From/with/beside
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Para is a flexible preposition that can speak of nearness, source, agency, association, presence, or comparison, depending on case and context. It may describe Jesus walking beside the sea, a man sent from God, glory from the Father, honor received from God, the Spirit abiding with the disciples, or grace and peace from the Father and the Son.
Reader summary
Full entry for παρά (G3844) · Open the biblical lexicon
Para is a flexible preposition that can speak of nearness, source, agency, association, presence, or comparison, depending on case and context. It may describe Jesus walking beside the sea, a man sent from God, glory from the Father, honor received from God, the Spirit abiding with the disciples, or grace and peace from the Father and the Son.
The BSB source-word alignment has 192 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include from (57), With (25), - (11), vvv (11), . . . (9).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 2:4. Its strongest book concentrations include John (34), Acts (29), Luke (29), Matthew (18).
Para is a flexible preposition that can speak of nearness, source, agency, association, presence, or comparison, depending on case and context. It may describe Jesus walking beside the sea, a man sent from God, glory from the Father, honor received from God, the Spirit abiding with the disciples, or grace and peace from the Father and the Son. Because para is common and case-sensitive, it must not be given one theological meaning everywhere.
Its value lies in helping readers notice relationships of from, beside, with, by, or before, especially where a passage traces source, presence, witness, glory, or fellowship back to God.
Para marks relationships of source, nearness, presence, association, and agency, with meaning governed by case and immediate context.
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
Jesus walks beside the Sea of Galilee, showing para in a spatial use before the call of the first disciples.
There came a man who was sent from God. His name was John.
John is introduced as a man sent from God, so para marks divine source and commission.
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The glory of the one and only Son is from the Father, joining para to the Son's relation to the Father.
How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
Jesus contrasts glory from one another with the glory that comes from the only God.
But I know Him, because I am from Him and He sent Me.”
Jesus says He is from the Father who sent Him, tying source and mission together.
The Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.
The Spirit of truth abides with the disciples and will be in them, showing para in a presence and association setting.
I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
Paul denies receiving the gospel from any man and locates it in revelation from Jesus Christ.
For He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Peter says Christ received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came from the Majestic Glory.
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. Denotes proximity or comparison: beside, from, with, or against a reference point or person.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 200 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
from, in the presence of
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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 1 case and number pattern. 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 4 selected witnesses from 193 lexical occurrence verses.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
The core insight of para is that relational prepositions matter, but they must be governed by context. In one place para describes Jesus beside the sea. In another it marks John sent from God. John's Gospel uses it to speak of the Son's glory from the Father, the rejection of glory from the only God, Jesus' origin and mission, and the Spirit's presence with the disciples.
Paul uses it to deny that his gospel came from a human source. Peter uses it for honor and glory received from God the Father. Para therefore helps preaching attend carefully to source, nearness, presence, and divine commission while avoiding a flattened meaning that the grammar will not support.
John.1.14
Para is a preposition whose meaning shifts with grammatical case and context. Its range includes from, beside, by, with, among, and before, so case-sensitive reading is essential.
Scripture repeatedly asks where authority, glory, and blessing come from and with whom God's people dwell. Para contributes to that relational language in the New Testament, especially around the Father, Son, Spirit, witness, and apostolic gospel.