What does νόσος (nósos) mean in the Bible?
G3554, nósos, is a Greek noun for disease or sickness. Its New Testament occurrences concern concrete bodily illness.
Greek · G3554
νόσος
A malady (rarely figuratively, of moral disability)
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νόσοςG3554
Pronunciationnósos
What does νόσος (nósos) mean in the Bible?
G3554, nósos, is a Greek noun for disease or sickness. Its New Testament occurrences concern concrete bodily illness.
Reader summary
Full entry for νόσος (G3554) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3554?
The BSB source-word alignment has 11 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include diseases (7), disease (3), [their] diseases (1).
Where does νόσος (nósos) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 4:23. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (5), Luke (4), Acts (1), Mark (1).
What This Word Actually Means
G3554, nósos, is a Greek noun for disease or sickness. Its New Testament occurrences concern concrete bodily illness. Gospel summaries place Jesus' healing of disease alongside His teaching and proclamation of the kingdom, showing compassion and authority without turning healing into a technique. Several passages list diseases separately from demons or unclean spirits, so the word itself does not equate illness with spiritual oppression.
Matthew 8 uses the noun while interpreting Jesus' healing ministry through Isaiah. That canonical connection belongs to Matthew's fulfillment argument and must not be isolated into a mechanical guarantee about the time or manner of every healing. Luke 7 distinguishes diseases, afflictions, evil spirits, and blindness within Jesus' answer to John's messengers.
Acts 19 uses the word in an account of extraordinary signs associated with Paul. The narrative does not authorize the sale, distribution, or ritual use of supposedly empowered objects. These passages do not use G3554 for moral failure or a figurative “moral disability. ” G3554 names sickness, not moral failure. Churches may pray with hope, support medical care, and bear burdens without diagnosing spiritual causes, promising an outcome, or blaming a person whose illness continues.
source_lexicongrammaticalPassage contextBook contextCanonical parallelPastoral application
How the Bible Uses It
G3554 consistently names bodily disease or sickness in its New Testament occurrences. It appears in Gospel healing summaries, fulfillment explanation, lists that distinguish illness from spirits, and an extraordinary Acts narrative.
- Matt.4.23
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
Healing appears alongside synagogue teaching and kingdom proclamation in a summary of Jesus' Galilean ministry, joining related actions without making them identical.
- Matt.8.17
This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.”
Matthew interprets Jesus' healing activity through Isaiah; the verse belongs to the Gospel's fulfillment argument and is not a mechanical individual guarantee.
- Luke.7.21
At that very hour Jesus healed many people of their diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits, and He gave sight to many who were blind.
The list distinguishes diseases, afflictions, evil spirits, and blindness rather than identifying bodily illness with spiritual oppression.
- Acts.19.12
So that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them.
The passage reports extraordinary apostolic signs associated with Paul, not a repeatable commercial or ritual method for transferring healing power.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itdiseases7×Matthew 4:24, Matthew 8:17, Mark 1:34, Luke 4:40
disease3×Matthew 4:23, Matthew 9:35, Matthew 10:1
[their] diseases1×Luke 7:21
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 4:23νόσονtodiseaseNoun - Accusative Feminine SingularMatthew 4:24νόσοιςtodiseasesNoun - Dative Feminine PluralMatthew 8:17νόσουςtodiseasesNoun - Accusative Feminine PluralMatthew 9:35νόσονtodiseaseNoun - Accusative Feminine SingularMatthew 10:1νόσονtodiseaseNoun - Accusative Feminine SingularMark 1:34νόσοιςtodiseasesNoun - Dative Feminine PluralLuke 4:40νόσοιςtodiseasesNoun - Dative Feminine PluralLuke 6:18νόσωνtodiseasesNoun - Genitive Feminine PluralLuke 7:21νόσωνto[their] diseasesNoun - Genitive Feminine PluralLuke 9:1νόσουςtodiseasesNoun - Accusative Feminine Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 4:23
Aligned rows11
Books represented4
Matthew5Mark1Luke4Acts1
Source forms
νόσοις3xnosoisMatthew 4:24, Mark 1:34, Luke 4:40
νόσον3xnosonMatthew 4:23, Matthew 9:35, Matthew 10:1
νόσους3xnosousMatthew 8:17, Luke 9:1, Acts 19:12
νόσων2xnosōnLuke 6:18, Luke 7:21
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural3xMatthew 8:17, Luke 9:1, Acts 19:12
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular3xMatthew 4:23, Matthew 9:35, Matthew 10:1
Noun - Dative Feminine Plural3xMatthew 4:24, Mark 1:34, Luke 4:40
Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural2xLuke 6:18, Luke 7:21
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Encourage qualified medical care and respect informed consent, privacy, disability access, and the person's own description of need.
