What does ψεῦδος (pseûdos) mean in the Bible?
ψεῦδος (pseûdos): Falsehood as deliberate deception opposed to truth; Satan's fundamental characteristic in John's theology.
Greek · G5579
ψεῦδος
A falsehood
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ψεῦδος G5579
Pronunciation pseûdos
What does ψεῦδος (pseûdos) mean in the Bible?
ψεῦδος (pseûdos): Falsehood as deliberate deception opposed to truth; Satan's fundamental characteristic in John's theology.
Full entry for ψεῦδος (G5579) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G5579?
The BSB source-word alignment has 10 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include a lie (2), falsehood (2), lie (2), . . . (1), [the] lie (1).
Where does ψεῦδος (pseûdos) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 8:44. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (3), 1 John (2), 2 Thessalonians (2), Ephesians (1).
Are there verse guides for ψεῦδος (pseûdos)?
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
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 a lie 2× Romans 1:25, Revelation 21:27
falsehood 2× Ephesians 4:25, Revelation 22:15
lie 2× 1 John 2:21, Revelation 14:5
. . . 1× John 8:44
[the] lie 1× 2 Thessalonians 2:11
false 1× 2 Thessalonians 2:9
genuine 1× 1 John 2:27
Show sample aligned rows
John 8:44 ψεῦδος to . . . Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular Romans 1:25 ψεύδει to a lie Noun - Dative Neuter Singular Ephesians 4:25 ψεῦδος to falsehood Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular 2 Thessalonians 2:9 ψεύδους to false Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular 2 Thessalonians 2:11 ψεύδει to [the] lie Noun - Dative Neuter Singular 1 John 2:21 ψεῦδος to lie Noun - Nominative Neuter Singular 1 John 2:27 ψεῦδος to genuine Noun - Nominative Neuter Singular Revelation 14:5 ψεῦδος to lie Noun - Nominative Neuter Singular Revelation 21:27 ψεῦδος to a lie Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular Revelation 22:15 ψεῦδος to falsehood Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row John 8:44
Aligned rows 10
Books represented 6
John 1 Romans 1 Ephesians 1 2 Thessalonians 2 1 John 2 Revelation 3
Source forms
ψεῦδος 7x pseudos John 8:44, Ephesians 4:25, 1 John 2:21, 1 John 2:27
ψεύδει 2x pseudei Romans 1:25, 2 Thessalonians 2:11
ψεύδους 1x pseudous 2 Thessalonians 2:9
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular 4x John 8:44, Ephesians 4:25, Revelation 21:27, Revelation 22:15
Noun - Nominative Neuter Singular 3x 1 John 2:21, 1 John 2:27, Revelation 14:5
Noun - Dative Neuter Singular 2x Romans 1:25, 2 Thessalonians 2:11
Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular 1x 2 Thessalonians 2:9
Key Verse and Form Guides
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Falsehood as deliberate deception opposed to truth; Satan's fundamental characteristic in John's theology.
Source Gloss
a falsehood
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
9 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
John 8:44 Noun Accusative Singular Neuter
ψεῦδος, yeudov
a lie
Read verse Romans 1:25 Noun Dative Singular Neuter
ψεύδει, yeudei
a lie
Read verse Ephesians 4:25 Noun Accusative Singular Neuter
ψεῦδος yeudov
a lie
Read verse 2 Thessalonians 2:9 Noun Genitive Singular Neuter
ψεύδους, yeudouv
a lie
Read verse 2 Thessalonians 2:11 Noun Dative Singular Neuter
ψεύδει· yeudei
a lie
Read verse 1 John 2:21 Noun Nominative Singular Neuter
ψεῦδος yeudov
a lie
Read verse 1 John 2:27 Noun Nominative Singular Neuter
ψεῦδος, yeudov
a lie
Read verse Revelation 21:27 Noun Accusative Singular Neuter
ψεῦδος· yeudov
a lie
Read verse yeudov
a lie
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 10 Case pattern Accusative (4) Number pattern Singular (10)
Nominative · Singular · Neuter 1 John 2:21 · 1 John 2:27 · Rev 14:5 3×
Genitive · Singular · Neuter 2 Thess 2:9 1×
Dative · Singular · Neuter Rom 1:25 · 2 Thess 2:11 2×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Exhortation to put away falsehood, contrasted with truth in Christian community
Deceptive signs and wonders accompanied by falsehood in eschatological deception
Falsehood as opposite to truth, emphasizing doctrinal deception among believers
Lying lips are abomination to the Lord, contrasting righteous and deceptive speech
Prophets speaking falsehood and leading people astray through deceitful proclamations
Showing 5 selected witnesses from 10 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ψεῦδος is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
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