ara

Strong’sG687

a particle asking a question, expecting a negative response

stem ar-3 times in the New Testamentin 3 of 27 booksnever changes form

What it means

What the word means, in the words of the lexicons out of copyright — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones, wherever each has an entry for it.

ἆρα,

interrog. particle, implying anxiety or impatience, "quite rare and only in Luke and Paul, therefore a literary word" (Bl., §77, 2).

1. (num igitur) expecting a neg. reply, Lk 18:8; ἆρά γε, Ac 8:30.

2. (ergone) in apodosis, expecting an affirm. reply, Ga 2:17 (Bl., §77, 2; Lft., Ga., in l.; MM, s.v.).†

G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.

Strong’s G687 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from

Saidar'-ah

Froma form of G686, denoting an interrogation to which a negative answer is presumed

King Jamestherefore.

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

ἆρᾰ,
interrogative Particle, implying anxiety or impatience, = Epic dialect and Lyric poetry ἦ ῥα:
1 alone, it simply marks the question, the nature of which is determined by the context: e.g. in Refs 4th c.BC+ a negative answer is implied in the question ἆρ᾽ ἂν οἴεσθε..; but an affirmative in Refs 5th c.BC+ ἆ. βέβληκα δὶς ἐφεξῆ; compare ἆρ᾽ εὐτυχεῖς.. ἢ δυστυχεῖ; Refs 5th c.BC+; and to make it plainly affirmative, ἆρ᾽ ο; ἆρ᾽ οὐχ; Refs 5th c.BC+; ἆρ᾽ οὐχ οὕτω; Refs 5th c.BC+
2 ἆ. οὖ; is used to draw an affirmative inference, Refs; also when a negative answer is expected, Refs; with a negative, ἆρ᾽ οὖν οὐ..; Refs
3 in ἆρά γε, each Particle retains its force, γε serving to make the question more definite, Refs 5th c.BC+
4 less frequently with τίς interrogative, τίνος ποτ᾽ ἆρ᾽ ἔπραξε χειρίRefs 5th c.BC+; τίδ᾽ ἆρ᾽ ἐγὼ σ; Refs 5th c.BC+; with ἤν, Refs 5th c.BC+
5 in indirect questions, σκεψώμεθα τοῦτο ἆ... Refs 5th c.BC+
II in Poets sometimes like{ἄρα}, Refs 7th c.BC+
B In Prose, ἆ. almost always stands first in the sentence, butRefs 5th c.BC+; καὶ ὑπὲρ τούτων ἆ... Refs 4th 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.

then2×so then1×

Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.

Words built on the same stem

Other words sharing the exact same stem — not merely related in meaning.

ara — ἄρα, then, therefore, since aras — ἀρά, a prayer or prayer for evil, a curse, imprecation

Where it appears

Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.

3 occurrences, every one of them listed

ara2×

Luke 18:8“then”… plēn tos huios tou anthrōpou ercharantos ara heuriskati tan pistian epi tau gēau?… their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

Galatians 2:17“then”… en Christo heuriskina kai autois hamartōlois, ara Christos hamartau diakonos? mē genetoia;… be justified in Christ, we ourselves are found to be sinners, does that make Christ a minister of sin? Certainly not!

Ara1×

Acts 8:30“so then”… anagnōskarōntou Ēsaion ton profēton kai legata; Ara ge gnōskasō heim anagnōskasō?… ran up and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.