Senses
1. thief (one who steals) — A thief, one who steals by stealth rather than by violence (contrasted with lestes 'robber/bandit'). All 16 NT occurrences refer either to literal thieves (Matt 6:19-20, John 10:1) or metaphorical 'coming like a thief' for Christ's unexpected return (1 Thess 5:2, 2 Pet 3:10, Rev 3:3). Multilingual evidence is consistent across number: spa 'ladron/ladrones', hin 'chor' (unchanged for both sg/pl), arb 'liss/sariq' (sg) vs 'sariqun' (pl), kor '도둑' (doduk), swa 'mwizi' (sg) vs 'wevi/wezi' (pl). The N-NMS vs N-NMP split is purely grammatical number inflection with no semantic difference. 16×
AR["السَّارِقُ","السّارِقونَ","سارِق","سارِقونَ","سارِقٍ","سَارِقٌ","لِصٍّ"]·ben["চোর","চোর,","চোরের","চোরেরা","চোরেরা,"]·DE["Dieb","κλέπται","κλέπτης"]·EN["a-thief","thief","thieves"]·FR["voleur"]·heb["גַּנָּב","גַּנָּבִים"]·HI["चोर","चोर,"]·ID["pencuri","pencuri,"]·IT["ladro"]·jav["maling","maling,"]·KO["도둑","도둑,","도둑들","도둑들이요","도둑은","도둑이","도둑이였기","도둑이요","도적이"]·PT["ladrão","ladrão,","ladrões"]·RU["Вор","вор","вор,","вор.","воры","воры,"]·ES["ladrones","ladrón","un-ladrón"]·SW["anakuja","mwizi","mwizi,","mwizi.","wevi","wezi","wezi,"]·TR["hırsız","hırsızlar","ve-"]·urd["چور","چور،"]
Matt 6:19, Matt 6:20, Matt 24:43, Luke 12:33, Luke 12:39, John 10:1, John 10:8, John 10:10, John 12:6, 1 Cor 6:10, 1 Thess 5:2, 1 Thess 5:4 (+4 more)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
κλέπτ-ης, ου, ὁ, thief, Refs 8th c.BC+; opposed to ἅρπαξ (a robber), NT+5th c.BC+; ὁ τοῦ κ. λόγος, a logical fallacy, Refs 4th c.BC+ __2 generally, cheat, knave, Refs 5th c.BC+