Hebrews 13:17: the usage survey

How to read this survey

Every hit the searches returned is listed, including those that tell against the rendering argued for on the page. Two columns carry a judgement rather than a reading: Dative and Setting.

Conventions

• Greek is verbatim from the resource, diacritics as printed. Logos’s Perseus texts print some breathings as spacing apostrophes (ουʼ for οὐ, ειʼ for εἰ); that is the edition’s rendering and is left untouched.
• … at the start or end of a clause is the resource’s own truncation of the snippet, not an omission made here.
• English given without a translator’s name is a literal rendering made from the Greek printed in the same row. English marked with an edition or translator’s name is theirs.
• Greek transcribed by OCR from works in copyright (Attridge, Koester, Bruce, the Pulpit Commentary) was never verified and is not reproduced; those are cited by reference. Lake, Lightfoot, Moulton–Milligan and Lutz are public domain, and their key readings were checked against page images.
• Logos lists one snippet per article; where an article contains the form more than once it says “(2 times)”, “(12 times)” etc. Those repeats are counted in the totals but not displayed; they are listed for the five densest articles, from the Perseus texts directly.

Corpora, and what each can and cannot show

1. Classical Greek: the Greek texts of the Perseus Classics Collection as held in Logos, searched for eight printed word-forms of πείθω. This is a count of that corpus, not of Greek literature, and of word-forms, not of the lemma; a form not searched (e.g. πείθεσθέ, ἐπείθου, πιθοῦ) is not counted. Tallies are approximate at the margins because some snippets are cut before the complement.
2. Septuagint: Rahlfs, Septuaginta: Morphologically Tagged Edition (Logos), lemma πείθω with the perfect stem πεποιθ-/ἐπεποιθ- (“trust”) removed. Five tagging faults and two ambiguous futures are marked in place.
3. Apostolic Fathers: The Apostolic Fathers Greek-English Interlinear (Lexham), lemma searches, counted by verse.
4. Philo: The Works of Philo: Greek Text with Morphology (Borgen, Fuglseth, Skarsten), the same word-forms as the classical tables. Not lemma-complete.
5. Josephus: Niese’s text as republished by the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0526), all four works, searched for five word-forms. Not lemma-complete: the lemma is far larger (Spicq reports nearly five hundred occurrences), and claims drawn from these tables are limited to the forms searched.
6. Epictetus, Herodotus, Xenophon: Perseus texts (Schenkl; Hude; Marchant), read in Logos or from the Perseus Digital Library files.
7. Musonius Rufus: Cora E. Lutz, “Musonius Rufus, ‘The Roman Socrates’”, Yale Classical Studies 10 (1947), which prints Hense’s Greek with a facing English translation; the Greek of the passages the page relies on was verified against the page images.
8. 1 Clement 37:2: Lake (Loeb, 1912) and Lightfoot (1877; 1890) read from page images; Holmes (2007) from an OCR text layer, unverified.
9. Lexica and commentaries: public-domain works are given in full; works in copyright are cited by section and quoted only for the gloss or sentence the page relies on,.

Resource: the whole Logos library. Each form was searched as a separate plain-text query — printed-form matching, not lemma expansion, as the differing total for each form in the table below shows.

Only the Ancient Manuscript group is expanded and recorded below: the Perseus classical Greek collection, plus a few other Greek primary texts.

Totals

Logos lists one snippet per article; where an article contains the form more than once it says “(2 times)”, “(4 times)” etc. at the end of the reference. That is why the result count exceeds the article count. Every article snippet is listed; the extra occurrences inside an article are flagged in the Note column but Logos does not display them separately.

πείθεσθε (pres. mid./pass. imperative or indicative 2 pl.)

Search string: πείθεσθε · Total: 146 results in 116 articles in 96 resources · Ancient Manuscript group: 16 results in 16 articles in 15 resources. The Greek is as displayed in the resource. The form is ambiguous between imperative and indicative; the Voice + Mood column gives the reading the context requires.

Tally for πείθεσθε: 16 hits; 10 are commands in the imperative (or read as such), and 6 are not: five indicatives, and Apol. 30b, an imperative that leaves the jury the choice, “be persuaded by Anytus or not”. Of the ten commands, one is a god (Apollo, Hom. Hymn 3.486), one is a prohibition (Hell. 2.4.21), and eight are counsel — a speaker who has just given reasons, asking to be followed on them. Datives: person 11 (ἐμοί/μοι ×6, Μαντιπόλῳ, φίλοις, τούτῳ, Ἀνύτῳ, οἱ), leader-word 1 (the Thirty, negated), thing 1, none 3, other 1 (a genitive, ἐμεῖο). Supp. 747 has a thing beside the person (τοῖς πράγμασιν) and is counted under both.

