What does μή (mḗ) mean in the Bible?
Me is a Greek negative particle commonly used with commands, wishes, conditions, purpose clauses, and non-indicative forms. It is often rendered not, do not, lest, or that not.
Greek · G3361
μή
Not
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μή G3361
Pronunciation mḗ
What does μή (mḗ) mean in the Bible?
Me is a Greek negative particle commonly used with commands, wishes, conditions, purpose clauses, and non-indicative forms. It is often rendered not, do not, lest, or that not.
Reader summary
Full entry for μή (G3361) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3361?
The BSB source-word alignment has 1,060 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include vvv (405), . . . (199), not (119), {do} not (117), no (38).
Where does μή (mḗ) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 1:19. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (143), Matthew (133), John (119), 1 Corinthians (97).
What This Word Actually Means
Me is a Greek negative particle commonly used with commands, wishes, conditions, purpose clauses, and non-indicative forms. It is often rendered not, do not, lest, or that not. The word matters pastorally because Scripture does not only state what is true; it forbids false confidence, fear, sinful reign, misplaced clinging, anxious worry, and wrong conclusions.
Yet me must not be treated as a free-standing moral command. The verb, mood, speaker, and context determine whether it is warning, prohibition, purpose, or guarded possibility. In the selected passages, me helps readers hear Jesus and the apostles saying do not in specific, text-governed ways: do not presume, do not think, do not worry, do not cling, do not let sin reign, and do not sin.
How the Bible Uses It
Me negates or prohibits within a range of commands, warnings, and guarded clauses. These representative anchors show how context decides whether the force is warning, correction, prohibition, or pastoral direction.
- Matt.3.9
And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
John warns his hearers not to presume on Abrahamic descent, confronting false security before the call to repentance.
- Matt.5.17
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.
Jesus tells hearers not to think He came to abolish the Law or the Prophets, correcting a possible misunderstanding of His mission.
- Luke.12.22
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.
Jesus commands His disciples not to worry about life and body, grounding trust in the Father's care in the surrounding teaching.
- John.20.17
“Do not cling to Me,” Jesus said, “for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and tell My brothers, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’”
The risen Jesus tells Mary not to cling to Him because His ascension mission is not yet complete and she must go tell His brothers.
- Rom.6.12
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires.
Paul commands believers not to let sin reign in the mortal body, applying union-with-Christ logic to embodied obedience.
- Eph.4.26
“Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger,
Paul commands anger without sin and warns not to let the sun set on anger, placing negation inside renewed community life.
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 vvv 405× Matthew 1:19, Matthew 3:10, Matthew 4:6, Matthew 5:26
. . . 199× Matthew 1:20, Matthew 5:13, Matthew 5:18, Matthew 5:20
not 119× Matthew 2:12, Matthew 5:34, Matthew 5:39, Matthew 6:1
{do} not 117× Matthew 3:9, Matthew 5:17, Matthew 7:6, Matthew 10:9
no 38× Matthew 8:28, Matthew 13:6, Matthew 22:23, Mark 4:6
without 18× Matthew 9:36, Matthew 22:24, Matthew 22:25, Luke 11:42
- 11× Matthew 9:15, Matthew 11:23, Matthew 18:16, Matthew 24:17
[Do] not 11× Matthew 6:8, Matthew 6:16, Matthew 6:19, Matthew 6:25
{does} not 10× Matthew 12:30, Matthew 13:19, Matthew 25:29, Luke 6:49
Otherwise 9× Matthew 5:25, Matthew 13:15, Matthew 27:64, Mark 4:12
[or] 6× Luke 10:4, Galatians 5:15, 1 Timothy 3:8, 2 John 1:10
{do} not {let} 6× Matthew 6:3, John 14:1, John 14:27, Acts 23:21
