τρεις
three
Full lexicon entry — Thayer's Greek Lexicon
From Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Where this word appears
See every Accusative-case word in the Greek New Testament →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Adjective
- A word that describes or qualifies a noun.
Case
- Accusative
- The case of the direct object and of extent.
- Nominative
- The case of the subject (and the predicate nominative).
- Genitive
- The case of source, possession, or “of” — answers “whose / from what.”
- Dative
- The case of the indirect object, means, or location — “to / for / with / in.”
Gender
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Neuter
- Grammatically neuter.
Number
- Plural
- More than one.
Grammatical forms 10 distinct
- Adjective, Accusative, Plural, Feminine 19 times (28%)
- Adjective, Nominative, Plural, Masculine 11 times (16%)
- Adjective, Accusative, Plural, Masculine 9 times (13%)
- Adjective, Accusative, Plural, Neuter 8 times (12%)
- Adjective, Genitive, Plural, Masculine 6 times (9%)
- Adjective, Genitive, Plural, Feminine 5 times (7%)
- Adjective, Dative, Plural, Feminine 4 times (6%)
- Adjective, Dative, Plural, Masculine 2 times (3%)
+2 more forms (3 occurrences)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (Robinson–Tischendorf, public domain), counted across 67 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where G5140 appears — 60 distinct verses across 13 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 9 verses
- Matthew 12:40 τρεῖς τρεῖς τρεῖς τρεῖς adj acc pl fem adj acc pl fem adj acc pl fem adj acc pl fem For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
- Matthew 13:33 τρία adj acc pl neut He spoke another parable to them. "The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened."
- Matthew 15:32 τρεῖς adj nom pl fem Jesus summoned his disciples and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat. I don't want to send them away fasting, or they might faint on the way."
- Matthew 17:4 τρεῖς adj acc pl fem Peter answered, and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, let's make three tents here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
- Matthew 18:16 τριῶν adj gen pl masc But if he doesn't listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
- Matthew 18:20 τρεῖς adj nom pl masc For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them."
- Matthew 26:61 τριῶν adj gen pl fem and said, "This man said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.'"
- Matthew 27:40 τρισὶν adj dat pl fem and saying, "You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!"
- Matthew 27:63 τρεῖς adj acc pl fem saying, "Sir, we remember what that deceiver said while he was still alive: 'After three days I will rise again.'
Mark 7 verses
- Mark 8:2 τρεῖς adj nom pl fem "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have stayed with me now three days, and have nothing to eat.
- Mark 8:31 τρεῖς adj acc pl fem He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
- Mark 9:5 τρεῖς adj acc pl fem Peter answered Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let's make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
- Mark 9:31 τρεῖς adj acc pl fem For he was teaching his disciples, and said to them, "The Son of Man is being handed over to the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, on the third day he will rise again."
- Mark 10:34 τρεῖς adj acc pl fem They will mock him, spit on him, scourge him, and kill him. On the third day he will rise again."
- Mark 14:58 τριῶν adj gen pl fem "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.'"
- Mark 15:29 τρισὶν adj dat pl fem Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, "Ha! You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days,
Luke 9 verses
- Luke 1:56 τρεῖς adj acc pl masc Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned to her house.
- Luke 2:46 τρεῖς adj acc pl fem It happened after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them, and asking them questions.
- Luke 4:25 τρία adj acc pl neut But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land.
- Luke 9:33 τρεῖς adj acc pl fem It happened, as they were parting from him, that Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let's make three tents: one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah," not knowing what he said.
- Luke 10:36 τριῶν adj gen pl masc Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?"
- Luke 11:5 τρεῖς adj acc pl masc He said to them, "Which of you, if you go to a friend at midnight, and tell him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
- Luke 12:52 τρεῖς τρισὶν adj nom pl masc adj dat pl masc For from now on, there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.
- Luke 13:7 τρία adj acc pl neut He said to the vine dresser, 'Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down. Why does it waste the soil?'
- Luke 13:21 τρία adj acc pl neut It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened."
John 4 verses
- John 2:6 τρεῖς adj acc pl masc Now there were six water pots of stone set there after the Jews' manner of purifying, containing two or three metretes apiece.
- John 2:19 τρισὶν adj dat pl fem Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
- John 2:20 τρισὶν adj dat pl fem The Jews therefore said, "Forty-six years was this temple in building, and will you raise it up in three days?"
- John 21:11 τριῶν adj gen pl masc Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of great fish, one hundred fifty-three; and even though there were so many, the net wasn't torn.
Acts 13 verses
- Acts 5:7 τριῶν adj gen pl fem About three hours later, his wife, not knowing what had happened, came in.
- Acts 7:20 τρεῖς adj acc pl masc At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome. He was nourished three months in his father's house.
- Acts 9:9 τρεῖς adj acc pl fem He was without sight for three days, and neither ate nor drank.
- Acts 11:11 τρεῖς adj nom pl masc Behold, immediately three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent from Caesarea to me.
- Acts 17:2 τρία adj acc pl neut Paul, as was his custom, went in to them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
- Acts 19:8 τρεῖς adj acc pl masc He entered into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for a period of three months, reasoning and persuading about the things concerning the Kingdom of God.
