What does ἀλώπηξ (alṓpēx) mean in the Bible?
ἀλώπηξ (alṓpēx): Cunning, destructive animal; metaphorically applied to Herod as crafty, dangerous ruler.
Greek · G258
ἀλώπηξ
Fox
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ἀλώπηξ G258
Pronunciation alṓpēx
What does ἀλώπηξ (alṓpēx) mean in the Bible?
ἀλώπηξ (alṓpēx): Cunning, destructive animal; metaphorically applied to Herod as crafty, dangerous ruler.
Full entry for ἀλώπηξ (G258) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G258?
The BSB source-word alignment has 3 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Foxes (2), fox (1).
Where does ἀλώπηξ (alṓpēx) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 8:20. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (2), 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 It Foxes 2× Matthew 8:20, Luke 9:58
fox 1× Luke 13:32
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 8:20
Aligned rows 3
Books represented 2
Matthew 1 Luke 2
Source forms
ἀλώπεκες 2x alōpekes Matthew 8:20, Luke 9:58
ἀλώπεκι 1x alōpeki Luke 13:32
Parsing patterns
Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural 2x Matthew 8:20, Luke 9:58
Noun - Dative Feminine Singular 1x Luke 13:32
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Cunning, destructive animal; metaphorically applied to Herod as crafty, dangerous ruler.
Strong's G258
Lexical occurrences 3 verses Greek text appearances 3 times Word forms 2 forms 3 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
fox
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
3 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 8:20 Noun Nominative Plural Feminine
ἀλώπεκες alwpekev
a fox
Read verse Luke 9:58 Noun Nominative Plural Feminine
ἀλώπεκες alwpekev
a fox
Read verse Luke 13:32 Noun Dative Singular Feminine
ἀλώπεκι alwpeki
a fox
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 3 Case pattern Nominative (2) Number pattern Plural (2)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Plural · Feminine Matt 8:20 · Luke 9:58 2×
Dative · Singular · Feminine Luke 13:32 1×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Witnesses
Luke 13:31–35 ἀλώπηκι alṓpēx
Fox
Showing 1 selected witness from 3 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ἀλώπηξ is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
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