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Bible Lexicons
Old & New Testament Greek Lexical Dictionary Greek Lexicon
Strong's #3009 - λειτουργία
- Thayer
- Strong
- Mounce
- a public office which a citizen undertakes to administer at his own expense
- any service
- of military service
- of the service of workmen
- of that done to nature in the cohabitation of man and wife
- biblical usage
- a service or ministry of the priests relative to the prayers and sacrifices offered to God
- a gift or benefaction for the relief of the needy
- Book
- Word
- Parsing
did not use
this Strong's Number
λειτουργ-ία, ἡ,
earlier Att. λητ- IG 22.1140.14 (386 B.C.): —
1. at Athens, and elsewhere (e.g. Siphnos, Isoc. 19.36; Mitylene, Antipho 5.77), public service performed by private citizens at their own expense, And. 4.42, Lys. 21.19, etc.; λ. ἐγκύκλιοι ordinary, i.e. annual, liturgies, D. 20.21; λειτουργίαι μετοίκων, opp. πολιτικαἰ, ib.18.
II
1. any public service or work, PHib. 1.78.4 (iii B.C.), etc.; ὁ ἐπὶ τῶν λειτουργιῶν τεταγμένος, in an army, the officer who superintended the workmen, carpenters, etc., Plb. 3.93.4; οἱ ἐπί τινα λ. ἀπεσταλμένοι Id. 10.16.5: generally, military duty, UPZ 15.25 (pl., ii B.C.).
2. generally, any service or function, ἡ πρώτη φανερὰ τοῖς ζῴοις λ. διὰ τοῦ στόματος οὖσα Arist. PA 650a9, cf. 674b9, 20, IA 711b30; φιλικὴν ταύτην λ. Luc. Salt. 6.
3. service, ministration, help, 2 Corinthians 9:12, Philippians 2:30.
III public service of the gods, αἱ πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς λ. Arist. Pol. 1330a13; αἱ τῶν θεῶν θεραπεῖαι καὶ λ. D.S. 1.21, cf. UPZ 17.17 (ii B.C.), PTeb. 302.30 (i A.D.), etc.; the service or ministry of priests, LXX Numbers 8:25, Luke 1:23.
λειτουργία, λειτουργίας, ἡ (from λειτουργέω, which see);
1. properly, a public office which a citizen undertakes to administer at his own expense: Plato, legg. 12, p. 949 c.; Lysias, p. 163, 22; Isocrates, p. 391 d.; Theophrastus, Char. 20 (23), 5; 23 (29), 4, and others.
2. universally, any service: of military service, Polybius; Diodorus 1, 63. 73; of the service of workmen,
c. 21; of that done to nature in the cohabitation of man and wife, Aristotle, oec. 1, 3, p. 1343b, 20.
3. in Biblical Greek a. the service or ministry of the priests relative to the prayers and sacrifices offered to God: Luke 1:23; Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 9:21, (for עֲבודָה, Numbers 8:22; Numbers 16:9; Numbers 18:4; 2 Chronicles 31:2; Diodorus 1, 21; Josephus; (Philo de caritat. § 1 under the end; others; see Sophocles Lex. under the word)); hence, the phrase in Philippians 2:17, explained under the word θυσία, b. at the end ((cf. Lightfoot on Clement of Rome, 1 Cor. 44 [ET])).
b. a gift or benefaction, for the relief of the needy (see λειτουργέω, 2 c.): 2 Corinthians 9:12; Philippians 2:30.
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λειτουργία , -ας , ἡ
(< λειτουργέω ),
[in LXX chiefly for H5656, Numbers 4:24, 1 Chronicles 9:13, al.;]
1. in cl. (chiefly of Athens), the discharge of a public office at one's own expense (v. LS, s.v.), hence,
2. a service, ministry; in Papyri (Deiss., BS, 140 f.) and in LXX (though here also of secular service, 1 Kings 1:4, al.), of religious service or ministration; and so in NT: of priestly ministrations, Luke 1:23, Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 9:21; fig., θυσία καὶ λ . τῆς πίστεως ὑμῶν , Philippians 2:17; of Christian beneficence, 2 Corinthians 9:12, Philippians 2:30.†
Copyright © 1922 by G. Abbott-Smith, D.D., D.C.L.. T & T Clarke, London.
The use of λειτουργία for sacerdotal ministration (as in the LXX and Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 9:21) meets us with reference to the Egyptian priesthood in Diod. Sic. i. 21 τὸ τρίτον μέρος τῆς χώρας αὐτοῖς δοῦναι πρὸς τὰς τῶν θεῶν θεραπείας τε καὶ λειτουργίας : cf. the complaint of the Serapeum Twins P Lond 22.17 (B.C. 164–3) (= I. P. 7) οὐδὲν εἰλήφαμεν ποιούμεναι μεγάλας λειτουργίας τῶι θεῶν, and similariy P Par 33.19 (B.C. 160). See also BGU IV. 1201.7 (A.D. 2) πρὸς τὰς λιτουργείας καὶ θυσείας τῶν θεῶν (cf. Philippians 2:17 with Lightfoot’s note), P Tebt II. 302.30 (A.D. 71–2) ἐκτελοῦντες τὰς τῶν θεῶν λειτουργίας καὶ ὑπηρεσίας —of the priests of Soknebtunis. Other exx. of the word, showing its variety of application, are P Tor I. 1i. 20 (B.C. 116) τῶν τὰς λειτουργίας ἐν ταῖς νεκρίαις παρεχομένων, ";publicis in re mortuaria muneribus fungentes"; (Ed.), ib. viii. 16 μηδὲ τὴν αὐτὴν ἐργασίαν ἐπιτελεῖν, διαφέρειν δὲ τὴν τούτων λειτουργίαν, ";neque eodem, ac illi, funguntur officio, sed differunt utrorumque munera"; (Ed.), P Strass I. 57.11 (ii/A.D.) οὐκ ἐξα ̣ρ ̣κῶ δὲ πρὸς τὰς δύο λιτουργίας —proving that two liturgies might be laid on a man if he were able for them, which was not so in this case, P Oxy I. 40.6 (ii/iii A.D.), a claim for immunity from some form of public service (ἀλειτουργησία) on the ground that the petitioner was a doctor—ἰατρὸς ὑπάρχων τὴ [ν τέ ]χνην τούτους αὐτοὺς οἵτινές με εἰς λειτο [υ ]ρ [γ ]ίαν δεδώκασι ἐθεράπευσα, ";I am a doctor by profession and I have treated these very persons who have assigned me a public burden"; (Edd.), BGU I. 180.8 ff. (ii/iii A.D.) a similar complaint by a veteran that, instead of getting the rest to which he was entitled after his release (ἀπόλυσις), he had been continuously employed for two years in public service—ἀ [ν ]εδόθην κατ᾽ ἐτ ̣η ̣[σιο ]ν εἰς λειτουργίαν καὶ μέχρι τοῦ δευρε [ὶ κα ]τ ̣̔ς ̣ ε ̣̀το ̣ς ἑξῆ [ς ] ἐν λειτουργίᾳ εἰμ [ὶ ] ἀδιαλεί [πτ ]ως, P Oxy I. 82.3 (mid. iii/A.D.), a declaration by a strategus that he will distribute the public burdens equitably—ὥστε καὶ τὰς ἀναδόσεις τῶν λειτουργῶν (l. –γιῶν) ποιήσασθαι ὑγιῶς καὶ πιστῶς, and from the inscrr. the Commagene rescript of Antiochus I., OGIS 383.74 (mid. i/B.C.) κόσμον τε καὶ λιτουργίαν πᾶσαν ἀξιῶς τύχης ἐμῆς καὶ δαιμόνων ὑπεροχῆς ἀνέθηκα : cf. also Teles (ed. Hense) p. 42.10 νῦν δέ, φησίν, ἀβίωτος ὁ βίος, στρατεία, λειτουργία, πολιτικὰ πράγματα, σχολάσαι [αὐτῷ ] οὐκ ἔστι. Reference may also be made to Erman und Krebs p. 148 ff., Wilcken Chrest. I. i. p. 339 ff., and Hohlwein L’Egypte Romaine p. 312 ff. For λειτούργημα see P Oxy XII 1412.14 (c. A.D. 284) with the editors’ note, and for λειτουργησία ib. 1413.17 (A.D. 270–5).
Copyright © 1914, 1929, 1930 by James Hope Moulton and George Milligan. Hodder and Stoughton, London.
Derivative Copyright © 2015 by Allan Loder.
