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Romans 16:1 — Word Study

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N1904Συνίστημι δὲ ὑμῖν Φοίβην τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἡμῶν οὖσαν καὶ διάκονον τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἐν Κεγχρεαῖς,

BSAI commendsunistēmi, sunistaō [strongly recommend, introduce] nowde to yousu PhoebePhoibē theho sisteradelphē [fellow believer, Christian sibling] of usegō beingeimi also a servantdiakonos [faithful, devoted, deaconess, minister] of theho churchekklēsia [assembly, community of believers] <the>ho inen [located at, belonging to] Cenchrea,Kegchreai [a port city of Corinth, an early Christian community]

Word
Listen & take awayRomans 16
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 1 opens the 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 (Kegchreai) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
Romans 16:1quick helps
In a sentencePaul introduces Phoebe, a respected deaconess of the church in Cenchrea, and recommends her to the believers.
Who is speakingPaul, addressing the Roman church.
Where we areThe closing chapter of Romans, where Paul acknowledges individuals and their contributions.
The hard wordσυνίστημι
Take awayPhoebe is highlighted as a significant figure in the early church.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause verbσυνίστημι The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
How rare are these words?in the New Testament

1 of 15 occurs nowhere else in the New Testament — a word chosen on purpose.

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 16:1

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 — Final Greetings in Romansgenerated

1I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea.
2Welcome her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her with anything she may need from you. For she has been a great help to many people, including me.
3Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,
4who have risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

Romans 16:1 presents Paul commending Phoebe to the church in Cenchrea. This chapter is notable for its personal greetings and acknowledgments of various individuals who contributed to the ministry. Paul emphasizes the importance of community and support among believers, encouraging the church to welcome Phoebe warmly and assist her in her needs, as she has been a great help to many, including Paul himself.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
12 Corinthians 3:1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?
2Matthew 12:50For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
3Mark 10:30will fail to receive a hundredfold in the present age—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, along with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.
41 Timothy 5:2older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.
5James 2:15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 9 references, hung on the phrase they belong to

CenchreaActs 18:18

The Key Word συνίστημι, sunistēmi, sunistaōgenerated

The verb συνίστημι is composed of the prefix συν-, meaning 'together,' and the root ἵστημι, meaning 'to stand.' It conveys the idea of commending or recommending someone, as seen in Romans 16:1 where Paul commends Phoebe to the church.

In this context, the active voice indicates that Paul is the one actively recommending Phoebe to the Roman believers, highlighting her role and importance within the church community.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

In the Berean Standard Bible, the verse reads, 'I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea.' Other translations, such as the KJV and ASV, use 'commend unto you' and 'who is a servant,' respectively, maintaining the essence of Paul's commendation.

Where the translations differ is in the rendering of διάκονον. The BSB, KJV, and ASV all translate it as 'servant,' while the DBY opts for 'minister' and the FBV uses 'deaconess.' This reflects a range of interpretations regarding Phoebe's role.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main verb of the verse is Συνίστημι, I commend, which governs the entire sentence. The structure includes an indirect object, ὑμῖν, to you, and a noun phrase, Φοίβην, Phoebe, as the direct object, while additional phrases provide context about her role and location.

The sentence structure emphasizes the action of commending Phoebe, with her identity and function as a servant of the church in Cenchrea clearly delineated, highlighting her importance in the early Christian community.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

συνίστημι does not have a direct equivalent in the Septuagint but is related to the Hebrew word for 'to stand' or 'establish,' which conveys a similar sense of presenting or recommending someone.

The term ἐκκλησία is used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew word for assembly, indicating the gathering of God's people, which aligns with its New Testament usage to refer to the church.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

Romans 16:1 shows Paul recommending Phoebe, a deaconess of the church in Cenchrea, to the believers in Rome. He emphasizes her importance and encourages them to welcome her and assist her as needed.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

Who was Phoebe?

Phoebe was a Christian woman and a deaconess in the church at Cenchrea, recognized for her service and support in the early church.

What does it mean to commend someone?

To commend someone means to recommend or endorse them, highlighting their qualities or contributions, as Paul does for Phoebe.

Why is Phoebe's role significant?

Phoebe's role as a deaconess signifies the active involvement of women in the early church and their contributions to the ministry.

What can we learn from Paul's commendation of Phoebe?

Paul's commendation teaches us the importance of recognizing and supporting those who serve in the church, fostering a spirit of community and encouragement.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. How can I support and commend those who serve in my church community?
  2. What qualities do I see in others that I can acknowledge and encourage?
  3. In what ways can I actively participate in the ministry, like Phoebe did?
  4. How does recognizing the contributions of others strengthen our church community?

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

Early church Fathers comment on Romans 16:1 to highlight the role of women in ministry, particularly focusing on Phoebe's commendation by Paul.

Origen of AlexandriaCOMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS c. 185–253
This passage teaches that there were women ordained in the church’s ministry by the apostle’s authority.… Not only that—they ought to be ordained into the ministry,
Early Church Fathers on Romans 16 →
John ChrysostomHomily on Romans 30 c. 347–407
"I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a deaconess of the church which is at Cenchrea." See how many ways he takes to give her dignity. For he has both mentioned her before all the rest, and called her sister.
Early Church Fathers on Romans 16 →
John ChrysostomHomily on Romans 30 c. 347–407
"I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a deaconess (A. V. servant) of the church which is at Cenchrea." See how many ways he takes to give her dignity. For he has both mentioned her before all the rest, and called her sister.
Early Church Fathers on Romans 16 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on Romans 16:1 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

I commend unto you Phebe our sister,.... This chapter chiefly consists of commendations and salutations of persons, and begins with the former.

Read John Gill on Romans 16 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea: Recommendation of Phoebe to the Roman Church (Romans 16:1-2) I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is

Read Robert Jamieson on Romans 16 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible

ROMANS CHAPTER 16 ,2 Paul commendeth Phebe to the Christians at Rome, and sendeth salutations to many by name. He warneth them to take heed of those who cause divisions and offences. After sundry salutations, he concludes with praise to God. This chapter is in the nature of a postscript. The apostle begins it with the recommendation of a certain woman to them. She went upon some occasion to Rome, and by her (as some have supposed) this Epistle was sent to the church there. Phebe: the poets called the moon Phoebe, as they did the sun Phoebus. This name is likely to have been imposed by her parents, being Gentiles. Our sister; i.e. in Christ, and by the profession of the same faith: see .…

Read Matthew Poole on Romans 16 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1 I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea: Ver. 1. Servant of the Church] A deaconess to minister to the sick, as 1 Timothy 5:9, not a praedicantisse, to preach or have Peter’ s keys on their belt. (Dr Bastwick against Independency.)

Read John Trapp on Romans 16 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(1) Phebe.—As the Roman Church is especially exhorted to receive Phebe, it has been inferred that she was one of the party to which St. Paul entrusted his Epistle, if not the actual bearer of it herself. Our sister—i.e., in a spiritual sense—a fellow-Christian. Servant.—Rather, a deaconess, keeping the technical term. Deacons were originally appointed to attend to the wants of the poorer members of the Church. This is the first mention of women-deacons, in regard to whom instructions are given to Timothy (1 Timothy 3:11). The necessity for an order of deaconesses would gradually make itself felt where women were kept in a stricter seclusion, as in Greece and some parts of the East.…

Read Charles John Ellicott on Romans 16 →
AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

CHAPTER XVI. The apostle commends to the Christians at Rome Phoebe, a deaconess of the Church at Cenchrea, 1, 2. Sends greetings to Aquila and Priscilla, of whom he gives a high character; and greets also the Church at their house, 3-5. Mentions several others by name, both men and women, who were members of the Church of Christ at Rome, 6-16. Warns them to beware of those who cause dissensions and divisions, of whom he gives an awful character, 17, 18. Extols the obedience of the Roman Christians, and promises them a complete victory over Satan, 19, 20. Several persons send their salutations, 21-23. To whose good wishes he subjoins the apostolic blessing; commends them to God; gives own…

Read AdamClarke on Romans 16 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Ch. Romans 16:1-16. A commendation, and many salutations1. I commend] Lit. But, or now, I commend. The particle marks transition to a new subject.Phebe] Strictly, Phœbe.—Nothing is known of Phœbe beyond the information in this passage. It is probable that she was the bearer of the Epistle to Rome; for no other bearer is mentioned, and the prominence of this notice of her suggests a special connexion with the writing. See further below.—The early Christian converts seem to have had no scruple in retaining a pre-baptismal name even when the name (as in this case) was that of a heathen deity. Cp. Hermes, (Romans 16:14); Nereus, (Romans 16:15); and such derivative names as Demetrius (3 John…

Read Cambridge on Romans 16 →
Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I commend - It was common then, as now, to bear letters of introduction to strangers, commending the person thus introduced to the favorable regards and attentions of those to whom the letters were

Read Albert Barnes on Romans 16 →

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

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the assembly that is at Cenchreae,

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea.

NETBNew English Translation2006

Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea,

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea:

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church that is at Cenchreæ:

RVARevised Version, American1894

I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church that is at Cenchreae:

NWBWebster's Bible1833

I commend to you Phebe our sister, who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea:

GNVGeneva Bible1599

I Commende vnto you Phebe our sister, which is a seruaunt of the Church of Cenchrea:

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

But I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is minister of the assembly which is in Cenchrea;

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

And I commend you to Phebe our sister — being a ministrant of the assembly that [is] in Cenchrea —

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

And I commend you to Phoebe our sister—being a servant of the assembly that [is] in Cenchrea—

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church that is in Cenchrea,

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

And I commend to you Phebe, our sister, who is in the ministry of the church, that is in Cenchrae:

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

I recommend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deaconess at the Cenchreae church.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

It is my desire to say a good word for Phoebe, who is a servant of the church in Cenchreae:

Word by word, the decisions they made

οὖσανeimi being G1510 2 different renderings
beingLSV YLT
it isBBE
διάκονονdiakonos a servant G1249 3 different renderings
a servantASV BBE BSB KJV LSV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB WEB
ministerDBY
deaconessFBV
ἐκκλησίαςekklēsia church G1577 2 different renderings
churchASV BBE BSB DRA FBV GNV KJV MSB NETB NWB RVA ULB
assemblyDBY LSV WEB YLT

Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.


