StrongerBible

oxus

ὀξύς

GreekG3691“sharp, swift”

Appears 8 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Rom 3:15Rev 1:16Rev 2:12Rev 14:14Rev 14:17Rev 14:18 (2×)Rev 19:15
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Word studyok-SOOSadjective

What oxus means

1

sharp: an edge keen enough to cut at a touch, said of a blade about to be used

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

Every time this word describes an edge in the New Testament, the thing named is a blade held by a heavenly figure, and all six of those verses stand in the book of Revelation. There is no sharp knife on a table and no sharp thorn in a field. The word turns up only where a weapon or a tool is being brought into use.

Two objects carry it. One is the long sword that comes out of the mouth of the risen Christ. It is described twice over, as cutting both ways (δίστομος) and as keen, so the picture is of a blade that meets no resistance from either side. Because it comes out of his mouth, the edge belongs to what he says: the sentence he speaks is the thing that cuts. The picture is borrowed from Isaiah 49:2, where the prophet's mouth is made like a sharp sword.

The other object is a harvest sickle, held first by the figure seated on the cloud and then by an angel who comes out of the temple. Harvest is an old picture for judgment, and the keen edge is part of its urgency: the crop is ripe, the blade is ready, and the swing will not be slowed. In both scenes the word says less about the metal than about how little stands in the way once the blade is used.

Nuances

1athe keen edge of the sword that comes out of the mouth of the risen Christ
Rev 1:16Rev 2:12Rev 19:15
1bthe keen edge of the sickle swung at the harvest of the earth
Rev 14:14Rev 14:17Rev 14:18 (2×)
2

swift: quick to get somewhere, said of feet that hurry to do something

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

The one use of this word outside Revelation has nothing to do with blades. Paul is stringing together a chain of lines from the Old Testament about how people actually behave, and one of them describes feet that are quick to shed blood. Speed is the whole point. These are not people who eventually get around to violence; they run to it.

The line comes from Isaiah 59:7, where the charge is that they hurry to spill innocent blood. Greek uses the same adjective for a keen edge and for a keen pace, which is ordinary Greek rather than a buried play on words. Still, the sentence lands hard: the feet are as ready for their work as a blade is for its own.

Rom 3:15

What scholars say about oxus

ὀξύς is a common Greek adjective whose range runs from a keen point or edge (LSJ A.I), through keenness of the senses and sourness of taste, to swiftness of motion (LSJ A.II). BDAG accordingly gives two definitions for New Testament usage, "sharp" and "swift." The 8 occurrences divide cleanly: 7 in Revelation, modifying ῥομφαία (1:16; 2:12; 19:15) and δρέπανον (14:14, 17, 18 twice), and 1 in Rom 3:15. The Revelation sword texts sit inside a well recognized Isaianic matrix: Isa 49:2 in Greek renders the Hebrew חֶרֶב חַדָּה with μάχαιραν ὀξεῖαν, and Isa 11:4 supplies the rod and breath of the mouth, so Aune and Beale read the ὀξεῖα ῥομφαία of Rev 1:16 and 19:15 as the judging prophetic word rather than a literal weapon. The sickle scene of Rev 14:14 to 20 draws on Joel 4:13 (English 3:13). In Rom 3:15 Paul's chain of citations follows Isa 59:7 (with Prov 1:16), where the Greek Old Testament tradition reads ταχινοί; the appearance of ὀξεῖς instead is discussed by Cranfield and Dunn, who attribute it to Paul or to a pre-existing collection of testimony texts rather than to a different Hebrew original. No sense of the adjective itself is contested in the lexica.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. ὀξύςlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. ὀξύςlexicon
  • Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, s.v. ὀξύςtheological-dictionary
  • David E. Aune, Revelation 1-5, Word Biblical Commentarycommentary
  • G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation, New International Greek Testament Commentarycommentary
  • C. E. B. Cranfield, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, International Critical Commentarycommentary
  • James D. G. Dunn, Romans 1-8, Word Biblical Commentarycommentary

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

All attested forms of ὀξύς

accusative n s

ὀξύ, ὀξὺ

Rev 14:14, Rev 14:17, Rev 14:18, Rev 14:18

nominative f s

ὀξεῖα

Rev 1:16, Rev 19:15

accusative f s

ὀξεῖαν

Rev 2:12

nominative m p

ὀξεῖς

Rom 3:15