What does ἔχιδνα (échidna) mean in the Bible?
ἔχιδνα (échidna): Venomous snake used metaphorically for morally corrupt people producing evil speech and deception.
Greek · G2191
ἔχιδνα
An adder or other poisonous snake (literally or figuratively)
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ἔχιδνα G2191
Pronunciation échidna
What does ἔχιδνα (échidna) mean in the Bible?
ἔχιδνα (échidna): Venomous snake used metaphorically for morally corrupt people producing evil speech and deception.
Full entry for ἔχιδνα (G2191) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2191?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include of vipers (4), a viper (1).
Where does ἔχιδνα (échidna) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 3:7. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (3), Acts (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 of vipers 4× Matthew 3:7, Matthew 12:34, Matthew 23:33, Luke 3:7
a viper 1× Acts 28:3
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 3:7 ἐχιδνῶν to of vipers Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Matthew 12:34 ἐχιδνῶν to of vipers Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Matthew 23:33 ἐχιδνῶν to of vipers Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Luke 3:7 ἐχιδνῶν to of vipers Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Acts 28:3 ἔχιδνα to a viper Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 3:7
Aligned rows 5
Books represented 3
Matthew 3 Luke 1 Acts 1
Source forms
ἐχιδνῶν 4x echidnōn Matthew 3:7, Matthew 12:34, Matthew 23:33, Luke 3:7
ἔχιδνα 1x echidna Acts 28:3
Parsing patterns
Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural 4x Matthew 3:7, Matthew 12:34, Matthew 23:33, Luke 3:7
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular 1x Acts 28:3
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Venomous snake used metaphorically for morally corrupt people producing evil speech and deception.
Strong's G2191
Lexical occurrences 5 verses Greek text appearances 5 times Word forms 2 forms 5 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Acts 28:1-10 Source Gloss
an adder or other poisonous snake (literally or figuratively)
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 3:7 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ἐχιδνῶν, ecidnwn
a serpent, snake, viper
Read verse Matthew 12:34 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ἐχιδνῶν, ecidnwn
a serpent, snake, viper
Read verse Matthew 23:33 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ἐχιδνῶν, ecidnwn
a serpent, snake, viper
Read verse Luke 3:7 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
ἐχιδνῶν, ecidnwn
a serpent, snake, viper
Read verse Acts 28:3 Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
ἔχιδνα ecidna
a serpent, snake, viper
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 5 Case pattern Genitive (4) Number pattern Plural (4)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Feminine Acts 28:3 1×
Genitive · Plural · Feminine Matt 3:7 · Matt 12:34 · Matt 23:33 · Luke 3:7 4×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
Venomous snake.
Showing 1 selected witness from 5 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ἔχιδνα is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
Why This Word Matters
Represents sudden danger overturned by divine preservation. Acts 28:1-10
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