noun · feminine
agoras
Strong’sG58
market-place
stem agor-11 times in the New Testamentin 4 of 27 books4 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
ἀγορά refers to the open public place at the center of a town — the town square or forum — used as a market-place where goods were bought and sold, and also as a general gathering-place or thoroughfare where people congregated, did business, and passed through 1234. It is the word used in the Greek Old Testament and New Testament for the market-place or public square of a town or city 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
ἀγορά, -ας, ἡ (< ἀγείρω, to bring together)
[in LXX for עִזָּבוֹן, שׁוּק;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G58 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidag-or-ah'
probably akin to G1453); properly, the town-square (as a place of public resort); by implication, a market or thoroughfare
Fromfrom ἀγείρω (to gather;
King Jamesmarket(-place), street.
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
Ionic dialect ἀγορή, ῆς, ἡ, (ἀγείρω):— assembly, especially of the People, opposed to the Council of Chiefs, Refs 8th c.BC+; τοῖσιν δ᾽ οὔτ᾽ ἀγοραὶ βουληφόροι (i.e. Κυκλώπεσσι) Refs 8th c.BC+; ἀ. Πυλάτιδες, of the Amphictyonic Council at Pylae, Refs 5th c.BC+; ἀγορήνδε καλέσσασθαι, κηρύσσειν, Refs 8th c.BC+; ἀγορὴν ποιήσασθαι, θέσθαι, Refs 8th c.BC+; εἰς ἀ. ἰέναι, ἀγέρεσθαι,Refs 8th c.BC+—Not common in Prose, ἀγορὰν συνάγειν, συλλέγεινRefs 5th c.BC+: of the assembly in Attic demes, Refs 4th c.BC+, = Latin conventus agere, Refs 2nd c.AD+“Bis Acc.” 4,12: meeting for games, Refs 5th c.BC+
II place of assembly, τοὺς δ᾽ εὗρ᾽ εἰν ἀγορῇRefs 8th c.BC+
II.2 market-place, perhaps not earlier than Refs; frequently in later authors, πρυμνοῖς ἀγορᾶς ἔπιRefs 5th c.BC+; οἱ ἐκ τῆς ἀ. market people, Refs 5th c.BC+; εἰς ἀ. ἐμβάλλειν to go into the forum, i. e. be a citizen, Refs 4th c.BC+; ἐν τῇ ἀ. ἐργάζεσθαι to trade in the market, Refs 4th c.BC+; εἰς τὴν ἀ. χειροτονεῖν (opposed to ἐπὶ τὸν πόλεμον) 'for the market', Refs 1st c.BC+
III business of the ἀγορά:
III.1 public speaking, gift of speaking, mostly in plural, ἔσχ᾽ ἀγοράων withheld him from speaking, Refs 8th c.BC+; οἱ δ᾽ ἀγορὰς ἀγόρευονRefs 8th c.BC+
III.2 market, ἀγορὰν παρασκευάζεινRefs 5th c.BC+; opposed to ἀγορᾷ χρῆσθαι to have supplies,Refs 5th c.BC+; ἀ. ἐλευθέρα, i. e. καθαρὰ τῶν ὠνίων πάντων, Refs 5th c.BC+; generally, provisions, supplies, Refs 3rd c.BC+; in plural, Nic.Dam.p.6.17 Refs 4th c.BC+; ἀγορὰς περικόπτειν cut off supplies, Refs 1st c.BC+
III.2.b market, sale, ἀ. τῶν βιβλίων, τῶν παρθένων, Refs 4th c.BC+
IV as a mark of time, ἀ. πλήθουσα the forenoon, when the market-place was full, ἀγορῆς πληθυούσηςRefs 5th c.BC+; περὶ or ἀμφὶ ἀ. πλήθουσανRefs 5th c.BC+ the time just after mid-day, when they went home from market, Refs 5th c.BC+
V marketday, = Latin nundinae, Refs 1st c.BC+
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 | agoras | agorais |
| object accusative | agoran1×ἀγορὰν | agorain |
| direct address vocative | agorar | agorair |
| of, belonging to genitive | agorau1×ἀγορᾶς | agoraiu |
| to, for dative | agora3×ἀγορᾷ | agorai6×ἀγοραῖς |
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
agora 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
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
11 occurrences, every one of them listed
agoran“marketplace”objectaccusative singular1×
Acts 16:19… kai ton Silon helkala eis tan agoran epi toin archontoin,… them before the authorities in the marketplace.
agorau“marketplace”of, belonging togenitive singular1×
Mark 7:4“marketplace”kai apo agorau ean mē baptizeleia ouk esthialō, kai …And on returning from the market, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are …
agora“marketplace”to, fordative singular3×
Matthew 20:3… hōran horata allosoin stēarēntoin en ta agora argoin;… and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.
Luke 7:32homoiois alō paidiei tei en agora kathorōntei kai prosfōnarōntei allēloi, heim legatō; …… are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to one another …
Acts 17:17… kai toi seborōntoi kai en ta agora kata pantan hēmeran pros toin paratunchanarōntoin.… and God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace with those he met each day.
agorai“marketplaces”to, fordative plural6×
Matthew 11:16… homoias atō paidiei kathorōntei en tai agorai heim prosfōnarōnteim tei heterei… are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
Matthew 23:7kai toin aspasmoin en tai agorai kai kalorō hupo toiu anthrōpoiu; Rabbi.the greetings in the marketplaces, and the title of ‘Rabbi’ by …
Mark 6:56… polain ē eis agroin en tai agorai tithale toin asthenarōntoin, kai parakalale auton …… they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him just to let …
Mark 12:38… stolai peripatarō kai aspasmoin en tai agorai… robes, to receive greetings in the marketplaces,
Luke 11:43… sunagōgai kai toin aspasmoin en tai agorai.… synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces.
Luke 20:46… stolai kai filarōntoiu aspasmoin en tai agorai kai prōtokathedriain en tai sunagōgai kai …… they love the greetings in the marketplaces, the chief seats in the synagogues …