G3793 — ὄχλος (ochlos)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G3793
Original: ὄχλος
Transliteration: ochlos
Pronunciation: okh'-los
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: From a derivative of ἔχω (echō, meaning a vehicle); a throng (as borne along)
Occurrences: 170 unique verses (175 tokens) across 6 NT books
First Occurrence: Mat 4:25 — "And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A crowd, a casual collection of people; a multitude of men who have flocked together in some place, a throng. Used in the NT only in the historical books (Gospels and Acts) and five times in Revelation. In classical Greek from Pindar and Aeschylus onward. Can denote: (1) a casual gathering or throng; (2) the common people as opposed to rulers and leading men; (3) with contempt, the ignorant multitude, the populace (John 7:49); (4) universally, a multitude with a genitive of class (e.g., "a great company of publicans" Luke 5:29, "the company of his disciples" Luke 6:17). The Septuagint renders chiefly הָמוֹן (hamon).

Louw-Nida Semantic Domain¶

Domain: 011 — Groups and Classes of Persons and Members of Such Groups
Subdomain: 011001 — General (alongside γενεά, λαός, πλῆθος)
Secondary Domain: 087 — Status
Subdomain: 087004 — Low Status or Rank (the common people as a class)
Key domain neighbors: γενεά (G1074), λαός (G2992), πλῆθος (G4128), ὀχλοποιέω (G3792), νέφος (G3509), κλισία (G2828)

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
people	72	42.4%
multitude	44	25.9%
multitudes	18	10.6%
the multitude	7	4.1%
company	6	3.5%
press	5	2.9%
the people	4	2.4%
a multitude	3	1.8%
Other (9 variants)	11	6.5%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Mark	36	5.3
Matthew	48	4.5
Luke	41	3.6
John	19	2.2
Acts	22	2.2
Revelation	4	1.0

Entirely confined to narrative books. Absent from every epistle. Synoptic Gospels account for 74% of all occurrences. Mark has the highest density despite having fewer total occurrences than Matthew or Luke, reflecting the compressed, action-driven character of that Gospel. John uses it mainly in chapters 6-7 and 12. Revelation uses it only in 7:9, 17:15, 19:1, and 19:6 — all eschatological crowd scenes.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Crowds Following / Gathering Around Jesus¶

The dominant usage: large groups flock to Jesus, follow him, press upon him.

Mat 4:25 — "And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee"
Mat 8:1 — "When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him"
Mark 5:24 — "And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him"
Luke 5:1 — "as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God"

2. Object of Jesus' Compassion and Teaching¶

Jesus ministers to the crowd: healing, feeding, teaching parables.

Mat 9:36 — "when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted"
Mat 14:14 — "saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick"
Mark 8:2 — "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat"
Mat 13:34 — "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables"

3. Crowd as Reactive Audience¶

The crowd responds to Jesus' words and deeds with astonishment, wonder, division, or murmuring.

Mat 7:28 — "the people were astonished at his doctrine"
Mat 9:33 — "the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel"
John 7:12 — "there was much murmuring among the people concerning him"
John 7:43 — "So there was a division among the people because of him"

4. Crowd as Political Force¶

Religious leaders fear the crowd; the crowd is manipulated at the trial of Jesus.

Mat 14:5 — "when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet"
Mat 21:46 — "they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet"
Mat 27:20 — "the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas"
Mark 15:11 — "the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas"

5. Crowd as Physical Obstacle ("press")¶

The dense crowd prevents access to Jesus; used when translated "press."

Mark 2:4 — "when they could not come nigh unto him for the press"
Mark 5:30 — "turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?"
Luke 8:19 — "could not come at him for the press"
Luke 19:3 — "could not for the press, because he was little of stature"

6. General Assembly / Numbered Group¶

Non-Synoptic usage in Acts (church or civic gatherings) and Revelation (eschatological multitudes).

Acts 1:15 — "the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty"
Acts 6:7 — "a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith"
Rev 7:9 — "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations"
Rev 19:6 — "the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters"

7. Crowd Dismissed / Sent Away¶

A recurring narrative pattern where Jesus sends the crowd away before private teaching or prayer.

Mat 13:36 — "Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house"
Mat 14:22 — "Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship... while he sent the multitudes away"
Mark 4:36 — "when they had sent away the multitude"
Mat 15:39 — "he sent away the multitude, and took ship"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
λέγω (legō)	G3004	45x (26%)	Jesus speaking to/about the crowd
Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous)	G2424	37x (22%)	Jesus as the center around whom crowds gather
πολύς (polys)	G4183	37x (22%)	"great multitude" / "much people" — size modifier
μαθητής (mathētēs)	G3101	29x (17%)	Disciples alongside or contrasted with the crowd
ἀκούω (akouō)	G191	25x (15%)	Crowd hearing Jesus teach
ἔρχομαι (erchomai)	G2064	22x (13%)	Crowd coming to Jesus
ὁράω (horaō)	G3708	22x (13%)	Crowd seeing miracles/Jesus
ἀκολουθέω (akoloutheō)	G190	12x (7%)	Crowd following Jesus
ἀπολύω (apolyō)	G630	10x (6%)	Jesus sending the crowd away
θεός (theos)	G2316	10x (6%)	Crowd glorifying God after miracles

Word Family / Cognates¶

G3792 ὀχλοποιέω (ochlopoieō) — to make a crowd, raise a public disturbance (Acts 17:5; 1x)

Synonyms¶

No curated synonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G3793.

Antonyms¶

G1218 δῆμος (dēmos) — the public citizenry as an organized civic body; contrasts with ochlos as informal, unstructured crowd

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
λαός (laos)	G2992	"people" (125v)	laos = a people constituted by identity (covenant, nation); ochlos = a casual, unorganized crowd
πλῆθος (plēthos)	G4128	"multitude" (23v)	plēthos = emphasis on fullness of number, often with partitive genitive; ochlos = the gathered throng itself
δῆμος (dēmos)	G1218	"people" (4v)	dēmos = the civic assembly, citizens as a body politic; ochlos = informal gathering with no political structure
ἔθνος (ethnos)	G1484	"people" (2v)	ethnos = ethnic/national group sharing customs; ochlos = temporary gathering regardless of ethnicity

Domain Neighbors (Louw-Nida 011001 — General)¶

Strong's	Lemma	Total Vv	Primary KJV	Key Difference
G1074	γενεά	34	generation	Temporal grouping by age/era, not physical assembly
G2992	λαός	132	people	Constituted people-group (Israel/church), not casual crowd
G3313	μέρος	25	part	Portion of a group, not the whole gathered body
G3509	νέφος	1	cloud	Metaphorical "cloud of witnesses" (Heb 12:1)
G4128	πλῆθος	28	multitude	Emphasis on quantity/fullness rather than gathering

Hebrew Source (via LXX)¶

Hebrew	Transliteration	Strong's	Co-occurrences	PMI Score
הָמוֹן (hamon)	hamown	H1995	7x	13.72
קָהָל (qahal)	qahal	H6951	6x	11.29
רַב (rab)	rab	H7227	6x	7.62
חַיִל (chayil)	chayil	H2428	4x	7.01

The LXX primarily renders הָמוֹן (hamon, "tumult, crowd, multitude") with ochlos, fitting the informal-gathering sense. The קָהָל (qahal, "assembly") mapping is secondary — qahal more commonly maps to ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia) for formal assemblies. No single Hebrew source dominates strongly enough (max 7 co-occurrences) to warrant a cross-testament trace file.