Greek word · G899

βάθος

bathos

depth

Depth: of water, the sea, soil (Mark 4:5), a valley. By extension, the inner depth of something, its immeasurable extent, or 'deep things'.

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 31, 2026

What it means

βάθος, -εος (-ους), τό,

[in LXX for מְצוּלָה ,תַּחְתִּי, etc. ;]

depth: Matthew 13:5, Mark 4:5, Romans 8:39, Ephesians 3:18; τὸ β., the deep sea: Luke 5:4; metaphorically, β. πλούτου . . . Θεοῦ, Romans 11:33; τὰ β. τ. Θεοῦ (the Divine counsels), 1 Corinthians 2:10; ἡ κατὰ βάθους πτωχεία, deep poverty, 2 Corinthians 8:2.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: Depth: of water, the sea, soil (Mark 4:5), a valley. By extension, the inner depth of something, its immeasurable extent, or 'deep things'.
Against the English: All major versions have 'depth' (NLT 'how great'). The English is accurate, but readers may hear 'profundity' and miss the image of an abyss you cannot sound.
Used elsewhere in the period: Job 11:7–8 LXX: God's wisdom is 'deeper than Hades'. Ps 36:6 (LXX 35:7): God's judgments are 'a great deep'. Paul speaks of 'the depths of God' in 1 Cor 2:10. 2 Baruch 14:8–9, a Jewish text from shortly after 70 CE, asks: 'Who can understand your judgment, O Lord? Or who can search out the depth of your way?' The pairing of depth, judgments and ways was a familiar Jewish way of praising God's hidden governance.

Range of meaning: Depth: of the sea, of soil (Mark 4:5), of a dimension (Eph 3:18). Used figuratively for what is profound, unfathomable or hidden: the depth of riches and wisdom (Rom 11:33) or the depths of the heart.
Against the English: 'Deep things' or 'depths' is accurate. Modern readers may hear 'advanced teaching for the spiritually mature' or esoteric secrets. In Jewish usage the image points to what is beyond human reach and known only to God.
How it drifted: Later religious movements prized 'deeper' knowledge for an inner circle. In the 2nd century, Valentinian Gnostics even named their highest divine being 'Depth' (Bythos). Rev 2:24 already mocks people who boasted of knowing 'the deep things of Satan'. These later and parallel uses can make the phrase sound elitist.
Used elsewhere in the period: Daniel 2:22 (Theodotion): God 'reveals deep and hidden things'. Judith 8:14: the 'depth of the human heart'. Job 11:7–8 (on God's unsearchable wisdom: 'deeper than Sheol'). Rom 11:33: 'O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!'

Range of meaning: Depth: the deep of the sea, the depths below the earth, and figuratively what is profound or inexhaustible.
Against the English: "Depth" is accurate. The ancient picture behind it, of an underworld or abyss beneath the earth, is mostly lost on modern readers.
Used elsewhere in the period: The Greek Old Testament uses it for the depths of the sea and waters (e.g., Ps 68:3 LXX [69:2]). Paul uses it for "the depth of the riches" of God (Rom 11:33). In Rom 10:7 he pairs ascending to heaven with descending into "the abyss" (abyssos), the same up-and-down way of picturing the universe. Its use as a technical astrological term, for the region below the horizon, is less securely attested than for hypsōma (Lietzmann proposed it; BDAG notes the possibility).

Matthew · 1

Matthew 13:5 βάθος depth

Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow.

Here: "Depth". The problem is not too little soil spread out but too little soil going down. Verse 6 draws the consequence: no root.

Mark · 1

Mark 4:5 βάθος depth

Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow.

Luke · 1

Luke 5:4 βάθος, deep

When Jesus had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

Romans · 2

Romans 8:39 βάθος depth

neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Here: "Depth": what is below, the deep or the abyss under the earth. Height and depth together cover the whole vertical extent of the universe and whatever was believed to live in it.
Romans 11:33 βάθος [the] depth

O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!

Here: Depth like the depth of the sea or an abyss: something you cannot reach the bottom of. Everything that follows (riches, wisdom, knowledge) is described as bottomless.

1 Corinthians · 1

1 Corinthians 2:10 βάθη depths

But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

Here: Plural: 'the depths'. It is an image of what lies too far down for human reach, here God's hidden purposes and thoughts (v. 11 'the things of God').

2 Corinthians · 1

2 Corinthians 8:2 βάθους deep

In the terrible ordeal they suffered, their abundant joy and deep poverty overflowed into rich generosity.

Here: Depth. "Down-to-the-depth poverty" is poverty that has hit bottom: "extreme" or "abject".

Ephesians · 1

Ephesians 3:18 βάθος, depth

will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth

Here: The fourth dimension, which completes a picture of total extent. Elsewhere Paul uses it for the unsearchable depth of God's riches and wisdom (Romans 11:33).

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