noun · neuter
plērōmem
Strong’sG4138
fullness, fulfillment, completion
stem plērōm-17 times in the New Testamentin 8 of 27 books3 of 6 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
Fullness or completeness — the state of being full, or the full content/entirety of something. This sense covers the "fullness" that fills a container or place, such as baskets full of leftover pieces, or "the earth and its fullness" 13; the full number or totality of a group, as in the full number of Israel or of the Gentiles 1; a period of time being complete, as in "the fullness of time" 1; and, especially, the full and complete nature of Christ or God dwelling in the church or in Christ himself 13. Strong's describes this side of the word as what fills something up, whether thought of as contents, a large amount, or a whole crew or company, or as the thing that is itself filled, such as a container or a completed period 2. Dodson likewise glosses the word simply as "fullness" 4.
A piece put in to fill up a gap, such as a patch sewn onto a garment 123.
A fulfilling or completing — the act of bringing something to completion, as when love is called the fulfilling of the law 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
πλήρωμα, -τος, τό
(< πληρόω), [in LXX for מְלֹא;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G4138 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidplay'-ro-mah
repletion or completion, i.e. (subjectively) what fills (as contents, supplement, copiousness, multitude), or (objectively) what is filled (as container, performance, period)
Fromfrom G4137;
King Jameswhich is put in to fill up, piece that filled up, fulfilling, full, fulness.
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
that which fills, complement, κρατήρων πληρώματα, i.e. wine, Refs 5th c.BC+; χθονὸς π., i.e. men, Refs 4th c.BC+; τὸ π. τῆς γαστρός Refs 5th c.BC+; of excrement, Refs 4th c.AD+
2 δαιτὸς π. satiety of the feast, Refs 5th c.BC+; π. τυρῶν their fill of cheese, Refs
3 of ships, full number, Refs 5th c.BC+; but, of single ships, complement, crew, in plural, Refs 5th c.BC+; opposed to ὑπηρεσία (which see), Refs 5th c.BC+; π. ἐπίλεκτον Refs 2nd c.BC+ make up the full number of citizens, Refs 5th c.BC+; gang of workmen, Refs 3rd c.BC+
4 of number, sum, ὀγδώκοντα ἔτεα ζόης π. μακρότατον προκεῖσθαι Refs years are fixed as life's longest sum, Refs 5th c.BC+; sum, total, τὸ π. τῶν ἀγαθῶν Refs 3rd c.BC+
5 piece inserted to fill up, NT+2nd c.AD+
6 fullness, full and perfect nature, NT; τὸ π. τοῦ θεοῦ, τοῦ Χριστοῦ, NT; later τὰ π. τῶν θεῶν Refs 4th c.AD+; the aggregate of properties which constitute the complete nature of a thing, full specification, substance, Refs 5th c.AD+; πᾶς νοῦς, π. ὢν εἰδῶν Refs 5th c.AD+
7 reserves of troops, στρατιῶν Refs 6th c.AD+
8 mass, complex, ὁ κόσμος π. ἐστι κακίας, ζωῆς, Refs 1st c.AD+
9 duties of an office, Refs 6th c.AD+; completion of a term of office (compare 11), Refs
10 freight, cargo, νεώς Refs 1st c.AD+
II filling up, completing, Refs 5th c.BC+; Ζηνὸς ἔχεις κυλίκων π. hast the task of filling.., Refs 5th c.BC+
II.2 fulfilment, νόμου NT
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 or object direct | plērōmem7×πλήρωμα | plērōmeim |
| of, belonging to genitive | plērōmeu3×πληρώματος | plērōmeiu |
| to, for dative | plērōme1×πληρώματι | plērōmei |
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
plērōme 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.
17 occurrences, every one of them listed
plērōmem“fullness”subject or objectdirect singular7×
Romans 11:12… autoiu ploutos ethneiu, pose mallon tem plērōmem autoiu.… how much greater riches will their fullness bring!
Romans 11:25“fullness”… to Israēl genatē achri hou tem plērōmem teiu ethneiu eiserchateia,… part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
Romans 13:10… agapas to plēsion kakosem ouk ergazotō; plērōmem oun nomou tas agapas.… its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
1 Corinthians 10:26… kuriou gar tas gēas kai tem plērōmem autau.… earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”
Galatians 4:4“fullness”hote de erchata tem plērōmem tou chronou, exapostelata tos theos ton …But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
Ephesians 1:23hotinas atō tem sōmem autou, tem plērōmem tou teim panteim en pantei plērorōntou.which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in …
Colossians 2:9hoti en auto katoikatō pantem tem plērōmem tau theotau sōmatikōs,For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily …
plērōmeu“fullness”of, belonging togenitive singular3×
John 1:16hoti ek teu plērōmeu autou nis pantois labana, kai charitan …From His fullness we have all received grace upon …
Ephesians 1:10eis oikonomian teu plērōmeu toiu kairoiu, anakefalaiera teim panteim en …as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things …
Ephesians 4:13“fullness”… andron teleion, eis metrem hēlikiau teu plērōmeu tou Christou,… as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ.
plērōme“fullness”to, fordative singular1×
Romans 15:29… de hoti erchorōntos pros vin en plērōme eulogiau Christou erchemi.… you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.
plērōmem4×
Matthew 9:16… epi himatie palaie; airatō gar tem plērōmem auteu apo teu himatieu, kai cheirōnem …… on an old garment. For the patch will pull away from the garment …
Mark 2:21“patch”… palaiem; ei de mē, airatō tem plērōmem apo auteu tem kainem teu palaieu, …… on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, and a …
Ephesians 3:19… Christou, hina plēriveia eis pantem tem plērōmem tou theou.… may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Colossians 1:19hoti en auto eudokata pantem tem plērōmem katoikara… was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,
plērōmeim2×
Mark 6:43“full”kai airala klasmeim dōdeka kofinoiu plērōmeim kai apo toiu ichthoiu.and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish.
Mark 8:20“full”… hepta eis toin tetrakischilioi, posaiu spuridaiu plērōmeim klasmeiu airava? kai legalō auto; Hepta.“And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces did you collect?” “Seven,” they said.