What does ἐπισκοπή (episkopḗ) mean in the Bible?
ἐπισκοπή (episkopḗ) names visitation, oversight, or an entrusted office. Luke 19:44 speaks of Jerusalem failing to recognize the time of its visitation within Jesus' lament over the city.
Greek · G1984
ἐπισκοπή
ἐπισκοπή (episkopḗ) names visitation, oversight, or an entrusted office. Luke 19:44 speaks of Jerusalem failing to recognize the time of its visitation within Jesus' lament over the city.
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ἐπισκοπήG1984
Pronunciationepiskopḗ
What does ἐπισκοπή (episkopḗ) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for ἐπισκοπή (G1984) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1984?
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include an overseer (1), He visits us (1), position (1), visitation [from God] (1).
Where does ἐπισκοπή (episkopḗ) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 19:44. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Peter (1), 1 Timothy (1), Acts (1), Luke (1).
What This Word Actually Means
G1984 names visitation, oversight, or an entrusted office. Luke 19:44 speaks of Jerusalem failing to recognize the time of its visitation within Jesus' lament over the city. First Peter 2:12 looks toward a day of visitation when honorable conduct among Gentiles may lead them to glorify God. Acts 1:20 uses the noun for the position or office vacated by Judas, and 1 Timothy 3:1 uses it for overseership as a noble work.
The two visitation texts and the two office texts share a lexical family, but the noun does not make church officers extensions of divine visitation or identify ordinary worship gatherings as new visitation events.
How the Bible Uses It
The four governed uses form two contextual pairs. Luke and 1 Peter use visitation language connected with God's coming attention and human response. Acts and 1 Timothy use office or oversight language connected with apostolic replacement and qualified church leadership. Each passage supplies the agent, timing, purpose, and consequence. A word-family relationship does not erase the difference between God's visitation and a human office.
- Luke.19.44
You did not recognize the time of your visitation from God
The line belongs to Jesus' lament and the announced consequences for Jerusalem. The visitation is interpreted by the episode, not by a general theory of religious moments.
- Acts.1.20
May another take his position
Peter cites Scripture concerning the office left by Judas as the community seeks a qualified witness to the resurrection.
- 1Tim.3.1
If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble task
The aspiration concerns overseership, while the following verses govern qualification and character. Desire for the role does not confer fitness.
- 1Pet.2.12
They may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us
Honorable conduct among outsiders is oriented toward God's visitation. The verse does not by itself settle every timing or judgment question associated with that day.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itan overseer1×1 Timothy 3:1
He visits us1×1 Peter 2:12
position1×Acts 1:20
visitation [from God]1×Luke 19:44
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowLuke 19:44
Aligned rows4
Books represented4
Luke1Acts11 Timothy11 Peter1
Source forms
ἐπισκοπῆς3xepiskopēsLuke 19:44, 1 Timothy 3:1, 1 Peter 2:12
ἐπισκοπὴν1xepiskopēnActs 1:20
Parsing patterns
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular3xLuke 19:44, 1 Timothy 3:1, 1 Peter 2:12
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular1xActs 1:20
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Read visitation language inside the lament and public-witness settings that use it.
- Honor church oversight as accountable service measured by the qualifications that follow.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that aspiring to oversight proves a person is called or qualified.
- Do not claim that a church leader embodies God's visitation or may demand unquestioned obedience.
- Do not claim that 1 Peter 2:12 alone settles every question about the timing and character of the day of visitation.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Divine visitation for inspection or judgment; also the office of overseer/bishop in the church.
Strong'sG1984
Lexical occurrences4 versesGreek text appearances4 timesWord forms2 forms4 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study link1 Timothy 3:1-7Source Gloss
oversight
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
4 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Luke 19:44Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
ἐπισκοπῆςepiskophv
visitation of judgment, oversight
Read verseActs 1:20Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐπισκοπὴνepiskophn
visitation of judgment, oversight
Read verse1 Timothy 3:1Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
ἐπισκοπῆςepiskophv
visitation of judgment, oversight
Read verse1 Peter 2:12Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
ἐπισκοπῆς.episkophv
visitation of judgment, oversight
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 2 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 patterns2Aligned forms4Case patternGenitive (3)Number patternSingular (4)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Genitive · Singular · FeminineLuke 19:44 · 1 Tim 3:1 · 1 Pet 2:123×
Accusative · Singular · FeminineActs 1:201×
Where It Appears in Scripture
Where this word appears in Scripture: passage, original form, and sense in context.
New Testament Witnesses
The role of supervision and guardianship over the church.
An office or oversight, a position of responsible care and supervision in God’s people.
visitation
Additional Occurrences
Luke 19:28–44ἐπισκοπῆςepiskopḗ
Visitation
Word Origins
ἐπισκοπή is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
Indicates divine inspection and accountability.1 Timothy 3:1-7
When Peter cites the Psalm about another taking Judas’s ‘office,’ it underscores that leadership among God’s people is a stewardship under God’s authority, capable of being forfeited through unfaithfulness.Acts 1:12-26
Leadership is framed as oversight, implying watchful care and responsibility rather than domination.Luke 19:41–44
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
The four occurrences invite distinction before synthesis. Jesus laments a city that failed to recognize its visitation, and Peter urges honorable conduct with a future visitation in view. Acts uses the noun for an apostolic position that must be filled under stated witness criteria. First Timothy calls overseership a noble task and immediately lists character requirements.
A sermon should not turn these uses into a claim that every gathering, sermon, sacrament, or leadership decision is a special visitation of God. Nor should it use the word family to place an overseer beyond testing or accountability. The visitation passages summon recognition and faithful conduct within their own settings. The office passages dignify responsible service while making qualification essential.
Both themes remain under God's authority, but their agents and functions must remain distinct.
Anchor passage
Luke.19.44
Doctrinal connections
- Acts.1.20 - the noun names the apostolic position vacated by Judas.
- 1Tim.3.1-7 - overseership is noble work governed by substantial character qualifications.
- 1Pet.2.12 - honorable public conduct is oriented toward a day of divine visitation.
- Luke.19.41-44 - lament, peace, recognition, and judgment frame Jerusalem's missed visitation.
G1984 is a noun with a visitation sense and an office or oversight sense. The semantic connection belongs to attentive regard or responsibility, but etymology cannot decide the agent or collapse divine action into human administration. The genitive constructions and paragraph context identify which sense is active.
From Old to New Testament
Old Testament visitation language can describe divine mercy, attention, appointment, or judgment, and office language can describe entrusted responsibility. Those patterns illuminate the range without turning every use into the same event. Direct G1984 claims remain governed by its four New Testament verses.