What does ξένος (xénos) mean in the Bible?
ξένος (xénos): Foreigner or social outsider; emphasizes alienation from community belonging rather than mere geographic distance.
Greek · G3581
ξένος
Foreign
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ξένος G3581
Pronunciation xénos
What does ξένος (xénos) mean in the Bible?
ξένος (xénos): Foreigner or social outsider; emphasizes alienation from community belonging rather than mere geographic distance.
Full entry for ξένος (G3581) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3581?
The BSB source-word alignment has 14 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include a stranger (4), strangers (3), foreigners (2), [of] strange (1), foreign (1).
Where does ξένος (xénos) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 25:35. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (5), Acts (2), Ephesians (2), Hebrews (2).
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 a stranger 4× Matthew 25:35, Matthew 25:38, Matthew 25:43, Matthew 25:44
strangers 3× Ephesians 2:12, Ephesians 2:19, Hebrews 11:13
foreigners 2× Matthew 27:7, Acts 17:21
[of] strange 1× Hebrews 13:9
foreign 1× Acts 17:18
has hosted 1× Romans 16:23
something strange 1× 1 Peter 4:12
strangers [to you] 1× 3 John 1:5
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 25:35 ξένος to a stranger Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular Matthew 25:38 ξένον to a stranger Adjective - Accusative Masculine Singular Matthew 25:43 ξένος to a stranger Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular Matthew 25:44 ξένον to a stranger Adjective - Accusative Masculine Singular Matthew 27:7 ξένοις to foreigners Adjective - Dative Masculine Plural Acts 17:18 Ξένων to foreign Adjective - Genitive Neuter Plural Acts 17:21 ξένοι to foreigners Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural Romans 16:23 ξένος to has hosted Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular Ephesians 2:12 ξένοι to strangers Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural Ephesians 2:19 ξένοι to strangers Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 25:35
Aligned rows 14
Books represented 7
Matthew 5 Acts 2 Romans 1 Ephesians 2 Hebrews 2 1 Peter 1 3 John 1
Source forms
ξένοι 4x xenoi Acts 17:21, Ephesians 2:12, Ephesians 2:19, Hebrews 11:13
ξένος 3x xenos Matthew 25:35, Matthew 25:43, Romans 16:23
ξένον 2x xenon Matthew 25:38, Matthew 25:44
ξέναις 1x xenais Hebrews 13:9
ξένοις 1x xenois Matthew 27:7
ξένου 1x xenou 1 Peter 4:12
ξένους 1x xenous 3 John 1:5
Ξένων 1x Xenōn Acts 17:18
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural 4x Acts 17:21, Ephesians 2:12, Ephesians 2:19, Hebrews 11:13
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular 3x Matthew 25:35, Matthew 25:43, Romans 16:23
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Singular 2x Matthew 25:38, Matthew 25:44
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural 1x 3 John 1:5
Adjective - Dative Feminine Plural 1x Hebrews 13:9
Adjective - Dative Masculine Plural 1x Matthew 27:7
Adjective - Genitive Neuter Plural 1x Acts 17:18
Adjective - Genitive Neuter Singular 1x 1 Peter 4:12
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Foreigner or social outsider; emphasizes alienation from community belonging rather than mere geographic distance.
Strong's G3581
Lexical occurrences 14 verses Greek text appearances 14 times Word forms 8 forms 14 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link 3 John 1:5 Source Gloss
foreign
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
14 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 25:35 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ξένος xenov
new, novel, a foreigner
Read verse Matthew 25:38 Adjective Accusative Singular Masculine
ξένον, xenon
new, novel, a foreigner
Read verse Matthew 25:43 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ξένος xenov
new, novel, a foreigner
Read verse Matthew 25:44 Adjective Accusative Singular Masculine
ξένον, xenon
new, novel, a foreigner
Read verse Matthew 27:7 Adjective Dative Plural Masculine
ξένοις. xenoiv
new, novel, a foreigner
Read verse Acts 17:18 Adjective Genitive Plural Neuter
Ξένων xenwn
new, novel, a foreigner
Read verse Acts 17:21 Adjective Nominative Plural Masculine
ξένοι xenoi
new, novel, a foreigner
Read verse Romans 16:23 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ξένος xenov
new, novel, a foreigner
Read verse Ephesians 2:12 Adjective Nominative Plural Masculine
ξένοι xenoi
new, novel, a foreigner
Read verse Ephesians 2:19 Adjective Nominative Plural Masculine
ξένοι xenoi
new, novel, a foreigner
Read verse Hebrews 11:13 Adjective Nominative Plural Masculine
ξένοι xenoi
new, novel, a foreigner
Read verse Hebrews 13:9 Adjective Dative Plural Feminine
ξέναις xenaiv
new, novel, a foreigner
Read verse 1 Peter 4:12 Adjective Genitive Singular Neuter
ξένου xenou
new, novel, a foreigner
Read verse 3 John 1:5 Adjective Accusative Plural Masculine
ξένους, xenouv
new, novel, a foreigner
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 8 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 8 Aligned forms 14 Case pattern Nominative (7) Number pattern Plural (8)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Plural · Masculine Acts 17:21 · Eph 2:12 · Eph 2:19 · Heb 11:13 4×
Nominative · Singular · Masculine Matt 25:35 · Matt 25:43 · Rom 16:23 3×
Genitive · Plural · Neuter Acts 17:18 1×
Genitive · Singular · Neuter 1 Pet 4:12 1×
Dative · Plural · Masculine Matt 27:7 1×
Dative · Plural · Feminine Heb 13:9 1×
Accusative · Singular · Masculine Matt 25:38 · Matt 25:44 2×
Accusative · Plural · Masculine 3 John 1:5 1×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Foreigners or travelers welcomed and shown hospitality by believers
Gentiles formerly alien to covenant community, now incorporated into God's household
Those estranged and separated from covenants and citizenship in Israel
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 14 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ξένος is a primary word - 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.
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