A finger
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daktylos means finger. In the New Testament it appears in literal and figurative scenes: leaders refuse to lift a finger to lighten burdens, Jesus heals with touch, He speaks of driving out demons by the finger of God, the rich man asks for the tip of Lazarus's finger, Jesus writes with His finger on the ground, and Thomas demands to place his finger in Jesus' wounds before Jesus graciously addresses him.
Reader summary
Full entry for δάκτυλος (G1147) · Open the biblical lexicon
daktylos means finger. In the New Testament it appears in literal and figurative scenes: leaders refuse to lift a finger to lighten burdens, Jesus heals with touch, He speaks of driving out demons by the finger of God, the rich man asks for the tip of Lazarus's finger, Jesus writes with His finger on the ground, and Thomas demands to place his finger in.
The BSB source-word alignment has 8 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include finger (3), [His] finger (1), [the] finger (1), finger {to lighten} (1), fingers (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 23:4. Its strongest book concentrations include John (3), Luke (3), Mark (1), Matthew (1).
Daktylos means finger. In the New Testament it appears in literal and figurative scenes: leaders refuse to lift a finger to lighten burdens, Jesus heals with touch, He speaks of driving out demons by the finger of God, the rich man asks for the tip of Lazarus's finger, Jesus writes with His finger on the ground, and Thomas demands to place his finger in Jesus' wounds before Jesus graciously addresses him.
The word is concrete body language, but the passages often expose power, mercy, burden, judgment, and embodied resurrection witness. Pastorally, daktylos helps readers see that small bodily images can reveal either oppressive unwillingness, divine power, or tender condescension from Christ.
Daktylos means finger. These witnesses show neglected mercy, Jesus' healing touch, the finger of God in kingdom power, desperate judgment imagery, and Thomas's demanded and invited touch of the risen Christ.
They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Jesus rebukes leaders who impose burdens but will not lift a finger to help. The image exposes loveless authority.
So Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, and put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue.
Jesus uses embodied, personal touch in healing. daktylos appears in a scene of compassionate restoration.
But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Jesus names His exorcisms as the finger of God. The phrase signals divine power and kingdom arrival.
So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in agony in this fire.’
The rich man's request for a fingertip of water highlights reversal, agony, and the seriousness of judgment.
So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands, and put my finger where the nails have been, and put my hand into His side, I will never believe.”
Thomas demands physical proof of Jesus' wounds. The finger becomes part of his stated condition for belief.
Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Jesus graciously meets Thomas's demand and calls him from unbelief to faith.
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. Literal finger or metaphorically God's power and agency in miraculous intervention and judgment
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
8 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a finger
Read versea finger
Read versea finger
Read versea finger
Read versea finger
Read versea finger
Read versea finger
Read versea finger
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 5 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 7 lexical occurrence verses.
δάκτυλος is built from this root:
Echoes Exodus and signals direct divine power.Luke 11:14–23
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Daktylos shows how concrete Scripture can be. A finger can expose oppressive leaders who will not lift even the smallest help for burdened people. Jesus' fingers can enter a healing scene with personal compassion. The finger of God can name kingdom power breaking demonic bondage. A fingertip of water can intensify a warning about judgment and reversal. Thomas's finger can represent the demand for tangible proof, and Jesus' invitation can reveal gracious condescension from the risen Lord.
The preacher should not make the body part itself magical. The point is how the passages use it: small physical details unveil the character of leadership, mercy, power, judgment, and resurrection faith.
Luke.11.20
Daktylos is the ordinary noun finger. Its interpretive weight comes from embodied imagery and the phrase finger of God, not from a hidden lexical sense.
The phrase finger of God recalls divine power in the Exodus story and the giving of God's command. Luke uses the phrase to announce that God's reign has come in Jesus' deliverance.