What does πρωτοκλισία (prōtoklisía) mean in the Bible?
Protoklisia names a place of honor at a meal. Jesus notices guests choosing those places and tells a parable about accepting the last place rather than promoting oneself.
Greek · G4411
πρωτοκλισία
Protoklisia names a place of honor at a meal. Jesus notices guests choosing those places and tells a parable about accepting the last place rather than promoting oneself.
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πρωτοκλισίαG4411
Pronunciationprōtoklisía
What does πρωτοκλισία (prōtoklisía) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for πρωτοκλισία (G4411) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G4411?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [the] places of honor (2), places of honor (2), place of honor (1).
Where does πρωτοκλισία (prōtoklisía) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 23:6. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (3), Mark (1), Matthew (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Protoklisia names a place of honor at a meal. Jesus notices guests choosing those places and tells a parable about accepting the last place rather than promoting oneself. His instruction continues beyond seating toward inviting people who cannot repay, keeping hospitality from becoming a contest of mutual advantage. Matthew, Mark and Luke also describe religious leaders loving places of honor at banquets.
Mark and Luke place that preference beside public display and the defrauding of widows, so the rebuke concerns status-seeking conduct joined to harm rather than furniture alone. The word does not erase appropriate responsibilities or make humiliation a tool for teaching humility. It invites examination of what people seek from recognition and who is excluded or exploited in the process.
Jesus' stated reversal of self-exaltation should guide hospitable service without becoming a technique for obtaining a better seat or gaining praise for performed modesty.
How the Bible Uses It
Five direct BSB honor-place witnesses include guests selecting seats, Jesus' wedding-banquet instruction and three warnings about religious leaders loving prominent places at meals.
- Luke.14.7
When Jesus noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, He told them a parable:
Jesus notices guests choosing honorable places and responds with a parable, making their selection the observed trigger for His teaching.
- Luke.14.8
“When you are invited to a wedding banquet, do not sit in the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited.
The wedding instruction warns against claiming the honored place before the host's decision, within teaching on humbled self-exaltation.
- Matt.23.6
They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues,
Love of banquet honor accompanies deeds performed to be seen and burdens placed on others, before Jesus commends service.
- Mark.12.39
And to have the chief seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.
The honor-place preference appears in a warning that also names the defrauding of widows and showy prayers.
- Luke.20.46
“Beware of the scribes. They like to walk around in long robes, and they love the greetings in the marketplaces, the chief seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets.
Public recognition and banquet honor belong to a warning addressed to disciples, whose next sentence exposes harm to widows.
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[the] places of honor2×Mark 12:39, Luke 20:46
places of honor2×Matthew 23:6, Luke 14:7
place of honor1×Luke 14:8
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 23:6πρωτοκλισίανtoplaces of honorNoun - Accusative Feminine SingularMark 12:39πρωτοκλισίαςto[the] places of honorNoun - Accusative Feminine PluralLuke 14:7πρωτοκλισίαςtoplaces of honorNoun - Accusative Feminine PluralLuke 14:8πρωτοκλισίανtoplace of honorNoun - Accusative Feminine SingularLuke 20:46πρωτοκλισίαςto[the] places of honorNoun - Accusative Feminine Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 23:6
Aligned rows5
Books represented3
Matthew1Mark1Luke3
Source forms
πρωτοκλισίας3xprōtoklisiasMark 12:39, Luke 14:7, Luke 20:46
πρωτοκλισίαν2xprōtoklisianMatthew 23:6, Luke 14:8
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural3xMark 12:39, Luke 14:7, Luke 20:46
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular2xMatthew 23:6, Luke 14:8
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Offer welcome without requiring social repayment or staged displays of modesty.
- Investigate harmful conduct fairly even when the person enjoys public respect.
Avoid claiming...
- The low-seat instruction does not supply a technique that guarantees promotion.
- Honor-place vocabulary cannot justify humiliating others or preserving exploitative authority.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. The foremost reclining place at a meal, signifying social rank and honor among guests.
Strong'sG4411
Lexical occurrences5 versesGreek text appearances5 timesWord forms2 forms5 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study linkLuke 14:7–11Source Gloss
place of honor
Extended definitionSource: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
The foremost reclining place at a meal, signifying social rank and honor among guests.
the chief place at table (see Swete, Mk., l.with): Mat.23:6, Mrk.12:39, Luk.14:7-8 20:46.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 23:6Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
πρωτοκλισίανprwtoklisian
the chief place at a banquet
Read verseMark 12:39Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
πρωτοκλισίαςprwtoklisiav
the chief place at a banquet
Read verseLuke 14:7Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
πρωτοκλισίαςprwtoklisiav
the chief place at a banquet
Read verseLuke 14:8Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
πρωτοκλισίαν·prwtoklisian
the chief place at a banquet
Read verseLuke 20:46Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
πρωτοκλισίαςprwtoklisiav
the chief place at a banquet
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 patterns2Aligned forms5Case patternAccusative (5)Number patternPlural (3)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Accusative · Plural · FeminineMark 12:39 · Luke 14:7 · Luke 20:463×
Accusative · Singular · FeminineMatt 23:6 · Luke 14:82×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
places of honor
Additional Occurrences
Luke 14:7–14πρωτοκλισίανprōtoklisía
Place of honor
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 5 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
πρωτοκλισία is built from these roots:
Why This Word Matters
Represents self-seeking status within honor culture.Luke 14:7–11
For the Preacher and Teacher
Luke begins with a concrete observation: guests choose the honored places. Jesus' parable warns against self-promotion and concludes with the reversal of the self-exalting and the humble. The next instruction turns from where one sits to whom one invites, naming people unable to repay and looking toward resurrection rather than reciprocal social gain. That continuation prevents humility from becoming a strategy for securing recognition.
The warnings in Mark and Luke show why the matter is serious: love of public honor appears beside the defrauding of widows and prayers performed for display. Matthew likewise joins honor-seeking to heavy burdens before directing greatness toward service. Teaching should therefore attend to how recognition is pursued, how resources are handled and who receives practical care.
A lower seat does not excuse private exploitation, and a teacher cannot use public embarrassment to manufacture humility. Accountable service and generous welcome embody the passage's direction better than a carefully staged appearance of modesty.
Anchor passage
Luke.14.7
Doctrinal connections
- Jesus concludes the seating parable with the reversal of self-exaltation and humility.
- Luke continues toward hospitality for people who cannot repay the host.
- The promised repayment is placed at the resurrection of the righteous.
- Matthew directs greatness toward service after exposing the love of public honor.
- Mark and Luke join honor-seeking warnings to the defrauding of widows.
- Showy prayers cannot excuse the harmful conduct named in these warnings.
The feminine noun appears in accusative singular and plural forms for the honored place or places at a banquet. The broader moral rebuke comes from loved prominence and accompanying conduct, not from grammatical number or seating itself.
From Old to New Testament
Proverbs 25:1-10 includes the warning not to exalt oneself before a king and the preference for being invited upward rather than publicly demoted. This wisdom comparison can accompany Luke's parable without turning either passage into a manipulative promotion strategy or a license to humiliate others.