βᾰσιλ-είᾱ G0932
Kingdom, reign, royal dominion; the sovereign rule of a king and the realm where that rule holds
Basileia stands at the very center of Jesus' proclamation: 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand' (Matt 4:17). It denotes both the dynamic act of God's reigning and the sphere in which that reign is experienced. In the Synoptic Gospels alone, the phrase 'kingdom of God/heaven' appears over 80 times, making basileia arguably the most theologically loaded noun in the New Testament. The word's semantic range — from royal authority to territorial domain to eschatological hope — is consistently captured across languages: 'reino,' 'royaume,' 'Reich,' 'kerajaan.'
Senses
1. kingdom, reign, royal dominion — The sovereign rule, royal authority, or dominion of a king, together with the realm or territory over which that authority extends. Occurring 163 times, basileia overwhelmingly appears in the phrase 'kingdom of God' or 'kingdom of heaven' (Matt 3:2, 5:3, 6:33), encompassing both the present breaking-in of God's reign through Jesus and its future consummation. Cross-linguistic evidence — Spanish 'reino,' French 'royaume,' German 'Reich,' Arabic 'ملكوت' — uniformly treats it as a single undivided concept. 163×
AR["الْمَلَكُوتِ", "مَلَكوتَ", "مَلَكوتُ", "مَلَكوتُكَ", "مَلَكوتِ", "مَلَكُوتَ", "مَلَكُوتُ", "مَلَكُوتِ", "مَملَكَةٍ", "مَملَكَتُهُ"]·ben["রাজ্য", "রাজ্যে", "রাজ্যের", "রাজ্যের,"]·DE["Reich"]·EN["kingdom"]·FR["royaume"]·heb["מַלְכוּת", "מַמְלַכְתּוֹ", "מַמְלָכָה"]·HI["रअजय", "रअजय-मेइन", "राज्य", "राज्य-का", "राज्य-की", "राज्य-के", "राज्य-को", "राज्य-में"]·ID["Kerajaan", "kerajaan", "kerajaan,"]·IT["regno"]·jav["Kraton", "Kratoning", "Kratoning-Swarga,", "Kratonipun", "Kratonnipun,", "kraton"]·KO["나라", "나라-가", "나라가"]·PT["reino"]·RU["Царства", "Царстве", "Царство", "царство"]·ES["reino"]·SW["Ufalme", "ufalme", "ufalme,"]·TR["krallık", "krallığı", "krallığın", "krallığına", "krallığında", "krallığını"]·urd["بادشاہت", "بادشاہی", "بادشاہی-کی"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
βᾰσιλ-είᾱ, Ionic dialect βᾰσιλ-ηΐη, ἡ, kingdom, dominion, Refs 5th c.BC+; hereditary monarchy, opposed to τυραννίς, ἐπὶ ῥητοῖς γέρασι πατρικαὶ β. Refs 5th c.BC+; ἡ πρώτη πολιτεία μετὰ τὰς β. after the age of monarchies, NT __2 kingly office, β. καὶ στρατηγία Refs 4th c.BC+ __3 at Athens, the office of the archon βασιλεύς, Refs 2nd c.AD+ __4 passive, being ruled by a king, τῆς ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνου…