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Matthew 7:10 — Word Study

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N1904 καὶ ἐὰν ἰχθὺν αἰτήσει, μὴ ὄφιν ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ;

BSAOr alsokai ifean a fishichthus [a type of seafood] he will ask for,aiteō [requests, inquires of] surely not a serpentophis [ophin, a symbol of sly cunning or malice] will he giveepididōmi [deliver, provide] to him?autos

Word
Listen & take awayMatthew 7
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 (autos) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
Matthew 7:10quick helps
In a sentenceJesus uses a simple analogy to illustrate the goodness of God compared to human behavior.
Who is speakingJesus, teaching about prayer and God's nature.
Where we areIn a section on the importance of asking God for our needs.
The hard wordὄφις
Take awayGod gives good gifts, unlike humans who would not give harmful things.
3 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Trapp & more — read them › clause verbαἰτέω 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 7:10

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 — Teaching on Prayergenerated

9Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
11So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
12In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 7:10 is part of a passage where Jesus teaches about the nature of God as a good giver. He contrasts the behavior of earthly fathers with that of God, emphasizing that just as a father would not give harmful things to his child, neither would God give harmful things to those who ask Him. This teaching encourages believers to trust in God's goodness when they pray.


Cross References


The Key Word ὄφις, ophisgenerated

The word ὄφις (i̱phis) means 'serpent' or 'snake'. It is often used in the New Testament to symbolize cunning or malice, particularly in reference to Satan. In this verse, it serves as a contrast to the good gift of a fish, suggesting that a loving father would not give something harmful when asked for something beneficial.

The use of ὄφις highlights the absurdity of the situation Jesus describes. Just as a father would not give a snake when asked for a fish, God does not give harmful things to those who ask Him.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

In the Berean Standard Bible, the verse reads: Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?. This phrasing is echoed in the KJV and ASV, which also use the word 'serpent' to convey the same meaning.

The YLT uses a more literal translation: and if a fish he may ask — a serpent will he present to him?, while the WEB phrases it slightly differently: Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent?. The translations agree on the core message but vary in wording.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The verse consists of a main clause introduced by the conjunction (ē), meaning 'or', indicating a conditional situation. The main verb is ἐπιδώσει (epididōmi), which is supported by a noun phrase ἰχθὺν (ichthus) as the object of the request.

The structure is straightforward: the first part presents a hypothetical situation (asking for a fish), followed by the question of what will be given in return (a snake). This reflects the logical flow of Jesus' teaching on prayer.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

is also used in the Septuagint, often to indicate choices or alternatives, similar to its usage in the New Testament. It corresponds to the Hebrew word אוֹ (or) and אִם (if).

The word ὄφις appears in the Septuagint as a translation for the Hebrew נָחָשׁ, which also means 'serpent'. This connection emphasizes the symbolic meaning of the word in both contexts.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

Matthew 7:10 presents a rhetorical question from Jesus, asking if a father would give his child a snake when he asks for a fish. The point is that just as a good father would not give harmful things, God gives good gifts to those who ask Him.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does this verse teach about God's nature?

This verse illustrates that God is a good giver who does not give harmful things to those who ask Him, contrasting human behavior with divine generosity.

Why does Jesus use the example of a father giving gifts?

Jesus uses this example to show that if earthly fathers, who are imperfect, know how to give good gifts, then God, who is perfect, will certainly give good gifts to those who ask.

What is the significance of the snake in this analogy?

The snake symbolizes something harmful or deceitful, emphasizing that a loving father would never give such a thing when asked for something good.

How can we apply this teaching in our prayer life?

We can approach God with confidence, knowing that He desires to give us good things and will not give us harmful requests.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. What are some good gifts that I have received from God in my life?
  2. How can I be more confident in asking God for my needs?
  3. In what ways do I sometimes doubt God's goodness when I pray?
  4. How can I ensure that my requests align with what is truly good for me?

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

Theophylact of Ohrid comments on this verse, emphasizing the importance of asking for things that are beneficial in prayer.

Theophylact of Ohrid c. 1055–1107
Here He teaches us that we must not only ask in a fervent manner, but we must also ask for things that are profitable for us.

Theophylact teaches that we must not only ask fervently but also seek what is truly profitable for us.

Early Church Fathers on Matthew 7 →

Commentators on this verse — 3 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on Matthew 7:10 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?] Which is somewhat like a fish, especially an eel.

Read John Gill on Matthew 7 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? - like it, indeed, but only to sting him.

Read Robert Jamieson on Matthew 7 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? Ver. 10. See Trapp on "Matthew 7:9"

Read John Trapp on Matthew 7 →

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

Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

WEBWorld English Bible2000

Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent?

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

And if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

NETBNew English Translation2006

Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him a serpent?

RVARevised Version, American1894

or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him a serpent?

NWBWebster's Bible1833

Or if he shall ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

GNVGeneva Bible1599

Or if he aske fish, wil he giue him a serpent?

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

and if he ask a fish, will give him a serpent?

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

and if a fish he may ask — a serpent will he present to him?

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

And if he may ask [for] a fish—a serpent will he present to him?

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

Or if he shall ask him a fish, will he reach him a serpent?

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

Or if he asked for fish, would you give him a snake?

BBEBible in Basic English1949

Or if he makes a request for a fish, will give him a snake?

Word by word, the decisions they made

ἰχθὺνichthus a fish G2486 2 different renderings
a fishASV BBE BSB DBY DRA KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB YLT
fishFBV GNV
αἰτήσει,aiteō he will ask for, G154 2 different renderings
ask forASV RVA
asked forFBV

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.

clauseOrclauselinking verbἐστινisprepositional phrase · predicateἐξofὑμῶνyounoun phrase · subjectτίςwhichnoun phraseἄνθρωποςa manclauseobjectὃνwhomverbαἰτήσειwill ask fornoun phrase · subjectthenoun phraseυἱὸςsonαὐτοῦof himsecond objectἄρτονbreadclauseμὴnotclauseobjectλίθονa stoneverbἐπιδώσειwill he giveindirect objectαὐτῷhimclauseOrclausenoun phrase · objectκαὶalsoἰχθὺνa fishverbαἰτήσειhe will ask forclauseμὴnotclauseobjectὄφινa serpentverbἐπιδώσειwill he giveindirect objectαὐτῷhim

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

aut si piscem petierit, numquid serpentem porriget ei ?

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

ܘܐܢ ܢܘܢܐ ܢܫܐܠܝܘܗܝ ܠܡܐ ܚܘܝܐ ܡܘܫܛ ܠܗ

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 ἰχθὺν αἰτήσει, μὴ ὄφιν ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ;

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

καὶ ἰχθὺν αἰτήσει, μὴ ὄφιν ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ;

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

καὶ ἰχθὺν αἰτήσει, μὴ ὄφιν ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ;

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

καὶ ἰχθὺν αἰτήσει, μὴ ὄφιν ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ;

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

καὶ ἰχθὺν αἰτήσει, μὴ ὄφιν ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ;

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

καὶ ἰχθὺν αἰτήσει, μὴ ὄφιν ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ;

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

καὶ ἐὰν ἰχθὺν μὴ ὄφιν ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ;

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

καὶ ἐὰν ἰχθὺν μὴ ὄφιν ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ;

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
OrNA28, NA27, Tyn, SBL, WH, TregTR, Byz
ἐὰν ifTR, ByzNA28, NA27, SBL, WH, Treg, Tyn
αἰτήσει, he will ask for,NA28, NA27, Tyn, SBL, WH, TregTR, Byz

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

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

Matthew 7:10OrOrκαίalsoalsoκαίἐάνififἐάνἰχθύςa fisha fishἰχθύςαἰτέωhe will askhe will ask forαἰτέωμήsurely notsurely notμήὄφιςa serpenta serpentὄφιςἐπιδίδωμιwill he givwill he giveἐπιδίδωμιαὐτόςto him?to him?αὐτόςεἰCond. ifCond. ifεἰὀπτάνομαιv. I appeav. I appear, amὀπτάνομαιἐπίPrep. on, Prep. on, to, aἐπίἤδηAdv now, aAdv now, alreadἤδηἤπερDisj.prt. Disj.prt. thanἤπερπυνθάνομαιv. I ask, v. I ask, inquiπυνθάνομαιοὐNeg.prt. nNeg.prt. no, noοὐἀήρn.m. airn.m. airἀήρἑαυτοῦRefl.pr. hRefl.pr. himselἑαυτοῦὄφιςn.m. a sern.m. a serpentὄφιςἀδελφήn.f. a sisn.f. a sisterἀδελφήαἰτέωv. I ask, v. I ask, requeαἰτέωμένωv. I remaiv. I remain, abμένωἀναβλέπωv. I look v. I look up, rἀναβλέπωΠιλᾶτοςn.m. Pilatn.m. PilateΠιλᾶτοςπίνωv. I drinkv. I drink, imbπίνωπότεIrg.prt. wIrg.prt. when, πότεφοβέωv. I fear,v. I fear, am tφοβέω
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 7:10

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.

Or also if a fish he will ask for, surely not a serpent will he give to him?
Or G2228
343× 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
Or is a word used to show a choice between two things, like in Matthew 5:17 where it's either obey God's law or not. It's also used to compare things, like in Romans 1:21 where it's one thing or another.
Tyndale gloss
or
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word (ē) is a particle used to indicate distinction, functioning as a disjunctive 'or' and a comparative 'than.' It appears frequently in the New Testament, often in phrases like 'either...or' and in disjunctive questions. Notably, it can also express comparisons after comparative terms, such as in Matthew 10:15. The entries do not show any significant disagreement.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἤ, disjunctive and comparative particle (Bl., §36, 12; 77, 11);

disjunctive, or;

between single words: Mt 5:17, Mk 6:56, Lk 2:24, Jo 6:19, Ro 1:21, al.;

before a sentence expressing a variation, denial or refutation of a previous statement, freq. in interrog. form: Mt 7:4, 9, Mk 12:14, Lk 13:4, Ro 3:29 6:3 9:21, I Co 6:9, 16 9:6, II Co 11:7; ἢ . . . ἤ…

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

ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Χριστοῦ (NVWT ΒΗ Targ. Jonath. ad ᾿ς lili. 10), the kingdom of the Messiah, which will be founded by God through the Messiah and over which the Messiah will preside as God’s vicegerent; ἡ Bac. τῶν οὐρανῶν, only in Matthew, but very frequently [some 33 times], the kingdom of heaven, i. e. the kingdom which is of heavenly or divine origin and nature (in rabbin. writ. nown mao is the rule of God, the theocracy viewed universally, not the Messianic kingdom); sometimes simply ἡ βασιλεία : Mt. iv. 23, ete.; Jas. ii. 5; once ἡ Bac. τοῦ Δαυείδ, because it was supposed the Messiah would be one of David’s descendants and a king very like David, Mk. xi. 10; once also ἡ Bac. τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ, Eph. ν. 5. Relying principally on the prophecies of Daniel — who had declared it to be the purpose of God that, after four vast and mighty kingdoms had succeeded one another and the last of…

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

ἢ μή. The general distinction between οὐ and μή is that οὐ is objective, dealing only with facts, while μή is sudjectize, involving will and thought. But in late Greek μή has encroached very largely upon οὐ, with the result that in the NT οὐ is almost entirely confined to the indicative, while μή monopolizes the other moods (but see I. 5). A few exx. of some of the many uses of μή will make this clear. I. Μή negatives (1) the conjunctive (a) after ἐάν (4v)—P Oxy II. 294%? (A.D. 22) (= Selections, p. 36), where certain men are confined to prison, ἐὰν μή τι πίσωσι τὸν ἀρχιστάτορα δο[ῦν]αι etk(= ἱκ)ανόν, ‘* unless indeed they shall persuade the chief usher to give security,’’ BGU II. 5301” \i/a.D.) (= Selections, p. 61) alav (/. ἐὰν) μὴ ἔλθῃς, κινδυνεύω ἐκστῆvat od ἔχω [κλή]ρου, “if you do not come I run the risk of losing the lot (of land) which I possess ”—a father writes to Selections…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἤ (ē) — or.

ἤ,

Epic dialect also ἠέ (in signification [Refs 4th c.BC+], conjunction with two chief senses, Disj. (or) and comparative (than).

__A DISJUNCTIVE, or, ἐγὼ.. ἢ ἄλλος Ἀχαιῶν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; θεόσυτος ἢ βρότειος ἢ κεκραμένη [Refs 4th c.BC+]

__A.2 ἢ.. ἤ either.. or, ἢ νῦν δηθύνοντ᾽ ἢ ὕστερον αὖτις ἰόντα [Refs 8th c.BC+], etc.; so ἢ.. ἤτοι.. [Refs 5th c.BC+] is emphasized, later no distinction is implied, [NT+2nd c.BC+]; ἤ repeated any number of times, ἐγὼ δέ κεν αὐτὸς ἕλωμαι ἢ τεὸν ἢ Αἴαντος ἰὼν γέρας ἢ Ὀδυσῆος [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἤ is probably wrongly accented in codices of [Refs 8th c.BC+] adverb [Refs 4th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

e

a primary particle of distinction between two connected terms;

disjunctive, or; comparative, than:--and, but (either), (n-)either,

except it be, (n-)or (else), rather, save, than, that, what, yea.

Often used in connection with other particles. Compare especially

2235, 2260, 2273.

see GREEK for 2235

see GREEK for 2260

see GREEK for 2273

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

Disj.prt.

or, than

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἤ ē 343x

can function as a conj (298x), either, or, Mt. 6:24; after comparatives, and ἄλλος, ἕτερος, expressed or implied, than, Mt. 10:15; 18:8; Acts 17:21; 24:21; intensive after ἀλλά and πρίν, Lk. 12:51; Mt. 1:18; it also serves to point an interrogation, Rom. 3:29

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

or: The word is used once for either (1Sa 26:10), and is still in poetic use in this sense; as in, "Without or wave or wind" (Coleridge); "Or the bakke or some bone he breketh in his dzouthe" (Piers Plowman (B), VII, 93; compare Merchant of Venice, III, ii, 65). It is also used with "ever" for before (Ps 90:2; Ecclesiasticus 18:19), which the American Standard Revised Version substitutes in Ec 12:6 (compare 12:1,2); So 6:12; Da 6:24.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
84%or
or84% · 304×than13% · 47×other renderings4% · 13×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial20%object18%subject12%predicate7%verb4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 343 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
πρόςχείρa handἁμαρτίαa sin
πατήρfather, Father, ance
Article theκακολογέωI speak evil of,Disj
εἰμίI am, exist
οὐρανόςthe sky, the heaἀνεκτόςendurable, tolerθεόςGod, a god
αὐτός
πατήρfather, Father, υἱόςa son, descendenβοῦςan ox
ἀδελφόςa brother
DisjArticle theἐάνCond
Or343×
what comes after →
Article the
μήτηρa motherπόλιςa cityδύο
τίςIrg
πίνωI drink, imbibeεἰμίI am, existλαλέωI speak, say
οὐNeg
οἶδαI know, rememberἀναγινώσκωI readδίδωμιI offer, give
ἐν
φυλακήa watching, guarτίςIrgποῖοςIrg
καίand, even, also, nam
ἰχθύςa fishαἰτέωI ask, request, πρός

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 · 343× in the New Testament
Matthew 1 Corinthians Luke Acts Mark Romans 2 Corinthians John 1 Peter Galatians James Ephesians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

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

Counted over the 457 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.

Or also if a fish he will ask for, surely not a serpent will he give to him?
καὶkai also G2532 Conjunction
8,978× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Matthew as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
And or also, a connecting word used to join ideas or words, like in Matthew 2:18 and Hebrews 1:1.
Tyndale gloss
and
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

καί,

conj.,

and.

Copulative.

Connecting single words;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καί (kai) — and.

καί,

conjunction, copulative, joining words and sentences,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καί

kai

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

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

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

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

yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καί

Cj.

and, even, also, namely

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καί kai 9x

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

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ol'-so: In the Greek kai, when it is equivalent to "also" or "even," is always placed before the word or phrase which it is intended to emphasize (e.g. Ac 12:3; 1 Joh 4:21). Mt 6:14 should therefore read, "Your heavenly Father will forgive you also"; Lu 6:13, "Whom also he named apostles"; Heb 8:6, "The mediator of a better covenant also"; and 1Th 4:14, `If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also (we believe that) those who are fallen asleep in Jesus, God will bring with Him.'

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
καίalso8978×
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

Or also if a fish he will ask for, surely not a serpent will he give to him?
ἐὰνean if G1437 Conditional particle
339× 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 'if' and is used to show uncertainty or possibility, as in Matthew 6:22 and Romans 2:25, to express conditions or circumstances.
Tyndale gloss
if
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

ἐάν is a conditional particle formed from εἰ (if) and ἄν. It indicates uncertainty or a hypothetical situation, often followed by the subjunctive mood. The New Testament uses it in various contexts, such as in Matthew 6:22 and Romans 2:25. It can also appear with other particles, enhancing its conditional meaning.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐάν, contr. fr. εἰ ἄν,

conditional particle,

representing something as "under certain circumstances actual or liable to happen," but not so definitely expected as in the case of εἰ c. ind. (Bl., §65, 4; cf. Jo 13:17, I Co 7:36), if haply, if;

c. subjc. (cl.);

pres.: Mt 6:22, Lk 10:6, Jo 7:17, Ro 2:25, 26 al.;

aor. (= Lat. fut. pf.): Mt 4:9 16:26 (cf. ptcp. in Lk 9:25; M, Pr., 230), Mk 3:24, Lk 14:34, Jo 5:43,

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

ἐάν ; I. aconditional particle (derived fr. εἰ ἄν), which makes reference to time and to experience, introducing something future, but not determining, before the event, whether it is certainly to take place; if, in case, (Lat. si; Germ. wenn; im Fall, dass; falls; wofern); οἴ.» among others, Hermann ad Viger. p.832; Klotz ad Devar. ii. 2 p- 450 sqq.; W. 291 (273) sq. It is connected 1. with the Subjunctive, according to the regular usage of the more ancient and elegant classic writers. a. with the subjunc. Present: Mt. vi. 22 (ἐὰν οὖν ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου ἁπλοῦς 7, if it be the case, as to which I do not know, that thine eye etc.); ibid. 23; xvii. 20; Lk. x. 6; Jn. vii. 17; viii. 54 [RGL mrg.]; ix. 31; xi. 9,10; Acts v. 38; xiii. 41; Ro. ii. 25 sq.; 1 Co.ix.16; Gal. v. 2; 1 Tim. i. 8 [not Lehm.]; Heb. xiii. 23; 1 Jn. i. 9; ii. 3, 15 ete. Ὁ. with the subjunc. Aorist, corresponding to the Lat.…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐάν (ean) — if.