The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the Nestle 1904 treebank

This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.

clauseδὲnowclauseverbΣυνίστημιI commendindirect objectὑμῖνto younoun phrase · objectΦοίβηνPhoebenoun phraseτὴνthenoun phraseἀδελφὴνsisterἡμῶνof usclause · adverbiallinking verbοὖσανbeingnoun phrase · predicateδιάκονονa servantnoun phrasenoun phraseτῆςof theἐκκλησίαςchurchnoun phraseτῆς-prepositional phraseἐνinΚενχρεαῖςCenchreaclauseἵναthatclauseclauseobjectαὐτὴνherverbπροσδέξησθεyou might receiveprepositional phrase · adverbialἐνin [the]ΚυρίῳLordnoun phrase · adverbialἀξίωςworthilynoun phraseτῶν-ἁγίωνof the saintsκαὶandclauseverbπαραστῆτεyou might assistadverbialαὐτῇherprepositional phrase · adverbialἐνinnoun phraseclauseἂν-clauseadverbialwhateverobjectὑμῶνof youverbχρῄζῃshe may needπράγματιmatterclauseγὰρforclausenoun phrase · subjectκαὶAlsoαὐτὴshelinking verbἐγενήθηhas beennoun phrase · predicateπροστάτιςa patronessnoun phraseπολλῶνof manyκαὶandnoun phraseἐμοῦof meαὐτοῦmyself

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

Commendo autem vobis Phœben sororem nostram, quæ est in ministerio ecclesiæ, quæ est in Cenchris :

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

ܡܓܥܠ ܐܢܐ ܠܟܘܢ ܕܝܢ ܠܦܘܒܐ ܚܬܢ ܕܐܝܬܝܗ ܡܫܡܫܢܝܬܐ ܕܥܕܬܐ ܕܩܢܟܪܐܘܣ

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

Συνίστημι δὲ ὑμῖν Φοίβην τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἡμῶν οὖσαν καὶ διάκονον τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἐν Κεγχρεαῖς,

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

Συνίστημι δὲ ὑμῖν Φοίβην τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἡμῶν οὖσαν καὶ διάκονον τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἐν Κεγχρεαῖς,

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

Συνίστημι δὲ ὑμῖν Φοίβην τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἡμῶν οὖσαν καὶ διάκονον τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἐν Κεγχρεαῖς,

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

Συνίστημι δὲ ὑμῖν Φοίβην τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἡμῶν οὖσαν καὶ διάκονον τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἐν Κεγχρεαῖς,

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

Συνίστημι δὲ ὑμῖν Φοίβην τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἡμῶν οὖσαν διάκονον τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἐν Κεγχρεαῖς,

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

Συνίστημι δὲ ὑμῖν Φοίβην τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἡμῶν οὖσαν διάκονον τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἐν Κεγχρεαῖς,

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

Συνίστημι δὲ ὑμῖν Φοίβην τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἡμῶν οὖσαν διάκονον τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἐν Κεγχρεαῖς,

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

Συνίστημι δὲ ὑμῖν Φοίβην τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἡμῶν οὖσαν διάκονον τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἐν Κεγχρεαῖς,

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

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

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

Word by word, across the editions

WordEditions carrying itMissing from
καὶ alsoNA28, NA27, SBL, WHTreg, Tyn, TR, Byz

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

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

Romans 16:1συνίστημιI commendI commendσυνίστημιδέnownowδέσύto youto youσύΦοίβηPhoebePhoebeΦοίβηthetheἀδελφήsistersisterἀδελφήημωνof usof usημωνεἰμίbeingbeingεἰμίκαίalsoalsoκαίδιάκονοςa servanta servantδιάκονοςof theof theἐκκλησίαchurchchurchἐκκλησία<the><the>ἐνininἐνΚεγχρεαίCenchrea,Cenchrea,ΚεγχρεαίἐκPrep. fromPrep. from out,ἐκφῶςn.n. lightn.n. light, a sφῶςἀδελφόςn.m. a bron.m. a brotherἀδελφόςδιώκωv. I pursuv. I pursue, peδιώκωκαλέωv. I call,v. I call, inviκαλέωεἰςPrep. intoPrep. into, in,εἰςἑαυτοῦRefl.pr. hRefl.pr. himselἑαυτοῦπάλινAdv again,Adv again, furtπάλινἀμήνHebr. veriHebr. verily, tἀμήνΜάρθαn.f. Marthn.f. MarthaΜάρθαμήτηρn.f. a motn.f. a motherμήτηρἄξιοςAdj worthyAdj worthy, worἄξιοςμετασχηματίζωv. I changv. I change theμετασχηματίζωπιστόςAdj trustwAdj trustworthyπιστόςὅδεDem.pr. thDem.pr. this heὅδεἀσπάζομαιv. I greetv. I greet, salἀσπάζομαισυναγωγήn.f. an asn.f. an assemblσυναγωγήἔρημοςAdj desertAdj deserted, dἔρημος
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 16:1

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.

I commend now to you Phoebe the sister of us being also a servant of the church <the> in Cenchrea,
Συνίστημιsunistēmi, sunistaō I commend G4921 Verb · present · active · indicative · first person · singular
16× 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 commend or recommend, as in Romans 16:1 where Paul commends Phoebe to the church.
Amplified meaning
strongly recommend, introduce
Tyndale gloss
to commend
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

συνίστημι is built from the prefix συν- meaning 'together' and the root ἵστημι meaning 'to stand.' It covers meanings such as to commend, recommend, show, prove, and to be composed of or cohere. In the New Testament, it appears in several letters, notably in Romans and 2 Corinthians, where it emphasizes the act of presenting or establishing someone or something.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

συν-ίστημι

[in LXX for צוה pi., קהל ni., etc.; I Mac 12:43, II Mac 4:24, III Mac 1:19 (and freq. in these books) ;]

trans.,

to commend, recommend: c. acc. pers., II Co 3:1 6:4 10:12, 18; id. c. dat., Ro 16:1 (as freq. at the beginning of a letter; Deiss., LAE, 226), II Co 5:12; seq. πρός, II Co 4:2; pass., seq. ὑπό, II Co 12:11;

to show, prove, establish: c. acc., Ro 3:5 5:8, II Co 6:4; dupl. acc., Ga 2:13; acc. et inf.,

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

συν-ίστημι (Ro. iii. 5; v. 8; xvi. 1; 2 Co. x. 18; Gal. ii. 18 Rec.; ptep. συνιστάντες, 2 Co. iv. 21, Τ Tr; vi. 41, T Tr), or συνιστάνω (2 Co. ν. 12; Gal. ii. 18 GLTTr WH; inf. συνιστάνειν, 2 Co. iii. 1 R GT WH; ptep. συνἱστάνων, 2 Co. iv. 2 WH; vi. 4 WH; x. 12,.18 LT Tr WH), or συνιστάω (inf. συνιστᾶν, 2 Co. iii. 1L Tr; ptep συνιστῶν, 2 Co. iv. 2 RG; vi.4 RG; x. 18 Rec.; see ἵστημι) ; 1 aor. συνέστησα; pf. συνέστηκα; 2 pf. ptep. συνeoras[nom. plur. neut. -τῶτα, 2 Pet. iii. 5 WHaurg.]; pres. pass. inf. συνίστασθαι; fr. Hom. Il. 14, 96 down; 2. to place together, to set in the same place, to bring or band together; in the 2 aor., pf. and plupf. intransitively, to stand with (or near): συνεστώς τινι, Lk. ix. 32. 2. to set one with another i.e. by way of presenting or introducing him, i. e. to commend (Xen., Plat., Dem., Polyb., Joseph., Plut.) : τινά, 2 Co. iii. 1; Wie Ais) χα, 1. 18…

Read the full entry →
Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

συνίστημι place of ἐπίσταμαι in the closely parallel 59060%. The literal meaning ‘‘bring together” is probable in PSI VI. 6657 (ili/B.C.) γεωργοὺς δὲ ods οὐ συνίημι, but unfortunately the verb is followed by a lacuna. ovvioTH it is very common in the papyri, and is used with a great variety of meanings. We can notice only the principal ones, and those most nearly related to the NT occurrences of the word. (1) From its original meaning ‘‘set together,” ‘*combine,’’ συνίστημι passes into the sense of ‘* bring together as friends,” ‘‘introduce,’’ ‘‘recommend,” as in P Petr II. 11(1)° (iii/B.c.) (= Selections, p. 7) πέπεισμαι ῥαιδίως pe τῶι βασιλεῖ συσταθήσεσθαι, “I am sure that I shall easily be introduced to the King,’ P Oxy IV. 787 (A.D. 16) ἐρωτῶ σε οὖν ἔχειν συνεσταμένον, “I ask you therefore to hold him as recommended,” 26, II. 2025 (a.D. 25) παρακαλῶ oe μετὰ πάσης δυνάμεως ἔχειν…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

συνίστημι, συνιστάω (sunistēmi, sunistaō) — to commend.

συνίστημι,

also συνιστάνω [Refs 2nd c.BC+]; συνιστάω [NT+4th c.BC+]; imperfect συνίστα [Refs 2nd c.BC+]imperfect συνίστην, future συστήσω, aorist 1 συνέστησα: transitive perfect συνέστᾰκα, found only in later texts, [Refs 1st c.AD+]:—set together, combine, τὰς χορδὰς ἀλλήλαις [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὰς ἄρκυς καὶ τὰ δίκτυα falsa lectio in [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. combine, associate, unite, σ. τοὺς Ἀρκάδας ἐπὶ τῇ Σπάρτῃ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ταύτας (i.e. τὰς πόλεις) [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. b σ. Ἀσίην ἑωυτῷ unite Asia in dependence on himself, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; μαντικὴν ἑωυτῷ συστῆσαι bring prophetic art into union with himself, i.e. win, acquire it, [Refs 5th…

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Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

συνίστημι, συνιστάνω

v.

I commend, prove, am composed of, cohere

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

συνίστημι synistēmi 16x

also spelled συνιστάνω and συνιστάω, to place together; to recommend to favorable attention, Rom. 16:1; 2 Cor. 3:1; 10:18; to place in a striking point of view, Rom. 3:5; 5:8; Gal. 2:18; to stand beside, Lk. 9:32; to have been permanently framed, Col. 1:17; to possess consistence, 2 Pet. 3:5

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

συνιστάω = συνίστημι III, NTest.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAI-1S — Verb · present · active · indicative · first person · singular
present active indicative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAI-1S Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: first Number: Singular

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ko-mend':

(1) For paratithemi (Lu 23:46), translating the Hebrew paqadh (Ps 31:5), in the dying words of Jesus: "Into thy hands I commend my Spirit." the King James Version in Psalms has the more general word "commit." The use of the Greek word in the sense of "deposit what belongs to one into the hands of another" is not uncommon in the classics. So also the derivatives paratheke (2Ti 1:12) and parakatatheke (1Ti 6:20; 2Ti 1:14). See DEPOSIT. This sense of the English, while slightly archaic, corresponds to the first meaning of the Latin, whence it comes, "to commit for preservation," especially of the dying; to commend…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
19%commending
commending19% · 3×shows6% · 1×demonstrates6% · 1×i commend6% · 1×commend?6% · 1×we commending6% · 1×we are commending6% · 1×you have proved6% · 1×other renderings38% · 6×

16 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 14 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 16 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
ἑαυτοῦ
πάλινagain, further, Article the
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
ἐν
Article the
ἀνήρa male human bei
δικαιοσύνηjustice, justness, r
θεόςGod, a god
ἀλήθειαtruth
Article the
συνίστημιI commend16×
what comes after →
ἑαυτοῦ
πρόςὡςas, like as, howἁγνόςpure, chaste
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theσύ
αὐτός
τίςIrg
εἶπονI say, speak
Disj
μήNeg

