Greek word · G2918

κρίνον

krinon

lily

A lily or lily-like flower. In the Septuagint it translates Hebrew shushan/shoshannah, the flower of the Song of Songs ("lily of the valleys," Song 2:1–2), Hosea 14:5, and the lily-work decoration on the pillars and bronze "sea" of Solomon's temple (1 Kgs 7:19, 22, 26).

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

κρίνον, -ου, τό

[in LXX chiefly for שׁוּשַׁן ;]

a lily: Matthew 6:28, Luke 12:27.†

(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 Matthew 6:28

Range of meaning

A lily or lily-like flower. In the Septuagint it translates Hebrew shushan/shoshannah, the flower of the Song of Songs ("lily of the valleys," Song 2:1–2), Hosea 14:5, and the lily-work decoration on the pillars and bronze "sea" of Solomon's temple (1 Kgs 7:19, 22, 26). In ordinary usage it could cover various showy flowers.

Against the English

"Lilies" is the traditional rendering. NIV (2011) has "flowers," which is more cautious. Readers today often picture the white trumpet "Easter lily" or Madonna lily, which is probably not what Galilean hearers saw in an open field.

How it drifted

Western religious art and Easter customs fixed the image of the tall white lily, which is a symbol of purity in later Christian iconography. That is foreign to this saying, which is about splendour and colour.

Used elsewhere in the period

Septuagint as above. Botanists (e.g. Zohary, Plants of the Bible) propose the crown anemone (Anemone coronaria), whose red and purple blossoms carpet Galilean fields in spring. Others propose the Madonna lily, Sternbergia, or wild flowers in general.

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

  1. Matthew 6:28 κρίνα lilies

    And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin.

    Here: A bright, conspicuous wild flower. The exact species is uncertain (see debates). The point is its beauty, which v. 29 compares to Solomon's royal splendour.

Luke · 1

  1. Luke 12:27 κρίνα lilies

    Consider how the lilies grow: They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these.

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