1. commandment, injunction — An authoritative directive or precept, whether divine law (the Mosaic commandments, Jesus's new commandment) or an official order. This single sense covers all 67 NT occurrences across singular and plural forms. The singular entole refers to an individual commandment (Matt 15:3, 22:36,38; Mark 7:8-9, 10:5, 12:28,31; John 10:18, 12:49-50, 13:34, 15:12; Luke 15:29, 23:56; Acts 17:15) while the plural entolai/entolon/entolas denotes the commandments collectively (Matt 5:19, 19:17, 22:40; Mark 10:19; Luke 1:6, 18:20; John 14:15,21, 15:10; 1 Cor 7:19; Eph 2:15; Col 4:10; Tit 1:14; 1 John 2:3). Cross-linguistically uniform: Arabic wasiyya/wasaya (commandment/commandments), German Gebot, French commandement, Hebrew mitsvah/mitsvot, Hindi aajna/aajnaom, Korean gyemyeong/myeongryeong, Spanish mandamiento/mandamientos. The 'orders' gloss in John 11:57 (Hebrew pequddah rather than mitsvah) and the 'command' gloss in Acts 17:15 reflect contextual translation variation, not a distinct lexical sense. All occurrences fall within the single semantic domain of authoritative directive. 67×
AR["-وَصِيَّةُ","الوَصيَّةُ","الْوَصِيَّةُ","الْوَصِيَّةِ","وَصيَّة","وَصيَّةٍ","وَصِيَّةً","وَصِيَّةٌ","وَصِيَّةَ","وَصِيَّةُهُ","وَصِيَّةِ"]·ben["আজ্ঞা","আজ্ঞার","আদেশ","ἐντολήν-আদেশের"]·DE["Gebot"]·EN["a-command","a-commandment","command","commandment"]·FR["commandement"]·heb["מִצְוַת","מִצְוָה"]·HI["अअग्य","आज्ञा","आदेश","परमेश्वर"]·ID["adalah","perintah","perintah,"]·IT["comandamento"]·jav["dhawuh","dhawuhipun","pepakon","prentahipun","prentahipun,"]·KO["계명-을","계명도","계명을","계명이","계명이다","명령을","명령이"]·PT["mandamento","mandamento,","mandamento.","é-o-mandamento"]·RU["-грех","-для-","-праведна","во-","заповеди","заповедь","заповедь.","меня"]·ES["Mandamiento","mandamiento"]·SW["amri","kubwa","ya-pili"]·TR["buyruk","buyruğa","buyruğu","buyruğum","buyruğun","buyruğunu","emir","emri","emrini"]·urd["حکم","حکم-کو"]
Matt 5:19, Matt 15:3, Matt 22:36, Matt 22:38, Matt 22:40, Mark 7:8, Mark 7:9, Mark 10:5, Mark 10:19, Mark 12:28, Mark 12:31, Luke 1:6 (+38 more)
Senses
BDB / Lexicon Reference
ἐντολ-ή, ἡ, injunction, order, command, frequently in plural, orders, commands, NT+5th c.BC+; ἐντολὰς δοῦναι Decrees cited in Refs 5th c.BC+; royal ordinance, Refs 2nd c.BC+; θεῖαι ἐ., of Imperial ordinances, Refs 3rd c.AD+; ἀπ᾽ ἐντολῆς by proxy, Refs 2nd c.AD+ —Rare in Trag. and _Attic dialect_ Prose.