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, 1 a.; Buttmann, p. 10f] It is used:
1. universally, by way of opposition and distinction; it is added to statements opposed to a preceding statement:
ἐὰν γὰρ ἀφῆτε...
ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀφῆτε,
Matthew 6:14f;
ἐὰν δὲ ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς κτλ.
Matthew 6:23;
ἐλεύσονται δὲ ἡμέραι,
Mark 2:20; it opposes persons to persons or things previously mentioned or thought of — either with strong emphasis:
ἐγὼ δέ,
Matthew 5:22,
28,
32,
34,
39,
44;
ἡμεῖς δέ,
1 Corinthians 1:23;
2 Corinthians 10:13;
σὺ δέ,
Matthew 6:6;
ὑμεῖς δέ,
Mark 8:29;
οἱ δὲ υἱοὶ τῆς βασιλείας,
Matthew 8:12;
αἱ ἀλώπεκες...
ὁ δὲ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρ.
Matthew 8:20;
Luke 9:58;
πᾶς ὁ λαὸς...
οἱ δὲ φαρισαῖοι,
Luke 7:29f;
ὁ δὲ πνευματικός,
1 Corinthians 2:15, and often; — or with a slight discrimination,
ὁ δέ,
αὐτὸς 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 δὲ Ἰησοῦς:
Matthew 8:22 [
Tdf. omits
Ἰ.];
Matt 9:12 [R G Tr brackets];
Matt 9:22 [
Tdf. omits
Ἰ.];
Matt 13:57;
Mark 1:41 [R G L marginal reading Tr marginal reading];
ἀποκρ.
δὲ (
ὁ)
Σίμων,
Luke 7:43 R G L brackets;
ἡ δὲ Μαρία,
Luke 2:19, etc.
2. μὲν...
δέ, see
μέν.
3. after negative sentences,
but, but rather (German
wohl aber):
Matthew 6:19f (
μή θησαυρίζετε...
θησαυρίζετε δέ);
Matt 10:5f;
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. ἡμ.]
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
δικαιοσ.
διὰ 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);
Mark 15:25;
16:8 [R G]; John 6:10;
John 9:14;
John 12:3;
τοῦτο δὲ 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 (
Colossians 1:21); cf. Matthiae 2:1470; Kühner, 2:818; [Jelf, § 770]; Klotz as above, p. 370f; [Buttmann, 364 (312)].
9. καὶ...
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].
καὶ 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].
THAYER’S GREEK LEXICON, Electronic Database.
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