Greek word · G3581

ξένος

xenos

foreign

A foreigner or outsider: someone from another city or people who has no rights where they are. Because ancient hospitality bound host and guest together, the same word can also mean 'guest', 'host' or 'guest-friend'. It can also mean 'strange' or 'unfamiliar' (Acts 17:18; 1 Peter 4:12).

Appears 14 times in 14 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ξένος, -η, -ον

[in LXX chiefly for נׇכְרִי ;]

(a) foreign, alien: δαιμόνια, Acts 17:18; διδαχαί Hebrews 13:9;

(b) with genitive of thing(s), strange to, estranged from, ignorant of: Ephesians 2:12;

(with) strange, unusual: 1 Peter 4:12.

As subst., ὁ ξ.,

(a) a foreigner, stranger: Matthew 25:35, 38 25:43-44 27:7, Acts 17:21, 3 John 5; ξέίνοι κ. τάροικοι (opposite to συμπολῖται, οίκεῖοι), Ephesians 2:19; ξ. καὶ παρεπίδημοι, Hebrews 11:13;

(b) one of the parties bound by ties of hospitality;

α the guest;

β the host (= ξενοδόκος, Hom., Ii, xv, 532) : Romans 16:23.†

(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 Ephesians 2:19

Range of meaning

A foreigner or outsider: someone from another city or people who has no rights where they are. Because ancient hospitality bound host and guest together, the same word can also mean 'guest', 'host' or 'guest-friend'. It can also mean 'strange' or 'unfamiliar' (Acts 17:18; 1 Peter 4:12).

Against the English

English 'stranger' now mostly means 'someone I don't know'. Xenos is about legal and communal standing, not about being unfamiliar: you belong to a different people and have no claim here. 'Foreigner' is closer.

How it drifted

In modern English 'stranger' has narrowed to 'unknown person'. In older English (KJV) it still carried the sense of 'alien' or 'foreigner'.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Gospels it is used for the outsider in need of hospitality (Matthew 25:35) and for foreigners who needed a burial ground in Jerusalem (Matthew 27:7). Hebrews 11:13 calls the patriarchs 'xenoi and sojourners on the earth'. In classical Greek, the xenos is the non-citizen, set against the politēs (citizen).

From the study of Romans 16:23

Range of meaning

(1) Foreign, strange, unfamiliar (Acts 17:18, 'foreign divinities'; Hebrews 13:9). (2) As a noun, a stranger or foreigner, someone outside one's people or household (Matthew 25:35; Ephesians 2:12, 19). (3) In the vocabulary of hospitality (xenia, 'guest-friendship'), either partner in the bond: the guest who is received or the host who receives. BDAG lists 'host' as a distinct sense, with Romans 16:23 as the main New Testament example.

Against the English

English has separate words for 'stranger', 'guest' and 'host'. Greek used one word for all three because hospitality was a single two-way relationship. The stranger who is welcomed becomes a guest-friend, and so does the one who welcomes him. Every major translation rightly says 'host' here.

Used elsewhere in the period

The two-way sense goes back to Homer, where guest-friends (xenoi) exchange gifts and owe each other protection across generations (Iliad 6.215–231). Classical and Hellenistic writers and inscriptions use xenos for a host or patron who receives visitors. In Jewish and early Christian circles, hospitality to traveling teachers and fellow believers was a basic duty (Hebrews 13:2; 3 John 5–8; Didache 11–12).

From the study of Acts 17:18

Range of meaning

Xenos: foreign, alien, from outside; also 'guest' or 'stranger'. Daimonion: in classical and Hellenistic Greek, 'the divine' or 'a divine being', a lesser deity or spirit, often neutral. In the Septuagint and the New Testament, written by Jews and Christians, it usually means a hostile spirit, a 'demon'.

Against the English

'Foreign gods' (BSB, NIV), 'foreign divinities' (ESV), 'strange deities' (NASB) and 'foreign deities' (WEB) are accurate. The KJV's 'strange gods' uses 'strange' in the older sense of 'foreign'. YLT's 'strange demons' is literal in form but wrong in sense for these speakers.

How it drifted

Because daimonion almost always means 'demon' elsewhere in the New Testament, readers may assume the philosophers were accusing Paul of demon-worship. They were Greeks using the Greek sense.

Used elsewhere in the period

Xenophon, Memorabilia 1.1.1, and Plato, Apology 24b–c, give the formal charge against Socrates (399 BC) as not honouring the city's gods and 'bringing in other new divinities' (hetera kaina daimonia). Luke's wording deliberately recalls this famous accusation, and v. 19 continues the echo with 'new teaching'.

Where it appears

Matthew · 5

  1. Matthew 25:35 ξένος a stranger

    For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in,

    Here: An outsider far from his own people: a traveler, a migrant or a foreigner who has no kin, house or legal protection where he is. Not just "someone you haven't met."

  2. Matthew 25:38 ξένον a stranger

    When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?

    Here: Someone away from his own people and town: a traveller, foreigner or migrant with no family or neighbours nearby to give him shelter, food or protection.

  3. Matthew 25:43 ξένος a stranger

    I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after Me.’

  4. Matthew 25:44 ξένον a stranger

    And they too will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’

    Here: An outsider with no local kin to protect or house him. In 25:43 the matching action is 'gathered in', meaning taking someone into your home.

  5. Matthew 27:7 ξένοις. strangers.

    After conferring together, they used the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners.

    Here: People not from Jerusalem: outsiders, non-residents, likely visitors and foreigners who died in the city with no family tomb there. It does not mean 'unidentified persons.'

Acts · 2

  1. Acts 17:18 ξένων Of foreign

    Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was proclaiming the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

    Here: 'Foreign', meaning from outside Athens's recognised gods. It is placed first for emphasis. It means 'imported' more than 'weird'.

  2. Acts 17:21 ξένοι strangers

    Now all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing more than hearing and articulating new ideas.

Romans · 1

  1. Romans 16:23 ξένος host

    Gaius, who has hosted me and all the church, sends you greetings. Erastus, the city treasurer, sends you greetings, as does our brother Quartus.

    Here: Normally 'foreigner/stranger', but in the language of hospitality it names either side of the guest–host bond. Here it plainly means 'host': Gaius is the man whose house Paul is staying in.

Ephesians · 2

  1. Ephesians 2:12 ξένοι strangers

    remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

    Here: Non-citizen foreigners. In the next verses they are contrasted with "fellow citizens" (v. 19), where Paul uses the same word: "no longer xenoi."

  2. Ephesians 2:19 ξένοι strangers

    Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,

    Here: Outsiders with no legal standing in the community. It repeats 2:12, where gentiles were 'foreigners (xenoi) to the covenants of promise'.

Hebrews · 2

  1. Hebrews 11:13 ξένοι strangers

    All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

    Here: Outsiders: people from somewhere else who did not belong by birth or citizenship to the place they lived.

  2. Hebrews 13:9 ξέναις strange

    Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them.

    Here: Foreign to what the community first received (compare 2:3; 13:7). The same root sits in 13:2, where they are told to welcome strangers (*philoxenia*). Strangers are to be welcomed, but strange teachings are not.

1 Peter · 1

  1. 1 Peter 4:12 ξένου a strange thing

    Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you.

    Here: 'Something foreign'. It repeats the root of the opening verb (xenizesthe … xenou): do not treat as foreign what is not foreign. Suffering for Christ belongs to the life they have entered (compare 4:13, sharing Christ's sufferings). It is not an alien intrusion.

3 John · 1

  1. 3 John 1:5 ξένους, strangers,

    Beloved, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, and especially since they are strangers to you.

    Here: "Strangers": people from elsewhere whom Gaius did not know personally. In Greek usage the ξένος is the outsider who arrives and depends on someone's hospitality, so the word already points toward the role of guest.

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