thalassa · sea

What it means

thalassa (θάλασσα) is a Greek word of the Bible that means “sea”.

Also a large lake, such as the Sea of Galilee.

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. The great body of salt water; also the lake of Galilee.

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

Word study

Sea; also a large lake, such as the Sea of Galilee.

• The Sea of Galilee Matthew 4:18Matthew 14:25
• Jesus rebukes the winds and the sea Matthew 8:26
• The Red Sea Acts 7:36Hebrews 11:29
• “The heaven and the earth and the sea” Acts 4:24
• “And the sea is no more” Revelation 21:1

How we translate it

Always “sea” (91 times), also for the lake of Galilee, because that is what the Gospels call it (“the Sea of Galilee”, Matthew 4:18). In Acts 7:36 it says “Red Sea”, as the Greek does, with a note pointing to “Sea of Reeds”, as the Hebrew of Exodus says.

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Matthew×16
• Mark×19
• Luke×3
• John×9
• Acts×10
• Romans×1
• 1 Corinthians×2
• 2 Corinthians×1
• Hebrews×2
• James×1
• Jude×1
• Revelation×26

• Matthew 4:15

  “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations:

• Matthew 4:18

  And walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.

• 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 8:26

  And he says to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

• Matthew 8:27

  And the men were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”

• Matthew 8:32

  And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs; and look, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and died in the waters.

• Matthew 13:1

  On that day Jesus, going out of the house, was sitting beside the sea.

• Matthew 13:47

  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet thrown into the sea and gathering fish of every kind;

• Matthew 14:25

  And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.

• Matthew 14:26

  But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.

• Matthew 15:29

  And moving on from there, Jesus came beside the Sea of Galilee; and going up onto the mountain, he was sitting there.

• Matthew 17:27

  But so that we do not cause them to stumble, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a stater. Take that and give it to them for me and you.”

• Matthew 18:6

  But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it is better for him that a donkey’s millstone be hung around his neck and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.

• Matthew 21:21

  And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.

• Matthew 23:15

  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and when he becomes one, you make him a son of Gehenna twice as much as you.

• Mark 1:16

  And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, Simon’s brother, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen.

• Mark 2:13

  And he went out again beside the sea; and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them.

• Mark 3:7

  And Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and from Judea

• 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 4:39

  And waking up, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Be silent! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

• Mark 4:41

  And they feared with a great fear and were saying to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

• Mark 5:1

  And they came to the other side of the sea, into the region of the Gerasenes.

• Mark 5:13

  And he gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered into the pigs, and the herd, about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and they were drowning in the sea.

• 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 6:47

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

• Mark 6:48

  And seeing them straining at the rowing, for the wind was against them, about the fourth watch of the night he comes to them, walking on the sea; and he meant to pass by them.

• Mark 6:49

  But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought that it was a ghost, and they cried out;

• Mark 7:31

  And again going out from the region of Tyre, he came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the midst of the region of the Decapolis.

• Mark 9:42

  And whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be far better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

• Mark 11:23

  Truly I tell you that whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening, it will be done for him.

• Luke 17:2

  It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.

• Luke 17:6

  And the Lord said, “If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

• Luke 21:25

  And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roar of the sea and the surging waves,

• John 6:1

  After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias.

• John 6:16

  When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea,

• 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 6:18

  And the sea was growing rough because a strong wind was blowing.

• 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 6:22

  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 6:25

  And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

And 51 more times.