Crown
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Στέφανος (stephanos) means a crown or wreath, especially a garland awarded for victory or used to confer honor. Soldiers twist thorns into a crown and place it on Jesus while mocking Him as king; their cruel parody unintentionally displays the true King moving toward enthronement through suffering.
Reader summary
Full entry for στέφανος (G4735) · Open the biblical lexicon
Στέφανος (stephanos) means a crown or wreath, especially a garland awarded for victory or used to confer honor. Soldiers twist thorns into a crown and place it on Jesus while mocking Him as king; their cruel parody unintentionally displays the true King moving toward enthronement through suffering.
The BSB source-word alignment has 18 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include crown (9), a crown (6), crowns (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 27:29. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (8), John (2), 1 Corinthians (1), 1 Peter (1).
Στέφανος (stephanos) means a crown or wreath, especially a garland awarded for victory or used to confer honor. Soldiers twist thorns into a crown and place it on Jesus while mocking Him as king; their cruel parody unintentionally displays the true King moving toward enthronement through suffering. Paul compares athletic discipline for a perishable wreath with Christian self-control directed toward an imperishable crown.
He also calls the Philippian believers his joy and crown, making faithful people rather than personal acclaim the visible honor of apostolic labor. The noun does not always denote a royal diadem, and crown imagery does not make reward a wage earned apart from grace. Material, wearer, giver, and setting determine whether the wreath expresses mockery, victory, eschatological reward, or ministerial joy.
Στέφανος names a crown or victor's wreath. The thorn crown mocks Jesus' kingship, athletic competitors seek a perishable wreath, believers seek an imperishable one, and a faithful church becomes Paul's joy and crown.
And they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand, knelt down before Him, and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
Soldiers set a thorn crown on Jesus, add a mock scepter, and kneel in derision, staging false homage while the Gospel reveals the genuine King.
They dressed Him in a purple robe, twisted together a crown of thorns, and set it on His head.
Mark's brief account joins purple clothing and thorn wreath to the soldiers' abuse, making royal symbols instruments of humiliation before crucifixion.
The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns, set it on His head, and dressed Him in a purple robe.
John likewise emphasizes the soldiers crafting and placing the crown, locating the mock coronation within Pilate's presentation of Jesus as king.
Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable.
Athletes practice disciplined self-control for a decaying wreath, while gospel runners orient discipline toward an imperishable crown.
Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you must stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.
Paul calls the Philippians his joy and crown and therefore urges them to stand firm in the Lord, locating ministerial honor in faithful people.
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. Crown as victory prize or honor, distinct from royal diadem; metaphorically, eschatological reward for faithfulness.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 18 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a crown, garland
Read versea crown, garland
Read versea crown, garland
Read versea crown, garland
Read versea crown, garland
Read versea crown, garland
Read versea crown, garland
Read versea crown, garland
Read versea crown, garland
Read versea crown, garland
Read versea crown, garland
Read versea crown, garland
Read versea crown, garland
Read versea crown, garland
Read versea crown, garland
Read versea crown, garland
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 5 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 1 selected witness from 18 lexical occurrence verses.
The imagery emphasizes the reward granted by Christ to faithful believers.2 Timothy 4:6-8
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
The Gospel crown first wounds. Soldiers intend ridicule, yet their thorn wreath cannot cancel the truth they parody: Jesus is King, and His royal path runs through obedient suffering. Paul takes the familiar victor's wreath toward disciplined discipleship. Athletes deny themselves for an award that fades; Christians order bodily freedom toward an imperishable goal without imagining self-control purchases salvation.
Philippians gives the crown a relational shape. Paul's joy is not a platform, title, or record of victories but a beloved congregation standing firm in the Lord. Churches should resist crown language that celebrates leaders apart from the people they serve or promises glory without endurance. In Christ, honor is redefined by the cross, perseverance receives imperishable hope, and faithful disciples become a minister's treasured commendation.
Matt.27.29
Στέφανος is a noun for a wreath or crown associated with honor, festivity, or victory, distinct in common usage from a royal diadem. Context can extend it metaphorically to reward or people who bring honor.
Crowns signify honor and rule, thorns recall the curse, wisdom is a garland, and apostolic hope speaks of crowns associated with life, righteousness, glory, and faithful people.