ἑβδομήκοντα
seventy
Definition
The Greek word ἑβδομήκοντα is the cardinal number 'seventy'. It is used literally to denote the exact quantity of seventy items or people. In the New Testament, it appears in several significant contexts: Jesus appointed seventy disciples to go ahead of him (Luke 10:1), the seventy disciples returned with joy from their mission (Luke 10:17), seventy-five people (a textual variant of seventy) from Jacob's family went to Egypt (Acts 7:14), seventy horsemen were part of a military escort (Acts 23:23), and there were 276 people on a ship (a number derived from seventy, Acts 27:37).
Biblical Usage
This word is used exclusively in Luke and Acts, written by the same author. It consistently functions as a precise numerical count. Its usage highlights organized groups: a team of disciples sent by Jesus, a family clan migrating, a military detachment, and a ship's passenger count. The pattern shows Luke's attention to specific numbers in narratives of mission, genealogy, and travel.
Etymology
Derived directly from the ancient Greek ἑβδομήκοντα, meaning 'seventy'. It is a compound number, related to ἑπτά (hepta, G2033) meaning 'seven', reflecting a decimal system (seven tens). It is a standard numeral in the Greek language with no significant semantic shift.
Semantic Range
The number seventy carries symbolic weight from the Old Testament, representing the nations of the world (Genesis 10) and the elders of Israel (Exodus 24:1, Numbers 11:16). When Jesus sends out the seventy in Luke 10, it symbolically signals the eventual mission to all nations, extending the gospel beyond Israel. Understanding this background enriches the passage, showing Jesus inaugurating a new, universal phase of God's kingdom.
In Jewish tradition, the number seventy was a conventional number for completeness among nations or a large, rounded group. The Greek term itself was a standard numeral, but its biblical usage often evoked these Jewish symbolic associations for a Hellenistic audience familiar with the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament).
ἑπτά (hepta, G2033) — The root number 'seven', from which seventy is derived. ἑβδομηκοντάκις (hebdomēkontakis, G1441) — The adverbial form meaning 'seventy times'.
Word Details
How this works
Definitions are from the Dodson Greek-English Lexicon, a concise public-domain resource suitable for introductory word study. Brief glosses are supplemented by STEPBible TBESG data (CC BY 4.0). For advanced research, standard scholarly references include BDAG (Danker, 3rd ed.) and LSJ.
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