ποῦ
poû · G4226 · Greek · 48 occurrences
Meanings
-
where?
An interrogative reference to a position
ExamplesMatthew 2:2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
Matthew 2:4 And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.
Matthew 26:17 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”
-
where, in which
A relative reference to a set of circumstances
ExamplesRomans 3:27 Where then is boasting? It has been excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.
1 Corinthians 15:55 “WHERE, O DEATH, IS YOUR VICTORY? WHERE, O DEATH, IS YOUR STING?”
Galatians 4:15 Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I testify about you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.
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what will happen to, what may become of
(An idiom, literally: where will it appear) A question as to what may have happened to someone or something
Examples1 Peter 4:18 AND IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER?
How it’s used In 2 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
What is done to itIt is the object
2 occurrences in 3 groups
- ἔπωto say 1
- λέγωto say 1
- ἀποκρίνομαιto answer 1
What is said to be itIt is the predicate
19 occurrences in 17 groups
- Other words · 17 groups that occur once or twice (19) 19
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.
In the other Testament 4 words
- אַיֵּה ʼayêh · H346 · where?
- Greek ποῦ and Hebrew אַיֵּה both function as interrogative adverbs of place meaning 'where,' directly translating each other across Hebrew Scripture and its Greek rendering in questions about location.
- אָן ʼân · H575 · where?, when?
- אָן (ʼân, H575) אָן functions as the direct Hebrew interrogative adverb of place ('where?') corresponding to Greek ποῦ in the LXX translation tradition, both serving identical syntactic roles in queries about spatial location.
- אֵיפֹה ʼêyphôh · H375 · where?
- אֵיפֹה (ʼêyphôh, H375) (אֵיפֹה, "where") is the direct Hebrew interrogative equivalent of ποῦ (poû, G4226), both functioning as adverbs of place asking "where?" or "at/to what location?" with identical semantic and syntactic roles in their respective languages.
- אַי ʼay · H335 · where?, where, which
- Both ποῦ (poû, G4226) ποῦ and אַי (ʼay, H335) אַי function as interrogative adverbs of place, asking "where?" in direct or indirect questions about location; they represent the standard translation equivalent pair for spatial interrogatives across Greek and Hebrew.
Semantic domains 3 entries
- Where?83.6
- The adverb most directly asks a question about location. Paul's rhetorical challenge to human wisdom uses this term repeatedly: “Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?” (1 Corinthians 1:20).
- What will happen to, what may become of13.118
- Used rhetorically, the same adverb can ask not about a literal place but about the fate or present state of something once possessed. Paul's appeal to the Galatians recalls their earlier devotion: “Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I testify about you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me” (Galatians 4:15, where the underlying adverb asks what has become of that former blessing rather than where it is physically located).
- Where, in which92.28
- In an indirect question, the same adverb can introduce a relative clause of place. Matthew's account of the magi's inquiry uses this term: “And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born” (Matthew 2:4).
Word family 6 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon (cf. Curtius, § 631), an interrogative adverb, from Homer down, the Sept. for אַיֵה,…
b. in indirect questions, for the relative ὅπου (cf. Winer's Grammar, § 57, 2 at the end): followed by the indicative, Mt 2:4; Mk 15:47; Jn 1:39 (40); Jn 11:57; Jn 20:2, Jn 20:13, Jn 20:15; Rev 2:13 (cf. Winer's Grammar, 612 (569)); followed by the subjunctive, Mt 8:20; Lk 9:58; Lk 12:17.
c. joined to verbs of going or coming, for ποῖ in direct question (cf. our colloquial, where for whither; see Winers Grammar, § 54, 7; Buttmann, 71 (62)): Jn 7:35 (cf. Winers Grammar, 300 (281); Buttmann, 358 (307)); Jn 13:36; ; in indirect question, followed by the indicative: Jn 3:8; Jn 8:14; Jn 12:35; Jn 14:5; Heb 11:8; 1 Jn 2:11.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain
Topical studies with this word 3 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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