περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας σου... , “it is well with me. I beg you, therefore, my lord father, write me a letter, first regarding your health ... ,” and P Oxy XIV. 16651 (iii/A.D.), where a son in urgent need of oil writes to his father—dvayxalws οὖν, ἐὰν ἔτι παρὰ σεαυτῷ χρ[ἴ]ον ἔχῃς, δήλωσον ἢ τῷ vie σου ἢ ᾧ ἐὰν σὺ βούλῃ τούτους μοι ἐν τάχει παρα[σ]χεῖν, ‘perforce, therefore, if you have still with you any unguent, instruct your son or any one else you wish to supply me with them speedily ” (Edd.). (2) Οὖν is very common in a looser…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

οὖν (oun) — therefore/then.

οὖν,

Ionic dialect and Doric dialect ὦν (the latter in [Refs 8th c.BC+], adverb certainly, in fact, confirming something, frequently in contrast with something which is not confirmed, in [Refs 8th c.BC+] only in combination with γε (see. γοῦν), γάρ, οὔτε or μήτε, ὡς, ἐπεί, μέν, etc.:

1. really, φημὶ γὰρ οὖν κατανεῦσαι.. Κρονίωνα for I declare that Zeus did really promise.., [Refs 8th c.BC+]; τόφρα γὰρ οὖν ἑπόμεσθα.., ὄφρ᾽ for we followed them up to the very point, where.., [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἐλέχθησαν λόγοι ἄπιστοι μὲν ἐνίοισι Ἑλλήνων, ἐλέχθησαν δ᾽ ὦν but they really were spoken, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Θηβαῖοι μὲν ταῦτα λέγουσι.., Πλαταιῆς δ᾽ οὐχ ὁμολογοῦσι.., ἐκ δ᾽ οὖν τῆς γῆς ἀνεχώρησαν at all events they did return, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; so δ᾽ οὖν after a parenthesis; εἰ δή τις ὑμῶν οὕτως ἔχει,—οὐκ ἀξιῶ μὲν γὰρ ἔγωγε,—εἰ…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

οὖν

oun

apparently a primary word; (adverbially) certainly, or

(conjunctionally) accordingly:--and (so, truly), but, now (then), so

(likewise then), then, therefore, verily, wherefore.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

οὖν

Cj.

therefore, then

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

οὖν oun 499x

then, now then, Mt. 13:18; Jn. 19:29; then, thereupon, Lk. 15:28; Jn. 6:14; therefore, consequently, Mt. 5:48: Mk. 10:9; it also serves to mark the resumption of discourse after an interruption by a parenthesis, 1 Cor. 8:4. Sometimes it is not translated.

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

οὖν really, at all events, used like γοῦν to dismiss a perplexing subject, οὔτ᾽ οὖν ἀγγελίῃς ἔτι πείθομαι, οὔτε θεοπροπίης ἐμπάζομαι Od.; ἐλέχθησαν λόγοι ἄπιστοι μὲν ἐνίοισι Ἑλλήνων, ἐλέχθησαν δ᾽ ὦν but they really were spoken, Hdt.; εἴτ᾽ οὖν, εἴτε μὴ γενήσεται whether it shall be really so, or no, Eur.; εἴτ᾽ οὖν ἀληθὲς εἴτ᾽ οὖν ψεῦδος Plat.; εἰ δ᾽ ἔστιν, ὥσπερ οὖν ἔστι, θεός if he is, as he surely is, a god, id. Plat.

added to indef. Pronouns and Advs., like Lat. cunque, ὅστις whoever, ὁστισοῦν whosoever; ὅπως how, ὁπωσοῦν howsoever; ἄλλος ὁστισοὖν another, be he who he may; so, ὁποιοσοῦν, ὁποσοσοῦν, ὁπωσοῦν, ὁποθενοῦν…

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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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
79%therefore
therefore79% · 428×then19% · 104×other renderings1% · 7×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 496 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
λέγωI say, speak
διακονέωI wait at table,ἔχωI have, hold, poΣατανᾶςan adversary, Sa
μένDisj
Article theεἰCondπολύςmuch, many, ofte
τίςIrg
αὐτόςλέγωI say, speakδιά
Article the
ἸακώβPropὕδωρwater
σύ
καίand, even, also,δεῖit is necessary,ἐρωτάωI ask, question,
οὖνthen496×
what comes after →
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusἸουδαῖοςJewishμαθητήςa learner, disci
αὐτός
Article theτίςIrgἸησοῦςJesus
καίand, even, also, nam
νίπτωI washἕτεροςanother, differeὁράωI see, look upon
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theσύοὗτος
σύ
πονηρόςevil, bad, wickeτέλειοςperfect, full-grἨλίαςElijah

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

Concordanceοὖν · 496× in the New Testament
John Acts Matthew Romans Luke 1 Corinthians Hebrews 2 Corinthians Ephesians 1 Peter Galatians Philippians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 110 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 4c. AD 40

τὸ μὲν οὖν κάλλος τῶν νοημάτων τῆς κοσμοποιίας οὐδεὶς οὔτε ποιητὴς οὔτε λογογράφος ἀξίως ἂν ὑμνῆσαι δύναιτο·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.6c. AD 75–95

ἤδη μὲν οὖν καὶ πρότερον διενοήθην, ὅτε τὸν πόλεμον συνέγραφον, δηλῶσαι τίνες ὄντες ἐξ ἀρχῆς Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ τίσι χρησάμενοι τύχαις ὑφʼ οἵῳ τε παιδευθέντες νομοθέτῃ τὰ πρὸς εὐσέβειαν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἄσκησιν ἀρετῆς πόσους τε πολέμους ἐν μακροῖς…

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. BC 2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 2nd c. BC
P.Grenf. 2 23Latopolites109 BC

χαίρειν. τοῦ παρʼ Ἑρμώνακτος τῶν ὁμοτίμων τοῖς συγγενέσι καὶ ὑποδιοικητοῦ χρηματισμοῦ ἀντίγραφον ὑπόκειται. κατακολουθήσας οὖν τοῖς διʼ αὐτοῦ σημαινομένοις χρημάτισον ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν Παθύρει τραπέζης, συνυπογράφοντος Φίβιος τοῦ…

P.Grenf. 1 30Pathyris104 BC

δὲ καὶ αὐτοί. μεταλαβόντες τοὺς συντετελεσμένους πρὸς τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς Ἑρμωνθίτας ἀγῶνας μεγάλως ἐχάρημεν. ἐπεὶ οὖν προκεχειρίκαμεν προστάτην τοῦ μεγίστου θεοῦ Νεχθφαραῦτος βεα … ρων … δια … στρατιωτῶν

Chrest.Wilck. 12Pathyris89 BC

ἐπιβεβληκέναι εἰς Μέμφιν, Ἱέρακα δὲ προκεχειρίσθαι μετὰ δυνάμεων μυρίων ἐπὶ καταστολὴν τῆς Θηβαίδος. ὅπως οὖν εἰδότες εὐθαρσεῖς ὑπάρχητε ἐκρίναμεν σημῆναι. ἔρρωσθε ἔτους λ Φαῶφι ιθ

