StrongerBible

lampros

λαμπρός

GreekG2986“bright, fine, ...”

Appears 9 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Luk 23:11Act 10:30Jas 2:2Jas 2:3Rev 15:6Rev 18:14Rev 19:8Rev 22:1Rev 22:16
Root family
Word studylam-PROSSadjective

What lampros means

gleaming: bright enough to catch the eye, and so also showy, fine, and expensive

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

The picture behind this word is a surface that throws the light back at you. Something counts as gleaming if you notice it because it shines: a star, water running clear over its bed, linen so white it looks lit from inside, the clothing of a messenger from heaven. The gleam is the point, not the color. That is why the New Testament can set this word beside "white" (λευκός) and beside "clean" (καθαρός) in the same breath without simply saying the same thing twice.

From there the word slides in a direction English keeps in two separate words. Clothes that shine are clothes that cost money, and clothes that cost money announce who deserves the good seat. So the one word that describes an angel's clothing in Acts also describes the visitor's outfit in James, set against another man's shabby one, and the glittering cargo a doomed city can no longer buy. Greek did not feel a jump there; English readers do, because our translations have to choose.

Revelation puts that double edge to work. The city that trades in gleaming goods loses them, while the bride is handed linen that is bright and clean, and the last chapter still has a river and a star that shine. The book takes the word the world uses for what money buys and gives it back to what God gives.

Nuances

1ashining: giving off or throwing back light, as a star or a burst of light does
TranslatabilityDirect
Act 26:13Rev 22:16
1bgleaming clothing: garments bright enough to mark the wearer out, worn by heavenly figures and by a man dressed up as a king
TranslatabilityApproximate
Luk 23:11Act 10:30Rev 15:6Rev 19:8
1csparkling clear: water bright enough to see straight through, like crystal
Rev 22:1
1dfine and showy: clothes, goods, and a way of living that glitter with money
TranslatabilityApproximate
Luk 16:19Jas 2:2Jas 2:3Rev 18:14
Variants

The same word in another spelling or form.

λαμπρότης“brightness”The word λαμπρότης (lamprotēs) is the abstract noun of this family, naming the gleam itself: brightness, radiance. It appears once, when Paul tells King Agrippa that the light he saw on the Damascus road was brighter than the sun. It carries exactly the idea of the adjective λαμπρός (lampros), "gleaming, splendid," only named as a quality in its own right rather than attached to a thing, which is why the λαμπρός entry explains it.
λαμπρῶς“magnificently”The word λαμπρῶς (lamprōs) is the adverb of this family, meaning "in splendid style" or "sumptuously." It appears once, in the parable of the rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and feasted "in splendor" every day. It says of a way of living what the adjective λαμπρός (lampros) says of a thing, taking up the same showy, expensive shine that word carries when it describes costly clothes and luxury goods, so the λαμπρός entry covers it.

What scholars say about lampros

The lexica treat λαμπρός as a single adjective built on λάμπω, with a range running from literal radiance to social splendor. BDAG distinguishes the radiant sense (Rev 22:16, and the cognate noun λαμπρότης at Acts 26:13), the shining garments of heavenly and exalted figures (Acts 10:30; Rev 15:6; 19:8), a "clear, transparent" sense at Rev 22:1, and a "splendid, magnificent" sense covering costly clothing and goods (Jas 2:2, 3; Rev 18:14, with the adverb λαμπρῶς at Luke 16:19). LSJ documents the same spread through classical and Hellenistic usage, where λαμπρός is idiomatic both for brightness and for a distinguished or ostentatious public figure, a usage carried into the papyri and inscriptions as an honorific. Oepke's TDNT article treats the λάμπω group as a unit and argues that the New Testament's brightness vocabulary is predominantly epiphanic, attached to angelophany and to eschatological glory rather than to ordinary description, which accounts for the concentration of the adjective in Acts and Revelation. Luke 23:11 is the one genuinely contested placement: commentators divide over whether Herod's ἐσθὴς λαμπρά is a white robe with royal or messianic overtones or simply expensive apparel supplied for the mockery.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. λαμπρός, λαμπρότης, λαμπρῶςlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. λαμπρόςlexicon
  • A. Oepke, "λάμπω, ἐκλάμπω, περιλάμπω, λαμπρός, λαμπρότης, λαμπρῶς", TDNT 4:16-28theological-dictionary
  • EDNT, s.v. λαμπρόςtheological-dictionary
  • J. A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke X-XXIV, Anchor Bible 28A (New York: Doubleday, 1985), on Luke 23:11commentary
  • D. E. Aune, Revelation 17-22, Word Biblical Commentary 52C (Nashville: Nelson, 1998), on Revelation 19:8commentary

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of λαμπρός

accusative f s

λαμπρὰν

Luk 23:11, Jas 2:3

accusative n s

λαμπρὸν

Rev 15:6, Rev 19:8

dative f s

λαμπρᾷ

Act 10:30, Jas 2:2

accusative m s

λαμπρὸν

Rev 22:1

nominative m s

λαμπρὸς

Rev 22:16

nominative n p

λαμπρὰ

Rev 18:14