Greek word · G2247
ἧλος
hēlos
nail
A nail or spike, usually iron.
Appears 2 times in 1 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
A nail or spike, usually iron.
- Against the English
'Nails' is accurate. The point is that the word appears so rarely: these two occurrences are the only ones in the New Testament.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Josephus (Jewish War 5.451) describes Roman soldiers nailing captured Jews to crosses in various postures during the siege of Jerusalem. The heel bone of a crucified man named Yehohanan, found at Giv'at ha-Mivtar in Jerusalem (1968), still had an iron nail through it. Some victims were tied rather than nailed. Col 2:14 uses the related verb προσηλόω, 'nail to'. Luke 24:39–40 has Jesus show his 'hands and feet'.
Where it appears
John · 2
-
John 20:25 ἥλων ἥλων nails
So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands, and put my finger where the nails have been, and put my hand into His side, I will never believe.”
Here: Iron spikes. This verse is the only place in the Gospels where nails are explicitly said to have been used on Jesus.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.