ploion · boat

What it means

ploion (πλοῖον) is a Greek word of the Bible that means “boat”.

How to say it

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 vessel for fishing or for traveling on water.

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

Word study

Vessel: both the fishing boat of the Sea of Galilee and the large ship that crossed the Mediterranean. Of the same group are πλέω (sail) and πλοιάριον (small boat).

• The fishermen's boat Matthew 4:22Luke 5:3John 21:6
• The boat in the storm Mark 4:37John 6:21
• Paul's ship and its wreck Acts 27:22Acts 21:2
• The image of the rudder that steers the ship James 3:4

Historical and cultural background

Acts 27 gives many details of the voyage: “in all we were two hundred seventy-six persons in the ship” (Acts 27:37), they threw the cargo and the tackle overboard (27:18-19), and it ran aground near the island.

How we translate it

“Boat” 40 times and “boats” 5 in the Gospels, where they are fishing vessels on the Sea of Galilee; “ship” 19 and “ships” 3 in Acts, James and Revelation, where they are cargo or passenger vessels on the open sea. The same Greek word is translated according to the size the narrative shows.

How it is translated

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

• boat ×40
• ship ×19
• boats ×5
• ships ×3

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Matthew×13
• Mark×17
• Luke×8
• John×7
• Acts×19
• James×1
• Revelation×2

• Matthew 4:21

  And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.

• Matthew 4:22

  And they at once left the boat and their father and followed him.

• Matthew 8:23

  And when he got into a boat, his disciples followed him.

• Matthew 8:24

  And look, a great shaking arose on the sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves; but he was sleeping.

• Matthew 9:1

  And getting into a boat, he crossed over and came to his own town.

• Matthew 13:2

  And large crowds gathered around him, so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd was standing on the shore.

• Matthew 14:13

  Hearing this, Jesus withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself; and when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

• Matthew 14:22

  And at once he made the disciples get into a boat and go ahead of him to the other side, until he sent the crowds away.

• Matthew 14:24

  But the boat was already many stadia away from the land, battered by the waves, for the wind was against it.

• Matthew 14:29

  And he said, “Come.” And getting down from the boat, Peter walked on the waters and came to Jesus.

• Matthew 14:32

  And when they had gotten up into the boat, the wind ceased.

• Matthew 14:33

  And those in the boat bowed down before him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

• Matthew 15:39

  And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and came into the region of Magadan.

• Mark 1:19

  And going on a little, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets.

• Mark 1:20

  And at once he called them; and leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, they went away after him.

• Mark 4:1

  And again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathers around him, so that he got into a boat and sat on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.

• Mark 4:36

  And leaving the crowd, they take him along, just as he was, in the boat; and other boats were with him.

• Mark 4:37

  And a great windstorm arises, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.

• Mark 5:2

  And when he had come out of the boat, at once a man with an unclean spirit met him from the tombs.

• Mark 5:18

  And as he was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged him that he might be with him.

• Mark 5:21

  And when Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was beside the sea.

• Mark 6:32

  And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.

• Mark 6:45

  And at once he made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead to the other side, toward Bethsaida, while he dismisses the crowd.

• Mark 6:47

  And when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land.

• Mark 6:51

  And he went up to them into the boat, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astonished within themselves,

• Mark 6:54

  And when they got out of the boat, at once people recognized him

• Mark 8:10

  And at once getting into the boat with his disciples, he came to the district of Dalmanutha.

• Mark 8:14

  And they had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have with them in the boat more than one loaf.

• Luke 5:2

  and he saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing the nets.

• Luke 5:3

  And getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land; and sitting down, he was teaching the crowds from the boat.

• Luke 5:7

  And they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; and they came and filled both the boats, so that they were sinking.

• Luke 5:11

  And when they had brought the boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

• Luke 8:22

  Now it happened on one of the days that he and his disciples got into a boat, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” And they set sail.

• Luke 8:37

  And all the people of the surrounding region of the Gerasenes asked him to go away from them, because they were gripped with great fear. So he got into a boat and returned.

• John 6:17

  and getting into a boat, they were crossing the sea to Capernaum. And it had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.

• John 6:19

  So when they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they see Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were afraid.

• John 6:21

  So they were willing to take him into the boat, and at once the boat was at the land to which they were going.

• John 6:22

  The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw that there had been no other boat there except one, and that Jesus had not gone in with his disciples into the boat, but his disciples had gone away alone.

• John 21:3

  Simon Peter says to them, “I am going fishing.” They say to him, “We also are coming with you.” They went out and got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.

• John 21:6

  And he said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and they were no longer able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.

And 27 more times.