What does νηστεία (nēsteía) mean in the Bible?
νηστεία (nēsteía): Voluntary self-denial from food for spiritual purposes, distinct from involuntary hunger.
Greek · G3521
νηστεία
Fasting
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νηστεία G3521
Pronunciation nēsteía
What does νηστεία (nēsteía) mean in the Bible?
νηστεία (nēsteía): Voluntary self-denial from food for spiritual purposes, distinct from involuntary hunger.
Full entry for νηστεία (G3521) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3521?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include fasting (2), [and] hunger (1), Fast (1), without food (1).
Where does νηστεία (nēsteía) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 2:37. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Corinthians (2), Acts (2), Luke (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 fasting 2× Luke 2:37, Acts 14:23
[and] hunger 1× 2 Corinthians 6:5
Fast 1× Acts 27:9
without food 1× 2 Corinthians 11:27
Show sample aligned rows
Luke 2:37 νηστείαις to fasting Noun - Dative Feminine Plural Acts 14:23 νηστειῶν to fasting Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Acts 27:9 Νηστείαν to Fast Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 2 Corinthians 6:5 νηστείαις to [and] hunger Noun - Dative Feminine Plural 2 Corinthians 11:27 νηστείαις to without food Noun - Dative Feminine Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Luke 2:37
Aligned rows 5
Books represented 3
Luke 1 Acts 2 2 Corinthians 2
Source forms
νηστείαις 3x nēsteiais Luke 2:37, 2 Corinthians 6:5, 2 Corinthians 11:27
Νηστείαν 1x Nēsteian Acts 27:9
νηστειῶν 1x nēsteiōn Acts 14:23
Parsing patterns
Noun - Dative Feminine Plural 3x Luke 2:37, 2 Corinthians 6:5, 2 Corinthians 11:27
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 1x Acts 27:9
Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural 1x Acts 14:23
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Voluntary self-denial from food for spiritual purposes, distinct from involuntary hunger.
Strong's G3521
Lexical occurrences 5 verses Greek text appearances 8 times Word forms 3 forms 5 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
fasting
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Voluntary self-denial from food for spiritual purposes, distinct from involuntary hunger.
(νηστεύω), [in LXX for צוֹם ;] fasting, a fast;
aof voluntary abstinence from food: Mat.17:21 (WH, R, txt., om.), Mrk.9:29 (WH, txt., R, txt., om.), Luk.2:37, Act.14:23; of the Day of Atonement, Act.27:9;
Synonymsἀσιτία, q.v
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
8 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 17:21 Noun Dative Singular Feminine
νηστείᾳ. nhsteia
fasting, the day of atonement
Read verse Mark 9:29 Noun Dative Singular Feminine
νηστείᾳ. nhsteia
fasting, the day of atonement
Read verse Luke 2:37 Noun Dative Plural Feminine
νηστείαις nhsteiaiv
fasting, the day of atonement
Read verse Acts 14:23 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
νηστειῶν, nhsteiwn
fasting, the day of atonement
Read verse Acts 27:9 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
νηστείαν nhsteian
fasting, the day of atonement
Read verse 1 Corinthians 7:5 Noun Dative Singular Feminine
νηστείᾳ nhsteia
fasting, the day of atonement
Read verse 2 Corinthians 6:5 Noun Dative Plural Feminine
νηστείαις, nhsteiaiv
fasting, the day of atonement
Read verse 2 Corinthians 11:27 Noun Dative Plural Feminine
νηστείαις nhsteiaiv
fasting, the day of atonement
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 5 Case pattern Dative (3) Number pattern Plural (4)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Genitive · Plural · Feminine Acts 14:23 1×
Dative · Plural · Feminine Luke 2:37 · 2 Cor 6:5 · 2 Cor 11:27 3×
Accusative · Singular · Feminine Acts 27:9 1×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Witnesses
Luke 2:36–38 νηστείαις nēsteía
Fastings
Showing 1 selected witness from 5 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
νηστεία 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.
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