ἑπτά

From the study of Revelation 1:4

Range of meaning

Pneuma means wind, breath, spirit. It can refer to the Spirit of God, to human spirits, or to spirit beings such as angels and demons. 'Seven spirits' occurs only in Revelation (1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6).

Against the English

KJV and NASB capitalise 'Spirits', which signals the Holy Spirit. BSB and ESV use lowercase 'spirits', which leaves the question open. NLT's 'sevenfold Spirit' settles it as the Holy Spirit and turns that interpretation into the translation itself.

Used elsewhere in the period

Zechariah 4:2, 10: a lampstand with seven lamps, which are 'the eyes of the LORD that range through the whole earth'. Revelation 5:6 takes this up directly: the Lamb's 'seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth'. Isaiah 11:2 in the Greek Old Testament lists seven endowments of the Spirit on the coming king. Jewish texts also know seven chief angels who stand before God: Tobit 12:15 ('seven angels who stand ready and enter before the glory of the Lord'), 1 Enoch 20, and Revelation 8:2 ('the seven angels who stand before God').

From the study of Matthew 22:26

Range of meaning

'Seven.' In Jewish and wider Near Eastern culture seven was the number of fullness and completion: seven days of creation, the seventh-day Sabbath, seven-fold purifications, seven sons as an ideal family (Ruth 4:15; 1 Samuel 2:5).

Against the English

English 'seven' is accurate. What English readers may miss is that seven tells a first-century listener this is a stylised, made-up case, not a report of something that happened.

Used elsewhere in the period

Tobit 3:8 and 6:14 (in the Greek Old Testament) tell of Sarah, who was given to seven husbands in turn, each of whom died. 2 Maccabees 7 tells of seven brothers martyred in hope of resurrection. Seven brothers was a familiar story pattern in Jewish literature.

From the study of Matthew 16:10

Range of meaning

The number seven. In Jewish thought it was often a number of completeness (the seven days of creation, the sabbath), but it was also an ordinary number used for counting.

Against the English

No difficulty in translation.

Used elsewhere in the period

Seven loaves (15:34) and seven baskets left over (15:37). Compare the twelve baskets of the first feeding (14:20), which many readers connect with the twelve tribes or the twelve disciples.