οἰκουμένη
oikoumenē
world
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe word "oikoumenē" (Strong's number: G3625) is a Greek term that is translated to "world". It is used a total of 16 times in the Bible. Based on its definition and frequency, it appears to be a common noun referring to the inhabited world or the cosmos as a whole. The word does not seem to imply a specific geographical region or cultural group, but rather a universal scope. In terms of its range of usage, "oikoumenē" is not limited to a particular theological or philosophical concept, but is used in various contexts to describe the world in which people live. Its significance lies in its ability to convey a sense of the global or universal scope of human experience, emphasizing that the events, actions, and messages being discussed have far-reaching implications that transcend local or individual boundaries. While its significance is largely contextual, the repetition of "oikoumenē" in the Bible may suggest its importance in conveying a sense of shared human experience, global connectivity, and the interconnectedness of people across the world.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
16 total occurrences across the text
This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Luke 2:1Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.
Luke 4:5The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
Luke 21:26men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world: for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Acts 11:28One of them named Agabus stood up, and indicated by the Spirit that there should be a great famine all over the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius.
Acts 17:6When they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city, crying, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
Acts 17:31because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”
Acts 19:27Not only is there danger that this our trade come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be counted as nothing and her majesty destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worships.”
Acts 24:5For we have found this man to be a plague, an instigator of insurrections among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.
Romans 10:18But I say, didn’t they hear? Yes, most certainly, “Their sound went out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
Hebrews 1:6When he again brings in the firstborn into the world he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him.”
Hebrews 2:5For he didn’t subject the world to come, of which we speak, to angels.
Revelation 3:10Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Revelation 12:9The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Revelation 16:14for they are spirits of demons, performing signs; which go out to the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of that great day of God, the Almighty.
Revelation 20:2He seized the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand years,