STRONGS NT 1161: δέ

δέ (related to δή, as μέν to μήν, cf. Klotz ad Devar. ii. 2, p. 355), a particle adversative, distinctive, disjunctive, but, moreover (Winers Grammar, § 53, 7 and 10, 2); it is much more frequent in the historical parts of the N. T. than in the other books, very rare in the Epistles of John and the Apocalypse. (On its general neglect of elision (when the next word begins with a vowel) cf. Tdf. Proleg., p. 96; WHs Appendix, p. 146; Winers Grammar, § 5, 1a.; Buttmann, p. 10f) It is used:

1. universally, by way of opposition and distinction; it is added to statements opposed to a preceding statement: ἐάν ὀφθαλμός κτλ. Matthew 6:23; ἐλεύσονται δέ ἡμέραι, Mark 2:20; it opposes persons to persons or things previously mentioned or thought of — either with strong emphasis: ἐγώ δέ, Matthew 5:22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44; ἡμεῖς δέ, 1 Corinthians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 10:13; σύ δέ, Matthew 6:6; ὑμεῖς δέ, Mark 8:29; οἱ δέ υἱοί τῆς βασιλείας, Matthew 8:12; αἱ ἀλώπεκες ... ὁ δέ υἱός τοῦ ἀνθρώπου Matthew 8:20; Luke 9:58; πᾶς ὁ λαός ... οἱ δέ φαρισαῖοι, Luke 7:29f; ὁ δέ πνευματικός, 1 Corinthians 2:15, and often; — or with a slight discrimination, ὁ δέ, αὐτός δέ: Mark 1:45; Mark 5:34; Mark 6:37; Mark 7:6; Matthew 13:29, 37, 52; Matthew 15:23ff; Luke 4:40, 43; Luke 5:16; Luke 6:8; Luke 8:10, 54; Luke 15:29; οἱ δέ, Matthew 2:5; Mark 3:4; Mark 8:28, etc., etc.; with the addition also of a proper name, as ὁ δέ Ἰησοῦς: Matthew 8:22 (Tdf. omits Ἰησοῦς); (R G Tr brackets); (Tdf. omits Ἰησοῦς); ; Mark 1:41 (R G L marginal reading Tr marginal reading); ἀποκροκριθεις δέ (ὁ) Σίμων, Luke 7:43 R G L brackets; ἡ δέ Μαρία, Luke 2:19, etc.

2. μέν ... δέ, see μέν.

3. after negative sentences, but, but rather (German wohlaber): Matthew 6:19f (μή θησαυρίζετε ... θησαυρίζετε δέ); f; Acts 12:9, 14; Romans 3:4; Romans 4:5; 1 Corinthians 1:10; 1 Corinthians 7:37; 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (not Rec.); Ephesians 4:14; Hebrews 2:5; Hebrews 4:13, 15; Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 10:26; Hebrews 12:13; 1 Peter 1:12 (οὐχ ἑαυτοῖς ὑμῖν (Rec. ἡμῖν) δέ); James 1:13; James 2:11.

4. it is joined to terms which are repeated with a certain emphasis, and with such additions as tend to explain and establish them more exactly; in this use of the particle we may supply a suppressed negative clause and give its force in English by inserting I say, and that, so then, etc.): Romans 3:21f (not that common δικαιοσύνη which the Jews boasted of and strove after, but δικαιοσυνεσς ... διά πίστεως); Romans 9:30; 1 Corinthians 2:6 (σοφίαν δέ οὐ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου); Galatians 2:2 (I went up, not of my own accord, but etc.); Philippians 2:8; cf. Klotz ad Dev. ii. 2, p. 361f; L. Dindorf in Stephanus Thesaurus ii. col. 928; (cf. Winer's Grammar, 443 (412)).

5. it serves to mark a transition to something new (δέ metabatic); by this use of the particle, the new addition is distinguished from and, as it were, opposed to what goes before: Matthew 1:18; Matthew 2:19; Matthew 10:21; Luke 12:13; Luke 13:1; John 7:14, 37; Acts 6:1; Romans 8:28; 1 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Corinthians 8:1, etc., etc.; so also in the phrase ἐγένετο δέ, see γίνομαι, 2 c.

6. it introduces explanations and separates them from the things to be explained: John 3:19; John 6:39; 1 Corinthians 1:12; 1 Corinthians 7:6, 29; Ephesians 5:32, etc.; — especially remarks and explanations intercalated into the discourse, or added, as it were, by way of appendix: Mark 5:13 (ἦσαν δέ etc. R L brackets); (R G); John 6:10; John 9:14; John 12:3; τοῦτο δέ γέγονε, Matthew 1:22; Matthew 21:4. Owing to this use, the particle not infrequently came to be confounded in the manuscripts (of secular writings also) with γάρ; cf. Winer on Galatians 1:11; Fritzsche on Mark 14:2; also his Commentary on Romans, vol. i., pp. 234, 265; ii., p. 476; iii., p. 196; (Winers Grammar, 452 (421); Buttmann, 363 (312)).

7. after a parenthesis or an explanation which had led away from the subject under discussion, it serves to take up the discourse again (cf. Winer's Grammar, 443 (412)): Matthew 3:4; Luke 4:1; Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 2:12; 2 Corinthians 5:8; 2 Corinthians 10:2; Ephesians 2:4; cf. Klotz ad Devar. ii. 2, p. 376f.

8. it introduces the apodosis and, as it were, opposes it to the protasis: Acts 11:17 R G (1 Macc. 14:29; 2 Macc. 1:34); after a participial construction which has the force of a protasis: Colossians 1:22 (21); cf. Matthiae 2:1470; Kühner, 2:818; (Jelf, § 770); Klotz as above, p. 370f; (Buttmann, 364 (312)).

9. καί ... δέ, but ... also, yea and, moreover also: Matthew 10:18; Matthew 16:18; Luke 2:35 (WH text omits; L Tr brackets δέ); John 6:51; John 15:27; Acts 3:24; Acts 22:29; Romans 11:23; 2 Timothy 3:12; 1 John 1:3; 2 Peter 1:5; cf. Klotz as above, p. 645f; Buttmann, 364 (312); (also Winer's Grammar, 443 (413); Ellicott on 1 Timothy 3:10; Meyer on John 6:51). ἐάν δέ yea even if: John 8:16.

10. δέ never stands as the first word in the sentence, but generally second; and when the words to which it is added cannot be separated, it stands third (as in Matthew 10:11; Matthew 18:25; Mark 4:34; Luke 10:31; Acts 17:6; Acts 28:6; Galatians 3:23; 2 Timothy 3:8, etc.; in οὐ μόνον δέ, Romans 5:3, 11, etc.), or even in the fourth place, Matthew 10:18; John 6:51; John 8:16; 1 John 1:3; 1 Corinthians 4:18; (Luke 22:69 L T Tr WH).

δ δ' ΔΕ δέ δὲ δι' καὶ τε d d' DE dé dè kai kaì teInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts