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Romans 12:12 — Word Study

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N1904τῇ ἐλπίδι χαίροντες, τῇ θλίψει ὑπομένοντες, τῇ προσευχῇ προσκαρτεροῦντες,

BSA<the>ho in hopeelpis [trusting in God's goodness, expectation] rejoicing,chairō [rejoicing, feeling happy] <the>ho in tribulationthlipsis [pressure, tribulation, distress] being patient,hupomenō [enduring, remaining steadfast] <the>ho in prayerproseuchē [talking to God, communion with Him] being constant,proskartereō [continuing steadfastly, persevering]

Word
Listen & take awayRomans 12
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 12 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 (proskartereō) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
Romans 12:12quick helps
In a sentencePaul instructs believers to maintain joy, patience, and persistence in their spiritual lives.
Who is speakingThe Apostle Paul, addressing the Roman church.
Where we areThis verse is part of a series of practical exhortations in Romans 12.
The hard wordπροσευχῇ
Take awayJoy and perseverance are essential in the Christian walk.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause subjectχαίρω verbχαίρω 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 — Romans 12:12

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 — Exhortations for Christian Livinggenerated

11Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer.
13Share with the saints who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse.

Romans 12:12 is part of a passage where Paul gives practical advice on how to live as a follower of Christ. He encourages believers to be joyful, patient, and persistent in their faith, reflecting a life transformed by the gospel. This section emphasizes the importance of maintaining a strong spiritual life, especially during difficult times.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
1Romans 5:2–3through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
2Romans 15:13Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
3Psalm 16:9–11Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will dwell securely.
4Psalm 71:20–23Though You have shown me many troubles and misfortunes, You will revive me once again. Even from the depths of the earth You will bring me back up.
5Psalm 73:24–26You guide me with Your counsel, and later receive me in glory.

The Key Word προσευχῇ, proseuchēgenerated

The word προσευχή (lemma: proseuchē) means prayer, specifically directed toward God. It indicates a personal communion with Him, as seen in various New Testament contexts, such as Matthew 21:22 and Acts 3:1.

This noun appears in the dative case, suggesting it is the means by which believers engage with God, highlighting the importance of prayer in maintaining a vibrant faith.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

In this study, the verse is read in the Berean Standard Bible, which uses the phrase in prayer. Other translations, like the BBE and YLT, use the word prayer instead.

The translations generally agree on the essence of the verse, with some variations in the phrasing of the exhortations.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The verse contains a series of three main clauses, each beginning with a verb: χαίροντες, ὑπομένοντες, and προσκαρτεροῦντες, which translate to 'rejoicing', 'being patient', and 'being constant'. Each clause expresses a different aspect of the believer's response to their circumstances.

These clauses are linked together, creating a rhythm of encouragement that emphasizes the active nature of faith in the face of challenges.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

The Greek word προσευχή corresponds to the Hebrew word תְּפִלָּה (H8605), meaning prayer. This connection highlights the continuity of prayer as a vital practice in both the Old and New Testaments.

In the Septuagint, προσευχή appears in contexts that emphasize the importance of seeking God and maintaining a relationship with Him through prayer.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

Romans 12:12 encourages believers to be joyful in hope, patient in times of trouble, and persistent in prayer. These instructions help Christians live out their faith actively, especially when facing challenges.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean to be joyful in hope?

Being joyful in hope means to maintain a positive and expectant attitude about God's promises and goodness, even when circumstances are difficult.

How can I be patient in affliction?

Patience in affliction involves enduring hardships without losing faith, trusting that God is present and working even in tough times.

Why is persistence in prayer important?

Persistence in prayer is vital for maintaining a close relationship with God, seeking His guidance, and finding strength to face life's challenges.

How do these exhortations apply to daily life?

These exhortations encourage believers to actively practice joy, patience, and prayer in their everyday situations, fostering a resilient and hopeful spirit.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. In what areas of my life do I need to cultivate more joy and hope?
  2. How can I practice patience when facing difficulties?
  3. What does a persistent prayer life look like for me?
  4. How can I encourage others to remain joyful and steadfast in their faith?

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

Several early church Fathers comment on this verse, emphasizing its practical implications for Christian living.

Clement of AlexandriaThe Instructor Book 3 c. 150–215
"Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer. Given to hospitality; communicating to the necessities of the saints." Such are a few injunctions out of many, for the sake of example, which the Instructor,
Early Church Fathers on Romans 12 →
TertullianAgainst Marcion Book V c. 155–220
Now is not this of the same import as: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self? " (Again, your apostle says: ) "Rejoicing in hope; " that is, of God.
Early Church Fathers on Romans 12 →
TertullianAgainst Marcion Book V c. 155–220
"Patient in tribulation." You have (this in) the Psalm: "The Lord hear thee in the day of tribulation.
Early Church Fathers on Romans 12 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on Romans 12:12 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

Rejoicing in hope,.... Of the glory of God, than the hope of which nothing can make a believer more cheerful in this world; the saints' joy is therefore called the "rejoicing of the hope", Hebrews 3:6.

Read John Gill on Romans 12 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Rejoicing ... In this second triplet; it is more lively to retain the order and the verbs of the original: 'In hope,

Read Robert Jamieson on Romans 12 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Rejoicing in hope; i.e. in hope of deliverance here in due time, and of eternal salvation hereafter: See Poole on "". Continuing instant in prayer; be instant and constant in the duty. A metaphor from hounds, that give not over the game till they have got it: see .

Read Matthew Poole on Romans 12 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Ver. 12. Rejoicing in hope] Hope makes absent joys present, wants, plenitudes, and beguiles calamity as good company doth the time. But without hope, patience is cold almost in the fourth degree, and that is but a little from poison. It was a dotage of the Stoics, that a wise man should be free, as from fear, so from hope too. How much better the Elpistici, another sort of philosophers, who held hope to be the only stay and staff of man’ s life, without which to live were but to lie dying! This life would be little better than hell, saith Bernard, were it not for the hopes of heaven. Sed superest sperare salutem…

Read John Trapp on Romans 12 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) In hope.—The Christian’s hope, of which we have had more in Romans 8:20-25. Patient in tribulation.—This virtue was, of course, specially needed in the troublous times through which the Church was passing. So, again, in the next verse, the “hospitality” of which the Apostle speaks is something more than the ordinary entertainment of friends. The reference is to a state of things in which the Christian was liable to be persecuted and driven from city to city, and often compelled to seek for shelter with those who held the same faith as himself.

Read Charles John Ellicott on Romans 12 →
AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

Verse 12. Rejoicing in hope] Of that glory of God that to each faithful follower of Christ shall shortly be revealed. Patient in tribulation] Remembering that what you suffer as Christians you suffer for Christ's sake; and it is to his honour, and the honour of your Christian profession, that you suffer it with an even mind. Continuing instant in prayer] ηροσκαρτερουντες. Making the most fervent and intense application to the throne of grace for the light and power of the Holy Spirit; without which you can neither abhor evil, do good, love the brethren, entertain a comfortable hope, nor bear up patiently under the tribulations and ills of life.

Read AdamClarke on Romans 12 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. Rejoicing in hope] Better, In respect of the hope, rejoicing. Cp. ch. Romans 5:2; where see note. On this holy gladness cp. also 1 Peter 1:3-9.patient, &c.] Better, in respect of the tribulation, enduring.—“The tribulation:” i.e. that which as Christians you are sure to find, in one form or another. Cp. John 16:33; also ch. Romans 5:3, Romans 8:35.continuing, &c.] Better, in respect of the [duty, or act, of] prayer, persevering. Same word as Colossians 4:2. Cp. 1 Thessalonians 5:16. Prayer would be either united (Acts 12:12), or individual (Matthew 6:6); but in any case it would be diligent, painstaking, and real.

Read Cambridge on Romans 12 →
Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Rejoicing in hope - That is, in the hope of eternal life and glory which the gospel produces; see the notes at Romans 5:2-3. Patient in tribulation - In affliction patiently enduring all that maybe appointed.

Read Albert Barnes on Romans 12 →

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

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

rejoicing in hope, enduring in troubles, continuing steadfastly in prayer,

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer.

NETBNew English Translation2006

Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer.

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing stedfastly in prayer;

RVARevised Version, American1894

rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing stedfastly in prayer;

NWBWebster's Bible1833

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing earnest in prayer;

GNVGeneva Bible1599

Reioycing in hope, pacient in tribulation, continuing in prayer,

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

As regards hope, rejoicing: as regards tribulation, enduring: as regards prayer, persevering:

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

in the hope rejoicing; in the tribulation enduring; in the prayer persevering;

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

in the hope rejoicing; in the tribulation enduring; in the prayer persevering;

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

Rejoice in certain hope, be patient in suffering, be faithful in prayer.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

Rejoicing in hope. Patient in tribulation. Instant in prayer.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

Remain cheerful in the hope you have, put up with the troubles that come, keep on praying.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

Being glad in hope, quiet in trouble, at all times given to prayer,

Word by word, the decisions they made

ἐλπίδιelpis in hope G1680 2 different renderings
in hopeASV BBE BSB DRA GNV KJV MSB NETB NWB RVA WEB
hopeDBY FBV LSV ULB YLT
χαίροντες,chairō rejoicing, G5463 2 different renderings
rejoicingASV DBY DRA KJV LSV NWB RVA WEB YLT
rejoiceNETB ULB
θλίψειthlipsis in tribulation G2347 3 different renderings
in tribulationASV DRA GNV KJV NWB RVA
tribulationDBY LSV YLT
afflictionBSB MSB
ὑπομένοντες,hupomenō being patient, G5278 2 different renderings
enduringDBY LSV WEB YLT
endureNETB
προσευχῇproseuchē in prayer G4335 2 different renderings
in prayerASV BSB DRA GNV KJV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB
prayerBBE DBY LSV YLT
προσκαρτεροῦντες,proskartereō being constant, G4342 2 different renderings
perseveringDBY LSV YLT
continuing steadfastlyWEB

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.

clauseclausenoun phrase · adverbialτῇ-φιλαδελφίᾳin brotherly loveprepositional phrase · adverbialεἰςtoἀλλήλουςone anotherpredicateφιλόστοργοιdevotedclausenoun phrase · adverbialτῇ-τιμῇin honorobjectἀλλήλουςone anotherverbπροηγούμενοιesteemingclausenoun phrase · adverbialτῇ-σπουδῇin diligenceadverbialμὴnotpredicateὀκνηροίlaggingclausenoun phrase · adverbialτῷ-πνεύματιin spiritverbζέοντεςbeing ferventclausenoun phrase · objectτῷtheΚυρίῳLordverbδουλεύοντεςservingclausenoun phrase · adverbialτῇ-ἐλπίδιin hopeverbχαίροντεςrejoicingclausenoun phrase · adverbialτῇ-θλίψειin tribulationverbὑπομένοντεςbeing patientclausenoun phrase · objectτῇ-προσευχῇin prayerverbπροσκαρτεροῦντεςbeing constantclausenoun phrase · adverbialταῖςto thenoun phraseχρείαιςneedsnoun phraseτῶνof theἁγίωνsaintsverbκοινωνοῦντεςcontributingclausenoun phrase · objectτὴν-φιλοξενίανhospitalityverbδιώκοντεςpursuing

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

spe gaudentes : in tribulatione patientes : orationi instantes :

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

ܗܘܝܬܘܢ ܚܕܝܢ ܒܣܒܪܟܘܢ ܗܘܝܬܘܢ ܡܣܝܒܪܝܢ ܐܘܠܨܢܝܟܘܢ ܗܘܝܬܘܢ ܐܡܝܢܝܢ ܒܨܠܘܬܐ

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

τῇ ἐλπίδι χαίροντες, τῇ θλίψει ὑπομένοντες, τῇ προσευχῇ προσκαρτεροῦντες,

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

τῇ ἐλπίδι χαίροντες, τῇ θλίψει ὑπομένοντες, τῇ προσευχῇ προσκαρτεροῦντες,

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

τῇ ἐλπίδι χαίροντες, τῇ θλίψει ὑπομένοντες, τῇ προσευχῇ προσκαρτεροῦντες,

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

τῇ ἐλπίδι χαίροντες, τῇ θλίψει ὑπομένοντες, τῇ προσευχῇ προσκαρτεροῦντες,

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

τῇ ἐλπίδι χαίροντες, τῇ θλίψει ὑπομένοντες, τῇ προσευχῇ προσκαρτεροῦντες,

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

τῇ ἐλπίδι χαίροντες, τῇ θλίψει ὑπομένοντες, τῇ προσευχῇ προσκαρτεροῦντες,

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

τῇ ἐλπίδι χαίροντες, τῇ θλίψει ὑπομένοντες, τῇ προσευχῇ προσκαρτεροῦντες,

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

τῇ ἐλπίδι χαίροντες, τῇ θλίψει ὑπομένοντες, τῇ προσευχῇ προσκαρτεροῦντες,

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

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

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

Word by word, across the editions

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


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

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

Romans 12:12<the><the>ἐλπίςin hopein hopeἐλπίςχαίρωrejoicing,rejoicing,χαίρω<the><the>θλῖψιςin tribulatin tribulationθλῖψιςὑπομένωbeing patiebeing patient,ὑπομένω<the><the>προσευχήin prayerin prayerπροσευχήπροσκαρτερέωbeing constbeing constant,προσκαρτερέωθλίβωv. I make v. I make narroθλίβωὑπόPrep. by, Prep. by, underὑπόπροσεύχομαιv. I pray,v. I pray, prayπροσεύχομαιπρόςPrep. to, Prep. to, towarπρόςἀνάστασιςn.f. a risn.f. a rising aἀνάστασιςἀγαλλιάωv. I exultv. I exult, am ἀγαλλιάωλίανAdv very, Adv very, very λίανμέγαςAdj. & ComAdj. & Comp.advμέγαςἐκεῖνοςDem.pr. thDem.pr. that, tἐκεῖνοςἀγαθοποιέωv. I do thv. I do that whἀγαθοποιέωτέλοςn.n. an enn.n. an end, puτέλοςπροσκαρτερέωv. I persiv. I persistπροσκαρτερέωδέησιςn.f. suppln.f. supplicatiδέησιςὁμοθυμαδόνAdv with oAdv with one miὁμοθυμαδόνπροσευχήn.f. prayen.f. prayer, a προσευχή
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 Romans 12:12

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

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

<the> in hope rejoicing, <the> in tribulation being patient, <the> in prayer being constant,
τῇho <the> G3588 Article · dative · singular · feminine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Romans as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

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

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

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

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

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

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

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

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

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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

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

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

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existἐγώ
ἐν
καίand, even, also,αὐτόςArticle the
εἰς
αὐτόςεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come inἔρχομαιI come, go
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakδέbut, on the otheπρός
εἰμίI am, exist
οὗτοςσύἐγώ
<the>19783×
what comes after →
θεόςGod, a god
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
ἸησοῦςJesus
λέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
ἐγώἸησοῦςJesusArticle the
πατήρfather, Father, ance
ἐγώσύαὐτός

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

<the> in hope rejoicing, <the> in tribulation being patient, <the> in prayer being constant,
ἐλπίδιelpis in hope G1680 Noun · dative · singular · feminine
53× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Romans than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Hope or expectation, as in 2 Corinthians 1:6 and Acts 16:19, where it refers to trusting in God's goodness.
Amplified meaning
trusting in God's goodness, expectation
Tyndale gloss
hope
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἐλπίς (lemma: elpis) means hope or expectation, primarily in a positive sense. It appears frequently in the New Testament, often referring to religious hope, such as the hope of salvation or the Messianic hope of Israel. Notably, it can denote both the object of hope and the source of hope, as seen in various verses like Romans 5:4 and Acts 24:15.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐλπίς

(ἑλ-, Ro 8:20, WH, v. Bl., § 4, 3; M, Pr., 44), -ίδος, ἡ

[in LXX for בָּטַח and its derivatives, תִּקְוָה (freq. in Jb), etc. ;]

expectation (in cl., rarely of evil, mostly of good, and so always in NT), hope;

of hope in general: II Co 1:6; c. gen. obj., Ac 16:19; art. inf., Ac 27:20, I Co 9:10; παρ’ ἐλπίδα, Ro 4:18; ἐπ’ ἐλπίδι, I Co 9:10.

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

ἐλπίς [sometimes written ἑλπίς ἢ so WH in Ro. viii. 20; Tdf.in Acts ii. 26; see (in 2 below, and) the reff. s. V. ἀφεῖδον], -ἰδος, ἡ, (ἔλπω to make to hope), Sept. for nua and m3, trust; TOM that in which one confides or to which he flees for refuge; MpA expectation, hope; in the classics a vox media, i. e. expectation whether of good or of ill; 1. rarely in a bad sense, expectation of evil, fear; as, τῶν κακῶν ἐλπίς. Leian. Tyrannic. ec. 3; τοῦ φόβου ἐλπίς, Thuc. 7, 61; κακὴ ἐλπίς. Plat. rep. 1 p. 330 e. [ef. legg. 1 p. 644 c. fin.]; πονηρὰ edz. Is. XXvili. 19 Sept. 2. much more freq. in the classics, and always in the N. T., in a good sense: expectation of good, hope; and in the Christian sense, joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation: Acts xxiii. 63 xxvi. 7; Ro. v. 4.Βη.; xii. 12; xv. 13; 1 Co. xiii. 185; 1 Pet. i. 3; iii. 15; ἀγαθὴ ἐλπίς (often in prof. auth., as Plat.…

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

ἐλπίς “Ελληνιστί. P Giss I. 365 (B.c. 161) ἀ(ντίγραφον) [συγχωρήσεως Alyurr]([as με]θη[ρ]μην[εὐ]μένης “Ἑλληνιστὶ κατὰ τὸ δυνατόν, P Tor I. 1%4 (B.c. 117) ἀντίγραφα συγγραφῶν Αἰγυπτίων διηρμηνευμένων δ᾽ λληνιστί. For this form of the word see Mayser Gr. p. 457, and for the elliptical usage in Ac 2137 see Field Notes, p. 135 f. élhoyaw (—éw). To Lightfoot’s examples of this word from the inscriptions in his note on Philem?8 τοῦτο ἐμοὶ ἐλλόγα, may now be added several occurrences in the papyri in its general Hellenistic form ἐλλογέω. Thus the technical sense of ‘‘set to one’s account,”’ as in the Philemon passage, comes out well in P Ryl II. 243" (ii/a.b.) where two women write to their steward—8oa ποτὲ οὖν ἐὰν ἀναναλώσῃς (1. ἀναλώσῃΞς) ts τὴν τοῦ κλήρου κατεργασίαν, ἡμεῖν ἐνλόγησον ἐπὶ λόγου, “put down to our account everything you expend on the cultivation of the holding ” (Edd.), and in…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐλπίς (elpis) — hope.

ἐλπ-ίς, ίδος, ἡ,

(see. ἔλπω) hope, expectation (δόξα μελλόντων [Refs 8th c.BC+]; πολλῶν ῥαγεισῶν ἐλπίδων after the wreck of many hopes, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; expectancy, [Refs 5th c.BC+] —Constr., in _Attic dialect_, with _genitive_ both of subject and object, as (where both are conjoined) Πελοποννησίων τὴν ἐλπίδα τοῦ ναυτικοῦ the hope of the P.in their navy, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ὑμέτεραι ἐλπίδες,= ἐς ὑμᾶς, [Refs]; ἐλπίδ᾽ ἔχω, ={ἐλπίζω}, with future infinitive, μὴ οὐ δώσειν δίκην [Refs 5th c.BC+]: with aorist infinitive, κλέος εὑρέσθαι [Refs 5th c.BC+] and future infinitive, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐν ἐλπίδι εἰμί, with future infinitive, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐλπίς [ἐστί] μοι with accusative and future infinitive or aorist, ἐλπίς τις αὐτὸν ἥξειν [Refs 5th c.BC+]: with present infinitive, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐλπίδας μεγάλας ἔν τινι ἔχειν[Refs 5th c.BC+]; τίν᾽…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐλπίς

elpis

from a primary elpo (to anticipate, usually with pleasure);

expectation (abstractly or concretely) or confidence:--faith, hope.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐλπίς, ίδος, ἡ

n.f.

hope, expectation

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐλπίς elpis 53x

pr. expectation; hope, Acts 24:15; Rom. 5:4; meton. the object of hope, thing hoped for, Rom. 8:24; Gal. 5:5; the author or source of hope, Col. 1:27; 1 Tim. 1:1; trust, confidence, 1 Pet. 1:21; ἐπ’ ἐλπίδι, in security, with a guarantee, Acts 2:26; Rom. 8:20

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐλπίς ἔλπω hope, expectation, Od.;in pl., πολλῶν ῥαγεισῶν ἐλπίδων after the wreck of many hopes, Aesch.;—with gen. both of subject and object, Πελοποννησίων τὴν ἐλπίδα τοῦ ναυτικοῦ the hope of the P. in their navy, Thuc.

the object of hope, a hope, Ὀρέστης, ἐλπὶς δόμων Aesch.

apprehension, fear, id. Aesch.

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

hop:

1. In the Old Testament:

In the Revised Version (British and American) the New Testament "hope" represents the noun elpis (52 t), and the verb elpizo (31 t). King James Version, however, renders the noun in Heb 10:23 by "faith," and for the verb gives "trust" in 18 cases (apparently without much system, e.g. in Php 2 compare 2:19 and 23; see TRUST), while in Lu 6:35 it translates apelpizo, by "hoping for nothing again" (the Revised Version (British and American) "never despairing"). But in the Old Testament there is no Hebrew word that has the exact force of "expectation of some good thing," so that in the King James Version "hope" (noun and vb.) stands for some 15 Hebrew words, nearly all of which in other places are given other translation (e.g. mibhTach, is rendered "hope"…

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Hope

One of the three main elements of Christian character (1 Cor. 13:13). It is joined to faith and love, and is opposed to seeing or possessing (Rom. 8:24; 1 John 3:2). “Hope is an essential and fundamental element of Christian life, so essential indeed, that, like faith and love, it can itself designate the essence of Christianity (1 Pet. 3:15; Heb. 10:23). In it the whole glory of the Christian vocation is centred (Eph. 1:18; 4:4).” Unbelievers are without this hope (Eph. 2:12;

→ General scriptures concerning Ps 9:18; 16:9; 31:24; 33:18,22; 38:15; 39:7; 43:5; 71:5,14; 78:5-7; 119:74,81,116,166; 130:7; 146:5; Pr 10:28; 13:12; 14:32; 23:18; 24:14; Isa 38:18; Jer 17:7; La 3:21,24,26; Ho 2:15; Joe 3:16; Zec 9:12; Ac 23:6; 24:14,15; 26:7,8; 28:20; Ro 4:18; 5:2-5; 8:24,25; 12:12; 15:4,13;

- In God

Ps 39:7; 1Pe 1:21

- In Christ

1Co 15:19; 1Ti 1:1

- In God's promises

Ac 26:6,7; Tit 1:2

- In the mercy of God

Ps 33:18

- Is the work of the Holy Spirit

Ro 15:13; Ga 5:5

- OBTAINED THROUGH

. Grace

2Th 2:16

. The word

Ps 119:81

. Patience and comfort of the Scriptures

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
100%hope
hope100% · 53×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial42%object30%subject21%predicate6%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 53 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
ἐξέρχομαιI go out, come oγάρforγραφήa writing, passa
ἐπί
κατασκηνόωI encamp, tabernνῦνnow, already, atἐλπίςhope, expectatio
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀποκαραδοκίαeager expectatioαἰώνιοςeternal, unendinσύ
πίστιςfaith, belief, trust
μένωI remain, abideἐκ
περί
Φαρισαῖοςa Pharisee
ἐλπίςin hope53×
what comes after →
Article the
δόξαhonor, renown, gκλῆσιςa calling, summoἐργασίαworking, activit
ἐγώ
βέβαιοςfirm, steadfast,ὅτιthat, since, bec
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀνάστασιςa rising again, ἐπιφάνειαappearing, manif
ἔχωI have, hold, posses
εἰς
δέbut, on the other ha
βλέπωI look, seeἔχωI have, hold, po

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

Concordanceἐλπίς · 53× in the New Testament
Romans Acts Hebrews 1 Thessalonians 1 Corinthians 1 Peter 2 Corinthians Colossians Ephesians Titus 1 John 1 Timothy
Across the New Testament15 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 55 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 Ignatius of Antioch The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 155c. AD 40

ὡς δὲ εἶδε ῥέπουσαν μὲν ἐπὶ πανουργίαν, εὐσεβείας δὲ καὶ ὁσιότητος ὀλιγωροῦσαν, ἐξ ὧν ἡ ἀθάνατος ζωὴ περιγίνεται, προὐβάλετο κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς καὶ ἐφυγάδευσεν ἐκ τοῦ παραδείσου, μηδ’ ἐλπίδα τῆς εἰσαῦθις ἐπανόδου δυσίατα καὶ ἀθεράπευτα πλημμελούσῃ ψυχῇ…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.90c. AD 75–95

ἔπειτα τῆς λάρνακος περὶ ἄκραν τινὰ ὄρους σταθείσης κατὰ τὴν Ἀρμενίαν συνεὶς ὁ Νῶχος ἀνοίγει τʼ αὐτὴν καὶ θεασάμενος γῆν βραχεῖαν περὶ αὐτὴν ἐπὶ χρηστοτέρας ἤδη γεγονὼς ἐλπίδος ἠρέμει.

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 4th c. AD 6th c. AD 3rd c. AD 2nd c. BC
P.Bad. 2 35Ptolemais Hermeiu (Thinites)AD 87

Περιφεράγαθος μὴ ἀμελήσῃ, ἐὰν δύνηται, ἡμῖν ἐνέγκαι καὶ υἱὸν καὶ γλ … … γίγνωσκε ἐλπίδα ἀνευρετικὸν ποιεῖν. ἔρχου σὺν Ταήσι ἀστομάχητος, ἐὰν ἀνέλθῃ. μὴ ἀμελήσῃς τὰ ἄλλα …να μοι

P.Oxy. 50 3555OxyrhynchosAD 1–AD 200

πόλεως. θεραπαινίδιόν μου οἰκογενές, οὗ ἔστιν ὄνομα Πεῖνα, ἠγάπησα καὶ ἐτημέλησα ὡς θυγάτριον ἐπʼ ἐλπίδι τοῦ ἡλικίας γενόμενον ἔχειν με γηροβοσκόν, γυναῖκα ἀβοήθητον οὖσαν καὶ μόνην. τοῦτο δὲ διάγον

P.Oxy. 18 2190OxyrhynchosAD 100

γάρ, ἐπιζητῶν φιλόλογον, καὶ Χαιρήμονα τὸν καθηγητὴν καὶ Δίδυμον τὸν τοῦ Ἀριστοκλέους, παρʼ οἷς ἐλπὶς ἦν καὶ ἐμέ τι κατορθῶσαι, οὐκέτι ἐν τῆι πόλει εὗρον, ἀλλὰ καθάρματα, παρʼ οἷς

<the> in hope rejoicing, <the> in tribulation being patient, <the> in prayer being constant,
χαίροντες,chairō rejoicing, G5463 Verb · present · active · participle · nominative · plural · masculine
74× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Romans as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To rejoice means to feel happy and glad, like the disciples in Mark 14:11. It can also be used as a greeting, wishing someone well and farewell.
Amplified meaning
rejoicing, feeling happy
Tyndale gloss
to rejoice
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

χαίρω is a Greek verb meaning to rejoice or be glad. It is used in various contexts, including greetings and farewells, as well as expressing joy in response to good news. The New Testament features it in verses like Matthew 2:10 and Philippians 4:10. It can also appear in forms of salutation, such as χαῖρε (hail) and χαίρετε (greetings).

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

χαίρω

[in LXX for שָׂמַח (Ge 45:16, al.), גִּיל (Pr 2:14, al.), etc.; inf., as greeting (v. infr.), Is 48:22 57:21 שָׁלוֹם), I Mac 10:18, II Mac 1:1 and freq. in these books ;]

to rejoice, be glad: Mk 14:11, Lk 15:5, 32 19:6, 37 22:5 23:8, Jo 4:36 8:56 20:20, Ac 5:41 8:39 11:23 13:48, II Co 6:10 7:7 13:9, Phl 2:17, 28, Col 2:5, I Th 5:16, Read the full entry →

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

χαίρω; impf. ἔχαιρον; fut. χαρήσομαι (Lk. i. 14; In. xvi. 20, 22; Phil. i. 18, for the earlier form χαιρήσω, cf. [W. 90 (86); B. 68 (60)]; Bétm. Ausf. Spr. ii. 322 sq. ; Matthiae ὃ 255 s.v.; Kiihner $343 s.v.; Kriiger § 40 s.v.; [Veitchs. y.]), once χαρῶ (Rev. xi. 10 Rec., a form occurring nowhere else); 2 aor. [pass. as act.] ἐχάρην cf. συγχαίρω, init.]; fr. Hom. down; Sept. for nov, m1, wi; to rejoice, be glad; a. in the prop. and strict sense: [Mk. xiv. 11]; Lk. xv. δ, [32]; xix. 6, 37; viii. 89; xi. 235 xiii. 48; 2 Co. [vi. 10]; vii. 7; xiii. 9,11 ΘΒ refer this to b. in the sense of farewell]; Phil. ii. 17, 28; Col. ii. 5; 1 Th. v.16; 1 Pet. iv. 18; 5. Jn. 3; opp. to κλαίειν, Ro. xii. 153 1 Co. vii. 30; opp. to κλαίειν x. θρηνεῖν, In. xvi. 20; opp. to λύπην ἔχειν, ib. 22; joined with ἀγαλλιᾶσθαι, Mt. v. 12; Rey. xix. 7; with oxiprav, Lk. vi. 23 ; χαίρειν ἐν κυρίῳ (see ἐν, I. 6 Ὁ. Ὁ.…

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

χαίρω, “rejoice”: P Eleph 133 (B.C. 223-222) ἐκομισάμην τὴν παρὰ σοῦ ἐπιστολήν, ἣν ἀναγνοὺς ἐχάρην (οί. Proleg. Ρ. 161) ἐπὶ τῶι με αἰσθέσθαι τὰ κατὰ σέ, P Berol 11662% (time of Claudius) (= Olsson, p. 190) πρὸ μὲν πάντων ἐχάρην μεγάλως λαβών σου [ἐἸπιστολήν, ὅτι ὑγειαίνεις, similarly P Giss I. 21% (time of Trajan), BGU II. 531}: 5 (ii/a.D.), and P Oxy I. 4117 (iii/iv a.D.) ἐπὶ τούτῳ σφόδρα χαίρω. It should be noted that in Phil 31, 44, RV marg. renders χαίρετε by ‘‘farewell.”’ Lightfoot (Comm. ad //.) combines the two meanings “‘ farewell” and “‘ rejoice,” but the latter is generally preferred by the commentators. The verb is very common in the opening address of letters, asin Ac 1578, 253. cf. Jas 17, e.g. ἘΣ Eleph 10” (B.c. 223— 222) Evdppovios Μίλωνι χαίρειν (for imper. inf. see Proleg. p- 179f.), P Oxy II. 2925 (c. A.D. 25) Θέων Τυράννωι τῶι τιμιωτάτωι πλεῖστα χαίρειν, P Ryl 11.…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

χαίρω (chairō) — to rejoice.

