What does ἐκ (ek) mean in the Bible?
Ek is a Greek preposition that commonly marks source, origin, emergence, separation, or movement out from something. English may render it as from, out of, by, because of, or from among, depending on the phrase.
Greek · G1537
ἐκ
Literal or figurative; direct or remote)
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ἐκ G1537
Pronunciation ek
What does ἐκ (ek) mean in the Bible?
Ek is a Greek preposition that commonly marks source, origin, emergence, separation, or movement out from something. English may render it as from, out of, by, because of, or from among, depending on the phrase.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἐκ (G1537) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1537?
The BSB source-word alignment has 915 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include from (335), of (152), out of (74), by (60), - (52).
Where does ἐκ (ek) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 1:3. Its strongest book concentrations include John (166), Revelation (135), Luke (87), Acts (84).
What This Word Actually Means
Ek is a Greek preposition that commonly marks source, origin, emergence, separation, or movement out from something. English may render it as from, out of, by, because of, or from among, depending on the phrase. It is especially important in passages that speak of birth, calling, righteousness by faith, salvation not from ourselves, or benefits that come from God.
Yet ek must not be inflated into a full doctrine of source every time it appears. Sometimes it names a place of departure, as with Egypt. Sometimes it names spiritual source or basis, as with being born of water and Spirit or salvation not from yourselves. The phrase and passage decide whether the emphasis is origin, means, source, or separation.
How the Bible Uses It
Ek marks source, origin, departure, or basis across fulfillment, new birth, righteousness, grace, and identity in Christ. These representative anchors show the range without making every from phrase identical.
- Matt.2.15
Where he stayed until the death of Herod. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
Matthew cites out of Egypt in relation to the Son, using departure language within his fulfillment presentation.
- John.3.5
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
Jesus says entrance into God's kingdom requires being born of water and the Spirit, where ek marks source in the new-birth saying.
- Rom.1.17
For the gospel reveals the righteousness of God that comes by faith from start to finish, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Paul says God's righteousness is revealed by faith from start to finish, setting up the faith logic of Romans.
- Eph.2.8
For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Paul denies that salvation is from yourselves and identifies it as God's gift.
- Gal.3.11
Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”
Paul says no one is justified before God by the law and cites the righteous living by faith.
- 1Cor.1.30
It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.
Paul says it is because of God that believers are in Christ Jesus, who becomes wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It from 335× Matthew 1:20, Matthew 3:17, Matthew 5:37, Matthew 7:5
of 152× Matthew 1:16, Matthew 7:9, Matthew 10:29, Matthew 12:11
out of 74× Matthew 3:9, Matthew 7:4, Matthew 7:5, Matthew 12:34
by 60× Matthew 1:3, Matthew 1:5, Matthew 1:6, Matthew 6:27
- 52× Matthew 13:47, Matthew 20:23, Matthew 23:34, Matthew 26:44
. . . 40× Matthew 17:9, Matthew 21:19, Mark 1:29, Mark 6:51
vvv 21× Matthew 19:12, Matthew 26:42, Mark 15:39, John 4:7
at 19× Matthew 20:21, Matthew 20:23, Matthew 22:44, Matthew 26:64
in 15× Mark 9:17, Luke 11:13, Luke 11:27, Luke 12:13
