Greek word · G1803

ἕξ

hex

six

"After six days." A plain time reference meaning roughly a week later.

Appears 13 times in 13 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἕξ, οἱ, αἱ, τά

indecl.,

six: Matthew 17:1, Luke 13:14, al.

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Mark 9:2

Range of meaning

"After six days." A plain time reference meaning roughly a week later.

Against the English

Every translation renders it the same way. The issue is not wording but whether readers notice how unusual it is.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exodus 24:15–16: the cloud covered Mount Sinai for six days, and on the seventh God called to Moses out of the cloud. In the same chapter Moses goes up with named companions (Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, 24:1, 9) and with Joshua (24:13), whose name in Greek is Iēsous. Luke 9:28 has "about eight days" instead, and Matthew 17:1 keeps "six days."

Where it appears

Matthew · 1
  1. Matthew 17:1 ἓξ six

    After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.

    Here: 'Six days' recalls Exodus 24:16, where the cloud covered Sinai for six days and God called Moses on the seventh. It also simply dates the event from Peter's confession.

Mark · 1
  1. Mark 9:2 ἓξ six

    After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There He was transfigured before them.

    Here: "Six." To a hearer who knew the Scriptures, this recalls Exodus 24:16, where the cloud covered Sinai for six days before God called Moses out of it. Mark's account goes on to have a cloud and a voice (9:7).

Luke · 2
  1. Luke 4:25 ἕξ, six,

    But I tell you truthfully that there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and great famine swept over all the land.

    Here: Six. Three and a half years is half of seven, a span with associations of a time of trouble cut short (Dan 7:25; 12:7; Rev 11:2–3).

  2. Luke 13:14 ἓξ Six

    But the synagogue leader was indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. “There are six days for work,” he told the crowd. “So come and be healed on those days and not on the Sabbath.”

    Here: The first word of his speech, taken from the Sabbath commandment: 'Six days you shall labour' (Exod 20:9; Deut 5:13).

John · 3
  1. John 2:6 ἓξ six

    Now six stone water jars had been set there for the Jewish rites of purification. Each could hold from twenty to thirty gallons.

    Here: The number of jars. Put after the noun in Greek. Whether John meant the number to carry a symbol is debated; on its face it shows a large household supply.

  2. John 2:20 ἓξ six

    “This temple took forty-six years to build,” the Jews replied, “and You are going to raise it up in three days?”

    Here: Completes the figure. Forty-six years after Herod began rebuilding the temple (20/19 BC) gives a date around AD 27/28 for this scene.

  3. John 12:1 ἓξ six

    Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, the hometown of Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.

    Here: A precise count. John begins a countdown to the festival on which he will place Jesus' death (18:28; 19:14, 31).

Acts · 3
  1. Acts 11:12 ἓξ six

    The Spirit told me to accompany them without hesitation. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s home.

  2. Acts 18:11 ἓξ six

    So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching the word of God among the Corinthians.

  3. Acts 27:37 ἕξ. six.

    In all, there were 276 of us on board.

    Here: “Six.” This completes the exact figure of 276, an exact count rather than a round estimate. That fits a head count taken on board.

James · 1
  1. James 5:17 ἕξ· six;

    Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

    Here: "Six". Three years and six months is the same figure Jesus gives in Luke 4:25, and it is the half-of-seven period that marks times of judgment in Daniel and Revelation.

Revelation · 2
  1. Revelation 4:8 ἕξ six

    And each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around and within. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

    Here: Six wings, as on Isaiah's seraphim (Isa 6:2). Ezekiel's creatures have four (Ezek 1:6), so John merges the two prophetic visions.

  2. Revelation 13:18 ἕξ.¶ six.

    Here is a call for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and that number is 666.

    Here: Final part: ϛ (stigma = 6). Many manuscripts write the whole figure as the three letters χξϛ.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.