Definition

a superintendent, i.e. Christian officer in genitive case charge of a (or the) church (literally or figuratively)

Etymology

from G1909 (ἐπί) and G4649 (σκοπός) (in the sense of G1983 (ἐπισκοπέω));

Where the KJV renders it

• bishop
• overseer

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Greek term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.