χαίρω,

[Refs 8th c.BC+]; 3rd.pers. plural imperative χαιρόντων [Refs 5th c.BC+]: imperfect, Epic dialect χαῖρον [Refs 8th c.BC+], Ionic dialect χαίρεσκον [Refs]: future χαιρήσω [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Epic dialect reduplicate infinitive κεχᾰρησέμεν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; later χᾰρῶ variant in [NT]: aorist ἐχαίρησα [Refs 1st c.AD+]: perfect κεχάρηκα [Refs 5th c.BC+], participle -ηκώς[Refs 8th c.BC+] —middle (in same sense), χαίρομαι, noted as a barbarism in [Refs 5th c.BC+]future χᾰρήσομαι Ps.-[Refs 2nd c.BC+]; Doric dialect χαρησοῦμαι [LXX+4th c.BC+]; Epic dialect κεχᾰρήσομαι [Refs 8th c.BC+]: aorist 1 participle χαιρησάμενος [Refs 2nd c.AD+]: Epic dialect aorist 1 χήρατο [Refs 8th c.BC+]; participle χηράμενος [Refs 1st c.AD+]: Epic dialect reduplicate aorist 2, 3rd.pers. plural κεχάροντο [Refs 8th c.BC+]; optative 3rd.pers. singular and plural κεχάροιτο…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

χαίρω

chairo

a primary verb; to be "cheer"ful, i.e. calmly happy or well-off;

impersonally, especially as salutation (on meeting or parting), be

well:--farewell, be glad, God speed, greeting, hall, joy(- fully),

rejoice.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

χαίρω

v.

I rejoice, am glad

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

χαίρω chairō 74x

to rejoice, be glad, be joyful, be full of joy, Mt. 2:10; 5:12; 18:13; Mk. 14:11; Rom. 12:12; 2 Cor. 2:3; a term of salutation, Hail! Mt. 26:49; λέγω χαίρειν, to greet, 2 Jn. 10:11; an epistolary forth, Health! Acts 15:23

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

χαίρω Root ΧΑΡ to rejoice, be glad, be delighted Hom., etc.; χ. θυμῶι or ἐν θυμῶι, χ. φρεσὶν ἧισι id. Hom.:—c. dat. rei, to rejoice at, be delighted with, take delight in a thing, id. Hom., etc.; so, χαίρειν ἐπί τινι Soph., Xen.:— c. part., χαίρω τὸν μῦθον ἀκούσας I rejoice at having heard, Il.; χαίρεις ὁρῶν Eur.; χαίρω φειδόμενος Ar.;— with part. pres. χαίρω sometimes takes the sense of φιλέω, to be wont to do, χαίρουσι χρεώμενοι Hdt., etc.

with negat., οὐ χαιρήσεις thou wilt or shalt not rejoice, i. e. thou shalt not go unpunished, shalt repent it, Ar.; so in Hom., οὐδέ τιν᾽ οἴω Τρώων χαιρήσειν Il.; so with an interrog., σὺ χαιρήσειν νομίζεις; Plut.: v. inf. IV. 2

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
18%rejoicing
rejoicing18% · 13×do rejoice14% · 10×i rejoice9% · 7×rejoice7% · 5×they rejoiced5% · 4×greeting4% · 3×i rejoiced4% · 3×will rejoice4% · 3×other renderings35% · 26×

74 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 29 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
verb88%adverbial8%object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 74 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
ἀσπάζομαιI greet, salute,γένεσιςbirth, lineageὦμοςa shoulder
καίand, even, also, nam
δέbut, on the otheὁράωI see, look uponσύ
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςἸησοῦςJesusκαίand, even, also,
ἐγώ
ἀγαπάωI loveδεῖit is necessary,ἀδελφόςa brother
μήNeg
οὗτοςὡςas, like as, how
χαίρωrejoicing,74×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀγαλλιάωI exult, am fullArticle theσυγχαίρωI rejoice with
ἐπί
Article theαὐτόςπᾶςall, the whole,
ἐν
κύριοςlord, Lord, mastἐκεῖνοςArticle the
Article the
δέbut, on the otheβασιλεύςa king, ruler, eθλῖψιςpersecution, aff
δέbut, on the other ha
ὅτιthat, since, becἐπίἐν

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

Concordanceχαίρω · 74× in the New Testament
Luke John Philippians 2 Corinthians Acts Matthew 1 Corinthians Romans 2 John 1 Peter 1 Thessalonians Colossians
Across the New Testament16 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 33 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 Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 63c. AD 40

χαίρει γὰρ τὰ μέν τινα τεναγώδει καὶ οὐ πάνυ βαθείᾳ θαλάττῃ, τὰ δ’ ὑποδρόμοις καὶ λιμέσι μήτ’ ἐπὶ γῆν ἀνέρπειν μήτε πόρρω γῆς ἐπινήχεσθαι δυνάμενα, τὰ δὲ κατὰ μέσον καὶ βαθὺ πέλαγος διαιτώμενα τὰς προκεχυμένας ἄκρας ἢ νήσους ἢ πέτρας ἐκτρέπεται·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.8c. AD 75–95

ἦσαν δέ τινες, οἳ πόθῳ τῆς ἱστορίας ἐπʼ αὐτήν με προύτρεπον, καὶ μάλιστα δὴ πάντων Ἐπαφρόδιτος ἀνὴρ ἅπασαν μὲν ἰδέαν παιδείας ἠγαπηκώς, διαφερόντως δὲ χαίρων ἐμπειρίαις πραγμάτων, ἅτε δὴ μεγάλοις μὲν αὐτὸς ὁμιλήσας πράγμασι καὶ τύχαις πολυτρόποις,…

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. BC 4th c. AD 3rd c. AD 1st c. AD
P.Grenf. 1 32Pelusion103 BC

Ποήρει Νεχούτου καὶ … ως καὶ Πετααρσεμθεῖ … … … η Φατρήους καὶ … χαίρειν καὶ ἐρρωμένοις διευτυχεῖν. ἐρρώμεθα δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ ὑμῶν τὴν ἀρίστην μνείαν ποιούμενοι παρὰ τοῖς

P.Bour. 10Pathyris89 BC

r Πλάτων Νεχθύρει χαίρειν. ἐξωρμήκαμεν ἐκ Λάτων πόλεως ἀντιληψόμενοι τῶν ἐνεστηκότων κατὰ τὸ συμφέρον τοῖς πράγμασι καὶ γεγραφότες

Chrest.Wilck. 12Pathyris89 BC

r Πλάτων τοῖς ἐν Παθύρει ἱερεῦσι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς κατοικοῦσι χαίρειν. γέγραφεν ἡμῖν Φιλόξενος ὁ ἀδελφὸς διʼ ὧν κεκόμικεν ἡμῖν Ὄρσης γραμμάτων περὶ τοῦ τὸν

<the> in hope rejoicing, <the> in tribulation being patient, <the> in prayer being constant,
τῇho <the> G3588 Article · dative · singular · feminine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Romans as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

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

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

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

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

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

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

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

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

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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

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

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

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existἐγώ
ἐν
καίand, even, also,αὐτόςArticle the
εἰς
αὐτόςεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come inἔρχομαιI come, go
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakδέbut, on the otheπρός
εἰμίI am, exist
οὗτοςσύἐγώ
<the>19783×
what comes after →
θεόςGod, a god
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
ἸησοῦςJesus
λέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
ἐγώἸησοῦςJesusArticle the
πατήρfather, Father, ance
ἐγώσύαὐτός

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

<the> in hope rejoicing, <the> in tribulation being patient, <the> in prayer being constant,
θλίψειthlipsis in tribulation G2347 Noun · dative · singular · feminine
45× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Romans than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Pressure or tribulation, like the affliction Jesus talks about in Matthew 24:9. It can also mean distress, as in 2 Corinthians 1:4, where God comforts us in our troubles.
Amplified meaning
pressure, tribulation, distress
Tyndale gloss
pressure
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

θλῖψις (thlipsis) is a feminine noun meaning pressure, often used metaphorically to denote tribulation, affliction, or distress. It appears in various contexts in the New Testament, including references to persecution and emotional turmoil. The word is derived from θλίβω and is associated with other terms like ἀνάγκη (necessity) and στενοχωρία (narrowness, distress). Notably, lexicons differ on the strength of these synonyms, with some suggesting στενοχωρία conveys a more intense sense of distress.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — θλῖψις, στενοχωρία from a scan

