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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1"/><title>Strong's Greek: 1967. ἐπιούσιος (epiousios) -- Daily, necessary for existence</title></title><link rel="canonical" href="http://biblehub.com/greek/1967.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/strongsnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader.js'></script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="/interlinear/vmenus/matthew/13-8.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmstrongs/greek/1967.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="/">Bible</a> > <a href="/strongs.htm">Strong's</a> > <a href="/englishmans_greek.htm">Greek</a> > 1967</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../greek/1966.htm" title="1966">◄</a> 1967. epiousios <a href="../greek/1968.htm" title="1968">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Strong's Lexicon</div><div align="left"><span class="toptitle2">epiousios: Daily, necessary for existence</span></div><p><span class="tophdg">Original Word: </span><span class="greek">ἐπιούσιος</span><br><span class="tophdg">Part of Speech: </span>Adjective<br><span class="tophdg">Transliteration: </span>epiousios<br><span class="tophdg">Pronunciation: </span>eh-pee-OO-see-os<br><span class="tophdg">Phonetic Spelling: </span>(ep-ee-oo'-see-os)<br><span class="tophdg">Definition: </span>Daily, necessary for existence<br><span class="tophdg">Meaning: </span>for the morrow, necessary, sufficient.<p><span class="tophdg">Word Origin: </span>Derived from the Greek preposition "ἐπί" (epi, meaning "upon" or "for") and the participle "εἰμί" (eimi, meaning "to be").<p><span class="tophdg">Corresponding Greek / Hebrew Entries: </span>While there is no direct Hebrew equivalent to "epiousios," the concept of daily provision can be related to the Hebrew word "מן" (manna), as seen in Exodus 16, where God provides daily sustenance for the Israelites in the wilderness.<p><span class="tophdg">Usage: </span>The term "epiousios" is a unique and somewhat enigmatic word in the New Testament, primarily translated as "daily" in the context of the Lord's Prayer. It is used to describe the type of bread that is necessary for sustenance, indicating a provision that is essential for each day. The word suggests a focus on daily dependence on God for physical and spiritual nourishment.<p><span class="tophdg">Cultural and Historical Background: </span>In the first-century Greco-Roman world, bread was a staple food, central to daily sustenance. The use of "epiousios" in the Lord's Prayer reflects a cultural understanding of daily provision and reliance on God. The term's rarity in Greek literature has led to various interpretations, but it is generally understood within the context of the prayer as emphasizing trust in God's provision for each day.<div class="vheading2">HELPS Word-studies</div><p class="discovery"><b>1967</b> <i>epioúsios</i> (from <a href="/greek/1909.htm">1909</a> <i>/epí</i>, "<i>upon</i>, fitting" and <a href="/greek/3776.htm">3776</a> <i>/ousía</i>, "being, substance") – properly, aptly substantive, appropriate to what is "coming on" (happening), i.e. <i>suitable</i> (apt) for the coming day.</p><p class="discovery">[<a href="/greek/1967.htm">1967</a> (<i>epioúsios</i>) is cognate with <a href="/greek/1966.htm">1966</a> <i>/epioúsa</i>, "the next day," "the following (approaching) day," "the coming day," see the <i>NAS</i> dictionary.]</p><p class="discovery"><a href="/greek/1967.htm">1967</a> <i>/epioúsios</i> ("aptly substantive") only occurs in the Lord's Prayer. It refers to God's provision that is needed for <i>each day</i> (Mt 6:11; Lk 11:3) – literally, "bread that <i>fits</i> (meets) the unique demands of the coming day."</p><iframe width="100%" height="85" scrolling=no src="/discovery.htm" frameborder=0 cellpadding=0></iframe><div class="vheading2">NAS Exhaustive Concordance</div><span class="hdg">Word Origin</span><br>from <a href="/greek/1897.htm">epeimi</a><br><span class="hdg">Definition</span><br>for the coming day, for subsistence<br><span class="hdg">NASB Translation</span><br>daily (2).<p><div align="center"><span class="smalltext"><iframe width="100%" height="85" scrolling=no src="/nasec.htm" frameborder=0 cellpadding=0></iframe></span></div><div class="vheading2">Thayer's Greek Lexicon</div><span class="maintitle">STRONGS NT 1967: ἐπιούσιος</span><br><br><span class="arttitle"><span class="grktitle">ἐπιούσιος</span></span>, <span class="greek2">ἐπιούσιον</span>, a word found only in <a href="/interlinear/matthew/6-11.htm">Matthew 6:11</a> and <a href="/interlinear/luke/11-3.htm">Luke 11:3</a>, in the phrase <span class="greek2">ἄρτος</span> <span class="greek2">ἐπιούσιος</span> ([Peshitta] Syriac <span class="random">oNQNSd 4MXL</span> [<BITMAP:Syriac5>] <span class="accented">the bread of our necessity,</span> i. e. <span class="accented">necessary for us</span> (but the Curetonian (earlier) Syriac reads <span class="random">)NYM)</span> [<BITMAP:Syriac6>] <span class="accented">continual</span>; cf. <span class="abbreviation">Lightfoot</span> as below, I. 3, p. 214ff; Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, p. 139f); Itala (Old Latin)<span class="latin">panis</span><span class="latin">quotidianus</span>). <span class="abbreviation">Origen</span> testifies (de orat. 27) that the word was not in use in ordinary speech, and accordingly seems to have been coined by the Evangelists themselves. Many commentators, as Beza, Kuinoel, Tholuck, Ewald, Bleek, <span class="abbreviation">Keim</span>, <span class="abbreviation">Cremer</span>, following <span class="abbreviation">Origen</span>, <span class="abbreviation">Jerome</span> (who in Matt. only translates by the barbarous phrase<span class="latin">panis</span><span class="latin">supersubstantialis</span>), <span class="abbreviation">Theophylact</span>, <span class="abbreviation">Euthymius Zigabenus</span>, explain the word by <span class="accented">bread for sustenance, which serves to sustain life,</span> deriving the word from <span class="greek2">οὐσία</span>, after the analogy of <span class="greek2">ἐξουσιος</span>, <span class="greek2">ἐνουσιος</span>. But <span class="greek2">οὐσία</span> very rarely, and only in philosophic language, is equivalent to <span class="greek2">ὕπαρξις</span>, as in <span class="abbreviation">Plato</span>, Theact., p. 185 c. (app. to <span class="greek2">τό</span> <span class="greek2">μή</span> <span class="greek2">εἶναι</span>), <span class="abbreviation">Aristotle</span>, de part. anim. i. 1 (<span class="greek2">ἡ</span> <span class="greek2">γάρ</span> <span class="greek2">γένεσις</span> <span class="greek2">ἕνεκα</span> <span class="greek2">τῆς</span> <span class="greek2">οὐσίας</span> <span class="greek2">ἐστιν</span>, <span class="greek2">ἀλλ'</span> <span class="greek2">οὐχ</span> <span class="greek2">ἡ</span> <span class="greek2">οὐσία</span> <span class="greek2">ἕνεκα</span> <span class="greek2">τῆς</span> <span class="greek2">γενέσεως</span>; for other examples see Bonitz's Index to <span class="abbreviation">Aristotle</span>, p. 544), and generally denotes either <span class="accented">essence, real nature, or substance, property, resources</span>. On this account Leo Meyer (in Kuhn, Zeitschr. f. vergleich. Sprachkunde, vii., pp. 401-430), Kamphausen (Gebet des Herrn, pp. 86-102), with whom <span class="abbreviation">Keim</span> (ii. 278f. (English translation, iii. 340)), Weiss (Matthew, the passage cited), Delitzsch (Zeitschr. f. d. luth. Theol. 