κολωνία
kolōnia
Roman colony
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
SupportedThe Greek word κολωνία (G4514) is a noun that refers to a Roman colony. This term indicates a settlement or a town founded by the Romans, often established as a base for trade, military presence, or administrative control. Its usage in the Bible spans 13 instances, suggesting it was a recognizable concept within the ancient Mediterranean world, familiar to both Jewish and early Christian communities. The term does not appear to carry any inherent value judgments or associations beyond its literal definition. The presence of this word in the Bible, specifically within a context concerned with the intersection of Roman culture and Jewish experience, highlights the importance of understanding the social, political, and economic realities of the ancient world in which early Christianity emerged.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
13 total occurrences across the text
If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
Acts 2:10Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
Acts 16:21and advocate customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”
Acts 16:37But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly without a trial, men who are Romans, and have cast us into prison! Do they now release us secretly? No, most certainly, but let them come themselves and bring us out!”
Acts 16:38The sergeants reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans,
Acts 22:25When they had tied him up with thongs, Paul asked the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and not found guilty?”
Acts 22:26When the centurion heard it, he went to the commanding officer and told him, “Watch what you are about to do, for this man is a Roman!”
Acts 22:27The commanding officer came and asked him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” He said, “Yes.”
Acts 22:29Immediately those who were about to examine him departed from him, and the commanding officer also was afraid when he realized that he was a Roman, because he had bound him.
Acts 23:27“This man was seized by the Jews, and was about to be killed by them, when I came with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman.
Acts 25:16I answered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to give up any man to destruction before the accused has met the accusers face to face and has had opportunity to make his defense concerning the matter laid against him.
Acts 28:17After three days Paul called together those who were the leaders of the Jews. When they had come together, he said to them, “I, brothers, though I had done nothing against the people or the customs of our fathers, still was delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans,
Romans 16:27{14.26} to the only wise God through Jesus Christ which is be the glory to the ages Amen to Romans it was written from Corinth through Phoebe the servant the in Cenchrea church.