noun · masculine
chortos
Strong’sG5528
grass, hay
stem chort-15 times in the New Testamentin 8 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
Grass or hay, the green plant-growth that serves as food, especially for animals 124. This is the meaning found throughout the New Testament, covering grass growing in fields, hay used as fodder, and green vegetation generally, including the image of grass springing up and then withering 13. The term can also apply more broadly to a green crop 3.
Further back in the history of the word, before it came to mean grass or fodder itself, it denoted an enclosure or feeding place — such as a farmyard or pasture where livestock were kept 123. This older sense is not the one found in the New Testament.
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
χόρτος, -ου, ὁ
[in LXX chiefly for עֶשֶׂב, also for חָצִיר, etc.;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G5528 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidkhor'-tos
a "court" or "garden", i.e. (by implication, of pasture) herbage or vegetation
Fromapparently a primary word;
King Jamesblade, grass, hay.
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
properly enclosed place (see. entry near the end), but always with collateral notion of a feeding-place: in Refs 8th c.BC+, farmyard, in which the cattle were kept, αὐλῆς ἐν χόρτῳ Refs
2 generally, any feeding-ground, pasturage, frequently in plural, χόρτοι λέοντος, of Nemea, Refs 5th c.BC+; χόρτος οὐρανοῦ the expanse of heaven, poetical cited in Refs 5th c.AD+
II fodder, provender, especially for horses and cattle, Refs 5th c.BC+; grass, NT+8th c.BC+hay, Refs 5th c.BC+; χ. ἐβλάστησεν, ἐξηράνθη, NT+5th c.BC+; χόρτον ἔχει ἔπὶ τοῦ κέρατος as translation of the Latin proverb, foenum habet in cornu, of a dangerous ox, Refs 1st c.AD+
II.b green crop, [γῆ] ἐσπαρμένη χόρτῳ Refs 2nd c.BC+
II.2 poetical, food generally, δούλιος χ. Refs 6th c.BC+; compare χορτάζω. (Cf. Latin hortus, Welsh garth 'fold, enclosure', Irish gort 'crop', 'field'.)
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 | chortos5×χόρτος | chortois |
| object accusative | chorton6×χόρτον | chortoin |
| direct address vocative | chortor | chortoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | chortou3×χόρτου | chortoiu |
| to, for dative | chorto1×χόρτῳ | chortoi |
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
chorto 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.
15 occurrences, every one of them listed
chortos“grass”subjectnominative singular5×
Matthew 13:26“plants”hote de blastata tos chortos kai karpon poiata, tote fanita kai …When the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared.
John 6:10… Poiavar toin anthrōpoin anapiptara. ate de chortos pollos en to topo. anapiptala oun …… said. Now there was plenty of grass in that place, so the men …
1 Peter 1:24dioti pantas sarkas hōs chortos, kai pantas doxas autau hōs anthem …For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the …
1 Peter 1:24“grass”… autau hōs anthem chortou; xēranita tos chortos, kai tem anthem ekpiptata;… and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
Revelation 8:7… tritem teiu dendreiu katakaiita, kai pantos chortos chlōros katakaiita.… the trees and all the green grass.
chorton“grass”objectaccusative singular6×
Matthew 6:30ei de ton chorton tou agrou sēmeron arōnton kai aurion …… that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here …
Mark 4:28“blade”automatas tas gēas karpoforatō, prōtem chorton, eita stachuon, eita plēron siton en …All by itself the earth produces a crop— first the stalk, then the head, then grain that ripens …
Luke 12:28ei de en agro ton chorton arōnton sēmeron kai aurion eis klibanon …… that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here …
1 Corinthians 3:12… themelion chruson, arguron, lithoin timioin, xuleim, chorton, kalamēan,… using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,
James 1:11“grass”… sun to kausōno kai xēranata ton chorton, kai tem anthem autou ekpiptata kai …… sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of …
Revelation 9:4… legita autai hina mē adikali ton chorton tau gēau oude pantem chlōrem oude …… were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant …
chortou“grass”of, belonging togenitive singular3×
Matthew 14:19… keleuarantos toin ochloin anaklinira epi tou chortou, labarantos toin pente artoin kai toin …… crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the …
James 1:10… ta tapeinōsia autou, hoti hōs anthem chortou parercheti.… away like a flower of the field.
1 Peter 1:24… kai pantas doxas autau hōs anthem chortou; xēranita tos chortos, kai tem anthem …… the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
chorto“grass”to, fordative singular1×
Mark 6:39… pantoin sumposieim sumposieim epi to chlōro chorto.… sit in groups on the green grass.