Grow With Me
Grow With Me

ἐκκλησία

ekklēsia · assembly

Greek word · Strong’s number G1577 · appears 114 times in the Bible

What is the Strong number?Strong’s number identifies this word: use it to find the same word in other study tools.

What it means

ekklēsia (ἐκκλησία) is a Greek word of the Bible that means “assembly”.

The people God calls together and gathers. It is the word usually translated “church.”

How to say it

ek·klē·si·a

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

  1. A gathering of people, like a city's assembly.
  2. Those who believe in Jesus, gathered as his people.

From Abbott-Smith (1922) · Thayer (1889)

Word study

Assembly: a group of people called together and gathered. It comes from ἐκκαλέω, “to call out, to summon” (from καλέω, “to call”, G2564). Thayer: a gathering of citizens called out to a public place; the assembly of the Israelites; the community of those who believe in Jesus, gathered in one place or throughout the world.

How we translate it

“Assembly” 79 times and “assemblies” 35. This edition's glossary sets “assembly” throughout the New Testament, instead of “church”, with a note on touching it: the word names the people gathered, not an institution or a building. So the reader sees that it is the same term for the gathering of believers, for Israel in the wilderness (Acts 7:38) and for the assembly at Ephesus (Acts 19:39).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

  • assembly ×79
  • assemblies ×35

Related words

Comes from

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

  • Matthew 16:18

    And I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

  • Matthew 18:17

    And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly; and if he refuses to listen even to the assembly, let him be to you as the Gentile and the tax collector.

  • Acts 5:11

    And great fear came upon the whole assembly and upon all who heard these things.

  • Acts 7:38

    This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; he received living oracles to give to us.

  • Acts 8:1

    And Saul was approving of his killing. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the assembly that was in Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

  • Acts 8:3

    But Saul was ravaging the assembly, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he was handing them over to prison.

  • Acts 9:31

    So the assembly throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, being built up; and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it was multiplied.

  • Acts 11:22

    And the word about them was heard in the ears of the assembly that was in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas as far as Antioch.

  • Acts 11:26

    and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it happened that for a whole year they met together with the assembly and taught a large crowd; and the disciples were called Christians for the first time in Antioch.

  • Acts 12:1

    Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some of those from the assembly to mistreat them.

  • Acts 12:5

    So Peter was being kept in the prison; but prayer was being made earnestly by the assembly to God for him.

  • Acts 13:1

    Now there were in Antioch, in the assembly that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

  • Acts 14:23

    And when they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, praying with fasting, they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

  • Acts 14:27

    And when they arrived and gathered together the assembly, they reported all that God had done with them, and that he had opened to the nations a door of faith.

  • Acts 15:3

    So they, being sent on their way by the assembly, were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, telling in detail of the turning of the nations, and they were bringing great joy to all the brothers.

  • Acts 15:4

    And when they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the assembly and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.

  • Acts 15:22

    Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole assembly, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas who was called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers.

  • Acts 15:41

    And he was passing through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the assemblies.

  • Acts 16:5

    So the assemblies were being strengthened in the faith and were increasing in number daily.

  • Acts 18:22

    And when he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the assembly, and went down to Antioch.

  • Acts 19:32

    So some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.

  • Acts 19:39

    But if you seek anything further, it will be settled in the lawful assembly.

  • Acts 19:40

    For indeed we are in danger of being charged with rioting over today’s events, since there is no cause for it, about which we will not be able to give an account for this commotion.” And having said these things, he dismissed the assembly.

  • Acts 20:17

    And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the assembly.

  • Acts 20:28

    Pay attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

  • Romans 16:1

    Now I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is also a servant of the assembly in Cenchreae,

  • Romans 16:4

    who laid down their own necks for my life, to whom not I alone give thanks but also all the assemblies of the nations;

  • Romans 16:5

    and greet the assembly in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Asia for the Messiah.

  • Romans 16:16

    Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the assemblies of the Messiah greet you.

  • Romans 16:23

    Gaius, my host and the host of the whole assembly, greets you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, greets you, and Quartus, the brother.

  • 1 Corinthians 1:2

    to the assembly of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in the Messiah Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, their Lord and ours:

  • 1 Corinthians 4:17

    For this reason I sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways that are in the Messiah Jesus, just as I teach them everywhere in every assembly.

  • 1 Corinthians 6:4

    So if you have cases about matters of this life, do you seat as judges those who are despised in the assembly?

  • 1 Corinthians 7:17

    Only, as the Lord has assigned to each, as God has called each, so let him walk. And so I direct in all the assemblies.

  • 1 Corinthians 10:32

    Do not become a cause of stumbling, either to Jews or to Greeks or to the assembly of God,

  • 1 Corinthians 11:16

    But if anyone is inclined to be contentious, we do not have such a custom, nor do the assemblies of God.

  • 1 Corinthians 11:18

    For first of all, when you come together in assembly, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.

  • 1 Corinthians 11:22

    For it is not that you do not have houses in which to eat and drink, is it? Or do you despise the assembly of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? In this I do not praise you.

  • 1 Corinthians 12:28

    And God has placed some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administration, kinds of tongues.

  • 1 Corinthians 14:4

    The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the assembly.

And 74 more times.