Original Word: νεκρός
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: nekros
Pronunciation: nek-ros'
Phonetic Spelling: (nek-ros')
Definition: Dead, deceased
Meaning: (a) adj: dead, lifeless, subject to death, mortal, (b) noun: a dead body, a corpse.

Word Origin: Derived from the Greek verb νέκυς (nekus), meaning "a corpse" or "dead body."

Corresponding Greek / Hebrew Entries: - H4191 (מוּת, muth): To die, to kill

- H4194 (מָוֶת, maveth): Death

Usage: The term "nekros" is used in the New Testament to describe that which is lifeless or without life. It can refer to physical death, as in the state of a body that has ceased to live, or metaphorically to spiritual death, indicating a state of separation from God due to sin. The word is often used to contrast life in Christ with the death that comes from sin.

Cultural and Historical Background: In the Greco-Roman world, death was a significant and often feared aspect of life. The concept of the afterlife varied among different cultures and philosophies, with some believing in a shadowy existence after death and others in reincarnation or eternal oblivion. In Jewish thought, death was seen as a consequence of sin, and the hope of resurrection was a key element of eschatological expectation. The New Testament writers, particularly Paul, emphasize the victory over death through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, offering believers hope of eternal life.

3498 nekrós (an adjective, derived from nekys, "a corpse, a dead body") – dead; literally, "what lacks life"; dead; (figuratively) not able to respond to impulses, or perform functions ("unable, ineffective, dead, powerless," L & N, 1, 74.28); unresponsive to life-giving influences (opportunities); inoperative to the things of God.

3498 /nekrós ("corpse-like") is used as a noun in certain contexts ("the dead"), especially when accompanied by the Greek definite article. The phrase, ek nekron ("from the dead"), lacks the Greek article to give the sense "from what is of death."

Word Origin
a prim. word, the same as nekus (a dead body)
Definition
dead
NASB Translation
corpse (1), dead (122), dead man (3), dead men (1), dead men's (1).

STRONGS NT 3498: νεκρός

νεκρός, νεκρά, νεκρόν (akin to the Latinneco, nex (from a root signifying 'to disappear' etc.; cf. Curtius, § 93; Fick i., p. 123; Vanicek, p. 422f)), the Sept. chiefly for מֵת; dead, i. e.:

1. properly,

a. one that has breathed his last, lifeless: Matthew 28:4; Mark 9:26; Luke 7:15; Acts 5:10; Acts 20:9; Acts 28:6; Hebrews 11:35; Revelation 1:17; ἐπί νεκροῖς, if men are dead (where death has occurred (see ἐπί, Buttmann, 2 a. ε., p. 233a at the end)), Hebrews 9:17; ἐγείρειν νεκρούς, Matthew 10:8; Matthew 11:5; Luke 7:22; hyperbolically and proleptically equivalent to as if already dead, sure to die, destined inevitably to die: τό σῶμα, Romans 8:10 (τό σῶμα and τό σωμάτιον φύσει νεκρόν, Epictetus diss. 3, 10, 15 and 3, 22, 41; in which sense Luther called the human body, although alive,einen alten Madensack (cf. Shakespeare's "thou worms-meat!")); said of the body of a dead man (so in Homer often; for נְבֵלָה a corpse Deuteronomy 28:26; Isaiah 26:19; Jeremiah 7:33; Jeremiah 9:22; Jeremiah 19:7): μετά τῶν νεκρῶν, among the dead, i. e. the buried, Luke 24:5; θάψαι τούς νεκρούς, Matthew 8:22; Luke 9:60; ὀστέα νεκρῶν, Matthew 23:27; of the corpse of a murdered man, αἷμα ὡς νεκροῦ, Revelation 16:3 (for הָרוּג, Ezekiel 37:9; for חָלָל,thrust through, slain, Ezekiel 9:7; Ezekiel 11:6).

