Handkerchief
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Soudarion names a cloth, towel, or face covering used in ordinary physical settings, and the New Testament places it in sharply different scenes. In Luke's parable, a servant hides his mina in a cloth, making the object part of fearful stewardship.
Reader summary
Full entry for σουδάριον (G4676) · Open the biblical lexicon
Soudarion names a cloth, towel, or face covering used in ordinary physical settings, and the New Testament places it in sharply different scenes. In Luke's parable, a servant hides his mina in a cloth, making the object part of fearful stewardship.
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include a piece of cloth (1), cloth (1), handkerchiefs (1), in a cloth (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 19:20. Its strongest book concentrations include John (2), Acts (1), Luke (1).
Soudarion names a cloth, towel, or face covering used in ordinary physical settings, and the New Testament places it in sharply different scenes. In Luke's parable, a servant hides his mina in a cloth, making the object part of fearful stewardship. In John 11, Lazarus comes from the tomb with his face wrapped in a cloth, so the word belongs to the visible reality of death and Jesus' command to release him.
In John 20, the cloth around Jesus' head lies separate from the linen cloths, quietly witnessing the order of the empty tomb. In Acts 19, cloths associated with Paul's ministry appear in extraordinary healings. Soudarion should be taught as material detail that serves the passage, not as a relic-centered doctrine.
Soudarion names a cloth used for hiding money, wrapping a dead man's face, marking the ordered empty tomb, and appearing in extraordinary Acts healings. Its meaning stays ordinary while each scene carries distinct significance.
Then another servant came and said, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have laid away in a piece of cloth.
The parable's servant hides his mina in a cloth, revealing fear and failed stewardship.
The man who had been dead came out with his hands and feet bound in strips of linen, and his face wrapped in a cloth. “Unwrap him and let him go,” Jesus told them.
Lazarus emerges from the tomb with his face wrapped, and Jesus commands others to release him.
The cloth that had been around Jesus’ head was rolled up, lying separate from the linen cloths.
The cloth around Jesus' head lies separate from the linen cloths in the empty tomb.
So that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them.
Acts describes handkerchiefs and aprons associated with Paul's extraordinary ministry in Ephesus.
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. Cloth used for personal hygiene or, critically, wrapping the face of the dead in burial.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
4 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a handkerchief
Read versea handkerchief
Read versea handkerchief
Read versea handkerchief
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.
Soudarion helps readers notice how Scripture can use ordinary material objects without asking them to trust the object itself. A cloth can hide a mina and expose a servant's fearful view of his master. A cloth can bind the face of Lazarus and make the reality of death visible before Jesus' command brings release. A head cloth can lie separately in the empty tomb and contribute to the ordered witness that Jesus is risen.
Cloths in Acts 19 accompany unusual healings, but Luke frames the power as God's extraordinary work, not as magic attached to fabric. The word trains teachers to respect narrative detail while keeping faith fixed on the Lord who judges servants, raises the dead, and works by His own power.
John.20.7
Soudarion is a loanword-like term for a cloth or small towel. Context decides whether English renders it as cloth, face cloth, handkerchief, or similar wording.
Burial cloths, entrusted goods, and signs of divine power all have wider biblical patterns, but soudarion itself remains a simple material term. Its canonical importance comes from the scenes in which the cloth appears, especially Lazarus' release and Jesus' empty tomb.