Combined tally for the second-person imperatives, πείθεσθε and πείθου (A.0 and A.1): 31 commands, counting once the Crito article that holds two (45a, 46a). One is a god in verse (Hom. Hymn 3.486); two are orders, a dying father’s to his son (Trach. 1228) and a king’s guards’ to one another as they carry out his orders (Rhesus 993); five are prohibitions (Hell. 2.4.21; Lys. 484; Kn. 1051; Lucian, Alex. 43; Ath. 3.101d); twenty-three are counsel, including the ironic counsel at Plutarch, Comm. not. 2 and the seer’s at Nonnus 47.721. Dionysius’s request for command (Hdt. 6.11) is counted among the counsel.

πείθου (pres. mid./pass. imperative 2 sg.)

Search string: πείθου · Total: 40 results in 34 articles in 23 resources · Ancient Manuscript group: 22 results in 21 articles in 16 resources (21 snippets; one article carries 2 occurrences)

Every hit is Present Middle/Passive Imperative 2 sg., so the Voice + Mood column is constant and is stated once here rather than repeated in 21 rows.

Dative tally for πείθου (counts only, no interpretation): person 8 · leader-word 1 (βασιλεῖ, Eur. Rh. 993) · thing 1 (λόγοις) · norm 0 · none 11. Setting: counsel 14, command 2 (Trach. 1228; Rh. 993), prohibition 4 (Lys. 484, Kn. 1051, Alex. 43, Deipn. 3.101d), plus the ironic counsel at Comm. not. 2.

Two of the twenty-one, Electra 1207 and Trachiniae 470, are the manuscripts’ reading, which the Perseus text prints; Jebb reads the aorist πιθοῦ at both, and Liddell and Scott cite Electra 1207 under it.

Who stands in the dative, in the thirty-one commands (read in full context, September 2026; the Crito article counted once): the speaker in 10, as ἐμοί or μοι in 8 (Andoc. 2.24; Pl. Ep. 7, 334d; Prot. 338a; Hdt. 6.11.3; Tryph. 135; Q. S. 2.59; Crito 45a; Gorg. 486c) and by other words in 2 (the seer, Μαντιπόλῳ, Nonnus 47.721; λέγοντι, El. 1207); the speaker’s own words in 1 (τοῖς ἐμοῖς λόγοις, Hel. 994); someone else in 6, as at Hebrews 13:17: three positive commands, the king (βασιλεῖ, Rh. 993, an order), Deianeira (λεγούσῃ, Trach. 470, counsel) and the Stoics (Comm. not. 2, ironic), and three prohibitions, the Thirty (Hell. 2.4.21), Lepidus (Alex. 43) and the Syracusans who only drink (κείνοις, Ath. 3.101d); in 1 it may be the speaker or Agamemnon (παραιτουμένῳ, Ael. Arist. Or. 52). The other 13 have none: in one the speaker stands in the clause instead (ὡς ἂν ἐγὼ εἴπω, Hom. Hymn 3.486), and in three someone else is implied (Mardonius, Hdt. 8.140; Cleon’s rival, Kn. 1051; the women, Lys. 484).

πειθέσθω (pres. mid./pass. imperative 3 sg.)

Search string: πειθέσθω · Total: 3 results in 3 articles in 2 resources · Ancient Manuscript group: 3 results in 3 articles in 2 resources — all three hits in the library fall in this group.

πείθεσθαι (pres. mid./pass. infinitive)

Search string: πείθεσθαι · Total: 664 results in 476 articles in 211 resources · Ancient Manuscript group: 357 results in 229 articles in 99 resources.

All 229 article-snippets are listed, in the order Logos returned them. Logos caps each group at 100, so the list was expanded until all 229 were present. Every hit is Present Middle/Passive Infinitive, so Voice + Mood is stated once here rather than in 229 rows.

Where Logos returns the same passage twice from two different printed editions of the same work (Plutarch’s Moralia is in the library in two paginations), both rows are kept, since every hit is listed.

Note: The Works of Philo: Greek Text with Morphology (Logos) is among the resources this search covers and returns hits throughout; the Philo hits are also collected under Philo, below.

From row 92 the English column is a literal gloss of the verb phrase only rather than of the whole quoted clause — all of it still mine, all of it made from the Greek printed in the same row. The Greek, the reference and the classification columns remain complete for every hit.

Dative tally for πείθεσθαι (229 snippets; counts of the dative complement where one is present in the printed snippet): person 97 · leader-word (ἄρχων, στρατηγός, βασιλεύς, ἡγεμών, ὕπατος, σατράπης, ἁρμοστής, κρατῶν) 21 · norm (νόμος, ἔθος, ψήφισμα) 27 · thing (λόγος, γνώμη, χρησμός, μῦθος, ἐλπίς, τεράεσσι etc.) 33 · none 53 · other 3, each a genitive instead of a dative (Eur. IA 726 σέθεν; App. Pun. 105 τοῦ Σκιπίωνος; Hdt. 5.29.2 τούτων). Five rows show two complements and are counted under each, so the figures come to 234. The numbers are exact counts of the classifications printed above; the classifications themselves are approximate at the margins, because some snippets are cut by Logos before the complement and are counted none.

ἐπείθοντο (imperfect mid./pass. indicative 3 pl.)

Search string: ἐπείθοντο · Total: 291 results in 192 articles in 100 resources · Ancient Manuscript group: 58 results in 42 articles in 26 resources. All 42 snippets below. Every hit is Imperfect Middle/Passive Indicative 3 pl.; setting is narrative throughout except where noted.

Dative tally for ἐπείθοντο: person 5 · leader-word 3 (βασιλεῦσιν, ἡγεμόνος, ἄρχουσιν) · thing 2 · norm 0 · none 31 · other 1 (an accusative of respect, τὰ ἐσαγγελθέντα).

ἐπείθετο (imperfect mid./pass. indicative 3 sg.)

Search string: ἐπείθετο · Total: 158 results in 132 articles in 107 resources · Ancient Manuscript group: 48 results in 45 articles in 33 resources. All 45 snippets. Every hit is Imperfect Middle/Passive Indicative 3 sg.; setting narrative throughout.

Dative tally for ἐπείθετο: person 14 · leader-word 1 (τοῖς δημάρχοις, a magistracy, and counted a person as well) · norm 1 (τῷ νόμῳ) · thing 2 · none 24 · other 4 (a genitive, an accusative, and two genitive absolutes).

πείθονται (present mid./pass. indicative 3 pl.)

Search string: πείθονται · Total: 59 results in 51 articles in 40 resources · Ancient Manuscript group: 45 results in 37 articles in 26 resources. All 37 snippets. Every hit is Present Middle/Passive Indicative 3 pl.

Two hits in this group are Apostolic Fathers, not classical — Logos files Diognetus under “Ancient Manuscript”. Both are the same verse, from two of the owned editions, and both are carried forward into the Apostolic Fathers tables.

Dative tally for πείθονται: person 16 · leader-word 3 (ἡγεμόνι θεῷ, ταῖς ἀρχαῖς, ἄρχουσι) · norm 5 · thing 8 · none 7 · other 1 (a genitive, γερόντων). Three rows show two complements and are counted under each, so the figures come to 40.

πειθόμενοι (present mid./pass. participle, nom. masc. pl.)

Search string: πειθόμενοι · Total: 96 results in 87 articles in 59 resources · Ancient Manuscript group: 77 results in 68 articles in 44 resources. All 68 snippets. Every hit is Present Middle/Passive Participle, nom. masc. pl.; setting narrative throughout.

Dative tally for πειθόμενοι: person 23 · leader-word 3 (στρατηγοῖς, τῷ ἄρχοντι, τοῖς ἄρχουσιν) · norm 7 (νόμοις, νομίμοις, ἐθῶν) · thing 21 (λόγοις, ῥήμασι, χρήμασι, χρησμῷ, παραινέσει, μύθοις etc.) · none 16. Two rows show two complements and are counted under each.

The repeat occurrences behind the “(N times)” counts

These were not taken from the search results. The parenthetical “(N times)” is a count over its own article unit, and its article unit for these Perseus texts is larger than the cited section: Xen. Cyrop. 1.1.2 itself contains only two occurrences of πείθεσθαι, not twelve, while Cyropaedia book 1 contains exactly twelve — which is where the “(12 times)” comes from. The same Perseus texts were therefore taken directly (PerseusDL canonical-greekLit, perseus-grc2 files for Xenophon tlg0032 and Herodotus tlg0016) and listed every occurrence of all eight forms in the containing unit, matched as whole words. These lists are therefore a superset of the counts above; they are verbatim, and every line can be checked against a reference.

