Cloud
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Νεφέλη (nephélē) is a cloud, an ordinary feature of the sky that biblical passages can place within extraordinary revelation. At the transfiguration, a bright cloud overshadows the disciples and the Father's voice identifies the beloved Son.
Reader summary
Full entry for νεφέλη (G3507) · Open the biblical lexicon
Νεφέλη (nephélē) is a cloud, an ordinary feature of the sky that biblical passages can place within extraordinary revelation. At the transfiguration, a bright cloud overshadows the disciples and the Father's voice identifies the beloved Son.
The BSB source-word alignment has 25 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include cloud (13), a cloud (5), clouds (4), [the] clouds (2), [They are] clouds (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 17:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (7), Luke (5), Mark (4), Matthew (4).
Νεφέλη (nephélē) is a cloud, an ordinary feature of the sky that biblical passages can place within extraordinary revelation. At the transfiguration, a bright cloud overshadows the disciples and the Father's voice identifies the beloved Son. Jesus tells the high priest that the Son of Man will come with heaven's clouds, drawing on Daniel's royal vision. In Acts, a cloud receives the risen Jesus from the disciples' sight at His ascension.
Revelation announces His visible coming with clouds and later pictures one like a son of man seated on a cloud for harvest. The noun does not mean divine presence in every sentence, nor does cloud imagery make Christ vague or unreal. Each passage draws on creation, Old Testament theophany, prophetic kingship, concealment, revelation, and judgment in its own way.
Νεφέλη names a cloud, yet selected passages place clouds around revelation of the Son: the Father's testimony at the transfiguration, the Son of Man's royal coming, the ascension, universal appearing, and final harvest.
While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”
The bright cloud overshadows the disciples and the voice from it commands them to listen to the beloved Son, making Jesus the interpretive center.
“I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
Before the council, Jesus joins the Son of Man seated at Power's right hand with coming in heaven's clouds, announcing vindicated royal authority.
After He had said this, they watched as He was taken up, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.
At the ascension, a cloud receives Jesus from sight; the narrative affirms His bodily departure while angels promise His return.
Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him—even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen.
The cloud-coming Christ will be seen by every eye, so the image serves public appearing, judgment, and mourning rather than private spirituality.
So the One seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
The one like a son of man sits on a white cloud and swings the sickle at the appointed hour, joining royal authority to earth's harvest.
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.
Greek word. A single, visible cloud (distinct from νέφος, an amorphous mass); often symbolizes divine presence or judgment.
A single, visible cloud (distinct from νέφος, an amorphous mass); often symbolizes divine presence or judgment.
(νέφος), [in LXX chiefly for עָנָן, also for עָב, etc. ;] a cloud (single and specific as opposite to νεφος, a great indefinite mass of vapour): Mat.17:5 24:30 26:64, Mrk.9:7 13:26 14:62, Luk.9:34-35 12:54 21:37, Act.1:9, 1Th.4:17, Ju 12, Rev.1:7 10:1 11:12 14:14-16; of the pillar of cloud in the wilderness (Exo.14:19-20, Psa.105:39, al.): 1Co.10:1-2.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 26 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a cloud
Read versea cloud
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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 7 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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 25 lexical occurrence verses.
νεφέλη is built from this root:
Symbol of divine presence and messianic authority.Luke 21:25–28
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
The New Testament's clouds do not obscure Jesus into abstraction; they disclose who He is. At the transfiguration, the bright cloud frames the Father's decisive command to listen to the beloved Son. Before the high priest, Jesus uses the clouds of heaven with Daniel's Son of Man to announce authority that His judges will be forced to recognize. Acts places a cloud at the boundary of the disciples' sight, yet the ascension account does not invite them to stare upward.
It sends them toward witness under the promise of His return. Revelation makes that return public and morally weighty: every eye sees, the earth mourns, and the enthroned harvest advances at God's appointed time. Teachers may trace the rich biblical background, but they should keep the image subordinate to each passage's claim about Christ's identity, reign, return, and judgment.
Matt.17.5
Νεφέλη is the common noun for a cloud. Singular and plural forms can describe a visible cloud or participate in scriptural imagery. Symbolic resonance arises from the literary and canonical setting, not from a hidden lexical definition.
Clouds accompany God's guidance, Sinai revelation, tabernacle glory, prophetic visions, and the Son of Man's dominion. The New Testament applies this inheritance to the Father's witness concerning Jesus and to Christ's return.