- Pray with hope while refusing promises, blame, spectacle, pressure for testimony, or financial exploitation.
- Support people whose illness persists and avoid making recovery the condition for full participation in community life.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that G3554 means moral disability or identifies bodily disease as moral failure.
- Do not claim that every disease is caused by demons, a specific sin, or inadequate faith.
- Do not claim that cloths, objects, donations, or a leader's touch guarantee healing power.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Physical disease or sickness; rarely used figuratively for moral or spiritual ailment, unlike related terms
Strong'sG3554
Lexical occurrences11 versesGreek text appearances12 timesWord forms4 forms11 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study linkLuke 7:21Source Gloss
a malady (rarely figuratively, of moral disability)
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
12 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 4:23Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
νόσονnoson
a disease, malady
Read verseMatthew 4:24Noun Dative Plural Feminine
νόσοιςnosoiv
a disease, malady
Read verseMatthew 8:17Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
νόσουςnosouv
a disease, malady
Read verseMatthew 9:35Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
νόσονnoson
a disease, malady
Read verseMatthew 10:1Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
νόσονnoson
a disease, malady
Read verseMark 1:34Noun Dative Plural Feminine
νόσοις,nosoiv
a disease, malady
Read verseMark 3:15Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
νόσους,nosouv
a disease, malady
Read verseLuke 4:40Noun Dative Plural Feminine
νόσοιςnosoiv
a disease, malady
Read verseLuke 6:17Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
νόσωνnoswn
a disease, malady
Read verseLuke 7:21Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
νόσωνnoswn
a disease, malady
Read verseLuke 9:1Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
νόσουςnosouv
a disease, malady
Read verseActs 19:12Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
νόσους,nosouv
a disease, malady
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 4 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 patterns4Aligned forms11Case patternAccusative (6)Number patternPlural (8)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Genitive · Plural · FeminineLuke 6:18 · Luke 7:212×
Dative · Plural · FeminineMatt 4:24 · Mark 1:34 · Luke 4:403×
Accusative · Singular · FeminineMatt 4:23 · Matt 9:35 · Matt 10:13×
Accusative · Plural · FeminineMatt 8:17 · Luke 9:1 · Acts 19:123×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 11 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
νόσος is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
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
Matthew 4:23 places healing every disease and sickness beside Jesus' teaching and proclamation of the kingdom. His ministry addresses embodied suffering with compassion and authority while remaining more than a health program. Matthew 8:17 interprets a sequence of healings through Isaiah, giving those acts a fulfillment significance inside the Gospel. The text supports confidence in Jesus, but it does not set an immediate healing schedule for every believer or make medical care an expression of doubt.
Luke 7:21 lists diseases, afflictions, evil spirits, and restored sight as distinguishable realities within Jesus' answer to John. That grammar resists the harmful claim that disease is simply demonic possession. Acts 19:12 narrates extraordinary signs in which cloths associated with Paul are taken to sick people. Luke marks the works as extraordinary, so the account cannot justify selling objects, promising transferred power, or blaming those who do not receive the same outcome.
G3554 keeps the focus on bodily sickness and excludes unsupported moralizing language. Faithful churches can pray, provide meals and transportation, support qualified treatment, respect privacy, lament ongoing suffering, and hope in resurrection. They must not assign guilt, demand public testimony, discourage medicine, or make healing a test of another person's faith.
Anchor passage
Matt.4.23
Doctrinal connections
- Matthew 4 joins Jesus' teaching, kingdom proclamation, and compassionate healing within one Galilean ministry summary.
- Matthew 8 interprets healing activity through Isaiah within the Gospel's larger fulfillment presentation of Jesus.
- Luke 7 offers Jesus' deeds as messianic evidence while distinguishing disease, affliction, spirits, and blindness.
- Acts 19 calls the signs through Paul extraordinary and locates their power in God's action rather than objects themselves.
- The New Testament's resurrection hope values embodied life without promising that every present disease ends immediately.
- The church's burden-bearing vocation includes prayer, practical support, truthfulness, and respect for qualified medical care.
G3554 is a feminine Greek noun for disease or sickness. Its plural can gather multiple diseases within ministry summaries. In these passages, neighboring terms distinguish bodily disease from affliction, weakness, blindness, and evil spirits.
From Old to New Testament
Isaiah's servant language is explicitly brought into Matthew's account of Jesus' healing ministry, while the wider canon joins compassion for sufferers to hope in God's final restoration. That theological connection does not turn G3554 into every biblical sickness term or make each illness an instance of one stated cause.
Canonical parallelPastoral application