κατείδωλος (kateídōlos) is an adjective meaning full of idols or idolatrous. It occurs once in the governed New Testament witness, in Acts 17:16, where Paul sees Athens full of idols and is deeply disturbed in his spirit.
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Full entry for κατείδωλος (G2712) · Open the biblical lexicon
κατείδωλος (kateídōlos) is an adjective meaning full of idols or idolatrous. It occurs once in the governed New Testament witness, in Acts 17:16, where Paul sees Athens full of idols and is deeply disturbed in his spirit.
The BSB source-word alignment has 1 aligned row for this entry. Common renderings include full of idols (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Acts 17:16. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (1).
G2712 is an adjective meaning full of idols or idolatrous. It occurs once in the governed New Testament witness, in Acts 17:16, where Paul sees Athens full of idols and is deeply disturbed in his spirit. The single verse establishes the city's visible religious saturation and Paul's inward response. It does not by itself explain every feature of Athenian religion or authorize unsupported historical claims about the number of its shrines.
The rest of Acts 17 governs the pastoral use. Paul reasons in the synagogue and marketplace, observes an altar inscription, speaks at the Areopagus, distinguishes the Creator from handmade temples and images, calls all people to repent, and announces judgment through the risen man appointed by God. His engagement is neither approval of idolatry nor contempt for Athenians. The adjective supplies the narrative problem; Paul's speech models truthful, patient, and urgent witness within that setting.
G2712 occurs only in Acts 17:16 and describes Athens as full of idols. Every lexical and pastoral claim must remain within that narrative boundary.
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols.
The sole adjective form describes the city that provokes Paul's response and frames the mission scene that follows.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. City saturated with idols; emphasizes pervasive religious corruption rather than mere idol presence
City saturated with idols; emphasizes pervasive religious corruption rather than mere idol presence
(εἴδωλον), full of idols: Act.17:16.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
1 Greek text appearance shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
full of images of idols
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.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 1 case and number pattern. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
κατείδωλος is built from these roots:
G2712 gives a one-verse diagnosis, not a complete theory of culture. Paul sees a city full of idols and is deeply disturbed, yet his response is reasoned, public, and gospel-directed. He pays enough attention to name an altar, quotes ideas his hearers can recognize, and then challenges their view of God by proclaiming the Creator who gives life, cannot be contained by temples, and cannot be reduced to crafted images.
The sermon ends with repentance, judgment, and resurrection. Faithful witness can therefore combine grief over idolatry, careful observation, respect for hearers as people, clear contradiction of false worship, and confidence in the risen Christ.
Act.17.16
The sole form is a feminine accusative singular adjective agreeing with the city as Paul's object of perception. Its lexical force supports "full of idols" or "idolatrous." Because there is only one governed occurrence, broader claims about nuance, frequency, or a technical category require external evidence and should not be presented as conclusions from the New Testament distribution.
Acts 17's rejection of crafted images coheres with Old Testament teaching about the Creator and idolatry. Those parallels illuminate Paul's speech, but claims about his exact emotional identification with a particular Old Testament passage should be stated cautiously unless Luke makes the connection.