StrongerBible

pous

πούς

GreekG4228foot, feet

Appears 94 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 4:6Mat 5:35Mat 7:6Mat 10:14Mat 15:30Mat 18:8 (2×)Mat 18:29Mat 22:13Mat 22:44Mat 28:9Mrk 5:22Mrk 6:11Mrk 7:25Mrk 9:45 (2×)Mrk 12:36Luk 1:79Luk 4:11Luk 7:38 (3×)Luk 9:5Luk 20:43Jhn 20:12Act 2:35Act 5:9Act 7:5Act 7:33Act 7:49Act 13:25Act 13:51Act 14:8Rom 3:15Rom 10:151Co 12:151Co 12:21Heb 12:13Rev 1:15Rev 2:18Rev 10:1Rev 10:2Rev 13:2
Names & words formed with this
Word studyPOOCEnoun

What pous means

the foot: the part of the body a person or animal stands and walks on

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

Across the New Testament this word keeps one plain meaning, the foot, but that one body part is put to work in a striking range of pictures. Many verses simply name the literal foot: a foot that can cause a person to sin and is better lost than kept, the feet a risen Jesus shows to prove he is not a ghost, the feet of a lame man made strong, the shining feet of a heavenly figure.

The rest of the range is idiom built on what feet do and where they sit. To fall, sit, or lay something at another's feet is the body's language of homage, pleading, and devotion, which is why people drop at Jesus' feet for healing and forgiveness, why a woman wets his feet with tears, why money is laid at the apostles' feet, and why Paul says he learned at the feet of his teacher. To put enemies under the feet is the picture of total conquest and rule, the language of the royal psalms that the New Testament applies to Christ. To shake the dust off one's feet is a deliberate sign that a town has been left to its own choice. And the feet sometimes stand for the whole direction of a life, so that feet are swift to shed blood, or beautiful when they carry good news.

These are shades of one concept, not separate words: in every case it is still the literal foot, read for what a foot signals in that setting. A reader who pictures the actual gesture, the body bent low, the foot pressed down on a defeated enemy, the dust struck off at the town gate, will catch the force the New Testament intends.

Nuances

1athe literal foot, as a part of the body that stands, walks, or is acted upon
Mat 4:6Mat 7:6Mat 18:8 (2×)Mat 22:13Mrk 9:45 (2×)Luk 4:11Luk 15:22Luk 24:39Luk 24:40Jhn 11:44Jhn 20:12Act 7:5
1bat someone's feet: the body's posture of homage, pleading, devotion, or discipleship (including washing and anointing the feet, and laying gifts at the feet)
Mat 15:30Mat 18:29Mat 28:9Mrk 5:22Mrk 7:25Luk 7:38 (3×)Luk 7:44Luk 7:45Luk 7:46Luk 8:35Luk 8:41Luk 10:39
1cunder the feet: the image of subjugation, conquest, and rule (including the footstool of the feet)
Mat 5:35Mat 22:44Mrk 12:36Luk 20:43Act 2:35Act 7:49Rom 16:201Co 15:251Co 15:27Eph 1:22Heb 1:13Heb 2:8
1dshaking the dust off the feet: the gesture that marks a place left to its own rejection
Mat 10:14Mrk 6:11Luk 9:5Luk 10:11Act 13:51
1ethe feet standing for the whole course or conduct of a life: where a person goes and what they do
Luk 1:79Rom 3:15Rom 10:15Heb 12:13

What scholars say about pous

Standard lexica treat the word as a single body-part noun, the foot, and catalog its many fixed expressions: at the feet (homage, supplication, discipleship), under the feet and the footstool (subjugation and dominion, drawing on Psalm 110:1 and Psalm 8:6), shaking off the dust of the feet (a sign of severance), and feet standing for a person's course of life. The figurative uses are largely inherited from Hebrew idiom around the corresponding Hebrew word for foot.

Sources

  • BDAG (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich), s.v. πούςlexicon
  • Liddell-Scott-Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. πούςlexicon
  • K. Weiss, "πούς," in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. G. Kittel and G. Friedrich, vol. 6theological-dictionary

All attested forms of πούς

accusative m p

πόδας

Mat 15:30, Mat 18:8, Mat 18:29, Mat 22:13, Mat 28:9, Mrk 5:22, Mrk 7:25, Mrk 9:45

genitive m p

ποδῶν

Mat 5:35, Mat 10:14, Mat 22:44, Mrk 6:11, Mrk 12:36, Luk 9:5, Luk 20:43, Act 2:35

nominative m p

πόδες

Act 5:9, Rom 3:15, Rom 10:15, Rev 1:15, Rev 2:18, Rev 10:1, Rev 13:2

dative m p

ποσὶν, ποσίν

Mat 7:6, Act 14:8, Heb 12:13, Jhn 20:12, 1Co 12:21

accusative m s

πόδα

Mat 4:6, Luk 4:11, Rev 10:2

nominative m s

πούς

Mat 18:8, Mrk 9:45, 1Co 12:15

genitive m s

ποδὸς

Act 7:5