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
οἱho the G3588 Article · nominative · plural · 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-NPM — Article · nominative · plural · masculine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked plural masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-NPM Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Nominative Number: Plural 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

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
γραμματεῖςgrammateus scribes G1122 Noun · nominative · plural · masculine
63× 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 scribe is a scholar or teacher of the law, often referring to Jewish leaders who studied and taught the scriptures, as seen in Acts 19:35 and Luke 5:17. They were experts in biblical knowledge.
Amplified meaning
teachers of the law, scholars
Tyndale gloss
scribe
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

γραμματεύς is derived from γράμμα and refers to a scribe or secretary, often a public official or a learned person skilled in the law. Its usage spans various contexts, including military and religious roles, particularly in the New Testament where it denotes teachers of the law (e.g., Matthew 2:4). The lexicons show some variation in emphasizing its role as a scholar or a public clerk.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

γραμματεύς, -έως (acc. pl., -εῖς, v. Bl., §8, 2), ὁ

(< γράμμα),

[in LXX always for שׁטר in Hex., elsewhere chiefly for ספר;]

a secretary; γ. τ. πόλεως, a state-clerk: Ac 19:35.

In π., of a military officer (Deiss., BS, 110f.). So Jg 5:14, IV Ki 25:19 (ספר), al.

a scribe, a biblical scholar, teacher of the law (so first in I Es 8:3, II Es 7:6; in Lk 5:17, νομοδιδάσκαλος; in Lk 10:25, νομικός): Mt 7:29, Mk 1:22, and freq. in Gosp. γ. καὶ ἀρχιερεῖς,

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

γραμματεύς, -έως, (acc. plur. -eis, W. 8.9, 2; [Β. 14 (13)]), 6, (γράμμα), Sept. for 35 and "δῷ; 1. in prof. auth. and here and there in the O. T. [e. g. 2S. vill. 17; xx. 25; 2 K. xix. 2; xxv. 19; Ps. xliv. (xlv.) 2], a clerk, scribe, esp. a public scribe, secretary, recorder, whose office and influence differed in different states: Acts xix. 35, (Sir. x. 5); [ef. Lghtfl. in The Contemp. Rey. for 1878, p. 294; Wood, Discoveries at Ephesus, App. Inserr. fr. the Great Theatre, p. 49 n.]. 2. in the Bible, a man learned in the Mosaic law and in the sacred writings, an interpreter, teacher: Mt. xxiii. 34; 1 Co. i. 20, (called also vopixds in Lk. x. 25, and νομοδιδάσκαλος in Lk. v.17; [Meyer (on Mt. xxii. 35), while denying any essential diff. betw. γραμματεύς and νομικύς (cf. Lk. xi. 52, 53 — yet see crit. txts.), regards the latter name as the more specific (a jurisconsult) and Classic…

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

γραμματεύς may illustrate emphasis as the cause of the πηλίκοις γράμμασιν of Gal 64. It is possible, however, that the words may only call attention to the big sprawling letters of the autograph in contrast to the neat scribe’s hand of the amanuensis. The contrast may be met in the case of many signatures to legal and other documents, e.g. Rainer Pap. 215 in Fuhrer durch die Ausstellung Tafel 9: see Milligan Documents, p- 24, for a discussion of the bearing of this on Gal /.c., Deissmann S¢# Pail, p. 51. But it is highly precarious to to draw the inference to which Deissmann inclines: artisans are not the only people who may write a big and clumsy hand ! When γράμμα becomes collective, its primary meaning is ‘“a letter,’’ just as Lat. /ztfera produced “itterae. Thus P Grenf I. 30° (B.c. 103)(= Witkowski 5 p. 107) διὰ ypappaτῶν ἐκρίναμεν σημῆναι, and P Amh II. 143} (iv/a.p.) καὶ τούτω…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

γραμματεύς (grammateus) — scribe.

γραμμᾰτ-εύς, έως, ὁ,

secretary, registrar, title of officials at Athens and elsewhere, [NT+5th c.BC+]; γ. τοῦ θεοῦ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; also of subordinate officials, clerk, sometimes a term of contempt, ὄλεθρος γ. [Refs 4th c.BC+]; ἡ γ., in joke, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. metaphorically, recorder, of memory, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. scholar, γ. σαφής [Refs 4th c.BC+]

4. one who traces or marks out, of Egyptian embalmers, [Refs 1st c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

γραμματεύς

grammateus

from 1121. a writer, i.e. (professionally) scribe or

secretary:--scribe, town-clerk.

see GREEK for 1121

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

γραμματεύς, έως, ὁ

n.m.

a scribe, town-clerk, man of learning

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

γραμματεύς grammateus 63x

a scribe; a clerk, town-clerk, registrar, recorder, Acts 19:35; one skilled in the Jewish law, a teacher or interpreter of the law, Mt. 2:4; 5:20, et al. freq.; genr. a religious teacher, Mt. 13:52; by synec. any one distinguished for learning or wisdom, 1 Cor. 1:20

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

γραμματεύς γράμμα a secretary, clerk, Lat. scriba, Thuc., etc.

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

N-NPM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Nominative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

skribz: The existence of law leads necessarily to a profession whose business is the study and knowledge of the law; at any rate, if the law is extensive and complicated. At the time of Ezra and probably for some time after, this was chiefly the business of the priests. Ezra was both priest and scholar (copher). It was chiefly in the interest of the priestly cult that the most important part of the Pentateuch was written. The priests were therefore also in the first instance the scholars and the guardians of the Law; but in the course of time this was changed. The more highly esteemed the Law became in the eyes of the people, the more its study and interpretation became a lifework by itself, and thus there developed a class of scholars who, though not priests, devoted themselves assiduously to the Law. These became known as the scribes, that is, the professional students of the Law.…

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Scribes

Anciently held various important offices in the public affairs of the nation. The Hebrew word so rendered (sopher) is first used to designate the holder of some military office (Judg. 5:14; A.V., “pen of the writer;” R.V., “the marshal’s staff;” marg., “the staff of the scribe”). The scribes acted as secretaries of state, whose business it was to prepare and issue decrees in the name of the king (2 Sam. 8:17; 20:25; 1 Chr. 18:16; 24:6; 1 Kings 4:3; 2 Kings 12:9-11; 18:18-37, etc.). They discharged various other important public duties as men of high authority and influence in the affairs of state.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

(Heb.sopherim), I. Name . -- (1) Three meanings are connected with the verb saphar , the root of sopherim -- (a) to write, (b) to set in order, (c) to count. The explanation of the word has been referred to each of these. The sopherim were so called because they wrote out the law, or because they classified and arranged its precepts, or because they counted with scrupulous minuteness every elapse and letter It contained. (2) The name of Kirjath-sepher, (Joshua 15:15; Judges 1:12) may possibly connect itself with some early use of the title, and appears to point to military functions of some kind. (Judges 5:14) The men are mentioned as filling the office of scribe under David and Solomon. (

