What does βίος (bíos) mean in the Bible?
βίος (bíos): Life as lived experience and livelihood, contrasting with ζωή (life as vital principle or spiritual existence).
Greek · G979
βίος
Life
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βίος G979
Pronunciation bíos
What does βίος (bíos) mean in the Bible?
βίος (bíos): Life as lived experience and livelihood, contrasting with ζωή (life as vital principle or spiritual existence).
Full entry for βίος (G979) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G979?
The BSB source-word alignment has 10 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include life (2), to live on (2), [civilian] (1), lives (1), money (1).
Where does βίος (bíos) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 12:44. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (5), 1 John (2), 1 Timothy (1), 2 Timothy (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 life 2× Luke 8:14, 1 John 2:16
to live on 2× Mark 12:44, Luke 21:4
[civilian] 1× 2 Timothy 2:4
lives 1× 1 Timothy 2:2
money 1× Luke 8:43
possessions 1× 1 John 3:17
property 1× Luke 15:12
wealth 1× Luke 15:30
Show sample aligned rows
Mark 12:44 βίον to to live on Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular Luke 8:14 βίου to life Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular Luke 8:43 βίον to money Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular Luke 15:12 βίον to property Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular Luke 15:30 βίον to wealth Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular Luke 21:4 βίον to to live on Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular 1 Timothy 2:2 βίον to lives Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular 2 Timothy 2:4 βίου to [civilian] Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular 1 John 2:16 βίου to life Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular 1 John 3:17 βίον to possessions Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Mark 12:44
Aligned rows 10
Books represented 5
Mark 1 Luke 5 1 Timothy 1 2 Timothy 1 1 John 2
Source forms
βίον 7x bion Mark 12:44, Luke 8:43, Luke 15:12, Luke 15:30
βίου 3x biou Luke 8:14, 2 Timothy 2:4, 1 John 2:16
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular 7x Mark 12:44, Luke 8:43, Luke 15:12, Luke 15:30
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular 3x Luke 8:14, 2 Timothy 2:4, 1 John 2:16
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Life as lived experience and livelihood, contrasting with ζωή (life as vital principle or spiritual existence).
Strong's G979
Lexical occurrences 10 verses Greek text appearances 11 times Word forms 2 forms 10 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Luke 21:1–4 Source Gloss
life
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
11 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Mark 12:44 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
βίον bion
life, manner of life, livelihood
Read verse Luke 8:14 Noun Genitive Singular Masculine
βίου biou
life, manner of life, livelihood
Read verse Luke 8:43 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
βίον bion
life, manner of life, livelihood
Read verse Luke 15:12 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
βίον. bion
life, manner of life, livelihood
Read verse Luke 15:30 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
βίον bion
life, manner of life, livelihood
Read verse Luke 21:4 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
βίον bion
life, manner of life, livelihood
Read verse 1 Timothy 2:2 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
βίον bion
life, manner of life, livelihood
Read verse 2 Timothy 2:4 Noun Genitive Singular Masculine
βίου biou
life, manner of life, livelihood
Read verse 1 Peter 4:3 Noun Genitive Singular Masculine
βίου biou
life, manner of life, livelihood
Read verse 1 John 2:16 Noun Genitive Singular Masculine
βίου, biou
life, manner of life, livelihood
Read verse 1 John 3:17 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
βίον bion
life, manner of life, livelihood
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 2 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 2 Aligned forms 10 Case pattern Accusative (7) Number pattern Singular (10)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Genitive · Singular · Masculine Luke 8:14 · 2 Tim 2:4 · 1 John 2:16 3×
Accusative · Singular · Masculine Mark 12:44 · Luke 8:43 · Luke 15:12 · Luke 15:30 · Luke 21:4 · 1 Tim 2:2 · 1 John 3:17 7×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
life, livelihood
life, livelihood
Additional Occurrences
Luke 21:1–4 βίον bíos
Life, livelihood
Mark 12:41–44 βίος bíos
life, livelihood, means of living
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 10 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
βίος is a primary word - no further derivation.
Why This Word Matters
Indicates total personal cost. Luke 21:1–4
Shows that she gave her entire means of living. Mark 12:41–44
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