THESE words were often joined together. Thus στενοχωρία, occurring only four times in the N. T., is on three of these associated with θλῆψις (Rom. ii. 9; vill. 353 2 Cor. vi. 4; cf. Deut. xxviii. 55; Isai. vill. 22; xxx. 6). So too the verbs θλίβειν and στενοχωρεῖν (2 Cor. iv. 8; cf. Lucian, Nigrin. 13; Artemidorus, i. 79; ii. 37). From the antithesis at 2 Cor. iv. 8, θλιβόμενοι, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ στενοχωρούμενοι, and from the fact that, wherever in the N. T. the words occur together, στενοχωρία always occurs last, we may conclude that, whatever be the difference of meaning, στενοχωρία is the stronger word. They indeed express very nearly the same thing, but not under the same image. Θλῖψιες (joined with βάσανος at Ezek. xii. 18, with ἀνάγκη, Zeph. i. 15, and for which we have the form θλιμμός, Exod. iii. 9; Deut. xxvi. 7) is properly pressure, ‘pressura,’ ‘tribulatio,—which last διν. SYNONYMS OF…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

θλίψις (LTr., θλῖψις), -εως, ἡ

(< θλίβω),

[in LXX for צָרָה, etc.;]

pressure (Arist.). In LXX and NT metaph., tribulation, affliction, distress: Mt 24:9, 21, 29, Mk 13:19, 24, Jo 16:21, Ac 7:11 11:19, Ro 12:12, II Co 1:4, 8 4:17 6:4 7:4 8:2, 13, Phl 4:14, II Th 1:6, Ja 1:27, Re 1:9 2:9, 22 7:14; c. ἀνάγκη (q.v.), I Th 3:7; στενοχωρία (which from the order of the words would appear to be the stronger term), Ro 2:9 8:35; διωγμός,

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

θλίψις, or θλῖψις [so L Tr], (cf. W. § 6, 1 e.; Lipsius, Grammat. Untersuch. p. 35), -ews, ἡ, (θλίβω), prop. α pressing, pressing together, pressure (Strab. p. 52; Galen); in bibl. and eccles. Grk. metaph., oppression, affliction, tribulation, distress, straits; Vulg. tribulatio, also pressura (2 Co. i. 4°; Jn. xvi. [21], 33; [Phil. i. 16 (17); and in Col. i. 24 passio}) ; (Sept. for 7x, also for Ὃν, yoo, ete.): Mt. xxiv. 9; Acts vii. 11; xi. 19; Ro. xii. 12; 9'Co. i. 4, 8: iv. 11; vi. 4; vil. 4; vill. 2; 2 Th. 1 6; Rey. i. 9; ii. 9,22; vii. 14; joined with στενοχωρία [cef. Trench § lv.], Ro. ii. 9; viii. 35, (Deut. xxviii. 53 sq.; Is. [vili. 22]; xxx. 6); with ἀνάγκη, 1 Th. iii.7; with διωγμός, Mt. xiii. 21; Mk.iv.17; 2 Th.i.4; of the afflictions of those hard pressed by siege and the calamities of war, Mt. xxiv. 21, 29; Mk. xiii. 19, 24; of the straits of want, 2 Co. viii. 13; Phil.…

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

θλῖψις. W.-Schm. Gy. p. 68) is generally thought to be confined to | Bibl. and eccles. Greek (cf. Milligan on 1 Th 18), but the | beginning of the later usage may be traced in OG/S 44415 (B.C. 125 or 77) διὰ τὰς τῶν πόλεων θλίψεις, apparently = ““because of the straits of the cities,” and perhaps in BGU IV. 1139 (B.c. 5) χάρν (7. χάριν) τῆς ἐσχηκνίας ἡμᾶς [[kowkn] By . . . ns θλεζίψ)εως, where, however, the meaning is not clear. See also the exx. which Boll (Offexsarung, p- 134 f.) quotes from Hellenistic astrology in illustration of Mt 2474, Mk 13¥, e.g. Catal. VIII. 3, 175, 5 évvovar καὶ θλῖψις, VII. 169, 12 λύπαι Kal πένθη καὶ κλαυθμοὶ ἔσονται ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῴ τόπῳ Kal στοναχαὶ καὶ

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

θλῖψις (thlipsis) — pressure.

θλῖψις, εως, ἡ,

pressure, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; ἀντέρεισις καὶ θ. [Refs 1st c.BC+]; of the pulse, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; ὑστερικαὶ θ. [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

2. crushing, castration, πώλων [Refs]

3. metaphorically, oppression, affliction, [LXX+1st c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

θλῖψις

thlipsis

from 2346; pressure (literally or figuratively):--afflicted(-tion),

anguish, burdened, persecution, tribulation, trouble.

see GREEK for 2346

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

θλῖψις, εως, ἡ

n.f.

persecution, affliction, distress

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

θλῖψις thlipsis 45x

pr. pressure, compression; met. affliction, distress of mind, 2 Cor. 2:4; distressing circumstances, trial, affliction, Mt. 25:9

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

trib-u-la'-shun (tsar, tsar, "staid," "narrow," "pent up"; compare Nu 22:26):

1. In the Old Testament:

Closely pressed, as of seals (Job 41:15 (7)); of streams pent up (Isa 59:9 margin); of strength limited (Pr 24:10, "small"). Hence, figuratively, of straitened circumstances; variously rendered "affliction," "tribulation," "distress" (De 4:30; Job 15:24; 30:12; Ps 4:2; 18:7; 32:7; 44:11, etc.; Ps 78:42; 102:3; 106:44; 119:143;

Tribulation

Trouble or affiction of any kind (Deut. 4:30; Matt. 13:21; 2 Cor. 7:4). In Rom. 2:9 “tribulation and anguish” are the penal sufferings that shall overtake the wicked. In Matt. 24:21, 29, the word denotes the calamities that were to attend the destruction of Jerusalem.

Nave's Topical Bible

→ General scriptures concerning Joh 16:33

→ See AFFLICTION

→ See SUFFERING

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
59%tribulation
tribulation59% · 26×tribulations23% · 10×affliction18% · 8×

44 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
adverbial53%subject24%object20%predicate2%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 45 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
ἐνπᾶςall, the whole, μετά
καίand, even, also, nam
ΧανάανPropδεσμόςa bond, chainἀνάγκηnecessity, const
εἰς
σύαὐτός
πολύςmuch, many, often
διάγάρfor
ἐν
πολύςmuch, many, ofteλόγοςa word, speech,
θλῖψιςin tribulation45×
what comes after →
ἐγώ
μένωI remain, abideεἰςArticle the
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀποκτείνωI put to death, στενοχωρίαa narrow space, συνοχήdistress, anguis
Article the
ἡμέραa dayγίνομαιI come into beinπερισσείαabundance
Disj
διωγμόςpersecutionστενοχωρίαa narrow space,
μέγας
οἷοςκαίand, even, also,ἐάνCond

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

Concordanceθλῖψις · 45× in the New Testament
2 Corinthians Acts Revelation Romans Matthew 1 Thessalonians Mark 2 Thessalonians John Philippians 1 Corinthians Colossians
Across the New Testament15 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 57 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
The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Giants 17c. AD 40

„ἐξαπέστειλεν εἰς αὐτοὺς ὀργὴν θυμοῦ αὐτοῦ, θυμὸν καὶ ὀργὴν καὶ θλῖψιν, ἀποστολὴν δι’ ἀγγέλων πονηρῶν“ (Psalm.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 4.108c. AD 75–95

κατὰ δὲ τὴν ὁδὸν ἀγγέλου θείου προσβαλόντος αὐτῷ κατά τι στενὸν χωρίον περιειλημμένον αἱμασιαῖς διπλαῖς ἡ ὄνος, ἐφʼ ἧς ὁ Βάλαμος ὠχεῖτο, συνεῖσα τοῦ θείου πνεύματος ὑπαντῶντος ἀπέκλινε τὸν Βάλαμον πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον τῶν τριγχῶν ἀναισθήτως ἔχουσα τῶν…

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

ὅτι διὰ τὴν παράβασιν αὐτῶν εἰς θλῖψιν θανάτου παραδοθήσονται.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 4th c. AD 2nd c. BC 7th c. AD 1st c. BC
P.Tebt. 3.2 913 descr.Tebtynis (Arsinoites)139 BC

εὐσήμως παρα … … … υπως πρὸς τοὺς κατὰ μέρος … … πᾶσαν ὑπογράφοντος θλῖψιν … … αὐτὸν προφανοῦς καὶ μοχθηρ … … μέχρι τῆς κα τοῦ Χοίαχ

P.Yale 4 149Herakleopolites138 BC

ἐνεστῶτι … , διὰ δὲ τὴν τοῦ ποταμοῦ καταδεεστέραν ἀνάβασιν καὶ τὴν τοῦ καιροῦ θλῖψιν οὐ … δυνάμενος ἀπευλυτῆσαι … … αι … ενειν

BGU 4 1139Alexandria6 BC

Λύκου ἀμφοτέρων παρόντων ἀπὸ Λύκων πόλεως τῆς Θηβαίδος. πάρεσμεν χάριν τῆς ἐσχηκυίας ἡμᾶς βιωτικῆς θλίψεως ἐποιήσαμεν εἰς Πάρθον δοῦλον Χρήτου παραμονὴν ἔτι δὲ καὶ τροφῖτιν τοῦ γενομένου ἐξ ἀλλήλων

<the> in hope rejoicing, <the> in tribulation being patient, <the> in prayer being constant,
ὑπομένοντες,hupomenō being patient, G5278 Verb · present · active · participle · nominative · plural · masculine
17× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Romans as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To remain or endure through difficult situations, like in Matthew 10:22 and Romans 8:24. It means to have the strength to bear trials and persevere, as seen in the lives of Jesus and the apostles.
Amplified meaning
enduring, remaining steadfast
Tyndale gloss
to remain/endure
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ὑπομένω (i.e., *hupomeno*) is built from the prefix ὑπο- (under) and the verb μένω (to remain). It covers meanings such as to stay behind, endure, and bear patiently. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts of waiting and enduring trials, notably in Romans and James, with various lexicons noting its use in both transitive and intransitive forms.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὑπο-μένω

[in LXX chiefly for קָוָה, also for יָחַל hi., etc. ;]

in-trans., to stay behind: seq. ἐν, Lk 2:43; ἐκεῖ, Ac 17:14.

