θλίψις
affliction
‘affliction’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Thayer's Greek Lexicon
From Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Where this word appears
See every Dative-case word in the Greek New Testament →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Case
- Accusative
- The case of the direct object and of extent.
- Dative
- The case of the indirect object, means, or location — “to / for / with / in.”
- Genitive
- The case of source, possession, or “of” — answers “whose / from what.”
- Nominative
- The case of the subject (and the predicate nominative).
Gender
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one.
Grammatical forms
- Noun, Accusative, Singular, Feminine 10 times (22%)
- Noun, Dative, Singular, Feminine 9 times (20%)
- Noun, Genitive, Singular, Feminine 9 times (20%)
- Noun, Nominative, Singular, Feminine 7 times (16%)
- Noun, Dative, Plural, Feminine 6 times (13%)
- Noun, Genitive, Plural, Feminine 3 times (7%)
- Noun, Nominative, Plural, Feminine 1 time (2%)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (Robinson–Tischendorf, public domain), counted across 45 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where G2347 appears — 43 distinct verses across 15 books. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Greek form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Greek New Testament; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences of this word are not indexed here.
Matthew 4 verses
- Matthew 13:21 θλίψεως n gen sg fem yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
- Matthew 24:9 θλῖψιν n acc sg fem Then they will deliver you up to oppression, and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name's sake.
- Matthew 24:21 θλῖψις n nom sg fem for then there will be great oppression, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be.
- Matthew 24:29 θλῖψιν n acc sg fem But immediately after the oppression of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;
Mark 3 verses
- Mark 4:17 θλίψεως n gen sg fem They have no root in themselves, but are short-lived. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they stumble.
- Mark 13:19 θλῖψις n nom sg fem For in those days there will be oppression, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be.
- Mark 13:24 θλῖψιν n acc sg fem But in those days, after that oppression, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light,
John 2 verses
- John 16:21 θλίψεως n gen sg fem A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow, because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she doesn't remember the anguish any more, for the joy that a human being is born into the world.
- John 16:33 θλῖψιν n acc sg fem I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have oppression; but cheer up! I have overcome the world."
Acts 5 verses
- Acts 7:10 θλίψεων n gen pl fem and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
- Acts 7:11 θλῖψις n nom sg fem Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food.
- Acts 11:19 θλίψεως n gen sg fem They therefore who were scattered abroad by the oppression that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews only.
- Acts 14:22 θλίψεων n gen pl fem confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must enter into the Kingdom of God.
- Acts 20:23 θλίψεις n nom pl fem except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me.
Romans 4 verses
- Romans 2:9 θλῖψις n nom sg fem oppression and anguish, on every soul of man who works evil, on the Jew first, and also on the Greek.
- Romans 5:3 θλίψεσιν θλῖψις n dat pl fem n nom sg fem Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering works perseverance;
- Romans 8:35 θλῖψις n nom sg fem Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
- Romans 12:12 θλίψει n dat sg fem rejoicing in hope; enduring in troubles; continuing steadfastly in prayer;
1 Corinthians 1 verse
2 Corinthians 8 verses
- 2 Corinthians 1:4 θλίψει θλίψει n dat sg fem n dat sg fem who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
- 2 Corinthians 1:8 θλίψεως n gen sg fem For we don't desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life.
- 2 Corinthians 2:4 θλίψεως n gen sg fem For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made sorry, but that you might know the love that I have so abundantly for you.
- 2 Corinthians 4:17 θλίψεως n gen sg fem For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory;
- 2 Corinthians 6:4 θλίψεσιν n dat pl fem but in everything commending ourselves, as servants of God, in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses,
- 2 Corinthians 7:4 θλίψει n dat sg fem Great is my boldness of speech toward you. Great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I overflow with joy in all our affliction.
- 2 Corinthians 8:2 θλίψεως n gen sg fem how that in much proof of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded to the riches of their liberality.
- 2 Corinthians 8:13 θλῖψις n nom sg fem For this is not that others may be eased and you distressed,
Ephesians 1 verse
Philippians 2 verses
Colossians 1 verse
1 Thessalonians 3 verses
- 1 Thessalonians 1:6 θλίψει n dat sg fem You became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,
- 1 Thessalonians 3:3 θλίψεσιν n dat pl fem that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you know that we are appointed to this task.
- 1 Thessalonians 3:7 θλίψει n dat sg fem for this cause, brothers, we were comforted over you in all our distress and affliction through your faith.
