noun · feminine
akatharsias
Strong’sG167
uncleanness, impurity
stem akatharsi-10 times in the New Testamentin 7 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
Ἀκαθαρσία means uncleanness or impurity 42. It covers physical filth or dirt, such as the uncleanness of a wound or sore, or the impurity associated with something like a decaying body 31. It is also used of ceremonial impurity 3.
The word is also used in a moral sense, of impurity, depravity, or immoral conduct 132.
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
ἀκαθαρσία, -ας, ἡ
(< ἀκάθαρτος), [in LXX chiefly for טֻמְאָה, טָמֵא;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G167 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidak-ath-ar-see'-ah
impurity (the quality), physically or morally
Fromfrom G169;
King Jamesuncleanness.
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
uncleanness, foulness, of a wound or sore, Refs 5th c.BC+
b dirt, filth, Refs 1st c.BC+
2 in moral sense, depravity, Refs 4th c.BC+
3 ceremonial impurity, LXX
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 | akatharsias2×ἀκαθαρσία | akatharsiais |
| object accusative | akatharsian2×ἀκαθαρσίαν | akatharsiain |
| direct address vocative | akatharsiar | akatharsiair |
| of, belonging to genitive | akatharsiau3×ἀκαθαρσίας | akatharsiaiu |
| to, for dative | akatharsia3×ἀκαθαρσίᾳ | akatharsiai |
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
akatharsia 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.
10 occurrences, every one of them listed
akatharsias“impurity”subjectnominative singular2×
Galatians 5:19… ergeim tau sarkau, hotineim atō porneias, akatharsias, aselgeias,… the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
Ephesians 5:3Porneias de kai akatharsias pantas ē pleonexias mēde onomazotōr en …… immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed.
akatharsian“impurity”objectaccusative singular2×
Romans 1:24… tai epithumiai taiu kardiaiu autoiu eis akatharsian teu atimazorō teim sōmeim autoiu en …… the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies …
Colossians 3:5… meleim teim epi tau gēau, porneian, akatharsian, pathem, epithumian kakosan, kai tan pleonexian …… of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which …
akatharsiau“impurity”of, belonging togenitive singular3×
Matthew 23:27“uncleanness”… de gemalō osteiu nekroiu kai pantau akatharsiau;… the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind …
Ephesians 4:19… heautoin paradōala ta aselgeia eis ergasian akatharsiau pantau en pleonexia.… the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more.
1 Thessalonians 2:3“impurity”… nu ouk ek planau oude ek akatharsiau oude en dolo,For our appeal does not arise from deceit or ulterior motives or trickery.
akatharsia“impurity”to, fordative singular3×
Romans 6:19… parastēava teim meleim vu douleim ta akatharsia kai ta anomia eis tan anomian, …… of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now …
2 Corinthians 12:21… proamartanarēntoiu kai mē metanoarantoiu epi ta akatharsia kai porneia kai aselgeia ha prassala.… not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery.
1 Thessalonians 4:7… gar kalata nin tos theos epi akatharsia alla en hagiasmo.… God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness.