Strong’s G3781 · Greek

ὀφειλέτης
opheilétēs

Definition

an ower, i.e. person indebted; figuratively, a delinquent; morally, a transgressor (against God)

Etymology

from G3784 (ὀφείλω);

Where the KJV renders it

  • debtor
  • which owed
  • sinner

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.