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basileus

βασιλεύς

GreekG0935king, emperor

Appears 116 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 1:6 (2×)Mat 2:1Mat 2:2Mat 2:3Mat 2:9Mat 5:35Mat 10:18Mat 11:8Mat 14:9Mat 17:25Mat 18:23Mat 21:5Mat 22:2Mat 22:7Mat 22:11Mat 22:13Mat 25:34Mat 25:40Mat 27:11Mat 27:29Mat 27:37Mat 27:42Mrk 6:25Mrk 13:9Mrk 15:9Mrk 15:12Mrk 15:18Luk 1:5Luk 10:24Luk 14:31Luk 21:12Luk 22:25Luk 23:2Jhn 6:15Jhn 12:15Jhn 18:37Jhn 18:39Jhn 19:3Jhn 19:12Jhn 19:15 (2×)Jhn 19:21Act 4:26Act 7:10Act 9:15Act 12:20Act 13:21Act 13:22Act 25:14Act 25:24Act 25:26
Word studybah-sih-LEHFSnoun

What basileus means

king: the supreme ruler of a people or realm, the one in whom final authority rests

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

In the New Testament this is the ordinary word for a king or sovereign, from the local client-kings of Judea to the Roman emperor, and it keeps that plain political meaning wherever it names an earthly ruler. The single idea running through every use is supreme authority: the king is the one at the top, who commands, judges, wages war, and is owed allegiance.

What changes is not the meaning of the word but who is being called king. The Gospels press the political title onto Jesus, above all in the trial and crucifixion, where "King of the Jews" is at once a charge against him and, for the Gospel writers, the truth about him. Revelation and the letters then lift the same word to its highest reach, naming Jesus "King of kings" and naming God himself the King of the ages and of the nations.

So the senses below are not different definitions of the word. They are the same idea of kingship applied to three kinds of ruler: human kings, Jesus as king, and God as king. A reader uses the one English word "king" for all three; the difference is the one wearing the crown.

Nuances

1aa human king or sovereign ruler: a national monarch, a client-king, or the Roman emperor
Mat 1:6 (2×)Mat 2:1Mat 2:3Mat 2:9Mat 10:18Mat 11:8Mat 14:9Mat 17:25Mat 18:23Mat 22:2Mat 22:7Mat 22:11
1bJesus as king: hailed "King of the Jews" and "King of Israel," and exalted as "King of kings"
Mat 2:2Mat 21:5Mat 25:34Mat 25:40Mat 27:11Mat 27:29Mat 27:37Mat 27:42Mrk 15:2Mrk 15:9Mrk 15:12Mrk 15:18
1cGod as king: the supreme ruler over all ages and nations
Mat 5:351Ti 1:17Rev 15:3

Uncategorized

Awaiting AI sense categorization.

2 verses
Rev 9:11Rev 17:9(10)

What scholars say about basileus

Standard lexica treat the word as a single term, "king, sovereign," whose New Testament uses divide by referent rather than by meaning: ordinary human rulers (client-kings such as the Herods, the emperor, and the apocalyptic kings of the earth), Jesus (especially the "King of the Jews/Israel" of the Passion narratives and the "King of kings" of Revelation and the Pastorals), and God (the "King of the ages" and "King of the nations"). The theological dictionaries trace the background in the Old Testament confession of God as king and in the Jewish hope for a royal Messiah, against which the New Testament's application of the title to Jesus is read.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. βασιλεύςlexicon
  • H. Kleinknecht, G. von Rad, K. G. Kuhn, K. L. Schmidt, "βασιλεύς κτλ.," TDNT 1:564-593theological-dictionary
  • M. Voelz, "βασιλεύς," EDNT 1:209-211theological-dictionary

All attested forms of βασιλεύς

nominative m s

βασιλεὺς, βασιλεύς

Mat 1:6, Mat 2:2, Mat 2:3, Mat 14:9, Mat 22:7, Mat 22:11, Mat 22:13, Mat 25:34

accusative m s

βασιλέα

Mat 1:6, Mrk 6:25, Mrk 15:9, Mrk 15:12, Luk 23:2, Jhn 6:15, Jhn 18:39, Jhn 19:12

nominative m p

βασιλεῖς

Mat 17:25, Luk 10:24, Luk 22:25, Act 4:26, Rev 6:15, Rev 17:2, Rev 17:9, Rev 17:12

genitive m p

βασιλέων

Mat 11:8, Mrk 13:9, Act 9:15, 1Ti 2:2, Heb 7:1, Rev 1:5, Rev 16:12, Rev 17:14

vocative m s

βασιλεῦ, βασιλεὺς

Mat 27:29, Mrk 15:18, Act 25:24, Act 25:26, Act 26:2, Act 26:7, Act 26:13, Act 26:19

genitive m s

βασιλέως

Mat 2:1, Mat 2:9, Mat 5:35, Luk 1:5, Act 7:10, Act 12:20, 2Co 11:32, Heb 11:23

dative m s

βασιλεῖ

Mat 18:23, Mat 22:2, Luk 14:31, Act 25:14, 1Ti 1:17, 1Pe 2:13

accusative m p

βασιλεῖς

Mat 10:18, Luk 21:12, Rev 16:14, Rev 19:19

dative m p

βασιλεῦσιν

Rev 10:11