noun · feminine
trapezas
Strong’sG5132
a table for food or business
stem trapez-15 times in the New Testamentin 8 of 27 books5 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
Table — literally a table used for eating, such as a dining table; the same word is used of the table on which the bread of the Presence was set 1. It also serves as a general word for a table used either for food or for business 4. Strong's describes it more specifically as a table or stool, said to be four-legged, ordinarily used for food 2. By extension, the word can stand for the food or meal itself rather than the piece of furniture — for example, being fed at someone's table, or "the Lord's table" and "the table of demons" as ways of speaking of participation in a meal or feast 13.
Bank — a money-changer's table, that is, a counter used for exchanging or lending money, and so also a bank 123. Strong's notes that figuratively this can mean a broker's office for loans made at interest 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
τράπεζα, -ης, ἡ
[in LXX chiefly for שֻׁלְחָן, also for לֶחֶם, etc.;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G5132 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidtrap'-ed-zah
a table or stool (as being four-legged), usually for food (figuratively, a meal); also a counter for money (figuratively, a broker's office for loans at interest)
Fromprobably contracted from G5064 and G3979;
King Jamesbank, meat, table.
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
Doric dialect τράπεσδα Refs 7th c.BC+:— table, especially dining-table, eating-table, frequently in Refs 8th c.BC+; τ. εἰσφέρειν, ἐπάγειν, Refs 5th c.BC+; ἡ τ. εἰσῄρετο Refs 8th c.BC+; αἴρειν Refs 5th c.BC+; ξενίη τ. the hospitable board, ἴστω Ζεύς.. ξενίη τε τ. Refs 8th c.BC+; ὅρκον μέγαν, ἅλας τε καὶ τράπεζαν Refs 7th c.BC+; ἡ ξενικὴ τ. Refs 4th c.BC+; δέξασθαι τραπέζῃ καὶ κοίτῃ entertain at bed and board, Refs 5th c.BC+; τράπεζαν Περσικὴν παρετίθετο he kept a table in the Persian fashion, Refs 5th c.BC+; εἰς ἀλλοτρίαν τ. ἀποβλέπειν live at other men's table, at their expense, Refs; τὴν τ. ἀνατρέπειν upset the table, Refs 4th c.BC+; proverbial of a spendthrift, Refs 5th c.BC+; table dedicated to the gods, on which meats and offerings were set out, Refs 4th c.BC+; τ. Κυρίου, τ. δαιμονίων, NT
2 table, as implying what is upon it, meal, ἄνομος τ. Refs 5th c.BC+; Συρακοσίων τ., proverbial of luxurious living, Refs 5th c.BC+; Σικελικαὶ τ. proverbial cited in Refs 4th c.BC+; δεύτεραι τ. the second course, Refs 1st c.AD+; compare τράγημα.
II money-changer's counter, ἐν ἀγορᾷ ἐπὶ τῶν τ. NT+5th c.BC+; most frequently bank, Refs, etc.; ἡ ἐργασία ἡ τῆς τ. the right to operate the bank, Refs 4th c.BC+; ἡ ἐγγύη ἡ ἐπὶ τὴν τ. security given to the bank, NT+4th c.BC+bankers, Refs 5th c.BC+; κατασκευάζεσθαι τράπεζαν set up a bank, Refs 4th c.BC+; τῆς τ. ἀνασκευασθείσης the bank having been broken, Refs 4th c.BC+; δημοσία τ. public bank at Delos, Refs 1st c.BC+; in Egypt, Refs; βασιλικὴ τ. in Egypt, Refs 3rd c.BC+; χειριστὴς τῆς ἐν τῇ Πολέμωνος μερίδι τ. Refs 3rd c.BC+; opposed to ἰδιωτικὴ τ. Refs 1st c.AD+
III any table or flat surface on which a thing rests: as,
III.1 cross bench in which the mast is fixed, Refs 8th c.BC+; τ. δολωνική, see at {δολωνικός}.
III.2 platform on which slaves were exposed for sale, Refs 5th c.BC+
III.3 tablet or slab with a relief or inscription, τ. χαλκῆ Oracle texts cited in Refs 4th c.BC+; at a tomb, Refs 1st c.AD+
III.4 plinth of a statue, Refs 4th c.BC+
III.4.b lamp-stand, Refs 3rd c.BC+
III.5 nether millstone, Refs 1st c.AD+
III.6 part of a torsion engine, probably the plinth, Refs 3rd c.BC+
III.7 part of the liver, Refs 2nd c.BC+
III.8 shoulder-blade, Refs 2nd c.AD+
III.9 grinding surface of the teeth,Refs 2nd c.AD+. (The word is shortened from τετράπεζ; hence the question καὶ πόθεν ἐγὼ τρίπουν τ. λήψομα; as if this were an absurdity, Refs 5th c.BC+ —so τρίπεζα, τρέπεδδα (which see), of three-legged tables.)
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 | trapezas2×τράπεζα | trapezais |
| object accusative | trapezan2×τράπεζαν | trapezain3×τραπέζας |
| direct address vocative | trapezar | trapezair |
| of, belonging to genitive | trapezau7×τραπέζης | trapezaiu |
| to, for dative | trapeza | trapezai1×τραπέζαις |
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
trapeza 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.
15 occurrences, every one of them listed
trapezas“table”subjectnominative singular2×
Romans 11:9kai David legatō; Genitar tas trapezas autoiu eis pagidan kai eis thēran …And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap …
Hebrews 9:2… ha tas tē luchnas kai tas trapezas kai tas prothesias toiu artoiu, hotinas …… first room were the lampstand, the table, and the consecrated bread. This was …
trapezan“bank”objectaccusative singular2×
Luke 19:23… ouk dōasa mu tem arguriem epi trapezan? kamis ercharantos sun toko an autem …… not deposit my money in the bank, and upon my return I could …
Acts 16:34“food”… tē autoin eis ton oikon paratithata trapezan kai agallieta panoikei pisteuarēntos to theo.… he brought them into his home and set a meal before them. So he and all his household rejoiced that they had come to believe in God.
trapezau“table”of, belonging togenitive singular7×
Matthew 15:27… teiu psixeiu teiu piptarōnteiu apo tau trapezau toiu kurioiu autoiu.… crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
Mark 7:28… Kurior, kai teim kunarieim hupokatō tau trapezau esthialō apo teiu psixeiu teiu paidieiu.… replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
Luke 16:21… chortazira apo teiu piptarōnteiu apo tau trapezau tou plousiou; alla kai tois kunois …… that fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked …
Luke 22:21… paradōarōntou min meta mu epi tau trapezau;… betrayer is with Mine on the table.
Luke 22:30hina esthiaveiō kai pinaveiō epi tau trapezau mu en ta basileia mu, kai …… may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom and sit on …
1 Corinthians 10:21… pinarō kai potēriem daimoneiu; ouk dunovō trapezau kuriou metecharō kai trapezau daimoneiu.… too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table …
1 Corinthians 10:21… ouk dunovō trapezau kuriou metecharō kai trapezau daimoneiu.… table of the Lord and the table of demons too.
trapezain“tables”objectaccusative plural3×
Matthew 21:12… agorazarōntoin en te hiere kai tain trapezain toiu kollubistoiu katastrefata kai tain kathedrain …… and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the …
Mark 11:15… agorazarōntoin en te hiere, kai tain trapezain toiu kollubistoiu kai tain kathedrain toiu …… and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the …
John 2:15… kollubistoiu ekchata teim kermeim kai tain trapezain anastrefata,… the money changers and overturned their tables.
trapezai“tables”to, fordative plural1×
Acts 6:2… kataleiparantoin ton logon tou theou diakonarō trapezai;… God in order to wait on tables.