2 Thessalonians 2 verses
- 2 Thessalonians 1:4 θλίψεσιν n dat pl fem so that we ourselves boast about you in the assemblies of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:6 θλῖψιν n acc sg fem Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you,
Hebrews 1 verse
James 1 verse
Revelation 5 verses
- Revelation 1:9 θλίψει n dat sg fem I John, your brother and partner with you in oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God's Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
- Revelation 2:9 θλῖψιν n acc sg fem "I know your works, oppression, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
- Revelation 2:10 θλῖψιν n acc sg fem Don't be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life.
- Revelation 2:22 θλῖψιν n acc sg fem Behold, I will throw her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great oppression, unless they repent of her works.
- Revelation 7:14 θλίψεως n gen sg fem I told him, "My lord, you know." He said to me, "These are those who came out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes, and made them white in the Lamb's blood.
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
The Greek noun θλιψις centers on the idea of “affliction.” Debuting at Matthew 13:21, it then recurs through the corpus. Spanning 43 verses in 15 books, it ranks among the moderately common words of the Greek New Testament. Thayer's distinguishes 2 senses for it. Dig into 43-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's G2347 catalogs a Greek word from the Greek New Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Greek New Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 43
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 43 distinct verses.
- 15 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 15 of 27 New Testament books.
- #337
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Greek words (rank 337 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 43 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- 2 Corinthians 8 verses 19%
- Acts 5 verses 12%
- Revelation 5 verses 12%
By section of the New Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Some books belong to more than one corpus (Luke is in both the Gospels and the Lukan corpus, and so on), so these shares overlap and need not total 100%. Each figure is a share of the word’s 43 distinct verses.
- Pauline corpus 22 verses · 51%
- Gospels 9 verses · 21%
- Johannine 7 verses · 16%
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 5 verses · 12%
- Revelation 5 verses · 12%
- Hebrews 1 verse · 2%
- General (Catholic) Epistles 1 verse · 2%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Tribulation 17×, Affliction 11×, Afflictions 6×
- American Standard Version: Tribulation 17×, Affliction 13×, Afflictions 7×
- Berean Standard Bible: Tribulation 9×, Affliction 6×, Troubles 5×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Tribulation 16×, Affliction 9×, Afflictions 7×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G2347 across 45 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 5 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G2347 across 46 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 6 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders G2347 across 45 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 6 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G2347 across 46 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 4 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in Thayer's
The 2 senses Thayer's distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- a pressing, pressing together, pressure
- metaph. oppression, affliction, tribulation, distress, straits
Word origin
Derived from θλιβω (thlíbō) (G2346) — to press.
From G2346 ; pressure (literally or figuratively): - afflicted (-tion) anguish burdened persecution tribulation trouble.
— Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (1890), public domain.
Forms in the corpus
The 8 distinct written forms G2347 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that case’s occurrences in the concordance.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| θλῖψιν thlîpsin | Noun, Accusative, Singular, Feminine | Matthew 24:9 | 10 |
| θλίψει thlípsei | Noun, Dative, Singular, Feminine | Romans 12:12 | 9 |
| θλίψεως thlípseōs | Noun, Genitive, Singular, Feminine | Matthew 13:21 | 9 |
| θλῖψις thlîpsis | Noun, Nominative, Singular, Feminine | Matthew 24:21 | 7 |
| θλίψεσιν thlípsesin | Noun, Dative, Plural, Feminine | Romans 5:3 | 5 |
| θλίψεων thlípseōn | Noun, Genitive, Plural, Feminine | Acts 7:10 | 3 |
| θλίψεις thlípseis | Noun, Nominative, Plural, Feminine | Acts 20:23 | 1 |
| θλίψεσίν thlípsesín | Noun, Dative, Plural, Feminine | Ephesians 3:13 | 1 |
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word θλιψις appears 103 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 96 verses in 25 books.
- 103
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 96
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 25 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 25 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Genesis 35:3 θλῖψις
- Exodus 4:31 θλῖψις
- Deuteronomy 4:29 θλῖψις
- Judges 10:14 θλῖψις
- 1 Samuel 1:6 θλῖψις
- 2 Samuel 4:9 θλῖψις
- 1 Kings 1:29 θλῖψις
- 2 Kings 13:4 θλῖψις
- 2 Chronicles 15:6 θλῖψις
- Ezra 19:27 θλῖψις
- Job 15:24 θλῖψις
- Psalms 4:2 θλῖψις
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G2347) appears in the Greek Septuagint — showing the first 50 of 96. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context; the Greek form is the matched word — the English is not keyword-highlighted.
- Genesis 35:3 θλῖψις Let us arise, and go up to Bethel. I will make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went."
