What does στάδιον (stádion) mean in the Bible?
Stadion is a Greek noun that can refer to a racecourse or to a measure of distance. The New Testament uses it with striking plainness.
Greek · G4712
στάδιον
A stade or certain measure of distance; by implication, a stadium or race-course
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στάδιον G4712
Pronunciation stádion
What does στάδιον (stádion) mean in the Bible?
Stadion is a Greek noun that can refer to a racecourse or to a measure of distance. The New Testament uses it with striking plainness.
Reader summary
Full entry for στάδιον (G4712) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G4712?
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (4), stadia (2), a race (1).
Where does στάδιον (stádion) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 14:24. Its strongest book concentrations include John (2), Revelation (2), 1 Corinthians (1), Luke (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Stadion is a Greek noun that can refer to a racecourse or to a measure of distance. The New Testament uses it with striking plainness. Paul can speak of runners in a stadion to urge disciplined pursuit of the imperishable prize. The Gospels use the distance sense to place boats, villages, and roads in concrete space: the boat is far from land, Bethany is near Jerusalem, and Emmaus is about seven miles away.
Revelation uses the same distance measure in an apocalyptic judgment image. Stadion is therefore not a secret code. It grounds scenes in measurable reality and, in Paul's athletic image, supplies the setting for purposeful running. The word helps readers respect the Bible's concrete details without forcing every measurement into hidden symbolism.
How the Bible Uses It
Stadion can mean a racecourse or a distance measure. Its uses support disciplined pursuit, narrative geography, resurrection-scene realism, and apocalyptic scale without requiring hidden numerical speculation.
- 1Cor.9.24
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize.
Paul uses the racecourse setting to call believers to run purposefully for the prize, making stadion part of disciplined gospel service.
- Matt.14.24
But the boat was already far from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
The boat's distance from land intensifies the storm scene and the disciples' vulnerability before Jesus comes to them.
- John.11.18
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, a little less than two miles away,
Bethany's nearness to Jerusalem helps explain the movement of mourners and witnesses around Lazarus's death and raising.
- Luke.24.13
That same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.
The Emmaus distance grounds the resurrection encounter in a real journey where the risen Christ opens the Scriptures.
- Rev.14.20
And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and the blood that flowed from it rose as high as the bridles of the horses for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
The vast distance in the winepress image belongs to apocalyptic judgment scale and should be handled with genre-aware caution.
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 . . . 4× Matthew 14:24, Luke 24:13, John 6:19, John 11:18
stadia 2× Revelation 14:20, Revelation 21:16
a race 1× 1 Corinthians 9:24
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 14:24 σταδίους to . . . Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural Luke 24:13 σταδίους to . . . Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural John 6:19 σταδίους to . . . Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural John 11:18 σταδίων to . . . Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural 1 Corinthians 9:24 σταδίῳ to a race Noun - Dative Neuter Singular Revelation 14:20 σταδίων to stadia Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural Revelation 21:16 σταδίων to stadia Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 14:24
Aligned rows 7
Books represented 5
Matthew 1 Luke 1 John 2 1 Corinthians 1 Revelation 2
Source forms
σταδίους 3x stadious Matthew 14:24, Luke 24:13, John 6:19
σταδίων 3x stadiōn John 11:18, Revelation 14:20, Revelation 21:16
σταδίῳ 1x stadiō 1 Corinthians 9:24
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural 3x Matthew 14:24, Luke 24:13, John 6:19
Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural 3x John 11:18, Revelation 14:20, Revelation 21:16
Noun - Dative Neuter Singular 1x 1 Corinthians 9:24
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Do not turn every stadion measurement into hidden numerology. The genre and scene decide whether the distance is ordinary, rhetorical, or apocalyptic.
- Do not ignore geography as if it were filler. Distance can heighten danger, explain public witness, or frame a resurrection encounter.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that every stadion distance has symbolic meaning. Several Gospel uses simply locate the scene in concrete space.
- Do not claim that Paul's stadion image makes salvation a prize earned by human effort. The passage exhorts disciplined service, not self-salvation.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. a stade or certain measure of distance; by implication, a stadium or race-course
Strong's G4712
Lexical occurrences 1 verse Greek text appearances 6 times Word forms 1 form 1 reference Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
a stade or certain measure of distance; by implication, a stadium or race-course
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Luke 24:13 Noun Accusative Plural Masculine
σταδίους stadiouv
one eighth of a Roman mile
Read verse John 6:19 Noun Accusative Plural Masculine
σταδίους stadiouv
one eighth of a Roman mile
Read verse John 11:18 Noun Genitive Plural Masculine
σταδίων stadiwn
one eighth of a Roman mile
Read verse 1 Corinthians 9:24 Noun Dative Singular Neuter
σταδίῳ stadiw
one eighth of a Roman mile
Read verse Revelation 14:20 Noun Genitive Plural Masculine
σταδίων stadiwn
one eighth of a Roman mile
Read verse Revelation 21:16 Noun Genitive Plural Masculine
σταδίων stadiwn
one eighth of a Roman mile
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 1 case and number pattern. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns 1 Aligned forms 1 Case pattern Dative (1) Number pattern Singular (1)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Dative · Singular · Neuter 1 Cor 9:24 1×
Word Origins
στάδιον is built from this root:
For the Preacher and Teacher
Stadion is useful because it keeps interpretation honest about the Bible's concreteness. Paul does not need a mystical racecourse to make his point; everyone knows runners run with purpose if they want the prize. Matthew's distance from land helps the reader feel the exposed boat in the storm. John's note about Bethany's nearness to Jerusalem helps the Lazarus narrative make public sense.
Luke's Emmaus distance places resurrection hope on an actual road where Scripture is opened. Revelation's distance imagery belongs to apocalyptic judgment and should not be handled like ordinary geography. A teacher should not squeeze every measurement for secret meaning, but neither should he ignore why the text gives it. Stadion asks readers to honor the scale, setting, and genre of each passage.
Anchor passage
1Cor.9.24
Doctrinal connections
- G5143 Trecho: Paul's race image depends on running with purpose, not drifting through discipleship.
- G1017 brabeion: The prize language in 1 Corinthians 9 sets the athletic image inside disciplined gospel hope.
- G2281 Thalassa: Matthew 14 uses distance from land to heighten the sea scene before Jesus comes to the disciples.
- G1453 Egeiro: Luke 24's measured journey becomes a setting where the risen Christ opens the Scriptures.
- G2920 Krisis: Revelation 14 uses distance language within judgment imagery, requiring apocalyptic caution.
- John 11:18: Geography can serve witness and narrative movement without becoming allegory.
Stadion can denote the place where runners compete or a unit of length. English translations may render the distance into miles, so the underlying word can be hidden unless the lexical layer is checked.
From Old to New Testament
Scripture often uses geography and measured movement to anchor God's acts in history: wilderness journeys, roads to Jerusalem, storm-tossed water, and resurrection encounters. Stadion belongs to that concrete world while also giving Paul an athletic image for disciplined pursuit.
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