adjective
plēros
Strong’sG4134
full
stem plēr-16 times in the New Testamentin 6 of 27 books7 of 26 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
Full describes something completely filled, either with an actual substance or, of a person, with a quality that fills their character 1. It covers ordinary physical fullness — a crowd being full, someone full of leprosy, or grain being full — and it is used repeatedly of a person's inner state, as being full of the Holy Spirit, full of faith, full of grace, full of deceit, full of wrath, or full of good works 1. Strong's and Dodson simply gloss the word as "full" 24, and this matches the "full of" sense LSJ records, applied to both things and persons 3.
The word also means full, complete — a reward described as full, or grain described as fully ripe 1; Strong's likewise notes a related sense, "by analogy, complete" 2, and LSJ confirms a similar sense of something whole or complete 3.
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
πλήρης, -ες,
[in LXX chiefly for מָלֵא;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G4134 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidplay'-race
replete, or covered over; by analogy, complete
Fromfrom G4130;
King Jamesfull.
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
genitive εος, contraction ους: comparative -έστεροςRefs 5th c.BC+: superlative -έστατοςRefs 5th c.BC+, etc.: (πίμ-πλη-μι):
I with genitive, full of, ἄστυ π. οἰκιέων Refs 5th c.BC+; of persons, κενῶν δοξασμάτων π. Refs 5th c.BC+
I.2 infected by, π. ὑπ᾽ οἰωνῶν τε καὶ κυνῶν βορᾶς polluted by birds and dogs with meat (torn from the body of Polynices), Refs 5th c.BC+
I.3 satisfied, satiated, with genitive, π. ἔχοντι θυμὸν ὧν χρῄζεις Refsparticiple, θηεύμενοι ἔωσι π. they should have gazed their fill, Refs 5th c.BC+
II less frequently with dative, filled with, Ἕλλησι βαρβάροις θ᾽ ὁμοῦ π. πόλεις Refs 5th c.BC+
III absolutely, full, of a swollen stream, Refs 5th c.BC+; of the moon, Refs 7th c.BC+; κρατῆρες, δέπας, etc., Refs 5th c.BC+; full of people, ἐπειδὰν π. ᾖ τὸ θέατρον Refs 5th c.BC+fully manned, Refs 5th c.BC+; of persons, satisfied, gorged, opposed to κενός, Refs 5th c.BC+; τὸ π., opposed to τὸ κενόν, Refs 5th c.BC+
III.2 full, complete, ἐπειρώτων.. εἰ λελάβηκε πλήρεα.. τὰ ἀκροθίνια Refs 5th c.BC+; -εστάτη οἰκειότης fullest intimacy, Refs 5th c.BC+; -εστάτῳ δικαίῳ, = Latin optimo jure, Refs 4th c.AD+; of numbers or periods of Time, τέσσερα ἔτεα π. four full years, Refs 5th c.BC+
III.3 solid, whole, of a voting-pebble (ψῆφος), opposed to τετρυπημένος, τρυπητός, Refs 4th c.BC+
III.4 of sound, full, πληρέστερον μέλος Refs 4th c.AD+
III.5 of wine, full-bodied, with a persistent flavour, Refs 2nd c.AD+; of the pulse, Refs; of wool, Refs
III.6 ἐκ πλήρους fully, ποιεῖν τὰ δίκαια Refs; in full, τὰ ἐκφόρια κομίσασθαι Refs 2nd c.BC+
IV πλήρης is used indeclinable in later Greek, especially of payments in full, Wilcken Refs 2nd c.AD+; frequently variant in LXX
V adverb πλήρως in full, Refs 4th c.AD+: superlative -έσταταRefs 4th 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 | masculine singular | feminine singular | neuter singular | masculine plural | feminine plural | neuter plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | plēros7×πλήρης | plēras1×πλήρης | plērem | plērois1×πλήρεις | plērais | plēreim |
| object accusative | plēron2×πλήρης | plēran | plēroin3×πλήρεις | plērain1×πλήρεις | ||
| direct address vocative | plēror1×πλήρης | plērar | plēroir | plērair | ||
| of, belonging to genitive | plērou | plērau | plēreu | plēroiu | plēraiu | plēreiu |
| to, for dative | plēro | plēra | plēre | plēroi | plērai | plērei |
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
plēr 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
plēros“full”subjectnominative singular7×
Luke 4:1Iēsus de plēros pneumeu hagieu hupostrefata apo tou Iordanou, …Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from …
Luke 5:12… hena taiu polaiu kai idou andros plēros leprau; kai horarantos ton Iēsun piptarantos …… a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus …
John 1:14… autou, doxan hōs monogenou para patrou, plēros charitau kai alētheiau;… and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Acts 6:5… teu plētheu, kai eklegela Stefanon, andron plēros pistiau kai pneumeu hagieu, kai Filippon …… group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy …
Acts 6:8Stefanos de plēros charitau kai dunamiau poiate terateim kai …Now Stephen, who was full of grace and power, was performing …
Acts 7:55huparcharōntos de plēros pneumeu hagieu atenizarantos eis ton ouranon …But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently …
Acts 11:24hoti ate andros agathos kai plēros pneumeu hagieu kai pistiau. kai prostithita …Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith …
plēron“full”objectaccusative singular2×
Mark 4:28“full”… karpoforatō, prōtem chorton, eita stachuon, eita plēron siton en to stachuo.… the earth produces a crop— first the stalk, then the head, then grain that ripens …
2 John 1:8“full”… mē apolaveia heim ergazena, alla misthon plēron apolabaveia.… you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you …
plēror“full”direct addressvocative singular1×
Acts 13:10legata; Ō plēror pantou dolou kai pantau radiourgiau, huior …… enemy of all righteousness, you are full of all kinds of deceit and …
plēras“always”subjectnominative singular1×
Acts 9:36… has diermēneuorōntas legotō Dorkadas; houtas ate plēras ergeiu agatheiu kai eleēmosunaiu haiu poiate.… is translated as Dorcas), who was always occupied with works of kindness and …
plērois“filled”subjectnominative plural1×
Acts 19:28“filled”Akouarantois de kai generantois plērois thumou krazale legarōntois; Megas tas Artemias …… the men heard this, they were enraged and began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the …
plēroin“full”objectaccusative plural3×
Matthew 14:20“full”… tem perisseuarōntem teiu klasmeiu dōdeka kofinoin plēroin.… satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
Mark 8:19“full”… eis toin pentakischilioi, posoin kofinoin klasmeiu plēroin airava? legalō auto; Dōdeka.… five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces did you collect?” “Twelve,” they answered.
Acts 6:3… adelfoir, androin ek vu marturorōntoin hepta plēroin pneumeu kai sofiau, hoin katastēani epi …… you seven men confirmed to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We …
plērain“full”objectaccusative plural1×
Matthew 15:37“full”… perisseuarōntem teiu klasmeiu airala hepta spuridain plērain.… picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.