[Do] 4× 1 Corinthians 12:29, 1 Corinthians 12:30
{Let} no 4× 2 Corinthians 11:16, Ephesians 4:29, Colossians 2:16, 2 Thessalonians 2:3
Stop 4× John 6:43, John 7:24, Acts 4:20, 1 Corinthians 14:20
[Are] 3× 1 Corinthians 12:29
[from] 3× Luke 4:42, 2 Corinthians 3:13, 1 Peter 3:10
[that] 3× Mark 13:5, 2 Corinthians 12:20, Galatians 4:11
none 3× Luke 3:11, John 6:39, 1 Corinthians 7:29
nothing 3× Mark 8:1, 1 Corinthians 11:22, 2 Corinthians 9:4
or 3× Mark 14:2, Luke 21:34, Galatians 6:1
[is] 2× Romans 3:5, Romans 9:14
{let} no one 2× Luke 17:31
avoid 2× John 18:28, Galatians 6:12
Do not 2× Matthew 10:5, Luke 6:29
neither 2× Luke 7:33, Acts 23:8
never 2× Mark 4:12
no one 2× John 12:46, 2 Corinthians 6:3
that no one 2× Matthew 24:4, Colossians 2:8
( vvv 1× Luke 9:33
[And do this] not only 1× Ephesians 6:6
[and who are] not 1× Titus 1:6
[and] {do} not 1× Mark 10:14
[and] no one 1× 1 Thessalonians 4:6
[and] that no 1× Hebrews 12:15
[because] {they had} not 1× Luke 7:30
[But] not 1× Mark 14:2
[Could] 1× John 4:33
[do] not [use] 1× Galatians 5:13
[for fear that] 1× 1 Thessalonians 3:5
[He must] not [be] 1× 1 Timothy 3:6
[I am afraid that] 1× 2 Corinthians 12:21
[I fear] 1× 2 Corinthians 12:20
[Is it] 1× 1 Corinthians 9:9
[it is] not 1× 1 John 2:22
[it were] not 1× John 14:2
[it will not result] 1× 1 Corinthians 11:34
[nor] 1× Luke 18:2
[See to it] that 1× Hebrews 12:16
[Shall] 1× Romans 9:20
[so] 1× 2 Corinthians 12:6
[Take] no 1× Matthew 10:10
[that he would] not 1× Luke 2:26
[that it would] not 1× James 5:17
[that will] not 1× Luke 12:33
[then] {do} not 1× John 10:37
[who] neither 1× Luke 18:2
[with] no 1× Luke 11:36
[your own] 1× 1 Corinthians 11:22
{Do} 1× Colossians 2:21
{Do} not {allow} 1× Romans 14:16
{had} not 1× Romans 7:7
{Have} 1× John 7:48
{He will} certainly not 1× Romans 11:21
{I} never 1× Galatians 6:14
{may} not 1× Hebrews 12:13
{should} not 1× James 1:7
{then do} not 1× 1 Corinthians 10:28
{will} not 1× John 7:23
against 1× Romans 2:21
Do not let 1× Romans 12:11
enter 1× Matthew 10:5
except 1× Matthew 19:9
fails 1× James 4:17
How dare you 1× John 2:16
if 1× Luke 3:15
in case 1× Luke 14:8
in the hope that 1× 2 Timothy 2:25
no further 1× Hebrews 12:19
not [ mention ] 1× 1 Timothy 5:13
not [only] 1× Colossians 3:22
not [say] 1× Romans 3:8
not even 1× Luke 21:18
not only {to} 1× Philippians 2:4
refuse 1× 1 Peter 3:6
refusing 1× 2 John 1:7
so none 1× Acts 27:42
so that {You will} not 1× Luke 4:11
that 1× Acts 27:17
that none 1× Hebrews 4:1
to avoid 1× 2 Timothy 2:14
was shallow 1× Mark 4:5
will not be 1× Mark 4:22
you will not 1× 2 Peter 3:17
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 1:19 μὴ to vvv Adverb Matthew 1:20 μὴ to . . . Adverb Matthew 2:12 μὴ to not Adverb Matthew 3:9 μὴ to {do} not Adverb Matthew 3:10 μὴ to vvv Adverb Matthew 4:6 μή‿ to vvv Adverb Matthew 5:13 μὴ to . . . Adverb Matthew 5:17 Μὴ to {Do} not Adverb Matthew 5:18 μὴ to . . . Adverb Matthew 5:20 μὴ to . . . Adverb
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 1:19
Aligned rows 1,060
Books represented 27
Matthew 133 Mark 79 Luke 143 John 119 Acts 66 Romans 80 1 Corinthians 97 2 Corinthians 49 Galatians 24 Ephesians 16 Philippians 6 Colossians 10 1 Thessalonians 15 2 Thessalonians 11 1 Timothy 24 2 Timothy 5 Titus 13 Philemon 2 Hebrews 44 James 24 1 Peter 14 2 Peter 6 1 John 20 2 John 5 3 John 2 Jude 3 Revelation 50
Source forms
μὴ 889x mē Matthew 1:19, Matthew 1:20, Matthew 2:12, Matthew 3:9
Μὴ 86x Mē Matthew 5:17, Matthew 6:19, Matthew 6:31, Matthew 6:34
μή 56x mē Matthew 23:39, Matthew 24:4, Matthew 26:35, Mark 2:21
μή‿ 20x mē Matthew 4:6, Matthew 5:25, Matthew 7:6, Matthew 13:29
Μή 3x Mē Luke 11:7, John 4:33, John 20:17
Μή‿ 3x Mē Matthew 13:15, Mark 4:12, John 7:26
«μὴ 1x mē 1 John 3:21
〈μὴ〉 1x mē Luke 22:34
Parsing patterns
Adverb 1,058x Matthew 1:19, Matthew 1:20, Matthew 2:12, Matthew 3:9
Conjunction 2x Romans 11:21, 1 Corinthians 8:8
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- When teaching do not language, name both what Scripture forbids and why the passage gives that prohibition.
