noun · masculine
iōsēf
Strong’sG2501
Joseph
stem iōsēf-35 times in the New Testamentin 7 of 27 books5 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
Joseph is the Greek form of a Hebrew personal name 24, used in the New Testament not as a common word but as the name of several different individuals 12.
Among those it identifies are the son of Jacob, the patriarch 1; two men listed as ancestors of Jesus in his genealogy 1; the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus 1; one of the brothers of Jesus 1; possibly also the man elsewhere called Joses, a son of Mary, according to one textual reading 1; and Joseph of Arimathea 1. The name is also given elsewhere as an alternate name for Barnabas and for Barsabbas 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
Ἰωσήφ, indecl.
(FlJ, Ἰώσηπος, -ου), ὁ (Heb. יוֹסֵף),
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G2501 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidee-o-safe'
Joseph, the name of seven Israelites
Fromof Hebrew origin ();
King JamesJoseph.
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
Joses;
__1. brother of our Lord:
__2. Son of Mary:
__3. see: Βαρνάβας.†
(From Abbott-Smith. LSJ has no entry)
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 | iōsēf14×Ἰωσὴφ | iōsēf |
| object accusative | iōsēf5×Ἰωσὴφ | iōsēf |
| direct address vocative | iōsēf1×Ἰωσὴφ | iōsēf |
| of, belonging to genitive | iōsēf10×Ἰωσὴφ | iōsēf |
| to, for dative | iōsēf5×Ἰωσὴφ | iōsēf |
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
same in every form varies — every value shown
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
35 occurrences, every one of them listed
iōsēf“Joseph”subjectnominative singular14×
Matthew 1:19Iōsēf de tos andros autau, dikaios arōntos …Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man …
Matthew 1:24egerirantos de tos Iōsēf apo tou hupnou poiata hōs prostassata …When Joseph woke up, he did as the …
Matthew 13:55… kai tois adelfois autou Iakōbos kai Iōsēf kai Simōnos kai Ioudos?… Mary, and aren’t His brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?
Matthew 27:57… erchata anthrōpos plousios apo Harimathaiau, tounomem Iōsēf, hos kai autos mathēteuita to Iēso;… a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who himself was a disciple of …
Matthew 27:59kai labarantos tem sōmem tos Iōsēf entulissata autem sindona kathara,So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in …
Mark 15:43ercharantos Iōsēf tos apo Harimathaiau euschēmōnos bouleutos, hos …Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent Council member …
Luke 1:27pros parthenan mnēsteuorēntan andro ho onomem Iōsēf ek oikou David, kai tem onomem …… in marriage to a man named Joseph, who was of the house of …
Luke 2:4Anabainata de kai Iōsēf apo tau Galilaiau ek polau Nazareth …So Joseph also went up from Nazareth in …
Luke 23:50Kai idou andros onome Iōsēf bouleutos huparcharōntos, andros agathos kai dikaios… there was a Council member named Joseph, a good and righteous man,
John 19:38Meta de houteim erōtata ton Pilaton Iōsēf apo Harimathaiau, arōntos mathētos tou Iēsu …Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple …
Acts 4:36Iōsēf de tos epikalirantos Barnabos apo toiu …Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the …
Acts 7:13kai en te deutere anagnōrizita Iōsēf toi adelfoi autou, kai fanerem geneta …On their second visit, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers …
Acts 7:14apostelarantos de Iōsēf metakaleta Iakōb ton patron autou kai …Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and …
Hebrews 11:22pistia Iōsēf teleutarōntos peri tau exodau toiu huioiu …By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke …
iōsēf“Joseph”objectaccusative singular5×
Matthew 1:16Iakōb de gennata ton Iōsēf ton andron Mariau, ek hau gennita …and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom …
Luke 2:16… aneuriskala tan tē Mariam kai ton Iōsēf kai tem brefem keiorōntem en ta …… hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the Baby, who was lying …
Acts 1:23kai stēala duo, Iōsēf ton kalorōnton Barsabbon, hos epikalita Ioustos, …So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus …
Acts 7:9Kai tois patriarchois zēlarantois ton Iōsēf apodōela eis Aiguptan; kai ate tos …Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave …
Acts 7:18… epi Aiguptan, hos ouk oidatelē ton Iōsēf.… another king, who knew nothing of Joseph, arose over Egypt.
iōsēf“Joseph”direct addressvocative singular1×
Matthew 1:20… kuriou kata onarem fanita auto legarōntos; Iōsēf huios David, mē fobiseia paralabara Marian …… him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be …
iōsēf“Joseph”of, belonging togenitive singular10×
Matthew 27:56… kai Marias tas tou Iakōbou kai Iōsēf mētēras kai tas mētēras toiu huioiu …… Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.
Luke 3:23… eteiu triakonta, arōntos huios, hōs nomizote, Iōsēf tou Ēli… was regarded as the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,
Luke 3:24… Leviou tou Melchi tou Iannai tou Iōsēf… son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,
Luke 3:30tou Sumeōn tou Ioudou tou Iōsēf tou Iōnam tou Eliakim… son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son …
Luke 4:22“Joseph’s”… autou, kai legale; Ouchi huios atō Iōsēf houtos?… came from His lips. “Isn’t this the son of Joseph …
John 1:45… tois profētois heuriskanē, Iēsun huion tou Iōsēf ton apo Nazaret.… Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
John 6:42… Ouk houtos atō Iēsus tos huios Iōsēf, hou nis oidanē ton patron kai …… this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know …
Acts 7:13“Joseph’s”… fanerem geneta to Faraō tem genem Iōsēf.… and his family became known to Pharaoh.
Hebrews 11:21“Joseph”pistia Iakōb apothnēskarōntos hekaston toiu huioiu Iōsēf eulogata, kai proskunata epi tem akrem …By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his …
Revelation 7:8… fulau Zaboulōn dōdeka chiliadais, ek fulau Iōsēf dōdeka chiliadais, ek fulau Beniamin dōdeka …… of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, and from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.
iōsēf“Joseph”to, fordative singular5×
Matthew 1:18… mnēsteuirantau tau mētērau autou Mariau to Iōsēf, prin ē sunerchara autoin heuriskita en …… Mary was pledged in marriage to Joseph, but before they came together, she …
Matthew 2:13… angelos kuriou fanotō kata onarem to Iōsēf legarōntos; Egerirantos paralabasar tem paidiem kai …… angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he …
Matthew 2:19… angelos kuriou fanotō kata onarem to Iōsēf en Aigupta… Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.
Mark 15:45… tou kenturiōnou dōreta tem ptōmem to Iōsēf.… centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.
John 4:5… teu chōrieu hem dōata Iakōb to Iōsēf to huio autou;… Jacob had given to his son Joseph.