noun · masculine
rabbi
Strong’sG4461
Rabbi, my master, teacher
stem rabbi-15 times in the New Testamentin 3 of 27 books2 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
Rabbi is a Hebrew/Aramaic title of respectful address meaning "my master" or "my teacher" 1234, used as an honorific for Jewish teachers 12. In the New Testament it is applied both to John and to Jesus as a form of respectful address from their followers 1.
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
*† ῥαββεί (Rec. -βί, v. WH, App., 155)
(Heb. and Aram. רַבִּי, my master; v. Dalman, Words, 327, 331 ff.),
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G4461 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidhrab-bee'
my master, i.e Rabbi, as an official title of honor
Fromof Hebrew origin ( with pronominal suffix);
King JamesMaster, Rabbi.
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
O my Master, Hebrew word in NT; also ῥαββονί or ῥαββουνί, 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 nominative | rabbi2×Ῥαββί | rabbi |
| object accusative | rabbi | rabbi |
| direct address vocative | rabbi13×Ῥαββί | rabbi |
| of, belonging to genitive | rabbi | rabbi |
| to, for dative | rabbi | rabbi |
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
same in every form varies — every value shown
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
15 occurrences, every one of them listed
rabbi“rabbi”subjectnominative singular2×
Matthew 23:7… agorai kai kalorō hupo toiu anthrōpoiu; Rabbi.… the marketplaces, and the title of ‘Rabbi’ by which they are addressed.
Matthew 23:8vis de mē kaliveia; Rabbi, henos gar atō vu tos didaskalos, …… you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and …
rabbi“rabbi”direct addressvocative singular13×
Matthew 26:25… paradōarōntos auton legata; Mēti mis amō, rabbi? legatō auto; Sis legasa.… betray Him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “You have said it …
Matthew 26:49… eutheōs prosercharantos to Iēso legata; Chairasōr, rabbi; kai katafilata auton.… directly to Jesus, he said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him.
Mark 9:5… apokrinirantos tos Petros legatō to Iēso; Rabbi, kalem atō nin hōde arō, kai …Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to …
Mark 11:21kai anamimnēskirantos tos Petros legatō auto; Rabbi, ide tas sukas han kataresa xēranotē.Peter remembered it and said, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree You cursed has …
Mark 14:45kai ercharantos euthuos prosercharantos auto legatō; Rabbi, kai katafilata auton.Going directly to Jesus, he said, “Rabbi!” and kissed Him.
John 1:38… Tinem zētavō? tois de legala auto; Rabbi hem legotō methermēneuorōntem Didaskalor, pou menasō?… He asked. They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are You …
John 1:49apokrinita auto Nathanaēl; Rabbi, sis asō tos huios tou theou, …“Rabbi,” Nathanael answered, “You are the Son …
John 3:2… pros auton nuktau kai legata auto; Rabbi, oidanē hoti apo theou erchasē didaskalos; …… to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a …
John 3:26… pros ton Iōannon kai legala auto; Rabbi, hos ate meta su peran tou …… came to him and said, “Look, Rabbi, the One who was with you …
John 4:31… metaxu erōtale auton tois mathētois legarōntois; Rabbi, esthiasar.Meanwhile the disciples urged Him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
John 6:25… auton peran tau thalassau legala auto; Rabbi, pote hōde genasē?… of the sea, they asked Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?”
John 9:2… erōtala auton tois mathētois autou legarōntois; Rabbi, tinos hamartata, houtos ē tois gonevois …and His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his …
John 11:8legalō auto tois mathētois; Rabbi, nun zētale sin lithazara tois Ioudaiois, …“Rabbi,” they replied, “the Jews just tried …