noun · masculine
chiliarchos
Strong’sG5506
a military tribune
stem chiliarch-21 times in the New Testamentin 4 of 27 books6 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
Chiliarch: the commander of a thousand men 1234, especially used for a Roman military tribune, the officer in charge of a cohort 124. The term is also applied more loosely to officers of similar high rank in general 1.
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
χιλίαρχος (in Hdt., al., -ης), -ου, ὁ
(< χίλιοι, ἄρχω) [in LXX chiefly for אֶלֶף שַׂר;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G5506 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidkhil-ee'-ar-khos
the commander of a thousand soldiers ("chiliarch"; i.e. colonel
Fromfrom G5507 and G757;
King James(chief, high) captain.
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
captain over a thousand, Refs 4th c.BC+: especially commandant of a garrison, Refs 5th c.BC+
II ={χιλιάρχης}Refs 2nd c.BC+
II.2 title of Persian court official, Refs 1st c.AD+; also in Macedonia, 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 | chiliarchos10×χιλίαρχος | chiliarchois1×χιλίαρχοι |
| object accusative | chiliarchon3×χιλίαρχον | chiliarchoin |
| direct address vocative | chiliarchor | chiliarchoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | chiliarchou | chiliarchoiu1×χιλιάρχων |
| to, for dative | chiliarcho4×χιλιάρχῳ | chiliarchoi2×χιλιάρχοις |
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
chiliarcho 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.
21 occurrences, every one of them listed
chiliarchos“commander”subjectnominative singular10×
John 18:12Tas oun speiras kai tos chiliarchos kai tois hupēretois toiu Ioudaioiu sullabala …… the band of soldiers, with its commander and the officers of the Jews …
Acts 21:33tote engizarantos tos chiliarchos epilabeta autou kai keleuata dira halusiai …The commander came up and arrested Paul, ordering …
Acts 22:24keleuata tos chiliarchos eisagorō auton eis tan parembolan, legarantos …the commander ordered that Paul be brought into …
Acts 22:27prosercharantos de tos chiliarchos legata auto; Legasōr mi, sis Rōmaios …The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell …
Acts 22:28apokrinita de tos chiliarchos; Mis polleu kefalaieu tan politeian houtan …… price for my citizenship,” said the commander. “But I was born a citizen …
Acts 22:29… tois mellarōntois auton anetazarō; kai tos chiliarchos de fobita epignōskarantos hoti Rōmaios atō …… interrogate Paul stepped back, and the commander himself was alarmed when he realized …
Acts 23:10pollau de genorōntau stasiau fobirantos tos chiliarchos mē diaspiteia tos Paulos hupo autoiu …… dispute grew so violent that the commander was afraid they would tear Paul …
Acts 23:19epilaberantos de tau cheirau autou tos chiliarchos kai anachōrarantos kata idian punthanote; Tinem …The commander took the young man by the …
Acts 23:22tos men oun chiliarchos apoluata ton neaniskon parangelarantos mēdeno eklalara …So the commander dismissed the young man and instructed …
Acts 24:22… tau hodau, legarantos; Hotan Lusios tos chiliarchos katabainateia diagnōskemi teim kata vin;… hearing and said, “When Lysias the commander comes, I will decide your case.”
chiliarchon“commander”objectaccusative singular3×
Acts 21:32… epi autoin, tois de horarantois ton chiliarchon kai toin stratiōtoin pauela tuptarōntois ton …… crowd. When the people saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating …
Acts 23:17… Ton neanion houton apagasōr pros ton chiliarchon, echatō gar apangelara tinem auto.… Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him.”
Acts 23:18… oun paralabarantos auton agata pros ton chiliarchon kai fēatō; Tos desmios Paulos proskalerantos …… the centurion took him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner sent …
chiliarcho“commander”to, fordative singular4×
Acts 21:31… tē auton apoktenara anabainata fasias to chiliarcho tau speirau hoti holas sunchotō Ierousalēm,… were trying to kill him, the commander of the Roman regiment received a …
Acts 21:37… tan parembolan tos Paulos legatō to chiliarcho; Ei exestinatō mi legara tinem pros …… into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you …
Acts 22:26akouarantos de tos hekatontarchēos prosercharantos to chiliarcho apangelata legarōntos; Tinem mellasō poiarō? tos …… went and reported it to the commander. “What are you going to do …
Acts 23:15nun oun vis emfanizavar to chiliarcho sun te sunedrie hopōs katagateia auton …… you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him down to you …
chiliarchois“generals”subjectnominative plural1×
Revelation 6:15“generals”… gēau kai tois megistanois kai tois chiliarchois kai tois plousiois kai tois ischurois …… of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the …
chiliarchoiu“captains”of, belonging togenitive plural1×
Revelation 19:18“captains”hina esthiaveia sarkain basilevoiu kai sarkain chiliarchoiu kai sarkain ischuroiu kai sarkain hippoiu …so that you may eat the flesh of kings and commanders and mighty men, of horses and riders, of …
chiliarchoi“military tribunes”to, fordative plural2×
Mark 6:21… poiata toi megistanoi autou kai toi chiliarchoi kai toi prōtoi tau Galilaiau,… a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee.
Acts 25:23“military tribunes”… eisercharantoiu eis tem akroatēriem sun tē chiliarchoi kai androi toi kata exochan tau …… pomp and entered the auditorium, along with the commanders and leading men of the city. And …