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Greek noun (masculine) · G2409

ἱερεύς

hiereushee-er-yooce'

priest

30 uses in the Greek text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key

Concordance spelling: hiereús

Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's G2409is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.

  • 7 of 27
    New Testament books
  • 7
    spellings

The definition in full

Strong's key (1890) · G2409

a priest (literally or figuratively)

The King James renders it: (high) priest.

James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.

Summary

hiereus is rendered "priest". It stands 30 times in the Greek text, across seven books.

  • Thirteen of the uses stand in Hebrews, more than in any other book.
  • Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Matthew 8:4Then Jesus instructed him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift prescribed by Moses, as a testimony to them.”
  • The Greek text spells it seven different ways.

The first use

Then Jesus instructed him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift prescribed by Moses, as a testimony to them.”

Matthew 8:4ἱερεῖ

The first use, in the order of the New Testament's books.

Where the word stands

Thirteen of the word's thirty uses are in Hebrews.

The other 20 New Testament books never use the word.

What the word means

Each meaning, and the words it is translated by

How the Greek text is glossed, word by word

  • priests14
  • a priest9
  • priest6
  • the priest1

The words built on the same word-part

Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.

All 30, in canonical order

Every use, in order

Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.

7 spellings and their grammar

STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.

How it is spelled

  • ἱερεῖς10
  • ἱερεὺς9
  • ἱερεῖ3
  • ἱερέα2
  • ἱερεύς2
  • ἱερεῦσιν2
  • ἱερέων2

The grammar of each form

  • noun · nominative (subject) · masculine singular11N-NSM
  • noun · accusative (object) · masculine plural5N-APM
  • noun · nominative (subject) · masculine plural5N-NPM
  • noun · dative (“to / for”) · masculine singular3N-DSM
  • noun · accusative (object) · masculine singular2N-ASM
  • noun · dative (“to / for”) · masculine plural2N-DPM
  • noun · genitive (“of”) · masculine plural2N-GPM

Matthew

three uses
  • Then Jesus instructed him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift prescribed by Moses, as a testimony to them.”

    Matthew 8:4

    • ἱερεῖhi'ereinoun · dative (“to / for”) · masculine singulartagged: priest
  • He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for them to eat, but only for the priests.

    Matthew 12:4

    • ἱερεῦσινhi'ereusinnoun · dative (“to / for”) · masculine pluraltagged: priests
  • Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and yet are innocent?

    Matthew 12:5

    • ἱερεῖςhi'ereisnoun · nominative (subject) · masculine pluraltagged: priests

Mark

two uses
  • “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering Moses prescribed for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

    Mark 1:44

    • ἱερεῖhi'ereinoun · dative (“to / for”) · masculine singulartagged: priest
  • During the high priesthood of Abiathar, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which was lawful only for the priests. And he gave some to his companions as well.”

    Mark 2:26

    • ἱερεῖςhi'ereisnoun · accusative (object) · masculine pluraltagged: priests

Luke

five uses
  • In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah, and whose wife Elizabeth was a daughter of Aaron.

    Luke 1:5

    • ἱερεύςhi'ereusnoun · nominative (subject) · masculine singulartagged: a priest
  • “Do not tell anyone,” Jesus instructed him. “But go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering Moses prescribed for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

    Luke 5:14

    • ἱερεῖhi'ereinoun · dative (“to / for”) · masculine singulartagged: priest
  • He entered the house of God, took the consecrated bread and gave it to his companions, and ate what is lawful only for the priests to eat.”

    Luke 6:4

    • ἱερεῖςhi'ereisnoun · accusative (object) · masculine pluraltagged: priests
  • Now by chance a priest was going down the same road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

    Luke 10:31

    • ἱερεύςhi'ereusnoun · nominative (subject) · masculine singulartagged: a priest
  • When Jesus saw them, He said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were on their way, they were cleansed.

    Luke 17:14

    • ἱερεῦσινhi'ereusinnoun · dative (“to / for”) · masculine pluraltagged: priests

John

one use
  • And this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?”

