What does κοσμέω (kosméō) mean in the Bible?
κοσμέω (kosméō): Arrange and beautify together: ordering for visual elegance and splendor, not mere functional arrangement
Greek · G2885
κοσμέω
To arrange
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κοσμέω G2885
Pronunciation kosméō
What does κοσμέω (kosméō) mean in the Bible?
κοσμέω (kosméō): Arrange and beautify together: ordering for visual elegance and splendor, not mere functional arrangement
Full entry for κοσμέω (G2885) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2885?
The BSB source-word alignment has 10 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include adorned (2), put in order (2), decorate (1), they will adorn (1), to adorn (1).
Where does κοσμέω (kosméō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 12:44. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (3), Luke (2), Revelation (2), 1 Peter (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 adorned 2× 1 Peter 3:5, Revelation 21:2
put in order 2× Matthew 12:44, Luke 11:25
decorate 1× Matthew 23:29
they will adorn 1× Titus 2:10
to adorn 1× 1 Timothy 2:9
trimmed 1× Matthew 25:7
was adorned 1× Luke 21:5
were adorned 1× Revelation 21:19
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 12:44 κεκοσμημένον to put in order Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Accusative Masculine Singular Matthew 23:29 κοσμεῖτε to decorate Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural Matthew 25:7 ἐκόσμησαν to trimmed Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural Luke 11:25 κεκοσμημένον to put in order Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Accusative Masculine Singular Luke 21:5 κεκόσμηται to was adorned Verb - Perfect Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Singular 1 Timothy 2:9 κοσμεῖν to to adorn Verb - Present Infinitive Active Titus 2:10 κοσμῶσιν to they will adorn Verb - Present Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Plural 1 Peter 3:5 ἐκόσμουν to adorned Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural Revelation 21:2 κεκοσμημένην to adorned Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Accusative Feminine Singular Revelation 21:19 κεκοσμημένοι to were adorned Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 12:44
Aligned rows 10
Books represented 6
Matthew 3 Luke 2 1 Timothy 1 Titus 1 1 Peter 1 Revelation 2
Source forms
κεκοσμημένον 2x kekosmēmenon Matthew 12:44, Luke 11:25
ἐκόσμησαν 1x ekosmēsan Matthew 25:7
ἐκόσμουν 1x ekosmoun 1 Peter 3:5
κεκοσμημένην 1x kekosmēmenēn Revelation 21:2
κεκοσμημένοι 1x kekosmēmenoi Revelation 21:19
κεκόσμηται 1x kekosmētai Luke 21:5
κοσμεῖν 1x kosmein 1 Timothy 2:9
κοσμεῖτε 1x kosmeite Matthew 23:29
Parsing patterns
Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Accusative Masculine Singular 2x Matthew 12:44, Luke 11:25
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural 1x Matthew 25:7
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural 1x 1 Peter 3:5
Verb - Perfect Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Singular 1x Luke 21:5
Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Accusative Feminine Singular 1x Revelation 21:2
Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural 1x Revelation 21:19
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural 1x Matthew 23:29
Verb - Present Infinitive Active 1x 1 Timothy 2:9
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Arrange and beautify together: ordering for visual elegance and splendor, not mere functional arrangement
Strong's G2885
Lexical occurrences 10 verses Greek text appearances 10 times Word forms 4 forms 10 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Titus 2:1-10 Source Gloss
to arrange
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
10 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 12:44 Verb Perfect Passive Participle Accusative Singular Masculine
κεκοσμημένον. kekosmhmenon
I put into order, adorn
Read verse Matthew 23:29 Verb Second Person Plural Present Active Indicative
κοσμεῖτε kosmeite
I put into order, adorn
Read verse Matthew 25:7 Verb Third Person Plural Aorist Active Indicative
ἐκόσμησαν ekosmhsan
I put into order, adorn
Read verse Luke 11:25 Verb Perfect Passive Participle Accusative Singular Masculine
κεκοσμημένον. kekosmhmenon
I put into order, adorn
Read verse Luke 21:5 Verb Third Person Singular Perfect Passive Indicative
κεκόσμηται, kekosmhtai
I put into order, adorn
Read verse 1 Timothy 2:9 Verb Present Active Infinitive
κοσμεῖν kosmein
I put into order, adorn
Read verse Titus 2:10 Verb Third Person Plural Present Active Subjunctive
κοσμῶσιν kosmwsin
I put into order, adorn
Read verse 1 Peter 3:5 Verb Third Person Plural Imperfect Active Indicative
ἐκόσμουν ekosmoun
I put into order, adorn
Read verse Revelation 21:2 Verb Perfect Passive Participle Accusative Singular Feminine
κεκοσμημένην kekosmhmenhn
I put into order, adorn
Read verse Revelation 21:19 Verb Perfect Passive Participle Nominative Plural Masculine
κεκοσμημένοι. kekosmhmenoi
I put into order, adorn
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 mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups 4 Aligned forms 10 Tenses Perfect, Present, Aorist, Imperfect Voices Passive, Active
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Participle verbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality 4×
Perfect Passive Matt 12:44 · Luke 11:25 · Rev 21:2 · Rev 21:19 4×
Indicative states a fact or reality 4×
Present Active Matt 23:29 1×
Aorist Active Matt 25:7 1×
Perfect Passive Luke 21:5 1×
Imperfect Active 1 Pet 3:5 1×
Infinitive verbal noun — the action in abstract 1×
Present Active 1 Tim 2:9 1×
Subjunctive possibility, probability, or purpose 1×
Present Active Titus 2:10 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 10 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
perfect 5 present 3 imperfect 1 aorist 1
Voice
active 5 passive 5
Mood
indicative 4 participle 4 infinitive 1 subjunctive 1
NT Occurrences
Matthew 12:44 κεκοσμημένον perfect passive participle participle Matthew 23:29 κοσμεῖτε present active indicative ongoing Matthew 25:7 ἐκόσμησαν aorist active indicative completed Luke 11:25 κεκοσμημένον perfect passive participle participle Luke 21:5 κεκόσμηται perfect passive indicative resultant 1 Timothy 2:9 κοσμεῖν present active infinitive infinitive Titus 2:10 κοσμῶσιν present active subjunctive subjunctive 1 Peter 3:5 ἐκόσμουν imperfect active indicative background Revelation 21:19 κεκοσμημένοι perfect passive participle participle Revelation 21:2 κεκοσμημένην perfect passive participle participle
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Additional Occurrences
Luke 11:24–28 κεκοσμημένον kosméō
Having been put in order
New Testament Witnesses
To enhance the visible beauty of something.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 10 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
κοσμέω is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
Believers do not improve the gospel itself but display its beauty through consistent obedience, making its transforming power evident.
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