Greek word · G4505

ῥύμη

rymē

lane

In older Greek the word meant 'rush, force, momentum'. In Hellenistic (post-classical) Greek it came to mean a city street or lane, often a narrow one. BDAG: 'narrow street, lane, alley'.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ῥύμη, -ης, ἡ

[in LXX: Isaiah 15:3 (רְחֹב), Proverbs 31:23 א, Tobit 13:18, Sirach 9:7 א1* ;]

1. in cl., the force, rush, swing, of a moving body; esp. of a charge of soldiers.

2. In late Greek (as in Macedonian, see Kennedy, Sources, 15), a narrow road, lane, street: in Polyb., of a road in camp; in LXX and NT (π. also) of streets in a town, Matthew 6:2, Luke 14:21 Acts 9:11 12:10 (cf. Rutherford, NPhr., 488).†

(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 Acts 9:11

Range of meaning

In older Greek the word meant 'rush, force, momentum'. In Hellenistic (post-classical) Greek it came to mean a city street or lane, often a narrow one. BDAG: 'narrow street, lane, alley'.

Against the English

'Street' is accurate. The word itself says nothing about width, and here it is used of a city's main avenue.

Used elsewhere in the period

Greek Old Testament and related books: Isa 15:3; Sir 9:7; Tob 13:17–18 ('the streets of Jerusalem'). New Testament: Matt 6:2; Luke 14:21 ('the squares and lanes of the city', where it is paired with the broader plateia); Acts 12:10. The word was common in everyday Koine Greek and appears in documentary papyri in street addresses (Moulton–Milligan). Grammarians who favoured classical Attic Greek frowned on it as colloquial.

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

  1. Matthew 6:2 ῥύμαις streets

    So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

    Here: The narrow streets and alleys of a town, where neighbours and beggars were always about, so any gift there was seen.

Luke · 1

  1. Luke 14:21 ῥύμας lanes

    The servant returned and reported all this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’

    Here: The narrow lanes and back alleys, the crowded parts of the city where the poorest lived. Together with 'broad streets' it means 'every street, big and small'.

Acts · 2

  1. Acts 9:11 ῥύμην street

    “Get up!” the Lord told him. “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.

    Here: An ordinary everyday word for a city street, often a narrower one. Here it names one of the best-known streets in Damascus.

  2. Acts 12:10 ῥύμην street

    They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city, which opened for them by itself. When they had gone outside and walked the length of one block, the angel suddenly left him.

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