What does χρηστός (chrēstós) mean in the Bible?
χρηστός (chrēstós): Good that is serviceable and practically beneficial, especially God's kindness that draws toward repentance.
Greek · G5543
χρηστός
Good/kind
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χρηστός G5543
Pronunciation chrēstós
What does χρηστός (chrēstós) mean in the Bible?
χρηστός (chrēstós): Good that is serviceable and practically beneficial, especially God's kindness that draws toward repentance.
Full entry for χρηστός (G5543) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G5543?
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include kind (2), [is] good (1), better (1), good (1), is easy (1).
Where does χρηστός (chrēstós) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 11:30. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (2), 1 Corinthians (1), 1 Peter (1), Ephesians (1).
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 kind 2× Luke 6:35, Ephesians 4:32
[is] good 1× 1 Peter 2:3
better 1× Luke 5:39
good 1× 1 Corinthians 15:33
is easy 1× Matthew 11:30
kindness 1× Romans 2:4
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 11:30 χρηστὸς to is easy Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular Luke 5:39 χρηστός to better Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular Luke 6:35 χρηστός to kind Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular Romans 2:4 χρηστὸν to kindness Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular 1 Corinthians 15:33 χρηστὰ to good Adjective - Accusative Neuter Plural Ephesians 4:32 χρηστοί to kind Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural 1 Peter 2:3 χρηστὸς to [is] good Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 11:30
Aligned rows 7
Books represented 6
Matthew 1 Luke 2 Romans 1 1 Corinthians 1 Ephesians 1 1 Peter 1
Source forms
χρηστός 2x chrēstos Luke 5:39, Luke 6:35
χρηστὸς 2x chrēstos Matthew 11:30, 1 Peter 2:3
χρηστὰ 1x chrēsta 1 Corinthians 15:33
χρηστοί 1x chrēstoi Ephesians 4:32
χρηστὸν 1x chrēston Romans 2:4
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular 4x Matthew 11:30, Luke 5:39, Luke 6:35, 1 Peter 2:3
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Plural 1x 1 Corinthians 15:33
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural 1x Ephesians 4:32
Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular 1x Romans 2:4
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Good that is serviceable and practically beneficial, especially God's kindness that draws toward repentance.
Strong's G5543
Lexical occurrences 7 verses Greek text appearances 7 times Word forms 4 forms 7 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Ephesians 4:25-32 Source Gloss
good/kind
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 11:30 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
χρηστός, crhstov
useful, gentle, pleasant, kind
Read verse Luke 5:39 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
χρηστότερός crhstoterov
useful, gentle, pleasant, kind
Read verse Luke 6:35 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
χρηστός crhstov
useful, gentle, pleasant, kind
Read verse Romans 2:4 Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
χρηστὸν crhston
useful, gentle, pleasant, kind
Read verse 1 Corinthians 15:33 Adjective Accusative Plural Neuter
χρήσθ᾽ crhsq
useful, gentle, pleasant, kind
Read verse Ephesians 4:32 Adjective Nominative Plural Masculine
χρηστοί, crhstoi
useful, gentle, pleasant, kind
Read verse 1 Peter 2:3 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
χρηστὸς crhstov
useful, gentle, pleasant, kind
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 4 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 patterns 4 Aligned forms 7 Case pattern Nominative (6) Number pattern Singular (5)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Masculine Matt 11:30 · Luke 5:39 · Luke 6:35 · 1 Pet 2:3 4×
Nominative · Singular · Neuter Rom 2:4 1×
Nominative · Plural · Masculine Eph 4:32 1×
Accusative · Plural · Neuter 1 Cor 15:33 1×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Personal virtue, ethical quality of kindness in Christian conduct and speech
Quality of material things, palatability and desirability of wine
Divine attribute of God's benevolence and gracious nature toward humanity
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 7 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
χρηστός is built from this root:
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