ἄλογος
álogos · G249 · Greek · 3 occurrences
Meanings
-
without reason, not able to reason
Pertaining to a lack of capacity to reason or think properly
Examples2 Peter 2:12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, using abusive speech where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,
Jude 1:10 But these people disparage all the things that they do not understand; and all the things that they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.
-
unreasonable, without basis, absurd
Pertaining to not providing a reason or cause, in view of something being contrary to reason
ExamplesActs 25:27 “For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him as well.”
How it’s used In 1 role
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
What is said to be itIt is the predicate
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- σημαίνωto indicate clearly 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.
Near synonyms 2 words
- ἄφρων áphrōn · G878 · foolish, senseless, unwise
- ἄφρων denotes one lacking φρήν (mind/reason), making it semantically parallel to ἄλογος which lacks λόγος (reason); both describe absence of rational faculty. However, the distinction lies in typical application: ἄφρων more commonly describes moral/intellectual foolishness in human beings (stupidity, rashness, unbelief), while ἄλογος emphasizes the fundamental lack of reasoning capacity characteristic of animals or utterly irrational behavior
- ἀνόητος anóētos · G453 · foolish, stupid, without understanding
- ἀνόητος (without νοῦς, understanding) describes one lacking intellectual comprehension or discernment, overlapping with ἄλογος in denoting absence of rational thought. ἀνόητος typically applies to humans who fail to use reason, while ἄλογος can describe creatures fundamentally incapable of reason.
In the other Testament 2 words
- בְּהֵמָה bᵉhêmâh · H929 · land animals, domestic animals, livestock
- ἄλογος refers to irrational/unreasoning beings, and בְּהֵמָה is the standard Hebrew term for animals as non-rational creatures, making it a natural translation equivalent when ἄλογος is used substantively to denote 'irrational beasts' (cf. 2 Pet 2:12, Jude 10 where the Greek describes creatures acting on instinct rather than reason)
- בָּעַר bâʻar · H1197 · to burn
- When used in its secondary sense (not 'to burn'), בַּעַר describes someone brutish or lacking understanding/reason, parallel to the adjectival sense of ἄλογος as 'lacking rational faculty' (cf. Ps 92:6, Prov 12:1)
Semantic domains 2 entries
- Without reason, not able to reason30.12
- In 2 Peter 2:12, false teachers are compared to “unreasoning (áloga) animals, born as creatures of instinct,” where the word describes creatures that lack the capacity to reason.
- Unreasonable, without basis, absurd89.19
- In Acts 25:27, Festus says, “it seems absurd (álogon) to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him as well,” where the word describes a course of action that makes no rational sense.
Word family 39 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon (λόγος, reason); 1. destitute of reason, brute: ζῷα, brute animals, Jude 1:10; 2 Pet 2:12…
1. destitute of reason, brute: ζῷα, brute animals, Jude 1:10; 2 Pet 2:12 (Wis. 11:16; Xenophon, Hier. 7, 3, others).
2. contrary to reason, absurd: Acts 25:27 (Xenophon, Ages. 11, 1; Thucydides 6, 85; often in Plato, Isocrates, others).
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain
Topical studies with this word 2 entries
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
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