noun · masculine
stratiōtos
Strong’sG4757
a soldier
stem stratiōt-26 times in the New Testamentin 6 of 27 books7 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
στρατιώτης means a soldier 124 — literally, one who camps out in the field, and so a warrior in the ordinary military sense 2. It is used of soldiers generally, including guards and other military men encountered in the Gospels and Acts 1, and this same everyday sense of "soldier" runs through Greek usage from the classical period onward, including soldiers serving on ships and professional or mercenary soldiers of later times 3.
The word is also used figuratively of a "soldier of Christ Jesus," applying the image of a soldier to describe someone in Christian service 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
Strong’s G4757 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidstrat-ee-o'-tace
a camper-out, i.e. a (common) warrior (literally or figuratively)
Fromfrom a presumed derivative of the same as G4756;
King Jamessoldier.
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
vocative στρατιῶτα Refs 4th c.BC+: (στρατιά):— soldier, Refs 5th c.BC+; σ. μισθωσάμενος, of Pisistratus, Refs 4th c.BC+; ἄνδρες σ., in a speech, Refs 5th c.BC+; collectively, in singular, ὁ πολὺς ὅμιλος καὶ σ. Refs; also of soldiers serving on ship-board, Refs
2 later, professional soldier,= μισθοφόρος, Refs 4th c.BC+; soldier in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, Refs 3rd c.BC+; Κάσσανδρος τῶν Ἀπολλωνίου στρατιωτῶν Refs 3rd c.BC+
II water-lettuce (σ. ἔνυδρος Refs 2nd c.AD+, Pistia Stratiotes, Refs 4th c.BC+; σ. χιλιόφυλλος, Achillea Millefolium, yarrow or milfoil, 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 | stratiōtos1×στρατιώτης | stratiōtois9×στρατιῶται |
| object accusative | stratiōton1×στρατιώτην | stratiōtoin5×στρατιώτας |
| direct address vocative | stratiōtor | stratiōtoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | stratiōtou | stratiōtoiu5×στρατιωτῶν |
| to, for dative | stratiōto2×στρατιώτῃ | stratiōtoi3×στρατιώταις |
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
stratiōto 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.
26 occurrences, every one of them listed
stratiōtos“soldier”subjectnominative singular1×
2 Timothy 2:3sunkakopathasar hōs kalos stratiōtos Christou Iēsu.… me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
stratiōton“soldier”objectaccusative singular1×
Acts 10:7… auto, fōnarantos duo toiu oiketoiu kai stratiōton eusebon toiu proskarterarōntoiu auto… of his servants and a devout soldier from among his attendants.
stratiōto“soldier”to, fordative singular2×
John 19:23… autou kai poiala tessares mereim, hekasto stratiōto merem, kai ton chitōnon. ate de …… into four parts, one for each soldier, with the tunic remaining. It was …
Acts 28:16… kata heauton sun to fulassarōnto auton stratiōto.… to stay by himself, with a soldier to guard him.
stratiōtois“soldiers”subjectnominative plural9×
Matthew 27:27Tote tois stratiōtois tou hēgemonou paralabarantois ton Iēsun eis …Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and …
Mark 15:16Tois de stratiōtois apagala auton esō tau aulau, hem …Then the soldiers led Jesus away into the palace …
Luke 23:36empaizala de auto kai tois stratiōtois proserchorōntois, oxem prosferarōntois autoThe soldiers also mocked Him and came up …
John 19:2kai tois stratiōtois plekarantois stefanon ek akanthaiu epitithala autou …The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns …
John 19:23tois oun stratiōtois hote staurala ton Iēsun labala teim …When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided His …
John 19:24… mu balala klēron. Tois men oun stratiōtois houteim poiala.… clothing.” So that is what the soldiers did.
John 19:32erchala oun tois stratiōtois, kai tou men prōtou kateagala teim …So the soldiers came and broke the legs of …
Acts 23:31Tois men oun stratiōtois kata tem diatassorēntem autoi analabarantois ton …So the soldiers followed their orders and brought Paul …
Acts 27:32tote apokoptala tois stratiōtois teim schoinieim tau skafau kai easala …So the soldiers cut the ropes to the lifeboat …
stratiōtoin“soldiers”objectaccusative plural5×
Matthew 8:9… amō hupo exousian, echarōntos hupo miauton stratiōtoin, kai legamō houto; Poreuisar, kai poreuotō, …… am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one to …
Luke 7:8… hupo exousian tassorōntos, echarōntos hupo miauton stratiōtoin, kai legamō houto; Poreuisar, kai poreuotō, …… am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one to …
Acts 21:32hos exautēs paralabarantos stratiōtoin kai hekatontarchēoin katatrechata epi autoin, tois …Immediately he took some soldiers and centurions and ran down to …
Acts 21:32… de horarantois ton chiliarchon kai toin stratiōtoin pauela tuptarōntois ton Paulon.… people saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
Acts 23:23… tinoin duo toiu hekatontarchēoiu legata; Hetoimazavar stratiōtoin diakosioi hopōs poreuileia heōs Kaisareiau, kai …… centurions and said, “Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen …
stratiōtoiu“soldiers”of, belonging togenitive plural5×
John 19:34alla henos toiu stratiōtoiu loncha autou tan pleuran nussata, kai …Instead, one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear …
Acts 12:4… titheta eis fulakan, paradōarantos tessares tetradiei stratiōtoiu fulassarō auton, boulorōntos meta tem pascha …… guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him …
Acts 12:6… ate tos Petros koimorōntos metaxu duo stratiōtoiu dorēntos halusiai duo, fulakois tē pro …… trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, with sentries …
Acts 21:35… anabathmoin, sumbainata bastazorō auton hupo toiu stratiōtoiu dia tan bian tou ochlou,… had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the …
Acts 27:42toiu de stratiōtoiu boulas geneta hina toin desmōtoin apoktenaleia, …The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners so …
stratiōtoi“soldiers”to, fordative plural3×
Matthew 28:12… tē labarantois argurieim hikaneim dōala toi stratiōtoi… formed a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money
Acts 12:18… ate tarachos ouk oligos en toi stratiōtoi, tinem ara tos Petros geneta.… was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of …
Acts 27:31… tos Paulos to hekatontarchēo kai toi stratiōtoi; Ean mē houtois menaleia en te …… said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain with the …