What does πλατεῖα (plateîa) mean in the Bible?
Plateia refers to a street, broad street, public square, or main thoroughfare where people can be seen, addressed, gathered, excluded, healed, judged, or welcomed. The word is not mainly architectural.
Greek · G4113
πλατεῖα
A wide "plat" or "place", i.e. open square
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πλατεῖα G4113
Pronunciation plateîa
What does πλατεῖα (plateîa) mean in the Bible?
Plateia refers to a street, broad street, public square, or main thoroughfare where people can be seen, addressed, gathered, excluded, healed, judged, or welcomed. The word is not mainly architectural.
Reader summary
Full entry for πλατεῖα (G4113) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G4113?
The BSB source-word alignment has 9 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include streets (5), main street (2), street (2).
Where does πλατεῖα (plateîa) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 6:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (3), Revelation (3), Matthew (2), Acts (1).
Are there verse guides for πλατεῖα (plateîa)?
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
What This Word Actually Means
Plateia refers to a street, broad street, public square, or main thoroughfare where people can be seen, addressed, gathered, excluded, healed, judged, or welcomed. The word is not mainly architectural. It marks public space. Jesus warns against prayer performed on street corners for human praise. Matthew's servant passage says the Lord's Servant will not stage His mission with noisy self-display in the streets.
In Luke, streets become places where a rejected message is announced and where the poor and excluded are summoned into the feast. Acts shows the sick brought into streets during apostolic witness. Revelation's city has a main street of pure gold. Plateia helps readers ask what public space is doing in a passage: self-display, witness, mercy, rejection, invitation, or new-creation glory.
How the Bible Uses It
Plateia names public streets and broad spaces. Its uses move from visible hypocrisy and quiet servant mission to public witness, mercy, invitation, and the main street of the holy city.
- Matt.6.5
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
Jesus warns against praying on street corners in order to be seen by people.
- Matt.12.19
He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear His voice in the streets.
Matthew applies servant language to One whose mission is not noisy self-promotion in the streets.
- Luke.10.10
But if you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go into the streets and declare,
Rejected messengers are told to go into the streets and give public testimony against the town's refusal.
- Luke.14.21
The servant returned and reported all this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’
The banquet invitation is extended into the streets and alleys to bring in the needy and overlooked.
- Acts.5.15
As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by.
People bring the sick into the streets as apostolic witness and expectation of healing spread.
- Rev.21.21
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, with each gate consisting of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, as clear as glass.
Revelation describes the main street of the city as pure gold, clear as glass.
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 streets 5× Matthew 12:19, Luke 10:10, Luke 13:26, Luke 14:21
main street 2× Revelation 21:21, Revelation 22:2
street 2× Matthew 6:5, Revelation 11:8
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 6:5 πλατειῶν to street Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Matthew 12:19 πλατείαις to streets Noun - Dative Feminine Plural Luke 10:10 πλατείας to streets Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural Luke 13:26 πλατείαις to streets Noun - Dative Feminine Plural Luke 14:21 πλατείας to streets Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural Acts 5:15 πλατείας to streets Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural Revelation 11:8 πλατείας to street Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular Revelation 21:21 πλατεῖα to main street Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular Revelation 22:2 πλατείας to main street Adjective - Genitive Feminine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 6:5
Aligned rows 9
Books represented 4
Matthew 2 Luke 3 Acts 1 Revelation 3
Source forms
πλατείας 5x plateias Luke 10:10, Luke 14:21, Acts 5:15, Revelation 11:8
πλατείαις 2x plateiais Matthew 12:19, Luke 13:26
πλατεῖα 1x plateia Revelation 21:21
πλατειῶν 1x plateiōn Matthew 6:5
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural 3x Luke 10:10, Luke 14:21, Acts 5:15
Noun - Dative Feminine Plural 2x Matthew 12:19, Luke 13:26
Adjective - Genitive Feminine Singular 1x Revelation 22:2
Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural 1x Matthew 6:5
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular 1x Revelation 11:8
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular 1x Revelation 21:21
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Public faithfulness should not be measured by visibility alone.
- When teaching public witness, distinguish performative religion from mercy, testimony, and invitation.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that plateia always signals hypocrisy or public pride.
- Do not claim that public ministry is wrong because Jesus condemns street-corner prayer aimed at human praise.
Key Verse and Form Guides
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. a wide "plat" or "place", i.e. open square
Source Gloss
a wide "plat" or "place", i.e. open square
Extended definition
:--street.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
9 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 6:5 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
πλατειῶν plateiwn
a street
Read verse Matthew 12:19 Noun Dative Plural Feminine
πλατείαις plateiaiv
a street
Read verse Luke 10:10 Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
πλατείας plateiav
a street
Read verse Luke 13:26 Noun Dative Plural Feminine
πλατείαις plateiaiv
a street
Read verse Luke 14:21 Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
πλατείας plateiav
a street
Read verse Acts 5:15 Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
πλατείας plateiav
a street
Read verse Revelation 11:8 Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
πλατείας plateiav
a street
Read verse Revelation 21:21 Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
πλατεῖα plateia
a street
Read verse plateiav
a street
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 Accusative (3) Number pattern Singular (4)
Nominative · Singular · Feminine Matt 7:13 · Rev 21:21 2×
Accusative · Plural · Feminine Luke 10:10 · Luke 14:21 · Acts 5:15 3×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
public open spaces in cities where people gather and travel
open public areas outside where dangers or obstacles may be encountered
public outdoor spaces used as routes for travel and commerce
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 7 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
πλατεῖα is built from this root:
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
Plateia helps teachers read the public dimension of discipleship and judgment. A street corner can become a theater for religious pride when prayer is aimed at human approval. Yet the Servant's mission does not depend on loud self-advertising. In Luke, streets expose both rejection and surprising grace: towns that refuse the messengers hear public testimony, while the poor and disabled are sought out for the master's feast.
Acts adds a public mercy scene as the sick are carried into the streets during the early church's witness. Revelation completes the range by placing a main street of pure gold in the holy city. Plateia therefore asks whether public visibility is serving human praise, truthful witness, merciful invitation, or the glory God gives.
Anchor passage
Luke.14.21
Doctrinal connections
- G4336 Proseuchomai: Matthew 6 warns that prayer can be corrupted when public visibility becomes the goal.
- G5273 Hypokrites: Street-corner religion exposes hypocrisy when outward display replaces worship before the Father.
- G1401 Doulos: Matthew's Servant fulfills God's mission without public noise or self-promotion.
- G4172 Polis: Streets belong to city life, where welcome, rejection, and public witness become visible.
- G2390 Iaomai: Acts 5 places healing expectation in the streets during apostolic witness.
- G5553 chrysion: Revelation's golden street connects public space with new-creation beauty and holiness.
Plateia is related to the idea of breadth and can describe a broad street, public square, or main street. English context determines whether street, streets, or main street best communicates the scene.
From Old to New Testament
City gates, streets, and public squares in Scripture often reveal justice, worship, judgment, and communal life. Plateia carries that public-space logic into the New Testament without making every street scene identical.
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