then, next: the word that marks what comes next in an order, whether the next event, the next item in a list, or the next point in an argument
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
This is one of the ordinary hinges of Greek prose. It does not say when something happened or how much time passed; it says only that this comes after that. When Mark describes the ground bearing first the blade, then the head, then the full grain, the word is doing nothing more than counting off the stages in their order.
That one job turns up in three settings:
carrying a story forward from one action to the next, as when Jesus pours water into the basin and starts washing feet
ticking off the items of a list, as in the roll of resurrection witnesses in 1 Corinthians 15
moving a writer from one point of an argument to the next, where English says "furthermore" or "besides"
Because it fixes order without fixing timing, it is a weak foundation for claims about how long anything took. The end of all things in 1 Corinthians 15:24 is introduced by the same small word that carries a story from one minute to the next. The closely related word for "then, after that" (ἔπειτα) does much the same work, and Paul alternates the two inside a single list. Where a writer wants to point at a particular moment rather than at a position in a sequence, he reaches instead for the word meaning "at that time" (τότε).
Nuances
1athen, next: the next thing that happens as a story or a process moves forward
Marks a position in an order, so it commonly answers an explicit "first" earlier in the sentence.Mrk 4:281Ti 2:13
Can step a writer on to the next point of an argument rather than to the next moment of time.Heb 12:9
Both
Both move a narrative forward from one action to the action that follows it.Jhn 13:5Jhn 20:27
Only then
English "then" very often means "at that time", pointing at a moment instead of at a place in a sequence.
English "then" can also mean "in that case", drawing a conclusion from what was just said.
“next”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“after that”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“furthermore”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How eita differs from similar Greek words
ἔπειταA compound built on this word, leaning slightly more toward "after that", and often used where a stretch of time has passed; the two overlap so much that Paul uses both in one list.
Marks the very next move inside a scene already underway, one action following straight on the last with no gap suggested.Jhn 13:5Jhn 20:27Mrk 8:25
Can step a line of reasoning forward rather than a clock, closer to "besides" or "and another thing" than to a point in time.Heb 12:9
Chains a process in which each stage grows out of the one before it, so the sequence is also a cause and its result.Jas 1:15Mrk 4:28Luk 8:12
Both
Both simply mark the next item in an ordered list, and Paul alternates them within one sentence of his roll call of resurrection appearances with no change of sense.1Co 15:7
Both fill the second slot of a "first this, then that" pattern that ranks items in their proper order.1Ti 2:13Jas 3:17
Both can lay out the stages of what is still to come, spacing out future events in the order they will arrive.1Co 15:241Th 4:17
marks one step following another in a series: next, after that. It orders items in a sequence rather than fixing them to a moment in time.Mrk 4:281Co 15:5
is used to count off the stages of a process or a list, so the events it links are understood as coming one after the other in order.Jas 1:151Ti 3:10
Both
both are everyday connective words English renders alike as then, joining one statement to the next in a narrative or argument.Jhn 13:5Mat 9:14
points to a specific time: at that moment, in those days. It anchors what happens to a point on the timeline rather than ranking it in a series.Mat 2:7Mat 4:1
carries an answering force, picking up what was just described and saying this is when it happens or happened, often pairing a moment now with a moment to come.Mat 24:30Mat 25:31
eita in the other biblical languages
אַחַרHebrew“after”The Hebrew word for "after", which as an adverb means "afterward" and is the nearest Old Testament way of saying that one thing follows another.
