StrongerBible

oudeis

οὐδείς

GreekG3762no one, nothing, ...

Appears 235 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 5:13Mat 6:24Mat 8:10Mat 9:16Mat 10:26Mat 11:27Mat 13:34Mat 17:8Mat 17:20Mat 20:7Mat 21:19Mat 22:16Mat 22:46Mat 23:16Mat 23:18Mat 24:36Mat 26:62Mat 27:12Mat 27:24Mrk 2:21Mrk 2:22Mrk 3:27Mrk 5:3Mrk 5:4Mrk 5:37Mrk 6:5Mrk 7:12Mrk 7:15Mrk 7:24Mrk 9:8Mrk 9:29Mrk 9:39Mrk 10:18Mrk 10:29Mrk 11:13Mrk 12:14Mrk 14:60Mrk 14:61Mrk 15:4Mrk 15:5Mrk 16:8 (2×)Luk 1:61Luk 4:2Luk 4:26Luk 7:28Luk 8:16Luk 8:43Luk 9:36Luk 10:19Luk 11:33
Compound of
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studyoo-DACEadjective

What oudeis means

not even one: no one, nothing, none at all

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

This is the strongest sweeping "no" in the Greek New Testament. It is built from the words for "and not" and "one," so at heart it says "not even one." That single idea then bends to fit whatever is being denied.

When the thing being denied is a person, it means "no one, nobody" (no one has ever seen God). When it is a thing, it means "nothing" (apart from me you can do nothing). Placed in front of a noun it works like the word "no" in English, sweeping away every instance (no rest, no fault, no other church).

From there it stretches two more steps. It can deliver a verdict that a person or thing amounts to "nothing," that is, counts for nothing (if I have no love, I am nothing; an idol is nothing in the world). And it can work almost like the phrase "not at all," denying that an action helps or matters even slightly (the flesh profits nothing; the heir is no different from a slave).

All of these are the same denial, "not one," aimed at different targets, which is why one word covers so much ground without ever splitting into unrelated meanings.

Nuances

1ano one, nobody: not a single person
Mat 6:24Mat 11:27Mat 22:46Mrk 10:18Mrk 12:34Luk 16:13Jhn 1:18Jhn 3:2Jhn 3:13Jhn 6:44Jhn 10:18Jhn 14:6
1bnothing: not a single thing
Mat 10:26Mat 26:62Mat 27:12Mrk 7:15Luk 4:2Luk 5:5Jhn 5:19Jhn 5:30Jhn 15:5Jhn 16:23Jhn 18:20Jhn 21:3
1cno, not any: placed before a noun to deny every instance of it (no rest, no fault, no other)
Mrk 6:5Luk 4:24Luk 4:26Jhn 16:29Jhn 18:38Jhn 19:4Jhn 19:11Act 25:18Act 27:222Co 7:5Php 4:151Jn 1:5
1dof no account: a verdict that a person or thing amounts to nothing, counts for nothing
Mat 5:13Mat 23:16Mat 23:18Jhn 8:54Act 5:36Act 19:27Act 20:24Act 21:241Co 7:19 (2×)1Co 8:41Co 13:22Co 12:11
1enot at all, in no way: denies that an action helps or matters even slightly
Mat 27:24Mrk 9:29Jhn 6:63Jhn 12:19Act 15:91Co 13:3Gal 2:6Gal 4:1Gal 5:2Php 1:202Ti 2:14

What scholars say about oudeis

A compound of οὐδέ ("and not, not even") + εἷς ("one"), literally "not even one," serving as the emphatic general negative for persons and things in declarative (indicative) clauses; it is correlated with μηδείς, which supplies the same function in volitive, subjunctive, conditional, and participial constructions (BDF 302). The neuter οὐδέν is regularly used adverbially as an accusative of respect ("in no way, not at all," e.g. John 6:63; Galatians 4:1) and predicatively for valuation ("of no account," 1 Corinthians 13:2; 2 Corinthians 12:11). A Hellenistic phonetic variant οὐθείς / οὐθέν (with theta) is attested in the manuscript tradition, notably in Luke-Acts and Paul (e.g. 1 Corinthians 13:2), and is semantically identical.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. οὐδείςlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. οὐδείςlexicon
  • F. Blass, A. Debrunner, R. W. Funk, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 302grammar
  • A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Researchgrammar

All attested forms of οὐδείς

nominative m s

οὐδεὶς, οὐδείς, Οὐδεὶς

Mat 9:16, Mat 11:27, Mat 20:7, Mat 22:46, Mat 24:36, Mrk 2:21, Mrk 2:22, Mrk 3:27

accusative n s

οὐδὲν, οὐδέν, οὐθὲν, οὐθέν

Mat 5:13, Mat 13:34, Mat 21:19, Mat 26:62, Mat 27:12, Mat 27:24, Mrk 7:12, Mrk 11:13

nominative n s

οὐδὲν, οὐδέν, Οὐδὲν, οὐθέν

Mat 10:26, Mat 17:20, Luk 10:19, Luk 23:15, Act 18:17, Rom 14:14, 1Co 8:4, 1Co 14:10

accusative m s

οὐδένα

Mat 17:8, Mrk 5:37, Mrk 7:24, Mrk 9:8, Jhn 5:22, Jhn 8:15, Jhn 18:9, Jhn 18:31

accusative f s

οὐδεμίαν

Mrk 6:5, Luk 4:26, Jhn 16:29, Jhn 18:38, Jhn 19:4, Jhn 19:11, Act 25:18, 2Co 7:5

genitive m s

οὐδενὸς, οὐδενός, οὐθενός

Act 20:24, Act 20:33, Act 27:34, 1Co 2:15, Heb 6:13, Mat 22:16, Mrk 12:14, 2Co 11:9

dative m s

οὐδενὶ

Mat 8:10, Mrk 16:8, Luk 9:36, Jhn 8:33, Act 4:12, Act 8:16, 1Co 9:15

nominative f s

οὐδεμία

Act 27:22, Php 4:15, 1Jn 1:5

dative n s

οὐδενὶ

Mrk 9:29, Php 1:20

genitive n s

οὐδενὸς, οὐθενός

Luk 8:43, Luk 22:35