noun · neuter
xulem
Strong’sG3586
a staff, cross, anything made of wood
stem xul-20 times in the New Testamentin 8 of 27 books4 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
Wood as a material or substance, timber 123.
A piece of wood or object made of wood: this covers a staff or cudgel (used, for example, by an armed crowd) 124, wooden stocks used to confine a prisoner's feet 123, and a wooden beam or gibbet to which a criminal was bound, which in the New Testament refers to the cross 1234.
Also a tree, a living plant of wood 123, including the phrase "tree of life" 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
ξύλον, -ου, τό,
[in LXX chiefly for עֵץ;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G3586 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidxoo'-lon
timber (as fuel or material); by implication, a stick, club or tree or other wooden article or substance
Fromfrom another form of the base of G3582;
King Jamesstaff, stocks, tree, wood.
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
(plural spelt ξύλεα Refs 5th c.BC+, wood cut and ready for use, firewood, timber, etc., Refs 8th c.BC+, mostly in plural, Refs 8th c.BC+; ξ. νήϊα ship-timber, Refs 8th c.BC+; ξ. τετράγωνα logs cut square, Refs 5th c.BC+
2 in plural, also, the wood-market, ἐπὶ ξύλα ἰέναι Refs 5th c.BC+
II in singular, piece of wood, log, beam, post, once in Refs 8th c.BC+; ξ. σύκινον spoon made of fig wood, Refs 5th c.BC+; peg or lever, Refs 4th c.BC+; perch, ἐπὶ ξύλου καθεύδειν Refs 5th c.BC+; ἵπποιο κακὸν ξ., of the Trojan horse, Refs 6th c.AD+
II.2 cudgel, club, Refs 5th c.BC+; μετὰ ξύλων εἰσπηδῆσαι Refs 2nd c.AD+; ξύλοις συντρίψειν Refs 2nd c.AD+; of the club of Heracles, Refs 1st c.AD+
II.3 an instrument of punishment,
II.3.a wooden collar, put on the neck of the prisoner, ξύλῳ φιμοῦν τὸν αὐχένα Refs 5th c.BC+; or,
II.3.b stocks, in which the feet were confined, NT+5th c.BC+: also in plural, ἔδησεν ἐν τοῖς ξ. Refs 5th c.BC+
II.3.c πεντεσύριγγον ξύλον (see. entry) was a combination of both, with holes for the neck, arms, and legs, Refs 5th c.BC+
II.3.d gallows, κρεμάσαι τινὰ ἐπὶ ξύλου LXX; ξ. δίδυμονLXX i.e. if one must be hanged, at least let it be on a noble tree, Refs 5th c.BC+; in NT, of the cross, NT
II.3.e stake on which criminals were impaled, Refs 2nd c.AD+
II.4 bench, table, especially money-changer's table, Refs 4th c.BC+
II.5 πρῶτον ξύλον front bench in the Athenian theatre, Refs 5th c.BC+ the official who had to take care of the seats, Refs 5th c.BC+
II.6 the Hippocratic bench, Refs 5th c.BC+
III of live wood, tree, [ὄρος] δασὺ πολλοῖς καὶ παντοδαποῖς καὶ μεγάλοις ξύλοις LXX+5th c.BC+; εἴρια ἀπὸ ξύλου, of cotton, Refs 5th c.BC+
IV of persons, blockhead, Refs; of a stubborn person, σίδηρός τις ἢ ξ. πρὸς τὰς δεήσεις Refs 3rd c.AD+
V a measure oflength, = 3 (also 2 2/3) cubits, the side of the ναύβιον, Refs 2nd c.BC+ “*Geometry texts” 23.4,11, Refs 3rd c.AD+
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 | xulem1×ξύλον | xuleim |
| of, belonging to genitive | xuleu8×ξύλου | xuleiu5×ξύλων |
| to, for dative | xule1×ξύλῳ | xulei |
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
xule 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.
20 occurrences, every one of them listed
xulem“tree”subject or objectdirect singular1×
Revelation 22:2… kai tou potamou enteuthen kai ekeithen xulem zōau poiarōntem karpoin dōdeka, kata mēnon …… side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of …
xuleu“tree”of, belonging togenitive singular8×
Acts 5:30… Iēsun, hon vis diacheirizeva kremannuarantois epi xuleu;… killed by hanging Him on a tree.
Acts 10:39… Ierousalēm; hon kai anairala kremannuarantois epi xuleu.… death by hanging Him on a tree,
Acts 13:29… peri autou graforēnteim, kathairarantois apo teu xuleu tithala eis mnēmeiem.… they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.
Galatians 3:13… grafotē; Epikataratos pantos tos kremannuerantos epi xuleu,… everyone who is hung on a tree.”
Revelation 2:7… nikarōnto dōami auto esthiara ek teu xuleu tau zōau, hem atō en to …… the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of …
Revelation 18:12… skevem elefantinem kai pantem skevem ek xuleu timiotateu kai chalkou kai sidērou kai …… and every article of ivory, precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble;
Revelation 22:2… karpon auteu, kai teim fulleim teu xuleu eis therapeian teiu ethneiu.… month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the …
Revelation 22:19… theos tem merem autou apo teu xuleu tau zōau kai ek tau polau …… take away his share in the tree of life and the holy city …
xule“wood”to, fordative singular1×
Luke 23:31“wood”hoti ei en te hugre xule houteim poialō, en te xēre tinem …For if men do these things while the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
xuleiu“clubs”of, belonging togenitive plural5×
Matthew 26:47… autou ochlos pollos meta machairaiu kai xuleiu apo toiu archierevoiu kai presbuteroiu tou …… large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and …
Matthew 26:55… epi lēston exerchava meta machairaiu kai xuleiu sullabara min? kata hēmeran en te …… you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would …
Mark 14:43… meta autou ochlos meta machairaiu kai xuleiu para toiu archierevoiu kai toiu grammatevoiu …… a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, scribes …
Mark 14:48… epi lēston exerchava meta machairaiu kai xuleiu sullabara min?… you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would …
Luke 22:52… epi lēston exerchava meta machairaiu kai xuleiu?… you come out with swords and clubs as you would against an outlaw?
xulem4×
Acts 16:24… toin podoin asfalizeta autoiu eis tem xulem.… and fastened their feet in the stocks.
1 Peter 2:24… en te sōme autou epi tem xulem, hina tai hamartai apogenerantois ta dikaiosuna …… sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to …
Revelation 18:12… kai sirikeu kai kokkineu, kai pantem xulem thuinem kai pantem skevem elefantinem kai …… scarlet; of all kinds of citron wood and every article of ivory, precious …
Revelation 22:14… eti tas exousias autoiu epi tem xulem tau zōau kai toi pulōnoi eiserchaleia …… may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the …
xuleim1×
1 Corinthians 3:12… ton themelion chruson, arguron, lithoin timioin, xuleim, chorton, kalamēan,… foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,