A conductor (literally or figuratively (teacher))
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G3595, hodēgós, is a Greek noun for a guide, a person who leads others along a way or directs them toward a destination. The New Testament uses it five times, and each setting asks readers to evaluate not merely the guide's position but the way, sight, truth, and conduct behind the guidance.
Reader summary
Full entry for ὁδηγός (G3595) · Open the biblical lexicon
G3595, hodēgós, is a Greek noun for a guide, a person who leads others along a way or directs them toward a destination. The New Testament uses it five times, and each setting asks readers to evaluate not merely the guide's position but the way, sight, truth, and conduct behind the guidance.
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include guides (3), a guide (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 15:14. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (3), Acts (1), Romans (1).
G3595, hodēgós, is a Greek noun for a guide, a person who leads others along a way or directs them toward a destination. The New Testament uses it five times, and each setting asks readers to evaluate not merely the guide's position but the way, sight, truth, and conduct behind the guidance. Judas becomes a guide for the arresting party. Jesus calls certain religious teachers blind guides. Paul addresses a person convinced that he is a guide for the blind and then tests that confidence by whether his own life honors the law he teaches.
The noun does not mean that guidance itself is evil. Its negative settings reveal how consequential guidance is. A guide can bring people to Jesus as enemies, close the kingdom in people's faces, create moral loopholes, magnify small matters while neglecting justice and mercy, or teach others without receiving the teaching himself. In Matthew 15, the destination exposes both guide and follower: when one who cannot see the path leads another, both fall. Jesus' metaphor indicts spiritual misdirection; it must not be turned into contempt for people with visual disabilities.
G3595 therefore places teachers, pastors, counselors, parents, and other leaders under the truth they offer to others. Titles, learning, confidence, and a following do not establish trustworthy guidance. A faithful guide must know the path, live under the same word, welcome examination, and direct people toward Christ rather than dependence on the guide. These passages do not authorize anti-Jewish hostility or the wholesale rejection of religious instruction. Jesus and Paul confront hypocrisy and misdirected confidence within covenant claims. Pastoral application should test teaching and conduct while using fair evidence, avoiding disability stigma, and protecting people from manipulative or predatory leadership.
G3595 appears where guidance is morally tested by its destination, the guide's sight and conduct, and whether teaching directs people toward truth or into ruin.
Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Jesus warns that leaders who reject His teaching cannot safely direct others. Shared confidence cannot prevent disaster when the path itself is unseen.
Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’
The guides create oath distinctions that prize sacred gold over the temple that sanctifies it. Their teaching redirects conscience through a distorted scale of value.
You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Jesus' vivid contrast exposes meticulous attention to smaller matters alongside neglect of justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Guidance fails when moral proportion is reversed.
“Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit foretold through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus.
Judas uses inside knowledge to lead Jesus' arresters. Familiarity with Christ's movements becomes an instrument of betrayal rather than faithful discipleship.
If you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those in darkness,
Paul repeats a confident self-description and then asks whether the teacher obeys the law he teaches. Guidance is tested by practiced integrity, not claimed competence alone.
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. One who actively leads others along a path, especially toward spiritual truth or moral direction.
One who actively leads others along a path, especially toward spiritual truth or moral direction.
(ὁδός, ἡγέομαι) [in LXX : Est.8:1, Wis.7:15 18:3, 1Ma.4:2, 2Ma.5:15 * ;] a leader on the way, a guide: Act.1:16. Fig., ὁ. τυφλῶν, Rom.2:19; pl., Mat.15:14 23:16, 24.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a leader, guide
Read versea leader, guide
Read versea leader, guide
Read versea leader, guide
Read versea leader, guide
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 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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
ὁδηγός is built from these roots:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G3595 makes spiritual guidance answerable to consequences and character. In Matthew 15, leaders offended by Jesus' teaching are not safe simply because people continue to follow them; guide and follower approach the same pit. Matthew 23 exposes guidance that manipulates oaths and reverses moral proportion, carefully filtering a gnat while swallowing a camel and neglecting justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
Acts gives the noun a chilling literal edge when Judas guides an armed party to Jesus. Romans 2 turns from accusation to self-examination: the person convinced that he guides the blind must ask whether his own stealing, adultery, sacrilege, or disobedience dishonors God. For the church, trustworthy guidance is neither charisma nor control. It is direction governed by Scripture, centered on Christ, embodied with integrity, and open to testing.
Leaders should make people more able to follow the Lord, not more dependent on private access to the leader. At the same time, these texts must be taught without degrading visually disabled neighbors or turning disputes with particular teachers into hostility toward Jewish people. The passages authorize sober discernment and accountability, not prejudice, mockery, rumor, or factional attack.
Matt.15.14
G3595 is a masculine noun built from language associated with a way and leading. Its five local forms include singular and plural cases, but syntax does not establish moral quality; context shows whom the guide serves, what direction is given, and where followers are taken.
The Old Testament repeatedly contrasts shepherds, priests, prophets, and rulers who lead faithfully with those who scatter, exploit, or misdirect God's people. The New Testament gathers faithful guidance under Jesus the good shepherd and chief shepherd while holding every human teacher beneath His word and example.