ἐάν

(so early Attic Inscrr., as [Refs 4th c.BC+], also contraction ἤν and ἄν, see at {ἤν},{ἄν} (B) [ᾱ], which by crasis with καί become κἄν:—if haply, if, regularly followed by subjunctive: for its use and for examples, see at {εἰ} [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. in Hellenistic and late Greek, ={ἄν} after relative Pronouns and Conjunctions, as ὃς ἐάν whosoever, [LXX+5th c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐάν ἐάνπερ

ean

from 1487 and 302; a conditional particle; in case that, provided,

etc.; often used in connection with other particles to denote

indefiniteness or uncertainty:--before, but, except, (and) if, (if)

so, (what-, whither-)soever, though, when (-soever), whether (or), to

whom, (who-)so(-ever). See 3361.

see GREEK for 1487

see GREEK for 302

see GREEK for 3361

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐάν

Cond.

if

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐάν ean 350x

if, ἐὰν μή, except, unless; also equivalent to ἀλλά, Gal. 2:16. Ἐάν, in NT as in the later Greek, is substituted for ἄν after relative words, Mt. 5:19. Tends to be an indicator for the subjunctive mood.

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐάν compounded of εἰ ἄν ἐα?ν contracts into ἤν and ἄν if haply, if, followed by subj. (whereas εἰ is foll. by ind. or opt.), epic εἴ κε, αἴ κε.

in NTest. ἐάν is used just like the adverb ἄν after relative Pronouns and Conjunctions, as ὃς ἐάν whosoever, ὅσος ἐάν, ὅστις ἐάν, ὅπου ἐάν, etc.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
COND — Conditional particle
conditional particle — it marks the clause as a condition.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

COND CONDitional particle or conjunction

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
74%if
if74% · 255×only14% · 49×maybe8% · 26×other renderings4% · 15×

345 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 12 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
adverbial11%subject8%object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 339 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
καίand, even, also,εἰμίI am, existδῶρονa gift, present
καίand, even, also, nam
ἁμαρτάνωI sinεἷςoneαὐτός
ὅτιthat, since, because
σύαὐτόςγάρfor
σύ
λέγωI say, speakπρόςποιέωI do, make
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakἐπίδέbut, on the othe
ἐάνif339×
what comes after →
μήNeg
μετανοέωI repent, changeτὶςεἰμίI am, exist
τὶς
σύἀδελφόςa brotherArticle the
δέbut, on the other ha
καίand, even, also,Article theμήNeg
Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, mastφωνήa sound, noise, ἐντολήan ordinance, in
θέλωI will, wish, desire
δύναμαιI am powerful, aArticle theἵναin order that, s

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

Concordanceἐάν · 339× in the New Testament
Matthew John 1 Corinthians Mark Luke 1 John Romans Acts Revelation Hebrews 2 Corinthians Galatians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament21 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 746 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 The Shepherd of Hermas Josephus Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 79c. AD 40

τουτὶ δὲ συμβήσεται, ἐὰν μήτε αἱ ἄλογοι ἡδοναὶ ψυχῆς δυναστεύσωσι γαστριμαργίαν καὶ λαγνείαν ἐπιτειχίσασαι μήτε αἱ δόξης ἢ χρημάτων ἢ ἀρχῆς ἐπιθυμίαι τὸ τοῦ βίου κράτος ἀνάψωνται μήτε στείλωσι καὶ κάμψωσι διάνοιαν αἱ λῦπαι μήθ’ ὁ κακὸς σύμβουλος…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 4.252c. AD 75–95

ἐὰν δέ που μόνῃ περιπεσὼν βιάσηται μηδενὸς βοηθοῦ παρόντος, μόνος ἀποθνησκέτω.

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 3rd c. BC 1st c. AD 2nd c. BC
P.Adl. 10Pathyris102 BC

δεδανεισμένος Πανᾶς Ἀγαθίνωι καὶ Πατῆτι τοῖς δανείζουσιν ἐν μηνὶ Ἐπεὶφ εἰκάδος τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἔτους· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀποδῶι ἐν τῶι ὡρισμένωι χρόνωι ἀποτεισάτω καθὰ γέγραπται παραχρῆμα ἐπάναγκον· ἡ δὲ

P.Adl. 15Pathyris (?)101 BC

ποιησάτω ἐν μηνὶ Παχὼν τοῦ αὐτοῦ ιε ἔτους, καὶ ἀποτεισάτω ἑκάστης ἀρτάβης πυροῦ ἧς ἐὰν μὴ ἀποδῶι χαλκοῦ δραχμὰς δισχιλίας τετρακοσίας , κριθῆς χιλίας τετρακοσίας , καὶ ἑβδόμην μερίδα

P.Adl. 19Pathyris99 BC

τοῦτο ἀποδότω ὁ δεδανεισμένος τῶι δανείζοντι ἐν μηνὶ Μεσορὴ λ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ιϛ ἔτους· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀποδῶι ἐν τῶι ὡρισμένωι χρόνωι ἢ μὴ ποιήσηι καθὰ γέγραπται ἀποτεισάτω ἐν

Or also if a fish he will ask for, surely not a serpent will he give to him?
ἰχθὺνichthus a fish G2486 Noun · accusative · singular · masculine
20× 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
The Greek word for fish, used in many stories about Jesus, including Matthew 7:10 and Mark 6:38.
Amplified meaning
a type of seafood
Tyndale gloss
fish
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἰχθύς (i̱chthys) means 'fish' and appears in various contexts, including the New Testament (e.g., Matthew 7:10, Mark 6:38). It is used in both singular and plural forms, with the plural referring to fish markets. The word has been noted in classical literature and is also associated with metaphorical uses, such as describing a foolish person.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἰχθύς, -ύoς, ὁ,

[in LXX for דָּג, דָּגָה;]

a fish: Mt 7:10, Mk 6:38, al.

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

ἰχθύς, -vos, ὁ, [fr. Hom. down], a fish: Mt. vii. 10; Mk. vi. 38; Lk. v. 6; Jn. xxi. 11, ete.; 1 Co. xv. 39.

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

ἰχθύς. P Petr III. 107(e)®9 (iii/B.c.) ἰχθύος, BGU IV. 1123° (time of Augustus) ἢ ἰχθύας ἢ ἀγρίας, P Fay 113'% (a.b. 100) TH πόλι πέμσις εἰκθύας (1 ἰχθύας) (δραχμῶν) UB, P Hamb I. 611 (Α.Ὁ. 128) μηδὲν ἀπὸ Ox[plas ἰχθύας περιγεγονέναι μέχρι νῦν, ΟΟ)5 484° (ii/a.D.) δι ὧν ἐπηρέαζον μάλιστα τοὺς τὸν ἰχθὺν πιπράσκοντας. The noun is used collectively in P Flor II. 201" (A.D. 259) τοὺς παρά σοι ἁλιέας ἀποστεῖλαι ἔχοντας ἰχθὺν κάλλιστον, “‘spedire i tuoi pescatori con assai quantita di pesce’’ (Ed.). adj. ἰχθυϊκός (2 Chron 33! A) see Ostv 3314 (Ptol.) ἰχθυἱκῶν ἁλιέων, and for ἰχθυηρός (2 Esdr 13%) see P Par 63° (B.C. 165) τοὺς ὑποτελεῖς TH τε ἰχθυηρᾷ Kal ζυτηρᾷ, ‘‘ those subject to the fish tax and the beer tax.’’ The Christian epigram Kazbel 725 (iii-v/A.D.) is partly acrostic, the initial letters of the first five lines making up the word…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἰχθύς (ichthus) — fish.

ἰχθῦς

(so Hdn.Gr.2.936, -ῦς and -ύς frequently in codices), ύος, ὁ, accusative ἰχθύν [Refs 5th c.BC+], in late Poets also ἰχθύα [Refs 5th c.BC+], contraction ἰχθῦς [Refs 8th c.BC+], both forms being used in Comedy texts, -ῦς[Refs 5th c.BC+], -ύας [Refs 4th c.BC+] -ῦς [Refs 1st c.BC+]; -ύας[Refs 4th c.BC+]:—fish, ὠμηστής [Refs 8th c.BC+]: metaphorically, of a stupid fellow, [Refs 1st c.AD+]

II. in plural, οἱ ἰχθύες the fish-market at Athens, παρὰ τοὺς ἰχθῦς [Refs 5th c.BC+]

III. plural, the constellation [Refs 4th c.BC+] Attic dialect accusative to [Refs 2nd c.AD+] [ῡ in disyllable cases, nominative -ῡς[Refs 8th c.BC+]), accusative -ῡν [Refs 5th c.BC+], but -ῠν [Refs 5th c.BC+] [same place]: ῠ in trisyllable cases and in all compounds] (Cf. Lithuanian žuvìs, Armenian…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἰχθύς

ichthus

of uncertain affinity; a fish:--fish.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἰχθύς, ύος, ὁ

n.m.

a fish

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἰχθύς ichthus 20x

a fish, Mt. 15:36; 17:27; Lk. 5:6

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἰχθύς a fish, Hom., etc.

in pl., οἱ ἰχθῦς the fish-market, Ar.