    John 1:19

    • ἱερεῖςhi'ereisnoun · accusative (object) · masculine pluraltagged: priests

Acts

three uses
  • While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them,

    Acts 4:1

    • ἱερεῖςhi'ereisnoun · nominative (subject) · masculine pluraltagged: priests
  • So the word of God continued to spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem grew rapidly, and a great number of priests became obedient to the faith.

    Acts 6:7

    • ἱερέωνhi'ereonnoun · genitive (“of”) · masculine pluraltagged: priests
  • The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates, hoping to offer a sacrifice along with the crowds.

    Acts 14:13

    • ἱερεὺςhi'ereusnoun · nominative (subject) · masculine singulartagged: the priest

Hebrews

thirteen uses
  • And in another passage God says: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

    Hebrews 5:6

    • ἱερεὺςhi'ereusnoun · nominative (subject) · masculine singulartagged: a priest
  • This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,

    Hebrews 7:1

    • ἱερεὺςhi'ereusnoun · nominative (subject) · masculine singulartagged: priest
  • Without father or mother or genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God, he remains a priest for all time.

    Hebrews 7:3

    • ἱερεὺςhi'ereusnoun · nominative (subject) · masculine singulartagged: a priest
  • Now if perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on this basis the people received the law), why was there still need for another priest to appear—one in the order of Melchizedek and not in the order of Aaron?

    Hebrews 7:11

    • ἱερέαhi'ereanoun · accusative (object) · masculine singulartagged: priest
  • For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, a tribe as to which Moses said nothing about priests.

    Hebrews 7:14

    • ἱερέωνhi'ereonnoun · genitive (“of”) · masculine pluraltagged: priests
  • And this point is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears,

    Hebrews 7:15

    • ἱερεὺςhi'ereusnoun · nominative (subject) · masculine singulartagged: a priest
  • For it is testified: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

    Hebrews 7:17

    • ἱερεὺςhi'ereusnoun · nominative (subject) · masculine singulartagged: a priest
  • but Jesus became a priest with an oath by the One who said to Him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’”

    Hebrews 7:21

    • ἱερεὺςhi'ereusnoun · nominative (subject) · masculine singulartagged: a priest
  • Now there have been many other priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office.

    Hebrews 7:23

    • ἱερεῖςhi'ereisnoun · nominative (subject) · masculine pluraltagged: priests
  • Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are already priests who offer gifts according to the law.

    Hebrews 8:4

    • ἱερεὺςhi'ereusnoun · nominative (subject) · masculine singulartagged: a priest
  • When everything had been prepared in this way, the priests entered regularly into the first room to perform their sacred duties.

    Hebrews 9:6

    • ἱερεῖςhi'ereisnoun · nominative (subject) · masculine pluraltagged: priests
  • Day after day every priest stands to minister and to offer again and again the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

    Hebrews 10:11

    • ἱερεὺςhi'ereusnoun · nominative (subject) · masculine singulartagged: priest
  • and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

    Hebrews 10:21

    • ἱερέαhi'ereanoun · accusative (object) · masculine singulartagged: a priest

Revelation

three uses
  • who has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen.

    Revelation 1:6

    • ἱερεῖςhi'ereisnoun · accusative (object) · masculine pluraltagged: priests
  • You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign upon the earth.”

    Revelation 5:10

    • ἱερεῖςhi'ereisnoun · accusative (object) · masculine pluraltagged: priests
  • Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

    Revelation 20:6

    • ἱερεῖςhi'ereisnoun · nominative (subject) · masculine pluraltagged: priests

Where it leads

How the numbers are counted

Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.

Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.

Hebrew and Greek text, word tagging and grammar: STEP Bible (www.STEPBible.org), Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0. Their grammar codes are written out in English here and shown as tagged beside each one.

Meaning and senses: STEP Bible TBESG (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0), the Brief lexicon based on Abbott-Smith (1922).

Dictionary key: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890, public domain). English verse text: Berean Standard Bible (public domain, 2023).

Revised 2026-09-05. Every cited work, the sources registry →