Greek word · G3167

μεγαλεῖος

megaleios

mighty

Neuter plural of megaleios, 'magnificent, splendid', used as a noun: 'magnificent things, mighty deeds, great works'. It is used of God's saving and creative acts, and sometimes of human splendour or pomp in secular Greek.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament.

What it means

μεγαλεῖος, -εία, -εῖον

(μέγας) [in LXX: Psalms 71:19 (גָּדוֹל), al., frequently in Sir ;]

magnificent, splendid (Xen., Plut., al.) : Acts 2:11.†

(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 2:11

Range of meaning

Neuter plural of megaleios, 'magnificent, splendid', used as a noun: 'magnificent things, mighty deeds, great works'. It is used of God's saving and creative acts, and sometimes of human splendour or pomp in secular Greek.

Against the English

KJV 'wonderful works'; BSB and NIV 'wonders'; WEB and ESV 'mighty works'; NASB 'mighty deeds'; YLT 'great things'. 'Wonders' can suggest miracles or signs (Greek terata), a different word that Luke uses in 2:19, 22, 43. Megaleia stresses the greatness and splendour of what God has done, not its strangeness.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX Deut 11:2: Israel has seen 'his magnificent deeds' (ta megaleia autou), the Exodus plagues and the Red Sea. LXX Ps 70:19 (71:19): 'the great things you have done (ha epoiēsas megaleia), O God, who is like you?' Sirach 17:8–10 and 18:4 use it for God's works in creation, which humans are made to praise. Some manuscripts of Luke 1:49 (Mary's song) read megaleia. The Latin Vulgate's 'magnalia Dei' made the phrase a byword for God's saving acts.

Similar words

Where it appears

Acts · 1

  1. Acts 2:11 μεγαλεῖα great things

    both Jews and converts to Judaism; Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

    Here: An adjective used as a noun: 'the magnificent things'. In the Greek Old Testament it names God's great saving acts, such as the Exodus. It is the vocabulary of praise.

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