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

(dagh, daghah, da'gh; ichthus, ichthudion, opsarion):

1. Natural History:

Fishes abound in the inland waters of Palestine as well as the Mediterranean. They are often mentioned or indirectly referred to both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, but it is remarkable that no particular kind is distinguished by name. In Le 11:9-12 and De 14:9 f, "whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters" is declared clean, while all that "have not fins and scales" are forbidden. This excluded not only reptiles and amphibians, but also, among fishes, siluroids and eels, sharks, rays and lampreys. For our knowledge of the inland fishes of Palestine we are mainly indebted to Tristram, NHB and Fauna and Flora of Palestine; Lortet, Poissons et reptiles du Lac de Tiberiade; and Russegger…

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Fish

Called dag by the Hebrews, a word denoting great fecundity (Gen. 9:2; Num. 11:22; Jonah 2:1, 10). No fish is mentioned by name either in the Old or in the New Testament. Fish abounded in the Mediterranean and in the lakes of the Jordan, so that the Hebrews were no doubt acquainted with many species. Two of the villages on the shores of the Sea of Galilee derived their names from their fisheries, Bethsaida (the “house of fish”) on the east and on the west. There is probably no other sheet of water in the world of equal dimensions that contains such a variety and profusion of fish. About thirty-seven different kinds have been found. Some of the fishes are of a European type, such as the roach, the barbel, and the blenny…

Smith's Bible Dictionary

The Hebrews recognized fish as one of the great divisions of the animal kingdom, and as such gave them a place in the account of the creation, (Genesis 1:21,28) as well as in other passages where an exhaustive description of living creatures is intended. (Genesis 9:2; Exodus 20:4; 4:18; 1 Kings 4:33) The Mosaic law, (Leviticus 11:9,10) pronounced unclean such fish as were devoid of fins and scales; these were and are regarded as unwholesome in Egypt. Among the Philistines Dagon was represented by a figure half man and half fish. (1 Samuel 5:4) On this account the worship…

Nave's Topical Bible

→ Creation of Ge 1:20-22

→ Appointed for food Ge 9:2,3

→ Clean and unclean Le 11:9-12; De 14:9,10

→ Caught

With nets Ec 9:12; Hab 1

Hooks Isa 19:8; Am 4:2; Mt 17:27

Spears Job 41:7

→ Ponds for

In Heshbon So 7:4

In Egypt Isa 19:10

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
90%fish
fish90% · 18×fishes5% · 1×a fish5% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
object60%adverbial25%subject10%second object5%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 20 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
δύο
Article theκαίand, even, also,
Article the
καίand, even, also,ἀπόἄγραcatching, a catc
καίand, even, also, nam
DisjπέντεIndec
πρῶτοςSup
ἀναβαίνωI go up, mount,
πλῆθοςa multitude
συγκλείωI enclose, shut
ἰχθύςa fish20×
what comes after →
ἀναβλέπωI look up, recover m
εἰς
αἰτέωI ask, request, beg,
μήNeg
καίand, even, also, nam
εὐχαριστέωI thank, give th
αἴρωI raise, lift up
καίand, even, also,
μερίζωI divide, part, shar
πᾶςall, 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

Concordanceἰχθύς · 20× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew Mark John 1 Corinthians
Across the New Testament5 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

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

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria The Epistle of Barnabas Josephus
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 63c. AD 40

παντοῖα οὖν ἰχθύων γένη καὶ κητῶν κελεύει συνίστασθαι κατὰ τόπους διαφέροντα καὶ τοῖς μεγέθεσι καὶ ταῖς ποιότησιν·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 3.183c. AD 75–95

ἥ τε γὰρ βύσσος τὴν γῆν ἀποσημαίνειν ἔοικε διὰ τὸ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀνεῖσθαι τὸ λίνον, ἥ τε πορφύρα τὴν θάλασσαν τῷ πεφοινῖχθαι τῶν ἰχθύων τῷ αἵματι, τὸν δὲ ἀέρα βούλεται δηλοῦν ὁ ὑάκινθος, καὶ ὁ φοῖνιξ δʼ ἂν εἴη τεκμήριον τοῦ πυρός.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 6.12c. AD 100

λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφὴ περὶ ἡμῶν, ὡς λέγει τῷ υἱῷ: Ποιήσωμεν κατ̓ εἰκόνα καὶ καθ̓ ὁμοίωσιν ἡμῶν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἀρχέτωσαν τῶν θηρίων τῆς γῆς καὶ τῶν πετεινῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῶν ἰχθύων τῆς θαλάσσης.

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 5th c. AD 4th c. AD
P.Mich. 5 317ArsinoitesAD 14–AD 37

γείτονες … … ος ἕκαστον κατὰ τὸ ἐπιβάλλον … … υς καὶ χοὸς καὶ ἰχθύας καὶ ἀ … … εἰς τὸ ἐπιβάλλον αὐτῶι μέρος … … ου ἀδελφοῦ ποτίστρας,

P. Mich. 5 275ArsinoitesAD 46–AD 47

ἐν οἷς ἥμισυ μέρος φρέατος λιθίνου καὶ κηλωνείου καὶ μέρος ὑποδοχείου καὶ ὑδραγωγοῦ καὶ ἰχθύας καὶ χοὸς ἀναβολῆς καὶ τὸ ἥμισυ μέρος τοῦ ἐπὶ τῷ ὑποδοχείῳ χι … οτος

P.Mich. 5 322 aTebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 46

ἀμπέλου, ἄρουραν μίαν τέταρτον ἑκκαιδέκατον , καὶ τὸ ἐπιβάλλον μέρος ὑποδοχείου καὶ ὕδατος καὶ ἰχθύας καὶ χοὸς καὶ φρέατος καὶ κηλωνείων καὶ μαγδώλου καὶ τῶν συγκυρόντων πάντων κοινῶν καὶ

Or also if a fish he will ask for, surely not a serpent will he give to him?
αἰτήσει,aiteō he will ask for, G154 Verb · aorist · active · subjunctive · third person · singular
70× 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 ask or request something from someone, like in Matthew 7:7 where Jesus says to ask and it will be given to you.
Amplified meaning
requests, inquires of
Tyndale gloss
to ask
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

αἰτέω (aiteō) means to ask or request, often with an accusative case for the thing requested or the person being asked. It appears in various contexts in the New Testament, such as in Matthew 7:7 and James 1:6. The word can also imply a demand or a petition, and it is noted that it has similarities with other terms like ἐρωτάω (erōtaō), though they are not entirely synonymous.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — αἰτέω, ἐρωτάω from a scan

TueEse words are often rendered by our Translators as though they covered the same spaces of meaning, the one as the other; nor can we object to their rendering, in numerous instances, αἰτεῖν and ἐρωτᾶν alike by our English ‘to ask.’ Yet sometimes they have a little marred the perspicuity of their translation by not varying their word, where the original has shown them the way. For example, the obliteration at John xvi. 23 of the distinction between αἰτεῖν and ἐρωτᾶν might easily suggest a wrong interpretation of the verse,—as though its two clauses were in near connexion, and direct antithesis,—being indeed in none. In our Version we read: ‘In that day ye shall ask Me nothing [ἐμὲ οὐκ ἐρωτήσετε οὐδέν]. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask [ὅσα dv αἰτήσητε) the Father in my name, He will give it you.” Now every one competent to judge is agreed, that “ ye shall ask” of…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

αἰτέω, -ῶ,

[in LXX chiefly for שׁאל;]

to ask, request: absol., Mt 7:7, Ja 1:6; c. acc. pers., Mt 5:42, Lk 6:30; c. acc. rei, seq. ἀπό, Mt 20:20, I Jo 5:15; id. seq. παρά, Ac 3:2, Ja 1:5; c. dupl. acc. Mt 7:9, Mk 6:22, Jo 16:23. Mid. (on the distinction bet. mid. and act., v. M, Pr., 160): absol., Mk 15:8, Jo 16:26, Ja 4:3; c. acc. rei, Mt 14:7, Mk…

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

αἰτέω, -ῶ; fut. αἰτήσω:; 1 aor. ἤτησα: pf. ἤτηκα ; Mid., pres. αἰτοῦμαι ; impf. ἠτούμην ; fut. αἰτήσομαι ; 1 aor. ἡτησάμην ; [fr. Hom. down]; to ask; mid. to ask for one’s self, request for one’s self; absol.: Jas. i. 6; Mt. vii. 7; mid., Jas. iv. 3; Jn. xvi. 26; Mk. xv. 8; aireiσθαί τι, Jn. xv. 7; Mt. xiv. 7; Mk. vi. 24; x. 38; xi. 24; xv. 43; 1 Jn. v. 14 sq.; Lk. xxiii. 52; Acts xxv. 3, 15, ete. ; αἰτεῖν with ace. of the pers. to whom the request is made: Mt. v. 42; vi. 8; Lk. vi. 30; αἰτεῖσθαι with acc. of the pers. asked for— whether to be released, Mt. xxvii. 20; Mk. xv. 6 [here T WH Tr mre. παραιτ. q- v-]; Lk. xxiii. 25; or bestowed as a gift, Acts xiii. 21; αἰτεῖν τι ἀπό twos, Mt. xx. 20 L Tr txt. WH txt.; [Lk. xii. 20 Tr WH]; 1 Jn. v. 15 L T Tr WH; (so αἰτεῖσθαι in Plut. Galb. 20) [ef. B. 149 (130)]; ri παρά τινος, Acts iii. 2; Mt. xx. 20 R G T Tr mre. WH mrg.; Jas. i.5; 1 Jn.…

