noun · feminine
oikodomas
Strong’sG3619
the act of building, a building, edification
stem oikodom-18 times in the New Testamentin 6 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
Building up, edifying – the act of building, used in the New Testament always in a figurative sense of strengthening or building someone up, especially spiritually or in community 1. This sense can also carry the idea of confirmation 2. Dodson likewise glosses it as "the act of building" and "edification" 4.
A building, a structure – the word is also used concretely for an actual building or structure, both literally and, elsewhere, in a figurative sense of something built up 13. Strong's likewise notes the concrete sense of a physical structure 2, and Dodson includes "a building" among the meanings 4.
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
† οἰκοδομή, -ῆς, ἡ
(< οἶκος, + δέμω, to build), [in LXX: I Ch 29:1 A (בִּירָה), Ez 17:17 40:2 (בּנה, מִבְנֶה), Si 22:16 40:19, al.;] = cl. οἰκοδομία (q.v.), -δόμησις (Thuc., Plat.),
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G3619 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidoy-kod-om-ay'
architecture, i.e. (concretely) a structure; figuratively, confirmation
Fromfeminine (abstract) of a compound of G3624 and the base of G1430;
King Jamesbuilding, edify(-ication, -ing).
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
={-δόμησις},{-δομία}, Refs 3rd c.BC+, proverbial Laconian dialect cited in LXX+4th c.BC+
II = {οἰκοδόμημα}, NT+1st 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 | oikodomas2×οἰκοδομή | oikodomais1×οἰκοδομαί |
| object accusative | oikodoman11×οἰκοδομὴν | oikodomain2×οἰκοδομὰς |
| direct address vocative | oikodomar | oikodomair |
| of, belonging to genitive | oikodomau2×οἰκοδομῆς | oikodomaiu |
| to, for dative | oikodoma | oikodomai |
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
oikodoma 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.
18 occurrences, every one of them listed
oikodomas“building”subjectnominative singular2×
1 Corinthians 3:9… gar anō sunergois; theou geōrgiem, theou oikodomas avō.… workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Ephesians 2:21en ho pantas oikodomas sunarmologorōntas auxatō eis naon hagion en …In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into …
oikodoman“building up”objectaccusative singular11×
Romans 15:2… plēsion areskatōr eis tem agathem pros oikodoman;… his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
1 Corinthians 14:3tos de profēteuarōntos anthrōpoi lalatō oikodoman kai paraklēsian kai paramuthian.… prophesies speaks to men for their edification, encouragement, and comfort.
1 Corinthians 14:5“built up”… ei mē diermēneuateiō, hina tas ekklēsas oikodoman labateia.… unless he interprets so that the church may be …
1 Corinthians 14:12“building up”… epei zēlōtois avō pneumeiu, pros tan oikodoman tau ekklēsau zētavōr hina perisseuaveiō.It is the same with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, strive to excel in gifts that build up the church.
1 Corinthians 14:26“edification”… glōssan echatō, hermēneian echatō; panteim pros oikodoman genotōr.… revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. All of these must be done to build …
2 Corinthians 5:1… epigeias nu oikias teu skēneu kataluiteia, oikodoman ek theou echanō oikian acheiropoiētan aiōnian …… in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in …
2 Corinthians 10:8… nu, hau dōata tos kurios eis oikodoman kai ouk eis kathairesian vu, ouk …… authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I …
2 Corinthians 13:10“building up”… han tos kurios dōata mi, eis oikodoman kai ouk eis kathairesian.… the authority that the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you …
Ephesians 4:12“building up”… toiu hagioiu eis ergem diakoniau, eis oikodoman teu sōmeu tou Christou,… equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ,
Ephesians 4:16“building up”… tan auxēsian teu sōmeu poiotō eis oikodoman heauteu en agapa.… and builds itself up in love through the work of …
Ephesians 4:29… ekporeuotōr, alla ei tinos agathos pros oikodoman tau chreiau, hina dōateia charitan toi …… but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing …
oikodomau“upbuilding”of, belonging togenitive singular2×
Romans 14:19“upbuilding”… tau eirēnau diōkaneiō kai teim tau oikodomau tau eis allēloin.… let us pursue what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
2 Corinthians 12:19… de panteim, agapētoir, huper tau vu oikodomau,… this, beloved, is to build you up.
oikodomais“buildings”subjectnominative plural1×
Mark 13:1… Didaskalor, ide potapois lithois kai potapais oikodomais.… look at the magnificent stones and buildings!”
oikodomain“buildings”objectaccusative plural2×
Matthew 24:1… tois mathētois autou epideikara auto tain oikodomain teu hiereu;… to Him to point out its buildings.
Mark 13:2… legata auto; Blepasō houtain tain megain oikodomain? ouk mē afiēkiteia hōde lithos epi …“Do you see all these great buildings?” Jesus replied. “Not one stone here …