STRONGS NUMBER G1484


Word Summary
ethnos: a race, a nation, the nations (as distinct from Israel)
Original Word: ἔθνος
Transliteration: ethnos
Phonetic Spelling: (eth'-nos)
Part of Speech: Noun, Neuter
Short Definition: a race, a nation, the nations (as distinct from Israel)
Meaning: Gentiles -- a race, a nation, the nations (as distinct from Israel)
Strong's Concordance
Gentile, heathen

Probably from etho; a race (as of the same habit), i.e. A tribe; specially, a foreign (non-Jewish) one (usually, by implication, pagan) -- Gentile, heathen, nation, people.

see GREEK etho

Thayer's Greek Lexicon
STRONGS NT 1484: ἔθνος

ἔθνος, ἔθνους, τό:

1. a multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together; a company, troop, swarm: ἔθνος ἑταίρων, ἔθνος Ἀχαιων, ἔθνος λαῶν, Homer, Iliad; ἔθνος μελισσαων, 2, 87; μυιαων ἐθνεα, ibid. 469.

2. "a multitude of individuals of the same nature or genus (τό ἔθνος τό θῆλυ ἀρρεν, Xenophon, oec. 7, 26): πᾶν ἔθνος ἀνθρώπων, the human race, Acts 17:26 (but this seems to belong under the next entry).

3. race, nation: Matthew 21:43; Acts 10:35, etc.; ἔθνος ἐπί ἔθνος, Matthew 24:7; Mark 13:8: οἱ ἄρχοντες, οἱ βασιλεῖς τῶν ἐθνῶν, Matthew 20:25; Luke 22:25; used (in the singular) of the Jewish people, Luke 7:5; Luke 23:2; John 11:48, 50-53; John 18:35; Acts 10:22; Acts 24:2 (), ; .

4. (τά ἔθνη, like הַגויִם in the O. T., foreign nations not worshipping the true God, pagans, Gentiles, (cf. Trench, § xcviii.): Matthew 4:15 (Γαλιλαία τῶν ἐθνῶν), ; (3 John 1:7 R G; cf. Revelation 15:3 G L T Tr WH marginal reading after John 10:7), and very often; in plain contradistinction to the Jews: Romans 3:29; Romans 9:24; (1 Corinthians 1:23 G L T Tr WH): Galatians 2:8, etc.; λαός (τοῦ Θεοῦ, Jews) καί τά ἔθνη, Luke 2:32; Acts 26:17, 23; Romans 15:10.

5. Paul uses τά ἔθνη even of Gentile Christians: Romans 11:13; Romans 15:27; Romans 16:4; Galatians 2:12 (opposite Galatians 2:13 to οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, i. e. Jewish Christians), Galatians 2:14; Ephesians 3:1, cf. Ephesians 4:17 (Winers Grammar, § 59, 4 a.; Buttmann, 130 (114)).