κλείω
kleiō
to shut
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Greek word κλείω (kleiō) primarily means "to shut." This physical action encompasses a wide range of scenarios, from literally closing a door or gate to figuratively shutting down or ceasing an activity. Given its semantic domain, κλείω is often associated with actions that involve confinement, blocking, or exclusion. In terms of usage, κλείω appears 16 times in the Greek New Testament, which suggests its importance is not confined to a single context or author. However, its specific range of application depends on the broader context in which it is used. For instance, when applied to physical spaces, κλείω might describe locking doors to prevent intruders. In a different context, κλείω could be used to convey the idea of ending a discussion, debate, or argument. The significance of κλείω, in this light, revolves around its ability to convey the idea of separation, limitation, or closure. When κλείω is used to describe physical actions, it emphasizes the tangible consequences of shutting something or someone out. Conversely, when applied to abstract ideas or situations, κλείω highlights the boundaries and limitations that govern human interactions.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
16 total occurrences across the text
But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Matthew 23:13“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
Matthew 25:10While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut.
Luke 4:25But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land.
Luke 11:7and he from within will answer and say, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give it to you’?
John 20:19When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”
John 20:26After eight days again his disciples were inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the middle, and said, “Peace be to you.”
Acts 5:23“We found the prison shut and locked, and the guards standing before the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside!”
Acts 21:30All the city was moved and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple. Immediately the doors were shut.
1 John 3:17But whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, then closes his heart of compassion against him, how does God’s love remain in him?
Revelation 3:7“To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write: “He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says these things:
Revelation 3:7“To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write: “He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says these things:
Revelation 3:8“I know your works (behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one can shut), that you have a little power, and kept my word, and didn’t deny my name.
Revelation 11:6These have the power to shut up the sky, that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy. They have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.
Revelation 20:3and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were finished. After this, he must be freed for a short time.
Revelation 21:25Its gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there),