Shadow
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
G4639 is a Greek noun for shadow or shade, and it can describe either a literal effect of blocked light or a figurative outline that points beyond itself. Mark 4:32 pictures birds nesting in a mustard plant’s shade.
Reader summary
Full entry for σκιά (G4639) · Open the biblical lexicon
G4639 is a Greek noun for shadow or shade, and it can describe either a literal effect of blocked light or a figurative outline that points beyond itself. Mark 4:32 pictures birds nesting in a mustard plant’s shade.
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include shadow (2), [of the] shadow (1), a shadow (1), in [the] shadow (1), only a shadow (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 4:16. Its strongest book concentrations include Hebrews (2), Acts (1), Colossians (1), Luke (1).
G4639 is a Greek noun for shadow or shade, and it can describe either a literal effect of blocked light or a figurative outline that points beyond itself. Mark 4:32 pictures birds nesting in a mustard plant’s shade. Luke 1:79 speaks of people dwelling in darkness and the shadow of death who receive God’s dawning light. Hebrews 8:5 calls the priests’ sanctuary service a copy and shadow of heavenly things, while Hebrews 10:1 calls the law a shadow of coming good things rather than their full image.
Colossians 2:17 similarly says disputed food and calendar observances are a shadow, while the body belongs to Christ. The figure does not mean God’s earlier gifts were fraudulent or evil. A shadow has a real correspondence to the body that casts it, but it is not the body itself. G4639 opens teaching on promise, pattern, mortality, refuge, and fulfillment in Christ.
It corrects both contempt for the Old Testament and attempts to treat preparatory forms as though Christ’s arrival changed nothing.
G4639 names ordinary shade, the threatening shadow of death, and a figurative outline related to a fuller reality. Hebrews and Colossians use that relation to explain how appointed patterns and observances anticipate Christ without becoming worthless. Literal and metaphorical senses must remain distinct.
For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
Hebrews contrasts the law’s shadow of coming good things with the full image, explaining why repeated sacrifices cannot perfect worshipers.
These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.
Paul calls food, festival, new moon, and Sabbath matters a shadow of what was to come and directs attention to the body belonging to Christ.
To shine on those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Zechariah’s prophecy celebrates divine light reaching those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow and guiding their feet into peace.
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. Shadow as mere outline or copy pointing to the substantial reality it represents, especially in Hebrews theology.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a shadow, thick darkness, an outline
Read versea shadow, thick darkness, an outline
Read versea shadow, thick darkness, an outline
Read versea shadow, thick darkness, an outline
Read versea shadow, thick darkness, an outline
Read versea shadow, thick darkness, an outline
Read versea shadow, thick darkness, an outline
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 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.
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 2 selected witnesses from 7 lexical occurrence verses.
σκιά is a primary word - no further derivation.
Shows anticipatory nature of the law.Colossians 2:16–23
Indicates temporary anticipatory practices fulfilled in Christ.Hebrews 10:1-10
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G4639 helps readers speak of fulfillment without severing Scripture. A shadow is real: it has shape because a body stands in relation to light. Yet it remains dependent, partial, and unable to substitute for the embodied reality. Hebrews uses this contrast to show why repeated priestly service and sacrifices could witness to coming good things but could not finally perfect worshipers.
Colossians directs believers away from judgment over food and sacred calendars because these anticipatory markers must not displace the Christ to whom they point. Luke’s shadow of death uses the image differently, naming a realm of darkness into which God’s promised light dawns. Mark simply describes sheltering shade, and Acts reports the hope attached to Peter’s passing shadow without making the shadow a sacrament or technique.
The common noun therefore does not carry one fixed theological code. In teaching, G4639 supports gratitude for God’s preparatory patterns and confidence in Christ’s fulfillment. It resists both replacement-shaped contempt and ritual nostalgia. Christians read the law, sanctuary, sacrifices, and festivals as God-given witnesses within their covenants, while refusing to make them rival sources of completion after the Son has come.
The shadow serves understanding best when it leads attention to the reality rather than becoming an object of fear or scorn.
Heb.10.1
G4639 is a noun for shadow or shade. It can denote literal shade, an ominous shadow associated with death, or a figurative outline whose shape depends on and anticipates another reality. Nearby contrasts such as body, image, light, or heavenly pattern specify the metaphor.
The tabernacle, priesthood, sacrifices, and appointed times arise within Israel’s covenant life and shape New Testament proclamation of Christ. The canonical movement is promise and fulfillment, not a claim that every Old Testament detail is a secret code or that Israel’s story lacked its own historical meaning.