WG: People / Crowd / Multitude
Overview
The NT uses several distinct Greek words for gathered groups of people, each carrying different connotations of organization, identity, and social status. This word group maps the key terms for "people" and "crowd" that overlap in KJV translation but differ significantly in meaning.
Word Group Members
| Strong's |
Word |
Transliteration |
POS |
Occurrences |
Role in Concept |
Library Entry |
| G3793 |
ὄχλος |
ochlos |
masc. noun |
170 |
The informal crowd / throng |
G3793 |
| G2992 |
λαός |
laos |
masc. noun |
139 |
A constituted people (covenant identity) |
TODO(need G2992 study) |
| G4128 |
πλῆθος |
plēthos |
neut. noun |
32 |
Fullness of number / large quantity |
TODO(need G4128 study) |
| G1218 |
δῆμος |
dēmos |
masc. noun |
4 |
The civic assembly / public citizenry |
TODO(need G1218 study) |
| G3792 |
ὀχλοποιέω |
ochlopoieō |
verb |
1 |
To form a crowd / raise a disturbance |
TODO(need G3792 study) |
Relationships
Shared Roots
- ochlos (G3793) and ochlopoieō (G3792) — both from the ochlos root; the verb is a compound with ποιέω (to make)
Co-occurrence (appear in same verses)
| Word A |
Word B |
Shared Verses |
Typical Context |
| ochlos (G3793) |
laos (G2992) |
4x |
Arrest narrative (Mat 26:47), parallel crowd descriptions |
| laos (G2992) |
plēthos (G4128) |
4x |
"whole multitude of the people" (Luk 1:10) — plēthos quantifying laos |
| ochlos (G3793) |
plēthos (G4128) |
1x |
Luk 6:17 — "company of disciples, and a great multitude of people" |
| ochlos (G3793) |
dēmos (G1218) |
1x |
Acts 19:33 — Ephesus riot, ochlos inside the dēmos assembly |
| dēmos (G1218) |
ochlopoieō (G3792) |
1x |
Acts 17:5 — mob-making (ochlopoieō) leads to civic assembly (dēmos) |
Multi-Word Passage
- Luke 6:17 — all three of ochlos, laos, and plēthos appear together: "the company [ochlos] of his disciples, and a great multitude [plēthos] of people [laos]"
Shared Hebrew Sources (via LXX)
| Hebrew |
Transliteration |
Strong's |
Greek Members |
| הָמוֹן (hamon) |
hamown |
H1995 |
plēthos (28x), ochlos (7x) — both render the informal "tumult/crowd" sense |
| רַב (rab) |
rab |
H7227 |
plēthos (32x), ochlos (6x) — both render the "abundant/many" sense |
Roles in the Concept
- Informal gathering: ochlos (ὄχλος) — a casual crowd with no organizational structure; the throng that gathers around a teacher, healer, or spectacle
- Constituted people: laos (λαός) — a people defined by shared identity (Israel, the church); carries covenant overtones
- Quantified group: plēthos (πλῆθος) — emphasizes the fullness or large number of the group, often with partitive genitive ("multitude of priests," "multitude of the heavenly host")
- Civic body: dēmos (δῆμος) — the public citizenry as a political unit; the formal assembly of a Greek city
- Crowd-making action: ochlopoieō (ὀχλοποιέω) — the act of forming a mob, with negative connotation of disturbance
Key Passages Where Multiple Group Words Appear Together
- Luke 6:17 — ochlos + plēthos + laos in a single description of the crowds at the Sermon on the Plain
- Acts 19:33-35 — ochlos (the mob) within the context of the dēmos (the civic assembly of Ephesus)
- Matt 26:47 — ochlos + laos in the arrest narrative, distinguishing the armed crowd from the people
- Rev 17:15 — ochlos alongside laos and ethnos in the eschatological vision of Babylon's dominion
Generated from: gather_word_group_data.py, search_strongs.py
Last updated: 2026-04-29