Stable (literally or figuratively)
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G949 describes what is firm, secure, dependable, or legally established, including a promise, hope, calling, word, or covenant provision confirmed against uncertainty. The adjective can concern objective validity, reliable confirmation, or a persons secure participation; context must identify what is firm and the grounds that establish it.
Reader summary
Full entry for βέβαιος (G949) · Open the biblical lexicon
G949 describes what is firm, secure, dependable, or legally established, including a promise, hope, calling, word, or covenant provision confirmed against uncertainty. The adjective can concern objective validity, reliable confirmation, or a persons secure participation; context must identify what is firm and the grounds that establish it.
The BSB source-word alignment has 8 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [does not] take effect (1), [is] sure (1), as confirmed beyond doubt (1), binding (1), firmly (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Romans 4:16. Its strongest book concentrations include Hebrews (4), 2 Peter (2), 2 Corinthians (1), Romans (1).
G949 describes what is firm, secure, dependable, or legally established, including a promise, hope, calling, word, or covenant provision confirmed against uncertainty. The adjective can concern objective validity, reliable confirmation, or a persons secure participation; context must identify what is firm and the grounds that establish it. In Heb. 6. 19, hebrews describes the believers hope as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul entering the inner sanctuary.
In 2Pet. 1. 10, peter urges diligent growth so believers may make their calling and election sure and avoid stumbling. G949 opens teaching on Christian assurance grounded in Gods promise, Christs priestly work, reliable testimony, and practiced perseverance rather than emotional certainty alone. It corrects fragile assurance built on mood and presumptuous assurance that refuses self-examination, obedience, communal wisdom, or the actual grounds named in a passage.
G949 locates firmness outside bare optimism: hope is a secure anchor entering behind the veil, believers make their calling and election sure through fruitful diligence, and the promise rests on grace so that it may be guaranteed. For G949, responsible teaching keeps lexical meaning, passage context, canonical synthesis, and present application distinguishable.
The adjective does not make every human plan reliable, remove lament and doubt from faith, or promise that sincere confidence cannot be mistaken.
G949 appears across passages that develop reliable promise, secure hope, confirmed calling, covenant certainty, perseverance, and trustworthy revelation. For G949, the immediate setting decides which part of the range is active, so the witnesses must remain distinct rather than being merged into one formula.
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,
Hebrews describes the believers hope as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul entering the inner sanctuary.
Therefore, brothers, strive to make your calling and election sure. For if you practice these things you will never stumble,
Peter urges diligent growth so believers may make their calling and election sure and avoid stumbling.
Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
Paul says the promise depends on faith and rests on grace so that it may be guaranteed to all Abrahams offspring.
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. Firm certainty with legal or covenant guarantee, especially securing God's promises.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
9 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
firm, steadfast, enduring
Read versefirm, steadfast, enduring
Read versefirm, steadfast, enduring
Read versefirm, steadfast, enduring
Read versefirm, steadfast, enduring
Read versefirm, steadfast, enduring
Read versefirm, steadfast, enduring
Read versefirm, steadfast, enduring
Read versefirm, steadfast, enduring
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 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.
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 2 selected witnesses from 8 lexical occurrence verses.
βέβαιος is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G949 locates firmness outside bare optimism: hope is a secure anchor entering behind the veil, believers make their calling and election sure through fruitful diligence, and the promise rests on grace so that it may be guaranteed. G949 describes what is firm, secure, dependable, or legally established, including a promise, hope, calling, word, or covenant provision confirmed against uncertainty.
The selected witnesses keep the teaching concrete: Heb. 6. 19 shows that hebrews describes the believers hope as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul entering the inner sanctuary. , while 2Pet. 1. 10 shows that peter urges diligent growth so believers may make their calling and election sure and avoid stumbling.. Rom. 4. 16 adds that paul says the promise depends on faith and rests on grace so that it may be guaranteed to all Abrahams offspring..
G949 opens teaching on Christian assurance grounded in Gods promise, Christs priestly work, reliable testimony, and practiced perseverance rather than emotional certainty alone. It corrects fragile assurance built on mood and presumptuous assurance that refuses self-examination, obedience, communal wisdom, or the actual grounds named in a passage. A church teaching G949 faithfully will name both the promise and the boundary carried by these contexts, attend to vulnerable hearers, and refuse to make the lexical item prove more than its passages support.
The adjective does not make every human plan reliable, remove lament and doubt from faith, or promise that sincere confidence cannot be mistaken.
Heb.6.19
G949 is a Greek adjective for what is stable, valid, confirmed, or secure; related verbal and nominal forms share the confirmation idea but should not be treated as identical grammar.
The Old Testament anchors trust in the reliable word and covenant character of God. The New Testament uses G949 for promises, hope, calling, and testimony secured through grace and Christ while still summoning believers to perseverance.