1. midst, middle — The central point or interior of a spatial or social grouping, used substantively with the article or as a locative adjective. Rendered consistently across languages as deu 'Mitte', fra 'milieu', spa 'medio', arb 'wasat', heb 'tokh/emtsa', kor 'gaunde'. Covers the vast majority of NT occurrences including Jesus sending disciples 'into the midst' of wolves (Matt 10:16), standing 'in the midst' of assemblies (Matt 18:2, 20; Luke 2:46; Acts 4:7), casting out from the midst (Luke 4:30, 35), and eschatological placement (Rev 1:13, 2:1). The temporal sub-use for 'midnight' (Matt 25:6 meses nuktos; Acts 26:13 meses hemeras 'midday') and nautical 'middle of the sea' (Acts 27:27) show identical cross-linguistic rendering with arb 'nisf' (half-point) and heb 'chatsi', confirming these are contextual extensions of the same spatial-center concept rather than a distinct lexical sense. 59×
AR["الوَسَطِ","وَسطِ","وَسَطِ"]·ben["মধ্য","মধ্যে","মাঝখানে","মাঝে","মাঝের"]·DE["Mitte"]·EN["middle","midst","the-midst"]·FR["milieu"]·heb["אֶמְצַע","תְּוֹךְ","תָּוֶךְ","תוֹךְ"]·HI["बिच","बीच","बीच-में","बेएच-मेइन","बेएच-से"]·ID["itu","tengah","tengah-tengah"]·IT["in-mezzo-a"]·jav["panjenengan-sedaya","satengah","satengah,","tengah","tengah,","tengah-tengah","tengah-tengahing"]·KO["가운데","가운데로","가운데에","가운데에서","사이","중간-에","중간-을","한가운데"]·PT["do-meio","meio"]·RU["-","середине","середину","середину,","середины","собранием","среду","среды"]·ES["medio","medio-de"]·SW["kati","kati-ya-","katikati","katikati-ya"]·TR["ortada","ortasına","ortasında","ortasından","ortaya","ortaya."]·urd["-کے","بیچ","بیچ-","درمیان","درمیان-سے","درمیان-میں"]
Matt 10:16, Matt 13:25, Matt 13:49, Matt 14:6, Matt 18:2, Matt 18:20, Mark 6:47, Mark 7:31, Mark 9:36, Mark 14:60, Luke 2:46, Luke 4:30 (+38 more)
Senses
BDB / Lexicon Reference
μέσος, η, ον, also Refs 4th c.AD+; Epic dialect μέσσος (also Aeolic dialect, Refs 7th c.BC+, Boeotian dialect, Cretan dialect μέττος, Refs 3rd c.BC+ ii b 2 Refs 5th c.BC+:—middle, in the middle, __I of Space, especially with Nouns, of the middle point or part, μ. σάκος Refs 8th c.BC+; οὐρανός zenith, Refs 8th c.BC+; μ. ἀπήνης from mid chariot, Refs 5th c.BC+; ἐν αἰθέρι μ. in mid-air, Refs; μ.…