- Antiquity of

Jud 5:14

- Wore an inkhorn at their girdles

Eze 9:2,3

- FAMILIES CELEBRATED FOR FURNISHING

. Kenites

1Ch 2:55

. Zebulun

Jud 5:14

. Levi

1Ch 24:6; 2Ch 34:13

- Generally men of great wisdom

1Ch 27:32

- Often learned in the law

Ezr 7:6

- Were ready writers

Ps 45:1

- ACTED AS

. Secretaries to kings

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
93%scribes
scribes93% · 62×scribe4% · 3×other renderings3% · 2×

67 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
subject67%adverbial16%object5%indirect object3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 63 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,τὶςὡςas, like as, how
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀρχιερεύςhigh priest, chiΦαρισαῖοςa Phariseeσοφόςwise
σύ
οὐαίindclδέbut, on the othe
εἷςone
προσέρχομαιI come near, con
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
οὗτος
γραμματεύςscribes63×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theΦαρισαῖοςa PhariseeἀποκτείνωI put to death,
Article the
θέλωI will, wish, deλαόςa people, the crθαυμάσιοςwonderful
λέγωI say, speak
ὅτιthat, since, becαὐτόςἐν
αὐτός
πρός
ὅτιthat, since, because
ἨλίαςElijahArticle 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

Concordanceγραμματεύς · 63× in the New Testament
Matthew Mark Luke Acts 1 Corinthians John
Across the New Testament6 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 37 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
Philo of AlexandriaOn Husbandry 148c. AD 40

ἡ δὲ πρόσταξις διὰ τῶν τῆς στρατιᾶς γραμματέων γίνεται, ὅταν ὁ πόλεμος ἐγγὺς καὶ ἐπὶ θύραις ὢν ἤδη τυγχάνῃ·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 6.120c. AD 75–95

ἀπαγγέλλεται δὲ τῷ βασιλεῖ ὑπὸ τῶν γραμματέων, ὅτι τὸ πλῆθος εἰς τὸν θεὸν ἐξαμαρτάνει θῦσαν καὶ πρὶν ἢ τὸ αἷμα καλῶς ἀποπλῦναι καὶ τὰς σάρκας ποιῆσαι καθαρὰς ἐσθίον.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 1st c. AD 3rd c. AD 2nd c. BC 3rd c. BC
BGU 3 992Pathyris187 BC

προσόδων διαγραφὴν τὴν γραφεῖσαν ἔτους ιε Φαῶφι κθ, ὑφʼ ἣν ὑπογράφει Ἁρενδώτης ὁ βασιλικὸς γραμματεὺς τῆς Θηβαίδος Προῖτος Σωσικράτους τιμὴν γῆς ἠπείρου, ἧς διασαφεῖ Ἁρενδώτης ὁ βασιλικὸς γραμματεὺς ἀνειλῆφθαι

C.Erbstreit14Diospolis Magna (Theben)187 BC

Θηβαίδα διαγραφὴν τὴν γραφεῖσαν ἔτους ιε, Φαῶφι κθ, ὑφʼ ἣν ὑπογράφει Ἁρενδώτης ὁ βασιλικὸς γραμματεὺς τῆς Θηβαίδος, Προῖτος Σωσικράτους τιμὴν γῆς ἠπείρου, ἧς διασαφεῖ Ἁρενδώτης ὁ βασιλικὸς γραμματεὺς ἀνειλῆφθαι

κριθῆς β ἐμβαδικὸν δραχμὰς λ … … δ … · διʼ Ἀλύκιος ὡς ἐπηγγείλατο γραμματεὺς κριθῆς ζ, αἳ πρὸς Ἀνδρείαν κατὰ συνγραφὴν πυροῦ ξ καὶ ἁμάξης μισθὸς κριθῆς ι

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
λέγουσινlegō say G3004 Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · plural
2,255× 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 to say or speak, and it is used by Jesus and others in the New Testament to share teachings and tell stories. It appears in Matthew 9:34 and John 1:29.
Tyndale gloss
to say
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

λέγω (legō) is a primary Greek verb meaning 'to say' or 'to speak.' It encompasses a range of uses, including expressing thoughts, making declarations, and narrating events. The New Testament frequently employs it in direct speech and as a way to convey meaning, such as in Matthew 27:11. Abbott-Smith notes its distinction from similar verbs like λαλέω.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — λαλέω, λέγω, λαλιά, λόγος from a scan

In dealing with synonyms of the N. T. we plainly need not concern ourselves with such earlier, or even contemporary, uses of the words which we are discriminating, as lie altogether outside of the N. T. sphere, when these uses do not illustrate, and have not affected, their Scriptural employment. It follows from this that all those contemptuous uses of λαλεῖν as to talk at random, as one ἀθυρόστομος, or with no door to his lips, might do; of λαλιά, as chatter («Kpacia λόγου ἄλογος, Plato, Defin. 416)—for I cannot believe that we are to find this at John iv. 42—may be dismissed and set aside. The antithesis in the line of Eupolis (Meineke, /ragm. Com. Gr. p. 174), Λαλεῖν ἄριστος, ἀδυνατώτατος λέγειν, does little or nothing to illustrate the matter in hand. The distinction which indeed exists between the words may in this way be made clear. There are two leading aspects under which speech…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

λέγω,

[in LXX very freq., chiefly for אמר; λέγει for נְאֻם, Ge 22:16, al.;]

in Hom., to pick out, gather, reckon, recount.

In Hdt. and Att., to say, speak, affirm, declare: absol., Ac 13:15 24:10; seq. orat. dir., Mt 9:34, Mk 3:11, Jo 1:29, al.; seq. ὅτι recit., Mk 3:21, Lk 1:24, Jo 6:14, al.; acc. et. inf., Lk 11:18, Jo 12:29, al.; after another verb of speaking, προσφωνεῖν κ. λέγειν, Mt 11:17, al.; ἀπεκρίθη (ἐλάλησεν) λέγων (καὶ λέγει; Dalman…

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

λέγω (in the N. T. only the pres. and impf. act. and pres. pass. are in use; 3 pers. plur. impf. ἔλεγαν, Jn. xi. 56 Tdf. [ef. ἔχω, init.]): I. in its earliest use in Hom. to lay (like Lat. lego, Germ. legen; οἵ. J. G. Miiller in Theol. Stud. u. Krit. for 1835, p. 127 sqq.; Curtius § 538) ; to cause to lie down, put to sleep; 1. to collect, gather; to pick out. 2. lo lay with, count with; to enumerate, recount, narrate, describe; [οἷ. Eng. tale, Germ. ztihlen). II. to put word to word in speaking, join words together, i. e. to say (how it differs fr. λαλεῖν, see under that word ad init.) ; once so by Hom. in 1]. 2, 222 [yet ef. Schmidt, Syn. i. ch. 1, §§ 20; 48, 2; L. and S. s. vy. B. II. 2]; often in Pind., and by far the most com. use in Attic; Sept. more than thirteen hundred times for 728; often also for D8} (saying, dictum); very rarely for 1393; and soin N.T. 1. univ. a. absol. to…

