ὅταν
hótan · G3752 · Greek · 123 occurrences
Meanings
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whenever, when
An indefinite point or points of time, which may be roughly simultaneous to or overlap with another point of time (ὅταν and ἐπάν may also imply some degree of uncertainty)
ExamplesMatthew 5:11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
Matthew 6:2 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, so that they will be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
Matthew 6:5 “And when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
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when
A point of time which is roughly simultaneous to or overlaps with another point of time
ExamplesRevelation 8:1 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
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whenever, as often as
Indefinite and multiple points of time, simultaneous with other corresponding points of time
ExamplesMark 3:11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are the Son of God!”
John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 10:4 “When he puts all his own sheep outside, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
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as long as, while
An extent of time of the same length as another extent or unit of time
ExamplesJohn 9:5 “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”
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
Named alongside itApposition
2 occurrences in 1 groups
- ἡμέραday 2
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 1 word
- ἐπάν epán · G1875 · whenever, when
- Both function as temporal conjunctions expressing indefinite or hypothetical time ('whenever'). ἐπάν (epán, G1875) appears with a slightly more immediate aspectual nuance ('as soon as'), while ὅταν (hótan, G3752) is the more common term with broader temporal-conditional range, but they operate in the same functional space of marking contingent temporal relations.
In the other Testament 1 word
- אֲשֶׁר ʼăsher · H834 · that, which, where
- Greek ὅταν functions as a temporal-conditional conjunction meaning 'whenever' (with hypothetical/uncertain nuance), while Hebrew אֲשֶׁר serves as a broader relative particle spanning temporal ('when'), causal ('because'), and general relative clause introduction; the two converge specifically in contexts where אֲשֶׁר introduces temporal-conditional protases that LXX translators rendered with ὅταν to capture the 'whenever' sense.
Semantic domains 4 entries
- As long as, while67.139
- This domain covers ὅταν marking a temporal span, as Mark records Jesus' order of silence to His disciples: “He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose from the dead.” (Mark 9:9)
- When67.30
- Here ὅταν introduces a specific future occasion, as Jesus gives the parable of the fig tree as a sign: “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: as soon as its branch has become tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near.” (Matthew 24:32)
- Whenever, when67.31
- This domain covers ὅταν describing a recurring reaction whenever a condition arises, as Mark describes the unclean spirits' repeated response to Jesus: “whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, ‘You are the Son of God!’” (Mark 3:11)
- Whenever, as often as67.36
- Here ὅταν introduces a repeated religious practice, as Jesus instructs on fasting: “Now whenever you fast, do not make a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they distort their faces so that they will be noticed by people when they are fasting.” (Matthew 6:16)
Word family 8 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon a particle of time, compound of ὅτε and ἄν, at the time that, whenever (German…
a. with the subjunctive present: Mt 6:2, Mt 6:5; Mt 10:23; Mk 13:11 (here Rec. aorist); ; Lk 11:36; Lk 12:11; Lk 14:12; Lk 21:7; Jn 7:27; Jn 16:21; Acts 23:35; 1 Cor 3:4; 2 Cor 13:9; 1 Jn 5:2; Rev 10:7; Rev 18:9; preceded by a specification of time: ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης, ὅταν etc., Mt 26:29; Mk 14:25; followed by τότε, 1 Thess 5:3; 1 Cor 15:28; equivalent to as often as, of customary action, Mt 15:2; Jn 8:44; Rom 2:14; at the time when equivalent to as long as, Lk 11:34; Jn 9:5.
b. with the subjunctive aorist: equivalent to the Latinquandoacciderit,ut with subjunctive present, Mt 5:11; Mt 12:43; Mt 13:32; Mt 23:15; Mt 24:32; Mk 4:15f, 29 (R G), 31f; 13:28; Lk 6:22, Lk 6:26; Lk 8:13; Lk 11:24; Lk 12:54; Lk 21:30; Jn 2:10; Jn 10:4; Jn 16:21; 1 Tim 5:11 (here L marginal reading future); Rev 9:5. equivalent toquando with future perfect, Mt 19:28; Mt 21:40; Mk 8:38; Mk 9:9; Mk 12:23 (G Tr WH omit; L brackets the clause), 25; Lk 9:26; Lk 16:4, Lk 16:9; Lk 17:10; Jn 4:25; Jn 7:31; Jn 13:19; Jn 14:29; Jn 15:26; Jn 16:4, Jn 16:13, Jn 16:21; Jn 21:18; Acts 23:35; Acts 24:22; Rom 11:27; 1 Cor 15:24 (here L T Tr WH present), (where the meaning is, 'when he shall have said that the ὑποταξις predicted in the Psalm is now accomplished'; cf. Meyer ad loc.); 1 Cor 16:2, 1 Cor 16:5, 1 Cor 16:12; 2 Cor 10:6; Col 4:16; 1 Jn 2:28 (L T Tr WH ἐάν); 2 Thess 1:10; Heb 1:6 (on which see εἰσάγω, 1); Rev 11:7; Rev 12:4; Rev 17:10; Rev 20:7. followed by τότε, Mt 9:15; Mt 24:15; Mt 25:31; Mk 2:20; Mk 13:14; Lk 5:35; Lk 21:20; Jn 8:28; 1 Cor 13:10 (G L T Tr WH omit τότε); 1 Cor 15:28, ; Col 3:4.
c. According to the usage of later authors, a usage, however, not altogether unknown to the more elegant writers (Winers Grammar, 309 (289f); Buttmann, 222f (192f); (Tdf. Proleg., p. 124f; WHs Appendix, p. 171; for examples additional to these given by Winers Grammar, and Buttmann, as above see Sophocles' Lexicon, under the word; cf. Jebb in Vincent and Dickson's Handbook to Modern Greek, Appendix, § 78)), with the indicative; α. future: when (Mt 5:11 Tdf.); Lk 13:28 T Tr text WH marginal reading; (1 Tim 5:11 L marginal reading); as often as, Rev 4:9 (cf. Bleek ad loc.). β. present: Mk 11:25 L T Tr WH; Mk 13:7 Tr text; (Lk 11:2 Tr marginal reading). γ. very rarely indeed, with the imperfect: as often as, (whensoever), ὅταν ἐθεώρουν, Mk 3:11 (Gen 38:9; Ex 17:11; 1 Sam 17:34; see ἄν, II. 1). δ. As in Byzantine authors equivalent to ὅτε, when, with the indicative aorist: ὅταν ἤνοιξεν, Rev 8:1 L T Tr WH; (add ὅταν ὀψέ ἐγένετο, Mk 11:19 T Tr text WH, cf. Buttmann, 223 (193); but others take this of customary action, whenever evening came (i. e. every evening, R. V.)). ὅταν, does not occur in the Epistles of Peter and Jude.
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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