What does ἐργασία (ergasía) mean in the Bible?
ἐργασία (ergasía): Work undertaken for profit or practical gain; labor as gainful occupation or trade activity.
Greek · G2039
ἐργασία
Occupation; by implication, profit, pains
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 the Connect page. Screenshots are helpful.
ἐργασία G2039
Pronunciation ergasía
What does ἐργασία (ergasía) mean in the Bible?
ἐργασία (ergasía): Work undertaken for profit or practical gain; labor as gainful occupation or trade activity.
Full entry for ἐργασία (G2039) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2039?
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include business (2), [the] practice (1), every effort (1), income (1), making money (1).
Where does ἐργασία (ergasía) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 12:58. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (4), Ephesians (1), Luke (1).
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 business 2× Acts 19:24, Acts 19:25
[the] practice 1× Ephesians 4:19
every effort 1× Luke 12:58
income 1× Acts 16:16
making money 1× Acts 16:19
Show sample aligned rows
Luke 12:58 ἐργασίαν to every effort Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Acts 16:16 ἐργασίαν to income Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Acts 16:19 ἐργασίας to making money Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular Acts 19:24 ἐργασίαν to business Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Acts 19:25 ἐργασίας to business Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular Ephesians 4:19 ἐργασίαν to [the] practice Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Luke 12:58
Aligned rows 6
Books represented 3
Luke 1 Acts 4 Ephesians 1
Source forms
ἐργασίαν 4x ergasian Luke 12:58, Acts 16:16, Acts 19:24, Ephesians 4:19
ἐργασίας 2x ergasias Acts 16:19, Acts 19:25
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 4x Luke 12:58, Acts 16:16, Acts 19:24, Ephesians 4:19
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular 2x Acts 16:19, Acts 19:25
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Work undertaken for profit or practical gain; labor as gainful occupation or trade activity.
Strong's G2039
Lexical occurrences 6 verses Greek text appearances 6 times Word forms 2 forms 6 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Luke 12:58 Source Gloss
occupation; by implication, profit, pains
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Work undertaken for profit or practical gain; labor as gainful occupation or trade activity.
(ἔργον), [in LXX for מְלָאכָה, עֲבֹדָה, etc. ;]
2working, performance: Eph.4:19.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Luke 12:58 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐργασίαν ergasian
working, activity, trade, performance
Read verse Acts 16:16 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐργασίαν ergasian
working, activity, trade, performance
Read verse Acts 16:19 Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
ἐργασίας ergasiav
working, activity, trade, performance
Read verse Acts 19:24 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐργασίαν ergasian
working, activity, trade, performance
Read verse Acts 19:25 Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
ἐργασίας ergasiav
working, activity, trade, performance
Read verse Ephesians 4:19 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ἐργασίαν ergasian
working, activity, trade, performance
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 patterns 2 Aligned forms 6 Case pattern Accusative (4) Number pattern Singular (6)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Genitive · Singular · Feminine Acts 16:19 · Acts 19:25 2×
Accusative · Singular · Feminine Luke 12:58 · Acts 16:16 · Acts 19:24 · Eph 4:19 4×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
diligent effort or pains taken in a matter, exhortation to make effort
Showing 1 selected witness from 6 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ἐργασία 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