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

λέγω. (1). “‘I say, speak”: see e.g. P Par 47 {= Selections, Ῥ- 21 ff.), ¢. B.C. 153, which is addressed on the verso—mpds τοὺς τὴν ἀλήθεαν λέγοντες (—-as), P Fay 12378 (c. A.D. 100) γνώσομαι yap εἰ ἀληθῶς λέγι, “1 will find out whether he is speaking the truth,” P Ryl 11. 7615 (late li/A.D.) ἃ καὶ ἀναγνώσομαι λεγομένου τοῦ [π]ράγματος, “1 will read them when the case is argued” (Edd.), P Flor II. 1327 (A.D. 257) ἔλεζξ]αν πεποιηκέναι ταῦτα ἀγνοίᾳ, ‘they said they had done this in ignorance,” and the magical P Par 5741238 (iii/A.D.) (= Selectzons, p. 113) λόγος λεγόμενος ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ, ‘ invocation to be uttered over the head (of the possessed one).”” For the phrase τὸ αὐτὸ λέγειν, cf. I Cor 11°, Weiss (Meyer 15 ad 1) cites a sepulchral inscr. of husband and wife from Rhodes, /J/Ae 149 (ii/B.c.) ταὐτὰ λέγοντες ταὐτὰ φρονοῦντες ἤλθομεν τὰν ἀμέτρητον ὁδὸν εἰς ᾿Αἴδαν. (2). Closely…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

λέγω (legō) — to say.

λέγω,

__B pick up, etc.: tenses for signification 1 and 11, future λέξω [Refs 8th c.BC+]: aorist ἔλεξα [Refs 4th c.BC+]:—middle, future in passive sense λέξομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist ἐλεξάμην [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Epic dialect ἐλέγμην [Refs 8th c.BC+]:—passive, aorist ἐλέχθην [Refs 8th c.BC+]-; post-[Refs 8th c.BC+]perfect εἴλοχα (κατ-, συν-), passive εἴλεγμαι, in these senses rarely λέλεγμαι (see. the compounds); also future λεγήσομαι (συλ-): aorist 2 ἐλέγην (κατ-, συν-):—gather, pick up, ὀστέα.. λέγωμεν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; αἱμασιάς τε λέγων picking out stones for building walls, [Refs 8th c.BC+]:—middle, gather for oneself, ἐπὶ δὲ ξύλα πολλὰ λέγεσθε [Refs 8th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

λέγω

lego

a primary verb; properly, to "lay" forth, i.e. (figuratively) relate

(in words (usually of systematic or set discourse; whereas 2036 and

5346 generally refer to an individual expression or speech

respectively; while 4483 is properly to break silence merely, and 2980

means an extended or random harangue)); by implication, to mean:--ask,

bid, boast, call, describe, give out, name, put forth, say(-ing, on),

shew, speak, tell, utter.

see GREEK for 2036

see GREEK for 5346

see GREEK for 4483

see GREEK for 2980

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

λέγω

v.

I say, speak

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

λέγω legō 2x

to lay, to arrange, to gather; to say, Mt. 1:20; to speak, make an address or speech, Acts 26:1; to say mentally, in thought, Mt. 3:9; Lk. 3:8; to say in written language, Mk. 15:28; Lk. 1:63; Jn. 19:37; to say, as distinguished from acting, Mt. 23:3; to mention, speak of, Mk. 14:71; Lk. 9:31; Read the full entry →

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAI-3P — Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · plural
present active indicative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
35%saying
saying35% · 480×says13% · 175×i say12% · 164×he says9% · 122×say5% · 70×he was saying3% · 42×they say2% · 31×other renderings17% · 225×other renderings4% · 48×

1,357 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 107 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
verb98%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 2,255 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
αὐτόςἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
αὐτός
πρόςμαθητήςa learner, disciἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theοὗτοςἐγώ
ἸησοῦςJesus
Article theδέbut, on the otheγόνυa knee
ἀμήνHebr
ἀμήνHebrαὐτόςλέγωI say, speak
λέγωsay2255×
what comes after →
αὐτός
Article theτίςIrgκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
Article the
μαθητήςa learner, disciἸησοῦςJesusΠέτροςPeter
σύ
ὅτιthat, since, becοὐNegἐάνCond
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theπρόςαὐτός
ὅτιthat, since, because
Article theοὗτοςσύ

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

Concordanceλέγω · 2,255× in the New Testament
Luke John Matthew Mark Acts Revelation Hebrews Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians James Galatians

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

Across the New Testament25 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 1,290 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 5c. AD 40

οὐ μὴν διὰ τοῦθ’ ἡσυχαστέον, ἀλλ’ ἕνεκα τοῦ θεοφιλοῦς καὶ ὑπὲρ δύναμιν ἐπιτολμητέον λέγειν, οἴκοθεν μὲν οὐδέν, ὀλίγα δ’ ἀντὶ πολλῶν, ἐφ’ ἃ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην διάνοιαν φθάνειν εἰκὸς ἔρωτι καὶ πόθῳ σοφίας κατεσχημένην.

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

ὅπως Ἅβραμος ὁ πρόγονος ἡμῶν ἐξελθὼν ἐκ τῆς Χαλδαίων γῆς κατέσχε τὴν τότε μὲν Χαναναίαν νῦν δὲ Ἰουδαίαν λεγομένην.

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 6th c. AD 1st c. AD 4th c. AD
P.Grenf. 2 33Pathyris101 BC

τὸ ἐπιβάλλον αὐτῷ μέρος ἧς ἐμισθώσατο σὺν Πακοίβι Σχώτου καὶ τοῖς μετόχοις γῆς σιτοφόρου λεγομένης Νεχθαραῦτι θεοῦ μεγάλου παρὰ τῶν ἱερέων ἐτῶν δέκα εἰς τὰ ἐνλιπόντα αὐτῷ ἑτέρων ,

P.Stras. 2 89Pathyris100 BC

ἑτερᾶς· νότου γῆ Τακοίμιος, βορρᾶ γῆ Χενσθώτου, ἀπηλιώτου Ἀείους, λιβὸς περίχωμα, τῆς δʼ ἄλλης λεγομένης Πκρώ· νότου γῆ Σενπελαίας, βορρᾶ γῆ Πανᾶτος ἀπηλιώτου ποταμός, λιβὸς Ἀραμείους, ἢ οἳ ἂν

P.Adl. 16Pathyris100 BC

οἱ Φίβιος τοῦ Πανεχάτου υἱοί, ἀπηλιώτου ὁδὸς βασιλική, λιβὸς γῆ Ψεμμώνθου τοῦ Πανεχάτου, ἄλλης λεγομένης Φαμούνιος νότου γῆ Παθώτου τοῦ Πατοῦτος, βορρᾶ γῆ Πατσεοῦτος τοῦ Φίβιος, ἀπηλιώτου ποταμός, λιβὸς

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
ὅτιhoti that G3754 Conjunction
1,293× 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 Greek word means 'that' or 'because', used to introduce a reason or explanation. It appears in the New Testament, such as in Matthew 3:9 and Romans 8:38. It helps to show cause and effect in sentences.
Tyndale gloss
that/since: that
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὅτι,

conjc. (prop. neut. of ὅστις).

