Much
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πολύς (polys) is the Greek NT adjective for many, much, and great — one of the most common words in the NT; the local NT index currently counts about 415 uses. It counts and quantifies: many people, much suffering, great rewards, many rooms, a great harvest, the many for whom the ransom is given.
Reader summary
Full entry for πολύς (G4183) · Open the biblical lexicon
πολύς (polys) is the Greek NT adjective for many, much, and great — one of the most common words in the NT; the local NT index currently counts about 415 uses. It counts and quantifies: many people, much suffering, great rewards, many rooms, a great harvest, the many for whom the ransom is given.
The BSB source-word alignment has 357 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include many (123), great (24), much (21), a large (18), many things (13).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 2:18. Its strongest book concentrations include Mark (59), Matthew (52), Luke (51), Acts (46).
πολύς (polys) is the Greek NT adjective for many, much, and great — one of the most common words in the NT; the local NT index currently counts about 415 uses. It counts and quantifies: many people, much suffering, great rewards, many rooms, a great harvest, the many for whom the ransom is given. While polys appears in mundane quantitative contexts throughout the NT, its theological weight concentrates in two directions: the many who are called but few chosen, and the many for whom Christ gave his life. Both uses of polys push the reader toward an understanding of divine generosity (the scope of the offer) and divine particularity (what God actually accomplishes).
Matthew 22:14 gives polys one of its sharpest theological contrasts: 'For many (polloi) are called, but few (oligoi) are chosen.' The parable of the wedding banquet (Matt 22:1-14) has just described the broad invitation (many called) and the narrow outcome (one man without the wedding garment). The polys/oligoi contrast is not a statement about divine stinginess but about the nature of the invitation and the response it requires. Many receive the invitation; few receive it on the terms the King sets.
Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45 give polys its most atonement-concentrated use: 'the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (pollon).' The pollon (many, genitive plural) is the scope of the ransom — and in the Hebrew background, 'the many' (ha-rabbim, H7227) is Isaiah 53's language for those for whom the Servant suffers (Isa 53:11-12, 'by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities'). The NT's pollon is best read against the OT's rabbim background.
Romans 5:15-19 is the NT's most theological deployment of the polys/many contrast: 'If many (polloi) died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many (pollous)... For as by the one man's disobedience the many (hoi polloi) were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many (hoi polloi) will be made righteous.' The polys here should not be pressed as a lexical limitation of grace; in Paul's argument it marks the scope of the comparison — the Adamic many and the Christ-grace many are held in direct comparison by Paul's argument. The 'much more' (polly mallon) of grace is the direction of the argument: grace is not merely matching sin's reach but exceeding it.
Revelation 7:9 gives polys its most magnificent eschatological use: 'After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude (ochlos polys) that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.' The ochlos polys — the great many — is the eschatological answer to every human question about whether the gospel is sufficient and whether the called will be many enough. The polys of Revelation 7:9 is beyond numbering.
For the preacher, πολύς (polys) asks: what is the scope of God's gracious action, and are we shaped by the many or the few?
πολύς (polys) is counted by the local NT index at about 415 uses and appears across the NT. The Gospels use it for the many who come to Jesus (Mark 1:34, Matt 4:25), the many parables, and the many who are called. Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45 use it for the ransom-for-many. Romans 5 uses it for the many who fell in Adam and the many who receive grace. John 14:2 uses it for the many rooms in the Father's house.
The harvest texts use polys for the great harvest (Matt 9:37-38) and few laborers. Revelation uses polys for the unnumberable multitude before the throne and the great voices of heaven. The word's ubiquity makes its theological uses stand out more sharply against the mundane quantitative background.
For many are called, but few are chosen.”
The polys/oligoi (many/few) contrast: the wedding banquet parable ends with this summary verdict. The many are the scope of the invitation — the servants go out and gather 'everyone they found, both bad and good' (v. 10). The few are those who remain when the king comes in to see his guests and finds one without the wedding garment. The polys of the invitation is real; the oligoi of the chosen is also real.
The relationship between the two is the NT's ongoing question about election, calling, and response. The text does not explain the mechanism — it states the contrast and lets it stand as a warning and an invitation.
Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
The ransom-for-many: lytron anti pollon — a ransom in place of many. The pollon (many, genitive after anti) is the scope of the substitutionary exchange. In the context of Isaiah 53:11-12 (the Hebrew rabbim, many), the pollon is Israel and beyond — the covenant people and, in the NT's expansion, the nations. The anti (in place of, instead of) is the substitutionary preposition.
The polys of the ransom is not a limitation ('only many, not all') but a scope-claim ('the many, the great number, those who cannot ransom themselves').
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many!
The Romans 5 polys/hoi polloi theology: the many who died in Adam's trespass are the same many addressed by the abundant grace of Christ. The polly mallon ('much more') of grace is the decisive comparison — Adam's trespass reached many; grace reaches the many and goes further (abundant, perisouo). The two sets of 'hoi polloi' (the many) in vv. 15-19 frame the comparison: both Adam and Christ have a polys-scope, but grace's polys is qualitatively and quantitatively greater.
The preacher can use this to answer the 'is grace big enough for me?' question: polly mallon — much more.
In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
The many rooms of the Father's house: pollai monai (many dwelling places/rooms). The polys here is not quantifying redemptive scope but divine hospitality — there is room. The 'I go to prepare a place for you' (v. 2b-3) means the many rooms are actively prepared, not passively available. This is polys as abundance of divine welcome: the disciples' anxiety about Jesus leaving (vv.
1, 5) Is answered partly by the polys of space in the Father's house. The great multitude of Revelation 7:9 that no one can number is the eschatological answer to John 14:2's promise of many rooms.
After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
The eschatological ochlos polys: the great multitude that no one could number — polys applied to the redeemed community as a number beyond counting. The detail 'from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages' is the scope of the polys — it is not one ethnic or linguistic community but the full breadth of human diversity. Standing before the throne and before the Lamb, in white robes (Rev 7:14, 'washed in the blood of the Lamb'), with palm branches — this is the harvest of the gospel's ransom-for-many (Matt 20:28), made visible in its eschatological scale.
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. Quantifies magnitude across all dimensions: number, space, degree, value, time, and importance.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 424 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
much, many, often
Read versemuch, many, often
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Read versemuch, many, often
Read versemuch, many, often
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Read versemuch, many, often
Read versemuch, many, often
Read versemuch, many, often
Read versemuch, many, often
Read versemuch, many, often
Read versemuch, many, often
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 10 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 5 selected witnesses from 415 lexical occurrence verses.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
πολύς (polys) gives the preacher Scripture's vocabulary for the scale of divine grace. The ransom-for-many (Matt 20:28) is not a restriction but a scope-claim — the 'many' of the ransom is the great, unnumberable multitude of Revelation 7:9 who stand before the Lamb. Romans 5's 'much more' (polly mallon) of grace is the preacher's most powerful anti-despair text: where sin is many, grace is much more.
The preacher can give this to the congregation that is overwhelmed by the scale of the world's need, the scale of their own failures, or the scale of opposition to the gospel: polly mallon. Grace exceeds. The many rooms of John 14:2 give the congregation the image of divine hospitality — there is room for you, there is a prepared place. The many/few contrast of Matthew 22:14 keeps the preacher honest about the nature of the invitation: the scope of the call is broad (many), but the response is costly (a wedding garment is required, a transformation is expected).
The preacher who uses polys well holds together the breadth of divine grace and the specificity of divine demand.
Matt.22.14
πολύς (polys) is an irregular adjective in Greek: polys (masculine), polla (neuter), many/much. Its comparative is pleion (G4119, more) and superlative is pleistos (G4118, most). The adverbial form polys becomes poly (much) and is combined in polly mallon ('much more,' the key phrase of Romans 5). The plural hoi polloi (the many) in Romans 5 echoes the Hebrew ha-rabbim (H7227, the many) in Isaiah 53, where the Servant makes many righteous and bears the sin of many.
The NT's use of pollon in atonement contexts (Matt 20:28, Mark 10:45) is best handled as a deliberate echo of the Isaiah 53 rabbim, carrying the Servant's substitutionary scope into the NT's christological claim. Polys in the harvest context (Matt 9:37) creates a vivid contrast: the harvest (plentiful, polys) and the laborers (few, oligoi) — the same polys/oligoi contrast as Matthew 22:14, but applied to missional need rather than covenant response.
The NT's many-language is best read in close conversation with the Hebrew rabbim (H7227, many) of Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53:11 — 'by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many (rabbim) to be accounted righteous' — and 53:12 — 'he bore the sin of many (rabbim)' — are the OT source-texts for Matthew 20:28's 'ransom for many (pollon).' The movement from rabbim to pollon is best handled as a deliberate canonical connection: the NT authors read Isaiah 53 as the interpretive key to the cross, and polys carries the rabbim-scope.
Romans 5:19 uses the many (hoi polloi) within Paul's Adam/Christ argument and should be read alongside that broader many-language. The ochlos polys of Revelation 7:9 can be read as the eschatological horizon of the rabbim of Isaiah 53 and the pollon of Matthew 20:28 — the many for whom the ransom was given are now standing before the Lamb, unnumberable, from every nation.
The great harvest of Matthew 9:37 (the harvest is polys) is the intermediate description: the gospel is going out, the laborers are few, and the full ochlos polys of Revelation 7 is the eventual harvest-at-scale.
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