Greek word · G5515

χλωρός

chlōros

green

Pale green or yellowish-green. It can mean fresh, living greenery, and it can also mean the sickly pallor of fear or death (BDAG s.v. χλωρός). As a noun, 'a green thing' means vegetation.

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

What it means

χλωρός, -ά, -όν

(χλόη), [in LXX for יֶרֶק, etc. ;]

(a) pale green: χόρτος, Mark 6:39, Revelation 8:7; πᾶν χ., Revelation 9:4;

(b) pale: ἵππος, Revelation 6:8.†

(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 Revelation 9:4

Range of meaning

Pale green or yellowish-green. It can mean fresh, living greenery, and it can also mean the sickly pallor of fear or death (BDAG s.v. χλωρός). As a noun, 'a green thing' means vegetation.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT keep 'green thing', which preserves the echo of Exodus. BSB's 'plant' and similar renderings read smoothly, but the reader loses the colour word and with it the link to the Egypt story and to 8:7.

Used elsewhere in the period

Greek Exodus 10:15, describing the eighth plague: no green thing (χλωρόν) was left on the trees or plants of the field. Revelation 8:7: 'all green (χλωρός) grass was burned up.' Revelation 6:8: the 'pale' (χλωρός) horse whose rider is Death. Mark 6:39: 'green grass'.

From the study of Revelation 6:8

Range of meaning

Basic sense: the color of new growth: green, yellowish-green. It is used of grass and plants (Mark 6:39; Rev 8:7; 9:4, all 'green grass/green thing'). Used of people and their faces it means pale, wan, ashen: the gray-green look of someone terrified, sick or dead. From there it can mean 'deathly' in general.

Against the English

KJV/WEB/YLT/NIV/ESV say 'pale', NASB says 'ashen', BSB and NLT say 'pale green'. Modern 'pale' suggests light, faded or whitish, which can make the horse sound almost white like the first one. The Greek points to a sickly, greenish-gray, corpse-like color.

How it drifted

English 'pale' has become a general word for 'light-colored'. In Greek, chlōros of a face meant the green-gray pallor of fear or death, a color modern English hardly has a single word for.

Used elsewhere in the period

Homer uses chlōron deos, 'green (pale) fear', for terror (Iliad 7.479 and elsewhere). Sappho, fragment 31, describes the symptoms of overwhelming passion: 'I am greener (chlōrotera) than grass.' Greek medical writers use it for the sickly complexion of disease. In the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) it is mostly used of green plants (e.g. Gen 1:30). Revelation itself uses it elsewhere only for green vegetation (8:7; 9:4) (LSJ; BDAG).

From the study of Mark 6:39

Range of meaning

χλωρός: fresh green, pale green (also 'pale' in Rev 6:8, the 'pale' horse). χόρτος: grass, fodder, pasture, whatever grows wild and is grazed.

Against the English

All versions render it 'green grass', which is accurate. The detail matters because it comes from Mark alone: Matthew 14:19 says only 'on the grass', and John 6:10 says 'there was much grass in the place'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 23:2 (LXX 22:2) has the shepherd make the sheep lie down 'in a place of green growth' (εἰς τόπον χλόης). Ezekiel 34:14–15 has God pasture his scattered flock on 'good pasture' and make them lie down. Isaiah 35:1–2 pictures the wilderness blossoming at God's coming.

Where it appears

Mark · 1

  1. Mark 6:39 χλωρῷ green

    Then Jesus directed them to have the people sit in groups on the green grass.

    Here: Fresh, living green. In Galilee grass is green only after the winter rains, in late winter and spring. The word therefore fixes the season, and it also paints the 'deserted place' (v.35) as unexpectedly lush. Only Mark has this detail.

Revelation · 3

  1. Revelation 6:8 χλωρὸς pale

    Then I looked and saw a pale green horse. Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed close behind. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword, by famine, by plague, and by the beasts of the earth.

    Here: The color of fresh grass, but used of people it is the gray-green pallor of terror, sickness and corpses. The horse is the color of its rider, Death.

  2. Revelation 8:7 χλωρὸς green

    Then the first angel sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, along with a third of the trees and all the green grass.

    Here: Fresh, living green. The same word describes the 'pale' horse of death in 6:8, but here it means the color of living plants.

  3. Revelation 9:4 χλωρὸν green thing

    They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

    Here: 'Green (thing)', meaning fresh vegetation. It is the same word used in Exodus 10:15 (Greek version) for the 'green thing' the Egyptian locusts left none of, and in Revelation 8:7 for the green grass burned at the first trumpet.

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