As conjc, introducing an objective clause, that;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὅτι (hoti) — that/since: that.

ὅτῐ,

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

I. when ὅτι introduces a statement of fact:

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὅτι

hoti

neuter of 3748 as conjunction; demonstrative, that (sometimes

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

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

see GREEK for 3748

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὅτι

Cj.

that, since, because

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὅτι hoti 1x

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
64%that
that64% · 856×because19% · 252×for16% · 209×other renderings1% · 12×

1,329 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 8 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial16%object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,293 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
σύ
λέγωI say, speakγάρforδέbut, on the othe
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςσύδέbut, on the othe
οἶδαI know, remember
οὐNegκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakμαθητήςa learner, disciπερί
γινώσκωI come to know, lear
οὗτοςκαίand, even, also,αὐτός
ὅτιthat1293×
what comes after →
Article the
θεόςGod, a godκύριοςlord, Lord, mastπατήρfather, Father,
οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, existοἶδαI know, rememberδύναμαιI am powerful, a
ἐγώ
εἰμίI am, existοὐNegArticle the
οὗτος
εἰμίI am, existArticle theποιέωI do, make
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
Article theῥῆμαa thing spokenζητέωI seek, search f

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

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

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 8c. AD 40

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

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

ὅτι τῶν ἐθνῶν ἕκαστον ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκισάντων προσηγορεύθη.

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

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

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

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

P.Grenf. 1 10 p. 24Hermonthis149 BC

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

P.Bour. 10Pathyris89 BC

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

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
ἨλίανHēlias Elijah G2243 Noun · accusative · singular · masculine
29× 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
Elijah was a prophet who appeared with Jesus in Matthew 17:3-4 and is mentioned in Romans 11:2.
Amplified meaning
the prophet, Elias
Tyndale gloss
Elijah
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word Ἠλίας (transliterated as Helias) refers to the biblical figure Elijah, a prophet known for his staunch defense of monotheism during the reigns of Israel's idolatrous kings. The entries indicate variations in spelling and pronunciation, and it appears frequently in the New Testament, where Elijah is associated with prophetic expectations and the coming of the Messiah.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

Ἠλείας (Rec. Ἠλίας; LTr., Ἡλίας; T, Ἡλείας; cf. WH, App., 155, Intr., § 408), -ου (-α, Lk 1:17, WH), ὁ (Heb. אֵלִיָּה, אֵלִיָּהוּ),

Elijah (III Ki 17, al.): Mt 11:14 16:14 17:3, 4, 10-12 27:47, 49, Mk 6:15 8:28 9:4, 5, 11-13 15:35, 36, Lk 1:17 4:25, 26 9:8, 19, 30, 33, 54, Jo 1:21, 25, Ja 5:17; ἐν Ἠ., in the portion concerning E., Ro 11:2.†

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

Ἠλίας ([so R***G; WH Ἠλείας cf. WH. App. p. 155; Tdf. Proleg. p. 84 and see εἰ, 1, but] L Tr Ἡλίας, Tdf. Ἡλείας, [on the breathing in codd. see Tdf. Proleg. p- 107; WH. Intr. § 408; current edd. are not uniform]), -ov [B. 17 (16), 8; but once (viz. Lk. i. 17 T Tr mrg. WH) -a], 6, (7998 or 37798 i.e. either ‘strength of Jehovah’ or ‘my God is Jehovah’), Elijah, a prophet born at Thisbe [but see B. D. s. v., alsos. v. Tishbite], the unflinching champion of the theocracy in the reigns of the idolatrous kings Ahab and Ahaziah. He was taken up to heaven without dying, whence the Jews expected he would return just before the advent of the Messiah, whom he would prepare the minds of the Israelites to receive (1 K. xvii—xix.; 2 K. ii. 6 sqq.; 2 Chr. xxi. 12; Mal. iv. 4 (iii. 22); Sir. xlviii. 1, 4, 12 [ef. Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah, App. viii.]): Mt. xi. 14; xvi. 14; xvii. 3 sq. 10-12…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

Ἡλίας (Hēlias) — Elijah.

feminine adjective of the sun , quoted in [Refs 2nd c.AD] (from Middle LSJ)

Strong's Greek Dictionary

Ἠλίας

Helias

of Hebrew origin (452); Helias (i.e. Elijah), an Israelite:--Elias.

see HEBREW for 0452

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

Ἠλίας, ου, ὁ

n.m.

Elijah

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

Ἠλίας ēlias 29x

Elijah, pr name, (1 Ki. 17-20), Mt. 11:14; 17:3f.; Mk. 15:35f.; Lk. 1:7; Jn. 1:21; Jas. 5:17

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

e-li'-ja ('eliyahu or (4 times) 'eliyah, "Yah is God"; Septuagint Eleiou, New Testament Eleias or Elias, the King James Version of New Testament Elias):

Contents

I. THE WORKS OF ELIJAH

1. The Judgment of Drought 2. The Ordeal by Prayer 3. At Horeb 4. The Case of Naboth 5. Elijah and Ahaziah 6. Elijah Translated 7. The Letter to Jehoram

II. THE WORK OF ELIJAH

III. CHARACTER OF THE PROPHET

IV. MIRACLES IN THE ELIJAH NARRATIVES

V. ELIJAH IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

VI. LITERATURE

(1) The great prophet of the times of Ahab, king of Israel. Elijah is identified at his first appearance (1Ki 17:1) as "Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead." Thus his native place must have been called Tishbeh. A Tishbeh (Thisbe) in the territory of Naphtali is known from Tobit 1:2; but if (with most modern commentators) the reading of the Septuagint in…

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Elijah

Whose God is Jehovah. (1.) “The Tishbite,” the “Elias” of the New Testament, is suddenly introduced to our notice in 1 Kings 17:1 as delivering a message from the Lord to Ahab. There is mention made of a town called Thisbe, south of Kadesh, but it is impossible to say whether this was the place referred to in the name given to the prophet.

Having delivered his message to Ahab, he retired at the command of God to a hiding-place by the brook Cherith, beyond Jordan, where he was fed by ravens. When the brook dried up God sent him to the widow of Zarephath, a city of Zidon, from whose scanty store he was supported for the space of two years. During this period the widow’s son died, and was restored to life by Elijah (1 Kings 17: 2-24).