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

Concordanceσυνίστημι · 16× in the New Testament
2 Corinthians Romans 2 Peter Colossians Galatians Luke
Across the New Testament6 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 11 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 17c. AD 40

ᾗ δὲ συνέστηκεν, εἰσόμεθα παρακολουθήσαντες εἰκόνι τινὶ τῶν παρ’ ἡμῖν.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 8.172c. AD 75–95

καταδεεστέραν τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν ἀπέφηνεν ἧς ὁρῶ νῦν παροῦσα τὰς μὲν γὰρ ἀκοὰς πείθειν ἐπεχείρει μόνον, τὸ δὲ ἀξίωμα τῶν πραγμάτων οὐχ οὕτως ἐποίει γνώριμον, ὡς ἡ ὄψις αὐτὸ καὶ τὸ παρʼ αὐτοῖς εἶναι συνίστησιν.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 2nd c. BC 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 1st c. AD
P.Lond. 7 219370 BC–59 BC

συνλόγους καὶ συναγωγὰς καὶ ἀποδημίας καὶ μηδενὶ αὐτῶν ἐξέστω συνπε … ματαρχηισειν μηδὲ σχίσματα συνίστασθαι μηδʼ ἀποχωρήσειν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ἡγουμένου φράτρας εἰς ἑτέραν φράτραν καὶ μὴ γ

P.Oxy. 22 2349OxyrhynchosAD 70

Σεουήρου οὐ δυνάμενος τὸν εἰς τὴν χώραν ἀνάπλουν ποιήσασθαι διὰ τὸ ἐν στρατείᾳ εἶναι συνίστημι τὸν ἠλευθερωμένον ὑπʼ ἐμοῦ πρὶν τῆς στρατείας τότε χρηματίζων Πτολεμαῖος Πτολεμαίου Φυλαξιθαλάσσιος ὁ καὶ

P.Brem. 5Hermopolis (?)AD 117–AD 119

Μάλχον βενεφικιάριον Ῥαμμίου τοῦ κρατίστου ἡγεμόνος ἡμῶν ἐπιμελόμενον τῆς ὑπὸ σὲ περιμέτρου ἄνδρα ἀγαθώτατον συνίστημί σοι. ἐλπίζω δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν δώσειν ἐργασίαν τοιοῦτον ἑαυτὸν παραστῆσαί σοι, οἷον ἐγὼ διεβεβαιωσάμην

I commend now to you Phoebe the sister of us being also a servant of the church <the> in Cenchrea,
δὲde now G1161 Conjunction
2,787× 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
This is a conjunction that means and, but, or then, used to connect ideas like in Matthew 1:2 and 2 Corinthians 6:15.
Tyndale gloss
then
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

δέ (de) is a post-positive particle in Greek, primarily used as a conjunction to connect clauses. It can express contrast (but, on the other hand) or continuation (and, also), and is often used to transition between ideas or to add emphasis. In the New Testament, it appears frequently in various contexts, such as contrasting statements or resuming interrupted discourse, with notable examples in Matthew and 2 Corinthians.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δέ (before vowels δ’; on the general neglect of the elision in NT, v. WH, App., 146; Tdf., Pr., 96),

post-positive conjunctive particle;

copulative, but, in the next place, and, now (Abbott, JG, 104): Mt 1:2ff., II Co 6:15, 16, II Pe 1:5-7; in repetition for emphasis, Ro 3:21, 22, 9:30, I Co 2:6, Ga 2:2, Phl 2:8; in transition to something new, Mt 1:18 2:19, Lk 13:1, Jo 7:14, Ac 6:1, Read the full entry →

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δέ (de) — then.

δέ,

but: adversative and copulative Particle,

I. answering to μέν (which see), τὴν νῦν μὲν Βοιωτίαν, πρότερον δὲ Καδμηίδα γῆν καλουμένην [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. without preceding μέν,

II.1. adversative, expressing distinct opposition, αἰεί τοι τὰ κάκ᾽ ἐστὶ φίλα.. μαντεύεσθαι, ἐσθλὸν δ᾽ οὔτε τί πω εἶπας[Refs 5th c.BC+]; so in Prose, οὐκ ἐπὶ κακῷ, ἐλευθερώσει δέ.. [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II.2. copulative,

II.2. a in explanatory clauses, ξυνέβησαν.. τὰ μακρὰ τείχη ἑλεῖν (ἦν δὲ σταδίων μάλιστα ὀκτώ) [Refs 8th c.BC+]: when a substantive is followed by words in apposition, Ἀρισταγόρῃ τῷ Μιλησίῳ, δούλῳ δὲ ἡμετέρῳ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; so in answers, διπλᾶ λέγειν. —Answ. διπλᾶδ᾽ ὁρᾶν…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

δέ

de

a primary particle (adversative or continuative); but, and,

etc.:--also, and, but, moreover, now (often unexpressed in English).

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δέ

Cj.

but, on the other hand, and

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δέ de 2x

a conjunctive particle, marking the superaddition of a clause, whether in opposition or in continuation, to what has preceded, and it may be variously rendered but, on the other hand, and, also, now, etc.; καὶ δέ, when there is a special superaddition in continuation, too, yea, etc. It sometimes is found at the commencement of the apodosis of a sentence, Acts 11:17. It serves also to mark the resumption of an interrupted discourse, 2 Cor. 2:10; Gal. 2:6

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

δέ but: conjunctive Particle, with adversative force: it commonly answers to μέν, and may often be rendered by while, whereas, on the other hand, v. μέν:— but μέν is often omitted, δέ being used merely to pass on from one thing to another; ὣς Ἀχιλεὺς θάμβησεν, θάμβησαν δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι Il.; etc.; κινεῖ κραδίην κινεῖ δὲ χόλον Eur.

δέ is often redundant,

to introduce the apodosis, where it may be rendered by then, yet, εἰ δέ κε μὴ δώωσιν, ἐγὼ δέ κεν αὐτὸς ἕλωμαι if they will not give it, then I will take it, Il.; so at in Lat., si tu oblitus es, at Dii meminerint Catull.

to resume after interruption caused by a parenthesis, where it may be rendered by I say, now, so then, Hdt.

POSITION of δέ: properly second, being often put between the Art. and Subst., the prep. and case.

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

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
33%now
now33% · 974×however27% · 780×then21% · 620×and12% · 360×but5% · 154×other renderings2% · 49×

2,937 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 15 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 2,787 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
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existσύ
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςκύριοςlord, Lord, mastπεντακισχίλιοιfive thousand
εἰCond
παλαιόςold, ancient, woσύεἰμίI am, exist
εἰμίI am, exist
περιπατέωI walk, conduct ἀναπίπτωI lie down, reclμνημεῖονa tomb, sepulche
οὗτος
δίδωμιI offer, giveθεόςGod, a godπίστιςfaith, belief, t
δέnow2787×
what comes after →
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusθεόςGod, a godκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
αὐτός
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐπί
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςArticle theσύ
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theοὗτοςἸωάννηςJohn
τὶς
Article theαὐτόςὄνομαname, character,

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

Concordanceδέ · 2,787× in the New Testament
Acts Luke Matthew 1 Corinthians John Mark Romans 2 Corinthians Hebrews Galatians James 1 Timothy

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

Across the New Testament26 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
I commend now to you Phoebe the sister of us being also a servant of the church <the> in Cenchrea,
ὑμῖνsu to you G4771 Personal pronoun · second person · dative · plural
2,892× 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
This Greek word means 'you' and is used to address someone directly, like in John 1:30 and Matthew 26:64. It's a way to emphasize or contrast the person being spoken to. The KJV Bible translates it as 'thou'.
Tyndale gloss
you
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

σύ is the second-person singular pronoun meaning 'you' in Greek. It has various forms: genitive σοῦ, dative σοί, and accusative σέ. The word can be used for emphasis or contrast, particularly in the New Testament, as seen in verses like Matthew 26:64. It also appears in various dialects and has enclitic forms.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

σύ,

pron. of 2nd pers.,

thou, you, gen., σοῦ, dat., σοί, acc., σέ, pl., ὑμεῖς, -ῶν, -ῖν, -ᾶς (enclitic in oblique cases sing., except after prep. (BL, §48, 3), though πρὸς σέ occurs in Mt 25:39). Nom. for emphasis or contrast: Jo 1:30, 42 4:10 5:33, 39, 44, Ac 4:7, Eph 5:32; so also perhaps σὺ εἶπας, Mt 26:64, al. (M, Pr., 86); before voc., Mt 2:6, Lk 1:76, Jo 17:5, al.; sometimes without emphasis (M, Pr., 85f.), as also

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

σύ, pron. of the second pers. (Dor. and Aeol. τύ, Boeot. Tov), gen. σοῦ, dat. σοί, ace. σέ (which oblique cases are enclitic, unless a preposition precede; yet πρός σε is written [uniformly in Ree. (exe. Mt. xxvi. 18), in Grsb. (exe. Jn. xxi. 22, 23), in Treg. (exc. Mt. xxvi. 18; Acts xxiii. 30), in Lchm. (exe. Mt. xxvi.18; Jn. xvii. 11, 13; xxi. 22, 23; Acts xxiii. 30), in Tdf. (exe. Mt. xxvi. 18; Lk. i. 19; Jn. xvii. 11, 13; Jn. xxi. 22; Acts xxiii. 18, 30; 1 Tim. iii. 14; Tit. iii. 12); also by WH in Mt. xxv. 39], see ἐγώ, 2; Lipsius, Grammat. Untersuch. p. 62 sq. [W. §6, 3; B. 31 (27)]); plur. ὑμεῖς, εἴς. : Lat. tu, ete., vos, ete.; thou, ete., ye,ete. The nominatives ov and ὑμεῖς are expressed for emphasis — before a vocative, as σὺ Βηθλεέμ, Mt. ii. 6; σὺ παιδίον (Leian. dial. deor. 2, 1), Lk. i. 76; add, Jn. xvii. 5; Acts i. 24; 1 Tim. vi. 11, etc.; ὑμεῖς of Φαρισαῖοι, Lk. xi. 39…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

σύ (su) — you.

