StrongerBible

xulon

ξύλον

GreekG3586tree, cross, ...

Appears 20 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 26:47Mat 26:55Mrk 14:43Mrk 14:48Luk 22:52Luk 23:31Act 5:30Act 10:39Act 13:29Act 16:241Co 3:12Gal 3:131Pe 2:24Rev 2:7Rev 18:12 (2×)Rev 22:2 (2×)Rev 22:14Rev 22:19
Root family
Akin to
Word studyKSOO-lonnoun

What xulon means

wood: cut timber, and by extension almost anything made of wood, from a living tree to the cross

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

At its core this word means "wood": timber that has been cut for use, as opposed to a living, growing plant. From there it stretches to almost anything made of wood. In the New Testament it names building material set beside gold and silver, the clubs an arresting mob carries, and the wooden stocks that pin a prisoner's feet.

It also reaches back to the living plant. Revelation calls the source of endless life the "tree of life," using this same word for "wood" rather than the ordinary word for a growing tree (δένδρον). The one word can mean both cut timber and a fruit-bearing tree.

Its weightiest use is for the cross. When Peter and Paul say Jesus was hung "on a tree," they reach for this word for "wood" instead of the plain term for the cross (σταυρός). The choice is deliberate: the Old Testament declared anyone hanged on wood to be under God's curse, and calling the cross a "tree" presses that scandal onto the reader. The Hebrew word behind that image, עֵץ, covers the same broad range of wood, tree, and gallows.

Nuances

1awood as a material: cut timber, lumber
TranslatabilityDirect
Luk 23:311Co 3:12Rev 18:12 (2×)
1ba living tree, especially the tree of life
TranslatabilityDirect
Rev 2:7Rev 22:2 (2×)Rev 22:14Rev 22:19
1ca wooden club or staff carried as a weapon
TranslatabilityDirect
Mat 26:47Mat 26:55Mrk 14:43Mrk 14:48Luk 22:52
1dthe stocks: a wooden frame that clamps a prisoner's feet
TranslatabilityDirect
Act 16:24
1ethe cross: the wooden beam on which Jesus was executed
TranslatabilityApproximate
Act 5:30Act 10:39Act 13:29Gal 3:131Pe 2:24

What scholars say about xulon

The basic sense of ξύλον is cut wood or timber, standing in contrast to δένδρον, the living tree. In the Septuagint and the New Testament the word broadens to include living trees (notably the tree of life, drawn from the Genesis garden through the Greek Old Testament), wooden implements such as a cudgel or the stocks, and, most significantly, the cross. The application to the cross follows the Greek of Deuteronomy 21:22-23, where a body exposed on wood marks the person as under a divine curse; Acts, Galatians, and 1 Peter use ξύλον rather than σταυρός to activate that scriptural background, which Paul turns into the logic of the atonement in Galatians 3:13.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. ξύλονlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. ξύλονlexicon
  • J. Schneider, "ξύλον," in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 5dictionary
  • Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, s.v. ξύλονdictionary

All attested forms of ξύλον

genitive n s

ξύλου

Act 5:30, Act 10:39, Act 13:29, Gal 3:13, Rev 2:7, Rev 18:12, Rev 22:2, Rev 22:19

genitive n p

ξύλων

Mat 26:47, Mat 26:55, Mrk 14:43, Mrk 14:48, Luk 22:52

accusative n s

ξύλον

Act 16:24, 1Pe 2:24, Rev 18:12, Rev 22:14

accusative n p

ξύλα

1Co 3:12

dative n s

ξύλῳ

Luk 23:31

nominative n s

ξύλον

Rev 22:2