StrongerBible

peristera

περιστερά

GreekG4058“dove, pigeon”

Appears 10 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 3:16Mat 10:16Mat 21:12Mrk 1:10Mrk 11:15Luk 2:24Luk 3:22Jhn 1:32Jhn 2:14Jhn 2:16
Word studyResearch-gradepeh-ree-steh-RAHnoun

What peristera means

a dove or pigeon: the common bird that Greek names with a single word

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

In the Bible this is the plain word for a dove or pigeon. English keeps two names for these birds, the gentle poetic dove and the ordinary city pigeon, but Greek uses one word for the whole family, so translators simply pick whichever English word fits the scene. It is the everyday bird that was raised by the hundred, eaten, sold in markets, and offered in worship.

The New Testament puts this one bird to work in three very different ways.

  • It is the cheap sacrifice of the poor: the offering God allowed for those who could not afford a lamb, which is exactly what Mary and Joseph bring, and exactly what is being sold in the temple courts that Jesus clears.
  • It is a picture of pure, guileless character, when Jesus tells his followers to be as innocent as doves.
  • And most famously it is the image in which the Holy Spirit comes down on Jesus at his baptism, descending like a dove.

Greek does keep this bird distinct from one close relative, the turtledove (τρυγών), a separate migratory species. The two are named side by side in the temple offering the law prescribed for the poor: two turtledoves or two young pigeons. Both were common in the land, and together they covered the whole year, since the turtledove is only present in the warmer months while the pigeon stays year round.

Nuances

1athe bird itself, kept for sacrifice and sold for it: the offering the law allowed for people too poor to bring a lamb
Mat 21:12Mrk 11:15Luk 2:24Jhn 2:14Jhn 2:16
1bthe dove as a picture of pure, guileless character: openness with no cunning in it
Mat 10:16
1cthe dove as the sign in which the Holy Spirit came down on Jesus at his baptism
TranslatabilityApproximate
Mat 3:16Mrk 1:10Luk 3:22Jhn 1:32
Mrk 1:10

What the dove signifies at Jesus' baptism, and relatedly whether the phrase describes the manner of the Spirit's descent (coming down in a dove-like way) or its visible form (coming down as a dove). All four Gospels report the Spirit descending like a dove; Luke alone adds that it was in bodily form, which most read as settling the second question toward a visible shape. On what the image evokes, scholarship offers several backgrounds and does not fully agree.

  • majorityThe dove recalls the Spirit of God hovering over the waters at the world's beginning, so the baptism opens a new creation.; J. Marcus, Mark 1-8 (AYB 27, 2000), 159-66; A. Yarbro Collins, Mark (Hermeneia, 2007), 148-50
  • minorityThe imagery is deliberately many-sided, evoking creation, Noah's returning dove, and Israel pictured as a dove at once, and should not be reduced to a single referent.; W. D. Davies and D. C. Allison, Matthew (ICC, 1988), 1:328-34
  • minorityThe dove personifies Israel, so Jesus receives the Spirit as Israel's representative.; W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann, Matthew (AB 26, 1971)
  • minorityThe scene would have been heard against Greek and Roman stories of gods descending in bird form, or as a bird omen contrasting the imperial eagle, marking Jesus as a peaceful counter-emperor.; E. P. Dixon, Descending Spirit and Descending Gods, JBL 128 (2009): 759-80; M. Peppard, The Son of God in the Roman World (OUP, 2011)

What scholars say about peristera

The lexica treat περιστερά as a single columbid field: BDAG glosses dove, pigeon and cautions that any distinction cannot be determined from usage; LSJ gives common pigeon or dove and identifies it technically with the domestic pigeon (Columba livia); Louw-Nida (§4.44) place περιστερά and τρυγών in one subdomain with no significant contrast; Moulton-Milligan document the word throughout the Egyptian papyri as the ordinary domestic pigeon. The one distinction the Greek Bible maintains is περιστερά (rendering יוֹנָה) versus τρυγών (rendering תּוֹר, the turtledove), paired with technical rigor in the priestly legislation (Lev 5:7; 12:6, 8; Num 6:10), the very formula Luke 2:24 quotes (Greeven, TDNT 6:63-72; Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16, AB 3). The etymology is disputed: the older Semitic derivation (bird of Ishtar) is rejected by Frisk, Chantraine, and Beekes in favor of a Pre-Greek substrate word or a formation from πελιός (dark-blue). The baptism image is the interpretive crux. Keck's essay The Spirit and the Dove (NTS 17, 1970/71) argued that the earliest tradition read ὡς περιστεράν adverbially (a dove-like manner of descent) and that no securely pre-Christian Jewish symbol of the Spirit as dove is demonstrable; Luke's addition of σωματικῷ εἴδει (in bodily form) is generally taken to settle the phrase toward visible form (Fitzmyer, Luke I-IX, AB 28). On what the dove signifies, the modal position in current criticism reads it through Genesis 1:2 and a new-creation typology (Marcus, Yarbro Collins, France), while Davies and Allison judge the imagery deliberately polyvalent, Albright and Mann favor the dove as Israel personified, and Dixon (JBL 2009) and Peppard (The Son of God in the Roman World, 2011) argue a Greco-Roman theophanic or counter-imperial augural background. The often-cited rabbinic parallel, b. Ḥagigah 15a (Ben Zoma on Gen 1:2), is real but redacted too late to prove a pre-Christian symbol. In Matthew 10:16 the dove is paired with ἀκέραιος (unmixed, without guile), an image of integrity rather than mere harmlessness, reworking a Jewish saying preserved in Song of Songs Rabbah 2:14 (Davies and Allison; Luz). For the temple episode, scholars divide over Jesus' motive: Sanders (Jesus and Judaism) reads a prophetic sign of destruction, while Evans (CBQ 51, 1989) defends both portent and protest against real economic abuse of the poor who bought these birds.

In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • BDAG (3rd ed., 2000), s.v. περιστερά, 803lexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. περιστεράlexicon
  • Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains (2nd ed., 1989), §4.44lexicon
  • H. Greeven, περιστερά, τρυγών, TDNT 6 (1968): 63-72dictionary
  • L. E. Keck, The Spirit and the Dove, NTS 17 (1970/71): 41-67article
  • W. D. Davies and D. C. Allison, Matthew (ICC, 1988), 1:328-34, 2:181-82commentary
  • J. Marcus, Mark 1-8 (AYB 27, 2000), 159-66commentary
  • A. Yarbro Collins, Mark (Hermeneia, 2007), 148-50commentary
  • J. A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke I-IX (AB 28, 1981), 424-26, 482-84commentary
  • J. Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16 (AB 3, 1991), 168-71commentary
  • U. Luz, Matthew 8-20 (Hermeneia, 2001), 88-90commentary
  • E. P. Dixon, Descending Spirit and Descending Gods, JBL 128 (2009): 759-80article
  • M. Peppard, The Son of God in the Roman World (OUP, 2011)monograph
  • E. P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism (1985), 61-76monograph
  • C. A. Evans, Jesus' Action in the Temple: Cleansing or Portent of Destruction?, CBQ 51 (1989): 237-70article

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

All attested forms of περιστερά

accusative f p

περιστερὰς, περιστεράς

Mrk 11:15, Jhn 2:14, Jhn 2:16, Mat 21:12

accusative f s

περιστερὰν

Mat 3:16, Mrk 1:10, Luk 3:22, Jhn 1:32

genitive f p

περιστερῶν

Luk 2:24

nominative f p

περιστεραί

Mat 10:16