Word

πτωχός

ptōchós · G4434 · Greek · 34 occurrences

See all 34 in Search

Meanings

poor, destitute

Pertaining to being poor and destitute, implying a continuous state

Examples
Matthew 11:5 those who are BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and those who limp walk, those with leprosy are cleansed and those who are deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM.
Matthew 19:21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
Matthew 26:9 “For this perfume could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.”
of little or no value, relatively worthless

Pertaining to being of inadequate or insufficient value

Examples
Galatians 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles, to which you want to be enslaved all over again?
to be humble

(An idiom, literally: poor in spirit) Pertaining to one who is humble with regard to his own capacities (in the one NT occurrence, namely, Matthew 5:3, this humility is in relationship to God)

Examples
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

How it’s used In 9 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

ἅγιοςholy 1

Words describing itAdjectives, demonstratives, participles

1 occurrences in 2 groups

ὄνομαname 1
τὶςsomeone 1

Named alongside itApposition

2 occurrences in 2 groups

πᾶςall, every, each 1
χήραwidow 1

What it doesIt is the subject

5 occurrences in 4 groups

εὐαγγελίζωto tell the good news, to announce the gospel 2
εἰσέρχομαιto enter, to go into, to come into 1
ἀποθνήσκωto die 1
βάλλωto throw, to put 1

What is done to itIt is the object

8 occurrences in 6 groups

ἔχωto have 3
εἰσάγωto lead into 1
ἐκλέγομαιto choose 1
καλέωto call, to name 1
μνημονεύωto remember, to recall, to think about again 1
ἀτιμάζωto treat shamefully 1

It is given or told toIndirect object

10 occurrences in 4 groups

δίδωμιto give, to grant 7
διαδίδωμιto give out 1
ἔπωto say 1
εὐαγγελίζωto tell the good news, to announce the gospel 1

What it is said to bePredicate

2 occurrences in 1 groups

μακάριοςblessed, happy 2

What is said to be itIt is the predicate

1 occurrences in 1 groups

σύyou 1

After prepositionsPrepositional phrases

2 occurrences in 2 groups

εἰςto 2
περίconcerning, about, for 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.

In the other Testament 5 words

עָנִי ʻânîy · H6041 · afflicted, poor, humble: πτωχός (ptōchós, G4434) emphasizes the beggar's posture of destitution and public mendicancy (cringing dependence), while עָנִי (ʻânîy, H6041) centers on affliction and humble/lowly social status; the Greek term stresses visible poverty's external manifestation, the Hebrew term the internal condition of oppression or need.
דַּל dal · H1800 · door, poor, weak: דַּל (dal, H1800) denotes physical weakness or social depletion ('lean, needy, weaker'), while πτωχός (ptōchós, G4434) emphasizes the posture and social condition of absolute mendicancy ('beggar as cringing, pauper'); both terms denote poverty/neediness but πτωχός (ptōchós, G4434) carries stronger connotations of public begging and abject dependence.
אֶבְיוֹן ʼebyôwn · H34 · poor, needy: Hebrew אֶבְיוֹן (ʼebyôwn, H34) denotes the needy or destitute, commonly rendered by πτωχός in LXX contexts where economic poverty and social marginalization converge; Greek πτωχός in NT usage preserves this emphasis on beggarly dependence while extending to spiritual poverty in beatitude contexts.
עָנָו ʻânâv · H6035 · afflicted, poor, humble: πτωχός (ptōchós, G4434) πτωχός denotes material poverty/destitution (beggar, pauper), while עָנָו (ʻânâv, H6035) עָנָו primarily denotes spiritual/dispositional humility or meekness; the terms overlap in contexts where economic poverty and humble posture converge (e.g. LXX renderings of the 'poor and humble' afflicted), but represent distinct semantic centers — material deprivation versus character quality.
רוּשׁ rûwsh · H7326 · to suffer want, poor, destitute: רוּשׁ (rûwsh, H7326) denotes the state of lacking resources or being impoverished, while πτωχός (ptōchós, G4434) emphasizes the beggar's social position and cringing demeanor in public mendicancy; both refer to poverty but the Greek term carries stronger connotations of dependent begging behavior versus the Hebrew's focus on material lack.

Semantic domains 3 entries

Poor, destitute57.53: The adjective describes those who lack material resources. Jesus tells the disciples, “you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me” (Matthew 26:11).
Of little or no value, relatively worthless65.16: The same adjective is applied metaphorically to something of negligible worth. Paul asks the Galatians why they turn back “to the weak and worthless elementary principles, to which you want to be enslaved all over again” (Galatians 4:9).
To be humble88.57: The adjective is also used in a spiritual sense of humility before God. Jesus opens the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).

Word family 3 words

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

πτωχόςptōchós · G4434πτωχεία ptōcheía · G4432 · poverty, destitution · 3×πτωχεύω ptōcheúō · G4433 · to become poor · 1×

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon πτωχή, πτωχόν (πτώσσω, to be thoroughly frightened, to cower down or hide oneself for…

πτωχή, πτωχόν (πτώσσω, to be thoroughly frightened, to cower down or hide oneself for fear; hence, πτωχός properly, one who slinks and crouches), often involving the idea of roving about in wretchedness (see πένης, at the end; "but it always had a bad sense till it was ennobled in the Gospels; see Mt 5:3; Lk 6:20, cf. 2 Cor 8:9" (Liddell and Scott, under I.)); hence,
1. in classical Greek from Homer down, reduced to beggary, begging, mendicant, asking alms: Lk 14:13, Lk 14:21; Lk 16:20, Lk 16:22.
2. poor, needy (opposed to πλούσιος): Mt 19:21; Mt 26:9, Mt 26:11; Mk 10:21; Mk 12:42, Mk 12:43; Mk 14:5, Mk 14:7; Lk 18:22; Lk 19:8; Lk 21:3; Jn 12:5, Jn 12:6, Jn 12:8; Jn 13:29; Rom 15:26; 2 Cor 6:10; Gal 2:10; Jas 2:2, Jas 2:3, Jas 2:6; Rev 13:16; in a broader sense, destitute of wealth, influence, position, honors; lowly, afflicted: Mt 11:5; Lk 4:18 (from Isa 61:1); Isa. 6:20; ; οἱ πτωχοί τοῦ κόσμου (partitive genitive), the poor of the human race, Jas 2:5; but the more correct reading is that of L T Tr WH viz. τῷ κόσμῳ (unto the world), i. e. the ungodly world being judge, cf. Winers Grammar, § 31, 4 a.; Buttmann, § 133, 14; (R. V. as to the world (see next head, and cf. κόσμος, 7)). tropically, destitute of the Christian virtues and the eternal riches, Rev 3:17; like the Latininops, equivalent to helpless, powerless to accomplish an end: στοιχεῖα, Gal 4:9 (`bringing no rich endowment of spiritual treasure' (Lightfoot)).
3. universally, lacking in anything, with a dative of the respect: τῷ πνεύματι, as respects their spirit, i. e. destitute of the wealth of learning and intellectual culture which the schools afford (men of this class most readily gave themselves up to Christ's teaching and proved themselves fitted to lay hold of the heavenly treasure, Mt 11:25; Jn 9:39; 1 Cor 1:26, 1 Cor 1:27; (others make the idea more inward and ethical: 'conscious of their spiritual need')), Mt 5:3; compare with this the Epistle of Barnabas 19 [ET], see ἔσῃ ἁπλοῦς τῇ καρδία καί πλούσιος τῷ πνεύματι, abounding in Christian graces and the riches of the divine kingdom. (The Sept. for עָנִי, דַּל, רָשׁ, אֶבְיון, etc.)

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

Topical studies with this word 3 entries

Be Poor, Be Needy, Poverty32 occurrences Valuable, Lacking in Value1 occurrence Humility1 occurrence

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