preposition

Greekμέχρι(ς) (mechris)

Biblang

mechris

Strong’sG3360

as far as, until

stem mechri-18 times in the New Testamentin 11 of 27 booksnever changes form

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

μέχρι (also spelled μέχρις before a vowel) is a word meaning as far as, up to, until, marking the outer limit or extent of something ¹²⁴. Used as a preposition with a noun in the genitive, it can mark a limit of place, meaning "as far as" a location ¹³; a limit of time, meaning "until" a certain point ¹³; or a limit of measure or degree, meaning "to the point of," "even to" ¹³.

μέχρι is also used as a conjunction meaning "until" or "as long as," introducing a clause that marks the point up to which something continues ¹³.

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

μέχρι

(bef. consonants, exc. Lk 16:16, μέχρι Ἰωάνου) and μέχρις (bef. vowels, Mk 13:30, Ga 4:19, He 12:4; v. Bl., § 5, 4),

1. as prep., c. gen., as far as, even to, until;

(a) of place: Ro 15:19;

(b) of time: Mt 11:23 13:30 28:15, Lk 16:16, Ac 10:30 20:7, Ro 5:14, I Ti 6:14, He 3:6, 14 9:10;

2. As conjunct. (as long as), until: Eph 4:13; μ. οὗ (Thuc., iii, 28, but more freq. μ. ἄν; v. Bl., § 65, 10), Mk 13:30, Ga 4:19 (μ. is prop, an adv., cf. Lat. usque, seq. prep. or adv.; LS, s.v., and cf. ἄχρι).†

G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.

Strong’s G3360 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from

Saidmekh'-ree

as far as, i.e. up to a certain point (as a preposition, of extent (denoting the terminus, whereas G891 refers especially to the space of time or place intervening) or conjunction)

Fromfrom G3372;

King Jamestill, (un-)to, until.

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

μέχρῐ,
and μέχρῐς, adverb as far as, so used chiefly in Prose and before a preposition, μέχρι πρός.. Refs 5th c.BC+; μ. ὅποι.. Refs; μ. ὅπου.. Refs 5th c.BC+; μ. νῦν (variant{τοῦ νῦν}) Refs 1st c.BC+; μέχρι πότε χηρεύομε; Refs 3rd c.AD+
II preposition with genitive, even to, as far as,
II.1 of Place, μέχρι θαλάσσης Refs 8th c.BC+: rarely following its case, ὀμφαλοῦ μ. Refs 5th c.BC+
II.2 of Time, τέο μέχρι; i.e. τίνος μέχρι χρόνο; how long? Refs 8th c.BC+; μέχρις τε; Refs 7th c.BC+; μέχρι οὗ, μέχρι ὅσου, Refs 5th c.BC+; μ. τοσούτου, ἕως ἂν.. Refs 5th c.BC+ up to my time, Refs 5th c.BC+; μ. τῆς ἐκείνου ζόης till the end of his life, Refs 5th c.BC+
II.3 of Measure or Degree, μ. τοῦ δικαίου so far as consists with right, Refs 5th c.BC+; μ. ὑγιείας, μ. ἡδονῆς,NT
II.4 with Numbers to express a round sum, up to, about, nearly, μ. δώδεκα Refs 5th c.BC+: sometimes without altering the case of the substantive, τοὺς μ. τριάκοντα ἔτη γεγονότας Refs 4th c.BC+; μ. τινὸς πλήθους up to a certain number, Refs 4th c.BC+: hence, just short of, μ. κόρου μετρεῖσθαι Refs 1st c.AD+
II.5 in Refs 5th c.BC+ is sometimes used like the simple μέχρι, μέχρι οὗ ὀκτὼ πύργων Refs
III as a conjunction, until, with indicative, μέχρι.. ὁρμὴ ἐνέπεσε Refs 5th c.BC+; μέχρι ἄν with subjunctive Refs; μέχρις κε μένῃ NT+5th c.BC+: with infinitive, μ. σβεσθῆναι τὸ πῦρ Refs 1st c.AD+
III.2 as long as, whilst, with indicative, Refs 5th c.BC+; μ. ἄν with subjunctive, μέχρις ἂν ζῶσιν πονεῖν Refs 4th c.BC+; Doric dialect μέχρι κα ζώη Refs 2nd c.BC+—The μετώπο-ι is elided in Refs —Cf. ἄχρι throughout and entry near the end

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.

until9×to6×to the point of2×at1×

Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.

Where it appears

Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.

18 occurrences, every one of them listed

mechris18×

Matthew 11:23“until”… tais generantais en si, menata an mechris tau sēmeron.… performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.

Matthew 13:30afiēkavar sunauxanorō amfotereim mechris tou therismou; kai en kairo tou …Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I …

Matthew 28:15… diafēmizita tos logos houtos para Ioudaioi mechris tau sēmeron hēmerau.… has been circulated among the Jews to this very day.

Mark 13:30… ouk mē parerchateia tas geneas houtas mechris hou houteim panteim geneteia.… this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened.

Luke 16:16Tos nomos kai tois profētois mechris Iōannou; apo tote tas basileias tou …… Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the gospel …

Acts 10:30… tos Kornēlios fēate; Apo tetartau hēmerau mechris houtau tau hōrau ome tan enatan …… I was in my house praying at this, the ninth hour. Suddenly a …

Acts 20:7… ta epaurion, parateinate tē ton logon mechris mesonuktieu.… to them and kept on speaking until midnight.

Romans 5:14alla basilata tos thanatos apo Adam mechris Mōusou kai epi toin mē hamartarantoin …… is a pattern of the One to come.

Romans 15:19… hōste min apo Ierousalēm kai kuklō mechris teu Illurikeu plērarē tem euangeliem tou …… from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the …

Galatians 4:19tekneim mu, hoin palin ōdinamō mechris hou morfiteia Christos en vi;… again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,

Philippians 2:8“to the point of”tapeinata heauton generantos hupēkoos mechris thanatou, thanatou de staurou;… man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross.

Philippians 2:30hoti dia tem ergem Christou mechris thanatou engizata, paraboleuerantos ta psucha hina …… work of Christ, risking his life to make up for your deficit of …

1 Timothy 6:14tērara sin tan entolan aspilan anepilēmptan mechris tau epifaneiau tou kuriou nu Iēsu …… this commandment without stain or reproach until the appearance of our Lord Jesus …

2 Timothy 2:9en he kakopathamō mechris desmoiu hōs kakourgos. alla tos logos …for which I suffer to the extent of being chained like …

Hebrews 3:14… genanē, eanper tan archan tau hupostasiau mechris teleu bebaian katechaneia.… in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had …

Hebrews 9:10… pomei kai diaforoi baptismoi, dikaiōmeim sarkau mechris kairou diorthōsiau epikeiorōnteim.… and special washings — external regulations imposed until the time of reform.

Hebrews 12:4oupō mechris haimeu antikatastēava pros tan hamartan antagōnizorōntois,… sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Ephesians 4:13mechris katantaneia tois pantois eis tan henotan …until we all reach unity in the …