noun · masculine
eniautos
Strong’sG1763
a year
stem eniaut-14 times in the New Testamentin 7 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
A year — a period of twelve months, used both as a simple time-marker and in various time-phrases such as spending a year somewhere, doing something once a year, or year by year 1234. Strong's traces the word back to a root meaning "year" itself 2.
Beyond this ordinary sense, the word could also denote a cycle or period of time more generally, not tied to exactly one year 13. In wider Greek usage this range included the idea of an anniversary, a long recurring period, or the completion of a cycle, though this broader use does not occur in the Bible itself 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
ἐνιαυτός, -οῦ, ὁ
[in LXX for שָׁנֶה;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G1763 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saiden-ee-ow-tos'
a year
Fromprolongation from a primary ἔνος (a year);
King Jamesyear.
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
(ἐνί, αὐτός) properly anniversary, μηδὲ τᾷ ὑστεραίᾳ μηδ᾽ ἐν ταῖς δεκάταις μηδ᾽ ἐν τοῖς ἐνιαυτοῖς Refs before the lapse of a year, Refs; ἐνιαυτῷ on the expiry of a year, Refs; and so, any long period of time, cycle, period, ἔτος ἦλθε περιπλομένων ἐνιαυτῶν as times rolled on the year came, Refs 8th c.BC+; ὁ μέγας ἐ., of a Pythagorean cycle, Refs 4th c.BC+.; also of the Metonic Cycle of nineteen years, Refs 1st c.BC+; of a period of Refs 1st c.AD+
2 ={ἔτος}, a year, εἴνατός ἐστι περιτροπέων ἐ. Refs 8th c.BC+; μῆνές τε καὶ ἐνιαυτῶν περίοδοι LXX+5th c.BC+during a year, Refs 8th c.BC+; αἱ σπονδαὶ ἐνιαυτὸν ἔσονται Indut. cited in Refs 5th c.BC+; τὸν πρῶτον ἐ. Refs 5th c.BC+; ὁπηνίκα.. τοὐνιαυτοῦ at what time in the year, Refs 5th c.BC+; δὶς τοῦ ἐ. twice a year, Refs 5th c.BC+every year, Refs 5th c.BC+; δι᾽ ἐ. πέμπτου every five years, Refs 5th c.BC+; θητεύσαμεν εἰς ἐ. for a year, Refs 8th c.BC+; κατ᾽ ἐνιαυτὸν ἄρξαι for a year, Refs 5th c.BC+; or, every year, Refs 5th c.BC+; ἐπ᾽ ἐ. for a year, Refs 5th c.BC+; μετὰ τὸν ἐ. at the end of the year, Refs 5th c.BC+; παρ᾽ ἐνιαυτὸν ἄρχειν in alternate years, Refs 1st c.BC+; πρὸ ἐνιαυτοῦ a year before, Refs 1st c.AD+; ἐς τὸν σᾶτες ἐ. for the current year, Refs; ἐν τῷ καθ᾽ ἕτος ἐ. in the current year, Refs
3 Ἐνιαυτός, personified, Refs 4th c.BC+
II name for a Cornucopiae, Refs 3rd 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 | eniautos | eniautois |
| object accusative | eniauton8×ἐνιαυτὸν | eniautoin2×ἐνιαυτούς |
| direct address vocative | eniautor | eniautoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | eniautou4×ἐνιαυτοῦ | eniautoiu |
| to, for dative | eniauto | eniautoi |
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
eniauto 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.
14 occurrences, every one of them listed
eniauton“year”objectaccusative singular8×
Luke 4:19kērussara eniauton kuriou dekton.to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Acts 11:26… eis Antiocheian. geneta de autoi kai eniauton holon sunagira en ta ekklēsa kai …… to Antioch. So for a full year they met together with the church …
Acts 18:11kathizata de eniauton kai mēnoin hex didaskarōntos en autoi …So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching the word …
Hebrews 9:25… archierevos eiserchotō eis teim hagieim kata eniauton en haime allotrie,… enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his …
Hebrews 10:1… autan tan eikonan teiu pragmeiu, kata eniauton tai autai thusiai hain prosferalō eis …… never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who …
Hebrews 10:3“year,”alla en autai anamnēsias hamartaiu kata eniauton,Instead, those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins,
James 4:13… hōdan tan polan kai poiani ekei eniauton kai emporeueni kai kerdainani;… this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make …
Revelation 9:15… hōran kai hēmeran kai mēnon kai eniauton, hina apoktenaleia tem tritem toiu anthrōpoiu.… hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third …
eniautou“year”of, belonging togenitive singular4×
John 11:49… ek autoiu Kaiafos, archierevos arōntos tou eniautou ekeinou, legata autoi; Vis ouk oidavē …… Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing …
John 11:51… ouk legata, alla archierevos arōntos tou eniautou ekeinou profēteuata hoti mellate Iēsus apothnēskarō …… own. Instead, as high priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus would …
John 18:13… tou Kaiafou, hos ate archierevos tou eniautou ekeinou;… of Caiaphas, the high priest that year.
Hebrews 9:7eis de tan deuteran hapax tou eniautou monos tos archierevos, ouk chōris haimeu, …… room, and then only once a year, and never without blood, which he …
eniautoin“years”objectaccusative plural2×
Galatians 4:10… paratērovō kai mēnoin kai kairoin kai eniautoin.… days and months and seasons and years!
James 5:17… kai ouk brechata epi tau gēau eniautoin treis kai mēnoin hex;… land for three and a half years.