ποτέ
formerly
Full lexicon entry — Thayer's Greek Lexicon
From Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Particle
- A short, often untranslatable function word adding nuance or connection.
Every verse where G4218 appears in the Book of Philemon — 1 distinct verse. 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.
Philemon
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.
ποτε (poté) is a Greek word most often rendered “formerly.” Debuting at Luke 22:32, it then recurs through the corpus. The Greek New Testament uses it across 28 verses — moderately common. Related forms include που, πηλικος and που. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's G4218 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 →
- 28
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 28 distinct verses.
- 14 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 14 of 27 New Testament books.
- #471
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Greek words (rank 471 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 28 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 28 distinct verses.
- Pauline corpus 19 verses · 68%
- General (Catholic) Epistles 5 verses · 18%
- Gospels 2 verses · 7%
- Hebrews 2 verses · 7%
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 1 verse · 4%
- Johannine 1 verse · 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: Time past 4×, Any time 3×, Sometimes 3×
- American Standard Version: Once 9×, Time past 4×, Aforetime 3×
- Berean Standard Bible: Once 5×, Formerly 4×, Last 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Formerly 10×, Once 6×, Ever 5×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G4218 across 29 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 1 further occurrence.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G4218 across 26 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.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders G4218 across 22 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 9 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 3 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G4218 across 30 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.
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.
- once i.e. formerly, aforetime, at some time
Word origin
Derived from που (poú) (G4225) — where.
Forms in the corpus
The 3 distinct written forms G4218 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that case’s occurrences in the concordance.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| ποτε pote | Particle | Luke 22:32 | 22 |
| ποτέ poté | Particle | Romans 7:9 | 4 |
| ποτὲ potè | Particle | Romans 1:10 | 3 |
Same root — word family
Other Thayer's entries built from the same root as G4218, 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
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word ποτε appears 52 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 46 verses in 15 books.
- 52
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 46
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 15 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 15 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Genesis 30:30 πότε
- Exodus 8:5 πότε
- Deuteronomy 1:46 ποτέ
- Joshua 5:4 ποτέ
- 1 Samuel 1:14 πότε
- 2 Samuel 2:26 πότε
- 1 Kings 18:21 πότε
- Ezra 12:6 πότε
- Job 2:9 πότε
- Psalms 4:3 πότε
- Proverbs 6:9 πότε
- Isaiah 6:11 πότε
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G4218) appears in the Greek Septuagint. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context; the Greek form is the matched word — the English is not keyword-highlighted.
- Genesis 30:30 πότε For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?"
- Exodus 8:5 πότε Yahweh said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Stretch forth your hand with your rod over the rivers, over the streams, and over the pools, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.'"
- Deuteronomy 1:46 ποτέ So you abode in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you abode [there].
- Joshua 5:4 ποτέ This is the cause why Joshua did circumcise: all the people who came forth out of Egypt, who were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came forth out of Egypt.
- Joshua 22:28 ποτέ Therefore said we, It shall be, when they so tell us or to our generations in time to come, that we shall say, Behold the pattern of the altar of Yahweh, which our fathers made, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you.
- 1 Samuel 1:14 πότε Eli said to her, How long will you be drunken? put away your wine from you.
- 1 Samuel 16:1 πότε Yahweh said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel? fill your horn with oil, and go: I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have provided me a king among his sons.
- 2 Samuel 2:26 πότε Then Abner called to Joab, and said, "Shall the sword devour forever? Don't you know that it will be bitterness in the latter end? How long shall it be then, before you bid the people return from following their brothers?"
- 2 Samuel 11:25 ποτέ Then David said to the messenger, Thus shall you tell Joab, Don't let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another; make your battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage you him.
- 1 Kings 18:21 πότε Elijah came near to all the people, and said, "How long will you waver between the two sides? If Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." The people answered him not a word.
- Ezra 12:6 πότε
- Job 2:9 πότε Then his wife said to him, "Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die."
- Job 4:7 πότε "Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
- Job 7:4 πότε When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, and the night be gone?' I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.
- Job 31:16 ποτέ "If I have withheld the poor from their desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
- Job 31:38 ποτέ If my land cries out against me, And the furrows of it weep together;
- Psalms 4:3 πότε But know that Yahweh has set apart for himself him who is godly: Yahweh will hear when I call to him.
- Psalms 6:4 πότε Return, Yahweh. Deliver my soul, And save me for your loving kindness' sake.
- Psalms 12:2 πότε Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
- Psalms 12:3 πότε May Yahweh cut off all flattering lips, And the tongue that boasts,
- Psalms 34:17 πότε The righteous cry, and Yahweh hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles.
- Psalms 40:6 πότε Sacrifice and offering you didn't desire. You have opened my ears: Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
- Psalms 41:3 πότε Yahweh will sustain him on his sickbed, And restore him from his bed of illness.
- Psalms 61:4 πότε I will dwell in your tent forever. I will take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah.
- Psalms 73:10 πότε Therefore their people return to them, And they drink up waters of abundance.
- Psalms 78:5 πότε For he established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which he commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children;
- Psalms 79:5 πότε How long, Yahweh? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?
- Psalms 81:2 πότε Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine, The pleasant lyre with the harp.
- Psalms 88:47 πότε
- Psalms 89:13 πότε You have a mighty arm. Your hand is strong, and your right hand is exalted.
- Psalms 93:3 πότε The floods have lifted up, Yahweh, The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves.
- Psalms 93:8 ποτέ
- Psalms 100:2 πότε Serve Yahweh with gladness. Come before his presence with singing.
- Psalms 118:82 πότε
- Psalms 118:84 πότε
- Proverbs 6:9 πότε How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?
- Proverbs 23:35 πότε "They hit me, and I was not hurt; They beat me, and I don't feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I can find another."
- Isaiah 6:11 πότε Then I said, "Lord, how long?" He answered, "Until cities are waste without inhabitant, And houses without man, And the land becomes utterly waste,
- Isaiah 41:7 ποτέ So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith, [and] he who smoothes with the hammer him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good; and he fastens it with nails, that is should not be moved.
- Jeremiah 4:14 πότε Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
- Jeremiah 4:21 πότε How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
- Jeremiah 12:4 πότε How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? for the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our latter end.
- Jeremiah 23:26 πότε How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?
- Jeremiah 38:22 πότε behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes, and those women shall say, Your familiar friends have set you on, and have prevailed over you: [now that] your feet are sunk in the mire, they are turned away back.
- Daniel 12:6 πότε One said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
- Amos 8:5 πότε Saying, 'When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, Making the ephah small, and the shekel large, And dealing falsely with balances of deceit;
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G4218) 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.
