Greek word · G2846

κοιτών

koitōn

bedroom/chamberlain

'Bedroom, bedchamber.' The phrase ho epi tou koitōnos ('the one over the bedchamber') is a court title for the official in charge of a ruler's private rooms, the equivalent of the Latin cubicularius.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

κοιτών, -ῶνος, ὁ

(κοίτη = Att.., δωμότιον, see Kennedy, Sources, 40), [in LXX chiefly for חֶדֶר, 2 Kings 4:7, Joel 2:16; I Esther 3:3, al. ;]

a bed-chamber; ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ κ., a chamberlain: Acts 12:20.†

(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 Acts 12:20

Range of meaning

'Bedroom, bedchamber.' The phrase ho epi tou koitōnos ('the one over the bedchamber') is a court title for the official in charge of a ruler's private rooms, the equivalent of the Latin cubicularius. Such men were often freedmen, sometimes eunuchs in eastern courts, and had great informal power because they controlled access to the ruler.

Against the English

'Chamberlain' (KJV, BSB, ESV, NASB) is technically correct but now sounds like a ceremonial title. 'Personal aide' (WEB) or 'trusted personal servant' (NIV) better conveys his closeness to the king.

How it drifted

A modern 'chamberlain' (for example, the Lord Chamberlain) is a ceremonial office. In the ancient court the role was intimate and personal: the man who stood at the king's private door.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used for court officials in Hellenistic inscriptions and papyri. In the Septuagint, a similar phrase for officials over the royal bedchamber appears in 2 Samuel 4:7. Roman emperors' cubicularii, often imperial freedmen, were famously influential.

Where it appears

Acts · 1

  1. Acts 12:20 κοιτῶνος bedchamber

    Now Herod was in a furious dispute with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they convened before him. Having secured the support of Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their region depended on the king’s country for food.

    Here: The king's private rooms. 'The one over the bedchamber' was a title for a chamberlain, the personal attendant who controlled who could get close to the ruler.

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