noun · feminine
anatolas
Strong’sG395
rising of the sun, the East
stem anatol-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
Rising — the appearing or rising of light, such as the rising of the sun or another heavenly body above the horizon 1234. This is also used figuratively of light dawning, as in the phrase "dayspring" 12.
The east — the direction or quarter of the sky where the sun rises, as opposed to the west; often used in the plural 1234.
The word is also used of growing, applied to the growth of teeth or of the white part at the root of the nails 3.
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
ἀνατολή, -ῆς, ἡ
(< ἀνατέλλω), [in LXX chiefly for מִזְרָח, קָדִים;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G395 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidan-at-ol-ay'
a rising of light, i.e. dawn (figuratively); by implication, the east (also in plural)
Fromfrom G393;
King Jamesdayspring, east, rising.
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
poetry ἀντ-, (ἀνατέλλω) rising above the horizon, of any heavenly body, e.g. the sun, frequently in plural, ἀντολαὶ ἠελίοιοRefs 8th c.BC+; distinct from ἐπιτολή (which see), Refs 1st c.BC+
2 ={ἐπιτολή}, Refs 4th c.BC+
3 the quarter of sunrise, east, opposed to δύσις, frequently in plural, ἀπὸ ἡλίου ἀνατολέωνNT+5th c.BC+
3.b the ascendant, i.e. the point where the eastern horizon cuts the zodiac, Refs 2nd c.AD+
3.c phase of new moon when Refs 4th c.AD+
4 in plural, sources of a river, Refs 2nd c.BC+
II growing, of the teeth, Refs 4th c.BC+; of the white at the root of the nails, LXX+1st c.AD+
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 | anatolas1×ἀνατολὴ | anatolais |
| object accusative | anatolan | anatolain |
| direct address vocative | anatolar | anatolair |
| of, belonging to genitive | anatolau4×ἀνατολῆς | anatolaiu4×ἀνατολῶν |
| to, for dative | anatola2×ἀνατολῇ | anatolai |
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
anatola 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
anatolas“dawn”subjectnominative singular1×
Luke 1:78… theou nu, en hei episkepteti nin anatolas ek hupseu,… of our God, by which the Dawn will visit us from on high,
anatolau“east”of, belonging togenitive singular4×
Mark 16:8“east”… houteim kai autos tos Iēsus apo anatolau kai achri dusiau exapostelata dia autoiu …… a word to anyone.
Revelation 7:2“rising”kai horama alloson angelon anabainarōnton apo anatolau hēliou, echarōnton sfragidan theou zōarōntou, kai …And I saw another angel ascending from the east, with the seal of the living God. And he called …
Revelation 16:12“(the) rising”… tas hodas toiu basilevoiu toiu apo anatolau hēliou.… prepare the way for the kings of the …
Revelation 21:13apo anatolau pulōnois treis, kai apo borrou pulōnois …There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on …
anatola“east”to, fordative singular2×
Matthew 2:2… gar autou ton asteron en ta anatola kai erchana proskunara auto.… We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
Matthew 2:9… tos asteros hon horala en ta anatola proagate autoin, heōs ercharantos stēita epanō …… star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it …
anatolaiu“east”of, belonging togenitive plural4×
Matthew 2:1… Hērōdou tou basilevou, idou magois apo anatolaiu paragenela eis Hierosolumeim… of King Herod, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem,
Matthew 8:11legamō de vi hoti pollois apo anatolaiu kai dusmaiu hēkali kai anaklinili meta …… that many will come from the east and the west to share the …
Matthew 24:27hōsper gar tas astrapas exerchotō apo anatolaiu kai fanotō heōs dusmaiu, houtōs eti …… as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the …
Luke 13:29kai hēkali apo anatolaiu kai dusmaiu kai apo borrou kai …People will come from east and west and north and south …