StrongerBible

sitos

σῖτος

GreekG4621wheat, grain, ...

Appears 14 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 3:12Mat 13:25Mat 13:29Mat 13:30Mrk 4:28Luk 3:17Luk 12:18Luk 16:7Luk 22:31Jhn 12:24Act 27:381Co 15:37Rev 6:6Rev 18:13
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studySEE-tosnoun

What sitos means

wheat: the cereal grain harvested for bread, and by extension grain as a stored or traded food staple

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This is the everyday word for wheat, the cereal grain that made the finest bread of the ancient world. It follows wheat through its whole life: sown as a single kernel, grown as a standing crop, harvested, and threshed to separate the good grain from the worthless chaff (ἄχυρον).

Wheat also stands at the center of some of the New Testament's most vivid pictures. A single seed (κόκκος) of wheat must fall into the ground and die before it can bear a harvest (John 12:24). Jesus warns Peter that Satan has asked to sift the disciples like wheat (Luke 22:31). And in the story of the weeds, a look-alike weed (ζιζάνιον) is sown among the wheat, so that pulling it up early would tear out the wheat as well.

Once gathered, the same wheat becomes a measured commodity: grain heaped in a rich man's barns (Luke 12:18), a debt counted in measures of wheat (Luke 16:7), a grain cargo dumped overboard to save a ship (Acts 27:38), and a costly staple weighed against cheaper barley (κριθή) when famine drives up the price (Revelation 6:6).

Nuances

1awheat as crop and kernel: the standing plant, the seed sown, and the grain harvested and threshed
Mat 3:12Mat 13:25Mat 13:29Mat 13:30Mrk 4:28Luk 3:17Luk 22:31Jhn 12:241Co 15:37
1bwheat or grain as a measured provision: stored supplies, ship's cargo, and goods bought and sold
Luk 12:18Luk 16:7Act 27:38Rev 6:6Rev 18:13

What scholars say about sitos

σῖτος is the standard Greek term for wheat (Triticum), the premier bread cereal, and by metonymy for grain and food supply generally, a range already established in classical usage (LSJ). In the New Testament it denotes wheat as growing crop, sown seed, and harvested grain, as well as a measured staple in economic and mercantile contexts. BDAG distinguishes the concrete plant and kernel from grain as provision; Louw and Nida class it among plants and their products.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. σῖτοςlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. σῖτοςlexicon
  • Louw & Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, 3.42lexicon

All attested forms of σῖτος

accusative m s

σῖτον

Mat 3:12, Mat 13:29, Mat 13:30, Mrk 4:28, Luk 3:17, Luk 12:18, Luk 22:31, Act 27:38

genitive m s

σίτου

Mat 13:25, Luk 16:7, Jhn 12:24, 1Co 15:37, Rev 6:6