σύ [ῠ],

thou: pronoun of the second person:—Epic dialect nominative τύνη [ῡ] [Refs 8th c.BC+] (Laconian dialect τούνη [Refs 5th c.AD+]; Aeolic dialect σύ [Refs 7th c.BC+]; Doric dialect τύ [ῠ] [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Boeotian dialect τού [short syllable] [Refs 6th c.BC+] (also τούν [Refs]σύ, [Refs 8th c.BC+]—Gen. σοῦ, [Refs], elsewhere only Attic dialect, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; enclitic σου, [Refs 8th c.BC+] (also in Lyric poetry, [Refs 8th c.BC+] (which also occurs in Lyric poetry, [Refs 7th c.BC+], and as enclitic σευ, [Refs 8th c.BC+], σεο (enclitic) [Refs] σευ (enclitic) [Refs]:—Doric dialect τεῦ, τευ, [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; rarely τέο, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Boeotian dialect τεῦς [Refs 6th c.BC+]; Doric dialect τεοῦς [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τοι variant in [Refs]; enclitic τεος [Refs 5th c.BC+]; other Doric dialect forms are τίω, τίως, both [Refs 3rd c.BC+]—Dat. σοί, [Refs 8th c.BC+]…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

σύ

su

the person pronoun of the second person singular; thou:-- thou. See

also 4571, 4671, 4675; and for the plural 5209, 5210, 5213, 5216.

see GREEK for 4675

see GREEK for 4571

see GREEK for 4671

see GREEK for 5209

see GREEK for 5210

see GREEK for 5213

see GREEK for 5216

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

σύ, σοῦ, σοί, σέ

Pers.pr.

you

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

σύ sy 2x

you, gen., σοῦ, dat., σοί, acc., σέ, Mt. 1:20; 2:6

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Pron-2DP — Personal pronoun · second person · dative · plural
dative — to, for, with — the one it is done to or by.
Agrees with anything else marked plural.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

P-2DP Part of Speech: Personal pronoun Person: second Case: Dative Number: Plural

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
78%you
you78% · 2412×you yourselves7% · 221×you yourself5% · 168×your3% · 87×other renderings3% · 96×other renderings3% · 89×

3,073 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 37 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject28%object24%adverbial23%indirect object20%predicate5%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 2,892 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
λέγωI say, speak
ἀμήνHebrδέbut, on the otheἐγώ
καίand, even, also, nam
ἐγώοὕτωthus, so, in thiμήNeg
ἐν
Article theεἰμίI am, existγίνομαιI come into bein
πρός
ἔρχομαιI come, goἐγώπέμπωI send
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakπαρακαλέωI summon, entreaθέλωI will, wish, de
σύto you2892×
what comes after →
Article the
θεόςGod, a godἐνἁμαρτίαa sin
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theεἰρήνηpeace, peace of οὐNeg
ὅτιthat, since, because
Article theπᾶςall, the whole, οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐν
ἐν
Article theποῖοςIrgΧριστόςanointed, the Me

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

Concordanceσύ · 2,892× in the New Testament
Matthew Luke John Acts Mark 2 Corinthians 1 Corinthians Romans 1 Thessalonians Revelation Hebrews Colossians

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 450 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 AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 1.48c. AD 40

„οὐ φυτεύσεις σεαυτῷ ἄλσος, πᾶν ξύλον παρὰ τὸ θυσιαστήριον κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου οὐ ποιήσεις σεαυτῷ“ (Deuter.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.101c. AD 75–95

παύσομαι δὲ τοῦ λοιποῦ μετὰ τοσαύτης ὀργῆς τὰς τιμωρίας ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀδικήμασιν εἰσπραττόμενος καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον σοῦ παρακαλοῦντος.

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

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

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 6th c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. BC
P.Grenf. 1 35Ptolemais - Akko (Syrien)103 BC

τοῦ ἀποδοθῆι τὸν ἐπεσταλμένον ἡμῖν κατὰ μῆνα πυρὸν τοῖς παρʼ ἡμῶν. διʼ ἄλλων γεγράφαμεν ὑμῖν ὑπὲρ ὧν βουλόμεθα μηδεμιᾶς προσφωνήσεως προσπεπτωκυίας. ἑαυτῶν δὲ ἐπιμελόμενοι ἵνʼ ὑγιαίνητε, — ἔσμεν ἐν

P.Grenf. 1 32Pelusion103 BC

η Φατρήους καὶ … χαίρειν καὶ ἐρρωμένοις διευτυχεῖν. ἐρρώμεθα δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ ὑμῶν τὴν ἀρίστην μνείαν ποιούμενοι παρὰ τοῖς ἐν Πηλουσίωι θεοῖς. καλῶς ποιήσεις διαλύσας Ἁρκοννῆσιν καὶ

P.Grenf. 1 41Thebais3 BC

παρὰ Πετεύριος διεθέντος μου ὑπάρξει σοι εἰς στέφανον χαλκοῦ τάλαντα δεκάπεντε, τάλαντα ιε. εὐτύχει .

I commend now to you Phoebe the sister of us being also a servant of the church <the> in Cenchrea,
ΦοίβηνPhoibē Phoebe G5402 Noun · accusative · singular · feminine
1× 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
Phoebe was a Christian woman who served as a deaconess in Cenchræa, as mentioned in Romans 16:1. She was a respected member of the early church. Phoebe played an important role in the community.
Tyndale gloss
Phoebe
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

Φοίβη (Phoibe) is a feminine proper name meaning ‘bright’ or ‘radiant.’ It refers to Phoebe, a deaconess of the church at Cenchræa mentioned in Romans 16:1. The name also appears in classical literature as one of the daughters of Uranus and Gaia. There is no significant disagreement among the lexicons regarding its meaning or usage.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

φοίβη, -ης, ἡ

Phœbe, a deaconess of Cenchræa: Ro 16:1.†

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

Φοίβη, -ης, ἡ, (lit. ‘bright’, ‘radiant”], Phebe or Phebe, a deaconess of the church at Cenchrezx, near Corinth: Ro. xvi. 1 [(see διάκονος, 2 fin.) ].

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

Φοίβη. This proper name (Rom 161) is found as the name of a slave in P Flor I. 50®(a.p. 268) : cf. Sy/7 369 (= 805) (c. A.D. 54) KAavdla Φοίβη τὸν ἑαυτῆς ἄνδρα καὶ εὐεργέτην ἀρετῆς ἕνεκα καὶ εὐνοίας, 7771 122 (a)! (time of Diocletian), and the v/vi a.D. inscr. from the Mount of Olives cited s.v. κοιμάομαι. Fora note by Mrs, M. D. Gibson on the NT Phoebe as a kind of Lady Bountiful, see Zxp 7 xxili. p. 281. 120) διά τε τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

Φοίβη (Phoibē) — Phoebe.

Lat. Phoebe, one of the daughters of Uranus and Gaia, [8th/7th c.BC]; mother of Phoebus, [6th/5th c.BC] (Middle Liddel)

Strong's Greek Dictionary

Φοίβη

Phoibe

feminine of phoibos (bright; probably akin to the base of 5457);

Phoebe, a Christian woman:--Phebe.

see GREEK for 5457

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

Φοίβη, ης, ἡ

n.f.

Phoebe

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

Φοίβη Phoibē 1x

Phoebe, pr. name, Rom. 16:1*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

Φοίβη Φοίβη, ἡ, Lat. Phoebe, one of the daughters of Uranus and Gaia, Hes.; mother of Phoebus, Aesch.

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

N-ASF Part of Speech: Noun Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

fe'-be (Phoibe; the King James Version Phebe): Described by Paul as (1) "our sister," (2) "who is a servant of the church that is at Cenchrea," (3) "a helper of many, and of mine own self" (Ro 16:1,2).

(1) "Our (Christian) sister": Paul calls the believing husband and wife "the brother or the sister" (1Co 7:15), and also asks, "Have we no right to lead about a wife that is a sister?" (1Co 9:5 margin). The church was a family.

(2) The Greek word translated "servant" is diakonos. "Servant" is vague, and "deaconess" is too technical. In the later church there was an order of deaconesses for special work among women, owing to the peculiar circumstances of oriental life, but we have no reason to believe there was such an order at this…

Smith's Bible Dictionary

(radiant) the first and one of the most important of the Christian persons the detailed mention of whom nearly all the last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. (A.D.55.) What is said of her, (Romans 16:1,2) is worthy of special notice because of its bearing on the question of the deaconesses of the apostolic Church.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
100%phoebe
phoebe100% · 1×

1 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.

ConcordanceΦοίβη · 1× in the New Testament
Romans
Across the New Testament1 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
I commend now to you Phoebe the sister of us being also a servant of the church <the> in Cenchrea,
τὴνho the G3588 Article · accusative · 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.

Read the full entry →
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-ASF — Article · accusative · singular · feminine
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-ASF Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Accusative 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
the19783×
what comes after →
θεόςGod, a god
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
ἸησοῦςJesus
λέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
ἐγώἸησοῦςJesusArticle the
πατήρfather, Father, ance
ἐγώσύαὐτός

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

I commend now to you Phoebe the sister of us being also a servant of the church <the> in Cenchrea,
ἀδελφὴνadelphē sister G79 Noun · accusative · singular · feminine
26× 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
In the Bible, this word means a biological sister or a sister in the Christian faith community, as seen in Romans 16:1 and 1 Corinthians 7:15.
Amplified meaning
fellow believer, Christian sibling
Tyndale gloss
sister
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἀδελφή (adelphē) means 'sister' and is the feminine form of ἀδελφός (adelphos). It covers both biological sisters and metaphorical uses, particularly referring to female members of the Christian community. The New Testament employs it in various contexts, including familial and ecclesiastical relationships.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἀδελφή, -ῆς, ἡ

(< ἀδελφός),

[in LXX for אָחוֹת;]

a sister: Mt 19:29, al.; metaph. (MM, VGT, s.v.), of a member of the Christian community: Ro 16:1, I Co 7:15 Ja 21:15, al.

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

ἀδελφή, -ῆς, ἡ. (see ἀδελφός), [fr. Aeschyl. down], sister ; 1. a full, own sister (i.e. by birth): Mt. xix. 29; Lk. x. 39 sq.; Jn. xi. 1, 3, 5; xix. 25; Ro. xvi. 15, ete.; respecting the sisters of Christ, mentioned in Mt. xiii. 56; Mk. vi. 3, see ἀδελφός, 1. 2. one connected by the tie of the Christian religion: 1 Co. vii. 153; ix. 5; Philem. 2 L'T Tr WH; Jas. ii. 15; with a subj. gen., a Christian woman especially dear to one, Ro. xvi. 1.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἀδελφή (adelphē) — sister.

ἀδελφ-ή, ἡ,

feminine of ἀδελφός, sister, Trag., E [Refs 4th c.BC+]: Ionic dialect ἀδελφ-εή, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Epic dialect ἀδελφ-ειή, [Refs 4th c.AD+]; Doric dialect ἀδελφ-εά, [Refs 5th c.BC+], and in lyr, passages of Trag., [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. kinswoman, [LXX]

3. term of endearment, [LXX]; applied to a wife, [Refs 3rd c.BC+]:—sister (as a fellow Christian), [NT]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀδελφή

adelphe

fem of 80; a sister (naturally or ecclesiastically):--sister.

see GREEK for 80

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀδελφή, ῆς, ἡ

n.f.

a sister

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀδελφή adelphē 26x

a sister; near kinswoman, or female relative, a female member of the Christian community

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἀδελφή fem. of ἀδελφός, a sister, Trag., etc.

a sister (as a fellow Christian), NTest.

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

N-ASF Part of Speech: Noun Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

sis'-ter ('achoth): Used repeatedly in the Old Testament of a female

(1) having the same parents as another; or

(2) having one parent in common, with another, half-sister (Ge 20:12; Le 18:9), and also

(3) of a female belonging to the same family or clan as another, so a kinswoman (Ge 24:60; Job 42:11);

(4) also of a woman of the same country (Nu 25:18).

(5) Figuratively, the two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, are sisters (Eze 23:7).

(6) Confederate cities are conceived of as sisters (Eze 16:45).