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

αἰτέω. The ordinary meaning of this word ‘‘to make a request,” ““to ask for something” is borne out by the papyri, e.g. P Fay 109} (carly i/A.D.) αἴτησον Σάραν τὰς τοῦ (δραχμὰς) uB, ‘‘ask Saras for the twelve (silver) drachmae.” In ἐῤ. 121. (c, A.D. 100) it is construed with the accusative of the thing and παρά, τὸ δέρμα τοῦ μόσχου οὗ ἐθύ[σ]αμεν αἴτησον παρὰ τοῦ] κύρτου βυρσέως, “ask the hunchbacked tanner for the hide of the calf that we sacrificed ” (Edd.): cf. Ac 3%. See further σοῦ. ἐρωτάω, and for the distinction between active and middle Pvo/eg., p. 160f. If the middle connotes a greater degree of earnestness, it is natural that it should be more frequent than the active, as for example in the phrases αἰτούμενος λόγον SyA@ . . . (P Hamb I, 65 (A.D. 129), αἰτούμενος... ὀνόματα... δίϑομει (GU I. 91° a.p. 170-1), and see the list of passages in the index to Sy// (iii. p. 245). The…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

αἰτέω (aiteō) — to ask.

αἰτ-έω

(Aeolic dialect αἴτημι [Refs 5th c.BC+], Ionic dialect imperfect αἴτεον[Refs 5th c.BC+]future αἰτήσω: aorist ᾔτησα: perfect ᾔτηκα[NT]: pluperfect ᾐτήκει[Refs 2nd c.AD+]perfect passive ᾔτημαι, etc.:—ask, beg, absolutely, [Refs 8th c.BC+]

2. mostly with accusative of things, ask for, demand, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ὁδὸν αἰ. ask leave to depart, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; αἰ. τινί τι to ask something for one,[Refs 5th c.BC+]: with accusative person et of things, ask a person for a thing, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; δίκας αἰ. τινὰ φόνου to demand satisfaction from one for.., [NT+6th c.BC+]

3. with accusative person et infinitive, ask one to do, [Refs 8th c.BC+]

4. with accusative only, beg of, [Refs 3rd c.AD+]

5. in Logic, postulate, assume, [Refs 4th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

αἰτέω

aiteo

of uncertain derivation; to ask (in genitive case):--ask, beg, call

for, crave, desire, require. Compare 4441.

see GREEK for 4441

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

αἰτέω

v.

I ask, request, beg, petition

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

αἰτέω aiteō 70x

to ask, request; demand; desire, Acts 7:46

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

αἰτέω to ask, beg, Od., etc.

c. acc. rei, to ask for, crave, demand, Hom., etc.; ὁδὸν αἰτ. to beg one's departure, i. e. ask leave to depart, Od.:—c. acc. pers. et rei, to ask a person for a thing, Hom., etc.; δίκας αἰτ. τινὰ φόνου to demand satisfaction from one for murder, Hdt.

c. acc. pers. et inf. to ask one to do, Od., etc.

Mid. to ask for oneself, to claim, Aesch., etc.:—but often used just like Act.

Pass.:

of persons, to have a thing begged of one, Hdt., Thuc.

of things, to be asked, τὸ αἰτεόμενον Hdt., etc.

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

V-AAS-3S Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Aorist Voice: Active Mood: Subjunctive Person: third Number: Singular

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
17%asking
asking17% · 12×you ask6% · 4×we shall ask6% · 4×do ask6% · 4×you may ask6% · 4×he will ask for4% · 3×you shall ask4% · 3×ask for3% · 2×other renderings49% · 34×

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

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 70 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
προσεύχομαιI pray, pray forπροσκυνέωI worshipΠιλᾶτοςPilate
Article the
γάρforἀγαθόςgoodἅγιοςset apart, holy,
ἐάνCond
ὅς
ἄνDisj
ὅσοςτὶςσύ
ὅς
ἄνθρωποςa man, one of thφυλακήa watching, guarὑπέρ
αἰτέωhe will ask for,70×
what comes after →
Article the
σῶμαbody, fleshυἱόςa son, descendenδέbut, on the othe
καίand, even, also, nam
δίδωμιI offer, giveοὐNegγίνομαιI come into bein
αὐτός
σταυρόωI crucifyκαίand, even, also,
σύ
δίδωμιI offer, giveποιέωI do, makeλόγοςa word, speech,
λαμβάνωI receive, take
καίand, even, also,ἀπό

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

Concordanceαἰτέω · 70× in the New Testament
Matthew John Luke Acts Mark 1 John James Ephesians 1 Corinthians 1 Peter Colossians
Across the New Testament11 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 23 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 Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Cherubim 72c. AD 40

„εἰ“ γάρ φησιν „ἀποκριθεὶς εἴποι ὁ παῖς Ἠγάπηκα τὸν κύριόν μου καὶ τὴν γυναῖκά μου καὶ τὰ παιδία, οὐκ ἄπειμι ἐλεύθερος“, ἀχθεὶς πρὸς τὸ κριτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ δικαστοῦ τυχὼν αὐτοῦ βέβαιον σχήσει ὃ ᾐτήσατο, πρότερον τρυπηθεὶς τὸ οὖς ὀπητίῳ (Exod.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.245c. AD 75–95

εὔχεται μὲν οὖν τῷ θεῷ Ῥεβέκκαν, ἣν τῷ παιδὶ Ἅβραμος μνηστευσόμενον ἐξαπέστειλεν, εἰ κατὰ νοῦν τὸν αὐτοῦ μέλλει ὁ γάμος οὗτος συντελεῖσθαι, ἐν ἐκείναις εὑρεθῆναι γνωρισθῆναι τε αὐτὴν τῶν μὲν ἄλλων αἰτοῦντι ποτὸν ἀρνουμένων ἐκείνης δὲ αὐτῷ…

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 36.4c. AD 96

Υἱός μου εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε: αἴτησαι παῤ ἐμοῦ, καὶ δώσω σοι ἔθνη τὴν κληρονομίαν σου καὶ τὴν κατάσχεσίν σου τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. AD 2nd c. AD 4th c. AD 1st c. AD 3rd c. BC
P.Sijp. 56OxyrhynchitesAD 1–AD 100

μα δικέλλας ὅσας ἐὰν δύνῃ τῷ ἐλαιῶνι … … ν τῷ σῷ ὅδε εἰμὶ αἰτήσας … σε ἐκκόψαι ἑκατὸν καὶ δέκα … ς. … δύο ἐπιμεληθῆναι Ἀσκλᾶς … ἀποκαταστήσει

P.Mich. 9 568Ptolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites)AD 92

γενείωι ἐξ ἀριστερῶν ἐπάναγκον τὴν ὁμολογοῦσαν Ταευήμερον ἀποδώσειν τῶι Μάρκῳ Ἀνθεστίῳ Γεμέλλῳ ἐν αἷς ᾐτήσατο αὐτὸν εἰς συμπεριφορὰν τῆς ἀποδόσεως ἡμέραις πέντε ἀπὸ τῆς προκειμένης τὰς ὀφειλομένας τῇ τοῦ

P. Mich. 9 569Ptolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites)AD 92

γενείωι ἐξ ἀριστερῶν ἐπάναγκον τὴν ὁμολογοῦσαν Ταευήμερον ἀποδώσειν τῷ Μάρκωι Ἀνθεστίωι Γεμέλλωι ἐν αἷς ᾐτήσατο αὐτὸν εἰς συνπεριφορὰν τῆς ἀποδόσεως ἡμέραις πέντε ἀπὸ τῆς προκειμένης τὰς ὀφειλομένας τῇ τοῦ

Or also if a fish he will ask for, surely not a serpent will he give to him?
μὴ surely not G3361 Particle · negative
1,060× 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
Not is a word used to show that something is not true or is not happening, like in phrases that say 'lest' or 'God forbid', as seen in various parts of the New Testament.
Tyndale gloss
not
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

μή () is a Greek negative particle used to express subjective negation, often in conditional or hypothetical contexts. It contrasts with οὐ (ou), which indicates absolute denial. μή can function as an adverb meaning 'not' or as a conjunction meaning 'lest.' It appears in various grammatical constructions, including prohibitions and deliberative questions, and is referenced in verses like Matthew 5:29 and John 3:18.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

μή,

subjective negative particle,

used where the negation depends on a condition or hypothesis, expressed or understood, as distinct from οὐ, which denies absolutely. μή is used where one thinks a thing is not, as distinct from an absolute negation. As a general rule, οὐ negatives the indic., μή the other moods, incl, ptcp. [In LXX for אֵין, אַיִן, אַל.]

As a neg. adv., not;

with ref. to thought or opinion: Jo 3:18, Tit 1:11, II Pe 1:9.

