noun · feminine
adelfas
Strong’sG79
a sister
stem adelf-25 times in the New Testamentin 11 of 27 books6 of 10 forms occur
What it means
A plain-English reading of the word, with the lexicons it draws on — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones — right below it, in full.
AI Summary
Sister, in the ordinary sense of a female sibling, blood relation 1234.
In the Greek Old Testament the word can also refer more broadly to a female kinswoman, not just a sister in the strict sense 3, and can be used as a term of endearment 3.
In the New Testament the word is also used metaphorically, of a woman who is a fellow member of the Christian community 13.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-23 — it may still misstate what these say; check them yourself if it matters to you.
The lexicons it was drawn from, in full:
Abbott-Smith — the 1922 lexicon entry, in full
Strong’s G79 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidad-el-fay'
a sister (naturally or ecclesiastically)
Fromfeminine of G80;
King Jamessister.
James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890 — public domain. The numbers in it link to the entries here.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
feminine of ἀδελφός, sister, Trag., E Refs 4th c.BC+: Ionic dialect ἀδελφ-εή, Refs 5th c.BC+; Epic dialect ἀδελφ-ειή, Refs 4th c.AD+; Doric dialect ἀδελφ-εά, Refs 5th c.BC+, and in lyr, passages of Trag., Refs 5th c.BC+
2 kinswoman, LXX
3 term of endearment, LXX; applied to a wife, Refs 3rd c.BC+:—sister (as a fellow Christian), NT
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed., 1925–1940) — digitised by the Perseus Digital Library and corrected and expanded by Tyndale House, Cambridge, via STEPBible-Data's TFLSJ table, CC BY 4.0. Covers all of Greek literature, not just the Bible.
Translated as
Every occurrence, sorted by the English it was actually given — the evidence for what the word means, not a gloss of it.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.
Biblang forms
Every form this word takes in Biblang, with the Greek it corresponds to and how often the New Testament uses it.
| Job in the sentence case | one singular | more than one plural |
|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | adelfas8×ἀδελφὴ | adelfais3×ἀδελφαὶ |
| object accusative | adelfan5×ἀδελφὴν | adelfain5×ἀδελφὰς |
| direct address vocative | adelfar | adelfair |
| of, belonging to genitive | adelfau3×ἀδελφῆς | adelfaiu |
| to, for dative | adelfa1×ἀδελφῇ | adelfai |
Tinted cells are forms the New Testament never uses, so there is no Greek to show against them — but they are still correct Biblang, built from the slots below like any other.
Why these forms, and no others — the slots that make them
adelfa is this word in every one of its forms. The slots after it make all the rest.
same in every form varies — every value shown
Words built on the same stem
Other words sharing the exact same stem — not merely related in meaning.
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
25 occurrences, every one of them listed
adelfas“sister”subjectnominative singular8×
Matthew 12:50… en ouranoi, autos mu adelfos kai adelfas kai mētēras atō.… in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
Mark 3:35… tou theou, houtos adelfos mu kai adelfas kai mētēras atō.… of God is My brother and sister and mother.”
Luke 10:39kai hōda ate adelfas kalorōntas Mariam, has kai parakathezirantas pros …She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the …
Luke 10:40… Kurior, ouk meleiatō si hoti tas adelfas mu monan min kataleipate diakonarō? legasar …… do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone …
John 11:39… Airavar ton lithon. legatō auto tas adelfas tou teleutarēntou Marthas; Kurior, ēdē ozatō, …… now he stinks,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man. “It has …
John 19:25… Iēsu tas mētēras autou kai tas adelfas tau mētērau autou, Marias tas tou …… Jesus stood His mother and her sister, as well as Mary the wife …
1 Corinthians 7:15… ouk doulotē tos adelfos ē tas adelfas en tei toioutei, en de eirēna …… him go. The believing brother or sister is not bound in such cases …
James 2:15ean adelfos ē adelfas gumnois huparchaleiō kai leiporōntois tau efēmerau …Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
adelfan“sister”objectaccusative singular5×
John 11:5… tos Iēsus tan Marthan kai tan adelfan autau kai ton Lazaron.Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
John 11:28… legarantas aperchata kai fōnata Mariam tan adelfan autau lathra legarantas; Tos didaskalos pareiatō …… she went back and called her sister Mary aside to tell her, “The …
Romans 16:1Sustēamō de vi Foiban tan adelfan nu, arōntan kai diakonan tau ekklēsau …I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church …
Romans 16:15… Filologon kai Ioulian, Nērevon kai tan adelfan autou, kai Olumpon kai toin sun …… Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the saints …
1 Corinthians 9:5mē ouk echanō exousian adelfan gunaikan periagarō, hōs kai tois loipois …… no right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles …
adelfau“sister”of, belonging togenitive singular3×
John 11:1… tau kōmau Mariau kai Marthau tau adelfau autau.… the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
Acts 23:16Akouarantos de tos huios tau adelfau Paulou tan enedran paragenerantos kai eisercharantos …But when the son of Paul’s sister heard about the plot, he went …
2 John 1:13Aspazotō sin teim tekneim tau adelfau su tau eklektau.The children of your elect sister send you greetings.
adelfa“sister”to, fordative singular1×
Philemon 1:2kai Apfia ta adelfa kai Archippo to sustratiōto nu kai …to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and …
adelfais“sisters”subjectnominative plural3×
Matthew 13:56kai tais adelfais autou ouchi pantais pros nin alō? …Aren’t all His sisters with us as well? Where then …
Mark 6:3… kai Simōnou? kai ouk alō tais adelfais autou hōde pros nin? kai skandalizole …… Joses, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t His sisters here with us as well?” And …
John 11:3apostelala oun tais adelfais pros auton legarōntais; Kurior, ide hon …So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the …
adelfain“sisters”objectaccusative plural5×
Matthew 19:29… hotinos afiēkata oikiain ē adelfoin ē adelfain ē patron ē mētēran ē gunaikan …… has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife …
Mark 10:29… hos afiēkata oikian ē adelfoin ē adelfain ē mētēran ē patron ē tekneim …… has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children …
Mark 10:30… kairo houto oikiain kai adelfoin kai adelfain kai mētērain kai tekneim kai agroin …… present age — houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields …
Luke 14:26… tekneim kai toin adelfoin kai tain adelfain, ēti tē kai tan psuchan heautou, …… wife and children and brothers and sisters — yes, even his own life — he …
1 Timothy 5:2presbuterain hōs mētērain, neoterain hōs adelfain en panta hagneia.… as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.