b. deceased, departed, one whose soul is in Hades: Revelation 1:18; Revelation 2:8; νεκρός ἦν, was like one dead, as good as dead, Luke 15:24, 32; plural, 1 Corinthians 15:29; Revelation 14:13; ἐν Χριστῷ, dead Christians (see ἐν, I. 6 b., p. 211b), 1 Thessalonians 4:16; very often οἱ νεκροί and νεκροί (without the article; see Winers Grammar, p. 123 (117) and cf. Buttmann, 89 (78) note) are used of the assembly of the dead (see ἀνάστασις, 2 and ἐγείρω, 2): 1 Peter 4:6; Revelation 20:5, 12f; τίς ἀπό τῶν νεκρῶν, one (returning) from the dead, the world of spirits, Luke 16:30; ἐκ νεκρῶν, from the dead, occurs times too many to count (see ἀνάστασις, ἀνίστημι, ἐγεριω): ἀνάγειν τινα ἐκ νεκρῶν, Romans 10:7; Hebrews 13:20; ζωή ἐκ νεκρῶν, life springing forth from death, i. e. the return of the dead to life (see ἐκ, I. 5), Romans 11:15; πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν who was the first that returned to life from among the dead, Colossians 1:18; also πρωτότοκος τῶν νεκρῶν Revelation 1:5; ζοωποίειν τούς νεκρούς Romans 4:17; ἐγείρειν τινα ἀπό τῶν νεκρῶν, to rouse one to quit (the assembly of) the dead, Matthew 14:2; Matthew 27:64; Matthew 28:7; κρίνειν ζῶντας καί νεκρούς, 2 Timothy 4:1; 1 Peter 4:5; κριτής ζώντων καί νεκρῶν, Acts 10:42; νεκρῶν καί ζώντων κυριεύειν, Romans 14:9.

c. destitute of life, without life, inanimate (equivalent to ἄψυχος): τό σῶμα χωρίς πνεύματος νεκρόν ἐστιν, James 2:26; οὐκ ἐστιν (ὁ) Θεός νεκρῶν ἀλλά ζώντων, God is the guardian God not of the dead but of the living, Matthew 22:32; Mark 12:27; Luke 20:38.

2. tropically:

a. (spiritually dead, i. e.) "destitute of a life that recognizes and is devoted to God, because given up to trespasses and sins; inactive as respects doing right": John 5:25; Romans 6:13; Ephesians 5:14; Revelation 3:1; with τοῖς παραπτώμασιν (the dative of cause (cf. Winer's Grammar, 412 (384f))) added, Ephesians 2:1, 5; ἐν (but T Tr WH omit ἐν) τοῖς παραπτοις Colossians 2:13; in the pointed saying ἄφες τούς νεκρούς θάψαι τούς ἑαυτῶν νεκρούς, leave those who are indifferent to the salvation offered them in the gospel, to bury thee bodies of their own dead, Matthew 8:22; Luke 9:60.

b. universally, destitute of force or power, inactive, inoperative: τῇ ἁμαρτία, unaffected by the desire to sin (cf. Winers Grammar, 210 (199); Buttmann, § 133, 12), Romans 6:11; of things: ἁμαρτία, Romans 7:8; πίστις, James 2:17, 20 (R G), 26; ἔργα, powerless and fruitless (see ἔργον, 3, p. 248b bottom), Hebrews 6:1; Hebrews 9:14. (Cf. θνητός, at the end)

dead.

From an apparently primary nekus (a corpse); dead (literally or figuratively; also as noun) -- dead.

νεκρα νεκρά νεκραν νεκράν νεκράς νεκροι νεκροί νεκροὶ νεκροις νεκροίς νεκροῖς νεκρον νεκρόν νεκρὸν νεκρος νεκρός νεκρὸς νεκρου νεκρού νεκροῦ νεκρους νεκρούς νεκροὺς νεκρώ νεκρων νεκρών νεκρῶν nekra nekrá nekran nekrán nekroi nekroí nekroì nekrois nekroîs nekron nekrón nekròn nekrôn nekrōn nekrō̂n nekros nekrós nekròs nekrou nekroû nekrous nekroús nekroùsInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts