adverb
anōthen
Strong’sG509
from above, from the beginning, again
stem anōthen-13 times in the New Testamentin 7 of 27 booksnever changes form
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
Ἄνωθεν has three related senses.
It can mean from above, from a higher place, or from heaven 12. Strong's notes that this same root idea can refer to the top of something 2. Dodson likewise lists "from above" as a sense 4.
It can also mean from the beginning, from the first, referring to the start of a sequence of events or a person's early life 124.
Finally, it can mean anew, again, i.e. a repetition of something from the start 1234. LSJ records this as "over again, afresh," and notes it in the sense of making something (such as a friendship) anew 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
ἄνωθεν
adv,(< ἄνω),
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G509 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidan'-o-then
from above; by analogy, from the first; by implication, anew
Fromfrom G507;
King Jamesfrom above, again, from the beginning (very first), the top.
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
and ἄνωθε Refs 5th c.BC+, Doric dialect ἄνωθα Refs: (ἄνω):—adverb of Place, from above, from on high, θεοὺς ἄ. γῆς ἐποπτεύειν ἄχηRefs 5th c.BC+; from the interior of a country, Refs 5th c.BC+; especially from inner Asia, Refs 1st c.AD+; from the north, Refs 5th c.BC+
2 like{ἄνω}, above, on high, opposed to κάτωθεν or κάτω, Refs 4th c.BC+: of the gods, Refs 5th c.BC+; of men on earth, οἱ ἄ. the living, Refs 5th c.BC+; those on deck (in a ship), Refs 5th c.BC+; of birds of the air, Refs 5th c.BC+; ἡ ἄ. Φρυγία upper Phrygia, Refs 4th c.BC+
2.b rarely with genitive, ἄ. τοῦ στρατοπέδουRefs 5th c.BC+
II in narrative or in quiry, from the beginning, from farther back, ἄ. ἄρχεσθαι, ἐπιχειρεῖν, Refs 5th c.BC+; in quotations, above, earlier, Refs 5th c.BC+, etc.: οἱ ἔμπροσθεν καὶ ἄ. γονεῖς ancestors, Refs 5th c.BC+; Κορίνθιαι εἰμὲς ἄ. by descent, Refs 3rd c.BC+; πονηρὸς ἄ. a born rogue, Refs 4th c.BC+from early life, Refs 4th c.BC+
II.2 τὰ ἄ. higher, more universal principles, Refs 5th c.BC+
II.3 over again, anew, afresh, φιλίαν ἄ. ποιεῖταιNT+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.
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
13 occurrences, every one of them listed
anōthen13×
Matthew 27:51… tem katapetasmem tou naou schizita apo anōthen heōs katō eis duo, kai tas …… temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, and …
Mark 15:38… tou naou schizita eis duo apo anōthen heōs katō.… temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
Luke 1:3“from the very first”dokata kami parakoloutharēnto anōthen pantei akribōs kathexēs si grafara, kratistor …Therefore, having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
John 3:3… legamō si, ean mē tinos genniteia anōthen, ouk dunotō horara tan basileian tou …… of God unless he is born again.”
John 3:7… hoti legama si Datō vin gennira anōthen.… I said, ‘You must be born again.’
John 3:31Tos anōthen erchorōntos epanō panteiu atō. tos arōntos …The One who comes from above is above all. The one who …
John 19:11… oudenan ei mē ate dōorēntem si anōthen; dia houtem tos paradōarantos min si …… it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed Me …
John 19:23… de tos chitōnos arafos, ek teiu anōthen hufantos dia holou;… seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
Acts 26:5prognōskarōntois min anōthen, ean thelaleiō marturarō, hoti kata tan …They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are …
Galatians 4:9“anew”… astheneim kai ptōcheim stoicheieim, hei palin anōthen douleuarō thelavō?… to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
James 1:17… dosias agathas kai pantem dōrēmem teleiem anōthen atō, katabainarōntem apo tou patrou teiu …Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of …
James 3:15ouk atō houtas tas sofias anōthen katerchorōntas, alla epigeias, psuchikas, daimoniōdas;Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
James 3:17tas de anōthen sofias prōtem men hagnas atō, epeita …But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then …