What does πλησίον (plēsíon) mean in the Bible?
Πλησίον can function as an adverb meaning near or as a noun meaning the one nearby, one's neighbor. Jesus cites the command to love one's neighbor and rejects the added permission to hate an enemy.
Greek · G4139
πλησίον
Near/neighbor
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πλησίον G4139
Pronunciation plēsíon
What does πλησίον (plēsíon) mean in the Bible?
Πλησίον can function as an adverb meaning near or as a noun meaning the one nearby, one's neighbor. Jesus cites the command to love one's neighbor and rejects the added permission to hate an enemy.
Reader summary
Full entry for πλησίον (G4139) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G4139?
The BSB source-word alignment has 17 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include neighbor (15), a neighbor (1), near (1).
Where does πλησίον (plēsíon) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 5:43. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (3), Matthew (3), Romans (3), James (2).
What This Word Actually Means
Πλησίον can function as an adverb meaning near or as a noun meaning the one nearby, one's neighbor. Jesus cites the command to love one's neighbor and rejects the added permission to hate an enemy. He joins neighbor love to wholehearted love for God and, in Luke, answers the question 'Who is my neighbor?' through the Samaritan who becomes neighbor by showing mercy.
John uses the spatial sense for a town near Jacob's field, and Acts uses the personal sense for a fellow Israelite harmed by another. Nearness may be geographic, social, or enacted through merciful approach. The word does not permit love to stop at familiar, deserving, or similar people.
How the Bible Uses It
Πλησίον names what is near and, personally, the neighbor. Jesus moves the discussion from limiting the category to becoming a mercy-giving neighbor across hostile boundaries.
- Matt.5.43
You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’
Jesus quotes neighbor love and exposes the added hatred of enemies, then directs disciples toward the Father's indiscriminate generosity in their own love.
- Mark.12.31
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Neighbor love stands beside love for God as an unsurpassed command, bringing covenant devotion into concrete regard for another person's good.
- Luke.10.27
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
The legal expert correctly joins love of God and neighbor, but the ensuing parable will challenge his attempt to justify himself by narrowing the neighbor category.
- John.4.5
So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Here πλησίον is spatial: Sychar lies near Jacob's field, locating Jesus' boundary-crossing conversation with the Samaritan woman in a real landscape.
- Acts.7.27
But the man who was abusing his neighbor pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?
The abused Israelite is called the other's neighbor, showing that shared identity did not prevent injustice or guarantee welcome for Moses' intervention.
Passage context
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 neighbor 15× Matthew 5:43, Matthew 19:19, Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31
a neighbor 1× Luke 10:36
near 1× John 4:5
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 5:43 πλησίον to neighbor Adverb Matthew 19:19 πλησίον to neighbor Adverb Matthew 22:39 πλησίον to neighbor Adverb Mark 12:31 πλησίον to neighbor Adverb Mark 12:33 πλησίον to neighbor Adverb Luke 10:27 πλησίον to neighbor Adverb Luke 10:29 πλησίον to neighbor Adverb Luke 10:36 πλησίον to a neighbor Adverb John 4:5 πλησίον to near Preposition Acts 7:27 πλησίον to neighbor Adverb
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 5:43
Aligned rows 17
Books represented 9
Matthew 3 Mark 2 Luke 3 John 1 Acts 1 Romans 3 Galatians 1 Ephesians 1 James 2
Source forms
πλησίον 17x plēsion Matthew 5:43, Matthew 19:19, Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31
Parsing patterns
Adverb 16x Matthew 5:43, Matthew 19:19, Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31
Preposition 1x John 4:5
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Neighbor love calls for concrete good, but it does not require enabling abuse, concealing crime, or abandoning truthful boundaries that protect the vulnerable.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that πλησίον always refers to a fellow believer or member of one's own people.
- Do not reduce the Good Samaritan to generic niceness apart from costly mercy across entrenched hostility.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Neighbor means anyone nearby or in need, not just fellow Israelites—extends love command universally.
Strong's G4139
Lexical occurrences 17 verses Greek text appearances 17 times 16 shown below Word forms 2 forms 17 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
near/neighbor
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 17 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 5:43 Adverb
πλησίον plhsion
near, nearby, a neighbor
Read verse Matthew 19:19 Adverb
πλησίον plhsion
near, nearby, a neighbor
Read verse Matthew 22:39 Adverb
πλησίον plhsion
near, nearby, a neighbor
Read verse Mark 12:31 Adverb
πλησίον plhsion
near, nearby, a neighbor
Read verse Mark 12:33 Adverb
πλησίον plhsion
near, nearby, a neighbor
Read verse Luke 10:27 Adverb
πλησίον plhsion
near, nearby, a neighbor
Read verse Luke 10:29 Adverb
πλησίον; plhsion
near, nearby, a neighbor
Read verse Luke 10:36 Adverb
πλησίον plhsion
near, nearby, a neighbor
Read verse John 4:5 Adverb
πλησίον plhsion
near, nearby, a neighbor
Read verse Acts 7:27 Adverb
πλησίον plhsion
near, nearby, a neighbor
Read verse Romans 13:9 Adverb
πλησίον plhsion
near, nearby, a neighbor
Read verse Romans 13:10 Adverb
πλησίον plhsion
near, nearby, a neighbor
Read verse Romans 15:2 Adverb
πλησίον plhsion
near, nearby, a neighbor
Read verse Galatians 5:14 Adverb
πλησίον plhsion
near, nearby, a neighbor
Read verse Ephesians 4:25 Adverb
πλησίον plhsion
near, nearby, a neighbor
Read verse Hebrews 8:11 Adverb
πλησίον plhsion
near, nearby, a neighbor
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 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.
Form patterns 2 Aligned forms 17
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Matt 5:43 · Matt 19:19 · Matt 22:39 · Mark 12:31 · Mark 12:33 · Luke 10:27 · Luke 10:29 · Luke 10:36 · Acts 7:27 · Rom 13:9 · Rom 13:10 · Rom 15:2 · Gal 5:14 · Eph 4:25 · Jas 2:8 · Jas 4:12 16×
John 4:5 1×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Witnesses
Luke 10:25–37 πλησίον plēsíon
Neighbor
Mark 12:28–34 πλησίον plēsíon
neighbor; one nearby
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 17 lexical occurrence verses.
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
Neighbor is not merely a label for people already inside a preferred circle. Matthew places the command beside enemy love, grounding generous action in the Father's character. Mark joins it inseparably to love for God, so devotion that neglects another person's good is false. Luke turns a boundary question into a mercy question. The Samaritan does not solve a taxonomy; he draws near, sees need, gives costly care, and becomes neighbor to the wounded man.
John reminds readers that the underlying language can simply mean spatial nearness, while Acts shows that shared ethnicity alone does not produce neighborly conduct. Churches should teach love that notices actual people, crosses inherited hostility, protects the harmed, and refuses self-justifying limits without dissolving wisdom or justice.
Anchor passage
Matt.5.43
Doctrinal connections
- Leviticus 19:9-18, holiness and love for the neighbor
- Matthew 5:43-48, neighbor and enemy under the Father's generosity
- Mark 12:28-34, love of God and neighbor
- Luke 10:25-37, becoming neighbor through mercy
- John 4:1-26, grace crossing Samaritan hostility
- Romans 13:8-10, love fulfilling the law
Πλησίον is related to nearness and can function adverbially for a nearby place or substantivally for the person near. The article and syntax often clarify the personal use.
From Old to New Testament
Leviticus roots neighbor love in God's holiness, justice, and concern for vulnerable people. Jesus intensifies rather than narrows that command through enemy love and Samaritan mercy.
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