Smith's Bible Dictionary

(my God is Jehovah) has been well entitled "the grandest and the most romantic character that Israel ever produced." "Elijah the Tishbite,... of the inhabitants of Gilead" is literally all that is given us to know of his parentage and locality. Of his appearance as he "stood before" Ahab (B.C. 910) with the suddenness of motion to this day characteristic of the Bedouins from his native hills, we can perhaps realize something from the touches, few but strong, of the narrative. His chief characteristic was his hair, long and thick, and hanging down his back. His ordinary clothing consisted of a girdle of skin round his loins, which he tightened when about to move quickly. (1 Kings 18:46) But in addition to this he occasionally wore the "mantle" or cape of sheepskin which has supplied us with one of our most familiar figures of speech.…

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The prophet, a native of Tishbeh in Gilead, 1Ki 17:1. His parentage and early history are unknown. His bold faithfulness provoked the wrath of Ahab and Jezebel, especially when he threatened several years of drought and famine as a punishment for the sins of Israel, B. C. 908. By the divine direction the prophet took refuge on the bank of the brook Cherith, where he was miraculously fed by ravens. Thence he resorted to Zarephath, in Phoenicia; where one miracle provided him with sustenance and another restored to life the child of his hostess. Returning to King Ahab, he procured the great assembling at mount Carmel, where God "answered by fire," and the prophets of Baal were destroyed. Now too the long and terrible drought was broken, and a plentiful rain descended at the prophet’s prayer. Finding that not even these mighty works of…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
100%elijah
elijah100% · 30×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject45%predicate21%object17%indirect object10%adverbial7%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 29 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
ὅτιthat, since, because
λέγωI say, speakσύγραμματεύςa scribe, town-c
καίand, even, also, nam
ΜωϋσῆςMosesεἷςoneὅτιthat, since, bec
δέbut, on the other ha
ἄλλοςother, another,
ἔρχομαιI come, go
εἰCond
αὐτός
ὁράωI see, look uponφημίI say
ἨλίαςElijah29×
what comes after →
εἷςone
δεῖit is necessary, ine
ἔρχομαιI come, go
μένDisj
ἔρχομαιI come, go
φωνέωI crow, shout, summo
οὗτος
εἰμίI am, exist
ἄλλοςother, another, καίand, even, also,

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

ConcordanceἨλίας · 29× in the New Testament
Matthew Mark Luke John James Romans
Across the New Testament6 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus
JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 8.331c. AD 75–95

μονωθέντι δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως Ὠβεδίᾳ συνήντησεν ὁ προφήτης Ἠλίας·

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
7th c. AD 6th c. AD 4th c. AD 5th c. AD 8th c. AD
P. Thead. 55 bPtolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites)AD 300

τὰς προδηλουμένας ἀρούρας καὶ παρέλαβον τὴν μέτρησιν ὡς πρόκιται ὀμόσασα τὸν σεβάσμιον ὅρκον. Αὐρήλιος Ἠλείας Ἀρίου ἔγραψα ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς ἀγραμμάτου. Αὐρήλιος Ἀφροδίσιος γεωμέτρης ἐμέτρησα τὰς προδεδηλωμένας ἀρούρας. Αὐρήλιος…

P.Cair. Isid. 20Karanis (Arsinoites)AD 314

εἰς ε σοκ … … … λος εἰσὶ δέ· Ὃλ Ἀπολλῶτος Κάστωρ Νεᾶ Ἠλίας Μέλανος Ἁτρῆς Τύχης Χαιρήμων Σούει Εὐδαίμων Δούλου Παπέεις Παντήλεως Πτολεμαῖος Πτολλαρίωνος Μῶρος Ἰσιδώρου Ἀντώνιος

P.NYU 1 6Karanis (Arsinoites)AD 343

Μεχεὶρ κθ. παρήνεγκεν Οὐαλέριος Ἀντιουρίου κωμητῶν Καρανίδος ὑπὲρ πρώτης ἰνδικτίονος κρέως λίτρας κε μόνας. Ἠλίας σεσημείωμαι.

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
δεῖdei it behooves G1163 Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · singular
102× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
rarer in Matthew than elsewhere in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This means it is necessary or must be done, like when Jesus said it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem in Matthew 16:21.
Amplified meaning
is necessary, has to
Tyndale gloss
be necessary
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

δεῖ is an impersonal verb meaning 'it is necessary' or 'one must,' derived from δέω. It covers a range of uses, often indicating obligation or necessity, and appears in various constructions, such as with infinitives or accusatives. In the New Testament, it is used in verses like Matthew 26:54 and Acts 5:29. The lexicons note that it differs from similar terms like ὀφείλει, which expresses moral obligation.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δεῖ impersonal (δέω),

[in LXX chiefly for infin. with לְ ;]

one must, it is necessary: c. inf., Mt 26:54, Mk 13:7, Ac 5:29, al.; c. acc. et inf., Mt 16:21, Mk 8:31, Jo 3:7, Ac 25:10, al.; with ellipse of acc., Mt 23:23; of acc., and inf., Mk 13:14, Ro 1:27 8:26; οὐ (μὴ) δεῖ (non licet), ought not, must not: Ac 25:24, Read the full entry →

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δεῖ (dei) — be necessary.

δεῖ:

subjunctive δέη, sometimes contraction δῆ (in codices of Comedy texts, as [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὁπόσου κα δῆ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; infinitive δεῖ; participle δέον (see. infr. IV): imperfect ἔδει, Ionic dialect ἔδεε: future δεήσει [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist I ἐδέησε [Refs 5th c.BC+] —Impers. from δέω (A), there is need (the sense of moral obligation, properly belonging to χρή, is later, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

I. c.accusative person et infinitive, it is needful for one to do, one must, once in [Refs 8th c.BC+] why need the Argives fight? [Refs 8th c.BC+]: with nominative of the pronoun, ἡγούμην.. δεῖν.. μεγαλοψυχότερος φαίνεσθαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]: rarely with dative person, there is need of.. for.., θεοῖσι προσβαλεῖν χθονὶ ἄλλην δεήσει γαῖαν [Refs 5th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

δεῖ

dei

3d person singular active present of 1210; also deon deh-on'; neuter

active participle of the same; both used impersonally; it is (was,

etc.) necessary (as binding):--behoved, be meet, must (needs), (be)

need(-ful), ought, should.

see GREEK for 1210

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δεῖ

v.

it is necessary, inevitable

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δεῖ dei 101x

it is binding, it is necessary, it is proper; it is inevitable, Acts 21:22

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

δεῖ from δέω1, to bind c. acc. pers. et inf., δεῖ τινὰ ποιῆσαι it is binding on one to do a thing, one must, one ought, Lat. oportet, Hom., etc.:—rarely, δεῖ σε ὅπως δείξεις ῀ δεῖ σε δεῖξαι, Soph.: —rarely also c. dat. pers. et inf., there is need for one to do, δεῖ τινὶ ποιήσαι Eur., Xen.

c. acc. rei et inf., δεῖ τι γενέσθαι Thuc., etc.:—for the phrase οἴομαι δεῖν, v. οἴομαι:— when used absol., an inf. may be supplied, μὴ πεῖθ᾽ ἃ μὴ δεῖ (sc. πείθειν) Soph., etc.

