noun · masculine
hēlios
Strong’sG2246
the sun, sunlight
stem hēli-32 times in the New Testamentin 8 of 27 books4 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 sun, the heavenly body that gives light and heat, and by extension its light itself 124. The word is used both with and without the definite article to refer to the sun in the sky, its rising, its shining, or its being darkened or hidden 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
ἥλιος, -ου, ὁ,
[in LXX chiefly for שֶׁמֶשׁ;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G2246 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidhay'-lee-os
perhaps akin to the alternate of G138); the sun; by implication, light
Fromfrom ἕλη (a ray;
King James+ east, sun.
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
Epic dialect ἠέλιος, as always in Refs 8th c.BC+ (except in the late passage Refs 8th c.BC+: Doric dialect ἀέλιος [ᾱ] Refs 5th c.BC+, but ἅλιος [ᾱ], Refs 5th c.BC+: Cretan dialect ἀβέλιος (i.e. ἀϝ-), Refs 5th c.AD+: Aeolic dialect ἀέλιος Refs 7th c.BC+; ἄλιος Refs 7th c.BC+ ἀέλιος (or ἁ-) Refs 4th c.BC+:— sun, Refs 8th c.BC+; ὁρᾶν φάος ἠελίοιο to see the light of life, live, Refs, etc.; ὑπ᾽ ἠελίῳ τε καὶ οὐρανῷ ἀστερόεντι ναιετάουσι Refs 5th c.BC+; also ὑπὸ ἡλίου ἑωρᾶσθαι Refs 5th c.BC+; ὥσπερ σελήνη γ᾽ ἡλίῳ (i.e. ὅμοιος) a pale reflection, Refs
2 to determine the cardinal points, πρὸς ἠῶ τ᾽ ἠέλιόν τε towards the Refs 8th c.BC+; πρὸς ἠῶ τε καὶ ἡλίου ἀνατολάς, opposed to πρὸς ἑσπέρην, Refs 5th c.BC+; οἱ ἀπὸ ἡλίου ἀνατολέων Αἰθίοπες the eastern.. , Refs
3 day, Refs 5th c.BC+; a day, Refs 5th c.BC+; later, year, Refs 3rd c.BC+
4 sunshine, sun's heat, ἐπὶ τοῖς ὄρεσιν Refs 5th c.BC+; πολὺντὸν ἥ. ἐμφαίνειν, of a sunburnt person, Refs: plural, sunbeams, Refs 4th c.BC+; hot sunny days, Refs 5th c.BC+
5 metaphorically, sunshine, brightness, ψυχῆς Refs 1st c.AD+; of a person, Ἑλλάνων δόξης δεύτερον Ἀέλιον Refs; of Refs 1st c.BC+; νέος Ἥ., of Nero and Caligula, Refs
II as proper name, Helios, the sun-god, Refs 8th c.BC+; νὴ τὸν Ἥ. Refs 4th c.BC+; ὑπὸ Δία Γῆν Ἥλιον, in manumission-formula, Refs 1st c.AD+; [Ἥλιος] δούλους ἐλευθέρους ποιεῖ Refs 2nd c.AD+; identified with Apollo, Refs 5th c.BC+
II.2 Ἡλίου ἀστήρ, of the planet Refs 5th c.BC+ sāwelios, cf. Cretan dialect ἀβέλιος, Lithuanian sáulė, Latin sōl.)
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 | hēlios14×ἥλιος | hēliois |
| object accusative | hēlion4×ἥλιον | hēlioin |
| direct address vocative | hēlior | hēlioir |
| of, belonging to genitive | hēliou12×ἡλίου | hēlioiu |
| to, for dative | hēlio2×ἡλίῳ | hēlioi |
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
hēlio 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.
