Barren
στεῖραStrong’s G4723steira
Appears in 4 verses of the New Testament
In short
Steira is the Greek word usually translated “barren” and “o barren woman”. It appears in 4 verses of the New Testament.
“And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.”
Meaning
Usually translated “barren” and “o barren woman”. Open the dictionary entry below for the full range of meaning, with the verses it cites.
How it's translated
- barren 3
- o barren woman 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Luke 3
- Galatians 1
2 books in all.
Related words
Explore in Scripture
- Luke 1:36And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
- Luke 23:29For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.
- Galatians 4:27For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Greek dictionary
στεῖρα steira · barren
στεῖρος, -ον also -α, -ον, [in LXX for עָקָר ;] barren: of a woman, Luk.1:7, 36 23:29, Gal.4:27" (LXX) .† (AS)
From STEPBible’s Greek lexicon (based on Abbott-Smith).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “barren” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
BAR'REN, adjective
[from the same root as bare.]
- Not producing young, or offspring; applied to animals.
- Not producing plants; unfruitful; steril; not fertile; or producing little; unproductive; applied to the earth.
- Not producing the usual fruit; applied to tree, etc.
- Not copious; scanty; as a scheme barren of hints.
All definitions and other forms of “barren”
- Not containing useful or entertaining ideas; as a barren treatise.
- Unmeaning; uninventive; dull; as barren spectators.
- Unproductive; not inventive; as a barren mind.
BAR'REN, noun
In the States west of the Allegheny, a word used to denote a tract of land, rising a few feet above the level of a plain, and producing trees and grass. The soil of these barrens is not barren as the name imports, but often very fertile. It is usually alluvial, to a depth sometimes of several feet.
- Any unproductive tract of land; as the pine barrens of South Carolina.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Greek, not from any one translation.