What does ἐνώπιον (enṓpion) mean in the Bible?
Ἐνώπιον (enṓpion) means before, in front of, or in the sight and presence of someone. John the Baptist will be great in the Lord's sight, locating true greatness under God's evaluation.
Greek · G1799
ἐνώπιον
In the face of (literally or figuratively)
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ἐνώπιον G1799
Pronunciation enṓpion
What does ἐνώπιον (enṓpion) mean in the Bible?
Ἐνώπιον (enṓpion) means before, in front of, or in the sight and presence of someone. John the Baptist will be great in the Lord's sight, locating true greatness under God's evaluation.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἐνώπιον (G1799) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1799?
The BSB source-word alignment has 94 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include before (44), in the presence (6), in front of (5), . . . (4), in the sight of (4).
Where does ἐνώπιον (enṓpion) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 1:15. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (35), Luke (22), Acts (13), 1 Timothy (6).
What This Word Actually Means
Ἐνώπιον (enṓpion) means before, in front of, or in the sight and presence of someone. John the Baptist will be great in the Lord's sight, locating true greatness under God's evaluation. Peter quotes David seeing the Lord continually before him, expressing settled confidence in God's presence. Paul says family care for widows is pleasing before God, making ordinary responsibility an act evaluated by Him.
Revelation shows elders falling before the enthroned One in worship and all the dead standing before the throne for judgment. Presence can involve divine approval, conscious reliance, ethical accountability, adoration, or final assessment. The word does not mean that God is spatially confined to a visible location. The person before whom one stands and the action performed there give the relation its pastoral weight.
How the Bible Uses It
Ἐνώπιον locates persons and actions before another's face or sight. The selected texts speak of greatness before God, the Lord kept before one's attention, family duty pleasing in His sight, worship before His throne, and judgment before Him.
- Luke.1.15
For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.
John's greatness is measured in the Lord's sight and joined to consecration and Spirit-filling, refusing public celebrity as the standard of his prophetic importance.
- Acts.2.25
David says about Him: ‘I saw the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
David keeps the Lord before him and rests in God's right-hand presence, a confidence Peter applies within his resurrection proclamation about Christ.
- 1Tim.5.4
But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to show godliness to their own family and repay their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.
Children and grandchildren learn godliness by caring for their own widowed family, and such repayment is evaluated as pleasing in God's sight.
- Rev.4.10
The twenty-four elders fall down before the One seated on the throne, and they worship Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
The elders fall before the One seated on the throne and cast their crowns there, embodying creaturely worship and surrender before the eternal King.
- Rev.20.12
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And books were opened, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books.
The great and small dead stand before the throne while books are opened, placing every status under God's public and righteous judgment.
Passage contextBook context
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 before 44× Luke 1:17, Luke 1:75, Luke 1:76, Luke 5:18
in the presence 6× Luke 15:10, John 20:30, Acts 10:33, 1 Timothy 6:13
in front of 5× Luke 14:10, Luke 24:43, Acts 19:19, Acts 27:35
. . . 4× Luke 4:7, Luke 13:26, Acts 6:5, Revelation 13:12
in the sight of 4× 2 Corinthians 4:2, 1 Timothy 2:3, 1 Timothy 5:4, Revelation 3:2
- 3× Revelation 3:5, Revelation 14:10, Revelation 16:19
in His sight 3× Romans 3:20, Hebrews 13:21, 1 John 3:22
in the presence of 3× Luke 1:19, Luke 8:47, Revelation 14:10
in the sight 3× Luke 1:15, Acts 7:46, 2 Corinthians 7:12
to 3× Luke 24:11, Acts 6:6, 3 John 1:6
against 2× Luke 15:18, Luke 15:21
in the eyes 2× 2 Corinthians 8:21
[and] 1× Romans 14:22
at 1× Revelation 3:9
by 1× Luke 12:6
from [God’s] sight 1× Hebrews 4:13
in [His] presence 1× 1 Corinthians 1:29
in God’s sight 1× Acts 4:19
in the eyes of 1× Romans 12:17
in your presence 1× Luke 23:14
on behalf 1× Revelation 13:14
on its behalf 1× Revelation 19:20
sight 1× 1 Peter 3:4
vvv 1× Acts 19:9
Show sample aligned rows
Luke 1:15 ἐνώπιον to in the sight Preposition Luke 1:17 ἐνώπιον to before Preposition Luke 1:19 ἐνώπιον to in the presence of Preposition Luke 1:75 ἐνώπιον to before Preposition Luke 1:76 ἐνώπιον to before Preposition Luke 4:7 ἐνώπιον to . . . Preposition Luke 5:18 ἐνώπιον to before Preposition Luke 5:25 ἐνώπιον to before Preposition Luke 8:47 ἐνώπιον to In the presence of Preposition Luke 12:6 ἐνώπιον to by Preposition
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Luke 1:15
Aligned rows 94
Books represented 15
Luke 22 John 1 Acts 13 Romans 3 1 Corinthians 1 2 Corinthians 4 Galatians 1 1 Timothy 6 2 Timothy 2 Hebrews 2 James 1 1 Peter 1 1 John 1 3 John 1 Revelation 35
Source forms
ἐνώπιον 87x enōpion Luke 1:15, Luke 1:17, Luke 1:19, Luke 1:75
ἐνώπιόν 7x enōpion Luke 13:26, Luke 15:18, Luke 15:21, Acts 2:25
Parsing patterns
Preposition 94x Luke 1:15, Luke 1:17, Luke 1:19, Luke 1:75
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Do not reduce being before God to physical location; the expression often emphasizes evaluation, relationship, worship, or accountability.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that greatness before the Lord guarantees worldly prominence or approval.
