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agros

ἀγρός

GreekG0068field, country, ...

Appears 37 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 6:28Mat 6:30Mat 13:24Mat 13:27Mat 13:31Mat 13:36Mat 13:38Mat 13:44 (2×)Mat 19:29Mat 22:5Mat 24:18Mat 24:40Mat 27:7Mat 27:8 (2×)Mat 27:10Mrk 5:14Mrk 6:36Mrk 6:56Mrk 10:29Mrk 10:30Mrk 11:8Mrk 13:16Mrk 15:21Mrk 16:12Luk 8:34Luk 9:12Luk 12:28Luk 14:18Luk 15:15Luk 15:25Luk 17:7Luk 17:31Luk 17:36Luk 23:26Act 4:37
Names & words formed with this
Word studyah-GROSSnoun

What agros means

a piece of land outside the town: a field, the open country, or the land a person owns there.

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

At its core this word points to ground that lies beyond the town: land where things grow and where people work, whether that means one worked plot or the whole open countryside. English usually says field, but the word covers more than a single fenced patch.

See how it narrows and widens. It can name a specific field, the ground where a farmer sows seed, where wild flowers and grass grow, or the plot someone buys, such as the burial ground bought with Judas's coins. It can widen to the open country as a whole, the farms and hamlets set against the city, the place people go out to or come in from. And in the plural it can mean a person's lands, the property and estates that count among what someone owns.

The Gospels lean on all of this. Seed falls in the field, flowers of the field outshine a king, workers are out in the field when the end comes, herdsmen run to tell the towns and the countryside, and disciples are promised a hundredfold return on the homes and lands they leave behind.

Nuances

1aa field or plot of ground: cultivated or owned land where crops grow, seed is sown, or a person works.
Mat 6:28Mat 6:30Mat 13:24Mat 13:27Mat 13:31Mat 13:36Mat 13:38Mat 13:44 (2×)Mat 22:5Mat 24:18Mat 24:40Mat 27:7
1bthe open countryside: the rural land, farms, and hamlets outside a town, as opposed to the city.
Mrk 5:14Mrk 6:36Mrk 6:56Mrk 15:21Mrk 16:12Luk 8:34Luk 9:12Luk 23:26
1clands or estates: the farmland a person owns as part of their holdings.
Mat 19:29Mrk 10:29Mrk 10:30

What scholars say about agros

Standard lexica (BDAG, LSJ) distinguish three related uses of ἀγρός: a field or piece of arable ground; the open country or countryside as opposed to the town; and, especially in the plural, farms, hamlets, or landed property. The New Testament uses all three, and the Septuagint regularly employs ἀγρός to render Hebrew שָׂדֶה. Documentary papyri noted by Moulton and Milligan attest ἀγρός for privately owned estates, which supports the property sense in the renunciation sayings (Matthew 19:29; Mark 10:29-30). There is no scholarly dispute over what the word means; the only open questions concern which sense particular verses carry.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. ἀγρόςlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. ἀγρόςlexicon
  • Moulton and Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, s.v. ἀγρόςlexicon
  • H. Balz, Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (EDNT), s.v. ἀγρόςdictionary

All attested forms of ἀγρός

dative m s

ἀγρῷ

Mat 13:24, Mat 13:27, Mat 13:31, Mat 13:44, Mat 24:18, Mat 24:40, Luk 12:28, Luk 15:25

accusative m p

ἀγροὺς, ἀγρούς

Mat 19:29, Mrk 6:36, Mrk 6:56, Mrk 10:29, Mrk 10:30, Luk 9:12, Luk 15:15, Mrk 5:14

accusative m s

ἀγρὸν, ἀγρόν

Mat 13:44, Mat 27:7, Mat 27:10, Mrk 13:16, Luk 14:18, Mat 22:5, Mrk 16:12

genitive m s

ἀγροῦ

Mat 6:28, Mat 6:30, Mat 13:36, Mrk 15:21, Luk 17:7, Luk 23:26, Act 4:37

nominative m s

ἀγρὸς, ἀγρός

Mat 27:8, Mat 27:8, Mat 13:38

genitive m p

ἀγρῶν

Mrk 11:8