What does ἔσω (ésō) mean in the Bible?
ἔσω (ésō): Denotes interior space; contrasts sharply with ἔξω (outside), especially for inner spiritual person versus outward appearance.
Greek · G2080
ἔσω
Inside (as preposition or adjective)
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ἔσω G2080
Pronunciation ésō
What does ἔσω (ésō) mean in the Bible?
ἔσω (ésō): Denotes interior space; contrasts sharply with ἔξω (outside), especially for inner spiritual person versus outward appearance.
Full entry for ἔσω (G2080) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2080?
The BSB source-word alignment has 9 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include inner (3), inside (3), into (2), in (1).
Where does ἔσω (ésō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 26:58. Its strongest book concentrations include Mark (2), 1 Corinthians (1), 2 Corinthians (1), Acts (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 inner 3× Romans 7:22, 2 Corinthians 4:16, Ephesians 3:16
inside 3× John 20:26, Acts 5:23, 1 Corinthians 5:12
into 2× Mark 14:54, Mark 15:16
in 1× Matthew 26:58
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 26:58 ἔσω to in Adverb Mark 14:54 ἔσω to into Adverb Mark 15:16 ἔσω to into Preposition John 20:26 ἔσω to inside Adverb Acts 5:23 ἔσω to inside Adverb Romans 7:22 ἔσω to inner Adverb 1 Corinthians 5:12 ἔσω to inside Adverb 2 Corinthians 4:16 ἔσω to inner Adverb Ephesians 3:16 ἔσω to inner Adverb
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 26:58
Aligned rows 9
Books represented 8
Matthew 1 Mark 2 John 1 Acts 1 Romans 1 1 Corinthians 1 2 Corinthians 1 Ephesians 1
Source forms
ἔσω 9x esō Matthew 26:58, Mark 14:54, Mark 15:16, John 20:26
Parsing patterns
Adverb 8x Matthew 26:58, Mark 14:54, John 20:26, Acts 5:23
Preposition 1x Mark 15:16
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Denotes interior space; contrasts sharply with ἔξω (outside), especially for inner spiritual person versus outward appearance.
Strong's G2080
Lexical occurrences 9 verses Greek text appearances 8 times Word forms 2 forms 9 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Matthew 26:58 Source Gloss
inside (as preposition or adjective)
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Denotes interior space; contrasts sharply with ἔξω (outside), especially for inner spiritual person versus outward appearance.
(εἰς), adv., [in LXX for etc. ;]
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
8 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 26:58 Adverb
ἔσω esw
within, inside
Read verse Mark 14:54 Adverb
ἔσω esw
within, inside
Read verse Mark 15:16 Adverb
ἔσω esw
within, inside
Read verse John 20:26 Adverb
ἔσω esw
within, inside
Read verse Acts 5:23 Adverb
ἔσω esw
within, inside
Read verse Romans 7:22 Adverb
ἔσω esw
within, inside
Read verse 1 Corinthians 5:12 Adverb
ἔσω esw
within, inside
Read verse Ephesians 3:16 Adverb
ἔσω esw
within, inside
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 9
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Matt 26:58 · Mark 14:54 · John 20:26 · Acts 5:23 · Rom 7:22 · 1 Cor 5:12 · 2 Cor 4:16 · Eph 3:16 8×
Mark 15:16 1×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Motion into a location, following a verb of movement
State of being within, following a verb of rest or position
Those within the community contrasted with those outside
Inward person or nature, spiritual dimension of human existence
Inward person strengthened by the Spirit through faith
Showing 5 selected witnesses from 9 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ἔσω 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