Trans.,

c. acc, to await, wait for: Ro 8:24 (Hom., Hdt., Xen., al.);

of things, to bear patiently, endure: absol., Mt 10:22 24:13, Mk 13:13, II Ti 2:12, Ja 5:11, I Pe 2:20; τ. θλίψει (dat. of circumstance), Ro 12:12; seq. εἰς, He 12:7; c. acc rei,

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

ὑπο-μένω ; impf. ὑπέμενον ; fut. 2 pers. plur. bropeveire ; 1 aor. ὑπέμεινα; pf. ptep. ὑπομεμενηκώς ; fr. Hom. down; Sept. for map, Tan, OM; 1. to remain i.e. tarry behind: foll. by év with a dat. of the place, Lk. ii. 43; ἐκεῖ, Acts xvii. 14. 2. to remain i.e. abide, not recede or flee; trop. a. to persevere: absol. and emphat., under misfortunes and trials to hold fast to one’s faith in Christ [R. V. commonly endure], Mt. x. 22; xxiv. 13; Mk. xiii. 13; 2 Tim. ii. 12 [cf. vs. 10 in b.]; Jas. v. 11; with τῇ θλίψει added, when trial assails [A. V. in tribulation (i. e. dat. of cireumstances or condition)], (cf. Kiihner § 426, 3 [Jelf § 603, 1]), Ro. xii. 12 (quite different is ὑπομένειν τῷ κυρίῳ, ΤῊ 2 Onin, Lam. iii. 21,24; Mic. vii.7; 2K. vi. 33; my 727, Ps. xxxii. (xxxiii.) 20, to esse faithfully to [A. V. wait for] the Lord, where the dat. depends on the verb contrary to Grk. usage…

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

ὑπομένω. For the trans. use of this verb ‘‘bear up,” ‘‘endure,” cf. PSI IV. 4351 (B.c. 258-7) (= Deissmann ZAZ?, p. 153) προσευξάμενος δίὲ] αὐ[τῶι, é]a[p με] ὑγιάσηι, διότι ὑπομενῶ τὴν ληιτο[υργ]ΐίαν, ‘but having prayed to him, if he would heal me, I said that I would endure my ministry,” P Oxy II. 237 4) 88 (Ἂν Ὁ, 186) δίκην ὑπομενοῦσι τὴν προσήκουσαν, “*will suffer the due penalty of their disobedience” (Edd.), P Hamb I. 22? (Christian—iv/a.D.) ὃς κακὰ πόλλ᾽ ὑπέμεινε μιῆς ἐπίηρα θυγάτρος, ‘who suffered many ills for the sake of his only daughter,” P Oxy IX. 11864 (iv./A.p.) τὸ τὴν διὰ τῶν ἱμάντων... αἰκείαν ὑπομένειν ἐστὶν μὲν Kal ἐπὶ τῶν δουλικὴν τύχην εἰληχότων ἀνιαρόν, ‘subjection to the punishment of scourging is even for those of servile estate lamentable ’’ (Ed.), cf. 7 τοιαύτην ὕβρειν ὑπομένειν, and 26. VI. 904° (v/A.D.) αὐτὸν τὸ ἀζήμιον πληροῖν τοῖ[ς] τὴν βλάβην ὑπομένουσιν…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὑπομένω (hupomenō) — to remain/endure.

ὑπομένω,

future -μενῶ conjecture in [Refs 4th c.BC+]:— stay behind, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ὑπομεινον ἕως ἂν παραγένηται [Refs 3rd c.BC+]: also, remain alive, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: of things, to be left behind, remain, ὑπέμεινε τὸ παχύτερον [Refs 2nd c.AD+]: generally, to be permanent, [Refs 4th c.BC+]

II. transitive,

II.1. with accusative person, abide or await another, διὰ τοῦτό σε οὐχ ὑπέμενον [Refs 5th c.BC+]; especially await his attack, bide the onset, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ὑ. τὰς Σειρῆνας abide their presence, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of evils, κακῶν ὅσα ἡμᾶς ἐν ὑστέρῳ χρόνῳ ὑ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὑπομένω

hupomeno

from 5259 and 3306; to stay under (behind), i.e. remain; figuratively,

to undergo, i.e. bear (trials), have fortitude, persevere:--abide,

endure, (take) patient(-ly), suffer, tarry behind.

see GREEK for 5259

see GREEK for 3306

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὑπομένω

v.

I remain behind, endure

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὑπομένω hypomenō 17x

intrans. to remain or stay behind, when others have departed, Lk. 2:43; trans. to bear up under, endure, suffer patiently, 1 Cor. 13:7; Heb. 10:32; absol. to continue firmly, hold out, remain constant, persevere, Mt. 10:22; 24:13

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὑπομένω fut. -μενῶ aor1 ὑπ-έμεινα to stay behind, survive, Od., Hdt., attic

trans.,

c. acc. pers. to await another, to await his attack, bide the onset, Il., Hdt.; ὑπ. τὰς Σειρῆνας to abide their presence, Xen.

c. acc. rei, to be patient under, abide patiently, submit to, Hdt., Thuc., etc.; ὑπ. τὴν κρίσιν to await one's trial, Aeschin.: to wait for, τὴν ἑορτήν Thuc.

absol. to stand one's ground, stand firm, Il., Hdt., etc.; ὑπομένων καρτερεῖν to endure patiently, Plat.

c. inf. to submit or dare to do a thing, wait to do, persist in doing, like Lat. sustinere, Od., Xen.

so with part. relating to the subject, εἰ ὑπομενέουσι χεῖρας ἀνταειρόμενοι if they shall dare to lift their hands, Hdt.; ὑπομένει ὠφελούμενος he submits to be helped, Plat.:—with part. relating to the object, ὑπ. Ξέρξεα ἐπιόντα to await his attack…

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
24%having endured
having endured24% · 4×endures12% · 2×remained6% · 1×being patient6% · 1×i endure6% · 1×we endure6% · 1×you endured6% · 1×endured6% · 1×other renderings29% · 5×

17 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 13 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 17 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
δέbut, on the other ha
Article the
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
ἐλπίζωI hope, hope forοὗτος
αὐτός
ὑποστρέφωI turn back, ret
θάλασσαthe sea, lake
Article the
θλῖψιςpersecution, afflict
Article the
ὑπομένωbeing patient,17×
what comes after →
εἰς
τέλοςan end, purpose,
Article the
προσευχήprayer, a place ὑπομονήendurance, stead
ἸησοῦςJesus
Article the
τέDisj
Article the
διά
Article the

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

Concordanceὑπομένω · 17× in the New Testament
Hebrews 1 Peter 2 Timothy James Matthew 1 Corinthians Acts Luke Mark Romans
Across the New Testament10 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 36 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 Epistle of Barnabas Ignatius of Antioch Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 2.41c. AD 40

πάντα γὰρ ὅσα πάσχει ἡ αἴσθησις, οὐκ ἄνευ νοῦ ὑπομένει, πηγὴ γὰρ οὗτός ἐστιν αὐτῇ

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.135c. AD 75–95

Ναβρώδης δὲ Χούσου υἱὸς ὑπομείνας παρὰ Βαβυλωνίοις ἐτυράννησεν, ὡς καὶ πρότερόν μοι δεδήλωται.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 5.1c. AD 100

Εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ ὑπέμεινεν ὁ κύριος παραδοῦναι τὴν σάρκα εἰς καταφθοράν, ἵνα τῇ ἀφέσει τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἁγνισθῶμεν, ὅ ἐστιν ἐν τῷ αἵματι τοῦ ῥαντίσματος αὐτοῦ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. BC 4th c. AD 3rd c. BC 6th c. AD 1st c. BC
P. Münch. 3 52Herakleopolites176 BC–127 BC

τάλαντα μ Δυο, ὧν καὶ χ … χειρόγραφον ἀτοῦ ἔχω, ταύτας ἀπαιτούμενος πλεονάκις οὐχ ὑπομένει ἀποδιδόναι, ἀλλὰ διαπλανᾷ με. διὸ ἀξιῶ, ἐὰν φαίνηται, συντάξαι ἀσφαλίσασθαι αὐτὸν μέχρι τοῦ τὴν

P.Oxy. 59 3992AlexandriaAD 101–AD 200

καὶ νῦν ἐν τοῖς περὶ Διογᾶτος ἀντιδικεῖ μοι. τοῦτο ὑμᾶς μαρτύρομαι μόνον. οὐ γὰρ ὑπομένω αὐτὸν μιμήσασθαι.

P.Oslo 3 93Oasis ParvaAD 211–AD 212

ἐκτελοῦντα τὴν νυκτοφυλακίαν, ὡς πρόκειται. εἰ δὲ μή, ἐγὼ αὐτὸς τὸν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ λόγον ὑπομενῶ, ἢ ἔνοχος εἴην τῷ ὅρκῳ. ἔτους κ Αὐτοκράτορος Καίσαρος Μάρκου Αὐρηλίου Σεουήρου Ἀντωνίνου Παρθικοῦ

<the> in hope rejoicing, <the> in tribulation being patient, <the> in prayer being constant,
τῇho <the> G3588 Article · dative · singular · feminine
19,783× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in Romans as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

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

As demonstr. pron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

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

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

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

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

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

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

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

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

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

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

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

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

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

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

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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

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

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

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existἐγώ
ἐν
καίand, even, also,αὐτόςArticle the
εἰς
αὐτόςεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come inἔρχομαιI come, go
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakδέbut, on the otheπρός
εἰμίI am, exist
οὗτοςσύἐγώ
<the>19783×
what comes after →
θεόςGod, a god
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
ἸησοῦςJesus
λέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
ἐγώἸησοῦςJesusArticle the
πατήρfather, Father, ance
ἐγώσύαὐτός

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

<the> in hope rejoicing, <the> in tribulation being patient, <the> in prayer being constant,
προσευχῇproseuchē in prayer G4335 Noun · dative · singular · feminine
36× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Romans than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Prayer to God, like in Matthew 21:22 and Acts 3:1, or a place for prayer, as in Matthew 21:13
Amplified meaning
talking to God, communion with Him
Tyndale gloss
prayer
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