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

In the style of the Hebrews, "sister" had equal latitude with "brother." It is used, not only for a sister by natural relation, from the same father and mother, but also for a sister by the same father only, or by the same mother only; or for any near female relative, Ge 12:13. See BROTHER.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
62%sister
sister62% · 16×sisters35% · 9×our sister4% · 1×

26 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
subject46%object35%predicate8%adverbial4%indirect object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 26 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
καίand, even, also,εἰμίI am, existὅτιthat, since, bec
καίand, even, also, nam
ἀδελφόςa brotherἐγώ
Disj
ἀδελφόςa brother
εἰμίI am, exist
ὅδε
ἐξουσίαpower, authority, we
ἔχωI have, hold, po
ἀδελφήsister26×
what comes after →
αὐτός
καίand, even, also,οὐχίIrgὧδεhere
καίand, even, also, nam
μήτηρa motherἌρχιπποςArchippus
Disj
πατήρfather, Father, μήτηρa mother
σύ
ἔξωwithout, outsideArticle the
ἐγώ
μόνοςonly, solitary, εἰμίI am, exist

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

Concordanceἀδελφή · 26× in the New Testament
John Mark Luke Matthew 1 Corinthians Romans 1 Timothy 2 John Acts James Philemon
Across the New Testament11 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 73 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 2.20c. AD 40

καὶ μὴν ἀδελφαί γ’ εἰσὶ καὶ συγγενεῖς πᾶσι τοῖς μέρεσιν αἱ ἡμῶν πλευραὶ καὶ σαρκὸς γεγόνασι.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.165c. AD 75–95

νομίζων γὰρ ἀδελφὴν ἀλλʼ οὐ γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ σπουδάσαι περὶ αὐτὴν συγγένειαν ποιήσασθαι βουλόμενος, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐνυβρίσαι κατʼ ἐπιθυμίαν ὡρμημένος·

Clement of RomeSecond Clement 12.5c. AD 96

καὶ τὸ ἄρσεν μετὰ τῆς θηλείας, οὔτε ἄρσεν οὔτε θῆλυ, τοῦτο λέγει: ἵνα ἀδελφὸς ἰδὼν ἀδελφὴν οὐδὲν φρονῇ περὶ αὐτῆς θηλυκόν, μηδὲ φρονῇ τι περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀρσενικόν.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 1st c. AD 6th c. AD
P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

BGU 3 1000Pathyris99 BC

Column i βασιλευόντων Πτολεμαίου τοῦ ἐπικαλουμένου Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Βερενίκης τῆς ἀδελφῆς θεῶν Φιλομητόρων ἔτους ιϛ ἐφʼ ἱερέων καὶ ἱερειῶν καὶ κανηφόρου τῶν ὄντων καὶ οὐσῶν

P.Adl. 20Poinkoris (Diopolites)99 BC

1 βασιλευόντων Πτολεμαίου τοῦ καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρου θεοῦ Φιλομήτορος καὶ Βερενίκης τῆς ἀδελφῆς θεᾶς Φιλαδέλφου ἔτους ἑκκαιδεκάτου ἐφʼ ἱερέων καὶ ἱερειῶν καὶ κανηφόρου τῶν ὄντων καὶ οὐσῶν

I commend now to you Phoebe the sister of us being also a servant of the church <the> in Cenchrea,
ἡμῶνegō of us G3165 Personal pronoun · first person · genitive · plural
1,872× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
In plain English
Tyndale gloss
I/we
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

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

pers. pron.

I.

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μέ (me) — me.

ἐγώ,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐγώ

me

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

see GREEK for 1691

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐγώ egō 2x

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

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

P-1GP Part of Speech: Personal pronoun Person: first Case: Genitive Number: Plural

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

US, pronoun objective case of we.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Us , pron. [OE. us, AS. s; akin to OFries. & OS. s, D. ons, G. uns, Icel. & Sw. oss, Dan. os, Goth. uns, L. nos we, us, Gr. we, Skr. nas us. . Cf. Nostrum, Our.] The persons speaking, regarded as an object; ourselves; — the objective case of we. See We. “Tell us a tale.” Chaucer.

Give us this day our daily bread. Matt. vi. 11.

Us, pron. oblique case of we

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

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

I commend now to you Phoebe the sister of us being also a servant of the church <the> in Cenchrea,
οὖσανeimi being G1510 Verb · present · active · participle · accusative · singular · feminine
2,457× 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 be or exist, a basic verb used to describe something or someone, like God saying 'I am' in John 8:58.
Tyndale gloss
to be
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

εἰμί,

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

As substantive verb.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

εἰμί (eimi) — to be.

εἰμί

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

εἰμί

eimi

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

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

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

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

see GREEK for 1488

see GREEK for 1498

see GREEK for 1511

see GREEK for 1527

see GREEK for 2258

see GREEK for 2071

see GREEK for 2070

see GREEK for 2075

see GREEK for 2076

see GREEK for 2771

see GREEK for 2468

see GREEK for 5600

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

εἰμί

v.

I am, exist

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

εἰμί eimi 2x

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

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

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

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

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAP-ASF — Verb · present · active · participle · accusative · singular · feminine
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAP-ASF Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: Participle Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

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

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

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

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
οὐNeg
ὅτιthat, since, becκαίand, even, also,ὅς
οὗτος
ὅτιthat, since, becλέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,
ὅς
ἐνἄνθρωποςa man, one of thθεόςGod, a god
ἐγώ
ὅτιthat, since, becλέγωI say, speakμετά
σύ
ἐνλέγωI say, speakαὐτός
εἰμίbeing2457×
what comes after →
Article the
υἱόςa son, descendenΧριστόςanointed, the Meβασιλείαkingship, sovere
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theοὐNegγάρfor
ἐν
Article theσύαὐτός
δέbut, on the other ha
Article theτὶςἐκεῖthere, yonder, t
ἐγώ
εἰςἄξιοςworthy, worthy oὧδεhere

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

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

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

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

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

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.2c. AD 75–95

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

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

I commend now to you Phoebe the sister of us being also a servant of the church <the> in Cenchrea,
καὶ also G2532
8,978× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
rarer in Romans than elsewhere in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
And or also, a connecting word used to join ideas or words, like in Matthew 2:18 and Hebrews 1:1.
Tyndale gloss
and
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

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

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

καί,

conj.,

and.

Copulative.

Connecting single words;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καί (kai) — and.

καί,

conjunction, copulative, joining words and sentences,

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

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

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καί

kai

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

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

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

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

yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καί

Cj.

and, even, also, namely

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καί kai 9x

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
αὐτός
ἐνἐπίπρός
σύ
χάριςgrace, favor, kiπρόςπατήρfather, Father,
ἐγώ
πατήρfather, Father, πρόςθεόςGod, a god
εἰμίI am, exist
αὐτόςArticle theἐγώ
θεόςGod, a god
Article theθέλημαwill, wish, desiδέbut, on the othe
καίalso8978×
what comes after →
Article the
ἀδελφόςa brotherπατήρfather, Father, μήτηρa mother
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςArticle theπρός
οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, existμήNegδύναμαιI am powerful, a
ὁράωI see, look upon, ex
Article theαὐτόςἀνήρa male human bei
ἐν
Article theπᾶςall, the whole, ὅλοςall, the whole,

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

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

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

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

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

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

ἡ τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

I commend now to you Phoebe the sister of us being also a servant of the church <the> in Cenchrea,
διάκονονdiakonos a servant G1249 Noun · accusative · singular · feminine
30× 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
A servant is someone who attends to others, like a waiter or a Christian teacher, as seen in Matthew 20:26. It is about putting others first and helping them.
Amplified meaning
faithful, devoted, deaconess, minister
Tyndale gloss
servant
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word διάκονος (i.e., *diakonos*) means 'servant' or 'minister' and is used in various contexts, including as a technical term for a church officer, specifically a deacon or deaconess. It is built from an uncertain origin and conveys the idea of someone who serves others, often in a religious capacity. The New Testament frequently employs this term to describe those who serve in the church, such as in Philippians and 1 Timothy.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — θεράπων, δοῦλος, διάκονος, οἰκέτης, ὑπηρέτης from a scan

THE only passage in the N. T. in which θεράπων occurs is Heb. iii. 5: ‘‘ And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant” (ὡς θεράπων). The allusion here to Num. xii. 7 is manifest, where the Septuagint has given θεράπων as its rendering of 12; it has done the same elsewhere (Exod. iv. 10; Deut. iii. 24; Josh. i. 2), yet has not made this its constant rule, frequently rendering it not by θεράπων, but by δοῦλος, out of which latter rendering, no doubt, we have at Rev. xv. 8, the phrase, Μωῦσῆς ὃ δοῦλος τοῦ Θεοῦ. It will 1 Lampe: ‘Christus est Vitis vera, ... et qua talis preponi, quin et opponi, potest omnibus aliis qui etiam sub hoe symbolo in scriptis propheticis pinguntur.’ Six) SYNONYUS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 20 not follow that there is no difference between δοῦλος and θεράπων ; nor yet that there may not be occasions when the one word would be far more fitly employed…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

διάκονος, -ου, ὁ, ἡ

(derivation unknown),

[in LXX for נַעַר, שָׁרַת pi.: Es 6:3, 5, א B Es 1:10 2:2, Pr 10:4, 4 Mac 9:17 * ;]

in general, a servant, attendant, minister: Mt 20:26 22:13 23:11, Mk 9:35 10:43, Jo 2:5, 9, I Co 3:5, Ga 2:17, Eph 6:21, Col 4:7; δ. θεοῦ, Ro 13:4, II Co 6:4

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

διάκονος, -ov, 6, 7, (of uncert. origin, but by no means, as was formerly thought, compounded of διά and κόνις, so as to mean prop. ‘raising dust by hastening’; cf. ἐγκονεῖν ; for a in the prep. διά is short, in διάκονος lone. Bum. Lexil. i. p. 218 sqq. [Eng. trans. p. 231 sq.] thinks it is derived fr. obsol. διάκω i. q. διήκω [allied with διώκω ; cf. Vanicek p. 3687); one who executes the commands of another, esp. of a master; a servant, attendant, minister ; 1. uniy.: of the servant of a king, Mt. xxii. 13; with gen. of the pers. served, Mt. xx. 26; xxiii. 11; Mk. ix. 35; x. 43, (in which pass. it is used fig. of those who advance others’ interests even at the sacrifice of their own) ; τῆς ἐκκλησίας, of one who does what promotes the welfare and prosperity of the church, Col. i. 25; διάκονοι τοῦ θεοῦ, those through whom God carries on his administration on earth, as magistrates, Ro.…

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

διάκονος. For the word in its general sense cf. P Flor II. 121? (6. A.D. 253) ἐπεὶ ἔδοξεν τοῖς [δεκαπρώτοις })] τὸν διάκονον ἙΠ[ρηναῖον ? ἐπ᾽ Ἰένιαυτὸν χρησι[μεύειν ἡμῖν ἢ. There is now abundant evidence that the way had been prepared for the Christian usage of this word by its technical application to the holders of various offices, as in the i/B.c. J/agn 217, where the dedicators of a statue to Hermes are described as κομάκτορες, κήρυκες and διάκονοι. connotation belongs to the word in 2. 109 (ce. A definitely religious B.C. 100) where the remains of a list of temple officials concludes with μάγειρος . . διάκονος. Fora similar combination the editor refers to JG IX. 1, 486 (ii/iB.c.) and IV. 774 (ili/B.c.), and to these examples Thieme (p. 17 f.), from whom the above citations are taken, adds C/G II.…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

διάκονος (diakonos) — servant.

διάκονος [ᾱ],

Ionic dialect διήκονος, ὁ, later διάκων (which see):— servant, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; messenger, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. attendant or official in a temple or religious guild, [Refs 3rd c.BC+]:—especially in the Christian church, deacon, [NT+4th c.AD+]: feminine, deaconess, [NT]

II. as adjective, servile, menial, ἐπιστήμη [Refs 5th c.BC+]: irregular comparative διᾱκονέστερος [Refs 5th c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

διάκονος

diakonos

probably from an obsolete diako (to run on errands; compare 1377); an

attendant, i.e. (genitive case) a waiter (at table or in other menial

duties); specially, a Christian teacher and pastor (technically, a

deacon or deaconess):--deacon, minister, servant.

see GREEK for 1377

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

διάκονος, οῦ, ὁ, ἡ

n.f. & n.m.

a waiter, servant, administrator

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

διάκονος diakonos 29x

one who renders service to another; an attendant, servant, Mt. 20:26; 22:13; Jn. 2:5, 9; one who executes a commission, a deputy, Rom. 13:4; Χριστοῦ, Θεοῦ, ἐν κυρίῳ, etc. a commissioned minister or preacher of the Gospel, 1 Cor. 3:5; 2 Cor. 6:4; a minister charged with an announcement or sentence, 2 Cor. 3:6; Gal. 2:17; Col. 1:23; a minister charged with a significant characteristic, Rom.…

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Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

διάκονος Akin to διάκτορος: both perh. from διώκω. a servant, waiting-man, Lat. minister, Hdt., etc.: a messenger, Aesch., Soph.:—as fem., Dem.

a minister of the church, a deacon, NTest.: as fem. a deaconess, id. NTest.

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

N-ASF Part of Speech: Noun Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

sur'-vant ('ebhedh; doulos): A very common word with a variety of meanings, all implying a greater or less degree of inferiority and want of freedom:

(1) The most frequent usage is as the equivalent of "slave" (which see), with its various shades in position (Ge 9:25; 24:9; Ex 21:5; Mt 10:24; Lu 17:7, and often); but also a hired workman where "hired servant" translates Hebrew and Greek expressions which differ from the above.

(2) An attendant in the service of someone, as Joshua was the "servant" the Revised Version (British and American) "minister" of Moses (Nu 11:28).

Smith's Bible Dictionary

[SLAVE]

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

This word sometimes denotes a man who voluntarily dedicates himself to the service of another. Thus Joshua was the servant of Moses; Elisha of Elijah; and Peter, Andrew, Philip, and Paul were servants of Jesus Christ. The servants of Pharaoh, of Saul, and of David, were their subjects in general, and their court officers and counselors in particular. The Philistines, Syrians, and other nation were servants of David, that is, they obeyed and paid him tribute. The servants of God are those who are devoted to his service and obey his holy word.

In its primary sense, the word usually means in the Bible either a hired servant, or one whose service was the property of his master for a limited time and under various restrictions. Joseph is the first whom we read of as sold into bondage, Ge 37:27,28. The households of some of the early…

Nave's Topical Bible

→ Distinguish a bondservant (Greek: doulos), who was a slave, from a hired servant (Greek: diakonos), who was not a slave

→ BOND

Laws of Moses concerning Ex 21:1-11,20,21,26,27,32; Le 19:20-22; 25:6,10,35-55; De 15:12,14,18; 24:7

Kidnapping forbidden De 21:10-14; 24:7; 1Ti 1:10; Re 18:13

Fugitive, not to be returned to his master De 23:15,16

David erroneously supposed to be a fugitive slave 1Sa 25:10

Instances of fugitive

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
50%servant
servant50% · 15×servants27% · 8×deacons10% · 3×minister7% · 2×ministers3% · 1×minister?3% · 1×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
predicate53%subject23%adverbial10%indirect object7%second object3%object3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 30 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
σύ
εἰμίI am, existὑπέρ
Article the
καίand, even, also,λέγωI say, speakαὐτός
γάρfor
θεόςGod, a god
εἰμίI am, exist
ἐγώκαλόςbeautiful, good,
ΠαῦλοςPaul
εἰμίI am, existἐγώ
διάκονοςa servant30×
what comes after →
Article the
ἐμόςἐκκλησίαan assembly, conΧριστόςanointed, the Me
εἰμίI am, exist
σύἔκδικοςavenging, an aveεἷςone
ἐν
ὑπομονήendurance, steadκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
Χριστόςanointed, the Messia
εἰμίI am, existἸησοῦςJesus
κατά
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

Concordanceδιάκονος · 30× in the New Testament
2 Corinthians Colossians Romans 1 Timothy John Matthew Ephesians Mark 1 Corinthians 1 Thessalonians Galatians Philippians
Across the New Testament12 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 5 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 Ignatius of Antioch Philo of Alexandria Polycarp The Shepherd of Hermas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Posterity of Cain 165c. AD 40

ἁπαλαῖς γὰρ ἔτι ταῖς τῶν νέων ψυχαῖς οἱ τραγῳδίαν τὸν βίον τύφων ἐρώντων νομίζοντες κεκιβδηλευμένους χαρακτῆρας ἐναπομάττονται, διακόνοις ἀκοαῖς χρώμενοι, ὧν μυθικὸν λῆρον καταχέαντες καὶ μέχρι διανοίας αὐτῶν ἐντήξαντες θεοπλαστεῖν τοὺς τὰ φρονήματα…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.298c. AD 75–95

Ἰακώβου δὲ ἀσμένως ταῦτα ἀκούσαντος καὶ φήσαντος ἡδέως πάντα μένων παρʼ αὐτῷ πόνον εἰς ἡδονὴν ὑπομενεῖν τὴν ἐκείνου, μισθὸν δὲ ὑπὲρ τούτου λαβεῖν ἀξιοῦντος τὸν Ῥαχήλας γάμον διά τε τὰ ἄλλα τιμῆς ἀξίας παρʼ αὐτοῦ τυγχάνειν οὔσης, καὶ ὅτι διάκονος τῆς…

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 42.4c. AD 96

κατὰ χώρας οὖν καὶ πόλεις κηρύσσοντες καθίστανον τὰς ἀπαρχὰς αὐτῶν, δοκιμάσαντες τῷ πνεύματι, εἰς ἐπισκόπους καὶ διακόνους τῶν μελλόντων πιστεύειν.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
7th c. AD 6th c. AD 5th c. AD 4th c. AD 8th c. AD
P.Berl.Leihg. 1 8Lagis oder Trikomia (Arsinoites)AD 163

ὀβολοὶ ιϛ Ἀπίων Διοδώρου ὀβολοὶ κ Παπνεπτῦνις ὀβολοὶ κ Τρύφων Εἰρηναίου ὀβολοὶ ιβ Πᾶσεις Διάκονος ὀβολοὶ ιβ Κολλοῦθος Πανεῦτος δραχμαὶ δ ὀβολοὶ ιζ Φουῶνσις Ὥρου δραχμαὶ δ ὀβολοὶ ι

P.Flor. 2 121Theadelphia (Arsinoites)AD 249

παρὰ Ἀλυπίου. ἐπεὶ ἔδοξεν τοῖς δεκαπρώτοις τὸν διάκονον Εἰρηναῖον ἐπ ἐνιαυτὸν χρησιμεύειν ἡμῖν γενέσθω παρὰ ς … ποταμίτῃ οὖσι λαβὼν δραχμὰς τέσσερας

P.Coll.Youtie 2 77Karanis (Arsinoites)AD 324

αἱ περὶ ἐμὲ πληγαὶ δηλοῦσιν, καὶ εἰ μὴ βοηθείας ἔτυχον ὑπὸ τῶν παραγενομένων Ἀντωνίνου διάκονος καὶ Ἰσὰκ μοναχοῦ τάχα ἂν τέλεόν με ἀπώλεσαν. ὅθεν ἐπιδίδωμι τάδε τὰ ἔνγραφα ἀξιῶν

I commend now to you Phoebe the sister of us being also a servant of the church <the> in Cenchrea,
τῆςho of the G3588 Article · genitive · 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-GSF — Article · genitive · singular · feminine
genitive — of, from, belonging to.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-GSF Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Genitive Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ov:

(1) In Anglo-Saxon, had the meaning "from," "away from" (as the strengthened form "off" has still), and was not used for genitive or possessive relations, these being expressed by special case-forms. In the Norman period, however, "of" was taken to represent the French de (a use well developed by the time of Chaucer), and in the Elizabethan period both senses of "of" were in common use. But after about 1600 the later force of the word became predominant, and in the earlier sense (which is now practically obsolete) it was replaced by other prepositions. In consequence the King James Version (and in some cases the Revised Version (British and American)) contains many uses of "of" that are no longer familiar--most of them, to be sure, causing no difficulty, but there still being a few responsible for real obscurities.

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

OF, preposition ov. [Gr.]

1. From or out of; proceeding from, as the cause, source, means, author or agent bestowing.

I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered to you. 1 Corinthians 11:1.

For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts. Joshua 11:1.

It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.

Lamentations 3:1.

The whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Proverbs 16:1.

Go, inquire of the Lord for me. 2 Chronicles 34:2.

That holy thing that shall be born of thee. Luke 1:1.

Hence of is the sign of the genitive case, the case that denotes production; as the son of man, the son proceeding from man, produced from man. This is the primary sense, although we now say, produced by man. 'Part of these were slain; ' that is, a number separate, for part denotes a division; the sense then is, a number from or out of the whole were slain. So also, 'some of these were slain; ' that is…

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
of the19783×
what comes after →
θεόςGod, a god
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
ἸησοῦςJesus
λέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
ἐγώἸησοῦςJesusArticle the
πατήρfather, Father, ance
ἐγώσύαὐτός

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

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

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

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

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

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

τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

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

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

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

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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

I commend now to you Phoebe the sister of us being also a servant of the church <the> in Cenchrea,
ἐκκλησίαςekklēsia church G1577 Noun · genitive · singular · feminine
114× 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
An assembly refers to a group of people gathered together for a common purpose, like a church or community, as seen in Acts 19:32 and Hebrews 2:12. This term is used to describe both Jewish and Christian communities.
Amplified meaning
assembly, community of believers
Tyndale gloss
assembly
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἐκκλησία (i.e., *ekklesia*) means an assembly or congregation, originally referring to a gathering of citizens called for public affairs. In the New Testament, it primarily denotes the Christian church, encompassing both local congregations and the broader body of believers. It is also used in the Septuagint for the assembly of Israel. The term reflects a progression from civic assembly to a spiritual community.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — Ἔκκλησία, συναγωγή, πανήγυρις from a scan

THERE are words whose history it is peculiarly interesting to watch, as they obtain a deeper meaning, and receive a new consecration in the Christian Church; words which the Church did not invent, but has assumed into its service, and employed in a far loftier sense than any to which the world has ever put them before. The very word by which the Church is named is itself an example—a more illustrious one could scarcely be found—of this progressive ennobling of a word.' For we have ἐκκλησία in three distinct stages of meaning—the heathen, the Jewish, and the Christian. In respect of the first, ἡ ἐκκλησία (ΞΞἔκκλητοι, Euripides, Orestes, ‘ Zezschwitz, in his very interesting Lecture, Profangrdcitét und Biblischer Sprachgeist, Leipzig, 1859, p. 5, has said excellently well, ‘ Das Christenthum wiire nicht als was es siegend iiber Griechenthum und Romerthum sich ausgewiesen, hitte es zu…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐκκλησία, -ας, ἡ

(< ἐκ-καλέω),

[in LXX chiefly for קָהָל, otherwise for one of its cogn. forms ;]

prop., an assembly of citizens regularly convened (in Thuc., ii, 22, opp. to σύλλογος, a concourse): Ac 19:32, 39, 41.

