μισθός
misthos
wage
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Greek word μισθός (misthos) is primarily defined as a "wage." It appears 29 times in the Bible, indicating its significance in various contexts. In its most basic sense, misthos refers to the payment or compensation received for work or services rendered. The word misthos is used in a range of situations, from the payment of laborers in the fields (Matthew 20:8) to the reward given to those who serve God (Hebrews 11:26). Its usage suggests that misthos is not limited to monetary compensation but can also refer to the benefits or rewards that come from one's actions or service. The significance of misthos lies in its connection to the concept of work and its value in society. In ancient Greek culture, misthos was an important aspect of economic life, and its use in the Bible highlights the importance of fair compensation for labor and service.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
29 total occurrences across the text
Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 5:46For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?
Matthew 6:1“Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 6:2Therefore when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
Matthew 6:5“When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward.
Matthew 6:16“Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
Matthew 10:41He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. He who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.
Matthew 10:41He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. He who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.
Matthew 10:42Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, most certainly I tell you he will in no way lose his reward.”
Matthew 20:8When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’
Mark 9:41For whoever will give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you are Christ’s, most certainly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward.
Luke 6:23Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for their fathers did the same thing to the prophets.
Luke 6:35But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.
Luke 10:7Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house.
John 4:36He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
Acts 1:18Now this man obtained a field with the reward for his wickedness, and falling headlong, his body burst open, and all his intestines gushed out.
Romans 4:4Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed.
1 Corinthians 3:8Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
1 Corinthians 3:14If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward.
1 Corinthians 9:17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.
1 Corinthians 9:18What then is my reward? That when I preach the Good News, I may present the Good News of Christ without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News.
1 Timothy 5:18For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox when it treads out the grain.” And, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”
James 5:4Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.
2 Peter 2:13receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and defects, reveling in their deceit while they feast with you;
2 Peter 2:15forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing;
2 John 1:8Watch yourselves, that we don’t lose the things which we have accomplished, but that we receive a full reward.
Jude 1:11Woe to them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in Korah’s rebellion.
Revelation 11:18The nations were angry, and your wrath came, as did the time for the dead to be judged, and to give your bondservants the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints, and those who fear your name, to the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
Revelation 22:12“Behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me, to repay to each man according to his work.