with 15× Mark 12:30, Mark 12:33, Luke 10:27, Luke 15:16
on 14× Matthew 25:33, Matthew 25:34, Matthew 25:41, Matthew 27:38
for 8× Matthew 20:2, Luke 23:8, John 9:24, Acts 9:33
[one] of 7× Mark 14:69, John 18:17, John 18:25, Acts 2:30
[some] of 7× Luke 11:49, Luke 21:16, John 7:40, John 9:40
among 6× Luke 1:61, Luke 11:11, Luke 15:4, John 12:20
from among 6× Acts 3:22, Acts 3:23, Acts 7:37, Acts 15:22
out 5× Matthew 2:6, Matthew 2:15, Mark 1:26, Mark 9:25
belong 3× John 8:47, 1 Corinthians 12:15, 1 Corinthians 12:16
one of 3× Matthew 26:73, Mark 14:70, Luke 22:58
to 3× John 3:31, 1 Corinthians 9:19, 1 John 2:19
[comes] from 2× 1 Corinthians 11:12, 2 Corinthians 3:5
[that followed] 2× Romans 5:16
a part of 2× 1 Corinthians 12:15, 1 Corinthians 12:16
because [you] 2× Galatians 3:5
because of 2× 1 Corinthians 1:30, Revelation 8:13
between 2× John 3:25, Philippians 1:23
depends on 2× Galatians 3:18
have 2× Galatians 3:7, Galatians 3:9
Some of 2× Matthew 23:34, Matthew 25:8
through 2× Matthew 1:18, Romans 5:1
[ believers ] 1× Acts 15:2
[ that was poured ] out 1× Revelation 19:2
[and escape] 1× 2 Timothy 2:26
[and] from 1× Revelation 7:8
[any] of 1× Revelation 18:4
[brought] from 1× Romans 6:13
[came] from 1× 1 Corinthians 11:12
[coming] out of 1× Revelation 16:13
[in] 1× Revelation 16:17
[inspired] 1× 2 Corinthians 8:7
[that comes] by 1× Romans 1:17
[that comes] from 1× 1 Timothy 1:5
[that there may be] 1× 2 Corinthians 8:13
[they used] 1× Matthew 27:7
[those who belong] to 1× Revelation 3:9
[those] from 1× Revelation 5:9
[Was it] from 1× Matthew 21:25
[was] 1× Luke 1:5
[who has] 1× Romans 3:26
[who live by] 1× Romans 4:14
[who was] coming from 1× Mark 5:2
[who was] of 1× Luke 1:27
according to 1× 2 Corinthians 8:11
after 1× 2 Peter 2:8
against 1× Revelation 18:20
all 1× Revelation 11:9
arise from 1× 1 Thessalonians 2:3
as 1× Revelation 20:12
away 1× Colossians 2:14
back from 1× Hebrews 13:20
based 1× Galatians 3:12
belong to 1× Romans 16:10
descended from 1× Romans 9:6
each of you [is] 1× 1 Corinthians 12:27
from [my] 1× 2 Corinthians 11:26
From then on 1× John 19:12
He might say 1× Luke 11:54
is by 1× Romans 10:5
men sent from 1× 2 Corinthians 2:17
off 1× Acts 12:7
out from 1× Mark 5:30
perspective 1× 1 John 4:5
that brings 1× 2 Corinthians 2:16
that is by 1× Romans 10:6
That is how 1× 1 John 4:6
under 1× Luke 23:7
up from 1× Romans 10:7
use 1× Luke 16:9
who 1× Titus 2:8
who belonged to 1× Luke 1:5
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 1:3 ἐκ to by Preposition Matthew 1:5 ἐκ to by Preposition Matthew 1:5 ἐκ to by Preposition Matthew 1:6 ἐκ to by Preposition Matthew 1:16 ἐξ to of Preposition Matthew 1:18 ἐκ to through Preposition Matthew 1:20 ἐκ to from Preposition Matthew 2:6 ἐκ to out Preposition Matthew 2:15 Ἐξ to Out Preposition Matthew 3:9 ἐκ to out of Preposition
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 1:3
Aligned rows 915
Books represented 26
Matthew 82 Mark 67 Luke 87 John 166 Acts 84 Romans 60 1 Corinthians 34 2 Corinthians 30 Galatians 35 Ephesians 8 Philippians 10 Colossians 11 1 Thessalonians 6 2 Thessalonians 1 1 Timothy 2 2 Timothy 7 Titus 4 Hebrews 21 James 13 1 Peter 8 2 Peter 5 1 John 34 2 John 1 3 John 2 Jude 2 Revelation 135
Source forms
ἐκ 662x ek Matthew 1:3, Matthew 1:5, Matthew 1:6, Matthew 1:18
ἐξ 226x ex Matthew 1:16, Matthew 6:27, Matthew 7:9, Matthew 10:29
Ἐκ 17x Ek Matthew 21:16, Mark 9:21, Luke 19:22, John 1:46
Ἐξ 8x Ex Matthew 2:15, Matthew 21:25, Matthew 21:26, Mark 11:31
«ἐκ 2x ek Acts 11:9, Romans 8:11
Parsing patterns
Preposition 915x Matthew 1:3, Matthew 1:5, Matthew 1:6, Matthew 1:16
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- When teaching from ek, identify the source or departure point the passage names before drawing application.