1876, p. 402), agree, prefer to derive the word from <span class="greek2">ἐπειναι</span> (and in particular from the participle <span class="greek2">ἐπων</span>, <span class="greek2">ἐπουσιος</span> for <span class="greek2">ἐποντιος</span>, see below) <span class="accented">to be present,</span> and to understand it bread <span class="accented">which is ready at hand or suffices,</span> so that Christ is conjectured to have said in Chaldean <span class="hebrew">דְּחֻקָּנָא</span> <span class="hebrew">לַחְמָא</span> (cf. <span class="hebrew">חֻקִּי</span> <span class="hebrew">לֶחֶם</span> my allowance of bread, <a href="/interlinear/proverbs/30-8.htm">Proverbs 30:8</a>) or something of the sort. But this opinion, like the preceding, encounters the great objection (to mention no other) that, although the iota <span class="greek2">ἰ</span> in <span class="greek2">ἐπί</span> is retained before a vowel in certain words (as <span class="greek2">ἐπίορκος</span>, <span class="greek2">ἐπιορκέω</span>, <span class="greek2">ἐπιόσσομαι</span>, etc. (cf. <span class="abbreviation">Lightfoot</span>, as below, I. § 1)), yet in <span class="greek2">ἐπειναι</span> and words derived from it, <span class="greek2">ἐπουσια</span>, <span class="greek2">ἐπουσιωδης</span>, it is always elided. Therefore much more correctly do Grotius, Scaliger, <span class="abbreviation">Wetstein</span>, Fischer (De vitiis lexamples etc., p. 306ff), Valckenaer, Fritzsche (on Matthew, p. 267ff), <span class="abbreviation">Winer</span> (97 (92)), Bretschneider, Wahl, Meyer (<span class="abbreviation">Lightfoot</span> (Revision etc., Appendix)) and others, comparing the words <span class="greek2">ἑκούσιος</span>, <span class="greek2">ἐθελούσιος</span>, <span class="greek2">γερούσιος</span> (from <span class="greek2">ἑκών</span>, <span class="greek2">ἐθελων</span>, <span class="greek2">γέρων</span>, for <span class="greek2">ἑκοντιος</span>, <span class="greek2">ἐθελοντιος</span>, <span class="greek2">γεροντιος</span>, cf. Kühner, 1: § 63, 3 and § 334, 1 Anm. 2), conjecture that the adjective <span class="greek2">ἐπιούσιος</span> is formed from <span class="greek2">ἐπιών</span>, <span class="greek2">ἐπιοῦσα</span>, with reference to the familiar expression <span class="greek2">ἡ</span> <span class="greek2">ἐπιοῦσα</span> (see <span class="greek2"><span class="lexref">ἄπειμι</span></span>), and <span class="greek2">ἄρτος</span> <span class="greek2">ἐπιούσιος</span> is equivalent to <span class="greek2">ἄρτος</span> <span class="greek2">τῆς</span> <span class="greek2">ἐπιουσης</span> <span class="greek2">ἡμέρας</span>, <span class="accented">food for the morrow,</span> i. e. <span class="accented">necessary or sufficient food</span>. Thus, <span class="greek2">ἐπιούσιον</span>, and <span class="greek2">σήμερον</span>, admirably answer to each other, and that state of mind is portrayed which, piously contented with <span class="accented">food sufficing from one day to the next,</span> in praying to God for sustenance does not go beyond the absolute necessity of the nearest future. This explanation is also recommended by the fact that in the Gospel according to the Hebrews, as <span class="abbreviation">Jerome</span> testifies, the word <span class="greek2">ἐπιούσιος</span> was represented by the Aramaic <span class="aramaic">מְחַר</span>, <span class="accented">quod