- Do not claim that standing before the throne erases differences in deeds; Revelation explicitly opens the books for judgment.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. In God's presence means before Him as witness or judge, not merely spatial proximity
Strong's G1799
Lexical occurrences 94 verses Greek text appearances 97 times 16 shown below Word forms 1 form 94 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
in the face of (literally or figuratively)
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 97 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Luke 1:6 Preposition
ἐνώπιον enwpion
before the face of, in the presence of
Read verse Luke 1:15 Preposition
ἐνώπιον enwpion
before the face of, in the presence of
Read verse Luke 1:17 Preposition
ἐνώπιον enwpion
before the face of, in the presence of
Read verse Luke 1:19 Preposition
ἐνώπιον enwpion
before the face of, in the presence of
Read verse Luke 1:75 Preposition
ἐνώπιον enwpion
before the face of, in the presence of
Read verse Luke 4:7 Preposition
ἐνώπιόν enwpion
before the face of, in the presence of
Read verse Luke 5:18 Preposition
ἐνώπιον enwpion
before the face of, in the presence of
Read verse Luke 5:25 Preposition
ἐνώπιον enwpion
before the face of, in the presence of
Read verse Luke 8:47 Preposition
ἐνώπιον enwpion
before the face of, in the presence of
Read verse Luke 12:6 Preposition
ἐνώπιον enwpion
before the face of, in the presence of
Read verse Luke 12:9 Preposition
ἐνώπιον enwpion
before the face of, in the presence of
Read verse Luke 12:9 Preposition
ἐνώπιον enwpion
before the face of, in the presence of
Read verse Luke 13:26 Preposition
ἐνώπιόν enwpion
before the face of, in the presence of
Read verse Luke 14:10 Preposition
ἐνώπιον enwpion
before the face of, in the presence of
Read verse Luke 15:10 Preposition
ἐνώπιον enwpion
before the face of, in the presence of
Read verse Luke 15:18 Preposition
ἐνώπιόν enwpion
before the face of, in the presence of
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 94
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Luke 1:15 · Luke 1:17 · Luke 1:19 · Luke 1:75 · Luke 1:76 · Luke 4:7 · Luke 5:18 · Luke 5:25 · Luke 8:47 · Luke 12:6 · Luke 12:9 · Luke 13:26 · Luke 14:10 · Luke 15:10 · Luke 15:18 · Luke 15:21 94×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Witnesses
Luke 15:8–10 ἐνώπιον enṓpion
Before, in the presence of
Showing 1 selected witness from 94 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ἐνώπιον is built from these roots:
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
Scripture relocates the center of human evaluation before God. John is great in the Lord's sight before his public ministry begins, so prophetic worth is received from divine calling rather than audience size. David's confession keeps the Lord continually before him and turns presence into stability; Peter places that confidence within the announcement of Jesus' resurrection.
First Timothy brings the same orientation into a household. Care for an aging parent is not invisible religious labor but godliness pleasing before God. Revelation then gives presence liturgical and judicial fullness: elders surrender crowns before the throne, and every dead person stands there for judgment. The God before whom worshipers bow is the God before whom deeds are disclosed.
Ἐνώπιον therefore joins assurance and accountability. Believers practice ordinary faithfulness, relinquish borrowed honor, and face the future knowing that God's sight is both searching and sufficient.
Anchor passage
Luke.1.15
Doctrinal connections
- Luke 1:13-17, John great in the Lord's sight
- Acts 2:22-32, the Lord before David and Christ's resurrection
- 1 Timothy 5:3-8, household care pleasing before God
- Revelation 4:9-11, elders worshiping before the throne
- Revelation 20:11-15, the dead standing before the throne
- Genesis 17:1-2, walking before God in covenant faithfulness
Ἐνώπιον functions as a relational adverb or preposition built on the idea of being in one's sight. A genitive normally identifies the observer or presence. Its force may be spatial, evaluative, devotional, or judicial.
From Old to New Testament
Patriarchs walk before God, priests minister in His presence, wisdom lives under His eyes, and prophets speak before kings. Revelation gathers worship and judgment before the one throne.
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