προσευχή (proseuchē) means prayer, particularly a prayer directed to God. It can also refer to a place of prayer, such as a synagogue or chapel. The New Testament uses this term in various contexts, including specific verses like Matthew 17:21 and Acts 16:13. Some lexicons note a distinction between προσευχή and related terms, but the differences are not universally agreed upon.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — εὐχή, προσευχή, δέησις, ἔντευξις, εὐχαριστία, αἴτημα, ἱκετηρία from a scan

αἴτημα, ἱκετηρία. Four of these words occur together at 1 Tim. 11. 1 ; on which Flacius Illyricus (Clavis, 5. v. Oratio) justly observes: ‘Quem vocum acervum procul dubio Paulus non temere congessit.’ I propose to consider not these only, but the larger group of which they form a portion. Εὐχή is found only once in the N. T. in the sense of a prayer (Jam. v. 15); twice besides in that of a vow (Acts XViii. 18; xxi. 23); compare Plato (Legg. vii. 801 a), εὐχαὶ παρὰ θεῶν αἰτήσεις εἰσί. On the distinction between it and προσευχή, between εὔχεσθαι and προσεύχεσθαι, there is a long discussion in Origen (De Orat. ὃ 2, 8, 4), but of no great value, and not bringing out more than the obvious fact that in εὐχή and εὔχεσθαι the notion of the vow, of the dedicated thing, is more commonly found than that of prayer. A more interesting treatment of the words, and the difference between them, may be…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

† προσ-ευχή, -ῆς, ἡ

(< προσεύχομαι),

[in LXX chiefly for תְּפִלָּה;]

prayer to God: Mt 17:21 (WH, R, txt., om.) 21:22, Mk 9:29, Lk 22:45, Ac 3:1 6:4 10:31, Ro 12:12, I Co 7:5, Col 4:2; pl., Ac 2:42 10:4, Ro 1:10, Eph 1:16, Col 4:12, I Th 1:2, Phm 4, 22, I Pe 3:7 4:7, Re 5:8 8:3, 4; οἶκος προσευχῆς,

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

προσ-ευχή, -ῆς, 9, (προσεύχομαι), Sept. for ΤΙ 311, i. 4. εὐχὴ πρὸς τὸν θεόν [cf. πρός, IV. 1]; 1. prayer addressed to God: Mt. xvii. 21 [T WH om. Tr br. the vs.]; xxi. 22; Mk. ix. 29; Lk. xxii. 45; Acts iii.1; vi. 4; x. 31; Ro. xii. 12; 1 Co. vii. 5; Col. iv. 2; plur., Acts ii. 42; x.4; Ro.i. 10 (9); Eph.i.16; Col. iv.12; 1 Th. i. 2; Philem. 4, 22; 1 Pet. iii. 7; iv. 7; Rev.v. 83 viii. 3,4 (where rais mpocevyais is a dat. commodi, for, in aid of, the prayers [W. § 31, 6c.; cf. Green p. 101 sq.}); οἶκος προσευχῆς, a house devoted to the offering of prayer to God, Mt. xxi. 13; Mk. xi. 17; Lk. xix. 46, (Is. lvi.7; 1 Mace. vii. 37); προσευχὴ καὶ δέησις, Acts 1. 14 Ree.; Eph. vi. 18; Phil. iv. 6, (1 K. viii. 38; 2 Chr. vi. 29; 1 Mace. vii. 37; on the distinction between the two words see δέησις) ; plur., 1 Tim. ii. 1; v. 5; ἡ πρ. τοῦ θεοῦ, prayer to God, Lk. vi. 12 (εὐχαριστία θεοῦ, Sap.…

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

προσευχή. For a pagan instance οἵ προσευχή in the general sense of ‘‘ prayer,” ‘‘ supplication,” we can now cite the interesting letter, BGU IV. τοϑοῦ (iii/A.p.) (= Chrest. I. p. 564), in which a father congratulates his son on his marriage kata τὰς κοινὰς ἡμῶν εὐχὰς Kal προσευχάς. Exx. of προσευχή as a Jewish “‘ place of prayer,” as in Ac 1618 (cf. 3 Macc 72°), are readily forthcoming from both the papyri and the inscrr. Thus as early as B.C. 217 we have a petition from a village of the Fayiim, P Magd 35 (= Chrest. I. p. 80), regarding a garment deposited ὃ ἐν τῆι προσευχῆι τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων, to await a judicial decision as to the rightful owner. And in P Tebt I. 8615 (late ii/B.c.) we read of a προσευχὴ Ιουδαίων with a Διὸς παρά(δεισος) near at hand. From Roman times comes aseries of accounts from the waterworks of the metropolis (? Hermopolis), P Lond 117757 (A.D. 113) (=III. p. 183)…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

προσευχή (proseuchē) — prayer.

προσευχή, ἡ,

prayer, οἶκος προσευχῆς, of the Temple, [LXX+3rd c.AD+]

II. place of prayer, sanctuary, chapel, [Refs]; especially among the Jews. synagogue, [NT+3rd c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

προσευχή

proseuche

from 4336; prayer (worship); by implication, an oratory (chapel):--X

pray earnestly, prayer.

see GREEK for 4336

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

προσευχή, ῆς, ἡ

n.f.

prayer, a place for prayer

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

προσευχή proseuchē 36x

prayer, Mt. 17:21; 21:13, 22; Lk. 6:12; Acts 1:14; meton. a place where prayer is offered, an oratory, perhaps, Acts 16:13, 16

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

προσευχή προσ-ευχή, ἡ, prayer, οἶκος προσευχῆς, of the Temple, NTest.

a place of prayer, an oratory or chapel, id. NTest., Juven.

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

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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

prar (deesis, proseuche, (enteuxis; for an excellent discussion of the meaning of these see Thayer's Lexicon, p. 126, under the word deesis; the chief verbs are euchomai, proseuchomai, and deomai, especially in Luke and Acts; aiteo, "to ask a favor" distinguished from erotao, "to ask a question," is found occasionally): In the Bible "prayer" is used in a simpler and a more complex a narrower and a wider signification. In the former case it is supplication for benefits either for one's self (petition) or for others (intercession). In the latter it is an act of worship which covers all soul in its approach to God. Supplication is at the heart of it, for prayer always springs out of a sense of need and a belief that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him (Heb 11:6). But adoration and confession and thanksgiving also find a…

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Prayer

Is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or formal. It is a “beseeching the Lord” (Ex. 32:11); “pouring out the soul before the Lord” (1 Sam. 1:15); “praying and crying to heaven” (2 Chr. 32:20); “seeking unto God and making supplication” (Job 8:5); “drawing near to God” (Ps. 73:28); “bowing the knees” (Eph. 3:14).

Smith's Bible Dictionary

The object of this article will be to touch briefly on -- The doctrine of Scripture as to the nature and efficacy of prayer; Its directions as to time, place and manner of prayer; Its types and examples of prayer. Scripture does not give any theoretical explanation of the mystery which attaches to prayer. The difficulty of understanding real efficacy arises chiefly from two sources: from the belief that man lives under general laws, which in all cases must be fulfilled unalterably; and the opposing belief that he is master of his own destiny, and need pray for no external blessing. Now, Scripture, while, by the doctrine of spiritual influence it entirely disposes of the latter difficulty, does not so entirely solve that part of the mystery which depends on the nature of God. It places it clearly before us, and emphasizes most strongly those doctrines on which the difficulty turns. Yet…

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Is the offering of the emotions and desires of the soul to God, in the name and through the mediation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is the communion of the heart with God through the aid of the Holy Spirit, and is to the Christian the very life of the soul. Without this filial spirit, no one can be a Christian, Job 21:15 Ps 10:4.

In all ages God has delighted in the prayers of his saints. From the promulgation of the law, the Hebrews did not intermit public worship daily in the tabernacle or the temple. It consisted in offering the evening and morning sacrifices, every day, accompanied with prayers by the priests and Levites in that holy edifice. Every day also the priests offered sacrifices, incense, offerings, and first fruits for individuals; they performed ceremonies…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
53%prayer
prayer53% · 19×prayers42% · 15×fervent prayer3% · 1×prayer’3% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial58%subject17%object14%predicate11%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 36 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
ἐνἐπίκαίand, even, also,
οἶκοςa house, household
ἐγώ
ἐν
μήNeg
φυλακήa watching, guard, p
Article the
νομίζωI think, suppose
οὗwhere, whither,
προσευχήin prayer36×
what comes after →
Article the
ἅγιοςset apart, holy,θεόςGod, a godἔνατοςninth
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theπάλινagain, further, δέησιςsupplication, pr
σύ
δέbut, on the otheκαίand, even, also,χαρίζομαιI show favor to,
ἐγώ
δέομαιI request, begἀδιαλείπτωςunceasingly
καλέωI call, invite, name
σύπᾶςall, 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

Concordanceπροσευχή · 36× in the New Testament
Acts Luke Revelation Romans 1 Peter 1 Timothy Colossians Ephesians Matthew Mark Philemon 1 Corinthians
Across the New Testament15 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 31 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
Ignatius of Antioch Philo of Alexandria Josephus Clement of Rome The Didache
Philo of AlexandriaAgainst Flaccus 45c. AD 40

οὐ γὰρ ἦν ἄδηλον, ὅτι ἡ περὶ τὴν κατάλυσιν τῶν προσευχῶν φήμη λαβοῦσα τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας διαδοθήσεται μὲν εὐθὺς εἰς τοὺς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ νομούς, δραμεῖται δ’ ἀπὸ μὲν Αἰγύπτου πρὸς ἀνατολὰς καὶ ἔθνη τὰ ἑῷα, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς ὑποταινίου καὶ Μαρείας,…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 14.258c. AD 75–95

δεδόχθαι καὶ ἡμῖν Ἰουδαίων τοὺς βουλομένους ἄνδρας τε καὶ γυναῖκας τά τε σάββατα ἄγειν καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ συντελεῖν κατὰ τοὺς Ἰουδαίων νόμους καὶ τὰς προσευχὰς ποιεῖσθαι πρὸς τῇ θαλάττῃ κατὰ τὸ πάτριον ἔθος.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 19.12c. AD 100

