What does μάταιος (mátaios) mean in the Bible?
μάταιος (mátaios): Empty of real effect or substance; futile efforts that produce nothing of lasting value.
Greek · G3152
μάταιος
Futile
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μάταιος G3152
Pronunciation mátaios
What does μάταιος (mátaios) mean in the Bible?
μάταιος (mátaios): Empty of real effect or substance; futile efforts that produce nothing of lasting value.
Full entry for μάταιος (G3152) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3152?
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include futile (2), [is] worthless (1), empty (1), worthless (1), worthless things (1).
Where does μάταιος (mátaios) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Acts 14:15. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (2), 1 Peter (1), Acts (1), James (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 futile 2× 1 Corinthians 3:20, 1 Corinthians 15:17
[is] worthless 1× James 1:26
empty 1× 1 Peter 1:18
worthless 1× Titus 3:9
worthless things 1× Acts 14:15
Show sample aligned rows
Acts 14:15 ματαίων to worthless things Adjective - Genitive Neuter Plural 1 Corinthians 3:20 μάταιοι to futile Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural 1 Corinthians 15:17 ματαία to futile Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular Titus 3:9 μάταιοι to worthless Adjective - Nominative Feminine Plural James 1:26 μάταιος to [is] worthless Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular 1 Peter 1:18 ματαίας to empty Adjective - Genitive Feminine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Acts 14:15
Aligned rows 6
Books represented 5
Acts 1 1 Corinthians 2 Titus 1 James 1 1 Peter 1
Source forms
μάταιοι 2x mataioi 1 Corinthians 3:20, Titus 3:9
ματαία 1x mataia 1 Corinthians 15:17
ματαίας 1x mataias 1 Peter 1:18
μάταιος 1x mataios James 1:26
ματαίων 1x mataiōn Acts 14:15
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular 2x 1 Corinthians 15:17, James 1:26
Adjective - Genitive Feminine Singular 1x 1 Peter 1:18
Adjective - Genitive Neuter Plural 1x Acts 14:15
Adjective - Nominative Feminine Plural 1x Titus 3:9
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural 1x 1 Corinthians 3:20
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Empty of real effect or substance; futile efforts that produce nothing of lasting value.
Strong's G3152
Lexical occurrences 6 verses Greek text appearances 6 times Word forms 5 forms 6 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Acts 14:8-20 Source Gloss
futile
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Acts 14:15 Adjective Genitive Plural Neuter
ματαίων mataiwn
vain, unproductive, godless
Read verse 1 Corinthians 3:20 Adjective Nominative Plural Masculine
μάταιοι. mataioi
vain, unproductive, godless
Read verse 1 Corinthians 15:17 Adjective Nominative Singular Feminine
ματαία mataia
vain, unproductive, godless
Read verse Titus 3:9 Adjective Nominative Plural Feminine
μάταιοι. mataioi
vain, unproductive, godless
Read verse James 1:26 Adjective Nominative Singular Feminine
μάταιος mataiov
vain, unproductive, godless
Read verse 1 Peter 1:18 Adjective Genitive Singular Feminine
ματαίας mataiav
vain, unproductive, godless
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 6 Case pattern Nominative (4) Number pattern Plural (3)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Feminine 1 Cor 15:17 · Jas 1:26 2×
Nominative · Plural · Masculine 1 Cor 3:20 1×
Nominative · Plural · Feminine Titus 3:9 1×
Genitive · Plural · Neuter Acts 14:15 1×
Genitive · Singular · Feminine 1 Pet 1:18 1×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
Worthless or empty things.
Additional Occurrences
worthless, futile
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 6 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
μάταιος is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
Describes idols as empty and incapable of saving. Acts 14:8-20
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