(from δέω2, to want), c. gen. rei, there is need of, there is wanting, Lat. opus est re, οὐδὲν δεῖ τινός Hdt., attic:—phrases, πολλοῦ δεῖ there wants much, far from it; ὀλίγου δεῖ there wants little, all but:— in answers, πολλοῦ γε δεῖ, πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ far from it, Ar., Dem.; πλεῦνος δεῖ it…

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
53%it behooves
it behooves53% · 56×it is necessary8% · 9×it was necessary for7% · 7×it is necessary for7% · 7×it was necessary6% · 6×necessary3% · 3×needing3% · 3×other renderings12% · 13×other renderings2% · 2×

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

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 102 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
ὅς
ἐναὐτόςὥραan hour, season
ὅτιthat, since, because
αὐτόςλέγωI say, speakσύ
ἐγώ
πατήρfather, Father, εὐαγγελίζωI bring good newτίςIrg
σύ
οἶκοςa house, househoλέγωI say, speakτίςIrg
οὐNeg
ὅπουwhere, whitherἔτοςa yearκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
δεῖit behooves102×
what comes after →
ἐγώ
λαλέωI speak, sayσύνσυναποθνῄσκωI die together w
αὐτός
εἰςπολύςmuch, many, ofteἐκ
Article the
υἱόςa son, descendenἀναγινώσκωI readβασιλείαkingship, sovere
γάρfor
Article theγίνομαιI come into beinοὗτος
σύ
οὖνtherefore, thenγεννάωI beget, bring fεἷςone

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

Concordanceδεῖ · 102× in the New Testament
Acts Luke John Matthew Revelation Mark 1 Corinthians 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians Hebrews Romans Titus

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament19 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 19 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 7c. AD 40

Τινὲς γὰρ τὸν κόσμον μᾶλλον ἢ τὸν κοσμοποιὸν θαυμάσαντες τὸν μὲν ἀγένητόν τε καὶ ἀίδιον ἀπεφήναντο, τοῦ δὲ θεοῦ πολλὴν ἀπραξίαν ἀνάγνως κατεψεύσαντο, δέον ἔμπαλιν τοῦ μὲν τὰς δυνάμεις ὡς ποιητοῦ καὶ πατρὸς καταπλαγῆναι, τὸν δὲ μὴ πλέον ἀποσεμνῦναι…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.23c. AD 75–95

ὁ δʼ ἡμέτερος νομοθέτης ἀκραιφνῆ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἔχοντα τὸν θεὸν ἀποφήνας ᾠήθη δεῖν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐκείνης πειρᾶσθαι μεταλαμβάνειν καὶ τοὺς μὴ ταῦτα φρονοῦντας μηδὲ μὴν πιστεύοντας ἀπαραιτήτως ἐκόλασε.

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

Δεῖ οὖν ἡμᾶς περὶ τῶν ἐνεστώτων ἐπιπολὺ ἐραυνῶντας ἐκζητεῖν τὰ δυνάμενα ἡμᾶς σώζειν.

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 2nd c. BC 4th c. AD
P.Edg. $1Syrien253 BC

λοιπὰ τὰ ἐνταῦθα ὡς ἂν ἐκποιῆι πειρῶ ἐπισκοπεῖν· οὕτως γὰρ ἡμῖν μᾶλλον ἔσται τὰ δέοντα. καὶ τὰ γενημάτια δὲ ἵνα τρόπωι τινὶ συγκομισθῆι ἐπιμελές σοι ἔστω. καὶ ἐάν τι

P.Grenf. 1 11Arsinoites182 BC

προσταχθέντος Ἑρμοκράτει τῶι ἀρχιφυλακίτηι, τὸν ὅρκον ἐπιτελεσθῆναι, τοῦ δὲ χρόνου ἐν ὧι τὸν ὅρκον ἔδει ἐπιτελεῖσθαι μήπω ἐνεστηκότος, ἐπέδωκάν σοι ἄλλο ὑπόμνημα κατʼ ἐμοῦ ἐπιβαλόντι ἐπὶ τοὺς τοπους

P.Dryton 43155 BC–143 BC

ἐδώκαμεν αὐτῶι γράστεως τοῖς κτήνεσι … ἐφʼ ἁμάξης εἰς δέοντα … … που πυροῦ ιθ 𐅵 … … αὐταὶ ἐν τῶι ἐπὶ κλίμακος

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
ἐλθεῖνerchomai to come G2064 Verb · second aorist · active · infinitive
635× 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 come or go is the meaning of this word, used in many applications, such as in Matthew 8:9 and Romans 9:9. The KJV translates it in various ways, including come, go, and enter.
Tyndale gloss
to come/go
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἔρχομαι,

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

to come;

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἔρχομαι (erchomai) — to come/go.

ἔρχομαι

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἔρχομαι

erchomai

middle voice of a primary verb

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

supplied by a kindred (middle voice)

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

eltho el'-tho,

which do not otherwise occur)

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

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

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

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἔρχομαι

v.

I come, go

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἔρχομαι erchomai 632x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἔρχομαι to come or go, Hom., etc.

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

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

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

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

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

Post-Homeric phrases:

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

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

kum: The translation of many Hebrew and Greek words. In the phrase "The Spirit of Yahweh came mightily upon him" (Jud 14:6,19; 15:14; 1Sa 10:10; 11:6; 16:13), the word is tsaleah; Jud 14:6; 15:14 "came mightily," which is the uniform translation of the Revised Version (British and American) (compare Jud 13:25 "to move," i.e. to disturb or stir up). In Jud 6:34; 1Ch 12:18; 2Ch 24:20, it is labhesh, "to clothe"; the Revised Version, margin "The Spirit .... clothed itself with Gideon" and .... "with Zechariah,"…

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

642 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 91 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
verb92%adverbial7%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 635 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existβροχήa heavy rain
Article the
εὐλογέωI blessεἰμίI am, existκαίand, even, also,
ὅτιthat, since, because
αὐτόςἀκούωI hear, listenνομίζωI think, suppose
αὐτός
μαθητήςa learner, disciλέγωI say, speakἐπί
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theὅτανwhen, whensoeverὅτεwhen
ἔρχομαιto come635×
what comes after →
πρός
αὐτόςσύἐγώ
Article the
ὥραan hour, seasonἸησοῦςJesusκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
εἰς
Article theτόποςa placeΚαφαρναούμProp
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theὁράωI see, look uponἔρχομαιI come, go
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theεἰςἡμέραa day

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

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

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

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

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

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.27c. AD 75–95

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

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 5.9c. AD 100

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

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

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

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

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

P.Grenf. 1 32Pelusion103 BC

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

And asked Him the disciples of him saying; Why then the scribes say that Elijah it behooves to come first?
πρῶτον;¶prōton first? G4413 Adverb · superlative
98× 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 first or foremost, used in Luke 14:18 and 1 Corinthians 14:30. It can refer to the first in a sequence, like the first day of the week, or the most important thing, like the first commandment.
Tyndale gloss
first
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

πρῶτος (protos) is an adjective meaning 'first' in terms of time, order, or importance. It appears in various contexts in the New Testament, often denoting rank or precedence, such as in Matthew 20:27 and Luke 14:18. The word can also function adverbially, as seen in John 1:42. Notably, it is sometimes used interchangeably with the comparative form πρότερος.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

