noun · masculine
hupēretos
Strong’sG5257
a servant, an attendant
stem hupēret-20 times in the New Testamentin 6 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
The word denotes a servant, attendant, or subordinate assistant 124 — literally an "under-rower," someone who rows beneath another, a sense from which the more general meaning of a subordinate helper developed 123.
In this general sense it covers a range of assistants and officials: the attendant of a magistrate, the officers who served the synagogue or the Sanhedrin, the attendants of a king, and, applied figuratively, a minister or servant of Christ or "of the word" 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
ὑπηρέτης, -ου, ὁ
(< ὑπό + ἐρέτης, a rower) [in LXX: Pr 14:35 (עֶבֶד), Wi 6:4, al.;]
SYN.: v.s. διάκονος
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G5257 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidhoop-ay-ret'-ace
an under-oarsman, i.e. (generally) subordinate (assistant, sexton, constable)
Fromfrom G5259 and a derivative of ἐρέσσω (to row);
King Jamesminister, officer, servant.
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
(ἐρέτης) Doric dialect ὑπηρέτας Refs 4th c.BC+:— rower, τοὶ ὑ. τᾶν μακρᾶν ναῶν Refs
II underling, servant, attendant, Refs 5th c.BC+; ὑ. [τῆς πόλεως], opposed to ἄρχων, Refs 4th c.BC+; τῶν ἰατρῶν, τῶν δικαστῶν ὑ., Refs 5th c.BC+; used in Trag. and Attic dialect to express all kinds of subordinate relations, as Hermes is ὑ. θεῶν, Refs 4th c.BC+; the Delphians are Φοίβου ὑπηρέται, Refs 5th c.BC+; Neoptolemus is ὑ. to Odysseus, Refs: sometimes with dative, τῷ θεῷ ὑ. Refs 5th c.BC+; τοῖς νόμοιςRefs 5th c.BC+; opposed to οἰκέτης, Refs 5th c.BC+ a helper in every work, Refs
II.2 at Athens,
II.2.a the servant who attended each man-at-arms (ὁπλίτης) to carry his baggage, rations, and shield, Refs 5th c.BC+; sometimes light-armed as slingers or bowmen, Refs 5th c.BC+
II.2.b ὁ τῶν ἕνδεκα ὑ. the assistant of the Eleven, employed in executions of state-criminals, Refs 5th c.BC+
II.2.c a petty officer of the Council, Refs 4th c.BC+
II.3 plural, staff-officers in immediate attendance on the general, aides-de-camp, adjutants, Refs 5th c.BC+; also, officer attached to τάξις, σύνταγμα, or ἑκατονταρχία, Refs 1st c.BC+
II.4 servitor in the cult of Mithras, Refs
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 | hupēretos | hupēretois9×ὑπηρέται |
| object accusative | hupēreton2×ὑπηρέτην | hupēretoin3×ὑπηρέτας |
| direct address vocative | hupēretor | hupēretoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | hupēretou | hupēretoiu3×ὑπηρετῶν |
| to, for dative | hupēreto2×ὑπηρέτῃ | hupēretoi1×ὑπηρέταις |
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
hupēreto 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
Words built on the same stem
Other words sharing the exact same stem — not merely related in meaning.
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
20 occurrences, every one of them listed
hupēreton“servant”objectaccusative singular2×
Acts 13:5“assistant”… toiu Ioudaioiu; echale de kai Iōannon hupēreton.… Jewish synagogues. And John was with …
Acts 26:16… houtem gar horima si, procheirizera sin hupēreton kai marturon heiu tē horasa min …… you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what …
hupēreto“officer”to, fordative singular2×
Matthew 5:25… to krito, kai tos kritos to hupēreto, kai eis fulakan balisi;… may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into …
Luke 4:20kai ptussarantos tem bibliem apodōarantos to hupēreto kathizata; kai pantoiu tois ofthalmois en …… the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of …
hupēretois“officers”subjectnominative plural9×
Mark 14:65“guards”… kai legarō auto; Profēteuasar, kai tois hupēretois rapismei auton labala.… spit on Him. They blindfolded Him, struck Him with their fists, and said to Him, “Prophesy!” And the officers received Him with slaps in His …
Luke 1:2… ni tois apo archau autoptois kai hupēretois generantois tou logou,… us by the initial eyewitnesses and servants of the word.
John 7:45Erchala oun tois hupēretois pros toin archierevoin kai Farisaioin, kai …Then the officers returned to the chief priests and …
John 7:46apokrinila tois hupēretois; Oudepote lalata houtōs anthrōpos.… anyone spoken like this man!” the officers answered.
John 18:12… speiras kai tos chiliarchos kai tois hupēretois toiu Ioudaioiu sullabala ton Iēsun kai …… soldiers, with its commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and …
John 18:18stēalelē de tois doulois kai tois hupēretois anthrakian poiarēntois, hoti psuchem ate, kai …… it was cold, the servants and officers were standing around a charcoal fire …
John 18:36… ate tas basileias tas ēmas, tois hupēretois tois ēmois agōnizole an, hina mē …… this world; if it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest …
John 19:6… horala auton tois archierevois kai tois hupēretois kraugazala legarōntois; Staurasar staurasar. legatō autoi …… soon as the chief priests and officers saw Him, they shouted, “Crucify Him …
Acts 5:22tois de paragenerantois hupēretois ouk heuriskala autoin en ta fulaka, …… on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So …
hupēretoin“officers”objectaccusative plural3×
John 7:32… apostelala tois archierevois kai tois Farisaiois hupēretoin hina piazaleia auton.… they and the chief priests sent officers to arrest Him.
John 18:3… toiu archierevoiu kai ek toiu Farisaioiu hupēretoin erchotō ekei meta fanoiu kai lampadaiu …… brought a band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees …
1 Corinthians 4:1Houtōs nin logizotōr anthrōpos hōs hupēretoin Christou kai oikonomoin mustērieiu theou.… men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the …
hupēretoiu“guards”of, belonging togenitive plural3×
Matthew 26:58… kai eisercharantos esō kathote meta toiu hupēretoiu horara tem telem.… in and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.
Mark 14:54“guards”… archierevou kai ate sunkathorōntos meta toiu hupēretoiu kai thermainorōntos pros tem fōtem.… followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he sat with the officers and warmed himself by the fire.
John 18:22… de autou legarantou henos parastēarēntos toiu hupēretoiu dōata rapismem to Iēso legarantos; Houtōs …… had said this, one of the officers standing nearby slapped Him in the …
hupēretoi“officers”to, fordative plural1×
Acts 5:26tote apercharantos tos stratēgos sun toi hupēretoi agata autoin, ouk meta biau, fobole …… point, the captain went with the officers and brought the apostles — but not …