there: in or to that place, pointing away from the speaker to a spot already in view
TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled
This little word simply means "there." It points to a place other than where the speaker is, a spot the listener can already picture from the story or the conversation. Greek uses it both for staying put in a place ("he was there") and, after words of going, for heading to a place ("go there"), much as English "there" does double duty. The flavor comes entirely from the verb beside it.
Most of the time it just fixes the scene: where someone stayed, sat, was found, or did something. A few times it slides into pointing toward a place after a verb of motion, where careful older Greek might have used a separate word for "to that place." And in one memorable, repeated line of Jesus, the plain "there" takes on a chilling weight: "there will be weeping and grinding of teeth," where "there" is the place of final judgment just described. The word itself never changes meaning; the setting does all the work.
Nuances
1athere, in that place: marking where something is or happens
in older, more careful Greek the word leaned toward rest in a place, with a separate word reserved for motion toward it, though by New Testament times that distinction had largely fadedJhn 4:40Jhn 3:23
Both
both simply point to a place away from the speaker that the hearer can already picture, and both cover staying in that place and heading to itMat 2:22Luk 21:2
Only there
—
“in that place”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“to that place”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How ekei differs from similar Greek words
ἐκεῖθενfrom there: the same pointing-away word but for motion out of that place, not rest in it or motion toward it
Marks where something is, stays, or happens: the fixed place itself, with no idea of movement. It answers "where?"Mat 6:21Mat 18:20
When it does pair with a verb of motion, it names the place arrived at or settled in, the destination, not the place left behind.Mat 2:13Mat 28:7
Both
Both point back to a single place already named in the story rather than introducing a new one, so the reader supplies the spot from the surrounding verses.Mrk 6:10Mat 4:21
Points to the place where the speaker already is: this spot, near at hand.Mat 17:4Mrk 9:5
Used to say something is present or absent right here, drawing attention to what is or is not on the scene.Mat 28:6Mat 14:17
Stretches from place to setting, naming this present situation or world as the place where things now stand.Heb 13:14Rev 13:10
ekei in the other biblical languages
שָׁםHebrew“there”the standard Hebrew word for "there," which the Greek Old Testament regularly renders with ekei; it covers the same in-or-to-that-place ground
Often points back to a place already named in the story, marking where an event then unfolds, as when Joseph is told to stay in Egypt until further word.Mat 2:13Mrk 6:10
Carries a settled, almost final ring in pictures of the world to come, fixing the place of weeping and grief.Mat 8:12Mat 13:42
Both
Both are the ordinary everyday word for "there": a plain pointer to a place already in view, and the Greek word is the regular way the New Testament says what the Hebrew word says in the Old.Gen 11:8Mat 2:15
Both name the place where someone settles or stays for a time, fixing where a person or group remains.Gen 26:17Mat 2:22
Pins down where something is located, as with the gold and other goods found in a particular land.Gen 2:11Gen 2:12
Marks the spot a person travels or returns to, the destination of a journey rather than only a backdrop.Gen 12:8Gen 13:3
What scholars say about ekei
The lexica treat ekei as the unproblematic demonstrative adverb of place, glossed "there, in that place" (BDAG, LSJ). Both note its use with verbs of motion for "to that place, thither," a function classical Greek tended to assign to ekeise; this overlap reflects the general Koine erosion of the rest/motion distinction among place adverbs. Lexica also flag the formulaic eschatological ekei in the recurring Synoptic logion "there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 8:12 and parallels), where the adverb resumes a preceding description of the place of judgment. Standard Greek grammars (e.g. BDF) treat it among the local adverbs without controversy.
Sources
BDAG, s.v. ἐκεῖlexicon
LSJ, s.v. ἐκεῖlexicon
BDF, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament, sections on local adverbsgrammar