noun · masculine
ergatos
Strong’sG2040
a field-laborer, workman
stem ergat-16 times in the New Testamentin 8 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
ἐργάτης most basically means a field-laborer, one who works the soil, a husbandman 134. This is its literal, proper sense, used of those who labor in the harvest fields 1.
More generally it means a workman or laborer of any kind, a hired hand doing manual work, at times distinguished from a skilled craftsman 1. The word is also used figuratively of Christian teachers, describing their labor as that of a workman 123.
It can also mean simply a doer, one who practices or carries out a particular deed, as in "a doer of injustice" 13.
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
** ἐργάτης, -ου, ὁ
(< ἐργάζομαι, q.v.), [in LXX: Wi 17:17, Si 19:1 40:18, I Mac 3:6 *;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G2040 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saider-gat'-ace
a toiler; figuratively, a teacher
Fromfrom G2041;
King Jameslabourer, worker(-men).
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
workman, Hermes NT, etc.; especially one who works the soil, husbandman, Refs 5th c.BC+: absolutely, Refs 5th c.BC+, etc.: also with substantive, Refs 4th c.BC+ the country-folk, Refs 5th c.BC+; of animals, βοῦς ἐ. a working ox, Refs 7th c.BC+; also ἐ. θαλάττης, of a fisher, Refs 4th c.AD+ a stone-mason, Refs 2nd c.AD+
b in the religious sense, NT
2 adjective hard-working, strenuous, Refs 6th c.BC+; opposed to ἀργός, Refs 5th c.BC+.
II one who practises an art, Refs 6th c.BC+; ἐ. δίκης, of a judge, Refs 3rd c.BC+, practitioner in some special branch of surgery, e.g. lithotomy, Refs 5th c.BC+
III doer, NT+6th c.BC+.
IV producer, Refs 1st c.AD+
V a sort of capstan or windlass, 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 | ergatos3×ἐργάτης | ergatois3×ἐργάται |
| object accusative | ergaton1×ἐργάτην | ergatoin6×ἐργάτας |
| direct address vocative | ergator | ergatoir1×ἐργάται |
| of, belonging to genitive | ergatou | ergatoiu2×ἐργατῶν |
| to, for dative | ergato | ergatoi |
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
ergato 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.
16 occurrences, every one of them listed
ergatos“laborer”subjectnominative singular3×
Matthew 10:10… hupodēmeim mēde rabdan; axios gar tos ergatos tau trofēau autou.… or sandals, or staff; for the worker is worthy of his provisions.
Luke 10:7“laborer”… teim para autoiu, axios gar tos ergatos tou misthou autou. mē metabainavōr ek …… are offered. For the worker is worthy of his wages. Do not move around from house to …
1 Timothy 5:18“laborer”… aloarōnton ouk fimasi, kai; Axios tos ergatos tou misthou autou.… says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and, “The worker is worthy of his wages.”
ergaton“worker”objectaccusative singular1×
2 Timothy 2:15“worker”spoudazasar siauton dokimon parastēara to theo, ergaton anepaischunton, orthotomarōnton ton logon tau alētheiau.… effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth.
ergatois“workers”subjectnominative plural3×
Matthew 9:37… Tos men therismos pollos, tois de ergatois oligois;… The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
Luke 10:2“laborers”… Tos men therismos pollos, tois de ergatois oligois; divar oun tou kuriou tou …… told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send …
2 Corinthians 11:13tois gar toioutois pseudapostolois, ergatois doliois, metaschēmatizorōntois eis apostoloin Christou;… such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
ergatoin“workers”objectaccusative plural6×
Matthew 9:38… tou kuriou tou therismou hopōs ekbalateia ergatoin eis ton therismon autou.… the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest.”
Matthew 20:1“laborers”… oikodespoto hotinos exerchata hama prōi misthera ergatoin eis ton ampelōnon autou.… like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.
Matthew 20:8“laborers”… ampelōnou to epitropo autou; Kalasar toin ergatoin kai apodōasar autoi ton misthon archerantos …… of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and moving on to the first.’
Luke 10:2“laborers”… oun tou kuriou tou therismou hopōs ergatoin ekbalateia eis ton therismon autou.… few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest.
Acts 19:25“workers”… sunathroizarantos kai toin peri teim toiouteim ergatoin legata; Androir, epistovō hoti ek houtau …Demetrius assembled the craftsmen, along with the workmen in related trades. “Men,” he said, “you know that this business is our source of prosperity.
Philippians 3:2Blepavōr toin kunoin, blepavōr toin kakosoin ergatoin, blepavōr tan katatoman.Watch out for those dogs, those workers of evil, those mutilators of the …
ergatoir“workers”direct addressvocative plural1×
Luke 13:27“workers”… pothen avō; apostēavar apo mu, pantoir ergatoir adikiau.… not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’
ergatoiu“laborers”of, belonging togenitive plural2×
Matthew 20:2“laborers”sumfōnarantos de meta toiu ergatoiu ek dēnarieu tan hēmeran apostelata autoin …… them a denarius for the day and sent them into his …
James 5:4“laborers”idou tos misthos toiu ergatoiu toiu amarantoiu tain chōrain vu tos …Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of …