- Acts 20:3 τρεῖς adj acc pl masc When he had spent three months there, and a plot was made against him by Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to return through Macedonia.
- Acts 25:1 τρεῖς adj acc pl fem Festus therefore, having come into the province, after three days went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.
- Acts 28:7 τρεῖς adj acc pl fem Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us, and courteously entertained us for three days.
- Acts 28:11 τρεῖς adj acc pl masc After three months, we set sail in a ship of Alexandria which had wintered in the island, whose sign was "The Twin Brothers."
- Acts 28:12 τρεῖς adj acc pl fem Touching at Syracuse, we stayed there three days.
- Acts 28:15 Τριῶν adj gen pl fem From there the brothers, when they heard of us, came to meet us as far as The Market of Appius and The Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God, and took courage.
- Acts 28:17 τρεῖς adj acc pl fem It happened that after three days Paul called together those who were the leaders of the Jews. When they had come together, he said to them, "I, brothers, though I had done nothing against the people, or the customs of our fathers, still was delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans,
1 Corinthians 3 verses
- 1 Corinthians 13:13 τρία adj nom pl neut But now faith, hope, and love remain--these three. The greatest of these is love.
- 1 Corinthians 14:27 τρεῖς adj acc pl masc If any man speaks in another language, let it be two, or at the most three, and in turn; and let one interpret.
- 1 Corinthians 14:29 τρεῖς adj nom pl masc Let the prophets speak, two or three, and let the others discern.
2 Corinthians 1 verse
Galatians 1 verse
1 Timothy 1 verse
Hebrews 1 verse
James 1 verse
1 John 2 verses
Revelation 8 verses
- Revelation 6:6 τρεῖς adj nom pl masc I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenix of barley for a denarius! Don't damage the oil and the wine!"
- Revelation 8:13 τριῶν adj gen pl masc I saw, and I heard an eagle, flying in mid heaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe! Woe! Woe for those who dwell on the earth, because of the other voices of the trumpets of the three angels, who are yet to sound!"
- Revelation 9:18 τριῶν adj gen pl fem By these three plagues were one third of mankind killed: by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur, which proceeded out of their mouths.
- Revelation 11:9 τρεῖς adj acc pl fem From among the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations people will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.
- Revelation 11:11 τρεῖς adj acc pl fem After the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet. Great fear fell on those who saw them.
- Revelation 16:13 τρία adj acc pl neut I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, something like frogs;
- Revelation 16:19 τρία adj acc pl neut The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
- Revelation 21:13 τρεῖς τρεῖς τρεῖς τρεῖς adj nom pl masc adj nom pl masc adj nom pl masc adj nom pl masc On the east were three gates; and on the north three gates; and on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
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.
At its core, τρεις (treîs) means “three.” First canonically at Matthew 12:40, it enters the text early. It appears 60 verses across 13 books of the Greek New Testament, among its moderately common vocabulary. It shares a root with τριακοντα, τριακοσιοι and τριβολος. Dig into 60-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's G5140 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 →
- 60
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 60 distinct verses.
- 13 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 13 of 27 New Testament books.
- #247
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Greek words (rank 247 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 60 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 60 distinct verses.
- Gospels 29 verses · 48%
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 22 verses · 37%
- Johannine 14 verses · 23%
- Revelation 8 verses · 13%
- Pauline corpus 6 verses · 10%
- General (Catholic) Epistles 3 verses · 5%
- Hebrews 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: Three 68×
- American Standard Version: Three 64×
- Berean Standard Bible: Three 66×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Three 67×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G5140 across 69 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.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G5140 across 66 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 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 G5140 across 66 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Not rendered by a distinct English word in 3 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G5140 across 68 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 2 further occurrences.
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.
- three
Word origin
Origin: a primary (plural) number
A primary (plural) number; three : - three.
— Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (1890), public domain.
Forms in the corpus
The 5 distinct written forms G5140 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that case’s occurrences in the concordance.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| τρεῖς treîs | Adjective, Accusative, Plural, Feminine | Matthew 12:40 | 41 |
| τριῶν triō̂n | Adjective, Genitive, Plural, Masculine | Matthew 18:16 | 10 |
| τρία tría | Adjective, Accusative, Plural, Neuter | Matthew 13:33 | 9 |
| τρισὶν trisìn | Adjective, Dative, Plural, Feminine | Matthew 27:40 | 6 |
| Τριῶν Triō̂n | Adjective, Genitive, Plural, Feminine | Acts 28:15 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other Thayer's entries built from the same root as G5140, 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
- τριακοντα triákonta G5144 thirty
- τριακοσιοι triakósioi G5145 three hundred
- τριβολος tríbolos G5146 thistle
- τριετια trietía G5148 three years
- τριμηνον trímēnon G5150 three months
- τρις trís G5151 thrice
- τριστεγον trístegon G5152 third story
- τριτος trítos G5154 third
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 9 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word τρεις appears 312 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 272 verses in 24 books.
