Ἰουδαῖος G2453
Jewish person; Judea — an adjective denoting Jewish identity, used substantively for a Jew or geographically for the region of Judea.
In the New Testament, Ioudaios identifies someone as belonging to the Jewish people — ethnically, religiously, or both. It appears nearly 200 times, especially in John's Gospel where it often designates the Jerusalem leadership in contrast to Jesus and his followers. The word carries rich theological weight: these are God's covenant people through whom salvation comes (John 4:22). In one instance (John 3:22), the feminine form refers geographically to Judea, the ancestral homeland. Spanish and German translations consistently render the substantive as 'Judío/Juden,' while the geographic sense receives distinct treatment ('Judea/Judäa'), confirming the two-sense distinction.
Senses
1. Jewish person, Jew — A person identified as Jewish by ethnicity, religion, or covenant membership. Used substantively across all cases, numbers, and genders. The near-unanimous cross-linguistic rendering — 'Jews' (eng), 'Judíos' (spa), 'Juif' (fra), 'Juden' (deu) — reflects a stable referent. In John's Gospel especially, the term often narrows to the religious authorities opposing Jesus (John 5:16, 7:1), though it also carries the broader sense of the covenant nation (Rom 1:16; Matt 27:11). 194×
AR["اليَهودِ","الْيَهُودُ","الْيَهُودِ","يَهودِ","يَهُودُ","يَهُودِ"]·ben["ইহুদীদের","যিহূদীদের","যিহূদীরা","Ἰουδαίων-যিহূদীদের"]·DE["Jude","Juden"]·EN["Ioudaioi","Jews"]·FR["Juif"]·heb["הַ-יְהוּדִים","יְהוּדִים"]·HI["यदि-नहीं","यहूदियों","यहूदियों-का","यहूदियों-का,","यहूदियों-का;","यहूदियों-के","यहूदियों-के,","यहूदियों-ने","यहूदियों-ने,","यहूदी"]·ID["orang-Yahudi","orang-Yahudi,","orang-Yahudi;"]·IT["Giudeo"]·jav["Yahudi","Yahudi!","Yahudi?","tiyang-Yahudi","tiyang-Yahudi,","tiyang-Yahudi;"]·KO["유대인들","유대인들-은","유대인들-의","유대인들의","유대인들이"]·PT["Judeus","judeus","judeus,","judeus;"]·RU["Иудеев","Иудеи","Иудейских","Иудейского","иудеев","иудеи"]·ES["-Ioudaîoi","Ioudaioi","Ioudaíōn","Ioudaîoi"]·SW["Wayahudi"]·TR["Yahudiler","Yahudiler'den","Yahudiler'in","Yahudilerin","Yahudilerin,"]·urd["درخواست-کرتا-ہوا","رکھتے","یہودی","یہودیوں","یہودیوں-نے","یہودیوں-نے،","یہودیوں-کا","یہودیوں-کے","یہودیوں،"]
Matt 27:11, Matt 27:29, Matt 28:15, Mark 7:3, Mark 15:2, Mark 15:9, Mark 15:12, Mark 15:18, Luke 7:3, Luke 23:3, Luke 23:37, Luke 23:51 (+38 more)
2. Judea, Jewish region — Geographic reference to Judea (hē Ioudaia, sc. gē), the southern region of Palestine associated with the tribe of Judah. At John 3:22, Jesus goes 'into the Judean land' (eis tēn Ioudaian gēn), and Spanish ('Judea') and German ('Judäa') translations distinguish this territorial sense from the ethnic one. This preserves the classical Greek pattern where the feminine adjective with an implied noun (gē) designates a territory. 1×
AR["يَهُودِيَّةِ"]·ben["যিহূদীয়া"]·DE["Juden"]·EN["Ioudaia"]·FR["Juif"]·heb["יְהוּדָה"]·HI["यहूदिया"]·ID["Yudea"]·IT["Giudeo"]·jav["Yudea"]·KO["유다"]·PT["Judeia"]·RU["Иудейскую"]·ES["Ioudaía"]·SW["Youdaía"]·TR["Yahudiye"]·urd["یہودیہ"]
Related Senses
H5921a 1. upon, on, over (spatial) (5443×)H0413 1. directional: to, toward (5366×)H1121a 1. son, male offspring, descendant (4914×)H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)H4428 1. king, human ruler (2518×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)H6440 1. before, in front of (spatial) (1870×)H5971a 1. people, nation (1836×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H3027 1. physical hand (body part) (1596×)H1697 1. word, speech, utterance (1235×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H5973a 1. accompaniment, together with (956×)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×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
Ἰουδαῖος, ὁ, a Jewish man: Ἰουδαία, a Jewish woman; ἡ Ἰουδαία (i.e. γῆ) “Judaea”: —Ἰουδα-ϊκός, ή, όν, “Jewish”, LXX adverb -κῶς NT+1st c.AD+