Be permitted
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
Exesti is an impersonal expression meaning it is permitted, lawful, or allowed. Its broad distribution includes questions about Sabbath conduct, marriage and divorce, taxes, temple funds, Herod's marriage, food and customary boundaries, Roman legal protections, civic customs, speech that may not be repeated, and Christian freedom.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἔξεστι (G1832) · Open the biblical lexicon
Exesti is an impersonal expression meaning it is permitted, lawful, or allowed. Its broad distribution includes questions about Sabbath conduct, marriage and divorce, taxes, temple funds, Herod's marriage, food and customary boundaries, Roman legal protections, civic customs, speech that may not be repeated, and Christian freedom.
The BSB source-word alignment has 31 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Is it lawful (8), is permissible (4), is unlawful (3), is lawful (2), It is not lawful (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 12:2. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (9), Mark (6), Luke (5), 1 Corinthians (4).
Exesti is an impersonal expression meaning it is permitted, lawful, or allowed. Its broad distribution includes questions about Sabbath conduct, marriage and divorce, taxes, temple funds, Herod's marriage, food and customary boundaries, Roman legal protections, civic customs, speech that may not be repeated, and Christian freedom. A speaker may assert that something is lawful or unlawful, ask whether it is permitted, or qualify a freedom claim.
First Corinthians 6:12 says that not everything permissible is beneficial and that Paul will not be mastered by anything. First Corinthians 10:23 adds that not everything permissible builds up. The expression therefore identifies a permission claim; it does not prove the claim righteous or sufficient. Source of authority, legal or covenant setting, neighbor impact, edification, mastery, conscience, and allegiance to Christ must govern application.
Neither ruleless autonomy nor unexamined human restriction can be justified by the word alone.
About thirty governed G1832 uses span disputed biblical law, civil procedure, social custom, personal rights, reported restrictions, and qualified Christian freedom.
How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.
Jesus answers a Sabbath challenge by affirming the lawfulness of doing good.
This is the Sabbath! It is unlawful for you to carry your mat.
The leaders' assertion about the healed man's mat becomes part of the conflict over Jesus' Sabbath work and authority.
We are not permitted to execute anyone, the Jews replied.
A claimed legal limitation shapes the transfer of Jesus' case to Roman authority.
Is it lawful for you to flog a Roman citizen without a trial?
Paul invokes Roman legal protection against flogging an uncondemned citizen.
Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
Paul qualifies permissibility by benefit and freedom from mastery within an argument about bodily holiness.
Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible, but not everything is edifying.
Paul qualifies permissibility by benefit and edification before applying freedom to the good of others and God's glory.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Permission based on law or authority, not personal desire or ability
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 32 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
it is permitted, lawful, possible
Read verseit is permitted, lawful, possible
Read verseit is permitted, lawful, possible
Read verseit is permitted, lawful, possible
Read verseit is permitted, lawful, possible
Read verseit is permitted, lawful, possible
Read verseit is permitted, lawful, possible
Read verseit is permitted, lawful, possible
Read verseit is permitted, lawful, possible
Read verseit is permitted, lawful, possible
Read verseit is permitted, lawful, possible
Read verseit is permitted, lawful, possible
Read verseit is permitted, lawful, possible
Read verseit is permitted, lawful, possible
Read verseit is permitted, lawful, possible
Read verseit is permitted, lawful, possible
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.
How this verb appears across 30 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Representative Scripture witnesses for this entry: passage, original form, and sense in context.
ἔξεστι is built from these roots:
Frames the legal question that halts the flogging.Acts 22:22-29
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G1832 teaches that a permission claim is the beginning of moral reasoning, not its end. Jesus can affirm that doing good is lawful on the Sabbath while opponents invoke unlawful language against a healed man. Paul can appeal to Roman legality against abuse, and speakers can ask questions about marriage, taxes, customs, or trial procedure. In First Corinthians, even a true claim of permissibility remains subject to benefit, freedom from mastery, edification, another person's good, conscience, and God's glory.
This prevents two opposite errors. Ruleless spirituality asks only whether an act is forbidden, while legalism mistakes every inherited boundary for God's command. Faithful discernment asks who authorizes, what Scripture teaches, what the action does to the person and community, whether it enslaves, and whether it builds others up under Christ's lordship.
1Cor.6.12
The impersonal present expression may stand alone, govern an infinitive, or take a person in the dative. Negation, quotation, and the surrounding question determine permitted or forbidden force.
Torah, Sabbath, marriage, justice, and covenant ethics provide background where the passages invoke them. First Corinthians supplies distinct new-covenant freedom qualifications that must be read in their own argument.