In delib. questions, c. subjc. (M, Pr., 185): Mk 12:14, Ro 3:8.

In conditional and final sentences, after εἰ, ἐάν, ἄν, ἵνα, ὅπως: Mt 10:14,

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

μή, Sept. for Ox, |X, PN, ἃ particle of negation, which differs from οὐ (which is always an adverb) in that ov denies the thing itself (orto speak technically, denies simply, absolutely, categorically, directly, objectively). but μή denies the thought of the thing, or the thing according to the judgment, opinion, will, purpose, preference, of some one (hence, as we say technically, indirectly, hypothetically, subjectively). This distinction holds also of the compounds οὐδείς, μηδείς, οὐκέτι, μηκέτι, ete. But pris either an ad verb of negation, not (Lat. non, ne); or aconjunction, that... not, lest, (Lat. ne); or an interrogative particle, (Lat. num) [i. e. (generally) implying aneg. ans.; in indir. quest. whether nol (suggesting apprehension) ]. Cf. Herm. ad Vig. § 267 p- 802 sqq-; Matthiae § 608; Bitm. Gram. § 148 (cf. Alex. Bttm. N. T. Gr. p. 344 (296) sqq.); Kiihner ii. §§ 512 sq. p.…

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

μή Grenf II. 384 (mid. 1.8.6.) καλῶς οὖ]ν ποιήσις μὴ ἀμελήσ[α]ς α[. . ἀγο]ράσαι. .. , P Oxy I. 3815 (a.p. 49--50) (= Selections, p. 53) τοῦ δὲ Σύρου μὴ βουλομένου ἐνμεῖναι τοῖς κεκριμένοις, “45 Syrus does not wish to abide by what has been decided,” 2d. II. 2755 (A.D. 66) (= Selections, p. 58) ἔγραψα ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ μὴ ἰδότος γράμματα, “1 wrote for him seeing that he was unlettered,” BGU I. 22° (a.p. 114) (= Selections, p. 74) TappovOios . . . τὸ παρὸν μὴ ἔχουσα κύριον, ‘ Tarmuthis at present without a guardian,’ and P Grenf II. 779 (iii/iv A.D.) (= Sedections, p. 120) θαυμάζω πάνυ [ὅτι] ἀλόγως ἀπέστητε μὴ ἄραντες [τὸ σ]ῶμα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ὑμῶν, “1 wonder exceedingly that you went off so unreasonably, without taking the body of your brother”; cf. P Tor 1. 1¥8-4 (νον 116) εἰ δὲ kal τις θείηι τὸ μὴ ὄν (cf. 1 Cor 1°8)—acc. and inf. follow, P Ryl II. 144°? (Α.Ὁ. 38) ἐπαγαγεῖν αἰτίας τοῦ μὴ ὄντος, ‘‘…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μή (mē) — not.

μή,

Elean μά [ᾱ] [Refs 6th c.BC+]. (Cf. Sanskrit mā´, Armenian mi [from I.-[Refs 5th c.BC+] mē´], negative used in prohibitions):—not, the negative of the will and thought, as οὐ of fact and statement; μή rejects, οὐ denies; μή is relative, οὐ absolute; μή subjective, οὐ objective. (A few examples of μηδέ and μηδείς have been included.)

__A in INDEPENDENT sentences, used in expressions of will or wish, command, entreaty, warning,

__A.1 with present imperative, 2 person, μή μ᾽ ἐρέθιζε [Refs 8th c.BC+]: rarely with aorist imperative, μὴ.. ἔνθεο τιμῇ [Refs 8th c.BC+]; in Attic dialect, μὴ ψεῦσον, ὦ Ζεῦ, τῆς.. ἐλπίδος [Refs 8th c.BC+]perfect imperative [Refs 8th c.BC+] person when perfect = present, μὴ κεκράγετε [Refs 5th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

μή

me

a primary particle of qualified negation (whereas 3756 expresses an

absolute denial); (adverb) not, (conjunction) lest; also (as an

interrogative implying a negative answer (whereas 3756 expects an

affirmative one)) whether:--any but (that), X forbear, + God forbid, +

lack, lest, neither, never, no (X wise in), none, nor, (can-)not,

nothing, that not, un(-taken), without. Often used in compounds in

substantially the same relations. See also 3362, 3363, 3364, 3372,

3373, 3375, 3378.

see GREEK for 3756

see GREEK for 3362

see GREEK for 3363

see GREEK for 3364

see GREEK for 3372

see GREEK for 3373

see GREEK for 3375

see GREEK for 3378

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

μή

Neg.prt.

not, lest

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

μή mē 1x

a negative particle, can function as a conj, not, for the particulars of its usage, especially as distinguished from that of οὐ, consult a grammar; as a conj., lest, that not, Mt. 5:29, 30; 18:10; 24:6; Mk. 13:36; μή, or μήτι, or μήποτε, when prefixed to an interrogative clause, it expresses an intimation either of the reality of the matters respecting which the question is asked, Mt. 12:23; or the contrary, Jn. 4:12

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

PRT-N PaRTicle, disjunctive particle Negative

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
71%not
not71% · 772×except9% · 95×unless5% · 58×surely not4% · 41×lest3% · 32×otherwise2% · 23×other renderings4% · 48×other renderings1% · 16×

1,085 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 23 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
adverbial84%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,060 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
οὐNeg
καίand, even, also,σύἐγώ
ἵναin order that, so th
αὐτόςσύπροσεύχομαιI pray, pray for
καίand, even, also, nam
ἐγώαὐτόςεἰμίI am, exist
εἰCond
αὐτόςυἱόςa son, descendenκαίand, even, also,
Article the
καίand, even, also,εἰςδιά
μήsurely not1060×
what comes after →
Article the
πατήρfather, Father, υἱόςa son, descendenσημεῖονa sign, miracle,
ἔχωI have, hold, posses
καίand, even, also,ποιμήνa shepherdβάθοςdepth, a depth,
εἰμίI am, exist
δίδωμιI offer, giveἐνμετά
τὶς
σύὑστερέωI am lacking, faγεννάωI beget, bring f
φοβέωI fear, am terrified
ἀπόArticle theμόνοςalone, but, only

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

Concordanceμή · 1,060× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew John 1 Corinthians Romans Mark Acts Revelation 2 Corinthians Hebrews 1 Timothy Galatians

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 1,321 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.

Or also if a fish he will ask for, surely not a serpent will he give to him?
ὄφινophis a serpent G3789 Noun · accusative · singular · masculine
14× 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
The word for snake, it can also symbolize sly cunning or malice, especially in reference to Satan, as seen in Revelation 12:9 and 20:2. Jesus warns against being like a snake in Matthew 10:16.
Amplified meaning
ophin, a symbol of sly cunning or malice
Tyndale gloss
snake
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ὄφις, meaning 'serpent' or 'snake', is used in various contexts in the New Testament, often symbolizing cunning or malice, particularly in reference to Satan. It is derived from a root associated with sharpness of vision. The term appears in passages like Matthew 10:16 and Revelation 12:9, where it conveys both literal and metaphorical meanings.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὄφις, -εως, ὁ,

[in LXX chiefly for נָחָשׁ;]

a serpent, snake: Mt 7:10, Mk 16:18, Lk 10:19 11:11, Jo 3:14, I Co 10:9, Re 9:19; as typical of wisdom and cunning, Mt 10:16 23:23, II Co 11:3 (cf. Ge 3:1); of Satan (cf. Ge 3:1, Wi 2:23, 24, IV Mac 18:8), Re 12:9, 14, 15 20:2.†

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

ὄφις, -ews, 6, [perh. named fr. its sight; ef. δράκων, init., and see Curtius as s. v. ὀφθαλμός] ; fr. Hom. Il. 12, 208 down; Sept. mostly for wm; a snake, serpent: Mt. vii. 10; Mk. xvi. 18; Lk. x. 19; xi. 11; Jn. iii. 14; 1 Co. x. 9; Rey. ix. 19; with the ancients the serpent was an emblem of cunning and wisdom, 2 Co. xi. 3, ef. Gen. iii. 1; hence, φρόνιμοι ὡς οἱ ὄφεις, Mt. x. 16 [here WH mrg. ὁ ὄφις}; hence, crafty hypocrites are called ὄφεις, Mt. xxiii. 33. The serpent narrated to have deceived Eve (see Gen. u. s.) was regarded by the later Jews as the devil (Sap. ii. 23 sq. ef. 4 Mace. xviii. 8); hence he is Vi. 22; “2; called ὁ ὄφις ὁ ἀρχαῖος, ὁ ὄφις: Rev. xii. 9, 14 5α.; xx. 2; 566 [Grimm on Sap. u.s.; Fr. Lenormant, Beginnings of History ete. ch. ii. p. 109 sq., and] δράκων.

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

ὄφις. spell—8gw ἀποκτεῖναι, ‘to kill a serpent.’ In P Lond 122 (iv/A.p.) (=I. p. 116) Hermes is invoked under his various shapes and titles, e.g. Mev τῷ βορεᾷ μορφὴν ἔχεις ὄφεως. For the name ascribed to Satan cf. a Christian amulet not later than Justinian, Aazbe/ 1140 b3— φεῦγ᾽ ἀπ᾽ ἐμῶν μελέων, ὄφ[ι], πῦρ, Βελιὰρ κ[ακό]μορί φ]ε. The MGr φίδι has assumed the diminutive suffix and become neuter.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὄφις (ophis) — snake.

ὄφις, ὁ,

genitive ὄφεως, poetry also ὄφεος [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Doric dialect and Ionic dialect ὄφιος [Refs 8th c.BC+]:—serpent, αἰόλος [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ὁ ψυχρὸς ὄ. [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; equivalent to δράκων in [Refs 8th c.BC+]

II. like{δράκων}, a serpent-like bracelet, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; ὄφεις is Attic dialect for ψέλλια accusative to [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

II.2. τρικάρηνος ὄ. ὁ χάλκεος dedicated at Delphi (= [Refs 5th c.BC+]

III. the constellation [Refs 4th c.BC+]

IV. a creeping plant, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

V. a kind of fish, see at {ὀφίδιον} [Refs]

VI. guinea-worm (elsewhere δρακόντιον), [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

VII. ={ὀφίασις} I, [Refs 1st c.AD+]. [The first syllable is sometimes made long in the older Poets, αἰόλον ὄφιν [Refs 8th c.BC+] —The ultima of the _nominative_ and…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὄφις

ophis

probably from 3700 (through the idea of sharpness of vision); a snake,

figuratively, (as a type of sly cunning) an artful malicious person,

especially Satan:--serpent.

see GREEK for 3700

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὄφις, εως, ὁ

n.m.

a serpent

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὄφις ophis 14x

a serpent, Mt. 7:10; 10:16; an artificial serpent, Jn. 3:14; used of the devil or Satan, Rev. 12:9, 14, 15; 20:2; met. a man of serpentine character, Mt. 23:33

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὄφις a serpent, snake, Il., Hdt., Trag.:—metaph., πτηνὸν ὄφιν, of an arrow, Aesch.

The first syll. is sometimes made long, when it was pronounced (and perh. ought to be written) ὄπφις, v. ὀχέω.

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

sur'-pent:

1. General:

Serpents are not particularly abundant in Palestine, but they are often mentioned in the Bible. In the Hebrew there are 11 names. The New Testament has four Greek names and the Septuagint employs two of these and three others as well as several compound expressions, such as ophis petamenos, "flying serpent," ophis thanaton, "deadly serpent," and ophis daknon, "biting" or "stinging serpent." Notwithstanding this large vocabulary, it is impossible to identify satisfactorily a single species. Nearly every reference states or implies poisonous qualities, and in no case is there so much as a hint that a snake may be harmless, except in several expressions referring to the millennium, where their harmlessness is not natural but miraculous. In Arabic there is a score or more of names of serpents, but very few of them are employed at all definitely. It may be too much to…

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Serpent

(Heb. nahash; Gr. ophis), frequently noticed in Scripture. More than forty species are found in Syria and Arabia. The poisonous character of the serpent is alluded to in Jacob’s blessing on Dan (Gen. 49:17; see Prov. 30:18, 19; James 3:7; Jer. 8:17). (See ADDER.)

This word is used symbolically of a deadly, subtle, malicious enemy (Luke 10:19).

The serpent is first mentioned in connection with the history of the temptation and fall of our first parents (Gen. 3). It has been well remarked regarding this temptation: “A real serpent was the agent of the temptation, as is plain from what is said of the natural…

Smith's Bible Dictionary

The Hebrew word nachash is the generic name of any serpent. The following are the principal biblical allusions to this animal its subtlety is mentioned in (Genesis 3:1) its wisdom is alluded to by our Lord in (Matthew 10:18) the poisonous properties of some species are often mentioned, see (Psalms 58:4; Proverbs 25:32) the sharp tongue of the serpent is mentioned in (Psalms 140:3; Job 20:16) the habit serpents have of lying concealed in hedges and in holes of walls is alluded to in (Ecclesiastes 10:8) their…

Nave's Topical Bible

→ Satan appears to Eve in the form of Ge 3:1-15; 2Co 11:3

→ Subtlety of Ge 3:1; Ec 10:8; Mt 10:16

→ Curse upon Ge 3:14,15; 49:17

→ Feeds upon the dust Ge 3:14; Isa 65:25; Mic 7:17

→ Unfit for food Mt 7:10

→ Venom of De 32:24,33; Job 20:16;

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
57%serpent
serpent57% · 8×serpents36% · 5×as serpents7% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
object36%subject29%adverbial29%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 14 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
ὡςas, like as, howὑψόωI lift up, exaltὑπό
μήNeg
αἰτέωI ask, request,
ἐπάνωon the top, above, s
πατέωI tread, trample
ἰχθύςa fish
ἀντί
ὅμοιοςlike, similar to
αὐτός
ὄφιςa serpent14×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀκέραιοςsimple, unsophisσκορπίοςa scorpion
Article the
ἀρχαῖοςoriginal, primit
ἐπιδίδωμιI hand in, give up,
αὐτός
γέννημαoffspring, child, fr
ἔχιδναa serpent, snake
αἴρωI raise, lift up
κἄνCond

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

Concordanceὄφις · 14× in the New Testament
Revelation Matthew Luke 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians John Mark
Across the New Testament7 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 26 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus The Epistle of Barnabas Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 156c. AD 40

λέγεται τὸ παλαιὸν τὸ ἰοβόλον καὶ γηγενὲς ἑρπετὸν [ὄφις] ἀνθρώπου φωνὴν προΐεσθαι καί ποτε προσελθὸν τῇ τοῦ πρώτου φύντος ἀνδρὸς γυναικὶ τῆς βραδυτῆτος καὶ τῆς ἄγαν εὐλαβείας ὀνειδίσαι, διότι μέλλει καὶ ὑπερτίθεται πάγκαλον ὀφθῆναι καὶ ἥδιστον…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.41c. AD 75–95

ὁμοφωνούντων δὲ κατʼ ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ τῶν ζῴων ἁπάντων ὄφις συνδιαιτώμενος τῷ τε Ἀδάμῳ καὶ τῇ γυναικὶ φθονερῶς μὲν εἶχεν ἐφʼ οἷς αὐτοὺς εὐδαιμονήσειν ᾤετο πεπεισμένους τοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ παραγγέλμασιν,

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 12.5c. AD 100

πάλιν Μωϋσῆς ποιεῖ τύπον τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, ὅτι δεῖ αὐτὸν παθεῖν, καὶ αὐτὸς ζωοποιήσει, ὃν δόξουσιν ἀπολωλεκέναι, ἐν σημείῳ πίπτοντος τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, ʽἐποίησεν γὰρ κύριος πάντα ὄφιν δάκνειν αὐτούς, καὶ ἀπέθνησκον ἐπειδὴ ἡ παράβασις διὰ τοῦ ὄφεως ἐν Εὔᾳ ἐγένετὀ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
4th c. AD 7th c. AD 2nd c. AD 5th c. AD 6th c. AD
P.Amh. 2 128 VoHermopolitesAD 128

λόγος ὧν ὀφείλω ἀργυρικῶν ὑπὲρ ἐκφορίων καὶ χλωρῶν ἀπὸ Ὄφεως τιμῆς χλωρῶν δραχμαὶ η τῷ αὐτῷ ὑπὲρ ἀρουρῶν γ δραχμαὶ κη Ἐξακῶντι Ἀχιλλίωνος δραχμαὶ

BACPS 1 (1985), p. 24HermopolitesAD 187–AD 188

κϛ ἔτους ὁμοίως πυροῦ ἀρτάβαι η καὶ δραχμαὶ λβ ὧν διασταλεῖσαι διὰ Ὀλυμπιάδος θησαυρῷ Ὄφεως κολλήματος ιϛ ὑπὲρ τῆς προκειμένης Τέρτον Σαμοοῦ πυροῦ δοχικῷ ἀρτάβαι γ 𐅵 γ κζ

P.Ryl. 4 648HermopolisAD 301–AD 325

γραφὴ κτημάτων τοπαρχίας Περὶ Πόλιν Κάτω Παχὼν α Μαγδῶλα ναύβια ϛ Ὄφεως ναύβια δ Σεσιὺ ναύβια δ Βουσίρεως ναύβια β Βωοῦ ναύβια γ Σελλέχμη ναύβια β

Or also if a fish he will ask for, surely not a serpent will he give to him?
ἐπιδώσειepididōmi will he give G1929 Verb · future · active · indicative · third person · singular
9× 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
To give or deliver something means to hand it over to someone or surrender it. In Matthew 7:9 and Luke 11:11-12, Jesus uses this word to talk about giving good things to those who ask. This word is about passing something from one person to another.
Amplified meaning
deliver, provide
Tyndale gloss
to give/deliver
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἐπιδίδωμι (i.e., *epididōmi*) is built from the prefix ἐπι- and the root δίδωμι. It generally means to give over or deliver, and can also imply giving in or contributing. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts such as handing something to someone (e.g., Matthew 7:9, Luke 11:11). The entries do not present significant disagreement.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐπι-δίδωμι

[in LXX for נָתַן, etc. ;]

to give over, to hand: c. acc rei et dat. pers., Mt 7:9, 10, Lk 11:11, 12 24:30, 42, Ac 15:30; pass. c. dat. pers., Lk 4:17.

to give in, give way: absol., Ac 27:15.†

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

ἐπι-δίδωμι : 3 pers. sing. impf. ἐπεδίδου ; fut. ἐπιδώσω ; 1 aor. ἐπέδωκα; 2 aor. ptep. plur. ἐπιδόντες ; 1 aor. pass. ἐπεδόθην ; [fr. Hom. down]; to give over; 1. to hand, give by handing: τινί τι, Mt. vii. 9 sq.; Lk. xi. 11 sq. ; xxiv. 30,42; Jn. xiii. 26 [RGL]; Acts xv. 30; pass. LK. iv. 17. 2. to give over, i.e. give up to the power or

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

ἐπιδίδωμι is the ordinary formula for sending in a report to a magistrate or official body, e.g. P Oxy 11. 255}5 (a.p. 48) (= Selections, p. 47) ὀμνύω... εἶ μὴν [ἐ]ξ [ὑ]γιοῦς καὶ ἐπ᾽ ἀληθείας ἐπιδεδωκέναι τὴν π]ροκειμένην [γρα]φὴν τῶν παρ᾽ ἐμοὶ [ο]Ἱϊκούν[των, “1 swear that assuredly the preceding document makes a sound and true return of those living with me’’—-a census-return; P Fay 2811 (a.p. 150-1) (= Se/ections, p. 82) διὸ ἐπιδίδωμ[ι] τὸ τῆς ἐπιγενήσεως ὑπόμνημα -a notice of birth; P Oxy I. 791° (A.p. 181-92) (=Se/ectzons, p- 89) διὸ ἐπιδίδωμι [τὸ] βιβλείδιον ἀξιῶν ταγῆναι αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ τῶν τετελευτηκότων τάξει--α notice of death; BGU I. 28738 (A.D. 250) (= Selections, p. 116) Αὐρήλ(ιος) [At]oyévns ἐπιδ[έί(δωκα --ἃ certificate of pagan sacrifice. Cf. also P Oxy III. 487° (A.p. 156) Σερῆνος ἐπέδ]ωκέ με εἰς ἐπιτροamv ἀφηλίκ[ω]ν v[t]ov, ‘‘Serenus appointed me guardian of (two) minors.””…

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

ἐπιδίδωμι (epididōmi) — to give/deliver.

ἐπιδίδωμι,

give besides, [Refs 8th c.BC+]

__b. of a physician, administer, [Refs 1st c.AD+]; give afterwards, τροφὴν [Refs 1st c.AD+].

2. give in dowry, ὅσσ᾽ [Refs 8th c.BC+]

2. b. especially contribute as a `benevolence', for the purpose of supplying state necessities, opposed to εἰσφέρειν (which was compulsory), [Refs 4th c.BC+] (Delph., 3rd c.BC); but also,

2. c. offer money as a bribe or consideration, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. give freely, bestow, [Refs 6th c.BC+]; τὸν [Refs 1st c.BC+]

4. ἐπιδιδόναι ἑαυτόν give oneself up, devote oneself, τινί to one, [Refs 5th c.BC+] (Olbia, [Refs 3rd c.BC+]: absolutely, ἐπιδόντες ἐφερόμεθα ran before the wind, [NT]

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐπιδίδωμι

epididomi

from 1909 and 1325; to give over (by hand or surrender):--deliver

unto, give, let (+ (her drive)), offer.

see GREEK for 1909

see GREEK for 1325

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐπιδίδωμι

v.

I hand in, give up, give way

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐπιδίδωμι epididōmi 9x

to give in addition; also, to give to, deliver to, give into one’s hands, Mt. 7:9, 10; Lk. 4:17; 11:11f.; 24:30, 42; Acts 15:30; intrans. probably a nautical term, to commit a ship to the wind, let her drive, Acts 27:15*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐπιδίδωμι fut. -δώσω to give besides, τί τινι Il., Hdt., attic

to give in dowry, Il., Xen.

to give freely, Thuc., Ar.:—esp. to contribute as a "benevolence, " for state necessities, opp. to εἰσφέρειν (which was compulsory), Xen., Dem.; cf. ἐπίδοσις.

Mid. to take as witness, θεοὺς ἐπιδώμεθα Il.; (others take it to be ἐπ-ιδώμεθα let us look to the gods).

intr. to increase, advance, ἐς ὕψος Hdt.; ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον Thuc., etc.; absol. to grow, wax, advance, improve, id. Thuc.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-FAI-3S — Verb · future · active · indicative · third person · singular
future active indicative — an action still to come.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

(nathan, yahabh, sum; didomi): "Give" is a very common word in the Old Testament. It is most frequently the translation of nathan, "to give" (Ge 1:29; 3:6; Ex 2:9; De 18,20, etc., over 800 instances); nathan is also translated "to give up" (De 23:14; Isa 43:6; Ho 11:8); of yahabh, "to give" (Ge 30:1; 1Ch 16:28 the King James Version). In Ps 55:22 we have the perfect with suffix, "Cast thy burden upon Yahweh," margin "what he hath given thee"; elsewhere it is…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
50%will he give
will he give50% · 5×they delivered10% · 1×having given way10% · 1×there was given10% · 1×he was giving10% · 1×they gave10% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
verb89%adverbial11%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 9 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
λίθοςa stone
μήNeg
ὄφιςa serpent
μήNeg
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτός
ὄφιςa serpent
ᾠόνan egg
αἰτέωI ask, request,
ἐπιδίδωμιwill he give
what comes after →
αὐτός
βιβλίονa papyrus rollσκορπίοςa scorpionἰχθύςa fish
Article the
ἐπιστολήa letter, dispat
φέρωI carry, bear, bring

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

Concordanceἐπιδίδωμι · 9× in the New Testament
Luke Acts Matthew
Across the New Testament3 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
The Shepherd of Hermas Josephus Philo of Alexandria
Philo of AlexandriaOn Husbandry 86c. AD 40

οὐδεμίαν, ὦ γενναῖοι, φρουρὰν ἄρχοντος ὁ νομοθέτης ὑποτέμνεται οὐδὲ τὸ συλλεχθὲν αὐτῷ στράτευμα ἀκρωτηριάζει τῆς δυνάμεως τὸ ἀνυσιμώτερον, τὴν ἱππικὴν δύναμιν, ἀποκόπτων, ἀλλ’ ὡς οἷόν τε πειρᾶται συναύξειν, ἵν’ εἴς τε ἰσχὺν καὶ πλῆθος ἐπιδόντες οἱ…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.346c. AD 75–95

καὶ οἱ μὲν αὐτοί τε τὸν κίνδυνον οὕτως ἐκφυγόντες καὶ προσέτι τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἐπιδόντες κεκολασμένους, ὡς οὐκ ἄλλοι τινὲς μνημονεύονται τῶν πρόσθεν ἀνθρώπων, ἐν ὕμνοις ἦσαν καὶ παιδιαῖς ὅλην τὴν νύκτα, καὶ Μωυσῆς ᾠδὴν εἰς τὸν θεὸν ἐγκώμιόν τε καὶ τῆς…

The Shepherd of HermasThe Shepherd of Hermas 25.1.2c. AD 140

εἱστήκει δὲ ἄγγελος κυρίου ἔνδοξος λίαν ὑψηλὸς παρὰ τὴν ἰτέαν, δρέπανον ἔχων μέγα, καὶ ἔκοπτε κλάδους ἀπὸ τῆς ἰτέας, καὶ ἐπεδίδου τῷ λαῷ τῷ σκεπαζομένῳ ὑπὸ τῆς ἰτέας: μικρὰ δὲ ῥαβδία ἐπεδίδου αὐτοῖς, ὡσεὶ πηχυαῖα.

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 2nd c. BC
P.Amh. 2 74Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites)AD 147

τὸ ἐπιβάλλον ἥμισυ μέρος πατρικῆς … αλ … δεως καὶ τρίτον μέρος οἰκοπέδων· διὸ ἐπιδίδωμι. ἔτους ι Ἀντωνείνου Καίσαρος τοῦ κυρίου Ἐπεὶφ λ.

P.Berl.Leihg. 1 16 aTheadelphia (Arsinoites)AD 161

α … καί εἰμι Ἀπολλῶς ὁ προγεγραμμένος ἐτῶν λ … γ … . διὸ ἐπιδίδωμι τὴν ἀπογραφήν. ἐγράφη διὰ γραφείου τῆς κώμης. ἔτους α Αὐτοκράτορος Καίσαρος Μάρκου Αὐρηλίου Ἀντωνίνου

P.Berl.Leihg. 1 16 bTheadelphia (Arsinoites)AD 161

ἐτῶν νθ, καταγίνομαι δὲ ἐν συνοικίᾳ οὐσιακῇ ἐν κώμῃ Ἀπιάδι τῆς αὐτῆς μερίδος. διὸ ἐπιδίδωμι τὴν ἀπογραφήν. ἔτους α Αὐτοκράτορος Καίσαρος Μάρκου Αὐρηλίου Ἀντωνίνου Σεβαστοῦ καὶ Αὐτοκράτορος Καίσρος Λουκίου

Or also if a fish he will ask for, surely not a serpent will he give to him?
αὐτῷ;autos to him? G846 Personal pronoun · dative · 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-DSM — Personal pronoun · dative · singular · masculine
dative — to, for, with — the one it is done to or by.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

P-DSM Part of Speech: Personal pronoun Case: Dative 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
αὐτόςto him?5550×
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

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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