What does ἱματισμός (himatismós) mean in the Bible?
Himatismos names clothing or apparel. Luke contrasts John's wilderness witness with people in fine clothing and luxury in palaces.
Greek · G2441
ἱματισμός
Himatismos names clothing or apparel. Luke contrasts John's wilderness witness with people in fine clothing and luxury in palaces.
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ἱματισμόςG2441
Pronunciationhimatismós
What does ἱματισμός (himatismós) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for ἱματισμός (G2441) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2441?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include clothing (3), clothes (2).
Where does ἱματισμός (himatismós) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 7:25. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (2), 1 Timothy (1), Acts (1), John (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Himatismos names clothing or apparel. Luke contrasts John's wilderness witness with people in fine clothing and luxury in palaces. At Jesus' transfiguration His clothing becomes radiantly white as the disciples see His glory. John uses the noun in the Scripture quotation about soldiers dividing garments and casting lots for clothing at Jesus' crucifixion. Paul tells the Ephesian elders that he has not coveted anyone's clothing, joining that statement to his work and help for the weak.
First Timothy addresses expensive clothing within an appeal to respectable apparel, self-control and good deeds. These settings concern royal luxury, Christ's glory, humiliation, ministerial integrity and worshiping conduct without assigning one moral quality to all clothes. The noun does not measure human worth, authorize controlling another person's body or settle every nearby teaching about church roles.
Clothing matters through the action and motive the passage names.
How the Bible Uses It
Five direct BSB apparel witnesses describe palace luxury, Jesus' radiant clothes, the crucifixion Scripture quotation, Paul's non-coveting service and expensive clothing in worship instruction.
- Luke.7.25
Otherwise, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Look, those who wear elegant clothing and live in luxury are found in palaces.
Jesus contrasts John's ministry with palace luxury, directing the audience toward the prophet they went out to see.
- Luke.9.29
And as He was praying, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became radiantly white.
Jesus' clothes become radiant during prayer, within the revelation of His glory and the Father's command to listen to Him.
- John.19.24
So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it. Instead, let us cast lots to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill the Scripture: “They divided My garments among them, and cast lots for My clothing.” So that is what the soldiers did.
The clothing noun appears in the quoted Scripture as soldiers cast lots, keeping the crucifixion action and fulfillment statement together.
- Acts.20.33
I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.
Paul denies coveting clothing beside his example of work and help for the weak, supporting transparent ministerial conduct.
- 1Tim.2.9
Likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves with respectable apparel, with modesty, and with self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,
Expensive clothes belong to an adornment contrast whose next verse emphasizes good deeds appropriate to professed worship of God.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itclothing3×Luke 7:25, John 19:24, Acts 20:33
clothes2×Luke 9:29, 1 Timothy 2:9
Show sample aligned rows
Luke 7:25ἱματισμῷtoclothingNoun - Dative Masculine SingularLuke 9:29ἱματισμὸςtoclothesNoun - Nominative Masculine SingularJohn 19:24ἱματισμόνtoclothingNoun - Accusative Masculine SingularActs 20:33ἱματισμοῦtoclothingNoun - Genitive Masculine Singular1 Timothy 2:9ἱματισμῷtoclothesNoun - Dative Masculine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowLuke 7:25
Aligned rows5
Books represented4
Luke2John1Acts11 Timothy1
Source forms
ἱματισμῷ2xhimatismōLuke 7:25, 1 Timothy 2:9
ἱματισμόν1xhimatismonJohn 19:24
ἱματισμὸς1xhimatismosLuke 9:29
ἱματισμοῦ1xhimatismouActs 20:33
Parsing patterns
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular2xLuke 7:25, 1 Timothy 2:9
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular1xJohn 19:24
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular1xActs 20:33
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular1xLuke 9:29
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Protect bodily dignity while offering practical clothing assistance without humiliating conditions.
- Keep donated resources and ministerial finances transparent and directed toward real needs.
Avoid claiming...
- The apparel noun does not settle every nearby church-role or authority question.
- Clothing cannot establish guilt for another person's abuse or spiritual inferiority.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. clothing
Strong'sG2441
Lexical occurrences5 versesGreek text appearances6 timesWord forms4 forms5 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Source Gloss
clothing
Extended definitionSource: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
(ιματίζω), [in LXX: Gen.24:53, 2Ch.18:29, Eze.16:18, al. (בֶּגֶד); Exo.3:22 12:35, Rut.3:3, al. (שִׂמְלָה), etc. ;] clothing, apparel (usually of sumptuous attire; see Tr., Syn., § 1): Luk.7:25 9:29, Jhn.19:24 (Psa.22:19, LXX for לְבוּשׁ), Act.20:33, 1Ti.2:9.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 27:35Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
ἱματισμόνimatismon
raiment, clothing
Read verseLuke 7:25Noun Dative Singular Masculine
ἱματισμῷimatismw
raiment, clothing
Read verseLuke 9:29Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ἱματισμὸςimatismov
raiment, clothing
Read verseJohn 19:24Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
ἱματισμόνimatismon
raiment, clothing
Read verseActs 20:33Noun Genitive Singular Masculine
ἱματισμοῦimatismou
raiment, clothing
Read verse1 Timothy 2:9Noun Dative Singular Masculine
ἱματισμῷimatismw
raiment, clothing
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 4 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 patterns4Aligned forms5Case patternDative (2)Number patternSingular (5)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · MasculineLuke 9:291×
Genitive · Singular · MasculineActs 20:331×
Dative · Singular · MasculineLuke 7:25 · 1 Tim 2:92×
Accusative · Singular · MasculineJohn 19:241×
Word Origins
ἱματισμός is built from this root:
For the Preacher and Teacher
Paul's farewell gives clothing a concrete place in ministerial integrity. He has not coveted another person's silver, gold or apparel, and he points to labor that supplies needs and helps the weak. The statement calls leaders away from treating people as sources of personal accumulation. First Timothy also directs attention beyond costly appearance to good deeds accompanying a profession of worship.
That teaching should not be converted into contempt for bodies or an excuse to control women. Luke's other scenes widen the picture: John's prophetic witness cannot be evaluated through palace luxury, and Jesus' radiant clothing belongs to a revelation that culminates in the Father's command to listen to Him. John places divided clothing amid the soldiers' action at the cross and an explicit Scripture fulfillment.
Together these accounts train attention toward persons, actions and faithful witness rather than the price of apparel. Practical generosity and transparent leadership follow that attention without making wardrobe inspection a substitute for neighbor care.
Anchor passage
Acts.20.33
Doctrinal connections
- Paul joins non-coveting ministry to work that supports others' needs.
- Helping the weak accompanies the remembered teaching of the Lord Jesus.
- First Timothy pairs professed worship of God with appropriate good deeds.
- Jesus directs hearers toward John's prophetic witness rather than palace luxury.
- The transfiguration ends with the Father's command to listen to Jesus.
- John explicitly connects divided clothing at the cross to Scripture fulfillment.
The masculine apparel noun appears in nominative, genitive, dative and accusative singular forms. Grammatical gender does not restrict clothing to men or resolve the broader church-role instructions in First Timothy.
From Old to New Testament
Psalm 22 includes the afflicted speaker's garments being divided and lots cast for clothing, the Scripture John quotes at the crucifixion. The wider psalm moves through distress and an appeal for help toward praise, keeping bodily humiliation visible without making every clothing loss the same fulfillment.