οστις
whoever
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
- Relative pronoun
- Introduces a relative clause (“who,” “which,” “that”).
Case
- Nominative
- The case of the subject (and the predicate nominative).
- Genitive
- The case of source, possession, or “of” — answers “whose / from what.”
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
- Neuter
- Grammatically neuter.
Number
- Plural
- More than one.
- Singular
- One.
1 verse where G3748 appears in the Nominative case in the Book of John. 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.
John
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 word οστις centers on the idea of “whoever.” Debuting at Matthew 2:6, it then recurs through the corpus. Spanning 140 verses in 22 books, it ranks among the common words of the Greek New Testament. Sharing its root, it stands alongside ος, ο εστι and οθεν. Dig into 140-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's G3748 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 →
- 140
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 140 distinct verses.
- 22 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 22 of 27 New Testament books.
- #111
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Greek words (rank 111 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 140 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 140 distinct verses.
- Gospels 54 verses · 39%
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 45 verses · 32%
- Pauline corpus 39 verses · 28%
- Johannine 12 verses · 9%
- Hebrews 10 verses · 7%
- Revelation 9 verses · 6%
- General (Catholic) Epistles 5 verses · 4%
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: Which 79×, Who 30×, Whosoever 12×
- American Standard Version: Who 46×, Which 34×, That 10×
- Berean Standard Bible: Who 42×, Which 13×, Whoever 10×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Who 76×, Which 31×, Whoever 15×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G3748 across 149 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 10 renderings that appear 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 4 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G3748 across 135 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 17 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 G3748 across 84 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 7 renderings that appear 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 52 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G3748 across 147 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 7 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 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.
- whoever, whatever, who
Word origin
Derived from ος (hós) (G3739) — who.
Forms in the corpus
The 8 distinct written forms G3748 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that case’s occurrences in the concordance.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| οἵτινες hoítines | Relative pronoun, Nominative, Plural, Masculine | Matthew 7:15 | 57 |
| ἥτις hḗtis | Relative pronoun, Nominative, Singular, Feminine | Matthew 27:62 | 38 |
| ὅστις hóstis | Relative pronoun, Nominative, Singular, Masculine | Matthew 2:6 | 27 |
| αἵτινες haítines | Relative pronoun, Nominative, Plural, Feminine | Matthew 25:1 | 10 |
| ὅτου hótou | Relative pronoun, Genitive, Singular, Neuter, Attic form | Matthew 5:25 | 7 |
| οἵτινές hoítinés | Relative pronoun, Nominative, Plural, Masculine | Romans 9:4 | 3 |
| ἅτινά hátiná | Relative pronoun, Nominative, Plural, Neuter | Galatians 4:24 | 3 |
| ἅτινα hátina | Relative pronoun, Nominative, Plural, Neuter | Philippians 3:7 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other Thayer's entries built from the same root as G3748, 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.
Derives from
Shares the same root
- ο εστι hó esti G3603 which is
- οθεν hóthen G3606 from which
- οποιος hopoîos G3697 what sort
- οποτε hopóte G3698 when
- οπου hópou G3699 where
- οπως hópōs G3704 how
- οσακις hosákis G3740 as often as
- οσος hósos G3745 how much
- οσπερ hósper G3746 whomever
- οτε hóte G3753 when
- ου hoû G3757 where
- ποσος pósos G4214 how much
- ως hōs G5613 as
Derived from this word
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 17 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word οστις appears 100 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 94 verses in 20 books.
- 100
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 94
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 20 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 20 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Exodus 9:18 ὅστις
- Leviticus 5:2 ὅστις
- Numbers 1:5 ὅστις
- Deuteronomy 1:39 ὅστις
- Joshua 1:18 ὅστις
- Judges 10:18 ὅστις
- 1 Samuel 22:3 ὅστις
- 1 Kings 10:7 ὅστις
- 2 Kings 2:17 ὅστις
- Ezra 14:5 ὅστις
- Esther 7:5 ὅστις
- Job 6:16 ὅστις
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G3748) appears in the Greek Septuagint — showing the first 50 of 94. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context; the Greek form is the matched word — the English is not keyword-highlighted.
- Exodus 9:18 ὅστις Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as has not been in Egypt since the day it was founded even until now.
- Exodus 9:24 ὅστις So there was very severe hail, and lightning mixed with the hail, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
- Exodus 11:6 ὅστις There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been, nor shall be any more.
- Exodus 20:2 ὅστις "I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
- Exodus 32:4 ὅστις He received what they handed him, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said, "These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt."
- Exodus 32:8 ὅστις They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, 'These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.'"
- Leviticus 5:2 ὅστις "'Or if anyone touches any unclean thing, whether it is the carcass of an unclean animal, or the carcass of unclean cattle, or the carcass of unclean creeping things, and it is hidden from him, and he is unclean, then he shall be guilty.
