πέντε

Matthew 14:17 πέντε five

“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

Here: A plain count. The point is how small the number is next to about five thousand men (v.21).

Matthew 14:19 πέντε five

And He directed the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He spoke a blessing. Then He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

Here: Five. Repeating the exact small number makes the shortage plain.

Matthew 16:9 πέντε five

Do you still not understand? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?

Here: The small starting amount, set deliberately against the huge crowd.

Matthew 25:2 πέντε πέντε Five, five

Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.

Matthew 25:15 πέντε five

To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent—each according to his own ability. And he went on his journey.

Here: Five talents, an enormous sum: something like a century of a day-labourer's wages.

Matthew 25:16 πέντε πέντε five

The servant who had received the five talents went at once and put them to work and gained five more.

Matthew 25:20 πέντε πέντε πέντε πέντε five

The servant who had received the five talents came and presented five more. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’

Here: The original amount, given "according to his own ability" (v.15). The number is repeated four times in this one verse, which makes the exact doubling hard to miss.

Mark 6:38 πέντε Five

“Go and see how many loaves you have,” He told them. And after checking, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

Mark 6:41 πέντε five

Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, Jesus spoke a blessing and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to His disciples to set before the people. And He divided the two fish among them all.

Here: Five. The number stresses how little food there is for about five thousand men.

Mark 8:19 πέντε five

When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces did you collect?” “Twelve,” they answered.

Luke 1:24 πέντε five

After these days, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. She declared,

Here: Five months: about the point when a pregnancy can no longer be hidden. In the next scene the angel goes to Mary in the sixth month and tells her the news about Elizabeth.

Luke 9:13 πέντε five

But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.” “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered, “unless we go and buy food for all these people.”

Here: The precise count stresses how little they have: enough for a handful of people.

Luke 9:16 πέντε five

Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, Jesus spoke a blessing and broke them. Then He gave them to the disciples to set before the people.

Here: The number stresses how little there was, set against about five thousand men (v.14).

Luke 12:6 πέντε five

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.

Here: The number of birds in the market deal. Matthew's version has two for one coin, so five for two seems to mean the fifth bird came free (see debates).

Luke 12:52 πέντε five

From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three.

Luke 14:19 πέντε five

Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out. Please excuse me.’

Luke 16:28 πέντε five

for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also end up in this place of torment.’

Here: A specific number, which makes the family feel real. The parable never says the number stands for anything, though some readers have guessed (see debates).

Luke 19:18 πέντε five

The second servant came and said, ‘Master, your mina has made five minas.’

Luke 19:19 πέντε five

And to this one he said, ‘You shall have authority over five cities.’

John 4:18 πέντε Five

In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. You have spoken truthfully.”

Here: Placed first in the sentence for emphasis: 'Five husbands!' The number is what makes the woman see that Jesus knows her whole story (v. 19, 29).

John 5:2 πέντε five

Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool with five covered colonnades, which in Hebrew is called Bethesda.

John 6:9 πέντε five

“Here is a boy with five barley loaves and two small fish. But what difference will these make among so many?”

Here: Five small flat loaves, enough for a meal for one person or a few. The number is all four Gospels share. John adds the barley and the boy.

John 6:13 πέντε five

So they collected them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

Here: Repeats the small number from v.9 so the hearer sets five loaves against twelve full baskets.

John 6:19 πέντε five

When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the sea—and they were terrified.

Here: Completes 'twenty-five' stades, about 4.6 km or just under three miles.

Acts 4:4 πέντε.¶ five.

But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.

Here: 'Five', placed last, which lands the size of the total at the end of the sentence. Luke's readers may also have heard an echo of the five thousand men Jesus fed (Luke 9:14).

Acts 7:14 πέντε. five.

Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five in all.

Acts 19:19 πέντε. five.

And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books and burned them in front of everyone. When the value of the books was calculated, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.

Acts 20:6 πέντε five

And after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we sailed from Philippi, and five days later we rejoined them in Troas, where we stayed seven days.

Acts 24:1 πέντε five

Five days later the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, who presented to the governor their case against Paul.

Here: A plain number with no symbolic weight. It shows how quickly the Jerusalem leaders organised their case and made the journey.

1 Corinthians 14:19 πέντε five

But in the church, I would rather speak five coherent words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

Revelation 9:5 πέντε, five,

The locusts were not given power to kill them, but only to torment them for five months, and their torment was like the stinging of a scorpion.

Here: Five months is roughly the life of a locust swarm in the warm season. It also reads as a limited, comparatively short span.

Revelation 9:10 πέντε. five.

They had tails with stingers like scorpions, which had the power to injure people for five months.

Here: Five months: a set, limited period. Its exact significance is debated (see debates).

Revelation 17:10 πέντε five

There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. But when he does come, he must remain for only a little while.

Here: Five of the seven are already in the past. Most of the series is spent.