StrongerBible

mesos

μέσος

GreekG3319“midst, among, ...”

Appears 60 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 10:16Mat 13:25Mat 13:49Mat 14:6Mat 18:2Mat 18:20Mat 25:6Mrk 3:3Mrk 6:47Mrk 7:31Mrk 9:36Mrk 14:60Luk 2:46Luk 4:30Luk 4:35Luk 5:19Luk 6:8Luk 8:7Luk 10:3Luk 17:11Luk 21:21Luk 22:27Luk 22:55 (2×)Luk 23:45Jhn 1:26Jhn 8:59Jhn 19:18Jhn 20:19Jhn 20:26Act 1:18Act 17:33Act 23:10Act 26:131Co 5:22Co 6:17Col 2:142Th 2:7Rev 2:7
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studyMEH-sosadjective

What mesos means

the middle: the central point of a space, group, or stretch of time, and so the position of being surrounded on all sides

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

At its root this word marks the middle of something. Used by itself it names a center point, the spot equally far from the edges; used of a crowd or a place it means being in among others, ringed around on every side. The New Testament almost always reaches for it through a short phrase: "in the midst" places a person inside a group, "into the middle" calls someone forward to the open center, "out of the midst" pulls them away from it, and "through the midst" carries them across it.

These are not different words but one idea seen from different angles. To be in the middle of a group is to be exposed and at its heart; to step into the middle is to come into full view; to be taken out of the middle is to be removed from the scene. The same word even measures time, naming the middle of the night or the middle of the day.

The senses below sort these uses by the small phrase that frames the word, since that is what tells a reader whether someone is standing among a crowd, being summoned forward, being carried off, or being passed by.

Nuances

1ain the midst of, among: at the center of a group or space, surrounded on all sides
Mat 10:16Mat 13:25Mat 14:6Mat 18:2Mat 18:20Mrk 6:47Mrk 9:36Luk 2:46Luk 8:7Luk 10:3Luk 21:21Luk 22:27
1bthe middle itself: the open center one is brought into or stands in, the point between two sides, or the line down which something is split
Mrk 3:3Mrk 7:31Mrk 14:60Luk 4:35Luk 5:19Luk 6:8Luk 23:45Jhn 19:18Jhn 20:19Jhn 20:26Act 1:18Act 4:7
1cout of the midst: removed or taken away from a group or scene, and so "out of the way"
Mat 13:49Jhn 8:59Act 17:33Act 23:101Co 5:22Co 6:17Col 2:142Th 2:7
1dthrough the midst of: passing across the middle of a crowd or region
Luk 4:30Luk 17:11
1ethe middle of a stretch of time: midnight or midday
Mat 25:6Act 26:13Act 27:27

What scholars say about mesos

BDAG and LSJ treat μέσος as an adjective of position, "middle, in the middle," used both attributively and substantivally (τὸ μέσον, "the middle, the center"). The New Testament overwhelmingly deploys it in fixed prepositional phrases: ἐν μέσῳ + genitive ("in the midst of, among"), εἰς τὸ μέσον ("into the middle, forward"), ἐκ (τοῦ) μέσου ("out of the midst, away," idiomatically "out of the way" in Col 2:14 and 2 Thess 2:7), διὰ μέσου ("through the midst of"), and ἀνὰ μέσον ("between, among"). These largely calque Septuagint renderings of Hebrew תָּוֶךְ (BDB, HALOT). The genitive feminine forms in Matt 25:6 (μέσης νυκτός) and Acts 26:13 (ἡμέρας μέσης) extend the same notion of a central point to time. The word is monosemous at the level of meaning; the divisions are governed by syntactic frame rather than by distinct lexical senses.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. μέσοςlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. μέσοςlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. תָּוֶךְlexicon

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

All attested forms of μέσος

dative n s

μέσῳ, μέσῶ

Mat 10:16, Mat 14:6, Mat 18:2, Mat 18:20, Mrk 6:47, Mrk 9:36, Luk 2:46, Luk 8:7

accusative n s

μέσον

Mat 13:25, Mrk 3:3, Mrk 7:31, Mrk 14:60, Luk 4:35, Luk 5:19, Luk 6:8, Luk 17:11

genitive n s

μέσου

Mat 13:49, Luk 4:30, Jhn 8:59, Act 17:33, Act 23:10, 1Co 5:2, 2Co 6:17, Col 2:14

nominative m s

μέσος

Luk 22:55, Jhn 1:26, Act 1:18

genitive f s

μέσης, Μέσης

Act 26:13, Mat 25:6