noun · feminine
ousias
Strong’sG3776
property, wealth
stem ousi-2 times in the New Testament2 of 10 forms occur
What it means
What the word means, in the words of the lexicons out of copyright — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones, wherever each has an entry for it.
** οὐσία, -ας, ἡ
(< οὖσα, fem. part. of εἰμί), [in LXX: To 14:13, III Mac 3:28*;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G3776 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidoo-see'-ah
substance, i.e. property (possessions)
Fromfrom the feminine of G5607;
King Jamesgoods, substance.
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
Ionic dialect -ιηRefs 5th c.BC+; Doric dialect ἐσσία, ὠσία (which see): ἡ: (ὀντ-, participle of εἰμί sum):—that which is one's own, one's substance, property, Refs 5th c.BC+[same place], etc.; opposed to τὰ σώματα (civil status), Refs 5th c.BC+; εἰ ἐκεκτήμην οὐ. if I had been a man of substance, Refs 5th c.BC+; φανερὰ οὐσία real property, immovables, Refs 5th c.BC+; opposed to ἀφανής, Refs 5th c.BC+; frequently of estates in Egypt, Refs 2nd c.BC+
II in Philos., like Ionic dialect φύσις (with which it is interchanged in various uses, e. g. Refs 5th c.BC+, stable being, immutable reality, opposed to γένεσις, ὅτιπερ πρὸς γένεσιν οὐσία, τοῦτο πρὸς πίστιν ἀλήθεια Refs 5th c.BC+; ὁδὸς εἰς οὐσίαν Refs: hence, being in the abstract, opposed to non-being (τὸ μὴ εἶναι), Refs 5th c.BC+
II.2 substance, essence, opposed to πάθη ('modes'), Refs 4th c.BC+; opposed to συμβεβηκότα ('accidents'), Refs
II.3 true nature of that which is a member of a kind, defined as ὃ τυγχάνει ἕκαστον ὄν Refs 5th c.BC+; as τὸ ὅ ἐστιRefs 4th c.BC+; τὸ εἶναί τε καὶ τὴν οὐ. Refs 5th c.BC+; expressed in a formula or definition, ψυχῆς οὐ. τε καὶ λόγον Refs 4th c.BC+
II.4 the possession of such a nature, substantiality, ἔτι ἐπέκεινα τῆς οὐ. πρεσβείᾳ.. ὑπερέχοντος Refs 5th c.BC+
II.5 in the concrete, the primary real, the substratum underlying all change and process in nature, applied by Refs 4th c.BC+ to the atoms of Democritus, Refs 5th c.BC+
II.6 in Logic, substance as the leading category, Refs 4th c.BC+; αἱ πρῶται οὐ. (individuals), αἱ δεύτεραι οὐ. (species and genera), Refs; ἡ οὐ. ἐντελέχειαRefs; of the abstract objects of mathematics, μονὰς οὐ. ἄθετος, στιγμὴ δὲ οὐ. θετός Refs
II.7 after Refs 5th c.BC+; κατὰ οὐσίαν, opposed to κατὰ δύναμιν ἢ ἐνέργειαν, Polystr.p.12 W.; πᾶς νοῦς ἀμέριστός ἐστιν οὐ. Refs 3rd c.AD+
II.8 Refs 4th c.BC+
III name of a plaster, Refs 6th c.AD+
IV αἱ οὐ. fireresisting substances, Zos.Alch.p.168 Refs 5th c.BC+; of the four σώματα (copper, tin, lead, iron), Refs 5th c.BC+
V in Magic, a material thing by which a connexion is established between the person to be acted upon and the supernatural agent, e.g. a hair, λαβὼν βελόνην διείρων τὴν οὐ. εἰς αὐτήν Refs
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 | ousias | ousiais |
| object accusative | ousian1×οὐσίαν | ousiain |
| direct address vocative | ousiar | ousiair |
| of, belonging to genitive | ousiau1×οὐσίας | ousiaiu |
| to, for dative | ousia | ousiai |
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
ousia 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
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
2 occurrences, every one of them listed
ousian“wealth”objectaccusative singular1×
Luke 15:13… chōran makran, kai ekei diaskorpizata tan ousian autou zōarōntos asōtōs.… distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living.
ousiau“property”of, belonging togenitive singular1×
Luke 15:12“property”… dōasar mi tem epibalarōntem merem tau ousiau; tos de diairata autoi ton bion.… him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.