STRONGS NUMBER G2859

Original Word: κόλπος
Transliteration: kolpos
Phonetic Spelling: (kol'-pos)
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Short Definition: the bosom
Meaning: the bosombosom, breast, bay

Apparently a primary word; the bosom; by analogy, a bay -- bosom, creek.

STRONGS NT 2859: κόλπος

κόλπος, κόλπου, ὁ (apparently akin to κοῖλος hollow, (yet cf. Vanicek, p. 179; Liddell and Scott, under the word)), Hebrew חֵיק; the bosom (Latinsinus), i. e. as in the Greek writings from Homer down:

1. the front of the body between the arms hence ἀνακεῖσθαι ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ τίνος, of the one who so reclines at table that his head covers the bosom as it were, the chest, of the one next him (cf. B. D. under the word ), John 13:23. Hence the figurative expressions, ἐν τοῖς κόλποις (on the plural, which occurs as early as Homer, Iliad 9, 570, cf. Winers Grammar, § 27, 3; (Buttmann, 24 (21))) τοῦ Ἀβραάμ εἶναι, to obtain the seat next to Abraham, i. e. to be partaker of the same blessedness as Abraham in paradise, Luke 16:23; ἀποφέρεσθαι ... εἰς τόν κόλπον Ἀβραάμ, to be borne away to the enjoyment of the same felicity with Abraham, Luke 16:22 (οὕτω γάρ παθόντας — according to another reading θανόντας — Ἀβραάμ καί Ἰσαάκ καί Ἰακώβ ὑποδέξονται εἰς τούς κόλπους αὐτῶν, 4 Macc. 13:16; (see B. D. under the phrase, Abraham's bosom, and) on the rabbinical phrase אברהם שׁל בּחיקו, in Abraham's bosom, to designate bliss in paradise, cf. Lightfoot, Horace, Hebrew et Talmud., p. 851ff); ὁ ὤν εἰς τόν κόλπον τοῦ πατρός, lying (turned) unto the bosom of his father (God), i. e. in the closest and most intimate relation to the Father, John 1:18 (Winers Grammar, 415 (387)); cf. Cicero, ad div. 14,4iste vero sit in sinu semper et complexu meo.

2. the bosom of a garment, i. e. the hollow formed by the upper forepart of a rather loose garment bound by a girdle, used for keeping and carrying things (the fold or pocket; cf. B. D. under the word ) (Exodus 4:6; Proverbs 6:27); so, figuratively, μέτρον καλόν διδόναι εἰς τόν κόλπον τίνος, to repay one liberally, Luke 6:38 (ἀποδιδόναι εἰς τόν κόλπον, Isaiah 65:6; Jeremiah 39:18 ()).

3. a bay of the sea (cf. Italiangolfo (English gulf — which may be only the modern representatives of the Greek word)): Acts 27:39.