πόσος
posos
how much/many?
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Greek word πόσος (posos) is primarily used to inquire about the quantity or extent of something. Its short definition is "how much" or "many," suggesting that it is often employed in questions or to express uncertainty about a number or amount. With 27 occurrences in the Bible, πόσος is not an extremely frequent word, indicating that it is used in specific contexts to convey a particular sense of inquiry or curiosity. The use of πόσος often implies a sense of measurement or quantity, and it can be translated as "how long," "how much," or "how many" in different contexts. In some instances, it may be used to express a range or degree, such as asking "how much is left" or "what amount does it cost." Its significance lies in its capacity to create a sense of curiosity or inquiry, often driving the narrative forward or highlighting uncertainty. Despite its relatively limited frequency, πόσος plays a role in various biblical narratives, adding depth and nuance to the language. Its usage in specific contexts can provide insight into the speaker's thoughts, emotions, and intentions, making it an interesting word for analysis and interpretation.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
27 total occurrences across the text
But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
Matthew 7:11If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Matthew 10:25It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household!
Matthew 12:12Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day.”
Matthew 15:34Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”
Matthew 16:9Don’t you yet perceive, neither remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up?
Matthew 16:10Nor the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up?
Matthew 27:13Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how many things they testify against you?”
Mark 6:38He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go see.” When they knew, they said, “Five, and two fish.”
Mark 8:5He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.”
Mark 8:19When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Twelve.”
Mark 8:20“When the seven loaves fed the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Seven.”
Mark 9:21He asked his father, “How long has it been since this has come to him?” He said, “From childhood.
Mark 15:4Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer? See how many things they testify against you!”
Luke 11:13If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
Luke 12:24Consider the ravens: they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds!
Luke 12:28But if this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith?
Luke 15:17But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger!
Luke 16:5Calling each one of his lord’s debtors to him, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe to my lord?’
Luke 16:7Then he said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred cors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’
Acts 21:20They, when they heard it, glorified God. They said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.
Romans 11:12Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?
Romans 11:24For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
2 Corinthians 7:11For behold, this same thing, that you were grieved in a godly way, what earnest care it worked in you. Yes, what defense, indignation, fear, longing, zeal, and vengeance! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be pure in the matter.
Philemon 1:16no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much rather to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
Hebrews 9:14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Hebrews 10:29How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?