What does κάλαμος (kálamos) mean in the Bible?
κάλαμος (kálamos): A versatile plant stem: reed, musical pipe, staff, measuring rod, or writing pen depending on context.
Greek · G2563
κάλαμος
Reed/stick/pen
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κάλαμος G2563
Pronunciation kálamos
What does κάλαμος (kálamos) mean in the Bible?
κάλαμος (kálamos): A versatile plant stem: reed, musical pipe, staff, measuring rod, or writing pen depending on context.
Full entry for κάλαμος (G2563) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2563?
The BSB source-word alignment has 12 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include A reed (4), rod (2), a measuring rod (1), a staff (1), pen (1).
Where does κάλαμος (kálamos) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 11:7. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (5), Revelation (3), Mark (2), 3 John (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 A reed 4× Matthew 11:7, Matthew 27:48, Mark 15:36, Luke 7:24
rod 2× Revelation 21:15, Revelation 21:16
a measuring rod 1× Revelation 11:1
a staff 1× Matthew 27:29
pen 1× 3 John 1:13
reed 1× Matthew 12:20
staff 1× Matthew 27:30
with a staff 1× Mark 15:19
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 11:7 κάλαμον to A reed Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular Matthew 12:20 κάλαμον to reed Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular Matthew 27:29 κάλαμον to a staff Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular Matthew 27:30 κάλαμον to staff Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular Matthew 27:48 καλάμῳ to a reed Noun - Dative Masculine Singular Mark 15:19 καλάμῳ to with a staff Noun - Dative Masculine Singular Mark 15:36 καλάμῳ to a reed Noun - Dative Masculine Singular Luke 7:24 κάλαμον to A reed Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular 3 John 1:13 καλάμου to pen Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular Revelation 11:1 κάλαμος to a measuring rod Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 11:7
Aligned rows 12
Books represented 5
Matthew 5 Mark 2 Luke 1 3 John 1 Revelation 3
Source forms
κάλαμον 6x kalamon Matthew 11:7, Matthew 12:20, Matthew 27:29, Matthew 27:30
καλάμῳ 4x kalamō Matthew 27:48, Mark 15:19, Mark 15:36, Revelation 21:16
κάλαμος 1x kalamos Revelation 11:1
καλάμου 1x kalamou 3 John 1:13
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular 6x Matthew 11:7, Matthew 12:20, Matthew 27:29, Matthew 27:30
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular 4x Matthew 27:48, Mark 15:19, Mark 15:36, Revelation 21:16
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular 1x 3 John 1:13
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular 1x Revelation 11:1
Evidence Summary
Greek word. A versatile plant stem: reed, musical pipe, staff, measuring rod, or writing pen depending on context.
Strong's G2563
Lexical occurrences 12 verses Greek text appearances 12 times Word forms 4 forms 12 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
reed/stick/pen
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
12 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 11:7 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κάλαμον kalamon
a reed, reed-pen
Read verse Matthew 12:20 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κάλαμον kalamon
a reed, reed-pen
Read verse Matthew 27:29 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κάλαμον kalamon
a reed, reed-pen
Read verse Matthew 27:30 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κάλαμον, kalamon
a reed, reed-pen
Read verse Matthew 27:48 Noun Dative Singular Masculine
καλάμῳ, kalamw
a reed, reed-pen
Read verse Mark 15:19 Noun Dative Singular Masculine
καλάμῳ, kalamw
a reed, reed-pen
Read verse Mark 15:36 Noun Dative Singular Masculine
καλάμῳ, kalamw
a reed, reed-pen
Read verse Luke 7:24 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κάλαμον kalamon
a reed, reed-pen
Read verse 3 John 1:13 Noun Genitive Singular Masculine
καλάμου kalamou
a reed, reed-pen
Read verse Revelation 11:1 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
κάλαμος kalamov
a reed, reed-pen
Read verse Revelation 21:15 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κάλαμον kalamon
a reed, reed-pen
Read verse Revelation 21:16 Noun Dative Singular Masculine
καλάμῳ kalamw
a reed, reed-pen
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 patterns 4 Aligned forms 12 Case pattern Accusative (6) Number pattern Singular (12)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Masculine Rev 11:1 1×
Genitive · Singular · Masculine 3 John 1:13 1×
Dative · Singular · Masculine Matt 27:48 · Mark 15:19 · Mark 15:36 · Rev 21:16 4×
Accusative · Singular · Masculine Matt 11:7 · Matt 12:20 · Matt 27:29 · Matt 27:30 · Luke 7:24 · Rev 21:15 6×
Word Origins
κάλαμος is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
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