StrongerBible

chruseos

χρύσεος

GreekG5552golden, of gold

Appears 18 times · tap a cell to see the verses

2Ti 2:20Heb 9:4 (2×)Rev 1:12Rev 1:13Rev 1:20Rev 2:1Rev 4:4Rev 5:8Rev 8:3 (2×)Rev 9:13Rev 9:20Rev 14:14Rev 15:6Rev 15:7Rev 17:4Rev 21:15
Word studyKHROO-seh-osadjective

What chruseos means

made of gold: describing an object formed from or overlaid with the metal gold

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

This is a plain describing word: it tells you that a thing is made of gold. It attaches to objects, never to people, and across the New Testament those objects are almost always parts of worship and royalty: lampstands, bowls, censers, an altar, sashes, crowns, a cup, a measuring rod, and the gold-covered furnishings of the old tabernacle.

The word itself carries no hidden meaning; its interest lies in what gold signals wherever it appears. Gold marks the highest worth and a kind of permanence, so it fits the furniture of God's presence: the golden lampstands among which Christ walks, the golden bowls of incense that are the prayers of God's people, the golden altar and crowns of heaven's throne room. Nearly all of these uses cluster in Revelation, which pictures heaven as a place of gold.

But gold marks value, not holiness. The same word describes idols of gold that people refuse to stop worshiping, and the golden cup in the hand of Babylon the prostitute, gleaming on the outside yet full of filth within. The metal is precious in every case; whether the object is holy depends entirely on what it is and who holds it.

2Ti 2:20Heb 9:4 (2×)Rev 1:12Rev 1:13Rev 1:20Rev 2:1Rev 4:4Rev 5:8Rev 8:3 (2×)Rev 9:13Rev 9:20Rev 14:14

What scholars say about chruseos

The lexica treat χρύσεος (contracted χρυσοῦς) as a straightforward material adjective, "golden, made of gold," derived from the noun χρυσός. BDAG and LSJ record the same range: things wrought of gold or overlaid with it, with the contracted forms standard in Koine. The word is descriptive rather than technical, and its clustering in Revelation reflects that book's tabernacle-and-throne imagery rather than any special semantic development. No sense division or textual difficulty attaches to it.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. χρυσοῦςlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. χρύσεοςlexicon

All attested forms of χρύσεος

accusative f p

χρυσᾶς

Rev 1:12, Rev 1:20, Rev 5:8, Rev 15:6, Rev 15:7

accusative n s

χρυσοῦν

Heb 9:4, Rev 8:3, Rev 17:4, Rev 21:15

accusative m s

χρυσοῦν

Rev 8:3, Rev 14:14

accusative f s

χρυσᾶν

Rev 1:13

accusative m p

χρυσοῦς

Rev 4:4

accusative n p

χρυσᾶ

Rev 9:20

genitive f p

χρυσῶν

Rev 2:1

genitive n s

χρυσοῦ

Rev 9:13

nominative f s

χρυσῆ

Heb 9:4

nominative n p

χρυσᾶ

2Ti 2:20