οὖς

Matthew 10:27 οὖς ear

What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops.

Here: "What you hear into the ear" is an idiom for something told privately or confidentially, a whisper. The whisperer is Jesus, and the listeners are the disciples.

Matthew 11:15 ὦτα ears

He who has ears, let him hear.

Here: Physical ears, but in the biblical idiom the ear is also where understanding and response begin. In the prophets, people 'have ears but do not hear' (Jer 5:21; Ezek 12:2).

Matthew 13:9 ὦτα ears

He who has ears, let him hear.”

Here: The literal organ of hearing. Prophetic speech had long used it as a picture of a person's ability to take in God's word and respond (Isa 6:10; Jer 5:21; Ezek 12:2).

Matthew 13:15 ὠσὶν ὠσὶν ears

For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’

Here: The physical ears. Hearing in Hebrew thought includes heeding, so the ears stand for the people's response to God's word as well as their perception of it.

Matthew 13:16 ὦτα ears

But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.

Here: The ears, echoing "he who has ears, let him hear" (13:9) and "with their ears they hear heavily" (13:15).

Matthew 13:43 ὦτα ears

Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Here: Picks up the chapter's theme of hearing without hearing (13:13–16, quoting Isaiah 6:9–10). Ears that work stand for a willing, responsive mind.

Mark 4:9 ὦτα ears

Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Here: 'Ears', plural. These are physical ears, and they also stand for the ability to take in a message. The word recalls the prophets' complaint about people who 'have ears but do not hear' (Jer 5:21; Ezek 12:2).

Mark 4:23 ὦτα ears

If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Here: Ears. In biblical idiom the ear stands for the ability to take something in, understand it and respond. It recalls the prophets' charge against people 'who have ears but do not hear' (Jer 5:21; Ezek 12:2; Isa 6:9–10).

Mark 7:33 ὦτα ears

So Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, and put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue.

Mark 8:18 ὦτα ears

‘Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?’ And do you not remember?

Here: Physical ears, again placed first for emphasis. In Mark, 'ears' recall the parable chapter's repeated call: 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear' (4:9, 4:23).

Luke 1:44 ὦτά ears

For as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

Luke 4:21 ὠσὶν hearing

and He began by saying, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Luke 8:8 ὦτα ears

Still other seed fell on good soil, where it sprang up and produced a crop—a hundredfold.” As Jesus said this, He called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Here: Ears, standing for the capacity to take in a message. The prophets accused Israel of having ears yet not hearing (Jeremiah 5:21; Ezekiel 12:2).

Luke 9:44 ὦτα ears

“Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”

Here: In biblical idiom the ear is the organ of hearing that takes something in, understands it and obeys it, not only of sound. Compare "whoever has ears to hear, let him hear" (Luke 8:8).

Luke 12:3 οὖς ear

What you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the housetops.

Luke 14:35 ὦτα ears

It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile, and it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Luke 22:50 οὖς ear

And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

Acts 7:51 ὠσίν, in ears,

You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.

Here: 'In the ears'. Ears that are 'uncircumcised', as if still covered, cannot take in God's word (Jeremiah 6:10). In Hebrew thought hearing also means obeying.

Acts 7:57 ὦτα ears

At this they covered their ears, cried out in a loud voice, and rushed together at him.

Here: Their physical ears. Six verses earlier Stephen called them 'uncircumcised in heart and ears' (7:51), so this act shows his charge to be true.

Acts 11:22 ὦτα ears

When news of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

Acts 28:27 ὠσὶν ὠσὶν ears

For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’

Here: The ears as the organ of hearing, and so of receiving God's word. In the Bible, hearing God carries the sense of heeding him.

Romans 11:8 ὦτα ears

as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see, and ears that could not hear, to this very day.”

Here: Ears that do not hear. In Israel's tradition, "hearing" includes heeding and obeying (as in the Shema, "Hear, O Israel"), so this is a failure to receive the message, not deafness.

1 Corinthians 2:9 οὖς ear

Rather, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Here: The second way of knowing: hearing, which includes tradition, teaching and report. In context it also hints at the polished speeches the Corinthians admired.

1 Corinthians 12:16 οὖς· ear;

And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

James 5:4 ὦτα ears

Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

Here: God is pictured as a judge who has personally heard the complaint. The phrase echoes Isaiah 5:9 and Psalm 18:6 (17:7 in the Greek).

1 Peter 3:12 ὦτα [the] ears

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Here: God's ears, the image of his willingness to listen and respond. There is no verb in the Greek. The ears are simply 'toward' the plea.

Revelation 2:7 οὖς an ear

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God.

Here: The ear stands for the ability to take in God's word. The singular ('an ear') is used in all seven letters. The Gospel versions of the saying say 'ears', so this form singles out each listener.

Revelation 2:11 οὖς an ear

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who overcomes will not be harmed by the second death.

Here: Singular, "an ear". In each of the seven letters it is singular (in the Gospels it is "ears"), which points to each person in the gathered church.

Revelation 2:17 οὖς an ear

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will give the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it.

Here: The physical ear standing for attention and response. It echoes Jesus' saying 'whoever has ears to hear, let him hear' (Mark 4:9; Matt 13:9).

Revelation 2:29 οὖς an ear

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Here: "An ear", singular, standing for the ability to hear. In biblical idiom the ear is the way into understanding and obedience, not just a body part (compare the "uncircumcised ear" of Jeremiah 6:10).

Revelation 3:6 οὖς an ear

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Here: Singular, "an ear." In the Gospels Jesus' version is usually plural ("ears to hear"). Revelation always uses the singular (2:7, 13:9). The organ stands for the capacity to take a message in.

Revelation 3:13 οὖς an ear

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Here: Singular 'an ear'. Revelation always uses the singular in this saying, where the Gospels have the plural 'ears'. In biblical idiom the ear is the organ of taking in and responding, not just of picking up sound.

Revelation 3:22 οὖς an ear

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Here: Singular "ear" (Jesus' sayings in the Gospels usually have the plural "ears"). Throughout Scripture the ear stands for a person's ability to receive and respond, not just the organ.

Revelation 13:9 οὖς, an ear,

He who has an ear, let him hear:

Here: Singular, "an ear", exactly as in the seven letters of Revelation 2–3. The Gospels use the plural "ears". In biblical idiom the ear stands for the ability to take in and respond to what God says, not just to pick up sound.