What does πορφύρα (porphýra) mean in the Bible?
πορφύρα (porphýra): Purple dye or cloth, specifically expensive luxury fabric signifying wealth and royal status in NT contexts.
Greek · G4209
πορφύρα
Purple cloth
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πορφύρα G4209
Pronunciation porphýra
What does πορφύρα (porphýra) mean in the Bible?
πορφύρα (porphýra): Purple dye or cloth, specifically expensive luxury fabric signifying wealth and royal status in NT contexts.
Full entry for πορφύρα (G4209) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G4209?
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include purple (2), in a purple robe (1), purple [robe] (1).
Where does πορφύρα (porphýra) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 15:17. Its strongest book concentrations include Mark (2), Luke (1), Revelation (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 purple 2× Luke 16:19, Revelation 18:12
in a purple robe 1× Mark 15:17
purple [robe] 1× Mark 15:20
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Mark 15:17
Aligned rows 4
Books represented 3
Mark 2 Luke 1 Revelation 1
Source forms
πορφύραν 3x porphyran Mark 15:17, Mark 15:20, Luke 16:19
πορφύρας 1x porphyras Revelation 18:12
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 3x Mark 15:17, Mark 15:20, Luke 16:19
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular 1x Revelation 18:12
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Purple dye or cloth, specifically expensive luxury fabric signifying wealth and royal status in NT contexts.
Strong's G4209
Lexical occurrences 4 verses Greek text appearances 5 times Word forms 2 forms 4 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Luke 16:19-31 Source Gloss
purple cloth
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Mark 15:17 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
πορφύραν, porfuran
a purple garment
Read verse Mark 15:20 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
πορφύραν, porfuran
a purple garment
Read verse Luke 16:19 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
πορφύραν porfuran
a purple garment
Read verse Revelation 17:4 Noun Dative Singular Feminine
πορφύρᾳ porfura
a purple garment
Read verse Revelation 18:12 Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
πορφύρας, porfurav
a purple garment
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 4 Case pattern Accusative (3) Number pattern Singular (4)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Genitive · Singular · Feminine Rev 18:12 1×
Accusative · Singular · Feminine Mark 15:17 · Mark 15:20 · Luke 16:19 3×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Luxurious garment worn by the rich man, symbol of wealth and status
Fine fabric produced and sold by the industrious woman, mark of quality goods
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 4 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.
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