What does ἐλεημοσύνη (eleēmosýnē) mean in the Bible?
ἐλεημοσύνη (eleēmosýnē): Charitable giving rooted in mercy; Jesus emphasizes hidden almsgiving over public displays of generosity.
Greek · G1654
ἐλεημοσύνη
Charity
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ἐλεημοσύνη G1654
Pronunciation eleēmosýnē
What does ἐλεημοσύνη (eleēmosýnē) mean in the Bible?
ἐλεημοσύνη (eleēmosýnē): Charitable giving rooted in mercy; Jesus emphasizes hidden almsgiving over public displays of generosity.
Full entry for ἐλεημοσύνη (G1654) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1654?
The BSB source-word alignment has 13 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (4), gifts to the poor (2), [as] alms (1), [begging] (1), alms (1).
Where does ἐλεημοσύνη (eleēmosýnē) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 6:2. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (8), Matthew (3), Luke (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 . . . 4× Matthew 6:2, Matthew 6:3, Acts 3:2, Acts 10:2
gifts to the poor 2× Acts 10:4, Acts 10:31
[as] alms 1× Luke 11:41
[begging] 1× Acts 3:10
alms 1× Acts 24:17
charity 1× Acts 9:36
giving 1× Matthew 6:4
money 1× Acts 3:3
to the poor 1× Luke 12:33
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 6:2 ἐλεημοσύνην to . . . Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Matthew 6:3 ἐλεημοσύνην to . . . Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Matthew 6:4 ἐλεημοσύνη to giving Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular Luke 11:41 ἐλεημοσύνην to [as] alms Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Luke 12:33 ἐλεημοσύνην to to the poor Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Acts 3:2 ἐλεημοσύνην to . . . Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Acts 3:3 ἐλεημοσύνην to money Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Acts 3:10 ἐλεημοσύνην to [begging] Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Acts 9:36 ἐλεημοσυνῶν to charity Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Acts 10:2 ἐλεημοσύνας to . . . Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 6:2
Aligned rows 13
Books represented 3
Matthew 3 Luke 2 Acts 8
Source forms
ἐλεημοσύνην 7x eleēmosynēn Matthew 6:2, Matthew 6:3, Luke 11:41, Luke 12:33
ἐλεημοσύναι 2x eleēmosynai Acts 10:4, Acts 10:31
ἐλεημοσύνας 2x eleēmosynas Acts 10:2, Acts 24:17
ἐλεημοσύνη 1x eleēmosynē Matthew 6:4
ἐλεημοσυνῶν 1x eleēmosynōn Acts 9:36
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 7x Matthew 6:2, Matthew 6:3, Luke 11:41, Luke 12:33
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural 2x Acts 10:2, Acts 24:17
Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural 2x Acts 10:4, Acts 10:31
Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural 1x Acts 9:36
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular 1x Matthew 6:4
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Charitable giving rooted in mercy; Jesus emphasizes hidden almsgiving over public displays of generosity.
Strong's G1654
Lexical occurrences 13 verses Greek text appearances 14 times Word forms 5 forms 13 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Luke 11:37-54 Source Gloss
charity
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Charitable giving rooted in mercy; Jesus emphasizes hidden almsgiving over public displays of generosity.
(ἐλεέω), [in LXX chiefly for חֶסֶד, צְדָקָה ;]
1mercy, pity.
2almsgiving, alms (like the German Almosen, a corruption of the Greek word ἐ): Mat.6:4; ποιεῖν ἐ., Mat.6:2-3, Act.9:36 10:2 24:17; ἐ. διδόναι, Luk.11:41 (cf. Mat.23:36; Dalman, Words, 62 f.) 12:33; αἰτεῖν, Act.3:2; λαβεῖν, Act.3:3; πρὸς (in order to ask) ἐ., Act.3:10; pl., Act.10:4, 31 (Cremer, 711).
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
14 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 6:1 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐλεημοσύνην elehmosunhn
alms-giving, charity
Read verse Matthew 6:2 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐλεημοσύνην, elehmosunhn
alms-giving, charity
Read verse Matthew 6:3 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐλεημοσύνην, elehmosunhn
alms-giving, charity
Read verse Matthew 6:4 Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
ἐλεημοσύνη elehmosunh
alms-giving, charity
Read verse Luke 11:41 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐλεημοσύνην· elehmosunhn
alms-giving, charity
Read verse Luke 12:33 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐλεημοσύνην. elehmosunhn
alms-giving, charity
Read verse Acts 3:2 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐλεημοσύνην elehmosunhn
alms-giving, charity
Read verse Acts 3:3 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐλεημοσύνην. elehmosunhn
alms-giving, charity
Read verse Acts 3:10 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐλεημοσύνην elehmosunhn
alms-giving, charity
Read verse Acts 9:36 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ἐλεημοσυνῶν elehmosunwn
alms-giving, charity
Read verse Acts 10:2 Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
ἐλεημοσύνας elehmosunav
alms-giving, charity
Read verse Acts 10:4 Noun Nominative Plural Feminine
ἐλεημοσύναι elehmosunai
alms-giving, charity
Read verse Acts 10:31 Noun Nominative Plural Feminine
ἐλεημοσύναι elehmosunai
alms-giving, charity
Read verse Acts 24:17 Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
ἐλεημοσύνας elehmosunav
alms-giving, charity
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 13 Case pattern Accusative (9) Number pattern Singular (8)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Plural · Feminine Acts 10:4 · Acts 10:31 2×
Nominative · Singular · Feminine Matt 6:4 1×
Genitive · Plural · Feminine Acts 9:36 1×
Accusative · Singular · Feminine Matt 6:2 · Matt 6:3 · Luke 11:41 · Luke 12:33 · Acts 3:2 · Acts 3:3 · Acts 3:10 7×
Accusative · Plural · Feminine Acts 10:2 · Acts 24:17 2×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Charitable giving to the poor as an act of mercy and righteousness
Giving possessions to the needy as spiritual practice of generosity and trust
Compassionate concern for others shown through willingness to help the poor
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 13 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ἐλεημοσύνη is built from this root:
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