In LXX of the assembly, congregation, community of Israel (De 4:10 23:2, al.): Ac 7:38, He 2:12 (LXX).

NT, esp. of an assembly or company of Christians, a (the) church;

of gatherings for worship: I Co 11:18 14:19, 34, 35;

of local communities: Ac 8:3, I Co 4:17; with name…

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

ἐκκλησία, -as, 7, (fr. ἔκκλητος called out or forth, and this fr. ἐκκαλέω) ; prop. a gathering of citizens called out

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

ἐκκλησία. For the Biblical history of the word ἐκκλησία, which meant originally any public assembly of citizens summoned by a herald, it is sufficient to refer to Hort, Zhe Christian Ecclesia, p. τ ff. It is the LXX term fer the community of Israel, whether assembled or no. In the Gospels the word is confined to Mt 1618, 1817, where it denotes Christ's new ἐκκλησία, as distinguished from the old. Deissmann (ZAZ p. 112 ff.) has emphasized the significance of the fact that the Latin-speaking people of the West, to whom Christianity came, did not translate the word, but simply borrowed it, and cites an interesting bilingual inscr. of A.D. 103-4, found in the theatre of Ephesus, which refers to the gift by a Roman official of a silver image of Artemis (cf. Ac 19*4) and other statues—tva τίθηνται kat’ ἐκκλησίαν (cf. Ac 14%) ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ ἐπὶ τῶν βάσεων, or, in the parallel text, z/a wt…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia) — assembly.

ἐκκλησί-α, ἡ,

(ἔκκλητος) assembly duly summoned, less general than σύλλογος, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; applied to the Homeric Assemblies, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; to the Samian Assembly, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; to the Spartan, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; to the meeting of the Amphictyons at Delphi, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; at Athens, ἐ. κύριαι, opposed to σύγκλητοι, Arist.[Refs 2nd c.AD+]; κυρία ἐ., at Amorgos, [Refs]; ἐ. συναγείρειν, συνάγειν, συλλέγειν, ἀθροίζειν, call an assembly, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐ. γίγνεται an assembly is held, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐ. διαλύειν, ἀναστῆσαι, dissolve it, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐ. ἀνεβλήθη was adjourned, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐκκλησία

ekklesia

from a compound of 1537 and a derivative of 2564; a calling out, i.e.

(concretely) a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation

(Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or

saints in heaven or both):--assembly, church.

see GREEK for 1537

see GREEK for 2564

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐκκλησία, ας, ἡ

n.f.

an assembly, congregation, church

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐκκλησία ekklēsia 114x

a popular assembly, Acts 19:32, 39, 41; in NT the congregation of the children of Israel, Acts 7:38; transferred to the Christian body, of which the congregation of Israel was a figure, the Church, 1 Cor. 12:28; Col. 1:18; a local portion of the Church, a local church, Rom. 16:1; a Christian congregation, 1 Cor. 14:4

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐκκλησία ἐκκλησία, ἡ, ἔκκλητος an assembly of the citizens regularly summoned, the legislative assembly, Thuc., etc.:—at Athens, the ordinary Assemblies were called κύριαι, the extraordinary being σύγκλητοι, ap. Dem.; ἐκκλ. συναγείρειν, συνάγειν, συλλέγειν, ἀθροίζειν to call an assembly, Hdt., etc.; ἐκκλ. ποιεῖν "to make a house, " Ar.; ἐκκλ. γίγνεται, καθίσταται an assembly is held, Thuc.; ἐκκλ. διαλύειν, ἀναστῆσαι to dissolve it, id. Thuc., etc.; ἀναβάλλειν to adjourn it, id. Thuc.

in NTest. the Church, either the body, or the place.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-GSF — Noun · genitive · singular · feminine
genitive — of, from, belonging to.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-GSF Part of Speech: Noun Case: Genitive Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

church:

I. PRE-CHRISTIAN HISTORY OF THE TERM

II. ITS ADOPTION BY JESUS

III. ITS USE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

1. In the Gospels

2. In Acts

3. In the Pauline Epistles

IV. THE NOTES OF THE CHURCH

1. Faith

2. Fellowship

3. Unity

4. Consecration

5. Power

V. ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH

1. The General and Prophetic Ministry

2. The Local and Practical Ministry

LITERATURE

The word "church," which is derived from kuriakos, "of or belonging to the Lord," represents in the English Versions of the Bible of the New Testament the Greek word ekklesia; Latin, ecclesia. It is with the signification of this word ekklesia as it meets us in the New Testament, and with the nature of the society which the word is there used to describe, that the present article is concerned.

I. Pre-Christian History of the Term.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Church

Derived probably from the Greek kuriakon (i.e., “the Lord’s house”), which was used by ancient authors for the place of worship.

In the New Testament it is the translation of the Greek word ecclesia, which is synonymous with the Hebrew kahal of the Old Testament, both words meaning simply an assembly, the character of which can only be known from the connection in which the word is found. There is no clear instance of its being used for a place of meeting or of worship, although in post-apostolic times it early received this meaning. Nor is this word ever used to denote the inhabitants of a country united in the same profession, as when we say the “Church of England,” the “Church of Scotland,” etc.

We find the word ecclesia used in the following senses in the New Testament: (1.) It is translated “assembly” in the ordinary classical sense (

The Greek word translated church signifies generally an assembly, either common or religious; and it is sometimes so translated, as in Ac 19:32,39. In the New Testament it usually means a congregation of religious worshippers, either Jewish, as Ac 7:38, or Christians, as Mt 16:18 1Co 6:4. The latter sense is the more common one; and it is thus used in a twofold manner, denoting,

1. The universal Christian church: either the invisible church, consisting of those whose names are written in heaven, whom God knows, but whom we cannot infallibly know, Heb 12:23; or the visible church, made up of the professed followers of…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
65%church
church65% · 75×churches30% · 35×assembly3% · 3×other renderings2% · 2×

115 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
adverbial35%indirect object23%object20%subject12%predicate10%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 114 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
ἐνλέγωI say, speakπᾶςall, the whole,
ἐν
σύἀλλάbut, exceptσιγάωI keep silent
ἑπτάIndec
Article theἑπτάIndec
αὐτός
οἶκοςa house, househo
οὖνtherefore, then
μένDisj
ἐκκλησίαchurch114×
what comes after →
Article the
θεόςGod, a godἐννικάωI conquer, overc
καίand, even, also, nam
πύληa door, gateἐπίδιδάσκωI teach
γράφωI write
ὅδε
κατά
Article theὅλοςall, the whole, δικαιοσύνηjustice, justnes
ἀσπάζομαιI greet, salute, pay
ἘπαίνετοςEpaenetusσύ

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

Concordanceἐκκλησία · 114× in the New Testament
Acts 1 Corinthians Revelation 2 Corinthians Ephesians Romans Colossians 1 Timothy 3 John Galatians Matthew 1 Thessalonians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament17 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 43 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 Ignatius of Antioch Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 3.8c. AD 40

5, 2), καὶ τοὺς θλαδίας καὶ ἀποκεκομμένους τὰ γεννητικὰ τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ πόρνους τὴν ἑνὸς ἀρχὴν ἀποδιδράσκοντας, οἷς ἄντικρυς ἀπείρηται εἰς ἐκκλησίαν θεοῦ φοιτᾶν (Deut.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 3.84c. AD 75–95

ἐπὶ τούτοις οὖν συγκαλεῖ τὸ πλῆθος εἰς ἐκκλησίαν ἀκουσόμενον ὧν ὁ θεὸς εἴποι πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ συναθροισθέντων στὰς ἐπὶ ὑψηλοῦ τινος, ὅθεν ἔμελλον πάντες ἀκούσεσθαι, ὁ μὲν θεός, εἶπεν, ὦ Ἑβραῖοι, καθάπερ καὶ πρότερον εὐμενὴς προσεδέξατό με καὶ βίον τε…

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 6.16c. AD 100

λέγει: Ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ ἀδελφῶν μου, καὶ ψαλῶ σοι ἀνάμεσον ἐκκλησίας ἁγίων.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 7th c. AD 5th c. AD 4th c. AD 8th c. AD
P.Lond. 2 p. 279-280 no. 412Berenikis Aigialu (Arsinoites)AD 351

ἀξιῶ, πραιπόσιτε κύριε, ἀπραγμόνως ἃ ἀφήρπασέν μου παρασχεθῆναί μοι· διάκων γὰρ τετύχηκα τῆς καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας. καὶ τούτου τυχὼν εἰσαεί σοι εὐχαριστήσω. διευτύχει. μετὰ τὴν ὑπατείαν Φλαουίων Σεργίου καὶ Νειγρεινιανοῦ

P.Prag. 1 33ArsinoitesAD 391–AD 392

διάκονος καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀπὸ κώμης … Νικήτῃ Σαρμάτου ἐπιμελητῇ κάστρου τῆς … ἐπὶ τῆς παρελθούσης τετάρτης ἰνδικτίονος

P.Oxy. 72 4901OxyrhynchitesAD 408

τῇ θειοτάτῃ οἰκίᾳ διὰ Μαρίνου προνοητοῦ Αὐρήλιος Παμοῦν Μούιτος ἀπὸ ἐποικίου Κινήας διάκονος καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας χαίρειν. ὁμολογῶ ἐσχηκέναι παρὰ σοῦ ἀπὸ λόγου τῆς συμπεφωνημένης πρὸς ἀλλήλους τιμῆς οἴνου διπλῶν

I commend now to you Phoebe the sister of us being also a servant of the church <the> in Cenchrea,
τῆςho <the> G3588 Article · genitive · 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-GSF — Article · genitive · singular · feminine
genitive — of, from, belonging to.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-GSF Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Genitive 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

I commend now to you Phoebe the sister of us being also a servant of the church <the> in Cenchrea,
ἐνen in G1722 Preposition
2,743× 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
This word is a preposition that means in, on, or among something. It's used in many places, like Matthew 7:3 and Luke 7:37, to describe a location or relationship. It can also mean by, with, or during.
Amplified meaning
located at, belonging to
Tyndale gloss
in/on/among
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The most frequent preposition in the New Testament, 2,752 occurrences. In, on, at, among, within — its force comes almost entirely from the word it is attached to. What it does here is put the events inside a community rather than at a distance: they were fulfilled among us.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐν,

prep, (the most freq. of all in NT), c. dat. (= Heb. בְּ, Lat. in, c. abl.).

