noun · feminine
eklogas
Strong’sG1589
a choosing out, selecting, choice by God
stem eklog-7 times in the New Testamentin 4 of 27 books3 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
The word means a choosing out, selection 34, the act of picking someone or something out. In the New Testament it refers only to God's choosing 124, commonly rendered "election." It can describe something set apart for a special purpose, as in the phrase "a chosen vessel" 13, and by extension it can stand for the chosen people themselves, i.e. "the elect" 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
** ἐκλογή, ῆς ἡ
(< ἐκλέγω), [in Aq.: Is 22:7; Sm., Th.: Is 37:24 *;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G1589 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidek-log-ay'
(divine) selection (abstractly or concretely)
Fromfrom G1586;
King Jameschosen, election.
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
choice, selection, τῶν ἀρχόντων Refs 5th c.BC+; ἐ. [τῶν ἀρίστων νόμων] Refs 5th c.BC+
2 levying of troops, Refs 2nd c.BC+
3 collection of tribute, etc., κριθῶν Legal Attica cited in Refs 2nd c.AD+; σίτου Cratesap.Refs 2nd c.AD+
4 Theol., electionNT, etc.; σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς NT
5 balancing of accounts, Refs 2nd c.AD+
II extract, quotation from a book, Refs 3rd c.BC+
II.2 choice collection of passages, such as the Eclogae or 'Elegant Extracts' of Stobaeus: ἐκλογαὶ Ἀρχιγένους select prescriptions of Refs 4th c.BC+
II.3 διὰ τὴν ἐ. τῶν ἀνθρώπων because they were picked men, Refs 2nd c.BC+
II.4 ἐκλογήν· κάλαθον (Laconian dialect), Refs 5th 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 | eklogas1×ἐκλογὴ | eklogais |
| object accusative | eklogan5×ἐκλογὴν | eklogain |
| direct address vocative | eklogar | eklogair |
| of, belonging to genitive | eklogau1×ἐκλογῆς | eklogaiu |
| to, for dative | ekloga | eklogai |
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
ekloga 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.
7 occurrences, every one of them listed
eklogas“elect”subjectnominative singular1×
Romans 11:7… Israēl, houtem ouk epitunchanata, tas de eklogas epitunchanata; tois de loipois pōrila,… it failed to obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,
eklogan“election”objectaccusative singular5×
Romans 9:11… agathem ē faulem, hina tas kata eklogan prothesias tou theou menateiō,… in order that God’s plan of election might stand,
Romans 11:5… en to nun kairo leimmem kata eklogan charitau genatē;… present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
Romans 11:28… echthrois dia vin, kata de tan eklogan agapētois dia toin patroin;… enemies on your account; but regarding election, they are loved on account of …
1 Thessalonians 1:4oidarēntois, adelfoir agaporēntoir hupo theou, tan eklogan vu,… God, we know that He has chosen you,
2 Peter 1:10… spoudazavar bebaian vu tan klēsian kai eklogan poiorō; houteim gar poiarōntois ouk mē …… strive to make your calling and election sure. For if you practice these …
eklogau“chosen”of, belonging togenitive singular1×
Acts 9:15… auton tos kurios; Poreuosōr, hoti skevem eklogau atō mi houtos teu bastazara tem …… the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before …