What does ἐλαία (elaía) mean in the Bible?
ἐλαία (elaía): Refers to both the cultivated olive tree and its fruit; symbolizes peace and covenant blessing in Scripture.
Greek · G1636
ἐλαία
An olive (the tree or the fruit)
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ἐλαία G1636
Pronunciation elaía
What does ἐλαία (elaía) mean in the Bible?
ἐλαία (elaía): Refers to both the cultivated olive tree and its fruit; symbolizes peace and covenant blessing in Scripture.
Full entry for ἐλαία (G1636) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1636?
The BSB source-word alignment has 15 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include of Olives (9), Olives (3), olive (1), olive tree (1), olive trees (1).
Where does ἐλαία (elaía) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 21:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (4), Mark (3), Matthew (3), Romans (2).
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 of Olives 9× Matthew 21:1, Matthew 24:3, Matthew 26:30, Mark 11:1
Olives 3× Luke 19:29, Luke 21:37, James 3:12
olive 1× Romans 11:17
olive tree 1× Romans 11:24
olive trees 1× Revelation 11:4
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 21:1 Ἐλαιῶν to of Olives Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Matthew 24:3 Ἐλαιῶν to of Olives Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Matthew 26:30 Ἐλαιῶν to of Olives Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Mark 11:1 Ἐλαιῶν to of Olives Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Mark 13:3 Ἐλαιῶν to of Olives Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Mark 14:26 Ἐλαιῶν to of Olives Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Luke 19:29 Ἐλαιῶν to Olives Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Luke 19:37 Ἐλαιῶν to of Olives Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Luke 21:37 Ἐλαιῶν to Olives Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Luke 22:39 Ἐλαιῶν to of Olives Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 21:1
Aligned rows 15
Books represented 7
Matthew 3 Mark 3 Luke 4 John 1 Romans 2 James 1 Revelation 1
Source forms
Ἐλαιῶν 10x Elaiōn Matthew 21:1, Matthew 24:3, Matthew 26:30, Mark 11:1
ἐλαίας 2x elaias Romans 11:17, James 3:12
ἐλαίᾳ 1x elaia Romans 11:24
ἐλαῖαι 1x elaiai Revelation 11:4
ἐλαιῶν 1x elaiōn John 8:1
Parsing patterns
Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural 11x Matthew 21:1, Matthew 24:3, Matthew 26:30, Mark 11:1
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural 1x James 3:12
Noun - Dative Feminine Singular 1x Romans 11:24
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular 1x Romans 11:17
Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural 1x Revelation 11:4
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Refers to both the cultivated olive tree and its fruit; symbolizes peace and covenant blessing in Scripture.
Strong's G1636
Lexical occurrences 14 verses Greek text appearances 15 times Word forms 5 forms 14 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Matthew 21:1 Source Gloss
an olive (the tree or the fruit)
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Refers to both the cultivated olive tree and its fruit; symbolizes peace and covenant blessing in Scripture.
(Attic, ἐλάα), -ας, ἡ [in LXX for זַיִת ;]
1an olive tree: Rom.11:17, 24, Rev.11:4; τ. ὄρος τῶν ἐ. (זַיִת הַר, Zec.14:4), the Mount of Olives: Mat.21:1 24:3 26:30, Mrk.11:1 13:3 14:26, Luk.19:37 22:39; τὸ καλούμενον ἐ. (T, ἐλαιών, which see), Luk.19:29 21:37.
2an olive (Aristoph.): Jas.3:12.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
15 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 21:1 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ἐλαιῶν, elaiwn
an olive tree
Read verse Matthew 24:3 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ἐλαιῶν, elaiwn
an olive tree
Read verse Matthew 26:30 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ἐλαιῶν. elaiwn
an olive tree
Read verse Mark 11:1 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ἐλαιῶν, elaiwn
an olive tree
Read verse Mark 13:3 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ἐλαιῶν elaiwn
an olive tree
Read verse Mark 14:26 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ἐλαιῶν. elaiwn
an olive tree
Read verse Luke 19:29 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ἐλαιῶν, elaiwn
an olive tree
Read verse Luke 19:37 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ἐλαιῶν, elaiwn
an olive tree
Read verse Luke 21:37 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ἐλαιῶν. elaiwn
an olive tree
Read verse Luke 22:39 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ἐλαιῶν· elaiwn
an olive tree
Read verse John 8:1 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ἐλαιῶν. elaiwn
an olive tree
Read verse Romans 11:17 Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
ἐλαίας elaiav
an olive tree
Read verse Romans 11:24 Noun Dative Singular Feminine
ἐλαίᾳ; elaia
an olive tree
Read verse James 3:12 Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
ἐλαίας elaiav
an olive tree
Read verse Revelation 11:4 Noun Nominative Plural Feminine
ἐλαῖαι, elaiai
an olive tree
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 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.
Form patterns 5 Aligned forms 14 Case pattern Genitive (11) Number pattern Plural (12)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Plural · Feminine Rev 11:4 1×
Genitive · Plural · Feminine Matt 21:1 · Matt 24:3 · Matt 26:30 · Mark 11:1 · Mark 13:3 · Mark 14:26 · Luke 19:29 · Luke 19:37 · Luke 21:37 · Luke 22:39 10×
Genitive · Singular · Feminine Rom 11:17 1×
Dative · Singular · Feminine Rom 11:24 1×
Accusative · Plural · Feminine Jas 3:12 1×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
geographical location near Jerusalem, site of Jesus's approach to the city
metaphorical image of Israel as cultivated olive tree in theological argument
symbolic representation of two witnesses standing before God in apocalyptic vision
the fruit itself, used in rhetorical question about what plants naturally produce
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 14 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ἐλαία is from an obsolete root - no further derivation.
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.
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