Of place, c. dat. rei, pers., in, within, on, at, by, among: ἐν τ. πόλει, Lk 7:37; τ. οφθαλμῷ, Mt 7:3; τ. κοιλίᾳ, Mt 12:40; τ. ὄρει, II Pe 1:18; τ. θρόνῳ, Re 3:21; τ. δεξιᾷ τ. θεοῦ, Ro 8:34; ἐν ἡμῖν , Lk 1:1; of books, ἐν τ. βιβλίῳ, Ga 3:10; τ. νόμῳ, Mt 12:5, al.; ἐν τοῖς τ. Πατρός, in my Father's house (RV; cf. M, Pr., 103)…

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

ἐν Χριστῷ, ἐν Χριστῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ, ἐν κυρίῳ, (οἴ. Fritzsche, Com. on Rom. vol. ii. p. 82 544.; W. 389 (364); Weiss, Bibl. Theol. des N. T. §§ 84 b., 149 c.), ingrafied as it were in Christ, in fellowship and union with Christ, with the Lord: Ro. iii. 24; vi. 11, 23; viii. 39; 1Co.i.4; 2 Co. iii. 14; Gal. ii. 4; iii. 14, 26, 28; v. 6; Eph.i. 3 [Rec. om. ἐν]; ii. 6 sq. 10,13; 1 Tim.i.14; 2 Tim.i. 1,13; ii-1; 1 Pet. iii. 16; v.10; στήκειν ἐν κυρίῳ, Phil. iv. 1; iva εὑρεθῶ ἐν αὐτῷ, that I may be found (by God and Christ) most intimately united to him, Phil. iii. 9; εἶναι ἐν Χριστῷ "Inc. 1 Co. i. 30; οἱ ἐν Xp. "Ina. Ro. viii. 1; 1 Pet. v. 14; κοιμᾶσθαι ἐν Χριστῷ, θνήσκειν ἐν κυρίῳ, to fall asleep, to die, mindful of relationship to Christ and confiding in it [W. u.s.], 1 Co. xv. 18; Rey. xiv. 13. Since such union with Christ is the basis on which actions and virtues rest, the expression is…

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

ἐν 210 contract—time of Augustus) ἱμάτια γυναικεῖα ἐν apyv(plov) δραχμαῖς ἑκατόν, P Oxy IV. 7247 (A.D. 155) ἐξ ὧν ἔσχες τὴν πρώτην δόσιν ἐν δραχμαῖς τεσσαράκοντα, 70. I. 565 (A.D. 211) δανειζομένη. .. ἀργύριον ἔντοκον ἐν δραχμαῖς ἑξακισχειλίαις, and P Grenf II. 778 (iii/iv a.p.) (=Selections, Pp. 120) το]ὺς μισθοὺς. . ὄντας ἐν δραχμαῖς τριακοσίαις τεσσαράκοντα. Similar are P Oxy IV. 7084 (a.p. 188) yopou . . ἐν (1vpod)(apraBats) ’B, BGU 1. 724 (a.p. 191) ἐξέκοψαν πλεῖστον τόπον ἐν ἀρούραις πέντε: with which may be compared Eph 2!° τὸν νόμον τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐν δόγμασιν, “consisting in.” In P Lond 9215 (ii/iii a.p.) (ΞΞ 111. P- 134) γεγονέναι ἐν ἀμπέλῳ = ‘to be planted with vines.” A predicative use of ἐν is seen in P Hib I. 421° (B.c. 262) δώσομεν Λευκίωι ἐν ὀφειλήματι, ‘asa debt,” P Petr I. 1215 (cf. II. p. 22) ὅσα δὲ ᾿Αξιοθέα προσενήνεγκται ἐμ φερνῆι, “ἐᾷς dowry,” and P Tebt I. 120 135…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐν (en) — in/on/among.

ἐν,

poetry ἐνί, εἰν, εἰνί [Refs 8th c.BC+], forms used by Epic dialect and Lyric Poets as the metre requires, but only as falsa lectio in Trag., εἰν [Refs 5th c.BC+] ἰν [Refs]

__PREP. WITH DAT. AND ACC. Radical sense, in, into.

__A WITH DAT.

__A.I OF PLACE,

__A.I.1 in, νήσῳ ἐν ἀμφιρύτῃ [Refs 8th c.BC+]; with names of cities or islands, as ἐν Ἀθήνῃς, ἐν Τροίῃ, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; where ἐν is used, it = in the district of.., ὲν Ἐλευσῖνι [Refs] in my arms, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἐν αὑτῷ εἶναι to be in one's senses, be oneself, ἔτ᾽ ἐν σαυτῷ (variant -τοῦ) γενοῦ [Refs 5th c.BC+]

__A.I.1.b ἐν τοῖς ἰχθύσιν in the fish-market, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; so ἐν τοῖν δυοῖν ὀβολοῖν ἐθεώρουν ἄν in the two-obol seats, [Refs 4th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐν

en

a primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or

state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or

constructively), i.e. a relation of rest (intermediate between 1519

and 1537); "in," at, (up-)on, by, etc.:--about, after, against, +

almost, X altogether, among, X as, at, before, between, (here-)by (+

all means), for (... sake of), + give self wholly to, (here-)in(-to,

-wardly), X mightily, (because) of, (up-)on, (open-)ly, X outwardly,

one, X quickly,

X shortly, (speedi-)ly, X that, X there(-in, -on),

through(-out), (un-)to(-ward), under, when, where(-with), while,

with(-in). Often used in compounds, with substantially the same

import; rarely with verbs of motion, and then not to indicate

direction, except (elliptically) by a separate (and different)

preposition.

see GREEK for 1519

see GREEK for 1537

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐν

Prep.

in, on, among

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐν en 2x

followed by the dat., in, Mt. 8:6; Mk. 12:26; Rev. 6:6,; upon, Lk. 8:32; among, Mt. 11:11; before, in the presence of, Mk. 8:38; in the sight, estimation of, 1 Cor. 14:11; before, judicially, 1 Cor. 6:2; in, of state, occupation, habit, Mt. 21:22; Lk. 7:25; Rom. 4:10; in the case of, Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἐν

e)nprepe)ni/prep ei)nprep ei)ni/prep in, among. c. dat.

Lat. in.

PREP. WITH DAT.:

OF PLACE

in, ἐν νήσῳ, ἐν Τροίῃ, etc., Hom., etc.:—elliptic, ἐν Ἀλκινόοιο (sc. οἴκῳ) Od.; εἰν Ἀΐδαο Il.; ἐν παιδοτρίβου at the school of the training master, Ar.

in, upon, ἐν οὔρεσι Hom., etc.

in the number of, amongst, ἐν Δαναοῖς, etc., Hom.; and with Verbs of ruling, ἄρχειν, ἀνάσσειν ἐν πολλοῖς to be first or lord among many, i. e. over them, id. Hom.; cf. ὁ, τό B. III. 3.

in one's hands, within one's reach or power, Lat. penes, Hom., etc.; ἐν σοὶ γάρ ἐσμεν Soph.; ἐν τῷ θεῷ τὸ τέλος ἦν Dem.

in respect of, ἐν γήρᾳ in point of age, Soph.

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

PREP PREPosition

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

A principal thing to notice about this preposition, which in the King James Version represents about 16 Hebrew and as many Greek words and prepositions, is that, in hundreds of cases (especially in the Old Testament, but frequently also in the New Testament) in the Revised Version (British and American) the rendering is changed to more exact forms ("to," "unto," "by," "upon," "at," "with," "among," "for," "throughout," etc.; compare e.g. Ge 6:16; 13:8; 17:7,9,12; 18:1; Ex 8:17; Le 1:9, etc.); while, nearly as often, "in" is substituted for divergent forms of the King James Version (e.g. Ge 2:14; 17:11; 31:54; 40:7; 49:17; Ex…

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
I commend now to you Phoebe the sister of us being also a servant of the church <the> in Cenchrea,
Κεγχρεαῖς,Kegchreai Cenchrea, G2747 Noun · dative · plural · feminine
2× 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
Cenchreae was a port city of Corinth, mentioned in Acts 18:18 and Romans 16:1, where Paul sailed from after staying in Corinth. It was an important location in the early Christian church.
Amplified meaning
a port city of Corinth, an early Christian community
Tyndale gloss
Cenchreae
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

Κεγχρεαί refers to Cenchreae, a port of Corinth located on the Saronic Gulf. It appears in Acts 18:18 and Romans 16:1. The word is consistently identified as a geographical location, with no significant disagreement among the lexicons.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

Κενχρεαί (Rec. Κεγχ-; v. WH, App., 150), -ῶν, αἱ,

Cenchreæ, a port of Corinth: Ac 18:18, Ro 16:1.†

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

Κεγχρεαί (Kegchreai) — Cenchreae.

Κενχρεαί (Rec. Κεχγ-; ν. WH, App., 150), -ῶν, αἱ,

Cenchreæ, a port of Corinth: Act.18:18, Rom.16:1.†

(From Abbott-Smith. LSJ has no entry)

Strong's Greek Dictionary

Κεγχρεαί

Kegchreai

probably from kegchros (millet); Cenchreae, a port of

Corinth:--Cencrea.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

Κεγχρεαί, ας, ἡ

n.f.

Cenchreae

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

Κεγχρεαί Kenchreai 2x

Cenchreae, the port of Corinth on the Saronic Gulf; Acts 18:18; Rom. 16:1*

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

N-DPF Part of Speech: Noun Case: Dative Number: Plural Gender: Feminine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Easton's Bible Dictionary

Cenchrea

Millet, the eastern harbour of Corinth, from which it was distant about 9 miles east, and the outlet for its trade with the Asiatic shores of the Mediterranean. When Paul returned from his second missionary journey to Syria, he sailed from this port (Acts 18:18). In Rom. 16:1 he speaks as if there were at the time of his writing that epistle an organized church there. The western harbour of Corinth was Lechaeum, about a mile and a half from the city. It was the channel of its trade with Italy and the west.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A port of Corinth, now called Kikries, whence Paul sailed for Ephesus, Ac 18:18. It was a place of some commercial note, and the seat of an early church, Ro 16:1. It was situated on the eastern side of the isthmus, eight or nine miles east of the city. The other port, on the western side of the isthmus, was Lechaeum.

Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary

millet; small pulse

Nave's Topical Bible

→ A city of Corinth Ac 18:18; Ro 16:1

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
100%cenchrea
cenchrea100% · 2×

2 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.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
ἐν
κείρωI shear, cut theArticle the
ΚεγχρεαίCenchrea,
what comes after →
Article the
κεφαλήthe head

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

ConcordanceΚεγχρεαί · 2× in the New Testament
Acts Romans
Across the New Testament2 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
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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