:--Scribe, town-clerk.
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γραμματεύς (grammateus) names a scribe, a person trained for work with written records and, in the Gospel setting, especially with Israel's Scriptures and law. The title therefore carries learning and public responsibility, but it does not by itself tell us whether a particular scribe is faithful.
Reader summary
Full entry for γραμματεύς (G1122) · Open the biblical lexicon
γραμματεύς (grammateus) names a scribe, a person trained for work with written records and, in the Gospel setting, especially with Israel's Scriptures and law. The title therefore carries learning and public responsibility, but it does not by itself tell us whether a particular scribe is faithful.
The BSB source-word alignment has 63 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include scribes (57), scribe (2), [the] scribe (1), city clerk (1), of the scribes (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 2:4. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (22), Mark (21), Luke (14), Acts (4).
γραμματεύς (grammateus) names a scribe, a person trained for work with written records and, in the Gospel setting, especially with Israel's Scriptures and law. The title therefore carries learning and public responsibility, but it does not by itself tell us whether a particular scribe is faithful. Matthew can place scribes beside chief priests who correctly identify Bethlehem, contrast their teaching with Jesus' authority, expose leaders whose conduct contradicts their instruction, and still preserve Jesus' positive picture of a scribe discipled for the kingdom.
Mark likewise shows a scribe asking a perceptive question about the greatest commandment. The word should not become a lazy synonym for hypocrite. It directs attention to people entrusted with texts, interpretation, and teaching, then lets each narrative reveal what they do with that trust. For churches, the enduring issue is not expertise versus ignorance but whether skilled handling of Scripture is brought under the authority of Christ and joined to obedient discipleship.
The Gospels use γραμματεύς for recognized specialists in written law, but they do not portray every scribe in one moral color. The selected passages move from accurate textual knowledge, through contrast and warning, to Jesus' vision of a kingdom-disciple whose learning serves the household of faith.
And when he had assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
The scribes can identify the prophetic location of Messiah's birth while the narrative contrasts information about the Christ with the Magi's journey to worship Him. Their presence shows that accurate textual retrieval is real service, yet knowledge alone does not constitute faithful response.
Because He taught as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
At the close of the Sermon on the Mount, the crowds distinguish Jesus' authority from the customary teaching they knew. The verse does not deny every value in scribal study; it identifies the unique authority of the Son whose words demand obedience.
Then He told them, “For this reason, every scribe who has been discipled in the kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
Jesus gives the term a constructive horizon. A scribe trained for the kingdom does not discard Israel's Scriptures or merely repeat inherited formulations; as a disciple, he brings old and new treasure into service under Jesus' teaching.
“The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.
Jesus acknowledges a recognized teaching position before condemning the gap between words and deeds in the verses that follow. The title marks accountable stewardship: public proximity to Moses increases, rather than removes, the demand for integrity.
Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
This scribe listens, recognizes the quality of Jesus' answer, and asks a question that leads to a faithful summary of love for God and neighbor. Mark's scene prevents a blanket caricature and shows learned inquiry capable of moving toward the kingdom.
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. Jewish legal expert and biblical scholar who interprets and teaches the law, often opposed to Jesus in the Gospels.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 67 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a scribe, town-clerk, man of learning
Read versea scribe, town-clerk, man of learning
Read versea scribe, town-clerk, man of learning
Read versea scribe, town-clerk, man of learning
Read versea scribe, town-clerk, man of learning
Read versea scribe, town-clerk, man of learning
Read versea scribe, town-clerk, man of learning
Read versea scribe, town-clerk, man of learning
Read versea scribe, town-clerk, man of learning
Read versea scribe, town-clerk, man of learning
Read versea scribe, town-clerk, man of learning
Read versea scribe, town-clerk, man of learning
Read versea scribe, town-clerk, man of learning
Read versea scribe, town-clerk, man of learning
Read versea scribe, town-clerk, man of learning
Read versea scribe, town-clerk, man of learning
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 6 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 1 selected witness from 62 lexical occurrence verses.
γραμματεύς is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
The New Testament's scribes stand close to the written witness and are therefore shown under unusual responsibility. Matthew 2 demonstrates that they can answer a biblical question correctly while remaining outside the worshipful movement of the story. Matthew 7 and 23 expose the limits of derivative authority and the danger of instruction separated from obedience.
Yet Jesus does not reject disciplined learning. In Matthew 13:52 He imagines a scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom, someone able to bring old and new treasure from a well-stocked household. Mark 12 adds a scribe who listens carefully and understands that love for God and neighbor outweighs ritual display. The teaching burden, then, is not that study corrupts, nor that credentials guarantee wisdom.
Learning becomes faithful when it is converted into discipleship under Christ, handles Israel's Scriptures as fulfilled in Him, and serves others with integrity. Churches should honor careful teachers while testing whether their knowledge leads toward truth, love, and practiced obedience.
Matt.13.52
The noun γραμματεύς is related to the sphere of γράμματα, written characters or documents, and designates one whose work is bound to writing. In the Gospels the social role often involves expertise in Scripture and law, but the noun itself does not encode hypocrisy, hostility, or an official church office; those judgments arise from each narrative setting.
Ezra is remembered as a scribe skilled in the law who set his heart to study, practice, and teach it (Ezra 7:6, 10), while Nehemiah 8 shows public reading joined to explanation. Those scenes supply a canonical vocation of learned service. The Gospels place that vocation before Jesus, where scribal knowledge is tested by whether it recognizes the kingdom's arrival and becomes obedient discipleship.