- Use grace texts with ek to humble boasting, but do not make the preposition do more than the clause does.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that ek always means source in a theological sense. It may mark ordinary movement out from or separation.
- Do not claim that a from phrase proves a doctrine apart from the sentence's verb, object, and argument.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. literal or figurative; direct or remote)
Strong's G1537
Lexical occurrences 913 verses Greek text appearances 919 times 16 shown below Word forms 1 form 913 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
literal or figurative; direct or remote)
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 919 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 1:3 Preposition
ἐκ ek
from out, out from among, from
Read verse Matthew 1:5 Preposition
ἐκ ek
from out, out from among, from
Read verse Matthew 1:5 Preposition
ἐκ ek
from out, out from among, from
Read verse Matthew 1:6 Preposition
ἐκ ek
from out, out from among, from
Read verse Matthew 1:16 Preposition
ἐξ ex
from out, out from among, from
Read verse Matthew 1:18 Preposition
ἐκ ek
from out, out from among, from
Read verse Matthew 1:20 Preposition
ἐκ ek
from out, out from among, from
Read verse Matthew 2:6 Preposition
ἐκ ek
from out, out from among, from
Read verse Matthew 2:15 Preposition
Ἐξ ex
from out, out from among, from
Read verse Matthew 3:9 Preposition
ἐκ ek
from out, out from among, from
Read verse Matthew 3:17 Preposition
ἐκ ek
from out, out from among, from
Read verse Matthew 5:37 Preposition
ἐκ ek
from out, out from among, from
Read verse Matthew 6:27 Preposition
ἐξ ex
from out, out from among, from
Read verse Matthew 7:5 Preposition
ἐκ ek
from out, out from among, from
Read verse Matthew 7:5 Preposition
ἐκ ek
from out, out from among, from
Read verse Matthew 7:9 Preposition
ἐξ ex
from out, out from among, from
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.
Grammatical Forms
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.
Form patterns 1 Aligned forms 913
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Matt 1:3 · Matt 1:5 · Matt 1:6 · Matt 1:16 · Matt 1:18 · Matt 1:20 · Matt 2:6 · Matt 2:15 · Matt 3:9 · Matt 3:17 · Matt 5:37 · Matt 6:27 · Matt 7:4 · Matt 7:5 · Matt 7:9 · Matt 8:28 913×
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
The core insight of ek is that Scripture often clarifies origin and source. Jesus is called out of Egypt in Matthew's fulfillment frame. Entrance into the kingdom requires birth of water and Spirit. God's righteousness is revealed by faith, and no one is justified by the law. Salvation is not from yourselves; it is God's gift. Believers are in Christ because of God.
These passages do not all use ek in exactly the same way, but they train the reader to ask a vital question: from where does this reality come? In gospel texts, that question often humbles human boasting and directs praise to God.
Anchor passage
Eph.2.8
Doctrinal connections
- Eph.2.8 denies self-source salvation and names God's gift, making ek vital for grace and boasting boundaries.
- John.3.5 uses born of language in Jesus' teaching on new birth and entrance into the kingdom.
- Rom.1.17 and Gal.3.11 connect righteousness and life with faith rather than law-based boasting.
- 1Cor.1.30 grounds the believer's being in Christ in God, not human wisdom or status.
- Matt.2.15 uses out of Egypt language within Matthew's fulfillment reading of the Son.
- G1519 Eis contrasts movement toward a goal, while ek often marks source, origin, or departure.
Ek normally governs a genitive phrase and often appears as ex before a vowel. Its translation can be from, out of, by, or because of, so the governed phrase and verb must be read together.
From Old to New Testament
The Bible repeatedly asks where life, rescue, righteousness, wisdom, and identity come from. Israel is brought out of bondage, new birth comes from the Spirit, righteousness is received by faith, and salvation is not from ourselves. Ek can serve that source language, but the theology belongs to the passages that name God as giver and source.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain