StrongerBible

alēthōs

ἀληθῶς

GreekG0230truly, really, ...

Appears 19 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 14:33Mat 26:73Mat 27:54Mrk 14:70Mrk 15:39Luk 9:27Luk 12:44Luk 21:3Jhn 1:47Jhn 4:42Jhn 6:14Jhn 7:26
Root family
Word studyah-lay-THOHSSadverb

What alēthōs means

truly, really: marking that something genuinely matches the truth or the facts

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

This is the adverb built on the Greek word for what is "true." It stamps something as actually so: not a guess, a rumor, or a hopeful claim, but the real state of affairs. English "truly" or "really" carries it cleanly.

Most often it certifies a recognition as correct. When the soldiers at the cross say a man was "truly the Son of God," or the Samaritans say Jesus is "truly the Savior of the world," the word insists the confession lines up with reality. A close cousin, ὄντως, makes almost the same move but leans on real existence ("really, actually"); this word leans on correspondence to the truth.

A second, sharper use marks something as the genuine article rather than a nominal one. Jesus calls Nathanael "truly an Israelite," and tells those who hold to his word that they are "truly" his disciples: the real kind, not the in-name-only kind.

In Luke it also serves as a solemn lead-in, "truly I tell you," the same weight that the borrowed Hebrew affirmation ἀμήν carries elsewhere in the Gospels.

Nuances

1areally, in fact: affirming that a claim or perception matches reality
Mat 14:33Mat 26:73Mat 27:54Mrk 14:70Mrk 15:39Jhn 4:42Jhn 6:14Jhn 7:26Jhn 7:40Jhn 17:8Act 12:111Jn 2:5
1bgenuinely, authentically: the real article, not a counterfeit or in-name-only version
Jhn 1:47Jhn 8:311Th 2:13
1cthe emphatic lead-in "truly I tell you," underlining a weighty saying
Luk 9:27Luk 12:44Luk 21:3

What scholars say about alēthōs

ἀληθῶς is the adverb of the adjective ἀληθής (from the alpha-privative plus the root of λανθάνω, "not hidden, unconcealed"), used as an adverb of manner or a sentence adverb affirming correspondence to reality. BDAG classes it under "truly, in truth, really, actually," noting its use both with predicate nominatives in confessional statements (Matthew 14:33; John 4:42) and as an asseveration equivalent to ἀμήν in Luke's "truly I say to you" (Luke 12:44; 21:3), where Matthew and Mark have ἀμήν. Its density in John (nine of nineteen occurrences) suits that Gospel's concern with genuine versus counterfeit recognition (John 1:47; 8:31). No lexical dispute attends the term.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. ἀληθῶςlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. ἀληθήςlexicon
  • TDNT 1:238-51, s.v. ἀλήθεια κτλ. (R. Bultmann)dictionary

All attested forms of ἀληθῶς

adv

ἀληθῶς

Mat 14:33, Mat 26:73, Mat 27:54, Mrk 14:70, Mrk 15:39, Luk 9:27, Luk 12:44, Luk 21:3