StrongerBible

biblion

βιβλίον

GreekG0975scroll, book, ...

Appears 35 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 19:7Mrk 10:4Luk 4:17 (2×)Luk 4:20Jhn 20:30Jhn 21:25Gal 3:102Ti 4:13Heb 9:19Heb 10:7Rev 1:11Rev 5:1Rev 5:2Rev 5:3Rev 5:4Rev 5:5Rev 5:7Rev 6:14Rev 13:8Rev 20:12 (3×)Rev 21:27Rev 22:7Rev 22:9Rev 22:10Rev 22:18 (2×)Rev 22:19 (2×)
Root family
Word studybib-LEE-onnoun

What biblion means

a written document: a scroll, book, or official paper set down to be read

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

In the biblical world a biblion was almost always a scroll, a length of papyrus or parchment written on and rolled up, not a bound volume with pages. That physical picture matters: Jesus is handed the scroll of Isaiah, unrolls it, reads, then rolls it back up (Luke 4). Whatever its contents, the word names a piece of writing meant to be read, from a prophet's book to a personal letter to a legal paper.

The range runs in three directions that share this one core. Most often it is a book or scroll in the ordinary sense: a sacred text, a written record, the volume John is told to write. In a fixed legal phrase it narrows to an official certificate, above all the certificate of divorce a man handed his wife. And in Revelation it repeatedly names a heavenly book, the record in which God keeps names or deeds, opened on the day of judgment.

The word is a smaller form of the plainer word for book, and by New Testament times that shrinking force had mostly worn off, so biblion simply means book or scroll with no stress on size. When a writer wants to stress that a scroll is small, he reaches for a different word (the little scroll John eats in Revelation 10).

Nuances

1aa scroll or book: a written composition or record set down to be read
Luk 4:17 (2×)Luk 4:20Jhn 20:30Jhn 21:25Gal 3:102Ti 4:13Heb 9:19Heb 10:7Rev 1:11Rev 5:1Rev 5:2Rev 5:3
1ba legal certificate: an official written paper, specifically a certificate of divorce
Mat 19:7Mrk 10:4
1ca heavenly book: the record in which God keeps names or deeds, opened at the final judgment (the book of life)
Rev 13:8Rev 17:8Rev 20:12 (3×)Rev 21:27

What scholars say about biblion

The lexica treat βιβλίον as the diminutive of βίβλος whose diminutive force is largely bleached in Koine, so that it denotes a written document generally: a book or scroll (BDAG sense 1) and, in documentary papyri and the fixed phrase βιβλίον ἀποστασίου, a legal document or deed (BDAG sense 2; Moulton and Milligan document the certificate/deed usage from the papyri). Schrenk (TDNT 1, s.v. βίβλος, βιβλίον) surveys the sacred-book and heavenly-book usage. The heavenly βιβλίον τῆς ζωῆς and the books opened at judgment in Revelation belong to the ancient motif of the heavenly book, on which the standard study is Koep, Das himmlische Buch in Antike und Christentum.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. βιβλίονlexicon
  • G. Schrenk, "βίβλος, βιβλίον," TDNT 1:615-620theological-dictionary
  • Moulton and Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, s.v. βιβλίονlexicon
  • L. Koep, Das himmlische Buch in Antike und Christentum (Bonn: Hanstein, 1952)monograph

All attested forms of βιβλίον

accusative n s

βιβλίον

Mat 19:7, Mrk 10:4, Luk 4:17, Luk 4:20, Heb 9:19, Rev 1:11, Rev 5:1, Rev 5:2

dative n s

βιβλίῳ

Jhn 20:30, Gal 3:10, Rev 13:8, Rev 21:27, Rev 22:18, Rev 22:19

genitive n s

βιβλίου

Heb 10:7, Rev 22:7, Rev 22:9, Rev 22:10, Rev 22:18, Rev 22:19

nominative n s

βιβλίον

Luk 4:17, Rev 6:14, Rev 20:12

accusative n p

βιβλία

Jhn 21:25, 2Ti 4:13

dative n p

βιβλίοις

Rev 20:12

nominative n p

βιβλία

Rev 20:12