- Leviticus 5:23 ὅστις
- Leviticus 7:7 ὅστις "'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 7:9 ὅστις Every meal offering that is baked in the oven, and all that is dressed in the frying pan, and on the baking pan, shall be the priest's who offers it.
- Leviticus 7:18 ὅστις If any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed to him who offers it. It will be an abomination, and the soul who eats any of it will bear his iniquity.
- Leviticus 7:20 ὅστις but the soul who eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, that belongs to Yahweh, having his uncleanness on him, that soul shall be cut off from his people.
- Leviticus 12:2 ὅστις "Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'If a woman conceives, and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of her monthly period she shall be unclean.
- Leviticus 15:19 ὅστις "'If a woman has a discharge, and her discharge in her flesh is blood, she shall be in her impurity seven days: and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening.
- Leviticus 17:15 ὅστις "'Every person that eats what dies of itself, or that which is torn by animals, whether he is native-born or a foreigner, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening: then he shall be clean.
- Leviticus 20:16 ὅστις "'If a woman approaches any animal, and lies down with it, you shall kill the woman, and the animal: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
- Leviticus 22:5 ὅστις or whoever touches any creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatever uncleanness he has;
- Leviticus 22:6 ὅστις the person that touches any such shall be unclean until the evening, and shall not eat of the holy things, unless he bathe his body in water.
- Leviticus 23:29 ὅστις For whoever it is who shall not deny himself in that same day; shall be cut off from his people.
- Leviticus 23:30 ὅστις Whoever it is who does any manner of work in that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people.
- Numbers 1:5 ὅστις These are the names of the men who shall stand with you: Of Reuben: Elizur the son of Shedeur.
- Numbers 5:6 ὅστις "Speak to the children of Israel: When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against Yahweh, and that soul is guilty;
- Numbers 14:8 ὅστις If Yahweh delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey.
- Numbers 14:14 ὅστις and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Yahweh are in the midst of this people; for you Yahweh are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
- Numbers 15:30 ὅστις But the soul who does anything with a high hand, whether he is home-born or a foreigner, the same blasphemes Yahweh; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
- Numbers 19:2 ὅστις 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 24:4 ὅστις He says, who hears the words of God, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, and having his eyes open:
- Numbers 27:17 ὅστις who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in; that the congregation of Yahweh not be as sheep which have no shepherd.
- Numbers 31:17 ὅστις Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him.
- Numbers 31:18 ὅστις But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
- Deuteronomy 1:39 ὅστις Moreover your little ones, whom you said should be a prey, and your children, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there, and to them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
- Deuteronomy 2:25 ὅστις This day will I begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole sky, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of you.
- Deuteronomy 2:36 ὅστις From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and [from] the city that is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was not a city too high for us; Yahweh our God delivered up all before us:
- Deuteronomy 3:24 ὅστις Lord Yahweh, you have begun to show your servant your greatness, and your strong hand: for what god is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to your works, and according to your mighty acts?
- Deuteronomy 4:3 ὅστις Your eyes have seen what Yahweh did because of Baal Peor; for all the men who followed Baal Peor, Yahweh your God has destroyed them from the midst of you.
- Deuteronomy 5:26 ὅστις For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
- Deuteronomy 10:17 ὅστις For Yahweh your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn't regard persons, nor takes reward.
- Deuteronomy 10:21 ὅστις He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things, which your eyes have seen.
- Deuteronomy 17:2 ὅστις If there be found in the midst of you, within any of your gates which Yahweh your God gives you, man or woman, who does that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, in transgressing his covenant,
- Deuteronomy 20:6 ὅστις What man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not used the fruit of it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use the fruit of it.
- Deuteronomy 20:7 ὅστις What man is there who has pledged to be married a wife, and has not taken her? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.
- Deuteronomy 20:20 ὅστις Only the trees of which you know that they are not trees for food, you shall destroy and cut them down; and you shall build bulwarks against the city that makes war with you, until it fall.
- Deuteronomy 21:3 ὅστις and it shall be, that the city which is nearest to the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd, which hasn't been worked with, and which has not drawn in the yoke;
- Deuteronomy 21:4 ὅστις and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley.
- Deuteronomy 22:28 ὅστις If a man find a lady who is a virgin, who is not pledged to be married, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;
- Deuteronomy 27:15 ὅστις Cursed be the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to Yahweh, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret. All the people shall answer and say, Amen.
- Deuteronomy 28:50 ὅστις a nation of fierce facial expressions, that shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young,
- Joshua 1:18 ὅστις Whoever he be who shall rebel against your commandment, and shall not listen to your words in all that you command him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of good courage.
- Judges 10:18 ὅστις The people, the princes of Gilead, said one to another, What man is he who will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
- Judges 21:12 ὅστις They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins, who had not known man by lying with him; and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G3748) 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.