- Use negative commands pastorally: they protect worship, faith, holiness, and neighbor love rather than serving as bare rule-making.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that me by itself proves the full moral force of a command; the verb, mood, speaker, and context govern the force.
- Do not claim that every biblical prohibition functions as legalism. Many are gospel-shaped protections for disciples.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Subjective negation: denies what one thinks or believes, not absolute fact; used with non-indicative moods
Strong's G3361
Lexical occurrences 1,036 verses Greek text appearances 1,046 times 16 shown below Word forms 3 forms 1,036 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Luke 12:22-34 Source Gloss
not
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 1,046 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 1:19 Participle
μὴ mh
not, lest
Read verse Matthew 1:20 Participle
μὴ mh
not, lest
Read verse Matthew 2:12 Participle
μὴ mh
not, lest
Read verse Matthew 3:9 Participle
μὴ mh
not, lest
Read verse Matthew 3:10 Participle
μὴ mh
not, lest
Read verse Matthew 5:13 Participle
μὴ mh
not, lest
Read verse Matthew 5:17 Participle
Μὴ mh
not, lest
Read verse Matthew 5:18 Participle
μὴ mh
not, lest
Read verse Matthew 5:20 Participle
μὴ mh
not, lest
Read verse Matthew 5:20 Participle
μὴ mh
not, lest
Read verse Matthew 5:26 Participle
μὴ mh
not, lest
Read verse Matthew 5:29 Participle
μὴ mh
not, lest
Read verse Matthew 5:30 Participle
μὴ mh
not, lest
Read verse Matthew 5:34 Participle
μὴ mh
not, lest
Read verse Matthew 5:39 Participle
μὴ mh
not, lest
Read verse Matthew 5:42 Participle
μὴ mh
not, lest
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 3 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 3 Aligned forms 1036
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Matt 1:19 · Matt 1:20 · Matt 2:12 · Matt 3:9 · Matt 3:10 · Matt 5:13 · Matt 5:17 · Matt 5:18 · Matt 5:20 · Matt 5:26 · Matt 5:29 · Matt 5:30 · Matt 5:34 · Matt 5:39 · Matt 5:42 · Matt 6:1 945×
Matt 7:9 · Matt 7:10 · Matt 9:15 · Matt 11:23 · Mark 2:19 · Luke 5:34 · Luke 10:15 · Luke 17:9 · Luke 18:7 · Luke 22:35 · John 3:4 · John 4:12 · John 4:33 · John 6:67 · John 7:31 · John 7:35 57×
Matt 18:10 · Matt 24:4 · Mark 13:5 · Mark 13:36 · Luke 11:35 · Luke 21:8 · Acts 5:26 · Acts 13:40 · Acts 23:10 · Acts 27:17 · Acts 27:29 · Acts 27:42 · 1 Cor 8:9 · 1 Cor 9:27 · 1 Cor 10:12 · 2 Cor 2:7 34×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Prohibitive imperative, cautioning against anxiety about life's necessities
Conditional sentences with subjunctive, expressing hypothetical negation in warnings
Negation with participle expressing descriptive force, clarifying what salvation is not
Prohibitive subjunctive expressing negative wishes or commands for future conduct
Negation in conditional and consequential clauses expressing hypothetical scenarios
Showing 5 selected witnesses from 1,036 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
μή is built from this root:
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.
For the Preacher and Teacher
The core insight of me is that Scripture's negative commands are often deeply pastoral. Do not presume protects repentance from religious pride. Do not think protects Jesus' fulfillment of Scripture from misunderstanding. Do not worry protects disciples from anxious unbelief. Do not cling sends Mary into witness after the resurrection. Do not let sin reign applies the believer's new life in Christ to the body.
Do not sin places anger under the discipline of renewed community. The word itself is small, but the negative force matters because God's Word forms disciples by saying both yes and no. Faithful teaching explains the no from the passage, not from a generalized moral instinct.
Anchor passage
Rom.6.12
Doctrinal connections
- Rom.6.12 places prohibition inside union-with-Christ ethics, showing that believers must not let sin reign because they have died and live with Christ.
- Matt.5.17 protects Christ's mission from the claim that He abolishes the Law or Prophets.
- Luke.12.22 uses do not worry within Jesus' teaching on the Father's care and kingdom priority.
- John.20.17 shows resurrection prohibition serving mission, witness, and Jesus' ascent to the Father.
- Eph.4.26 places negative commands inside the new-humanity ethic of truthful, reconciled church life.
- G3756 Ou is another Greek negative, often used differently from me; careful teaching should not blur their normal grammatical domains.
Me commonly appears with imperatives, subjunctives, infinitives, and other non-indicative constructions. It often carries prohibition or guarded negation where English simply reads not or do not.
From Old to New Testament
From the garden command to the Law, prophets, wisdom, Jesus' teaching, and apostolic exhortation, Scripture forms God's people through holy prohibitions. Me participates in that New Testament pattern, but each prohibition must be interpreted by its own covenantal and textual setting.
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