B. Superl., πρῶτος, -η, -ον,

[in LXX chiefly for רִאשׁוֹן, also for אֶחַד, etc.;]

first,

of Time or Place;

absol., as subst., ὁ π.., Lk 14:18, Jo 19:32, I Co 14:30; ὁ π. καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος, Re 1:17 2:8 22:13; neut., τὸ π., opp. to τ. δεύτερον, He 10:9; τὰ π., opp. to τ. ἔσχατα, Mt 12:45, Lk 11:26, II Pe 2:20; anarth., Mt 10:2; pl., Mt 19:30,

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

πρῶτος, -7, -ov, (super. of πρό, contr. fr. πρόατος, whence the Doric πρᾶτος ; the compar. πρότερος see in its place), [fr. Hom. down], Sept. for }}W8 and often for ἽΝ and wer, first; 1. either in time or place, in any succession of things or of persons; a. absolutely (i. e. without a noun) and substantively ; a. with the article: ὁ πρῶτος καὶ 6 ἔσχατος, i. 6. the eternal One, Rev. i. 17; ii. 8; xxii. 13; ὁ πρῶτος, sc. τῶν κεκλημένων, Lk. xiv. 18; the first of two (cf. W. § 35, 4 Ν. 1: [B. 32 (28}7), Jn. xix. 32; 1 Co. xiv. 30; plur. opp. to οἱ ἔσχαtot, Mt. xx. 16, on which see ἔσχατος. 3 ἃ. Neut. τὸ πρῶτον, opp. to τὸ δεύτερον, Heb. x. 9; τὰ πρῶτα, opp. to τὰ ἔσχατα, one’s first state, Mt. xii. 45; Lk. xi. 26; 2 Pet. ii. 20; the first order of things, Rey. xxi. 4. B. without the article: Mt. x. 2 (πρῶτος, sc. of the apostles to be mentioned); plur., Mt. xix. 80; Mk. x. 31; Lk. xiii.…

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

πρῶτος. In the LXX regularly (Thackeray Gr. i. p. 183) and in the Kow7y frequently, especially in the Ptolemaic period, πρῶτος stands for πρότερος, so reversing the usual Hellenistic rule that the comparative does duty for both degrees of comparison. For an ex. almost contemporary with the NT we may cite P Oxy II. 2979 (A.D. 54), where a man asks for information for a supplementary return of lambs born since the first or former return for the year had been made— παρὰ τὴν πρώτην ἀπογραφήν. No stress can, therefore, be laid on the use of πρῶτος in Ac 1, as if Luke meant to write a third treatise (cf. Ramsay Paz/, p. 28). To illustrate Jn 125, 1518, we may quote P Leid W*# 49 τερον ἀντέστη αὐτῷ, λέγων᾽ σοῦ πρῶτός εἶμι, “‘ prior sum quam tu.” Abbott (ολ. Gr. p. 510f.) suggests that the Leiden papyrus may have been dependent on Jn 1, and translates the latter passage ‘‘my Chief” (76. p. 11…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

πρῶτος (prōtos) — first.

πρῶτος, η, ον,

see at {πρότερος} [Refs 5th c.BC+]

πρῶτος (prōtos) — first: previous.

πρῶτος, η, ον,

see at {πρότερος} [Refs 5th c.BC+]

πρῶτος (prōtos) — first: chief.

πρῶτος, η, ον,

see at {πρότερος} [Refs 5th c.BC+]

πρῶτος (prōtos) — first: best.

πρῶτος, η, ον,

see at {πρότερος} [Refs 5th c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

πρῶτος

protos

contracted superlative of 4253; foremost (in time, place, order or

importance):--before, beginning, best, chief(-est), first (of all),

former.

see GREEK for 4253

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

πρῶτος, η, ον

Adj

first, before

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

πρῶτος prōtos 95x

first in time, order, etc., Mt. 10:2; 26:17; first in dignity, importance, etc., chief, principal, most important, Mk. 6:21; Lk. 19:47; Acts 13:50; 16:12; as an equivalent to the compar. πρότερος (G4754), prior, Jn. 1:5, 30; 15:18; Mt. 27:64; adverbially, first, Jn. 1:42; 5:4; 8:7

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Adv-S — Adverb · superlative
adverb — it qualifies the verb, and never changes form.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

ADV-S ADVerb or adverb and particle combined Degree: Superlative

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

furst ('echadh, ri'shon; proton, to proton, protos):

Of these words, which are those most frequently used for "first," ri'shon is from rosh, "the head, and is used for the highest, chief, etc.; also of time, the beginning, e.g. Ge 8:13, in the first month"; in Isa 44:6; 48:12, it is used of Yahweh as Eternal and solely Supreme--the First and the Last (compare Isa 41:4). Special usages are in connection with "firstborn," "first- fruit," etc.; proton is used of that which is first in order; but also of that which is first or chief in importance, etc. (Mt 6:33; Jas 3:17). In

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

Counted over the 121 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 13c. AD 40

τῶν τε γὰρ ἀπὸ μονάδος πρῶτος τέλειός ἐστιν ἰσούμενος τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μέρεσι καὶ συμπληρούμενος ἐξ αὐτῶν, ἡμίσους μὲν τριάδος, τρίτου δὲ δυάδος, ἕκτου δὲ μονάδος, καὶ ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ἄρρην τε καὶ θῆλυς εἶναι πέφυκε κἀκ τῆς ἑκατέρου δυνάμεως ἥρμοσται·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.19c. AD 75–95

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

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 6.13c. AD 100

λέγει δὲ κύριος: Ἰδού, ποιῶ τὰ ἔσχατα ὡς τὰ πρῶτα.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 6th c. AD 3rd c. AD 1st c. AD 7th c. AD
P.Cair. Zen. 3 59346Philadelphia? (Arsinoites)247 BC

Ἐφάρμοστος δέλφακας β οὓς Ἰναρῶς ἀπήγαγεν αὐτῶι εἰς Φιλάδελφον καὶ τούτων α ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης λογείας καὶ ἄλλος τῆς ἐσχάτης … δέλφακες β οὓς ἀπήνεγκε παρʼ Ἰμούθου εἰς Φιλάδελφον

P.Grenf. 1 32Pelusion103 BC

καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἱεροῦ πρώτου λεπτοῦ χ … καὶ … σοῦχος ἡγεμὼν καὶ … υχος οὐραγὸς καὶ Πανεχῶτις

P.Amh. 2 112Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 128

Νήσῳ τῆς Ἡρακλείδου μερίδος τοῦ Ἀρσινοείτου νομοῦ. ὁμολογεῖ Πακῦσις Στοτοήτεως πρεσβυτέρου τοῦ Πανεφρίμεως ἱερεὺς πρώτης φυλῆς Σοκνοπαίου θεοῦ μεγάλου μεγάλου ὡς ἐτῶν μα οὐλὴ βραχίωνι ἀριστερῶι τῷ ἑαυτοῦ ὁμοπατρίωι

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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