Strong's Lexicon
thanatos: Death
Original Word:θάνατος
Part of Speech:Noun, Masculine
Transliteration:thanatos
Pronunciation:THAH-nah-tos
Phonetic Spelling:(than'-at-os)
Definition:Death
Meaning:death, physical or spiritual.
Word Origin:Derived from the Greek verb θνῄσκω (thnēskō), meaning "to die."
Corresponding Greek / Hebrew Entries: - מָוֶת (maveth) - H4194: Often used in the Old Testament to denote death, both physical and spiritual.
Usage:In the New Testament, "thanatos" primarily refers to physical death, the cessation of life. It also encompasses spiritual death, which is the separation from God due to sin, and eternal death, which is the final separation from God in judgment. The term is used to describe both the literal end of life and the broader theological implications of sin and separation from God.
Cultural and Historical Background:In the Greco-Roman world, death was often personified and feared as an inevitable fate. The New Testament writers, however, present death as a defeated enemy through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The concept of death in Jewish thought was closely tied to the consequences of sin, as seen in the Genesis account of the Fall. The New Testament builds on this understanding, emphasizing the victory over death through Christ.
HELPS Word-studies
2288thánatos (derived from2348/thnḗskō, "to die") – physical or spiritualdeath; (figuratively) separation from the life (salvation) of God forever by dying without first experiencingdeath to self to receive His gift of salvation.
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Originfrom
thnéskóDefinitiondeath
NASB Translationdanger of death (1), death (112), fatal (2), pestilence (3).
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
STRONGS NT 2288: θάνατοςθάνατος,
θανάτου,
ὁ (
θανεῖν); the
Sept. for
מָוֶת and
מוּת, also for
דֶּבֶר pestilence (
Winers Grammar, 29 note); (one of the nouns often anarthrous, cf.
Winers Grammar, § 19, 1 under the word; (
Buttmann, § 124, 8 c.); Grimm, commentary on Sap., p. 59);
death;
1. properly,the death of the body, i. e.that separation (whether natural or violent)of the soul from the body by which the life on earth is ended:John 11:4 (13);Acts 2:24 (Tr marginal readingᾅδου) (on this seeὠδίν);Philippians 2:27, 30;Hebrews 7:23;Hebrews 9:15;Revelation 9:6;Revelation 18:8; opposed toζωή,Romans 8:38;1 Corinthians 3:22;2 Corinthians 1:9;Philippians 1:20; with the implied idea of future misery in the state beyond,1 Corinthians 15:21;2 Timothy 1:10;Hebrews 2:14f; equivalent to the power of death,2 Corinthians 4:12. Since the nether world, the abode of the dead, was conceived of as being very dark,χώρακαίσκιάθανάτου (צַלְמָוֶת) is equivalent to the region of thickest darkness, i. e. figuratively, a region enveloped in the darkness of ignorance and sin:Matthew 4:16;Luke 1:79 (fromIsaiah 9:2);θάνατος is used of the punishment of Christ,Romans 5:10;Romans 6:3-5;1 Corinthians 11:26;Philippians 3:10;Colossians 1:22;Hebrews 2:(9),14;σῴζειντιναἐκθανάτου, to free from the fear of death, to enable one to undergo death fearlessly,Hebrews 5:7 (but others besides);ῤύεσθαιἐκθανάτου, to deliver from the danger of death,2 Corinthians 1:10; pluralθανατοῖ,deaths (i. e. mortal perils) of various kinds,2 Corinthians 11:23;περίλυποςἕωςθανάτου, even unto death, i. e. so that I am almost dying of sorrow,Matthew 26:38;Mark 14:34 (λελύπημαιἕωςθανάτου,Jonah 4:9;λύπηἕωςθανάτου, Sir. 37:2, cf,Judges 16:16);μέχριθανάτου, so as not to refuse to undergo even death,Philippians 2:8; alsoἄχριθανάτου,Revelation 2:10;Revelation 12:11;ἐσφαγμένοςεἰςθάνατον, that has received a deadly wound,Revelation 13:3;πληγήθανάτου, a deadly wound (death-stroke, cf.Winer's Grammar, § 34, 3 b.),Revelation 13:3, 12;ἰδεῖνθάνατον, to experience death,Luke 2:26;Hebrews 11:5; alsoγεύεσθαιθανάτου (seeγεύω, 2),Matthew 16:28;Mark 9:1;Luke 9:27;διώκειντιναἄχριθανάτου, even to destruction,Acts 22:4;κατακρίνειντιναθανάτῳ, to condemn one to death (admortemdamnare,Tacitus),Matthew 20:18 (hereTdf.εἰςθάνατον);Mark 10:33, (seeκατακρίνω, a.);πορεύεσθαιεἰςθάνατον, to undergo death,Luke 22:33;παραδιδόναιτιναεἰςθάνατον, that he may be put to death,Matthew 10:21;Mark 13:12; passive, to be given over to the peril of death,2 Corinthians 4:11;παρέδωκαν ...εἰςκρίμαθανάτου,Luke 24:20;ἀποκτεῖναιτιναἐνθανάτῳ (a Hebraism (cf.Buttmann, 184 (159f))),Revelation 2:23;Revelation 6:8 (cf.Winer's Grammar, 29 note);αἰτίαθανάτου (seeαἰτία, 2),Acts 13:28;Acts 28:18;ἄξιοντίθανάτου, some crime worthy of the penalty of death,Acts 23:29;Acts 25:11, 25; (Acts 26:31);Luke 23:15, 22 (hereαἴτιον (which see 2 b.)θάνατος);ἔνοχοςθανάτου, worthy of punishment by death,Matthew 26:66;Mark 14:64;θανάτῳτελευτάτω, let him surely be put to death,Matthew 15:4;Mark 7:10, afterExodus 21:17 theSept. (Hebrewיוּמָתמות); cf.Winers Grammar, § 44 at the end N. 3; (Buttmann, as above);θανάτου ...σταυροῦ,Philippians 2:8;ποιῶθανάτῳ, by what kind of death,John 12:33;John 18:32;John 21:19. The inevitable necessity of dying, shared alike by all men, takes on in the popular imagination the form of a person, a tyrant, subjugating men to his power and confining them in his dark dominions:Romans 6:9;1 Corinthians 15:(26),54,56;Revelation 21:4; Hades is associated with him as his partner:1 Corinthians 15:55RG;Revelation 1:18 (on which seeκλείς);,(a) (Psalm 17:5 ();Psalm 114:3 ();Hosea 13:14; Sir. 14:12).2. metaphorically,the loss of that life which alone is worthy of the name, i. e. "the misery of soul arising from sin, which begins on earth but lasts and increases after the death of the body":2 Corinthians 3:7;James 1:15 (Clement of Rome, 2 Cor. 1, 6 [ET] says of life before conversion to Christ,ὁβίοςἡμῶνὅλοςἄλλοοὐδένἦνεἰμήθάνατος (cf.Philo, praem. et poenis § 12, and references in 4 below)); opposed toἡζωή,Romans 7:10, 13;2 Corinthians 2:16; opposed toσωτηρία,2 Corinthians 7:10; equivalent to the cause of death,Romans 7:13;σῴζεινψυχήνἐκθανάτου,James 5:20;μεταβεβηκέναιἐκτοῦθανάτουεἰςτήνζωήν,John 5:24;1 John 3:14;μένεινἐντῷθανάτῳ,1 John 3:14;θεωρεῖνθάνατον,John 8:51;γεύεσθαιθανάτου,John 8:52 (see 1 above);ἁμαρτία andἁμαρτάνεινπρόςθάνατον (seeἁμαρτία, 2 b.),1 John 5:16f (in the rabbinical writersלָמוּתחֵטְא — afterNumbers 18:22, theSept.ἁμαρτίαθανατηφόρος — is acrimen capitale).
3.the miserable state of the wicked dead in hell is called — now simplyθάνατος,Romans 1:32 (Wis. 1:12f Wis. 2:24;Tatian or. ad Graec. c. 13; the author of the epistle ad Diognet. c. 10, 7 [ET] distinguishes betweenὁδοκῶνἐνθάδεθάνατος, the death of the body, andὁὄντωςθάνατος,ὅςφυλάσσεταιτοῖςκατακριθησομενοιςεἰςτόπῦρτόαἰώνιον); nowὁδεύτεροςθάνατος andὁθάνατοςὁδεύτερος (as opposed to the former death, i. e. to that by which life on earth is ended),Revelation 2:11;Revelation 20:6, 14b;Revelation 21:8 (as in the Targums onDeuteronomy 33:6;Psalm 48:11 ();Isaiah 22:14;Isaiah 66:15; (for the Greek use of the phrase cf.Plutarch, de fade in orbe lunae 27, 6, p. 942 f.);θάνατοςαἰώνιος, the Epistle of Barnabas 20, 1 [ET] and in ecclesiastical writings (ὁἀΐδιοςθάνατος,Philo, post. Cain. § 11 at the end; see alsoWetstein onRevelation 2:11)).4. In the widest sense,death comprisesall the miseries arising from sin, as wellphysical death as the loss of a life consecrated to God and blessed in him on earth (Philo, alleg. legg. i. § 33ὁψυχῆςθάνατοςἀρετῆςμένφθοράἐστι,κακίαςδέἀνάληψις (de profug. § 21θάνατοςψυχῆςὁμετάκακίαςἐστιβίος, especially §§ 10, 11; qued det. pot. insid. §§ 14, 15; de poster. Cain. § 21, and de praem. et poen. as in 2 above)),to be followed by wretchedness in the lower world (opposed toζωήαἰώνιος):θάνατος seems to be so used inRomans 5:12;Romans 6:16, 21 (Romans 6:23; yet others refer these last three examples to 3 above);Romans 7:24;Romans 8:2, 6; death, in this sense, is personified inRomans 5:14, 17, 21;Romans 7:5. Others, in all these passages as well as those cited under 2, understand physical death; but see Philippi onRomans 5:12; Messner, Lehre der Apostel, p. 210ff
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
deadly, death.Fromthnesko; (properly, an adjective used as a noun) death (literally or figuratively) -- X deadly, (be...) Death.
see GREEKthnesko
Forms and Transliterations
θανατε θάνατε θανατοις θανάτοις θανατον θάνατον θάνατόν θανατος θανάτος θάνατος θάνατός θανατου θανάτου θάνατου θανατω θανάτω θανάτῳ thanate thánate thanato thanatō thanátoi thanátōi thanatois thanátois thanaton thánaton thanatos thánatos thanatou thanátouLinks
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