noun · masculine
oikodespotos
Strong’sG3617
a head of a household
stem oikodespot-12 times in the New Testamentin 3 of 27 books4 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
οἰκοδεσπότης means the master or head of a household, the person in charge of a house and its affairs 1234. It is formed from the words for "house" and "master" 12, and can also appear pleonastically as "master of the house" 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
*† οἰκο-δεσπότης, -ου, ὁ
(< οἶκος, δεσπότης),
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G3617 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
master or steward of a house, NT+2nd c.AD+: metaphorically, of God, Refs 2nd c.AD+ was preferred by the Atticists, as in Refs 5th c.BC+
2 native ruler, opposed to foreign emperor, Refs 1st c.AD+
II Astrology texts, of a planet, owner of a domicile or otherwise predominant, Refs 2nd c.AD+
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 | oikodespotos5×οἰκοδεσπότης | oikodespotois |
| object accusative | oikodespoton1×οἰκοδεσπότην | oikodespotoin |
| direct address vocative | oikodespotor | oikodespotoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | oikodespotou2×οἰκοδεσπότου | oikodespotoiu |
| to, for dative | oikodespoto4×οἰκοδεσπότῃ | oikodespotoi |
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
oikodespoto 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.
12 occurrences, every one of them listed
oikodespotos“master of the house”subjectnominative singular5×
Matthew 21:33Allosan parabolan akouavar. Anthrōpos ate oikodespotos hotinos futeuata ampelōnon kai fragmon auto …… to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put …
Matthew 24:43“master of the house”… de gnōskavōr hoti ei oidatelē tos oikodespotos poia fulaka tos kleptos erchotō, grēgorata …But understand this: If the homeowner had known in which watch of the night the thief was coming, he would …
Luke 12:39“master of the house”… de gnōskavōr hoti ei oidatelē tos oikodespotos poia hōra tos kleptos erchotō, ouk …But understand this: If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let …
Luke 13:25apo hou an egeriteia tos oikodespotos kai apokleiateia tan thuran, kai archeveia …After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door …
Luke 14:21“master of the house”… kurio autou houteim. tote orgizirantos tos oikodespotos legata to doulo autou; Exerchasar tacheōs …… this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the …
oikodespoton“master of the house”objectaccusative singular1×
Matthew 10:25“master of the house”… hōs tos kurios autou. ei ton oikodespoton Beelzeboul epikalala, pose mallon toin oikiakoin …… a servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!
oikodespotou“landowner”of, belonging togenitive singular2×
Matthew 13:27“master of the house”prosercharantois de tois doulois tou oikodespotou legala auto; Kurior, ouchi kalem spermem …The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come …
Matthew 20:11labarantois de gonguzale kata tou oikodespotou… they began to grumble against the landowner.
oikodespoto“owner”to, fordative singular4×
Matthew 13:52“owner of a house”… basileia toiu ouranoiu homoios atō anthrōpo oikodespoto hotinos ekbalatō ek tou thēsaurou autou …… in the kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who brings out of his storeroom new …
Matthew 20:1… atō tas basileias toiu ouranoiu anthrōpo oikodespoto hotinos exerchata hama prōi misthera ergatoin …… kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the …
Mark 14:14“owner of the house”kai hopou ean eiserchateia legavar to oikodespoto hoti Tos didaskalos legatō; Pou atō …and whichever house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is My guest …
Luke 22:11kai legavi to oikodespoto tau oikiau; Legatō si tos didaskalos; …and say to the owner of that house, ‘The Teacher asks …