Pay for service (literally or figuratively), good or bad
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Μισθός (misthós) means wage, payment, reward, or recompense. Jesus tells persecuted disciples that their reward is great in heaven, joining endurance to the prophets without making suffering a purchase of salvation.
Reader summary
Full entry for μισθός (G3408) · Open the biblical lexicon
Μισθός (misthós) means wage, payment, reward, or recompense. Jesus tells persecuted disciples that their reward is great in heaven, joining endurance to the prophets without making suffering a purchase of salvation.
The BSB source-word alignment has 29 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include reward (11), wages (5), full reward (3), . . . (2), a reward (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 5:12. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (10), 1 Corinthians (4), Luke (3), 2 Peter (2).
This entry includes 2 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
Μισθός (misthós) means wage, payment, reward, or recompense. Jesus tells persecuted disciples that their reward is great in heaven, joining endurance to the prophets without making suffering a purchase of salvation. He promises that even a cup of water given to a little one because that person is His disciple will not lose its reward. Acts calls what Judas obtained the reward of wickedness, showing that payment can be morally corrupt and destructive.
James says withheld wages cry out to the Lord of Hosts, treating unpaid labor as injustice God hears. Revelation presents the coming Christ with His recompense to give each person according to deeds. The noun is not inherently positive, and reward language must be held together with grace, justice, motive, and the identity of the giver or employer.
Μισθός names wages or recompense. It can describe heavenly reward for faithfulness, remembered service to a disciple, the proceeds of wickedness, stolen worker pay, or Christ's final repayment according to deeds.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.
Persecuted disciples rejoice because their heavenly reward is great and their suffering joins the prophets' pattern, not because hostility itself earns acceptance with God.
And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.”
A cup of cold water given because the recipient belongs to Jesus will not lose its reward, showing that Christ remembers modest service directed toward His people.
(Now with the reward for his wickedness Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong and burst open in the middle, and all his intestines spilled out.
Judas acquires a field from the reward of wickedness, and the narrative connects corrupt gain with shameful death rather than lasting profit.
Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
Withheld wages cry out and the harvesters' appeals reach the Lord of Hosts, placing economic exploitation before the divine warrior and judge.
“Behold, I am coming soon, and My reward is with Me, to give to each one according to what he has done.
The coming Jesus brings His recompense and gives to each according to deeds, making final evaluation personal, just, and inseparable from His authority.
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.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. Compensation for work or service; notably used of divine rewards for faithfulness and righteous deeds.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 29 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
wages, reward
Read versewages, reward
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Read versewages, reward
Read versewages, reward
Read versewages, reward
Read versewages, reward
Read versewages, reward
Read versewages, reward
Read versewages, reward
Read versewages, reward
Read versewages, reward
Read versewages, reward
Read versewages, reward
Read versewages, reward
Read versewages, reward
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 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.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 29 lexical occurrence verses.
μισθός is a primary word - no further derivation.
Affirms divine acknowledgment of service. Mark 9:38–41
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Reward language reveals the moral character of both work and paymaster. Jesus assures persecuted disciples and quiet servants that the Father does not forget faithfulness, yet the Sermon on the Mount locates reward within filial grace rather than a market transaction that purchases the kingdom. Acts shows a grim counter-reward: money attached to betrayal yields no durable gain.
James refuses to let economic injustice hide behind wealth. Wages belong to workers, and withholding them produces a cry heard by the Lord of Hosts. Revelation places final recompense with Jesus, whose coming exposes deeds and renders the just verdict no employer or persecutor can evade. Churches should preach grace without erasing accountability, honor unnoticed service, pay laborers promptly, refuse profit from wickedness, and leave ultimate reward to the returning Lord.
Matt.5.12
Μισθός is a noun for wages, pay, reward, or recompense. A genitive may identify the work or moral quality associated with it. Context determines whether payment is contractual, figurative, corrupt, or eschatological.
The law protects laborers' wages, wisdom contrasts the earnings of righteousness and wickedness, prophets announce divine recompense, and Jesus promises the Father's reward while rejecting performative service.
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