What does ἀργός (argós) mean in the Bible?
ἀργός (argós): Inactive or unproductive; applied to persons, things, or even faith when lacking corresponding action or effect.
Greek · G692
ἀργός
Idle
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ἀργόςG692
Pronunciationargós
What does ἀργός (argós) mean in the Bible?
ἀργός (argós): Inactive or unproductive; applied to persons, things, or even faith when lacking corresponding action or effect.
Full entry for ἀργός (G692) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G692?
The BSB source-word alignment has 8 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include doing nothing (2), [to be] idle (1), careless (1), idle (1), ineffective (1).
Where does ἀργός (argós) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 12:36. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (3), 1 Timothy (2), 2 Peter (1), James (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 Itdoing nothing2×Matthew 20:3, Matthew 20:6
[to be] idle1×1 Timothy 5:13
careless1×Matthew 12:36
idle1×1 Timothy 5:13
ineffective1×2 Peter 1:8
lazy1×Titus 1:12
worthless1×James 2:20
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 12:36ἀργὸνtocarelessAdjective - Accusative Neuter SingularMatthew 20:3ἀργούςtodoing nothingAdjective - Accusative Masculine PluralMatthew 20:6ἀργοίtodoing nothingAdjective - Nominative Masculine Plural1 Timothy 5:13ἀργαὶto[to be] idleAdjective - Nominative Feminine Plural1 Timothy 5:13ἀργαὶtoidleAdjective - Nominative Feminine PluralTitus 1:12ἀργαίtolazyAdjective - Nominative Feminine PluralJames 2:20ἀργήtoworthlessAdjective - Nominative Feminine Singular2 Peter 1:8ἀργοὺςtoineffectiveAdjective - Accusative Masculine Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 12:36
Aligned rows8
Books represented5
Matthew31 Timothy2Titus1James12 Peter1
Source forms
ἀργαὶ2xargai1 Timothy 5:13
ἀργαί1xargaiTitus 1:12
ἀργή1xargēJames 2:20
ἀργοί1xargoiMatthew 20:6
ἀργὸν1xargonMatthew 12:36
ἀργούς1xargousMatthew 20:3
ἀργοὺς1xargous2 Peter 1:8
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Nominative Feminine Plural3x1 Timothy 5:13, Titus 1:12
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural2xMatthew 20:3, 2 Peter 1:8
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular1xMatthew 12:36
Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular1xJames 2:20
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural1xMatthew 20:6
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Inactive or unproductive; applied to persons, things, or even faith when lacking corresponding action or effect.
Strong'sG692
Lexical occurrences8 versesGreek text appearances8 timesWord forms5 forms8 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study linkMatthew 20:3Source Gloss
idle
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
8 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 12:36Adjective Accusative Singular Neuter
ἀργόν,argon
idle, lazy, thoughtless
Read verseMatthew 20:3Adjective Accusative Plural Masculine
ἀργούς·argouv
idle, lazy, thoughtless
Read verseMatthew 20:6Adjective Accusative Plural Masculine
ἀργούς,argouv
idle, lazy, thoughtless
Read verseMatthew 20:6Adjective Nominative Plural Masculine
ἀργοί;argoi
idle, lazy, thoughtless
Read verse1 Timothy 5:13Adjective Nominative Plural Feminine
ἀργαὶargai
idle, lazy, thoughtless
Read verse1 Timothy 5:13Adjective Nominative Plural Feminine
ἀργαί,argai
idle, lazy, thoughtless
Read verseTitus 1:12Adjective Nominative Plural Feminine
ἀργαί.argai
idle, lazy, thoughtless
Read verse2 Peter 1:8Adjective Accusative Plural Masculine
ἀργοὺςargouv
idle, lazy, thoughtless
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 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.
Form patterns5Aligned forms8Case patternNominative (5)Number patternPlural (6)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Plural · Feminine1 Tim 5:13 · Titus 1:123×
Nominative · Plural · MasculineMatt 20:61×
Nominative · Singular · FeminineJas 2:201×
Accusative · Plural · MasculineMatt 20:3 · 2 Pet 1:82×
Accusative · Singular · NeuterMatt 12:361×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Workers standing unemployed in the marketplace without work
Careless or ineffective words that lack purpose or value
Faith without works is ineffective and cannot produce spiritual results
Christian virtues that are unproductive or fail to bear fruit
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 8 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
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.