noun · masculine
kleptos
Strong’sG2812
a thief
stem klept-16 times in the New Testamentin 8 of 27 books2 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 thief, someone who steals — taking what belongs to another secretly, by stealth or fraud, rather than openly by force 1234. This sets the word apart from a robber, who plunders openly and with violence; the thief works in secret and by cunning 13.
The term is also used figuratively of a sudden, unexpected coming, as in the image of a thief arriving unannounced in the night 1.
It is likewise used metaphorically of false teachers, described as thieves 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
κλέπτης, -ου, ὁ,
[in LXX for גַּנָּב;]
SYN.: λῃστής, a robber, a brigand who plunders, openly, with violence; κ. is a thief who steals in secret, by fraud and cunning (Tr., Syn., § xliv).
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G2812 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidklep'-tace
a stealer (literally or figuratively)
Fromfrom G2813;
King Jamesthief.
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
thief, Refs 8th c.BC+; opposed to ἅρπαξ (a robber), NT+5th c.BC+; ὁ τοῦ κ. λόγος, a logical fallacy, Refs 4th c.BC+
2 generally, cheat, knave, 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.
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 | kleptos12×κλέπτης | kleptois4×κλέπται |
| object accusative | klepton | kleptoin |
| direct address vocative | kleptor | kleptoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | kleptou | kleptoiu |
| to, for dative | klepto | kleptoi |
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
klepto 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.
16 occurrences, every one of them listed
kleptos“thief”subjectnominative singular12×
Matthew 24:43… oidatelē tos oikodespotos poia fulaka tos kleptos erchotō, grēgorata an kai ouk an …… which watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept …
Luke 12:33… thēsauron anekleipton en toi ouranoi, hopou kleptos ouk engizatō oude sētos diaftheratō;… inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
Luke 12:39… oidatelē tos oikodespotos poia hōra tos kleptos erchotō, ouk an afiēkata diorussira ton …… had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have …
John 10:1… teiu probateiu alla anabainarōntos allachothen ekeinos kleptos atō kai lēstos;… in some other way, is a thief and a robber.
John 10:10tos kleptos ouk erchotō ei mē hina kleptateia …The thief comes only to steal and kill …
John 12:6… toiu ptōchoiu meleiate auto, alla hoti kleptos ate kai tem glōssokomem echarōntos teim …… poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag …
1 Thessalonians 5:2… akribōs oidavē hoti hēmeras kuriou hōs kleptos en nukta houtōs erchotō.… the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
1 Thessalonians 5:4… skote, hina tas hēmeras vin hōs kleptos katalabateia,… day should overtake you like a thief.
1 Peter 4:15… tinos vu paschatōr hōs fonevos ē kleptos ē kakopoios ē hōs allotriepiskopos;… should suffer as a murderer or thief or wrongdoer, or even as a …
2 Peter 3:10hēkati de hēmeras kuriou hōs kleptos, en ha tois ouranois roizēdon parercheli, …… the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a …
Revelation 3:3… ean oun mē grēgoraseia, hēkami hōs kleptos, kai ouk mē gnōskaseia poian hōran …… up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know the …
Revelation 16:15Idou erchomō hōs kleptos. makarios tos grēgorarōntos kai tērarōntos teim …“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who remains …
kleptois“thieves”subjectnominative plural4×
Matthew 6:19… sētos kai brōsias afanizatō, kai hopou kleptois diorussalō kai kleptalō;… moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
Matthew 6:20… sētos oute brōsias afanizatō, kai hopou kleptois ouk diorussalō oude kleptalō;… rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
John 10:8pantois hosois erchala pro mu kleptois alō kai lēstois; alla ouk akouala …All who came before Me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did …
1 Corinthians 6:10oute kleptois oute pleonektois, ouk methusois, ouk loidorois, …nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor …