What does ὀφειλέτης (opheilétēs) mean in the Bible?
ὀφειλέτης (opheilétēs): Denotes both financial debt and moral obligation—especially sin's debt owed to God.
Greek · G3781
ὀφειλέτης
Debtor
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ὀφειλέτης G3781
Pronunciation opheilétēs
What does ὀφειλέτης (opheilétēs) mean in the Bible?
ὀφειλέτης (opheilétēs): Denotes both financial debt and moral obligation—especially sin's debt owed to God.
Full entry for ὀφειλέτης (G3781) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3781?
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include obligated (2), [an] obligation (1), debtor (1), debtors (1), owe it (1).
Where does ὀφειλέτης (opheilétēs) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 6:12. Its strongest book concentrations include Romans (3), Matthew (2), Galatians (1), 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 obligated 2× Romans 1:14, Galatians 5:3
[an] obligation 1× Romans 8:12
debtor 1× Matthew 18:24
debtors 1× Matthew 6:12
owe it 1× Romans 15:27
sinful 1× Luke 13:4
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 6:12 ὀφειλέταις to debtors Noun - Dative Masculine Plural Matthew 18:24 ὀφειλέτης to debtor Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Luke 13:4 ὀφειλέται to sinful Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural Romans 1:14 ὀφειλέτης to obligated Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Romans 8:12 ὀφειλέται to [an] obligation Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural Romans 15:27 ὀφειλέται to owe it Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural Galatians 5:3 ὀφειλέτης to obligated Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 6:12
Aligned rows 7
Books represented 4
Matthew 2 Luke 1 Romans 3 Galatians 1
Source forms
ὀφειλέται 3x opheiletai Luke 13:4, Romans 8:12, Romans 15:27
ὀφειλέτης 3x opheiletēs Matthew 18:24, Romans 1:14, Galatians 5:3
ὀφειλέταις 1x opheiletais Matthew 6:12
Parsing patterns
Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural 3x Luke 13:4, Romans 8:12, Romans 15:27
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular 3x Matthew 18:24, Romans 1:14, Galatians 5:3
Noun - Dative Masculine Plural 1x Matthew 6:12
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Denotes both financial debt and moral obligation—especially sin's debt owed to God.
Strong's G3781
Lexical occurrences 7 verses Greek text appearances 7 times Word forms 3 forms 7 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Romans 1:8-15 Source Gloss
debtor
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Denotes both financial debt and moral obligation—especially sin's debt owed to God.
(ὀφείλω), a debtor: with genitive (of the amount), Mat.18:24. Metaphorical, of obligation or duty in general, with reference to favours received or injury done, etc.: Mat.6:12, Rom.1:14 8:12 15:27, Gal.5:3; of sinners, in relation to God (= Heb. חַיָּב; cf. Sir (Heb.8:5) (6)), Luk.13:4.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 6:12 Noun Dative Plural Masculine
ὀφειλέταις ofeiletaiv
a debtor, sinner
Read verse Matthew 18:24 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ὀφειλέτης ofeilethv
a debtor, sinner
Read verse Luke 13:4 Noun Nominative Plural Masculine
ὀφειλέται ofeiletai
a debtor, sinner
Read verse Romans 1:14 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ὀφειλέτης ofeilethv
a debtor, sinner
Read verse Romans 8:12 Noun Nominative Plural Masculine
ὀφειλέται ofeiletai
a debtor, sinner
Read verse Romans 15:27 Noun Nominative Plural Masculine
ὀφειλέται ofeiletai
a debtor, sinner
Read verse Galatians 5:3 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ὀφειλέτης ofeilethv
a debtor, sinner
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 7 Case pattern Nominative (6) Number pattern Plural (4)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Masculine Matt 18:24 · Rom 1:14 · Gal 5:3 3×
Nominative · Plural · Masculine Luke 13:4 · Rom 8:12 · Rom 15:27 3×
Dative · Plural · Masculine Matt 6:12 1×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
Debtor, one under obligation.
Showing 1 selected witness from 7 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ὀφειλέτης is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
It captures Paul’s missionary stewardship and sense of responsibility to all peoples. Romans 1:8-15
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