It counts off the members of a list one by one, numbering people or items in order rather than only marking a later time.1Co 15:51Co 15:71Ti 2:13
It marks the next stage of a process in which each stage grows out of the one before it, so the sequence is also a chain of cause and effect.Mrk 4:28Jas 1:15
It can move a line of reasoning forward instead of moving time forward, meaning something closer to "and besides" as the writer adds his next point.Heb 12:9
It can set up a required order in which one thing has to be finished before the next is allowed to happen.1Ti 3:10
Both
Both can stand on their own as "then" or "afterward", carrying an account from one action straight to the next without naming any span of time.Gen 18:5Gen 24:55Jhn 13:5Jhn 19:27
Both can lay out a fixed order in which one event has to come before the next, including events still ahead in the future.Gen 15:141Co 15:24
Both can leave the later event vague, telling the reader only that it happened at some point afterward and never how long the gap was.Gen 10:18Mrk 4:17
It can point to a place rather than a time, naming what is physically behind a person or an object.Gen 19:6Gen 19:17Gen 19:26Gen 22:13
It attaches to a named thing to say what the new event comes after, so the reader is told the fixed point being measured from and not merely that something came next.Gen 15:1Gen 22:1Gen 22:20
It describes going along behind a person as a follower, the ordinary way Hebrew says that someone follows or refuses to follow another.Gen 24:5Gen 24:8Gen 24:39
It reaches forward across generations, tying the people who come later to the person they descend from in the phrase "your offspring after you".Gen 9:9Gen 17:7Gen 17:19
אָזHebrew“then”The Hebrew "then", which pins an event to a moment, past or future, rather than counting off the next item in an order.
It counts off the next item in an order, so it usually follows a "first" and can be repeated down a list: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain; Adam formed first, then Eve; tested first, then serving.Mrk 4:281Ti 2:131Ti 3:10
It sets out a sequence of appearances or events in their proper order, stringing one "and next" onto another until the list is finished.1Co 15:51Co 15:71Co 15:24
It can move a writer to his next point rather than to a later time, working like "and besides that" in an argument.Heb 12:9
Both
Both are commonly rendered "then" in English, and both can simply carry a story forward to what happened next, which is why the difference between them is invisible in translation.Jos 8:301Ki 3:16Jhn 13:5Jhn 19:27
Both can mark the stage that follows once the earlier thing is in place, so that one step gives rise to the next.Isa 58:8Jas 1:15Mrk 4:17
It pins an event to the moment it happened and puts that moment first in the sentence, marking the occasion rather than the position in a list: that was when Moses sang, when Joshua built the altar, when Solomon spoke.Exo 15:1Jos 8:301Ki 8:12Gen 4:26
It carries the "then" of a promise: do this and then the blessing follows, which makes it the hinge of conditional sayings.Jos 1:8Pro 2:5Psa 119:6
It names a coming day already in view, the moment when God acts, so prophets and singers use it to point ahead to that time.Isa 35:5Isa 35:6Zep 3:9Psa 96:12
Joined to a small word meaning "from", it looks backward instead, giving "since that time" or "from of old", a use the Greek word has no share in.Psa 93:2Pro 8:22Exo 4:10Isa 16:13
What scholars say about eita
The lexica are unanimous that εἶτα is a sequencing adverb, and they divide its use along the same lines: BDAG distinguishes temporal succession (Mk 4:17; 8:25; Lk 8:12;Jn 13:5; 19:27; 20:27; 1 Cor 15:5, 7, 24; 1 Tim 2:13;Jas 1:15) from succession in enumeration or in the steps of an argument (Mk 4:28;1 Tim 3:10;Heb 12:9), while LSJ documents the same range in classical prose along with the inferential and indignant uses in questions that do not surface in the New Testament. The variant spelling εἶτεν, attested in the papyri and in part of the manuscript tradition, is a phonetic byform and carries no difference of sense. Two exegetical points recur in the commentaries. On 1 Cor 15:23-24 Thiselton and Fee argue that the εἶτα/ἔπειτα alternation in Paul's resurrection catalogue is stylistic, so that εἶτα τὸ τέλος states sequence without committing the writer to an intervening period; the eschatological question of an interval is therefore decided by the argument of vv. 20-28, not lexically. On Heb 12:9 Ellingworth and Attridge take εἶτα as marking a further step in the argument from the lesser case to the greater, hence the standard renderings "furthermore" or "moreover" rather than a temporal "then".
Sources
BDAG, s.v. εἶταlexicon
LSJ, s.v. εἶταlexicon
Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NIGTC), on 1 Corinthians 15:5-7, 23-24commentary
Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT), on 1 Corinthians 15:23-24commentary
Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews (NIGTC), on Hebrews 12:9commentary
Harold W. Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Hermeneia), on Hebrews 12:9commentary
James Hope Moulton and George Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, s.v. εἶταlexicon