noun · masculine
hekatontarchēos
Strong’sG1543
a centurion
stem hekatontarchē-17 times in the New Testamentin 3 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
A centurion — a military officer who commanded a hundred soldiers, as reflected in the word's formation from "hundred" and "to rule/command" 23. It renders a Hebrew term for "captain of a hundred" in the Greek Old Testament 1, and the same word also appears in an alternate spelling within the New Testament 1. It is attested both in the New Testament and in earlier Greek writing going back to the 5th century BC 3. 4
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
ἑκατοντάρχης (-άρχος, Mt 8:5, 8 27:54, Lk 7:2, Ac 22:25 28:16; cf. M, Pr., 48); -ου
(< ἑκατόν, ἄρχω,), [in LXX for מֵאָה שַׂר;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G1543 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidhek-at-on-tar'-khace
the captain of one hundred men
Fromfrom G1540 and G757;
King Jamescenturion.
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
={ἑκατοντάρχης}, NT+5th 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 | hekatontarchēos8×ἑκατοντάρχης | hekatontarchēois |
| object accusative | hekatontarchēon1×ἑκατόνταρχον | hekatontarchēoin1×ἑκατοντάρχας |
| direct address vocative | hekatontarchēor | hekatontarchēoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | hekatontarchēou1×Ἑκατοντάρχου | hekatontarchēoiu2×ἑκατονταρχῶν |
| to, for dative | hekatontarchēo4×ἑκατοντάρχῃ | hekatontarchēoi |
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
hekatontarchēo 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.
17 occurrences, every one of them listed
hekatontarchēos“centurion”subjectnominative singular8×
Luke 7:6… apo tau oikiau pempata filoin tos hekatontarchēos legarōntos auto; Kurior, mē skullosōr, ouk …… not far from the house, the centurion sent friends with the message: “Lord …
Luke 23:47Horarantos de tos hekatontarchēos tem generantem doxazate ton theon legarōntos; …When the centurion saw what had happened, he gave …
Acts 10:1… de tinos en Kaisareia onome Kornēlios, hekatontarchēos ek speirau tau kalorōntau Italikau,… was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian …
Acts 10:22tois de legala; Kornēlios hekatontarchēos, andros dikaios kai foborōntos ton theon …“Cornelius the centurion has sent us,” they said. “He …
Acts 22:26akouarantos de tos hekatontarchēos prosercharantos to chiliarcho apangelata legarōntos; Tinem …On hearing this, the centurion went and reported it to the …
Acts 27:6kakei heuriskarantos tos hekatontarchēos ploiem Alexandrinem plarōntem eis tan Italian …There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for …
Acts 27:11tos de hekatontarchēos to kubernēto kai to nauklēro mallon …But contrary to Paul’s advice, the centurion was persuaded by the pilot and …
Acts 27:43tos de hekatontarchēos boulorōntos diasōzara ton Paulon kōluata autoin …But the centurion, wanting to spare Paul’s life, thwarted …
hekatontarchēon“centurion”objectaccusative singular1×
Acts 22:25… toi himantoi legata pros ton stēarēnton hekatontarchēon tos Paulos; Ei anthrōpon Rōmaion kai …… him down, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it lawful for …
hekatontarchēou“centurion’s”of, belonging togenitive singular1×
Luke 7:2“centurion’s”Hekatontarchēou de tinou doulos kakōs echarōntos mellate …… highly valued servant of a centurion was sick and about to die.
hekatontarchēo“centurion”to, fordative singular4×
Matthew 8:13kai legata tos Iēsus to hekatontarchēo; Hupagasōr, hōs pisteuasa genitar si; kai …Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! As you have believed, so …
Acts 24:23diatasserantos to hekatontarchēo tērorō auton echarō tē anesian kai …He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard, but …
Acts 27:1… tē Paulon kai tinoin heteroin desmōtoin hekatontarchēo onome Ioulio speirau Sebastau.… prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the …
Acts 27:31legata tos Paulos to hekatontarchēo kai toi stratiōtoi; Ean mē houtois …But Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men …
hekatontarchēoin“centurions”objectaccusative plural1×
Acts 21:32hos exautēs paralabarantos stratiōtoin kai hekatontarchēoin katatrechata epi autoin, tois de horarantois …Immediately he took some soldiers and centurions and ran down to the crowd …
hekatontarchēoiu“centurions”of, belonging togenitive plural2×
Acts 23:17proskalerantos de tos Paulos henon toiu hekatontarchēoiu fēate; Ton neanion houton apagasōr pros …Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man …
Acts 23:23Kai proskalerantos tinoin duo toiu hekatontarchēoiu legata; Hetoimazavar stratiōtoin diakosioi hopōs poreuileia …Then he called two of his centurions and said, “Prepare two hundred soldiers …