- 312
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 272
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 24 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 24 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Genesis 5:31 τρεῖς
- Exodus 2:2 τρεῖς
- Leviticus 12:4 τρεῖς
- Numbers 1:43 τρεῖς
- Deuteronomy 4:41 τρεῖς
- Joshua 1:11 τρεῖς
- Judges 1:20 τρεῖς
- 1 Samuel 2:21 τρεῖς
- 2 Samuel 2:18 τρεῖς
- 1 Kings 2:11 τρεῖς
- 2 Kings 2:17 τρεῖς
- 1 Chronicles 2:3 τρεῖς
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G5140) appears in the Greek Septuagint — showing the first 50 of 272. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context; the Greek form is the matched word — the English is not keyword-highlighted.
- Genesis 5:31 τρεῖς All the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy-seven years, then he died.
- Genesis 5:32 τρεῖς Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
- Genesis 6:10 τρεῖς Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
- Genesis 7:13 τρεῖς In the same day Noah, and Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered into the ark;
- Genesis 9:19 τρεῖς These three were the sons of Noah, and from these, the whole earth was populated.
- Genesis 17:25 τρεῖς Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
- Genesis 18:2 τρεῖς He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,
- Genesis 18:6 τρεῖς Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Quickly make ready three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes."
- Genesis 29:2 τρεῖς He looked, and behold, a well in the field, and, behold, three flocks of sheep lying there by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks. The stone on the well's mouth was great.
- Genesis 29:34 τρεῖς She conceived again, and bare a son. Said, "Now this time will my husband be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons." Therefore was his name called Levi.
- Genesis 30:36 τρεῖς He set three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.
- Genesis 40:10 τρεῖς and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters of it brought forth ripe grapes.
- Genesis 40:12 τρεῖς Joseph said to him, "This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days.
- Genesis 40:13 τρεῖς Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head, and restore you to your office. You will give Pharaoh's cup into his hand, the way you did when you were his cupbearer.
- Genesis 40:16 τρεῖς When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, "I also was in my dream, and, behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head.
- Genesis 40:18 τρεῖς Joseph answered, "This is the interpretation of it. The three baskets are three days.
- Genesis 40:19 τρεῖς Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from off you, and will hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from off you."
- Genesis 42:17 τρεῖς He put them all together into custody three days.
- Genesis 46:15 τρεῖς These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three.
- Exodus 2:2 τρεῖς The woman conceived, and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.
- Exodus 3:18 τρεῖς They will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh, our God.'
- Exodus 5:3 τρεῖς They said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Yahweh, our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword."
- Exodus 7:7 τρεῖς Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
- Exodus 8:23 τρεῖς I will put a division between my people and your people: by tomorrow shall this sign be."'"
- Exodus 10:22 τρεῖς Moses stretched forth his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.
- Exodus 10:23 τρεῖς They didn't see one another, neither did anyone rise from his place for three days; but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.
- Exodus 15:22 τρεῖς Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.
- Exodus 16:36 τρεῖς Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.
- Exodus 19:15 τρεῖς He said to the people, "Be ready by the third day. Don't have sexual relations with a woman."
- Exodus 21:11 τρεῖς If he doesn't do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.
- Exodus 23:14 τρεῖς "You shall observe a feast to me three times a year.
- Exodus 23:17 τρεῖς Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.
- Exodus 25:32 τρεῖς There shall be six branches going out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of its one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of its other side;
- Exodus 25:33 τρεῖς three cups made like almond blossoms in one branch, a bud and a flower; and three cups made like almond blossoms in the other branch, a bud and a flower, so for the six branches going out of the lampstand;
- Exodus 27:1 τρεῖς "You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and its height shall be three cubits.
- Exodus 27:14 τρεῖς The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.
- Exodus 27:15 τρεῖς For the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.
- Exodus 34:23 τρεῖς Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.
- Exodus 34:24 τρεῖς For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh, your God, three times in the year.
- Exodus 37:12 τρεῖς He made a border of a handbreadth around it, and made a golden molding on its border around it.
- Exodus 37:13 τρεῖς He cast four rings of gold for it, and put the rings in the four corners that were on its four feet.
- Exodus 38:15 τρεῖς and so for the other side: on this hand and that hand by the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.
- Leviticus 12:4 τρεῖς She shall continue in the blood of purification thirty-three days. She shall not touch any holy thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed.
- Leviticus 14:10 τρεῖς "On the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish, and three tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil.
- Leviticus 19:23 τρεῖς "'When you come into the land, and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as forbidden. Three years shall they be forbidden to you. It shall not be eaten.
- Leviticus 25:21 τρεῖς then I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for the three years.
- Leviticus 27:6 τρεῖς If the person is from a month old even to five years old, then your valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female your valuation shall be three shekels of silver.
- Numbers 1:43 τρεῖς those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Naphtali, were fifty-three thousand four hundred.
- Numbers 2:30 τρεῖς His division, and those who were numbered of them, were fifty-three thousand four hundred.
- Numbers 3:43 τρεῖς All the firstborn males according to the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those who were numbered of them, were twenty-two thousand two hundred seventy-three.
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G5140) 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.
