noun · masculine
klēronomos
Strong’sG2818
an heir, inheritor
stem klēronom-15 times in the New Testamentin 8 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
Heir or inheritor — one who receives an inheritance, literally or by figurative extension 24. In the New Testament this covers ordinary heirs, such as the heir in a father's household or estate 1, and also, figuratively, those who inherit the privileges of the Messianic Kingdom as sons of God, a status applied to Christ himself, to Abraham, and to Christians 1.
By implication the word can also mean simply a possessor, one who holds or owns something rather than one who has received it by succession; this sense appears in certain Old Testament passages and is carried over into a couple of New Testament uses 12.
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
κληρο-νόμος, -ου, ὁ
(< κλῆρος, νέμομαι, to possess), [in LXX: Jg 18:7, II Ki 14:7, Mi 1:15, Je 8:10 (יוֹרֵשׁ), Si 23:22*;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G2818 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidklay-ron-om'-os
a sharer by lot, i.e. inheritor (literally or figuratively); by implication, a possessor
Fromfrom G2819 and the base of G3551 (in its original sense of partitioning, i.e. (reflexively) getting by apportionment);
King Jamesheir.
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
Doric dialect κλᾱρονόμος, ὁ, (νέμομαι) heir, frequently the heir in possession, Refs 5th c.BC+; of the heir apparent, Refs 3rd c.AD+: with genitive person, Refs 5th c.BC+: with genitive of things, Refs 5th c.BC+; τῆς ὑπὲρ τῶν νόμων [δίκης] Refs 4th 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 | klēronomos6×κληρονόμος | klēronomois5×κληρονόμοι |
| object accusative | klēronomon2×κληρονόμον | klēronomoin1×κληρονόμους |
| direct address vocative | klēronomor | klēronomoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | klēronomou | klēronomoiu |
| to, for dative | klēronomo | klēronomoi1×κληρονόμοις |
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
klēronomo 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.
15 occurrences, every one of them listed
klēronomos“heir”subjectnominative singular6×
Matthew 21:38… legala en heautoi; Houtos atō tos klēronomos; deute apoktenaneia auton kai echaneia tan …… to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and …
Mark 12:7… heautoin legala hoti Houtos atō tos klēronomos; deute apoktenaneia auton, kai nu eti …… to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and …
Luke 20:14… pros allēloin legarōntois; Houtos atō tos klēronomos; apoktenaneia auton, hina nu geneteia tas …… themselves and said, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, and the …
Galatians 4:1Legamō de, epi hoson chronon tos klēronomos nēpios atō, oudenem diaferatō doulou kurios …… is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no …
Galatians 4:7… alla huios; ei de huios, kai klēronomos dia theou.… a son, you are also an heir through God.
Hebrews 11:7… kai tau kata pistian dikaiosunau geneta klēronomos.… he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by …
klēronomon“heir”objectaccusative singular2×
Romans 4:13… Abraam ē te sperme autou, tem klēronomon auton arō kosmou, alla dia dikaiosunau …… his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given …
Hebrews 1:2… lalata ni en huio, hon tithata klēronomon panteiu, dia hou kai poiata toin …… by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom …
klēronomois“heirs”subjectnominative plural5×
Romans 4:14ei gar tois ek nomou klēronomois, kenotē tas pistias kai katargotē tas …… who live by the law are heirs, faith is useless and the promise …
Romans 8:17ei de tekneim, kai klēronomois; klēronomois men theou, sunklēronomois de Christou, …… we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with …
Romans 8:17ei de tekneim, kai klēronomois; klēronomois men theou, sunklēronomois de Christou, eiper …… are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ …
Galatians 3:29… tou Abraam spermem avō, kata epangelian klēronomois.… then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.
Titus 3:7hina dikaiirantois ta ekeinou charita klēronomois genineia kata elpidan zōau aiōniau.… by His grace, we would become heirs with the hope of eternal life.
klēronomoin“heirs”objectaccusative plural1×
James 2:5“heirs”… to kosmo plousioin en pistia kai klēronomoin tau basileiau hau epangeleta toi agaparōntoi …… of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?
klēronomoi“heirs”to, fordative plural1×
Hebrews 6:17… perissoterem boulorōntos tos theos epideikara toi klēronomoi tau epangeliau tem ametathetem tau boulau …… His purpose very clear to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it …