- Genesis 42:21 θλῖψις They said one to another, "We are most assuredly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn't listen. Therefore this distress has come on us."
- Exodus 4:31 θλῖψις The people believed, and when they heard that Yahweh had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.
- Deuteronomy 4:29 θλῖψις But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God, and you shall find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
- Deuteronomy 28:53 θλῖψις You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you.
- Deuteronomy 28:55 θλῖψις so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he has nothing left him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your gates.
- Deuteronomy 28:57 θλῖψις and toward her young one who comes out from between her feet, and toward her children whom she shall bear; for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your gates.
- Deuteronomy 31:17 θλῖψις Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, Haven't these evils come on us because our God is not among us?
- Judges 10:14 θλῖψις Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.
- 1 Samuel 1:6 θλῖψις Her rival provoked her sore, to make her fret, because Yahweh had shut up her womb.
- 1 Samuel 10:19 θλῖψις but you have this day rejected your God, who himself saves you out of all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said to him, [No], but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before Yahweh by your tribes, and by your thousands.
- 1 Samuel 24:20 θλῖψις Now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.
- 1 Samuel 26:24 θλῖψις Behold, as your life was much set by this day in my eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of Yahweh, and let him deliver me out of all oppression.
- 2 Samuel 4:9 θλῖψις David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, As Yahweh lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity,
- 2 Samuel 22:19 θλῖψις They came on me in the day of my calamity; But Yahweh was my stay.
- 1 Kings 1:29 θλῖψις The king swore, and said, As Yahweh lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity,
- 1 Kings 22:27 θλῖψις and say, Thus says the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.
- 2 Kings 13:4 θλῖψις Jehoahaz begged Yahweh, and Yahweh listened to him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how that the king of Syria oppressed them.
- 2 Kings 19:3 θλῖψις They said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
- 2 Chronicles 15:6 θλῖψις They were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God did vex them with all adversity.
- 2 Chronicles 18:26 θλῖψις and say, Thus says the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I return in peace.
- 2 Chronicles 20:9 θλῖψις If evil come on us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before you, (for your name is in this house), and cry to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.
- Ezra 19:27 θλῖψις
- Ezra 19:37 θλῖψις
- Job 15:24 θλῖψις Distress and anguish make him afraid; They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
- Psalms 4:2 θλῖψις You sons of men, how long shall my glory be turned into dishonor? Will you love vanity, and seek after falsehood? Selah.
- Psalms 9:10 θλῖψις Those who know your name will put their trust in you, For you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you.
- Psalms 9:22 θλῖψις
- Psalms 19:2 θλῖψις Day after day they pour forth speech, And night after night they display knowledge.
- Psalms 21:12 θλῖψις For you will make them turn their back, When you aim drawn bows at their face.
- Psalms 24:17 θλῖψις
- Psalms 24:22 θλῖψις
- Psalms 31:7 θλῖψις I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness, For you have seen my affliction. You have known my soul in adversities.
- Psalms 33:7 θλῖψις He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the deeps in storehouses.
- Psalms 33:18 θλῖψις Behold, Yahweh's eye is on those who fear him, On those who hope in his loving kindness;
- Psalms 33:20 θλῖψις Our soul has waited for Yahweh. He is our help and our shield.
- Psalms 36:39 θλῖψις
- Psalms 43:25 θλῖψις
- Psalms 45:2 θλῖψις You are the most excellent of the sons of men. Grace has anointed your lips, Therefore God has blessed you forever.
- Psalms 49:15 θλῖψις But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, For he will receive me. Selah.
- Psalms 53:9 θλῖψις
- Psalms 54:4 θλῖψις Behold, God is my helper. The Lord is the one who sustains my soul.
- Psalms 58:17 θλῖψις
- Psalms 59:13 θλῖψις Consume them in wrath. Consume them, and they will be no more. Let them know that God rules in Jacob, To the ends of the earth. Selah.
- Psalms 65:11 θλῖψις You crown the year with your bounty. Your carts overflow with abundance.
- Psalms 65:14 θλῖψις
- Psalms 70:20 θλῖψις
- Psalms 76:3 θλῖψις There he broke the flaming arrows of the bow, The shield, and the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah.
- Psalms 77:49 θλῖψις
- Psalms 80:8 θλῖψις You brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations, and planted it.
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G2347) in the Septuagint — not a translation of any one Hebrew word. The store carries no word-level Hebrew↔Greek alignment, so no Hebrew original is asserted here. Counts come from the recovered LXX Strong's tagging — high-frequency vocabulary is well covered, while rare or late forms may be untagged — so they reflect tagged occurrences and may slightly undercount.
