What does ἰατρός (iatrós) mean in the Bible?
ἰατρός (iatrós): One who heals disease through medical skill; Jesus uses metaphorically for spiritual restoration.
Greek · G2395
ἰατρός
A physician
Reading a lexicon entry
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ἰατρόςG2395
Pronunciationiatrós
What does ἰατρός (iatrós) mean in the Bible?
ἰατρός (iatrós): One who heals disease through medical skill; Jesus uses metaphorically for spiritual restoration.
Full entry for ἰατρός (G2395) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2395?
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include a doctor (3), Physician (2), on physicians (1), physicians (1).
Where does ἰατρός (iatrós) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 9:12. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (3), Mark (2), Colossians (1), Matthew (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 Ita doctor3×Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31
Physician2×Luke 4:23, Colossians 4:14
on physicians1×Luke 8:43
physicians1×Mark 5:26
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 9:12ἰατροῦtoa doctorNoun - Genitive Masculine SingularMark 2:17ἰατροῦtoa doctorNoun - Genitive Masculine SingularMark 5:26ἰατρῶνtophysiciansNoun - Genitive Masculine PluralLuke 4:23ἸατρέtoPhysicianNoun - Vocative Masculine SingularLuke 5:31ἰατροῦtoa doctorNoun - Genitive Masculine SingularLuke 8:43ἰατροῖςtoon physiciansNoun - Dative Masculine PluralColossians 4:14ἰατρὸςtophysicianNoun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 9:12
Aligned rows7
Books represented4
Matthew1Mark2Luke3Colossians1
Source forms
ἰατροῦ3xiatrouMatthew 9:12, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31
Ἰατρέ1xIatreLuke 4:23
ἰατροῖς1xiatroisLuke 8:43
ἰατρὸς1xiatrosColossians 4:14
ἰατρῶν1xiatrōnMark 5:26
Parsing patterns
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular3xMatthew 9:12, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31
Noun - Dative Masculine Plural1xLuke 8:43
Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural1xMark 5:26
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular1xColossians 4:14
Noun - Vocative Masculine Singular1xLuke 4:23
Evidence Summary
Greek word. One who heals disease through medical skill; Jesus uses metaphorically for spiritual restoration.
Strong'sG2395
Lexical occurrences7 versesGreek text appearances7 timesWord forms5 forms7 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study linkMatthew 9:12Source Gloss
a physician
Extended definitionSource: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
One who heals disease through medical skill; Jesus uses metaphorically for spiritual restoration.
(ἰάομαι), [in LXX for רָפָא ;] a physician: Mat.9:12, Mrk.2:17 5:26, Luk.4:23 5:31 8:43 (om. WH, R, mg.), Col.4:14 (on the status of physicians, see MM, Exp., xv.).
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 9:12Noun Genitive Singular Masculine
ἰατροῦ,iatrou
a physician
Read verseMark 2:17Noun Genitive Singular Masculine
ἰατροῦ,iatrou
a physician
Read verseMark 5:26Noun Genitive Plural Masculine
ἰατρῶν,iatrwn
a physician
Read verseLuke 4:23Noun Singular Masculine
Ἰατρέ,iatre
a physician
Read verseLuke 5:31Noun Genitive Singular Masculine
ἰατροῦ,iatrou
a physician
Read verseLuke 8:43Noun Accusative Plural Masculine
ἰατροὺςiatrouv
a physician
Read verseColossians 4:14Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ἰατρὸςiatrov
a physician
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 5 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 patterns5Aligned forms7Case patternGenitive (4)Number patternSingular (5)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · MasculineCol 4:141×
Genitive · Singular · MasculineMatt 9:12 · Mark 2:17 · Luke 5:313×
Genitive · Plural · MasculineMark 5:261×
Dative · Plural · MasculineLuke 8:431×
Vocative · Singular · MasculineLuke 4:231×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Jesus identifies himself metaphorically, those who are well have no need of a physician
Jesus uses physician as metaphor for his healing mission to sinners, not the righteous
Physician serves as metaphor in Jesus's response about his mission to heal the spiritually sick
Luke is identified as a literal physician, showing medical practitioners in early Christian community
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 7 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ἰατρός 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.