Greek word · G382
ἀναρίθμητος
anarithmētos
countless
'Not able to be counted', 'innumerable'. It is made of the negative prefix a(n)- and arithmeō, 'to count'.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
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 Hebrews 11:12
- Range of meaning
'Not able to be counted', 'innumerable'. It is made of the negative prefix a(n)- and arithmeō, 'to count'.
- Against the English
'Countless' (BSB) and 'innumerable' (KJV, WEB) are accurate. KJV and YLT keep it at the end of the sentence, where Greek places it for emphasis.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Found in classical Greek and in the Wisdom of Solomon (7:11, 'countless riches'). Genesis 32:12 has the same idea: sand 'which cannot be counted for multitude'.
Where it appears
Hebrews · 1
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Hebrews 11:12 ἀναρίθμητος.¶ countless.
And so from one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
Here: 'Un-number-able', used only here in the New Testament. The final word answers the opening 'one': one deadened man, a people no one can count.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.