What does κλῆρος (klēros) mean in the Bible?
κλῆρος (klēros): Divinely determined portion or inheritance, often obtained through casting lots to discern God's will.
Greek · G2819
κλῆρος
Lot
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κλῆρος G2819
Pronunciation klēros
What does κλῆρος (klēros) mean in the Bible?
κλῆρος (klēros): Divinely determined portion or inheritance, often obtained through casting lots to discern God's will.
Full entry for κλῆρος (G2819) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2819?
The BSB source-word alignment has 11 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include lots (5), . . . (1), [an] inheritance (1), inheritance (1), lot (1).
Where does κλῆρος (klēros) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 27:35. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (5), 1 Peter (1), Colossians (1), 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 lots 5× Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24, Luke 23:34, John 19:24
. . . 1× Acts 1:17
[an] inheritance 1× Acts 26:18
inheritance 1× Colossians 1:12
lot 1× Acts 1:26
share 1× Acts 8:21
those entrusted to you 1× 1 Peter 5:3
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 27:35 κλῆρον to lots Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular Mark 15:24 κλῆρον to lots Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular Luke 23:34 κλήρους to lots Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural John 19:24 κλῆρον to lots Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular Acts 1:17 κλῆρον to . . . Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular Acts 1:26 κλήρους to lots Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural Acts 1:26 κλῆρος to lot Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Acts 8:21 κλῆρος to share Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Acts 26:18 κλῆρον to [an] inheritance Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular Colossians 1:12 κλήρου to inheritance Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 27:35
Aligned rows 11
Books represented 7
Matthew 1 Mark 1 Luke 1 John 1 Acts 5 Colossians 1 1 Peter 1
Source forms
κλῆρον 5x klēron Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24, John 19:24, Acts 1:17
κλῆρος 2x klēros Acts 1:26, Acts 8:21
κλήρους 2x klērous Luke 23:34, Acts 1:26
κλήρου 1x klērou Colossians 1:12
κλήρων 1x klērōn 1 Peter 5:3
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular 5x Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24, John 19:24, Acts 1:17
Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural 2x Luke 23:34, Acts 1:26
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular 2x Acts 1:26, Acts 8:21
Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural 1x 1 Peter 5:3
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular 1x Colossians 1:12
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Divinely determined portion or inheritance, often obtained through casting lots to discern God's will.
Strong's G2819
Lexical occurrences 11 verses Greek text appearances 13 times Word forms 5 forms 11 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Acts 1:12-26 Source Gloss
lot
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Divinely determined portion or inheritance, often obtained through casting lots to discern God's will.
a lot;
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
13 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 27:35 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κλῆρον· klhron
a lot, portion
Read verse Matthew 27:35 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κλῆρον. klhron
a lot, portion
Read verse Mark 15:24 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κλῆρον klhron
a lot, portion
Read verse Luke 23:34 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κλῆρον. klhron
a lot, portion
Read verse John 19:24 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κλῆρον. klhron
a lot, portion
Read verse Acts 1:17 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κλῆρον klhron
a lot, portion
Read verse Acts 1:25 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κλῆρον klhron
a lot, portion
Read verse Acts 1:26 Noun Accusative Plural Masculine
κλήρους klhrouv
a lot, portion
Read verse Acts 1:26 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
κλῆρος klhrov
a lot, portion
Read verse Acts 8:21 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
κλῆρος klhrov
a lot, portion
Read verse Acts 26:18 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κλῆρον klhron
a lot, portion
Read verse Colossians 1:12 Noun Genitive Singular Masculine
κλήρου klhrou
a lot, portion
Read verse 1 Peter 5:3 Noun Genitive Plural Masculine
κλήρων, klhrwn
a lot, portion
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 5 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 5 Aligned forms 11 Case pattern Accusative (7) Number pattern Singular (8)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Masculine Acts 1:26 · Acts 8:21 2×
Genitive · Singular · Masculine Col 1:12 1×
Genitive · Plural · Masculine 1 Pet 5:3 1×
Accusative · Singular · Masculine Matt 27:35 · Mark 15:24 · John 19:24 · Acts 1:17 · Acts 26:18 5×
Accusative · Plural · Masculine Luke 23:34 · Acts 1:26 2×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
A lot, portion, or share, sometimes referring to the casting of lots and sometimes to an allotted inheritance.
Portion or share.
Additional Occurrences
Luke 23:32–38 κλήρους klēros
Lots
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 11 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
κλῆρος is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
The use of lots here is linked to God’s sovereign choice in a unique foundational moment. Later, ‘lot’ language will also describe believers’ inheritance, reminding the church that all we receive is ultimately assigned by God’s gracious hand. Acts 1:12-26
Indicates inclusion among the sanctified people of God. Acts 26:9-18
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