χώρα
chōra
country
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredBased on the provided data, the Greek word χώρα (chōra) has a concise definition: "country." It is a geographic term that appears 28 times in the Bible. Given its definition and frequency, it is likely used to describe the land or territory of various places, rather than the abstract concept of "nations" or "peoples." The range of usage for χώρα seems to be geographical in nature. It can refer to the land or country in a general sense, without specifying the type of nation, city, or region. For example, it could describe the land of Israel or the country of Greece. χώρα is not limited to specific types of locations, but can be applied broadly to various geographic areas within its scope. χώρα's significance is largely tied to its functional use as a descriptive term in geographical contexts. It provides a way to distinguish various places and locations within the biblical narratives, highlighting the importance of geography and its impact on the stories, settings, and themes in the Bible.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
28 total occurrences across the text
Being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.
Matthew 4:16the people who sat in darkness saw a great light, to those who sat in the region and shadow of death, to them light has dawned.”
Matthew 8:28When he came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, two people possessed by demons met him there, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that nobody could pass that way.
Mark 1:5All the country of Judea and all those of Jerusalem went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins.
Mark 5:1They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
Mark 5:10He begged him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
Mark 6:55and ran around that whole region, and began to bring those who were sick, on their mats, to where they heard he was.
Luke 2:8There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
Luke 3:1Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
Luke 8:26They arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee.
Luke 12:16He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly.
Luke 15:13Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.
Luke 15:14When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need.
Luke 15:15He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
Luke 19:12He said therefore, “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.
Luke 21:21Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the middle of her depart. Let those who are in the country not enter therein.
John 4:35Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest?’ Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.
John 11:54Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples.
John 11:55Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.
Acts 8:1Saul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles.
Acts 10:39We are witnesses of everything he did both in the country of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they also killed, hanging him on a tree.
Acts 12:20Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus, the king’s personal aide, their friend, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food.
Acts 13:49The Lord’s word was spread abroad throughout all the region.
Acts 16:6When they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
Acts 18:23Having spent some time there, he departed, and went through the region of Galatia, and Phrygia, in order, establishing all the disciples.
Acts 26:20but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
Acts 27:27But when the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven back and forth in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors surmised that they were drawing near to some land.
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.