StrongerBible

hiereus

ἱερεύς

GreekG2409priest

Appears 33 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 8:4Mat 12:4Mat 12:5Mrk 1:44Mrk 2:26Luk 1:5Luk 5:14Luk 6:4Luk 10:31Luk 17:14Jhn 1:19Act 4:1Act 5:24Act 6:7Act 14:13Heb 5:6Heb 7:1Heb 7:3Heb 7:11Heb 7:14Heb 7:15Heb 7:17Heb 7:20(21)Heb 7:21Heb 7:23Heb 8:4 (2×)Heb 9:6Heb 10:11Heb 10:21Rev 1:6Rev 5:10Rev 20:6
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studyhee-eh-REFSnoun

What hiereus means

priest: a person consecrated to serve at a sanctuary, offering the sacrifices and mediating between God (or a god) and the worshipers

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

A priest is defined by what he does at the altar: he offers the sacrifices, tends the holy place, and stands between the worshipers and their God. In the New Testament the word covers everyone who fills that role, so its meaning stays constant while the person it names changes.

Most often it is an ordinary Israelite priest, a descendant of Aaron who serves at the temple, presents the offerings, and rules on what is clean or unclean. The Gospels send the healed to show themselves to a priest, and the Letter to the Hebrews keeps returning to the daily work of these priests to make its argument.

Two uses stretch the word in fresh directions. Hebrews calls Jesus a priest, and not of the ordinary line: he is a priest forever after the pattern of Melchizedek, the ancient priest of God Most High, so his priesthood never passes to a successor. Revelation then calls the whole company of the redeemed priests to God, a people who now have direct access once reserved for the few. The word can even name a priest of a foreign god, as when the priest of Zeus tries to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas.

Nuances

1aan Israelite priest: a descendant of Aaron who serves at the temple, offers the sacrifices, and rules on what is clean or unclean
Mat 12:4Mat 12:5Mrk 2:26Luk 1:5Luk 6:4Luk 10:31Jhn 1:19Act 4:1Act 5:24Heb 7:14Heb 7:23Heb 8:4 (2×)
1ba priest of a foreign god: an official who offers sacrifice at a pagan temple
Act 14:13
1can eternal priest of God apart from the line of Aaron: Melchizedek, and above all Jesus, priest forever after Melchizedek's pattern
Heb 5:6Heb 7:1Heb 7:3Heb 7:11Heb 7:15Heb 7:17Heb 7:21Heb 8:4 (2×)Heb 10:21
1dpriests to God: the redeemed people collectively given priestly access and standing before God
Rev 1:6Rev 5:10Rev 20:6

Uncategorized

Awaiting AI sense categorization.

1 verse
Heb 7:20(21)

What scholars say about hiereus

hiereus denotes a cultic official qualified to approach the deity and perform sacrifice; in the Septuagint it is the standard rendering of Hebrew kohen. New Testament usage covers Levitical priests, a pagan priest (Acts 14:13), and, distinctively, the priesthood of Christ after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews) and the corporate priesthood of the redeemed (Revelation), the latter developing the vocation of Exodus 19:6. The lexical sense is uncontested; the theological weight of the Melchizedek argument and of the priesthood of all believers is a matter of interpretation, not of the word's meaning.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. ἱερεύςlexicon
  • G. Schrenk, 'ἱερεύς, ἀρχιερεύς κτλ.,' TDNT 3:257-283theological-dictionary
  • LSJ, s.v. ἱερεύςlexicon
  • H. Seebass and C. Brown, 'Priest,' NIDNTT 3:32-44theological-dictionary

All attested forms of ἱερεύς

nominative m s

ἱερεὺς, ἱερεύς

Act 5:24, Act 14:13, Heb 5:6, Heb 7:1, Heb 7:3, Heb 7:15, Heb 7:17, Heb 7:21

nominative m p

ἱερεῖς

Mat 12:5, Act 4:1, Heb 7:20, Heb 7:23, Heb 9:6, Rev 20:6

accusative m p

ἱερεῖς

Mrk 2:26, Luk 6:4, Jhn 1:19, Rev 1:6, Rev 5:10

dative m s

ἱερεῖ

Mat 8:4, Mrk 1:44, Luk 5:14

genitive m p

ἱερέων

Act 6:7, Heb 7:14, Heb 8:4

accusative m s

ἱερέα

Heb 7:11, Heb 10:21

dative m p

ἱερεῦσιν

Mat 12:4, Luk 17:14