ζυγός (zygós) names a yoke in five New Testament verses and a pair of scales in Revelation 6:5. Jesus tells the weary to take His yoke and learn from Him, grounding promised rest in His gentle and humble character.
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Reader summary
Full entry for ζυγός (G2218) · Open the biblical lexicon
ζυγός (zygós) names a yoke in five New Testament verses and a pair of scales in Revelation 6:5. Jesus tells the weary to take His yoke and learn from Him, grounding promised rest in His gentle and humble character.
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include yoke (2), [the] yoke (1), a pair of scales (1), a yoke (1), by a yoke (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 11:29. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (2), 1 Timothy (1), Acts (1), Galatians (1).
G2218 names a yoke in five New Testament verses and a pair of scales in Revelation 6:5. Jesus tells the weary to take His yoke and learn from Him, grounding promised rest in His gentle and humble character. Acts 15 uses a yoke for the requirement being placed on Gentile disciples in the circumcision dispute. Galatians 5 warns believers not to submit again to a yoke of slavery as Paul argues against seeking justification through circumcision and law.
First Timothy 6 uses the image for people living under slavery, while Revelation depicts the black horse's rider carrying scales before the announcement of costly food. The shared noun does not make all six passages one metaphor. Teachers must distinguish discipleship, imposed religious obligation, enslavement, and an instrument of measurement.
Five uses employ the yoke image for discipleship, imposed obligation, or slavery. Revelation 6:5 uses the same noun for scales. Each passage supplies a distinct relation of authority, burden, or measurement.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
The yoke belongs to Jesus and is joined to learning from His character.
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Jesus characterizes His yoke and burden without promising a life free from all cost.
Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?
The council context identifies the imposed requirement under dispute and contrasts it with salvation through the grace of the Lord Jesus.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
The surrounding verses govern the yoke through Paul's warning about circumcision and justification by law.
All who are under the yoke of slavery should regard their masters as fully worthy of honor, so that God’s name and our teaching will not be discredited.
The noun describes an enslaved condition while the verse addresses conduct and public witness within it.
And when the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” Then I looked and saw a black horse, and its rider held in his hand a pair of scales.
The scales prepare for the measured food and prices announced in the next verse.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. A yoke symbolizing submission to authority; in NT theology, Christ's yoke represents gracious, liberating discipline.
A yoke symbolizing submission to authority; in NT theology, Christ's yoke represents gracious, liberating discipline.
(ζεύγνυμι), [in LXX for עֹל, מֹאזֵן, etc. ;]
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a yoke, heavy burden, pair of scales
Read versea yoke, heavy burden, pair of scales
Read versea yoke, heavy burden, pair of scales
Read versea yoke, heavy burden, pair of scales
Read versea yoke, heavy burden, pair of scales
Read versea yoke, heavy burden, pair of scales
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 3 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 6 lexical occurrence verses.
Illustrates the weight of law-based obligation for salvation.1 Timothy 6:1-2
Paul acknowledges the weight of subjection while calling for faithful endurance.Acts 15:6-11
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G2218 asks readers to identify the yoke or instrument actually present in the passage. Matthew does not promise autonomy; Jesus calls the weary to take His yoke and learn from His gentle and humble heart. Acts 15 and Galatians 5 do not condemn every command or the whole Old Testament. They confront requirements imposed on believers in disputes involving circumcision, law, grace, and justification.
First Timothy 6 describes enslaved people as under a yoke and gives pastoral instruction within that condition, but description is not moral endorsement of the institution. Revelation 6 uses the noun differently for scales held by the black horse's rider, with measured food and severe prices following. A faithful sermon should resist slogans about everyone having a yoke, avoid invented links between the scales and slavery images, and let each text name the authority, burden, freedom, or scarcity at issue.
Mat.11.29
Four forms are accusative singular, one is dative singular, and one is nominative singular. Five contexts use the yoke sense. Revelation 6:5 uses the scales sense, which must remain lexically related but interpretively distinct.
Yokes can portray labor or subjection in Israel's Scriptures, and scales can portray measurement. Specific connections should be made from an explicit passage parallel rather than assumed from the noun alone.