Greek word · G847

αὐτοῦ

autou

there

The adverb αὐτοῦ means 'right here, on the spot, there'. ἑστηκότων is the perfect participle of ἵστημι, 'standing', with the perfect working as a present.

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

What it means

αὐτοῦ

adv., prop. neut. genitive of αὐτός, [in LXX for פֹּה, בָּזֶה ;]

there: Matthew 26:36, Mark 6:33, WH, mg., Luke 9:27, Acts 15:34, WH, mg., R, mg., Acts 18:19 21:4 .†

(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 Luke 9:27

Range of meaning

The adverb αὐτοῦ means 'right here, on the spot, there'. ἑστηκότων is the perfect participle of ἵστημι, 'standing', with the perfect working as a present.

Against the English

All the major versions render it 'standing here', which is accurate. Only a hyper-literal reading would make αὐτοῦ 'his' or the perfect 'already standing'.

Used elsewhere in the period

The adverb appears elsewhere in the NT at Matt 26:36; Acts 15:34 (in some manuscripts); 18:19; 21:4. Mark 9:1 and Matt 16:28 use ὧδε ('here') instead.

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

  1. Matthew 26:36 αὐτοῦ here

    Then Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and He told them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

    Here: An adverb meaning 'right here', not the pronoun 'his'. Mark uses the plainer hōde. The same word appears in the Greek of Genesis 22:5, 'Sit here with the donkey.'

Luke · 1

  1. Luke 9:27 αὐτοῦ there

    But I tell you truly, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

    Here: Here this is an adverb meaning 'on the spot, right here', not the pronoun 'his'. It ties the promise to the people physically present.

Acts · 2

  1. Acts 18:19 αὐτοῦ, there,

    When they reached Ephesus, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue there and reasoned with the Jews.

    Here: A place-word meaning "right there", i.e. in Ephesus. It looks like the pronoun 'his' but works as an adverb here.

  2. Acts 21:4 αὐτοῦ there

    We sought out the disciples in Tyre and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they kept telling Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

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