Greek word · G3407

μίσθιος

misthios

hired worker

A hired worker paid wages (misthos), usually by the day. Such a worker was not a member of the household and not a slave (doulos). Day laborers had no land and no secure place. They depended on being hired each morning and paid each evening.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 23, 2026

What it means

μίσθιος, -α, -ον

(also -ος, -ον), [in LXX: Leviticus 19:13 A Leviticus 25:50, Job 7:1 (שָׂכִיר), Tobit 5:11, Sirach 7:10 31:22 37:11 * ;]

hired; as subst., ὁ μ., a hired servant: Luke 15:17, 19 15:21 (Anth., Plut.).†

(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 Luke 15:17

Range of meaning: A hired worker paid wages (misthos), usually by the day. Such a worker was not a member of the household and not a slave (doulos). Day laborers had no land and no secure place. They depended on being hired each morning and paid each evening.
Against the English: "Hired servants" (KJV, BSB, NIV, ESV) suggests domestic staff in a great house. "Hired men" (NASB) and "hirelings" (YLT) come closer. The point is that these are the most expendable people on the estate.
How it drifted: In modern English "servants" calls up butlers and maids who belong to a household, or it gets merged with slaves. In the first century a hired laborer was in some ways more precarious than a household slave, who at least was fed as part of the family's property.
Used elsewhere in the period: In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint), Lev 25:50 uses the hired worker's term of service as a standard of measure, and Job 7:1 speaks of "the days of a hireling" as a picture of hard and fragile life. Torah required that a hired worker be paid the same day (Lev 19:13; Deut 24:14–15) because he lived hand to mouth. Jesus' parable of the vineyard workers (Matt 20:1–16) shows the daily hiring system. In the NT the word occurs only here and in v.19 (and in some manuscripts at v.21).

Where it appears

Luke · 2

Luke 15:17 μίσθιοι hired servants

Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food, but here I am, starving to death!

Here: Workers paid by the day, outsiders to the household and among the lowest people on an estate. Even these have more than enough.
Luke 15:19 μισθίων servants

I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’

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