μήτι
mēti
surely not
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Greek word μήτι (mēti) is a phrase used to express strong negation or incredulity. Its short definition, "surely not," captures its essence as a rhetorical device to convey surprise or skepticism. With 19 occurrences in the Bible, μήτι is a relatively common expression used to emphasize the speaker's disbelief or astonishment. The range of usage for μήτι is quite broad, as it appears in various contexts, including dialogue, narrative, and even rhetorical questions. It is often used to express a sense of incredulity or to challenge someone's statement or assumption. For example, in a conversation, someone might say μήτι (mēti) to express surprise or skepticism at a claim made by another person. The significance of μήτι lies in its ability to convey strong emotions and to create a sense of tension or conflict in a conversation or narrative. By using μήτι, the speaker is not simply stating a fact, but rather expressing a strong attitude or opinion that often challenges the status quo or a prevailing view.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
19 total occurrences across the text
By their fruits you will know them. Do you gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?
Matthew 12:23All the multitudes were amazed, and said, “Can this be the son of David?”
Matthew 26:22They were exceedingly sorrowful, and each began to ask him, “It isn’t me, is it, Lord?”
Matthew 26:25Judas, who betrayed him, answered, “It isn’t me, is it, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You said it.”
Mark 4:21He said to them, “Is the lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Isn’t it put on a stand?
Mark 14:19They began to be sorrowful, and to ask him one by one, “Surely not I?” And another said, “Surely not I?”
Mark 14:19They began to be sorrowful, and to ask him one by one, “Surely not I?” And another said, “Surely not I?”
Luke 6:39He spoke a parable to them. “Can the blind guide the blind? Won’t they both fall into a pit?
Luke 9:13But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we should go and buy food for all these people.”
John 4:29“Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ?”
John 8:22The Jews therefore said, “Will he kill himself, because he says, ‘Where I am going, you can’t come’?”
John 18:35Pilate answered, “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?”
Acts 10:47“Can anyone forbid these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just like us.”
1 Corinthians 6:3Don’t you know that we will judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?
1 Corinthians 7:5Don’t deprive one another, unless it is by consent for a season, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and may be together again, that Satan doesn’t tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
2 Corinthians 1:17When I therefore was thus determined, did I show fickleness? Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be the “Yes, yes” and the “No, no?”
2 Corinthians 12:18I exhorted Titus, and I sent the brother with him. Did Titus take any advantage of you? Didn’t we walk in the same spirit? Didn’t we walk in the same steps?
2 Corinthians 13:5Examine your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or don’t you know about your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
James 3:11Does a spring send out from the same opening fresh and bitter water?