StrongerBible

chōra

χώρα

GreekG5561country, region, ...

Appears 28 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 2:12Mat 4:16Mat 8:28Mrk 1:5Mrk 5:1Mrk 5:10Mrk 6:55Luk 2:8Luk 3:1Luk 8:26Luk 12:16Luk 15:13Luk 15:14Luk 15:15Luk 19:12Luk 21:21Jhn 4:35Jhn 11:54Jhn 11:55Act 8:1Act 10:39Act 12:20Act 13:49Act 16:6Act 18:23Jas 5:4
Names & words formed with this
Word studyKHOH-rahnoun

What chōra means

a bounded stretch of land: a region, the countryside, or a field, with the scale set by context

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

At its heart this word simply names a stretch of land marked off from what surrounds it. What kind of stretch depends entirely on the scene. Zoomed out, it is a whole region or country, often named after the people or the ruler who hold it, like the country of the Gadarenes or the far country a runaway son escapes to. Zoomed in, it is the open countryside as opposed to a walled city, or even a single farmer's field ripe for harvest.

The senses shade into one another rather than standing apart, because they are one idea seen at different scales. The same word can mark the land a king's household draws its food from, the fields a hired hand mows, and the dry shore that sailors strain to reach in the dark. Only the surrounding words tell you how wide to draw the boundary.

Because English keeps separate words for country, countryside, and field, a translator must pick one each time, and the single thread that runs through all of them, a defined piece of ground, can quietly drop out of view.

Nuances

1aa region or country: a large tract of land, often named for the people or ruler who hold it
TranslatabilityDirect
Mat 2:12Mat 8:28Mrk 1:5Mrk 5:1Mrk 5:10Mrk 6:55Luk 3:1Luk 8:26Luk 15:13Luk 15:14Luk 15:15Luk 19:12
1bthe open countryside or rural districts, as opposed to the town or city
TranslatabilityDirect
Luk 2:8Luk 21:21Jhn 11:55
1cdry land, as opposed to the open sea
TranslatabilityDirect
Act 27:27
1da field or farmland under cultivation, worked for a crop
TranslatabilityDirect
Luk 12:16Jhn 4:35Jas 5:4

What scholars say about chōra

The lexicons treat χώρα as a single word with a graded range: a district or country (frequently designated by its inhabitants or governing figure), the open country in contrast to the town, dry land as opposed to the sea, and cultivated ground or fields. In classical and Hellenistic Greek it denotes space, place, or the territory belonging to a city-state, and in the Septuagint it commonly renders Hebrew terms for land such as אֶרֶץ. New Testament usage sits squarely within this inherited range, with no specialized or theological development.

Sources

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

All attested forms of χώρα

accusative f s

χώραν

Mat 2:12, Mat 8:28, Mrk 5:1, Mrk 6:55, Luk 8:26, Luk 15:13, Luk 15:14, Luk 19:12

genitive f s

χώρας

Mrk 5:10, Luk 3:1, Luk 15:15, Jhn 11:55, Act 13:49

accusative f p

χώρας

Jhn 4:35, Act 8:1, Jas 5:4

dative f s

χώρᾳ

Mat 4:16, Luk 2:8, Act 10:39

nominative f s

χώρα

Mrk 1:5, Luk 12:16

dative f p

χώραις

Luk 21:21