noun · feminine
prothesias
Strong’sG4286
the show-bread, predetermination
stem prothesi-12 times in the New Testamentin 8 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
Show-bread: the loaves of bread ritually set out in the Jewish temple, laid before God 1234. The phrase "the bread of the setting forth" or "the loaves of the setting forth" refers to this consecrated bread displayed in the sanctuary 13.
Purpose, predetermination: a plan, intention, or resolve that has been fixed in advance 124. Strong's describes this as the figurative sense of a "setting forth," meaning a proposal or intention 2.
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
πρό-θεσις, -εως, ἡ,
[in LXX: Ex 40:4, 23 (עֵרֶךְ), I Ch 9:32, al. (מַעֲרֶכֶת), II Ch 4:19 (פָּנִים), I Mac 1:22, II Mac 3:8, al.;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G4286 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidproth'-es-is
a setting forth, i.e. (figuratively) proposal (intention); specially, the show-bread (in the Temple) as exposed before God
Fromfrom G4388;
King Jamespurpose, shew(-bread).
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
(προτίθημι) placing in public; of a corpse, laying it out Refs 5th c.BC+
2 public notice, αἱ π. τῶν ἀναγεγραμμένων Refs 4th c.BC+
3 statement of a case, Refs; ὑπέρ τινος τὴν πρόθεσιν ποιήσασθαι Refs; theme, thesis, Refs 5th c.BC+: generally, proposition, statement, Refs 1st c.BC+
4 πρόθεσιν ποιεῖσθαι ἐπὶ ταῖς.. προσόδοις to make payment in advance, Refs 3rd c.BC+
5 offering, Refs 3rd c.BC+, Gauthier et Sottas Decret trilingue Refs 3rd c.BC+ and NT, οἱ ἄρτοι τῆς π. the loaves laid before, shew-bread, LXX+NT+1st c.AD+
II purpose, end proposed, ἐπαινῶ σὴν π. Refs 5th c.BC+; defined as σημείωσις ἐπιτελέσεως, Refspurposely, Refs 2nd c.BC+
II.2 goodwill, π. ἔχειν πρὸς ἔθνος, ὑπὲρ τῶν πολιτῶν, Refs 2nd c.BC+
III supposition, calculation, Refs 2nd c.BC+
IV Grammars, preposition, Refs 3rd c.BC+
IV.2 prefixing, placing first, Refs
IV.3 π. καὶ πτῶσις perhaps stem (or root) and ending, Refs 1st c.BC+
V ={προθεσμία}, interpolated in 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 | prothesias2×πρόθεσις | prothesiais |
| object accusative | prothesian4×πρόθεσιν | prothesiain |
| direct address vocative | prothesiar | prothesiair |
| of, belonging to genitive | prothesiau4×προθέσεως | prothesiaiu |
| to, for dative | prothesia2×προθέσει | prothesiai |
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
prothesia 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.
12 occurrences, every one of them listed
prothesias“purpose”subjectnominative singular2×
Romans 9:11“purpose”… ē faulem, hina tas kata eklogan prothesias tou theou menateiō,Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand,
Hebrews 9:2“presentation”… luchnas kai tas trapezas kai tas prothesias toiu artoiu, hotinas legotō Hagieim;… were the lampstand, the table, and the consecrated bread. This was called the Holy Place.
prothesian“purpose”objectaccusative singular4×
Romans 8:28… panteim sunergatō eis agathem, toi kata prothesian klētoi arōntoi.… who are called according to His purpose.
Ephesians 1:11“purpose”en ho kai klērina proorizirantois kata prothesian tou teim panteim energarōntou kata tan …In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of …
Ephesians 3:11kata prothesian toiu aiōnoiu han poiata en to …according to the eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus …
2 Timothy 1:9… teim ergeim nu alla kata idian prothesian kai charitan, tan dōirantan ni en …… our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted …
prothesiau“presence”of, belonging togenitive singular4×
Matthew 12:4“presence”… tou theou kai toin artoin tau prothesiau esthiala, hem ouk exestinarōntem ate auto …… house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for them to eat, but only for the priests.
Mark 2:26“presence”… Abiathar archierevou kai toin artoin tau prothesiau esthiata, hoin ouk exestinatō esthiara ei …… priesthood of Abiathar, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which was lawful only for the priests. And …
Luke 6:4“presence”… tou theou kai toin artoin tau prothesiau labarantos esthiata kai dōata toi meta …… house of God, took the consecrated bread and gave it to his companions, and ate what is lawful only for the priests to …
Acts 27:13“purpose”Hupopnarantou de notou dokarantois tau prothesiau kratarē airarantois asson paralegole tan Krētan.… a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had their opportunity. So they weighed anchor and sailed along, hugging the coast of Crete.
prothesia“devoted”to, fordative singular2×
Acts 11:23“devoted”… theou, chairita kai parakalate pantoin ta prothesia tau kardiau prosmenarō to kurio,… grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.
2 Timothy 3:10… mu ta didaskalia, ta agōga, ta prothesia, ta pistia, ta makrothumia, ta agapa, …… observed my teaching, my conduct, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love …