οὐ προσήξεις ἐπὶ προσευχὴν ἐν συνειδήσει πονηρᾷ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
4th c. AD 3rd c. AD 3rd c. BC
BGU 4 1080AD 201–AD 300

τῇ ὑπαρχθείσῃ σοι ἀγαθῇ εὐσεβεῖ καὶ εὐτυχεῖ συμβιώσει κατὰ τὰς κοινὰς ἡμῶν εὐχὰς καὶ προσευχάς, ἐφʼ αἷς οἱ θεοὶ τέλειον ἐπακούσαντες παρέσχον. καὶ ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀκοῇ ἀπόντες ὡς παρόντες

P.Lond. 6 1917Herakleopolites bzw. KynopolitesAD 330–AD 340

εἰδέναι, ὅπως ὁ θεὸς ἀκυρώσῃ τὸ χειρόγραφον τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν μου διὰ τῶν βεβαιοτάτων ὑμῶν προσευχῶν ἁγιωτάτων. γνῶναί σε οὖν θέλω, γνησιώτατε καὶ μακαριώτατε, ὅτι ὅτε ἦμεν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ

P.Lond. 6 1926AD 326–AD 375

ἴασιν λαμβάνω. δέομαι τῷ θεῷ δέομαι καὶ σοι μνήσθητί μου ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ σου προσευχῇ. εἰ καὶ ἐν σώματι οὐκ ἧκα παρὰ τοὺς πόδας σου ἐν πνεύματι ἧκα πρὸς

<the> in hope rejoicing, <the> in tribulation being patient, <the> in prayer being constant,
προσκαρτεροῦντες,proskartereō being constant, G4342 Verb · present · active · participle · nominative · plural · masculine
10× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in Romans than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To continue in or with something means to persevere or be diligent, as seen in Acts 1:14 and Romans 12:12. It involves adhering closely to a person, place, or thing, often requiring patience and dedication.
Amplified meaning
continuing steadfastly, persevering
Tyndale gloss
to continue in/with
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word προσκαρτερέω (i.e., proskartereo) is built from the prefix προς (toward) and the root καρτερός (strong, steadfast). It covers a range of meanings including to persist, adhere closely, and attend constantly to someone or something. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts emphasizing steadfastness in prayer and community activities.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

προσ-καρτερέω, -ῶ

(< καρτερός, strong, stedfast),

[in LXX: Nu 13:21 (חזק hith.), To 5:8 א, Da Th Su 6*;]

to attend constantly, continue stedfastly, adhere to, wait on: c. dat. pers., Mk 3:9, Ac 8:13 10:7; c. dat. rei, Ac 1:14 2:42 6:4, Ro 12:12, Col 4:2; seq. ἐν, Ac 2:46; εἰς, Ro 13:6.†

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

προσ-καρτερέω, -ὦὥ ; fut. προσκαρτερήσω ; (καρτερέω, fr. καρτερός [‘strong,’ ‘steadfast ᾽], of which the root is (τὸ) κάρτος for κράτος [‘strength’; ef. Curtius § 72]) ; to persevere [‘ continue steadfastly’ in any thing [cf. πρός, IV. 4]: of persons, with the dat. of a thing, to give constant attention to a thing, Acts ii. 42 [here Lchm. adds ἐν (once) inbr.]; τῇ προσευχῇ, Acts i. 14; vi. 4; Ro. xii. 12; Col. iv. 2, (ταῖς θήραις, Diod. 3, 17; τῇ πολιορκίᾳ, Polyb. 1, 55, 4; Diod. 14, 87; τῇ καθέδρᾳ, persist in the siege, Joseph. antt. 5, 2,6); with the dat. of a person, to adhere to one, be his adherent; to be devoted or constant to one: Acts viii. 13; x. 7, (Dem. p. 1386, 6; Polyb. 24, 5, 3; Diog. Laért. 8, 1,14); εἴς τι, to be steadfastly attentive unto, to give unremitting care to a thing, Ro. xiii. 6 [ef. Meyer ad loc.]; ἐν with a dat. of place, to continue all the time in a place…

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

προσκαρτερέω. For προσκαρτερέω, ‘‘continue steadfastly” in a certain course of action, as in Ac 64, Rom 1212, cf. the oath of a strategus on taking office, P Oxy I. 825 (iii/A.D.) mpookapτερῶν τῇ στρατηγίᾳ ἀδιαλίπτως els τὸ ἐν μηδενὶ μεμφθῆναι. Similarly P Lond 90457 (A.D. 104) (ΞΞ III. p. 125, Se/ectzons, p- 73), an order to certain persons to return home, in order that they may carry out the census and τῇ προσ[ηκού]σῃ αὐτοῖς γεωργίαι προσκαρτερήσωϊσιν, ‘‘and continue steadfastly in the husbandry that belongs to them,’’ and P Amh II. 653 (early ii/A.D.) a petition of two brothers, who had been chosen as cultivators of the royal domains, that one of them should be released ἵνα δυνηθῶμεν kal τῇ ἑαυτῶν γεωργίᾳ προσκαρτερεῖν, ‘‘in order that we may be able to attend to our own cultivation as well” (Edd.). Other exx. c. dat. rei are P Oxy ILI. 5309 (ii/a.p.) ἐπὶ μάτη[ν] δὲ τῶι τοῦ…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

προσκαρτερέω (proskartereō) — to continue in/with.

προσκαρτερ-έω,

Doric dialect ποτι- [Refs 2nd c.BC+]:— persist obstinately in, τῇ πολιορκίᾳ [NT+5th c.BC+]; καίπερ ἀχθόμενοι τῇ καθέδρᾳ π. [Refs 1st c.AD+]

2. adhere firmly to a man, be faithful to him, τινι [NT+2nd c.BC+]; of servants, remain in one's service, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; of a κοσμητής, [Refs]

2. b remain in attendance at a law-court, τῷ βήματι, τῷ κριτηρίῳ, [Refs 1st c.AD+]

2. c devote oneself to an office or occupation, τῇ στρατηγίᾳ [Refs 3rd c.AD+]; τῇ ἑαυτῶν γεωργίᾳ [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

3. passive, ὁ προσκαρτερούμενος χρόνος time diligently employed, [Refs 1st c.BC+]

4. wait for a person, Φιλέᾳ [Refs 3rd c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

προσκαρτερέω

proskartereo

from 4314 and 2594; to be earnest towards, i.e. (to a thing) to

persevere, be constantly diligent, or (in a place) to attend

assiduously all the exercises, or (to a person) to adhere closely to

(as a servitor):--attend (give self) continually (upon), continue (in,

instant in, with), wait on (continually).

see GREEK for 4314

see GREEK for 2594

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

προσκαρτερέω

v.

I persist

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

προσκαρτερέω proskartereō 10x

to persist in adherence to a thing; to be intently engaged in, attend constantly to, Acts 1:14; 2:42; Rom. 13:6; to remain constantly in a place, Acts 2:46; to constantly attend upon, continue near to, be at hand, Mk. 3:9; Acts 8:13; 10:7

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

προσκαρτερέω fut. ήσω to persist obstinately in, Xen., etc.

to adhere firmly to a man, be faithful to him, τινί Dem.

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

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
40%steadfastly continuing
steadfastly continuing40% · 4×will steadfastly continue10% · 1×attending10% · 1×being constant10% · 1×attending continually10% · 1×do continue steadfastly10% · 1×may wait upon10% · 1×

10 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 7 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 10 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
εἰμίI am, exist
πᾶςall, the whole, βαπτίζωI dip, submerge,
προσευχήprayer, a place for
Article the
πλοιάριονa little boat
ἵναin order that, s
δέbut, on the other ha
εἰμίI am, exist
τέDisj
ἡμέραa day
προσκαρτερέωbeing constant,10×
what comes after →
αὐτός
διά
ὁμοθυμαδόνwith one mind, unani
Article theἐν
Article the
διδαχήteaching, doctriΦίλιπποςPhilip
γρηγορέωI am awake, am vigil
ἐν

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

Concordanceπροσκαρτερέω · 10× in the New Testament
Acts Romans Colossians Mark
Across the New Testament4 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Polycarp
PolycarpPolycarp to the Philippians 7.2c. AD 110

διὸ ἀπολιπόντες τὴν ματαιότητα τῶν πολλῶν καὶ τὰς ψευδοδιδασκαλίας ἐπὶ τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἡμῖν παραδοθέντα λόγον ἐπιστρέψωμεν, νήφοντες πρὸς τὰς εὐχὰς καὶ προσκαρτεροῦντες νηστείαις, δεήσεσιν αἰτούμενοι τὸν παντεπόπτην θεὸν μὴ εἰσενεγκεῖν ἡμᾶς εἰς…

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
P.Brem. 16Hermopolis (?)AD 117

τοσαύτας ἡμέρας ὁ ἐπιτηρητὴς τῶι Βησαρίωνι ἀπετάξατο εἰπών· μὴ κατέχου. ἀρκετὸς γάρ ἐστιν Ἱερακίων προσκαρτερῶν καὶ ἐμοὶ κατω … ο

P.Ross.Georg. 2 31ArsinoitesAD 101–AD 200

ἐκάθητο τὸ λογιστήριον τοῦ αἰγιαλοφύλακος. περὶ τῶν ἑπτὰ στατήρων γράφω σοι, ὅτι πολλὰ ἔκαμον προσκαρτερῶν τῷ Ἡραΐσκῳ καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι κδ δράχμας μοι δέδωκεν λέγων, ὅτι στατῆρα ἑνὰ ὑπελόγησεν

P.Amh. 2 124HermopolisAD 101–AD 200

γραφὴ τῶν συνμενόντων καὶ προσκαρτερούντων παλαιαστροφυλάκων. στρατηγῷ δ· Ἥρων Δίου, Διόσκορος Ἑρμαίου, Διόσκορος Θεαγένους, Ἡρᾶς Διοσκόρου. γυμνασιάρχῳ δ· Φιβίων

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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