StrongerBible

dei

δεῖ

GreekG1163must, ought, ...

Appears 106 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 16:21Mat 17:10Mat 18:33Mat 23:23Mat 24:6Mat 25:27Mat 26:35Mat 26:54Mrk 8:31Mrk 9:11Mrk 13:7Mrk 13:10Mrk 13:14Mrk 14:31Luk 2:49Luk 4:43Luk 9:22Luk 11:42Luk 13:16Luk 15:32Luk 18:1Luk 22:7Luk 24:26Luk 24:46Jhn 4:4Act 1:16Act 17:3Act 19:36Act 25:24Act 26:9Act 27:211Ti 5:131Pe 1:6
Word studyDAYverb

What dei means

it is necessary; one must, ought, has to (an impersonal verb that names a binding necessity laid on a person or event)

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

This is an impersonal verb: it almost never has a personal subject of its own but reports that something "must" happen, with the person or action that is bound named in what follows. Its core claim is constant everywhere, that a given thing is not optional. What changes from place to place is where the pressure comes from. Sometimes it is the hard logic of a situation, sometimes a duty a person owes, and most weightily in the New Testament it is the settled purpose of God.

The senses below sort the occurrences by that source of the necessity. The line between them is drawn by context, not by the word itself, since the same plain word carries all of them. The reader should not import a heavy sense of destiny where the writer means only that the circumstances left no other choice, nor flatten the loaded uses where a Gospel writer means that God has decreed it.

The heaviest use, and the one that gives the word its theological weight, is the necessity grounded in God's plan: that the Messiah must suffer and rise, that what the prophets wrote must be fulfilled, and that the appointed events of the end must take place. Here "must" is not fate pressing from outside but the unfolding of what God has purposed.

Nuances

1amust, in the saving plan of God: the Messiah's suffering, death, and rising, and the fulfillment of what Scripture foretold, are appointed by God and so cannot fail to happen
Mat 16:21Mat 26:54Mrk 8:31Luk 9:22Luk 17:25Luk 24:7Luk 24:26Luk 24:44Luk 24:46Jhn 3:14Jhn 20:9Act 3:21
1bmust, in the appointed events of the end: wars, signs, and the final acts of judgment and reign are set to take place before the end comes
Mat 24:6Mrk 13:7Mrk 13:10Luk 21:91Co 15:251Co 15:53Rev 1:1Rev 4:1Rev 10:11Rev 17:10Rev 20:3Rev 22:6
1cought to, as a moral or personal duty: a thing a person is obligated to do because it is right or because God requires it
Mat 18:33Mat 23:23Luk 18:1Act 5:29Rom 8:26Rom 12:31Th 4:11Ti 3:21Ti 3:71Ti 3:152Ti 2:24Tit 1:7
1dhas to, by the plain pressure of circumstances or logic: the situation itself leaves no other course
Luk 12:12Luk 19:5Jhn 4:4Jhn 9:4Act 9:6Act 10:6Act 16:30Act 21:22Act 27:21Act 27:24Act 27:261Co 11:19

What scholars say about dei

The standard lexica treat δεῖ as a single impersonal verb meaning "it is necessary, one must," while recognizing that its force ranges from logical and practical necessity through moral obligation to the theologically loaded necessity of God's plan. Walter Grundmann's TDNT article on δεῖ established the prominence of this last use in the New Testament, especially the "divine must" of the Son of Man's suffering and resurrection in the Synoptics (Mark 8:31 and parallels) and the necessity of Scripture's fulfillment in Luke-Acts, where the word becomes a key marker of God's directing purpose in salvation history. BDAG and EDNT follow the same range, noting the concentration of the word in Luke-Acts.

Sources

  • Walter Grundmann, "δεῖ, δέον ἐστί," in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT), ed. G. Kittel, vol. 2theological-dictionary
  • BDAG (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. δεῖlexicon
  • Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (EDNT), ed. H. Balz and G. Schneider, s.v. δεῖtheological-dictionary
  • Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon (LSJ), s.v. δεῖlexicon

All attested forms of δεῖ

present active indicative 3s

δεῖ

Mat 16:21, Mat 17:10, Mat 24:6, Mat 26:54, Mrk 8:31, Mrk 9:11, Mrk 13:7, Mrk 13:10

imperfect active indicative 3s

ἔδει, Ἔδει

Mat 18:33, Mat 23:23, Mat 25:27, Luk 11:42, Luk 13:16, Luk 15:32, Luk 22:7, Luk 24:26

present active infinitive

δεῖν

Luk 18:1, Act 25:24, Act 26:9

present active participle nominative n s

δέον

Act 19:36, 1Pe 1:6

present active subjunctive 3s

δέῃ

Mat 26:35, Mrk 14:31

present active participle accusative n p

δέοντα

1Ti 5:13