conjunction
hothen
Strong’sG3606
whence, wherefore
stem hothen-15 times in the New Testamentin 5 of 27 booksnever changes form
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
ὅθεν means "from which place," "from where" — indicating the place or source that something comes from 1234. In this sense it can point to a physical place someone or something departs from or returns to, or to a source from which something is drawn or known 13.
ὅθεν also means "for which reason," "wherefore" — introducing a conclusion or consequence, giving the cause or ground for what follows 1234.
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
Strong’s G3606 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidhoth'-en
from which place or source or cause (adverb or conjunction)
Fromfrom G3739 with the directive enclitic of source;
King Jamesfrom thence, (from) whence, where(-by, -fore, -upon).
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
relative adverb whence, ὑπὸ πλατανίστῳ, ὅ. ῥέεν ἀγλαὸν ὕδωρ Refs 8th c.BC+; ἐξ Ἐνετῶν, ὅ. ἡμιόνων γένοςRefs; also, from whom or which, ὅθεν περ Ὁμηρίδαι ἄρχονται, Διὸς ἐκ προοιμίου Refs 5th c.BC+; ὅθεν δή Refs 8th c.BC+
b in Attic dialect Prose, ὅθεν δή from whatever source, in what manner soever, Refs 5th c.BC+; also ἄλλοθεν ὁθενοῦν from any other place whatsoever, Refs 5th c.BC+
2 for where or whither, by attraction, when the antecedent clause contains a notion of place whence, ἐκ δὲ γῆς, ὅ. προὔκειτ᾽ from the ground where it lay, Refs 5th c.BC+; ὅ... ἀπέλιπες, ἀποκρίνου answer [from the point] where you left off, Refs 5th c.BC+; ὅθεν, ={ἐκεῖσε ὅθεν}, Refs 5th c.BC+; ὅθεν περ, ={ἐκεῖθεν ὅθεν περ}, Refs
II whence, for which reason, σφυρῶν.. κέντρα διαπείρας μέσον, ὅ. νιν Ἑλλὰς ὠνόμαζεν Οἰδίπουν Refs 5th c.BC+; for what reason, Refs 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.
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
15 occurrences, every one of them listed
hothen13×
Matthew 12:44“from which”… legatō; Eis ton oikon mu epistrefami hothen exerchama; kai ercharantem heuriskatō scholazarōnton sarorēnton …Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ On its return, it finds the house vacant, swept clean, and …
Luke 11:24“from which”… legatō; Hupostrefami eis ton oikon mu hothen exerchama;… Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’
Acts 14:26kakeithen apoplala eis Antiocheian, hothen ale paradōorēntois ta charita tou theou …From Attalia they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the …
Acts 28:13hothen periairarantois katantana eis Rēgiem. kai meta …From there we weighed anchor and came to …
Hebrews 11:19“from which”… ek nekroiu egerarō dunatos tos theos; hothen auton kai en parabola komizeta.… reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death.
Matthew 14:7“therefore”hothen meta horkou homologata auta dōara hem …… that he promised with an oath to give to her whatever she asked.
Matthew 25:24… therizarōntos hopou ouk sperasa kai sunagarōntos hothen ouk diaskorpizasa;… you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
Matthew 25:26… therizamō hopou ouk sperama kai sunagamō hothen ouk diaskorpizama?… I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed.
Hebrews 2:17“therefore”hothen ofeilate kata panteim toi adelfoi homoiira, …… reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, so …
Hebrews 7:25hothen kai sōzarō eis tem pantelem dunotō …Therefore He is able to save completely …
Hebrews 8:3“therefore”… prosferarō dōreim tē kai thusiain katastēotō; hothen anankaiem echarō tinem kai houton hem …… priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, it was necessary for this One also to have something to offer.
Hebrews 9:18“therefore”hothen oude tas prōtas chōris haimeu enkainizotē;… why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.
1 John 2:18“by which”… erchotō, kai nun antichristois pollois genalē; hothen gnōskanō hoti eschatas hōras atō.… antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.
Hothen2×
Acts 26:19“therefore”Hothen, basilevor Agrippor, ouk genema apeithos ta …So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
Hebrews 3:1Hothen, adelfoir hagioir, klēsiau epouranau metochoir, katanoavar …Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the …