Word

ἐπίσκοπος

epískopos · G1985 · Greek · 5 occurrences

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Meanings

one responsible for, one who cares for, guardian, keeper

One who has the responsibility of caring for spiritual concerns

Examples
1 Peter 2:25 For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
church leader

One who serves as a leader in a church

Examples
Acts 20:28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
Philippians 1:1 Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons:
1 Timothy 3:2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, skillful in teaching,

How it’s used In 4 roles

Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.

the word studied the word it goes with

Whose, or of whatGenitive or possessive

1 occurrences in 1 groups

ψυχήlife, soul 1

Second object ofSecond object

1 occurrences in 1 groups

τίθημιto put 1

What it is said to bePredicate

2 occurrences in 2 groups

ἀνέγκλητοςwithout accusation 1
ἀνεπίληπτοςabove criticism 1

After prepositionsPrepositional phrases

2 occurrences in 2 groups

ἐπίon 2
σύνwith, together with 1

When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.

MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.

Semantic domains 2 entries

One responsible for, one who cares for, guardian, keeper35.43: In Acts 20:28, Paul tells the Ephesian elders, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,” ἐπίσκοπος naming their appointed responsibility to guard and care for the church.
Church leader53.71: Paul instructs in 1 Timothy 3:2 that “an overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible,” ἐπίσκοπος naming the specific recognized office of church leadership and its required qualifications.

Word family 9 words

Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.

σκοπός skopós · G4649 · goal · 1×ἐπισκέπτομαι episképtomai · G1980 · to select carefully, to choose after careful investigation, to visit · 11×σκοπέω skopéō · G4648 · to watch, to notice carefully, to beware of · 6×ἐπίσκοποςepískopos · G1985ἐπισκοπή episkopḗ · G1984 · coming, visitation, office · 4×ἐπισκοπέω episkopéō · G1983 · to look after, to take care of, to see to · 1×κατασκοπέω kataskopéō · G2684 · to observe secretly, to spy out · 1×κατάσκοπος katáskopos · G2685 · spy, secret agent · 1×

Also from the root σκοπός

ἀλλοτριεπίσκοπος allotriepískopos · G244 · busybody, meddler · 1×

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon ἐπισκόπου, ὁ (ἐπισκέπτομαι), an overseer, a man charged with the duty of seeing that…

ἐπισκόπου, ὁ (ἐπισκέπτομαι), an overseer, a man charged with the duty of seeing that things to be done by others are done rightly, any curator, guardian, or superintendent; the Sept. for פָּקִיד, Judg 9:28; Neh 11:9, Neh 11:14, Neh 11:22; 2 Kgs 11:15, etc.; 1 Macc. 1:51. The word has the same comprehensive sense in Greek writings from Homer Odys. 8, 163; Iliad 22, 255 down; hence, in the N. T. ἐπίσκοπον τῶν ψυχῶν, guardian of souls, one who watches over their welfare: 1 Pet 2:25 ((τόν παντός πνεύματος κτίστην καί ἐπίσκοπον, Clement of Rome, 1 Cor. 59, 3 [ET]); ἀρχιερεύς καί προστάτης τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ibid. 61, 3 [ET]; (cf. Sir. 1:6)), cf. Heb 13:17. specifically, the superintendent, head or overseer of any Christian church; Vulg.episcopus: Acts 20:28; Phm 1:1; 1 Tim 3:2; Tit 1:7; see πρεσβύτερος, 2 b.; (and for the later use of the word, see Dict. of Chris. Antiq. under the word ).

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain

Topical studies with this word 2 entries

Care For, Take Care Of1 occurrence Roles and Functions4 occurrences

Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.

Sources

eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0