Strong's Lexicon
diaspora: Dispersion, Scattering
Original Word:διασπορά
Part of Speech:Noun, Feminine
Transliteration:diaspora
Pronunciation:dee-as-por-ah'
Phonetic Spelling:(dee-as-por-ah')
Definition:Dispersion, Scattering
Meaning:lit: scattering abroad of seed by the sower, hence: dispersion, used especially of the Jews who had migrated and were scattered over the ancient world.
Word Origin:From the Greek verb διασπείρω (diaspeirō), meaning "to scatter" or "to spread abroad."
Corresponding Greek / Hebrew Entries: -H1473 גָּלוּת (galut): Captivity, exile
-H6340 פָּזַר (pazar): To scatter, disperse
Usage:The term "diaspora" refers to the scattering or dispersion of people from their original homeland. In the New Testament, it is used to describe the Jewish population living outside of Israel. The concept of diaspora encompasses both the physical scattering of people and the cultural and religious implications of living away from the ancestral land.
Cultural and Historical Background:The Jewish diaspora began with the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles, where large numbers of Jews were taken from their homeland and settled in foreign lands. This dispersion continued through various historical events, including the conquests by the Greeks and Romans. The diaspora played a significant role in the spread of Judaism and later Christianity, as Jewish communities established synagogues and maintained their religious practices in foreign lands. These communities often served as a bridge for the spread of the Gospel in the early Christian era.
HELPS Word-studies
1290diasporá (from1223/diá, "through," intensifying4687/speírō, "sow or scatter seed," which is the root ofsperma, "seed") – properly,thoroughly scatter, distribute seedwidely.
1290 (diaspora) is used figuratively ofthe Jews in NT times. They were literallyscattered throughout the Roman empire (i.e.dispersed) and therefore called "theDiaspora."
[1290 (diasporá) properly refers toIsraelites exiled to foreign lands, i.e. Jews residingoutside of Palestine (see Jn 7:35).]
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Originfrom
diaspeiróDefinitiona dispersion (Isr. in Gentile countries)
NASB Translationdispersed (1), Dispersion (1), scattered throughout (1).
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
STRONGS NT 1290: διασποράδιασπορά,
διασπορᾶς,
ἡ (
διασπείρω, cf. such words as
ἀγορά,
διαφθορά) (
Vulg.dispersio),
a scattering, dispersion:
ἀτομων, opposed to
σύμμιξιςκαίπαραζευξις,
Plutarch, mor., p. 1105 a.; in the
Sept. used of the Israelites dispersed among foreign nations,
Deuteronomy 28:25;
Deuteronomy 30:4; especially of their Babylonian exile,
Jeremiah 41:17 ();Isaiah 49:6; Judith 5:19; abstract for concrete of the exiles themselves,Psalm 146:2 () (equivalent to (נִדְחִים, expelled, outcasts); 2 Macc. 1:27;εἰςτήνδιασποράντῶνἙλλήνων, unto those dispersed among the Greeks (Winer's Grammar, § 30, 2 a.),John 7:35. Transferred toChristians (i. e.Jewish Christians (?)) scattered abroad among the Gentiles:James 1:1 (ἐντῇδιασπορά, namely,οὖσι);παρεπίδημοίδιασπορᾶςΠόντου, sojourners far away from home, in Pontus,1 Peter 1:1 (seeπαρεπίδημος). (BB. DD. under the word; especiallySchürer, N. T. Zeitgeseh. § 31.)
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
diaspora, a dispersionFromdiaspeiro; dispersion, i.e. (specially and concretely) the (converted) Israelite resident in Gentile countries -- (which are) scattered (abroad).
see GREEKdiaspeiro
Forms and Transliterations
διασπορα διασπορά διασπορᾷ διασποραν διασποράν διασπορὰν διασπορας διασποράς διασπορᾶς diaspora diasporā̂i diasporan diasporàn diasporas diasporâsLinks
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