What does ἑκατοντάρχης (hekatontárchēs) mean in the Bible?
ἑκατοντάρχης (hekatontárchēs): Roman military officer commanding 100 soldiers; often portrayed positively as exemplars of faith and justice in NT.
Greek · G1543
ἑκατοντάρχης
The captain of one hundred men
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ἑκατοντάρχης G1543
Pronunciation hekatontárchēs
What does ἑκατοντάρχης (hekatontárchēs) mean in the Bible?
ἑκατοντάρχης (hekatontárchēs): Roman military officer commanding 100 soldiers; often portrayed positively as exemplars of faith and justice in NT.
Full entry for ἑκατοντάρχης (G1543) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1543?
The BSB source-word alignment has 20 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include centurion (12), centurions (3), a centurion (2), [the] centurion [ has sent us ] (1), of a centurion (1).
Where does ἑκατοντάρχης (hekatontárchēs) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 8:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (13), Matthew (4), Luke (3).
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 centurion 12× Matthew 8:8, Matthew 8:13, Matthew 27:54, Luke 7:6
centurions 3× Acts 21:32, Acts 23:17, Acts 23:23
a centurion 2× Matthew 8:5, Acts 10:1
[the] centurion [ has sent us ] 1× Acts 10:22
of a centurion 1× Luke 7:2
to a centurion 1× Acts 27:1
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 8:5 ἑκατόνταρχος to a centurion Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Matthew 8:8 ἑκατόνταρχος to centurion Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Matthew 8:13 ἑκατοντάρχῃ to centurion Noun - Dative Masculine Singular Matthew 27:54 ἑκατόνταρχος to centurion Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Luke 7:2 Ἑκατοντάρχου to of a centurion Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular Luke 7:6 ἑκατοντάρχης to centurion Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Luke 23:47 ἑκατοντάρχης to centurion Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Acts 10:1 ἑκατοντάρχης to a centurion Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Acts 10:22 ἑκατοντάρχης to [the] centurion [ has sent us ] Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Acts 21:32 ἑκατοντάρχας to centurions Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 8:5
Aligned rows 20
Books represented 3
Matthew 4 Luke 3 Acts 13
Source forms
ἑκατοντάρχης 8x hekatontarchēs Luke 7:6, Luke 23:47, Acts 10:1, Acts 10:22
ἑκατοντάρχῃ 4x hekatontarchē Matthew 8:13, Acts 24:23, Acts 27:1, Acts 27:31
ἑκατόνταρχος 3x hekatontarchos Matthew 8:5, Matthew 8:8, Matthew 27:54
ἑκατονταρχῶν 2x hekatontarchōn Acts 23:17, Acts 23:23
ἑκατοντάρχας 1x hekatontarchas Acts 21:32
ἑκατόνταρχον 1x hekatontarchon Acts 22:25
Ἑκατοντάρχου 1x Hekatontarchou Luke 7:2
Parsing patterns
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular 11x Matthew 8:5, Matthew 8:8, Matthew 27:54, Luke 7:6
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular 4x Matthew 8:13, Acts 24:23, Acts 27:1, Acts 27:31
Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural 2x Acts 23:17, Acts 23:23
Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural 1x Acts 21:32
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular 1x Acts 22:25
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular 1x Luke 7:2
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Roman military officer commanding 100 soldiers; often portrayed positively as exemplars of faith and justice in NT.
Strong's G1543
Lexical occurrences 17 verses Greek text appearances 21 times 16 shown below Word forms 6 forms 17 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Acts 27:1-12 Source Gloss
the captain of one hundred men
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Roman military officer commanding 100 soldiers; often portrayed positively as exemplars of faith and justice in NT.
(ἑκατόν, ἄρχω,), [in LXX for מֵאָה שַׂר ;] a centurion: Mat.8:13, Luk.7:6 23:47, Act.10:1, 22 21:32 22:26 23:17, 23 24:23 27:1, 6 27:11, 31 27:43 (cf. κεντυρίως).
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 21 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 8:5 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ἑκατόνταρχος ekatontarcov
a centurion
Read verse Matthew 8:8 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ἑκατόνταρχος ekatontarcov
a centurion
Read verse Matthew 8:13 Noun Dative Singular Masculine
ἑκατοντάρχῳ, ekatontarcw
a centurion
Read verse Matthew 27:54 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ἑκατόνταρχος ekatontarcov
a centurion
Read verse Luke 7:2 Noun Genitive Singular Masculine
Ἑκατοντάρχου ekatontarcou
a centurion
Read verse Luke 7:6 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ἑκατόνταρχος ekatontarcov
a centurion
Read verse Luke 23:47 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ἑκατόνταρχος ekatontarcov
a centurion
Read verse Acts 10:1 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ἑκατοντάρχης ekatontarchv
a centurion
Read verse Acts 10:22 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ἑκατοντάρχης, ekatontarchv
a centurion
Read verse Acts 21:32 Noun Accusative Plural Masculine
ἑκατοντάρχους, ekatontarcouv
a centurion
Read verse Acts 22:25 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
ἑκατόνταρχον ekatontarcon
a centurion
Read verse Acts 22:26 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ἑκατόνταρχος, ekatontarcov
a centurion
Read verse Acts 23:17 Noun Genitive Plural Masculine
ἑκατοντάρχων ekatontarcwn
a centurion
Read verse Acts 23:23 Noun Genitive Plural Masculine
ἑκατοντάρχων ekatontarcwn
a centurion
Read verse Acts 24:23 Noun Dative Singular Masculine
ἑκατοντάρχῃ ekatontarch
a centurion
Read verse Acts 27:1 Noun Dative Singular Masculine
ἑκατοντάρχῃ, ekatontarch
a centurion
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 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.
Form patterns 6 Aligned forms 17 Case pattern Nominative (8) Number pattern Singular (14)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Masculine Luke 7:6 · Luke 23:47 · Acts 10:1 · Acts 10:22 · Acts 22:26 · Acts 27:6 · Acts 27:11 · Acts 27:43 8×
Genitive · Plural · Masculine Acts 23:17 · Acts 23:23 2×
Genitive · Singular · Masculine Luke 7:2 1×
Dative · Singular · Masculine Matt 8:13 · Acts 24:23 · Acts 27:1 · Acts 27:31 4×
Accusative · Plural · Masculine Acts 21:32 1×
Accusative · Singular · Masculine Acts 22:25 1×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
Commander of one hundred soldiers.
Commander of one hundred soldiers.
Additional Occurrences
Luke 7:1–10 ἑκατόνταρχος hekatontárchēs
Centurion
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 17 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ἑκατοντάρχης is built from these roots:
Why This Word Matters
Represents Roman authority overseeing Paul’s transport. Acts 27:1-12
His decision preserves the prisoners’ lives. Acts 27:39-44
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