Graveclothes
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κειρία names the linen strips or bands used to wrap a corpse for burial, grave bands. Its only New Testament occurrence describes Lazarus emerging from the tomb still "bound in strips of linen" at Jesus' command in John 11:44.
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Full entry for κειρία (G2750) · Open the biblical lexicon
κειρία names the linen strips or bands used to wrap a corpse for burial, grave bands. Its only New Testament occurrence describes Lazarus emerging from the tomb still "bound in strips of linen" at Jesus' command in John 11:44.
The BSB source-word alignment has 1 aligned row for this entry. Common renderings include in strips of linen (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 11:44. Its strongest book concentrations include John (1).
κειρία names the linen strips or bands used to wrap a corpse for burial, grave bands. Its only New Testament occurrence describes Lazarus emerging from the tomb still "bound in strips of linen" at Jesus' command in John 11:44. The detail is deliberately vivid and slightly startling: Lazarus walks out of the tomb still wrapped as a dead man, requiring Jesus' further instruction, "Unwrap him and let him go."
The word anchors the physical reality of the miracle. This is not a vision or a spiritual resuscitation; a bound corpse is walking. The community around Lazarus, not Jesus himself, is given the task of unbinding him, a detail worth noting for what it says about the church's ongoing role even after Christ's decisive, singular act of raising the dead. Teachers should resist over-allegorizing the grave clothes into every kind of bondage; John's own narrative use is concrete and physical, describing an actual burial wrapping.
John 11:44 gives readers a striking, almost unsettling image: a man walks out of a tomb still dressed for burial. The physical detail matters because it keeps the miracle concrete and public rather than symbolic or private. John's Gospel builds toward its climactic sign in Lazarus' raising before Jesus' own death and resurrection, and the physical grave-cloth detail in John 11:44 sets up a deliberate contrast with John 20:6-7, where Jesus' own burial linens remain in the tomb because, unlike Lazarus, he will not need them again.
The man who had been dead came out with his hands and feet bound in strips of linen, and his face wrapped in a cloth. “Unwrap him and let him go,” Jesus told them.
John 11:44 describes Lazarus emerging from the tomb 'bound in strips of linen,' prompting Jesus' command to 'unwrap him and let him go.'
After Jesus had said this, He called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
The detail follows immediately after Jesus' prayer and loud command, 'Lazarus, come out!' (John 11:43), completing the Gospel's most public and dramatic sign before the Passion narrative.
Simon Peter arrived just after him. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there.
John 20:6-7 later describes Jesus' own burial cloths lying folded in the empty tomb, a resurrection scene often set alongside Lazarus' raising to highlight the difference between resuscitation and Jesus' own resurrection, in which the wrappings are left behind rather than carried out.
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. Strips of linen wrapping used to bind a corpse; appears only in Lazarus resurrection account.
Strips of linen wrapping used to bind a corpse; appears only in Lazarus resurrection account.
a vernacular word,
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
1 Greek text appearance shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a bandage, grave clothes
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.
κειρία is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
John 11:44 gives readers a striking, almost unsettling image: a man walks out of a tomb still dressed for burial. The physical detail matters because it keeps the miracle concrete and public rather than symbolic or private. Jesus' command to the surrounding community, 'unwrap him and let him go,' also matters: the miracle of raising belongs to Jesus alone, but the ordinary work of freeing the raised man from his wrappings belongs to the people around him.
Preachers can use this detail to describe the church's role after Christ's decisive work: not raising the dead, which only Christ does, but participating in the practical, sometimes unglamorous task of helping someone newly alive move freely. This word opens a teaching doorway on the church's role after Christ's decisive work: Jesus raises Lazarus by his own word alone, but he assigns the surrounding community the task of unwrapping him, giving a concrete picture of the church's ongoing part in helping the newly alive walk free.
It also sets up a meaningful contrast with Jesus' own resurrection, where the grave cloths stay behind. It corrects readings that flatten Lazarus' raising into an exact parallel of Jesus' own resurrection; the grave clothes detail marks a real difference, Lazarus still needs unwrapping and will die again, while Jesus' own wrappings are left in an empty tomb he will not need to reenter.
Frame κειρία as a concrete burial detail that keeps the raising of Lazarus physically real and sets up a meaningful contrast with Jesus' own resurrection scene, not as a general symbol for any kind of bondage.
John.11.44
Frame κειρία as a concrete burial detail that keeps the raising of Lazarus physically real and sets up a meaningful contrast with Jesus' own resurrection scene, not as a general symbol for any kind of bondage. Linguistically, κειρία should be allowed to name grave bands, strips of burial linen without carrying claims the cited passages do not make.
John's Gospel builds toward its climactic sign in Lazarus' raising before Jesus' own death and resurrection, and the physical grave-cloth detail in John 11:44 sets up a deliberate contrast with John 20:6-7, where Jesus' own burial linens remain in the tomb because, unlike Lazarus, he will not need them again.
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