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plērēs

πλήρης

GreekG4134full, filled with, ...

Appears 16 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 14:20Mat 15:37Mrk 4:28Mrk 8:19Luk 4:1Luk 5:12Jhn 1:14Act 6:3Act 6:5Act 6:8Act 7:55Act 9:36Act 11:24Act 13:10Act 19:282Jn 1:8
Names & words formed with this
Word studyPLAY-raceadjective

What plērēs means

full: holding all it can, so that nothing more will fit and nothing needed is missing

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

At its core the word describes something as full: a basket packed to the brim, a body covered head to foot, a heart so taken up with something that it governs the person. The picture is always the same, of a thing filled to its limit, and it works just as well for what you can see as for what you cannot.

In the Gospels it usually points to a physical fullness, the baskets left over after the crowds are fed, or a man whose whole body is covered with disease. In Acts it turns almost entirely to the inner life. People are called full of the Holy Spirit, full of faith, full of good works, and also full of deceit or full of rage. In each case the word says that the quality has taken hold completely and now marks the person's character, not that it has topped them up for a moment. This is the state of being full, distinct from the action of filling or completing carried by the related verb πληρόω.

A smaller group of uses leans on the edge of the word that means whole or complete: the ripe grain that has finished forming in the ear, and a reward received in full rather than in part. Here full shades into finished, lacking nothing that would round it out.

Nuances

1afull of a physical substance: a container packed with it, or a body covered in it
Mat 14:20Mat 15:37Mrk 8:19Luk 5:12
1bfull of an inner quality or influence: so filled with something that it takes hold of and marks the whole person
Luk 4:1Jhn 1:14Act 6:3Act 6:5Act 6:8Act 7:55Act 9:36Act 11:24Act 13:10Act 19:28
1ccomplete, brought to full measure: whole and undiminished, lacking nothing that would finish it
Mrk 4:282Jn 1:8

What scholars say about plērēs

BDAG groups the uses under two heads: being filled or covered (with a physical substance, with a surface covering as in the leprosy of Luke 5:12, or figuratively with a quality such as the Spirit, faith, or deceit) and being complete (the fully ripe grain of Mark 4:28; the undiminished reward of 2 John 8). Delling's treatment of the πληρ- word group in TDNT situates the adjective alongside the verb πληρόω and the noun πλήρωμα, noting that in Hellenistic Greek πλήρης is frequently used as a fixed, uninflected form regardless of the case of the word it modifies, which explains constructions such as John 1:14. Louw and Nida likewise distinguish the sense of being filled with contents from the sense of completeness.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. πλήρηςlexicon
  • G. Delling, "πλήρης, πληρόω, πλήρωμα," TDNT 6:283-311theological-dictionary
  • Louw & Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, s.v. πλήρηςlexicon

All attested forms of πλήρης

nominative m s

πλήρης

Luk 4:1, Luk 5:12, Jhn 1:14, Act 6:5, Act 6:8, Act 7:55, Act 11:24

accusative m p

πλήρεις

Mat 14:20, Mrk 8:19, Act 6:3

accusative m s

πλήρη, πλήρης

2Jn 1:8, Mrk 4:28

accusative f p

πλήρεις

Mat 15:37

nominative f s

πλήρης

Act 9:36

nominative m p

πλήρεις

Act 19:28

vocative m s

πλήρης

Act 13:10