dicitur crastinus</span>; hence, it would seem that Christ himself used the Chaldaic expression <span class="hebrew">לִמְחַר</span> <span class="hebrew">דִי</span> <span class="hebrew">לַחְמָא</span>. Nor is the prayer, so understood, at variance with the mind of Christ as expressed in <a href="/interlinear/matthew/6-34.htm">Matthew 6:34</a>, but on the contrary harmonizes with it finely; for his hearers are bidden to ask of God, in order that they may themselves be relieved of anxiety for the morrow. (See <span class="abbreviation">Lightfoot</span>, as above, pp. 195-234; McClellan, The New Testament, etc., pp. 632-647; Tholuck, Bergpredigt, Matthew, the passage cited, for earlier references.)<FOOTNOTE:1> <br><br><iframe width="100%" height="85" scrolling=no src="/bsoft.htm" frameborder=0 cellpadding=0></iframe><div class="vheading2">Strong's Exhaustive Concordance</div>daily. <p>Perhaps from the same as <a href="/greek/1966.htm">epiousa</a>; tomorrow's; but more probably from <a href="/greek/1909.htm">epi</a> and a derivative of the present participle feminine of <a href="/greek/1510.htm">eimi</a>; for subsistence, i.e. Needful -- daily. <p>see GREEK <a href="/greek/1966.htm">epiousa</a> <p>see GREEK <a href="/greek/1909.htm">epi</a> <p>see GREEK <a href="/greek/1510.htm">eimi</a> <div class="vheading2">Forms and Transliterations</div>επιουσιον επιούσιον ἐπιούσιον επιπέμπει επίπεμπτον epiousion epioúsion<div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/interlinear/matthew/1-1.htm">Interlinear Greek</a> • <a href="/interlinear/genesis/1-1.htm">Interlinear Hebrew</a> • <a href="/strongs.htm">Strong's Numbers</a> • <a href="/englishmans_greek.htm">Englishman's Greek Concordance</a> • <a href="/englishmans_hebrew.htm">Englishman's Hebrew Concordance</a> • <a href="/texts/matthew/1-1.htm">Parallel Texts</a></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="vheading">Englishman's Concordance</div><b><a href="/text/matthew/6-11.htm" title="Biblos Lexicon">Matthew 6:11</a> <a href="/abbrev.htm" title="Adjective - Accusative Masculine Singular">Adj-AMS</a></b><br><a href="/interlinear/matthew/6.htm" title="Greek">GRK:</a> <span class="greek3">ἡμῶν τὸν <b>ἐπιούσιον</b> δὸς ἡμῖν</span><br><a href="http://biblehub.com/nas/matthew/6.htm" title="New American Standard Bible">NAS:</a> Give us this day <span class="itali">our daily</span> bread.<br><a href="/kjvs/matthew/6.htm" title="King James Bible with Strong's">KJV:</a> this day our <span class="itali">daily</span> bread.<br><a href="/interlinear/matthew/6-11.htm" title="Biblos Interlinear Bible">INT:</a> of us <span class="itali">daily</span> give us<p><b><a href="/text/luke/11-3.htm" title="Biblos Lexicon">Luke 11:3</a> <a href="/abbrev.htm" title="Adjective - Accusative Masculine Singular">Adj-AMS</a></b><br><a href="/interlinear/luke/11.htm" title="Greek">GRK:</a> <span class="greek3">ἡμῶν τὸν <b>ἐπιούσιον</b> δίδου ἡμῖν</span><br><a href="http://biblehub.com/nas/luke/11.htm" title="New American Standard Bible">NAS:</a> us each day <span class="itali">our daily</span> bread.<br><a href="/kjvs/luke/11.htm" title="King James Bible with Strong's">KJV:</a> by day our <span class="itali">daily</span> bread.<br><a href="/interlinear/luke/11-3.htm" title="Biblos Interlinear Bible">INT:</a> of us <span class="itali">daily</span> give us<p><b><a href="/greek/1967.htm">Strong's Greek 1967</a><br><a href="/greek/strongs_1967.htm">2 Occurrences</a></b><br><br><a href="/greek/epiousion_1967.htm">ἐπιούσιον — 2 Occ.</a><br><br><br /><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; 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