Dead (literally or figuratively; also as noun)
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nekros means dead, dead ones, a corpse, or the dead as a class, and in several contexts it also describes spiritual death before God. The New Testament uses the word for ordinary bodily death, the dead whom God raises, the spiritually dead who need life, the prodigal who was dead and is alive again, and believers who must count themselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ.
Reader summary
Full entry for νεκρός (G3498) · Open the biblical lexicon
nekros means dead, dead ones, a corpse, or the dead as a class, and in several contexts it also describes spiritual death before God. The New Testament uses the word for ordinary bodily death, the dead whom God raises, the spiritually dead who need life, the prodigal who was dead and is alive again, and believers who must count themselves dead to sin but.
The BSB source-word alignment has 128 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [the] dead (55), dead (48), of [the] dead (11), . . . (2), [from the] dead (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 8:22. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (17), Romans (16), Luke (14), 1 Corinthians (13).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
Nekros means dead, dead ones, a corpse, or the dead as a class, and in several contexts it also describes spiritual death before God. The New Testament uses the word for ordinary bodily death, the dead whom God raises, the spiritually dead who need life, the prodigal who was dead and is alive again, and believers who must count themselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ.
The word is stark and should not be softened. Death is an enemy, a judgment reality, and a condition from which only God's life-giving power can deliver. Yet the New Testament also refuses despair: God is not the God of the dead but of the living, the Son gives life to the dead, and Christ's resurrection is the firstfruits of those who sleep.
The selected witnesses trace Jesus' teaching about the living God, restoration from lostness, the empty tomb, the Son's life-giving voice, union with Christ, and spiritual death before grace.
‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
Jesus argues from God's covenant self-identification that He is not the God of the dead but of the living. The word serves resurrection hope against denial.
For this son of mine was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.
The father says his son was dead and is alive again. The word functions metaphorically for lostness restored in mercy and joy.
As the women bowed their faces to the ground in terror, the two men asked them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?
The women are asked why they seek the living among the dead. The contrast announces that Jesus' resurrection overturns the tomb's expected category.
Truly, truly, I tell you, the hour is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
Jesus says the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and live. The word stands under the life-giving authority of the Son.
So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Believers must count themselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. The word becomes union-with-Christ language for sanctification.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
Paul says believers were dead in trespasses and sins. The word describes spiritual inability and guilt before God's life-giving mercy.
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. Spiritually inoperative or powerless; used of faith, sin, and spiritual deadness in sin apart from Christ.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 132 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
dead, a corpse
Read versedead, a corpse
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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 10 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 1 selected witness from 128 lexical occurrence verses.
Highlights the contrast between spiritual life and death.Luke 9:57–62
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Nekros forces readers to tell the truth about death. Scripture does not treat death as a harmless transition or sin as minor weakness. The dead cannot raise themselves. Ephesians 2 says believers were dead in trespasses and sins, and John 5 says the dead live when they hear the voice of the Son of God. Luke 24 announces that the living One is not to be sought among the dead, because Jesus' resurrection has broken the expected rule of the tomb.
Romans 6 then applies union with Christ: believers count themselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. The word therefore holds together gravity and hope. Death is real, sin is deadly, and resurrection life comes only from God through Christ.
John.5.25
Nekros can function adjectivally or substantively: dead, dead ones, the dead. Context decides whether the referent is bodily death, spiritual death, metaphorical lostness, or the believer's death to sin in union with Christ.
The Old Testament confesses the Lord as the living God and raises hope that He can redeem from death. The New Testament brings that hope into focus through Jesus' resurrection, His voice that gives life, and the Spirit's work in those once dead in sins.