What does ἐπενδύτης (ependýtēs) mean in the Bible?
ἐπενδύτης names an outer garment or coat, worn over an inner tunic. " The detail is small but telling.
Greek · G1903
ἐπενδύτης
Coat
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ἐπενδύτης G1903
Pronunciation ependýtēs
What does ἐπενδύτης (ependýtēs) mean in the Bible?
ἐπενδύτης names an outer garment or coat, worn over an inner tunic. " The detail is small but telling.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἐπενδύτης (G1903) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1903?
The BSB source-word alignment has 1 aligned row for this entry. Common renderings include outer garment (1).
Where does ἐπενδύτης (ependýtēs) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 21:7. Its strongest book concentrations include John (1).
What This Word Actually Means
ἐπενδύτης names an outer garment or coat, worn over an inner tunic. John 21:7 uses it for the piece of clothing Peter puts on before jumping into the sea: "he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it) and jumped into the sea." The detail is small but telling. Peter had apparently stripped down to work more freely at fishing, and upon hearing the beloved disciple's announcement, "It is the Lord!"
, His first response is not simply to swim toward Jesus but to dress himself before doing so, an instinctive act of respect or propriety in the presence of his Lord. The impulsive, headlong nature of the act, putting on a garment in order to jump into water, matches Peter's characteristic eagerness throughout the Gospels, acting first and thinking through the details only partially.
Teachers should let this small, human detail stand as characteristic of Peter specifically rather than drawing a general doctrine of dress or reverence from it.
How the Bible Uses It
John 21:7 gives readers one more small, vivid glimpse of Peter's character before his formal restoration later in the chapter. He does not wait for the boat to reach shore; he dresses and dives into the water the instant he hears it is the Lord.
- John.21.7
Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it) and jumped into the sea.
John 21:7 describes Peter putting on his outer garment before jumping into the sea upon hearing, 'It is the Lord!'
- John.18.10
Then Simon Peter drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.
The beloved disciple's announcement, 'It is the Lord!', immediately precedes Peter's impulsive action, contrasting the beloved disciple's perceptive recognition with Peter's characteristic eagerness to act.
- Matt.14.28
“Lord, if it is You,” Peter replied, “command me to come to You on the water.”
This same headlong eagerness appears earlier when Peter walks on water toward Jesus (Matt 14:28-29) and when he cuts off the servant's ear in Gethsemane (John 18:10), forming a consistent character pattern across the Gospels.
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 outer garment 1× John 21:7
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row John 21:7
Aligned rows 1
Books represented 1
John 1
Source forms
ἐπενδύτην 1x ependytēn John 21:7
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular 1x John 21:7
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Use this detail to humanize Peter's restoration narrative, not to draw an isolated lesson about clothing or propriety.
- Keep the detail connected to Peter's wider characteristic eagerness across the Gospels rather than treating it as an isolated, unexplained action.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not build a general teaching about modesty or dress codes from this detail; it functions in the narrative to characterize Peter's impulsive eagerness, not to instruct on clothing practice.
- Do not treat this small detail as evidence of Peter's spiritual immaturity in a negative sense; the same eager impulsiveness that puts on a garment to dive into the sea is part of the sincere love Jesus is about to restore and commission.
Pastoral applicationCanonical parallellexicalBook context
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Outer garment worn over the inner tunic, a functional layer of clothing in first-century dress.
Strong's G1903
Lexical occurrences 1 verse Greek text appearances 1 time Word forms 1 form 1 reference Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
coat
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
1 Greek text appearance shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
John 21:7 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
ἐπενδύτην ependuthn
a coat, outer wrap
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 1 Case pattern Accusative (1) Number pattern Singular (1)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Accusative · Singular · Masculine John 21:7 1×
Word Origins
ἐπενδύτης is built from this root:
For the Preacher and Teacher
John 21:7 gives readers one more small, vivid glimpse of Peter's character before his formal restoration later in the chapter. He does not wait for the boat to reach shore; he dresses and dives into the water the instant he hears it is the Lord. The detail is almost comic in its impulsiveness, and it is entirely consistent with the Peter readers have followed throughout the Gospel, the one who also tried to walk on water and drew a sword in the garden.
Preachers can use this word to show that Peter's restoration in John 21 comes to a real, particular, impulsive person, not to an abstract disciple, and that Jesus meets him exactly as he is. This word opens a teaching doorway on Jesus meeting real, particular people in their restoration: Peter's small, impulsive act of dressing before diving into the sea is entirely characteristic of him, and it is this same eager, imperfect man Jesus is about to restore to ministry later in the chapter.
It gives teachers a warm, human entry point into the restoration narrative that follows. It corrects readings that treat Peter's restoration as addressed to a generic or idealized disciple; the small details of John 21:7 keep the account anchored to Peter's own particular, recognizable character. Frame ἐπενδύτης as a small, characteristic detail of Peter's impulsive eagerness, not as evidence of a general principle about dress or modesty.
Anchor passage
John.21.7
Doctrinal connections
- John.21.7 - primary John anchor for an outer garment, coat.
- John.18.10 - local narrative or book-level context that supports the companion's claim.
- Matt.14.28 - canonical parallel or background that keeps the entry's theological claim bounded.
- Gospel of John - book context that keeps this entry anchored in John's witness to Jesus.
Frame ἐπενδύτης as a small, characteristic detail of Peter's impulsive eagerness, not as evidence of a general principle about dress or modesty. Linguistically, ἐπενδύτης should be allowed to name an outer garment, coat without carrying claims the cited passages do not make.
From Old to New Testament
The Gospels consistently portray Peter as impulsive and eager, quick to act on love and loyalty even before fully thinking through the consequences (Matt 14:28-29; John 18:10), and John 21:7's small detail of dressing before diving into the sea continues that same, recognizably human character portrait right up to his restoration later in the same chapter.
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