A travel bag carries provisions for a journey and is listed separately from money or a purse in the disciples' instructions. Jesus sends the Twelve without a bag in Luke 9, alongside directions concerning the houses that receive them.
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Reader summary
Full entry for πήρα (G4082) · Open the biblical lexicon
A travel bag carries provisions for a journey and is listed separately from money or a purse in the disciples' instructions. Jesus sends the Twelve without a bag in Luke 9, alongside directions concerning the houses that receive them.
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include bag (5), a bag (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 10:10. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (4), Mark (1), Matthew (1).
A travel bag carries provisions for a journey and is listed separately from money or a purse in the disciples' instructions. Jesus sends the Twelve without a bag in Luke 9, alongside directions concerning the houses that receive them. Before His arrest He asks whether they lacked anything when sent without purse, bag or sandals, and they answer that they lacked nothing.
He then tells the person with a purse to take it, and likewise a bag. The object is neither inherently faithless nor invariably required: the instructions around it change within the narrated setting. Readers should hear the particular commission, the remembered provision and the later contrast rather than making possession of a bag a universal test of trust.
The noun identifies travel equipment; Jesus' words and the surrounding mission account determine what its presence or absence means.
Earlier mission instructions omit the bag, and Jesus later recalls that the disciples lacked nothing before naming a changed instruction. A concrete travel object helps readers attend to provision and obedience within particular narrated circumstances.
“Take nothing for the journey,” He told them, “no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no second tunic.
The command to take no bag appears in Jesus' sending of the Twelve to proclaim the kingdom and heal, with following instructions about houses and towns that receive them.
Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you out without purse or bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered.
Jesus asks whether His disciples lacked anything during the earlier sending without purse, bag or sandals, and their answer reports that they lacked nothing.
“Now, however,” He told them, “the one with a purse should take it, and likewise a bag; and the one without a sword should sell his cloak and buy one.
The contrast now however introduces taking a purse and likewise a bag; the following explanation concerns Scripture being fulfilled in Jesus as His arrest approaches.
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. Traveler's pouch for provisions; Jesus instructed disciples to carry minimal supplies, symbolizing dependence on God's provision
Traveler's pouch for provisions; Jesus instructed disciples to carry minimal supplies, symbolizing dependence on God's provision
a leathern pouch for victuals, etc., a wallet (Deiss. thinks an alms-bag, see LAE, 108 ff.): Mat.10:10, Mrk.6:8, Luk.9:3 10:4 22:35-36.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a sack, wallet
Read versea sack, wallet
Read versea sack, wallet
Read versea sack, wallet
Read versea sack, wallet
Read versea sack, wallet
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 2 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.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 6 lexical occurrence verses.
πήρα is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
Jesus' question in Luke 22 requires the disciples to remember what happened rather than merely admire a command to travel lightly. They report that they lacked nothing when sent without purse, bag or sandals. His next words introduce a contrast and include taking a bag, which prevents a teacher from turning the earlier omission into an unchanging rule about possessions.
Luke 9 also joins the equipment instructions to the mission's purpose and the reception offered by particular households. The word therefore opens attention to commission, provision and setting. It does not authorize a leader to withhold necessities from workers or promise that every journey undertaken with few supplies will reproduce the same experience. The nearby sword statement must likewise remain within Jesus' fulfillment explanation and His later response at the arrest, rather than receiving its interpretation from the bag noun.
Luke.22.35
The Greek noun identifies a travel pouch or bag for provisions. Luke distinguishes it from the purse in the same list, so the two objects should not be collapsed; the noun itself neither commands poverty nor describes a person's degree of dependence upon God.
Abigail's carried food and wine containers in 1 Samuel 25 belong to a different language and purpose from the disciples' travel bag. Both scenes can prompt attention to concrete provisions, but her gift and Jesus' commissioning instructions must retain their own actors and circumstances rather than becoming one equipment rule.