noun · neuter
gonuem
Strong’sG1119
a knee
stem gonu-12 times in the New Testamentin 7 of 27 books2 of 6 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 knee, the joint of the leg 41. In use it appears literally as the body part 1, and also in set phrases describing bodily gestures: falling at someone's knees as an act of humble appeal 1, kneeling down to pray 1, and bending the knee, whether in mockery, in submission, or in worship 1. The word's origin is described as uncertain 2.
In wider Greek usage beyond the Bible, the same word could also describe clasping someone's knees as an especially earnest form of supplication, and it could be used figuratively of bringing a person "to the knee," meaning to humble or defeat them 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
γόνυ, -ατος, τό,
[in LXX chiefly for בֶּרֶךְ;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G1119 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidgon-oo'
the "knee"
Fromof uncertain affinity;
King Jamesknee(X -l).
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
genitive γόνατος, Epic dialect and Ionic dialect γούνατος (for γόνϝατος) Refs 8th c.BC+: plural nominative
A γούνατα Refs 8th c.BC+; also Epic dialect genitive γουνός (explanation as for γόνυος by Hdn.Gr.2.768, Refs 8th c.BC+:—Aeolic dialect accusative plural γόνα Refs 7th c.BC+
E has γουνάτων Refs accusative plural was read by Refs 5th c.AD+:—knee, γόνυ γουνὸς ἀμείβων Refs 8th c.BC+: frequently of clasping the knees in earnest supplication, ἥψατο γούνων Refs 5th c.BC+; ποτὶ (variant{περὶ}) or ἀμφὶ γούνασί τινος χεῖρας βαλεῖν Refs 8th c.BC+; ἐς γούνατά τινι or τινος πεσεῖν Refs 5th c.BC+; γόνυ τινός or πρὸς γόνυ προσπίπτεινRefs on my knees, Refs 5th c.BC+; πίπτειν πρὸς τὰ γ. τινος, tini, Refs 8th c.BC+
E.2 of a sitting posture, φημί μιν ἀσπασίως γ. κάμψειν will be glad to bend the knee so as to sit down and rest, Refs 8th c.BC+; but also, bow the knee in submission, ἐμοὶ κάμψει (intransitive) πᾶν γ. LXX; γ. ὀκλάζειν τινίLXX on one's knees, ἐπὶ γούνασι πατρός Refs 8th c.BC+; πέπλον.. θεῖναι Ἀθηναίης ἐπὶ γούνασιν to lay it on her lap (as an offering), Refs 8th c.BC+ it rests in the lap of.., Refs 8th c.BC+; but ἐν γούνασιν πίτνοντα Νίκας victorious, Refs 5th c.BC+
E.3 of the knees as the seat of strength, ἐν δὲ βίην ὤμοισι καὶ ἐν γούνεσσιν ἔθηκε Refs 8th c.BC+; of swiftness, λαιψηρά γ. Refs, etc.; ὑπὸ γούνατ᾽ ἔλυσεν Refs; βλάπτειν γ. τινι, κάματος δ᾽ ὑπὸ γ. ἐδάμνα, Refs:—passive, αὐτοῦ λύτο γούνατα Refs
E.4 metaphorically, ἐς γόνυ βάλλειν bring down upon the knee, i. e. humble, conquer, Refs 5th c.BC+; ἐς γ. ῥίπτειν, κλίνειν, Refs 4th c.BC+
E.5 proverbial, ἀπωτέρω ἢ γόνυ κνάμα 'blood is thicker than water', 'charity begins at home', Refs 4th c.BC+
E.II joint of grasses or plants, Refs 5th c.BC+. (Cf. Sanskrit jā´nu, Latin genu, etc.)
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 or object direct | gonuem2×γόνυ | gonueim |
| of, belonging to genitive | gonueu | gonueiu |
| to, for dative | gonue | gonuei1×γόνασιν |
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
gonue 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.
12 occurrences, every one of them listed
gonuem“knee”subject or objectdirect singular2×
Romans 14:11… legatō kurios, hoti mi kamptati pantem gonuem, kai pantas glōssas exomologeti to theo.… I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before Me; every tongue …
Philippians 2:10hina en te onome Iēsu pantem gonuem kamptateia epouranoiu kai epigeioiu kai katachthonioiu,… at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on …
gonuei“knees”to, fordative plural1×
Luke 5:8horarantos de Simōnos Petros prospiptata tei gonuei Iēsu legarōntos; Exerchasar apo mu, hoti …… saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees. “Go away from me, Lord,” he …
gonueim8×
Mark 15:19“knees”… kai emptuale auto, kai titharōntois teim gonueim proskunale auto.… staff and spitting on Him. And they knelt down and bowed before Him.
Luke 22:41“knees”… hōsei lithou bolan, kai titharantos teim gonueim proseuchote… He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, where He knelt down and prayed,
Acts 7:60titharantos de teim gonueim krazata fōna mega; Kurior, mē stēaseia …Falling on his knees, he cried out in a loud …
Acts 9:40“knees”… pantoin tos Petros kai titharantos teim gonueim proseucheta, kai epistrefarantos pros tem sōmem …Then Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down and prayed, and turning toward her body, he said …
Acts 20:36“knees”Kai houteim legarantos titharantos teim gonueim autou sun pantoi autoi proseucheta.… Paul had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed.
Acts 21:5“knees”… exō tau polau, kai titharantois teim gonueim epi ton aigialon proseucherantois… journey. All the disciples, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city and knelt down on the beach to pray …
Ephesians 3:14Houteu charin kamptamō teim gonueim mu pros ton patron,... for this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
Hebrews 12:12… tain pariēkorēntain cheirain kai teim paraluorēnteim gonueim anorthavar,… strengthen your limp hands and weak knees.
gonuem1×
Romans 11:4… miauto heptakischilioi androin, hotinois ouk kamptala gonuem ta Baal.… men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”