Luke 12:7

Greek (Tischendorf 8th ed.)

English Translation

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore don't be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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ἠρίθμηνται

arithméō

G705

“to number”

Verb, Perfect, Passive, Indicative, 3rd person, Plural

Appears 3× in the Greek New Testament
First appears at Matthew 10:30

Full Thayer's Definition

Origin: from G706

TDNT: 08:41,8

1. to number

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

14: words
13: distinct lemmas
Gospels: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is ἠρίθμηνται to number G705 — appearing just 3 times in the whole Greek New Testament.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

ἠρίθμηνται to number G705 occurs in 3 verses of the Greek New Testament. Also found in:

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse:

αἱ the G3588 ×2

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Luke 12:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Matthew 10:30–31 but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Matthew 6:26 See the birds of the sky, that they don't sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you of much more value than they?
Isaiah 43:3–4 For I am Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
2 Samuel 14:11 Then said she, Please let the king remember Yahweh your God, that the avenger of blood destroy not any more, lest they destroy my son. He said, As Yahweh lives, there shall not one hair of your son fall to the earth.
Luke 21:18 And not a hair of your head will perish.
1 Samuel 14:45 The people said to Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it: as Yahweh lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he has worked with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, that he didn't die.
Psalms 8:6 You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet:
Acts 27:34 Therefore I beg you to take some food, for this is for your safety; for not a hair will perish from any of your heads."

Matthew 12:12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day."

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Where the printed editions differ

1 variant

Places in this verse where the major printed Greek editions disagree on the wording in a way that affects the translation — a comparison of editions, not a manuscript-by-manuscript collation. The editions are the modern critical texts (Nestlé-Aland 28/27, SBL, Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, Tyndale House) and the traditional texts behind the KJV (the Textus Receptus and the Byzantine/Majority text). It is not a claim about which reading is original.

Extra text

οὖν

“therefore”

In TRByz Not in NA28NA27TynSBLWHTreg

οὖν (oun) 'therefore' is only in traditional manuscripts (TR+Byz)

Textual data: Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible TAGNT) · CC BY 4.0.

Commentary

Notes on Luke 12:7 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Bengel's Gnomon

Johann Albrecht Bengel

Luk 12:7. Πολλῶν) Others read πολλῷ. Comp. Luk 12:24.[115]

[115] ABDQ Rec. Text and Origen read πολλῶν. a has multo; but bc Vulg. multis.—ED. and TRANSL.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Expositor's Greek Testament

ed. W. Robertson Nicoll

Luk 12:7 . ἠρίθμηνται , they remain numbered, once for all; number never forgotten, one would be missed.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 7. Fear not therefore] Want of faith in the providence and goodness of God is the source of all human inquietudes and fears. He has undertaken to save and defend those to the uttermost who trust in him. His wisdom cannot be surprised, his power cannot be forced, his love cannot forget itself. Man distrusts God, and fears that he is forgotten by him, because he judges of God by himself; and he knows that he is apt to forget his Maker, and be unfaithful to him. See on Mt 10:29-31.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

7. even the very hairs of your head] See Luk_21:18; Act_27:34; and in the O. T. 1Sa_14:45; 1Ki_1:52.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered,.... Not only their persons had passed under the hands of him that telleth them, who is the "Palmoni", or "wonderful numberer", as in the margin of Dan 8:13 and not only the several members of their bodies, or the more substantial parts of them, were written in the book of his purposes, according to which they were fashioned in time, but the more minute parts, and less to be regarded, were all told over, and kept in account; even the very hairs of their head, and not one of them could fall to the ground, any more than a sparrow; or be plucked off by men, without the knowledge and will of God; so careful is the providence of God, of all his people:

fear not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows; for if the hairs of their heads are as much regarded as sparrows, their persons and their lives must be of more account, than an infinite number of them, nor are they to be mentioned with them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Ver. 7. {See Trapp on "Mat 10:29"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Matt. x, 30.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges

7. καὶ αἱ τρίχες τῆς κεφαλῆς ὑμῶν. See Luk 21:18; Act 27:34; and in the O. T. 1Sa 14:45; 1Ki 1:52.

διαφέρετε. The verb means (1) to differ; (2) to transcend. Mat 12:12.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

International Critical Commentary

7. ἀλλὰ καὶ αἱ τρἰχες κεφαλῆς. “But (little as you might expect it) even the hairs of your head.” Comp. 21:18; Act 27:34; 1Sa 14:45; 2Sa 14:11; 1Ki 1:52; Dan 3:27.

μὴ φοβεῖσθε … διαφέρετε. “Cease to fear (pres. imper.) … ye are different from, i.e. are superior to”: Mat 6:26, Mat 6:12:12; 1Co 15:41; Gal 4:1. This use of διαφέρω is classical.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament

Marvin R. Vincent

Confess me. Lit., "confess in me." See on Mt 10:32.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Luke, in the Gospels, opens this verse with 14 words (13 distinct Greek lemmas). Its most distinctive word is arithméō (“to number”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word arithméō carries the sense “to number.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Matthew 10:30, which shares the word «to number», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “the” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
Compare how Bengel's Gnomon and Expositor's Greek Testament read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 12 words in this verse.
“the” occurs 2× in this single verse.
13 distinct Greek lemmas span 14 words in this verse.