Two of the five counts reproduce exactly (Cyrop. book 1 πείθεσθαι = 12; Hdt. book 5 πείθεσθαι = 7); the other three do not, so these cannot be promised as the identical occurrences the resource had in view — these five lists are a superset of what Logos counted, not the same set of occurrences.

Forms searched: πείθου · πειθέσθω · πείθεσθαι · ἐπείθοντο · ἐπείθετο · πείθονται · πειθόμενοι · πείθεσθε.

Xenophon, Cyropaedia, book 1 — anchor Cyrop. 1.1.2 “(12 times)” — 18 occurrences

Xenophon, Memorabilia, book 3 — anchor Mem. 3.3.9 “(9 times)” — 10 occurrences

Herodotus, book 1 — anchor Hdt. 1.8.2 “(7 times)” — 11 occurrences

Herodotus, book 5 — anchor Hdt. 5.29.2 “(7 times)” — 8 occurrences

Xenophon, Oeconomicus — anchor Oec. 5.15 “(7 times)” — chapter 5 has only one; the whole work has 8

Resource: Septuaginta: Morphologically Tagged Edition (Rahlfs Edition), searched on its own. The morphology attached to it is GRAMCORD™, not Logos Greek Morphology.

What was searched

The set was reached by lemma, with the perfect stem removed:

Removing the πεποιθ-/ἐπεποιθ- stem removes exactly the perfect and pluperfect excluded here. All 36 verses are listed. Voice and tense below are parsed from the printed form, since the morphology codes were not reachable.

Two tagging faults in the resource

Both are lemma-index faults in the resource, not search errors. They are listed in the table and marked:

• Gen 48:18 and Num 17:11 return ἐπίθες, which is aorist imperative of ἐπιτίθημι (“place”), not πείθω.
• Ps 118:20, Ps 118:174, Odes 2:11 return ἐπεπόθησεν / ἐπεπόθησα, from ἐπιποθέω (“long for”), not πείθω.

That is 5 of the 36 verses. A sixth, 4 Macc 4:25 (πείσονται), is formally ambiguous: πείσομαι is the future of both πείθομαι and πάσχω, and the context (“knowing beforehand that they would suffer this”) reads as πάσχω. Dan 11:17 (πείσεται) is likewise uncertain. Both are marked UNCERTAIN rather than counted.

The middle and passive hits

The active hits in the same 36 verses

Outside the voice filter, and printed here so the 36 verses are complete.

The five false positives

The line the counts rest on

How many hits have a dative naming a person in authority (king, ruler, prophet, parent, commander)?

Four, out of the twenty-one middle/passive hits:

A fifth, 4 Macc 6:4, has the king in the phrase but the dative is ταῖς… ἐντολαῖς, his commands, not the king himself.

All four, and 4 Macc 6:4, are in 4 Maccabees. In three of the four the person in authority is Antiochus the persecutor, and the sentence exists in order to say that the martyrs were not persuaded by him. The fourth is a mother. Outside 4 Maccabees there is no middle/passive πείθομαι in the LXX with a dative naming a person in authority at all: the datives are anyone (Tobit 10:7), money (2 Macc 10:20), proofs (3 Macc 3:24), the law (4 Macc 5:16; 18:1), the king’s commands (4 Macc 6:4) and the sight (Wisd 13:7).

Resource: The Apostolic Fathers Greek-English Interlinear, searched on its own.

Counts follow the interlinear’s tagging and are by verse. 1 Clement 1:3 carries both ὑποτάσσω and ὑποταγή, so it is counted under each.

Totals

ὑπείκω is a zero result. A bare wildcard, ὑπείκ*, returns nothing either. The verb of Hebrews 13:17b does not occur anywhere in the Apostolic Fathers as this resource has them.

Distribution by writing

The 1 Clement totals, counted separately: ὑποτάσσω 9, ὑποταγή 2. (1 Clem 1.3 carries both words, so nine ὑποτάσσω verses and two ὑποταγή verses overlap in one verse.)

ὑποτάσσω — all 29 verses

Every complement is printed as well as classified here, because this is the one table where the two can be compared directly: nine of the twenty-nine datives are a church role, and not one of the πείθομαι tables has a single one.

ὑποταγή — all 3 verses

πείθω — all 26 verses

Perfect-active πέποιθα (“trust”) forms are marked, since they belong to the other branch of the verb, as in the Septuagint tables.