noun · feminine
lupas
Strong’sG3077
pain, grief
stem lup-16 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
Λύπη means pain or grief, whether of body or of mind 13, though in the New Testament it refers specifically to mental or emotional pain—grief, sorrow, sadness 124. It is used as the opposite of joy 13, and can describe grief felt over someone or something, sadness that comes upon a person, or sorrow experienced in a situation, sometimes occurring in the plural for repeated griefs or sorrows 1. Strong's also notes related shades of meaning such as grievous, heaviness, and doing something reluctantly or "grudgingly" 2.
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
λύπη, -ης, ἡ,
[in LXX for עֶצֶב and cogn. forms, etc.;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G3077 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidloo'-pay
sadness
Fromapparently a primary word;
King Jamesgrief, grievous, + grudgingly, heaviness, sorrow.
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
pain of body, opposed to ἡδονή, Refs; also, sad plight or condition, Refs 5th c.BC+
2 pain of mind, grief,Refs 4th c.BC+; τί γὰρ καλὸν ζῆν βίοτον, ὃς λύπας φέρε; Refs 5th c.BC+; opposed to χαρά, 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 | lupas5×λύπη | lupais |
| object accusative | lupan5×λύπην | lupain1×λύπας |
| direct address vocative | lupar | lupair |
| of, belonging to genitive | lupau3×λύπης | lupaiu |
| to, for dative | lupa2×λύπῃ | lupai |
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
lupa 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
lupas“sorrow”subjectnominative singular5×
John 16:6alla hoti houteim lalamē vi tas lupas plēratē vu tan kardian.Instead, your hearts are filled with sorrow because I have told you these …
John 16:20“sorrow”… kosmos chairiti; vis lupivi, alla tas lupas vu eis charan geneti.… tell you, you will weep and wail while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
Romans 9:2hoti lupas mi atō megas kai adialeiptas odunas …I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
2 Corinthians 7:10“grief”tas gar kata theon lupas metanoian eis sōtērēan ametamelētan ergazotō; tas …Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly …
2 Corinthians 7:10“grief”… ametamelētan ergazotō; tas de tou kosmou lupas thanaton katergazotō.… to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
lupan“sorrow”objectaccusative singular5×
John 16:21tas gunaikas hotan tiktateiō lupan echatō, hoti erchata tas hōras autau; …A woman has pain in childbirth because her time has …
John 16:22kai vis oun nun men lupan echavō; palin de horemi vin, kai …So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you …
2 Corinthians 2:3“pain”… grafama houtem autem hina mē ercharantos lupan echameia apo hoiu date min chairarō, …I wrote as I did so that on my arrival I would not be grieved by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had …
Philippians 2:27… monon alla kai min, hina mē lupan epi lupan echameia.… also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.
Philippians 2:27… kai min, hina mē lupan epi lupan echameia.… me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.
lupau“grief”of, belonging togenitive singular3×
Luke 22:45… mathētoin heuriskata koimorōntoin autoin apo tau lupau,… He found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.
2 Corinthians 9:7“grief”… kathōs proairotē ta kardia, mē ek lupau ē ek anankau; hilaron gar doton …… he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.
Hebrews 12:11… pareiarōntem ouk dokatō charau arō alla lupau, husterem de karpon eirēnikon toi dia …… seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a …
lupa“sorrow”to, fordative singular2×
2 Corinthians 2:1“sorrow”… miauto houtem, tem mē palin en lupa pros vin erchara;… made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you.
2 Corinthians 2:7… kai parakalara, mē pōs ta perissotera lupa katapiniteia tos toioutos.… will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
lupain“sorrows”objectaccusative plural1×
1 Peter 2:19“sorrows”… ei dia suneidēsian theou hupoferatō tinos lupain pascharōntos adikōs;For if anyone endures the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God, this is …