G2411 — ἱερόν (hierón)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G2411
Original: ἱερόν
Transliteration: hierón
Pronunciation: hee-er-on
Part of Speech: Neuter noun
Root: ἱερός (hieros, G2413) — holy, sacred
Occurrences: 67 unique verses (71 tokens)
Books: 6 (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, 1 Corinthians)
First Occurrence: Matt 4:5 — "setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

Neuter substantive of G2413 (ἱερός, sacred); a sacred place, i.e. the entire precincts of the temple complex (whereas G3485 ναός denotes the central sanctuary/inner shrine itself). Used of the Jerusalem temple in all but one NT occurrence (Acts 19:27 — temple of Artemis at Ephesus).

Louw-Nida Semantic Domain¶

Domain: 7 — Constructions
Subdomain: 7.002 — Buildings
Other words in subdomain: ναός (naos, G3485), αὐλή (aulē, G833), εἰδωλεῖον (eidōleion, G1493 — idol's temple), συναγωγή (synagōgē, G4864), σκηνή (skēnē, G4633)

G2411 is mapped via its root adjective ἱερός (G2413), which shares this subdomain with ναός.

UBS Semantic Domains¶

No UBS semantic-domain entry was returned by search_relationships.py for G2411.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
temple	65	97.0%
temple.)	1	1.5%
that the temple	1	1.5%

Essentially monosemantic in KJV translation — always "temple."

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Acts	24	2.4
John	11	1.3
Mark	8	1.2
Luke	14	1.2
Matthew	9	0.8
1 Corinthians	1	0.2

Acts dominates (24x, 2.4/100), reflecting the early church's sustained daily presence at the temple. The four Gospels cluster usage around Jesus's Jerusalem ministry, especially Passion Week. Notably absent from Paul's letters (except one institutional reference in 1 Cor 9:13), Hebrews, and Revelation — those books consistently use ναός (the inner shrine) instead, where the theological focus shifts to God's dwelling rather than the physical precinct.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Jesus Teaching and Debating in the Temple Courts¶

The most common pattern — Jesus uses the ἱερόν (the accessible outer courts) as the arena for public teaching and confrontation with authorities.

John 7:14 — "Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught."
John 8:20 — "These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple."
Mark 14:49 — "I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not."
Matt 26:55 — "Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple."

2. Jesus Cleansing the Temple¶

All four gospels record Jesus driving out merchants — always ἱερόν, the outer commercial courts, never the inner ναός.

Matt 21:12 — "Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple."
Mark 11:15–16 — "began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple...would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple."
John 2:14–15 — "found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves...and he drove them all out of the temple."

3. The Temple as Place of Prayer, Worship, and Healing¶

People come to the temple precinct not only for sacrifice but for prayer and encounter with God.

Luke 18:10 — "Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican."
Luke 2:37 — "she departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day."
Matt 21:14 — "And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them."
Acts 3:1–2 — "Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer...a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple."

4. Early Church Continuing Temple Attendance¶

Luke's Acts presents the Jerusalem community maintaining daily presence in the ἱερόν for prayer, proclamation, and fellowship.

Acts 2:46 — "continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house."
Acts 5:20–21 — "Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life...they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught."
Acts 5:42 — "daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ."
Luke 24:53 — "And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God."

5. Confrontation and Arrest¶

The temple as a flashpoint for conflict — authorities challenging Jesus; Paul seized by a mob there.

Matt 21:23 — "the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was come into the temple."
Acts 21:27–28 — "the Jews which were of Asia...stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him."
Acts 26:21 — "For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me."

6. Temple as Institution / Sacred Precinct¶

Abstract or functional references — includes one non-Jerusalem pagan temple.

Matt 12:5–6 — "the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless...in this place is one greater than the temple."
1 Cor 9:13 — "they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple."
Acts 19:27 — "the temple of the great goddess Diana" — ἱερόν applied to a pagan sanctuary.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
Ἰησοῦς (Jesus)	G2424	17x (25%)	"Jesus went into/taught in the temple"
διδάσκω (teach)	G1321	16x (24%)	"taught in the temple"
ἡμέρα (day)	G2250	13x (19%)	"daily in the temple"
λαός (people)	G2992	10x (15%)	"taught the people in the temple"
ἀρχιερεύς (chief priest)	G749	8x (12%)	"chief priests came to him in the temple"
εἰσέρχομαι (enter)	G1525	6x (9%)	"entered into the temple"
ἐξέρχομαι (go out)	G1831	6x (9%)	"went out of the temple"
γραμματεύς (scribe)	G1122	5x (7%)	scribes disputing Jesus in the temple

Word Family / Cognates¶

G2413 ἱερός (hieros) — root adjective: holy, sacred (G2411 is its substantive neuter)
G2409 ἱερεύς (hiereus) — priest
G2407 ἱερατεύω (hierateuō) — to serve as priest
G2416 ἱεροσυλέω (hierosyleō) — to desecrate a temple, commit sacrilege (Rom 2:22)
G2417 ἱερόσυλος (hierosylos) — temple robber (Acts 19:37)

Synonyms¶

No direct synonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G2411.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G2411.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
ναός (naos)	G3485	both "temple" (KJV)	naos = inner sanctuary where God dwells; hierón = entire precinct including outer courts, colonnades, gates
οἶκος (oikos)	G3624	"temple" (1x KJV)	oikos = general house/dwelling; only "temple" when context specifies "house of God"

The ἱερόν/ναός distinction is exegetically significant: Jesus teaches, heals, and trades confront in the ἱερόν (open courts), but John 2:19–21 uses ναός when Jesus speaks of his body as the temple. Hebrews and Revelation use ναός exclusively for the heavenly sanctuary. ἱερόν never carries this theological weight.

Hebrew Source¶

No Hebrew source tracked in database for G2411. The word is used in the LXX but without a single dominant Hebrew antecedent. The NT writers adopted ἱερόν as the standard Greek term for the physical Jerusalem temple complex. The related OT concept spans: H1004 בַּיִת (bayit — house of God), H1964 הֵיכָל (heykal — palace/temple building), H4720 מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash — sanctuary).

See TR-heykal-naos.md for the OT→NT trace on the inner sanctuary concept (H1964 → G3485 ναός).