νόμος
law
Full lexicon entry — Thayer's Greek Lexicon
From Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Where this word appears
See every Genitive-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
- Genitive
- The case of source, possession, or “of” — answers “whose / from what.”
- Accusative
- The case of the direct object and of extent.
- Nominative
- The case of the subject (and the predicate nominative).
- Dative
- The case of the indirect object, means, or location — “to / for / with / in.”
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one.
52 distinct verses where G3551 appears in the Accusative case, across 11 books. Filtered view — show all forms. 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 2 verses
Luke 2 verses
- Luke 2:22 νόμον n acc sg masc When the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were fulfilled, they brought him up to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord
- Luke 2:39 νόμον n acc sg masc When they had accomplished all things that were according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth.
John 4 verses
- John 7:19 νόμον νόμον n acc sg masc n acc sg masc Didn't Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me?"
- John 7:49 νόμον n acc sg masc But this multitude that doesn't know the law is accursed."
- John 18:31 νόμον n acc sg masc Pilate therefore said to them, "Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law." Therefore the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,"
- John 19:7 νόμον νόμον n acc sg masc n acc sg masc The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God."
Acts 8 verses
- Acts 7:53 νόμον n acc sg masc You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn't keep it!"
- Acts 15:5 νόμον n acc sg masc But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to charge them to keep the law of Moses."
- Acts 18:13 νόμον n acc sg masc saying, "This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law."
- Acts 21:24 νόμον n acc sg masc Take them, and purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses for them, that they may shave their heads. Then all will know that there is no truth in the things that they have been informed about you, but that you yourself also walk keeping the law.
- Acts 22:12 νόμον n acc sg masc One Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well reported of by all the Jews who lived in Damascus,
- Acts 23:3 νόμον n acc sg masc Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to judge me according to the law, and command me to be struck contrary to the law?"
- Acts 24:14 νόμον n acc sg masc But this I confess to you, that after the Way, which they call a sect, so I serve the God of our fathers, believing all things which are according to the law, and which are written in the prophets;
- Acts 25:8 νόμον n acc sg masc while he said in his defense, "Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar, have I sinned at all."
Romans 11 verses
- Romans 2:14 νόμον νόμου νόμον νόμος n acc sg masc n gen sg masc n acc sg masc n nom sg masc (for when Gentiles who don't have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves,
- Romans 2:25 νόμον νόμου n acc sg masc n gen sg masc For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
- Romans 2:27 νόμον νόμου n acc sg masc n gen sg masc Won't the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfills the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law?
- Romans 3:31 νόμον νόμον n acc sg masc n acc sg masc Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! No, we establish the law.
- Romans 6:14 νόμον n acc sg masc For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
- Romans 6:15 νόμον n acc sg masc What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be!
- Romans 7:1 νόμον νόμος n acc sg masc n nom sg masc Or don't you know, brothers (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives?
- Romans 7:21 νόμον n acc sg masc I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present.
- Romans 7:23 νόμον νόμῳ νόμῳ n acc sg masc n dat sg masc n dat sg masc but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.
- Romans 9:31 νόμον νόμον n acc sg masc n acc sg masc but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn't arrive at the law of righteousness.
- Romans 13:8 νόμον n acc sg masc Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
1 Corinthians 1 verse
Galatians 8 verses
- Galatians 3:23 νόμον n acc sg masc But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, shut up to the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
- Galatians 4:4 νόμον n acc sg masc But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law,
- Galatians 4:5 νόμον n acc sg masc that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children.
- Galatians 4:21 νόμον νόμον n acc sg masc n acc sg masc Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don't you listen to the law?
- Galatians 5:3 νόμον n acc sg masc Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
- Galatians 5:18 νόμον n acc sg masc But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
- Galatians 6:2 νόμον n acc sg masc Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
- Galatians 6:13 νόμον n acc sg masc For even they who receive circumcision don't keep the law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh.
Ephesians 1 verse
Philippians 1 verse
Hebrews 10 verses
- Hebrews 7:5 νόμον n acc sg masc They indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest's office have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brothers, though these have come out of the loins of Abraham,
- Hebrews 7:16 νόμον n acc sg masc who has been made, not after the law of a fleshly commandment, but after the power of an endless life:
- Hebrews 7:28 νόμος νόμον n nom sg masc n acc sg masc For the law appoints men as high priests who have weakness, but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints a Son forever who has been perfected.
- Hebrews 8:4 νόμον n acc sg masc For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, seeing there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law;
- Hebrews 8:10 νόμους n acc pl masc "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days," says the Lord; "I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be to them a God, And they will be to me a people.
- Hebrews 9:19 νόμον n acc sg masc For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
- Hebrews 9:22 νόμον n acc sg masc According to the law, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.
- Hebrews 10:8 νόμον n acc sg masc Previously saying, "Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn't desire, neither had pleasure in them" (those which are offered according to the law),
- Hebrews 10:16 νόμους n acc pl masc "This is the covenant that I will make with them: 'After those days,' says the Lord, 'I will put my laws on their heart, I will also write them on their mind;'" then he says,
- Hebrews 10:28 νόμον n acc sg masc A man who disregards Moses' law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses.
James 4 verses
- James 1:25 νόμον n acc sg masc But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.
- James 2:8 νόμον n acc sg masc However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well.
- James 2:10 νόμον n acc sg masc For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he has become guilty of all.
- James 4:11 νόμου νόμον νόμον νόμου n gen sg masc n acc sg masc n acc sg masc n gen sg masc Don't speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.
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.
“law” is the headline sense of the Greek noun νομος (nómos). First canonically at Matthew 5:17, it enters the text early. The Greek New Testament uses it across 155 verses — common. More than a quarter of its appearances fall in Romans. It shares a root with νομη, νομιζω and νομικος. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's G3551 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 →
- 155
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 155 distinct verses.
- 12 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 12 of 27 New Testament books.
- #81
- by frequency
- Top 100 most frequent Greek words (rank 81 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 155 occurrences in the concordance →
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 155 distinct verses.
- Pauline corpus 87 verses · 56%
- Gospels 31 verses · 20%
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 26 verses · 17%
- Johannine 13 verses · 8%
- Hebrews 13 verses · 8%
- General (Catholic) Epistles 7 verses · 5%
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: Law 188×, Is the law 3×, Laws 2×
- American Standard Version: Law 179×, Is the law 4×, Laws 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Law 184×, Laws 2×, Principle 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Law 193×, Of 5×, The 3×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G3551 across 197 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.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G3551 across 193 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 8 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 G3551 across 189 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 5 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G3551 across 206 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in Thayer's
The 1 sense 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.
- anything established, anything received by usage, a custom, a law, a command
Word origin
Origin: from a primary nemo (to parcel out, especially food or grazing to animals)
From a primary word νέμω nemō (to parcel out especially food or grazing to animals); law (through the idea of prescriptive usage ) generally ( regulation ) specifically (of Moses [including the volume]; also of the Gospel) or figuratively (a principle ): - law.
— Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (1890), public domain.
Forms in the corpus
The 5 distinct written forms G3551 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that case’s occurrences in the concordance.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| νόμου nómou | Noun, Genitive, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 5:18 | 67 |
| νόμον nómon | Noun, Accusative, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 5:17 | 60 |
| νόμος nómos | Noun, Nominative, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 7:12 | 34 |
| νόμῳ nómō | Noun, Dative, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 12:5 | 32 |
| νόμους nómous | Noun, Accusative, Plural, Masculine | Hebrews 8:10 | 2 |
Same root — word family
Other Thayer's entries built from the same root as G3551, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
- νομη nomḗ G3542 pasturage
- νομιζω nomízō G3543 to hold custom
- νομικος nomikós G3544 learned in law
- νομιμως nomímōs G3545 lawfully
- νομοδιδασκαλος nomodidáskalos G3547 law teacher
- νομοθετης nomothétēs G3550 lawgiver
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 7 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word νομος appears 243 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 230 verses in 28 books.
- 243
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 230
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 28 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 28 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Exodus 12:43 νόμος
- Leviticus 6:2 νόμος
- Numbers 5:29 νόμος
- Deuteronomy 1:5 νόμος
- Joshua 1:8 νόμος
- 2 Samuel 7:19 νόμος
- 1 Kings 2:3 νόμος
- 2 Kings 10:31 νόμος
- 1 Chronicles 16:40 νόμος
- 2 Chronicles 6:16 νόμος
- Ezra 3:2 νόμος
- Esther 1:8 νόμος
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G3551) appears in the Greek Septuagint — showing the first 50 of 230. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context; the Greek form is the matched word — the English is not keyword-highlighted.
- Exodus 12:43 νόμος Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the ordinance of the Passover. There shall no foreigner eat of it,
- Exodus 12:49 νόμος One law shall be to him who is born at home, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you."
- Exodus 13:9 νόμος It shall be for a sign to you on your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the law of Yahweh may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand Yahweh has brought you out of Egypt.
- Exodus 13:10 νόμος You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.
- Exodus 16:4 νόμος Then said Yahweh to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.
- Exodus 16:28 νόμος Yahweh said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?
- Exodus 18:16 νόμος When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws."
- Exodus 18:20 νόμος You shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and shall show them the way in which they must walk, and the work that they must do.
- Exodus 24:12 νόμος Yahweh said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will give you the tables of stone with the law and the commands that I have written, that you may teach them."
- Leviticus 6:2 νόμος "If anyone sins, and commits a trespass against Yahweh, and deals falsely with his neighbor in a matter of deposit, or of bargain, or of robbery, or has oppressed his neighbor,
- Leviticus 6:7 νόμος The priest shall make atonement for him before Yahweh, and he will be forgiven concerning whatever he does to become guilty."
- Leviticus 6:15 νόμος He shall take from there his handful of the fine flour of the meal offering, and of its oil, and all the frankincense which is on the meal offering, and shall burn it on the altar for a sweet savor, as its memorial, to Yahweh.
- Leviticus 6:18 νόμος Every male among the children of Aaron shall eat of it, as their portion forever throughout your generations, from the offerings of Yahweh made by fire. Whoever touches them shall be holy.'"
- Leviticus 7:1 νόμος "'This is the law of the trespass offering. It is most holy.
- Leviticus 7:7 νόμος "'As is the sin offering, so is the trespass offering; there is one law for them. The priest who makes atonement with them shall have it.
- Leviticus 7:11 νόμος "'This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which one shall offer to Yahweh.
- Leviticus 7:37 νόμος This is the law of the burnt offering, of the meal offering, and of the sin offering, and of the trespass offering, and of the consecration, and of the sacrifice of peace offerings;
- Leviticus 11:46 νόμος "'This is the law of the animal, and of the bird, and of every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the earth,
- Leviticus 12:7 νόμος and he shall offer it before Yahweh, and make atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the fountain of her blood. "'This is the law for her who bears, whether a male or a female.
- Leviticus 13:59 νόμος This is the law of the plague of mildew in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp, or the woof, or in anything of skin, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.
- Leviticus 14:2 νόμος "This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest,
- Leviticus 14:32 νόμος This is the law for him in whom is the plague of leprosy, who is not able to afford the sacrifice for his cleansing.
- Leviticus 14:54 νόμος This is the law for any plague of leprosy, and for an itch,
- Leviticus 14:57 νόμος to teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean. This is the law of leprosy.
- Leviticus 15:3 νόμος This shall be his uncleanness in his discharge: whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body has stopped from his discharge, it is his uncleanness.
- Leviticus 15:32 νόμος This is the law of him who has a discharge, and of him who has an emission of semen, so that he is unclean thereby;
- Leviticus 19:19 νόμος "'You shall keep my statutes. "'You shall not crossbreed different kinds of animals. "'you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; "'neither shall there come upon on you a garment made of two kinds of material.
- Leviticus 19:37 νόμος You shall observe all my statutes, and all my ordinances, and do them. I am Yahweh.'"
- Leviticus 26:46 νόμος These are the statutes, ordinances and laws, which Yahweh made between him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by Moses.
- Numbers 5:29 νόμος "This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled;
- Numbers 5:30 νόμος or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before Yahweh, and the priest shall execute on her all this law.
- Numbers 6:13 νόμος "This is the law of the Nazirite: when the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the Tent of Meeting,
- Numbers 6:21 νόμος "This is the law of the Nazirite who vows, and of his offering to Yahweh for his separation, besides that which he is able to get. According to his vow which he vows, so he must do after the law of his separation."
- Numbers 9:3 νόμος On the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you shall keep it in its appointed season-- according to all its statutes, and according to all its ordinances, you shall keep it."
- Numbers 9:12 νόμος They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone of it. According to all the statute of the Passover they shall keep it.
- Numbers 9:14 νόμος If a foreigner lives among you, and desires to keep the Passover to Yahweh; according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its ordinance, so shall he do. You shall have one statute, both for the foreigner, and for him who is born in the land.'"
- Numbers 15:15 νόμος For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you, and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner [with you], a statute forever throughout your generations: as you are, so shall the foreigner be before Yahweh.
- Numbers 15:16 νόμος One law and one ordinance shall be for you, and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner with you.
- Numbers 15:29 νόμος You shall have one law for him who does anything unwittingly, for him who is home-born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them.
- Numbers 19:2 νόμος This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no blemish, [and] on which never came yoke.
- Numbers 19:14 νόμος This is the law when a man dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.
- Numbers 31:21 νόμος Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who went to the battle, This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded Moses:
- Deuteronomy 1:5 νόμος Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,
- Deuteronomy 4:8 νόμος What great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
- Deuteronomy 4:44 νόμος This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:
- Deuteronomy 17:11 νόμος according to the tenor of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left.
- Deuteronomy 24:8 νόμος Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that you observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so you shall observe to do.
- Deuteronomy 27:3 νόμος and you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you are passed over; that you may go in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you.
- Deuteronomy 27:8 νόμος You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.
- Deuteronomy 27:26 νόμος Cursed be he who doesn't confirm the words of this law to do them. All the people shall say, Amen.
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G3551) 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.