32 occurrences, every one of them listed
hēlios“sun”subjectnominative singular14×
Matthew 13:43Tote tois dikaiois eklampali hōs tos hēlios en ta basileia tou patrou autoiu. …… the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father …
Matthew 17:2… lampata tem prosōpem autou hōs tos hēlios, teim de himatieim autou geneta leukeim …… them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white …
Matthew 24:29… tan thlipsian taiu hēmeraiu ekeinaiu tos hēlios skotiziti, kai tas selēnas ouk dōati …… the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon …
Mark 1:32“sun”Opsēau de generantau, hote dusata tos hēlios, ferale pros auton pantoin toin kakōs …That evening, after sunset, people brought to Jesus all the sick and …
Mark 4:6kai hote anatellata tos hēlios kaumatizita kai dia tem mē echarō …But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and …
Mark 13:24… hēmerai meta tan thlipsian ekeinan tos hēlios skotiziti, kai tas selēnas ouk dōati …… those days, after that tribulation: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon …
Acts 2:20tos hēlios metastrefiti eis skotem kai tas selēnas …The sun will be turned to darkness, and …
Ephesians 4:26orgizovōr kai mē hamartavōr; tos hēlios mē epiduatōr epi parorgismoso vu,… not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger,
James 1:11anatellata gar tos hēlios sun to kausōno kai xēranata ton …For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers …
Revelation 1:16… kai tas opsias autou hōs tos hēlios fanatō en ta dunamia autou.… mouth. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.
Revelation 6:12… kai seismos megos geneta, kai tos hēlios geneta melanos hōs sakkos trichinos, kai …… was a great earthquake, and the sun became black like sackcloth of goat …
Revelation 7:16… oude mē piptateia epi autoin tos hēlios oude pantem kaumem,… will they thirst; nor will the sun beat down upon them, nor any …
Revelation 9:2… kapnos kaminosau megau, kai skotita tos hēlios kai tos aeros ek tou kapnou …… of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by …
Revelation 10:1… kai tem prosōpem autou hōs tos hēlios, kai tois podois autou hōs stulois …… head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like pillars …
hēlion“sun”objectaccusative singular4×
Matthew 5:45… vu tou en ouranoi, hoti ton hēlion autou anatellatō epi ponēroin kai agathoin …… Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and …
Acts 13:11… kai esi tuflos mē bleparōntos ton hēlion achri kairou. parachrēma de piptata epi …… to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over …
Revelation 12:1… en to ourano, gunaikas peribalorēntas ton hēlion, kai tas selēnas hupokatō toiu podoiu …… heaven: a woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet …
Revelation 16:8… ekchata tan fialan autou epi ton hēlion; kai dōita auto kaumatizara toin anthrōpoin …… poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given power to …
hēliou“sun”of, belonging togenitive singular12×
Matthew 13:6hēliou de anatellarantou kaumatizita kai dia tem …But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and …
Mark 16:2“sun”… ercholō epi tem mnēmeiem anatellarantou tou hēliou.… they went to the tomb.
Luke 4:40“sun”Dusarōntou de tou hēliou hapantois hosois echale asthenarōntoin nosai poikilai …At sunset, all who were ill with various diseases were brought …
Luke 23:45tou hēliou ekliparantou, schizita de tem katapetasmem tou …The sun was darkened, and the veil of …
Acts 26:13… basilevor, ouranothen huper tan lamprotan tou hēliou perilamparantem min fōtem kai toin sun …… light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions.
Acts 27:20mēte de hēliou mēte astreiu epifanarōnteiu epi polloterain hēmerain, …When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days …
1 Corinthians 15:41allosas doxas hēliou, kai allosas doxas selēnau, kai allosas …The sun has one degree of splendor, the …
Revelation 7:2“sun”… horama alloson angelon anabainarōnton apo anatolau hēliou, echarōnton sfragidan theou zōarōntou, kai krazata …And I saw another angel ascending from the east, with the seal of the living God. And he called …
Revelation 8:12… salpizata; kai plēssita tem tritem tou hēliou kai tem tritem tau selēnau kai …… trumpet, and a third of the sun and moon and stars were struck …
Revelation 16:12“of (the) Sun.”… hodas toiu basilevoiu toiu apo anatolau hēliou.… prepare the way for the kings of the …
Revelation 21:23… tas polas ouk chreian echatō tou hēliou oude tau selēnau, hina fanaleiō auta, …… the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it …
Revelation 22:5… echalō chreian fōteu luchnou kai fōtem hēliou, hoti kurios tos theos fōtizati epi …… of a lamp or of the sun. For the Lord God will shine …
hēlio“sun”to, fordative singular2×
Luke 21:25Kai eli sēmeim en hēlio kai selēna kai astrei, kai epi …There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on …
Revelation 19:17… horama henon angelon stēarēnton en to hēlio, kai krazata fōna mega legarōntos pantei …… saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out in a …