χεῖλος G5491
Lip; by extension, the edge or shore of a body of water — reflecting the ancient metaphor of land's 'lip' meeting the sea.
In its primary sense, cheilos refers to the physical lips of the mouth, the organ of speech and worship. The Septuagint and New Testament use it prominently in contexts of praise and hypocrisy — Jesus quotes Isaiah in Matt 15:8 and Mark 7:6, warning that people honor God 'with their lips' while their hearts are far away. Paul cites Psalm 140:3 in Rom 3:13, describing lips that conceal venom. Yet in Heb 11:12, cheilos shifts to mean 'shore' or 'edge,' describing descendants as innumerable as grains of sand along the seashore — a spatial metaphor rooted in the idea of a lip-like boundary where land meets water.
2. shore — The shore or edge of a body of water, extending the anatomical 'lip' metaphor to a geographical boundary. In Heb 11:12 (echoing Gen 22:17 LXX), it describes the sand 'along the lip of the sea.' Spanish 'orilla' (shore, edge) captures this spatial sense well, while German and French translations sometimes retain the Greek form, signaling the metaphor's unfamiliarity in those traditions. 1×
AR["شَاطِئ"]·ben["তীরের"]·DE["Lippen"]·EN["shore"]·FR["Lippen"]·heb["שְׂפַת"]·HI["किनारे"]·ID["pantai"]·IT["cheilos"]·jav["pinggir"]·KO["가장자리"]·PT["beira"]·RU["берега"]·ES["orilla"]·SW["ukingo"]·TR["kıyısında"]·urd["کنارے"]
▼ 1 more sense below
Senses
1. lips — The physical lips, particularly as the instrument of speech, prayer, and praise. Multilingual evidence consistently renders this as 'lips' (Eng), 'labios' (Spa), 'lèvre' (Fra). In Heb 13:15, the 'fruit of lips' (karpon cheileōn) denotes verbal worship; in 1 Cor 14:21, Paul quotes Isa 28:11 about God speaking through foreign lips — a striking image of alien tongues as divine instruments. 6×
AR["الشَّفَتَيْنِ","شَفَتَيهِ","شِفاهٍ","شِفاهِهِم","شِفَاه","شِفَاهِ"]·ben["ওষ্ঠসমূহ","ওষ্ঠে","ওষ্ঠের","ঠোঁট","ঠোঁটে"]·DE["Lippen","χείλεσίν"]·EN["lips","of-lips"]·FR["Lippen","lèvre"]·heb["שְׂפָתַיִם","שְׂפָתָיו","שִׂפְתֵי"]·HI["दिल","होंठों","होंठों-का","होंठों-को","होनथोन"]·ID["bibir","bibir-bibir"]·IT["cheilesin","cheileōn","cheilē","labbro"]·jav["lambe","lambé","lathi"]·KO["입술들","입술들-로","입술들-의","입술들을","입술로"]·PT["de-lábios","lábios","os-lábios"]·RU["губами","губы","уст","устами","устах"]·ES["de-labios","labios"]·SW["la-midomo","midomo"]·TR["dudaklarda","dudakların","dudaklarını","dudaklarının","dudaklarıyla"]·urd["ہونٹوں","ہونٹوں-سے","ہونٹوں-میں","ہونٹوں-کا"]
BDB / Lexicon Reference
χεῖλος (Doric dialect χῆλος Refs 3rd c.BC+, Aeolic dialect χέλλος Refs 4th c.AD+, εος, τό: plural, genitive χειλῶν LXX+4th c.BC+:—lip, Refs 8th c.BC+ laughed with the lips only, Refs 8th c.BC+; χείλεα μέν τ᾽ ἐδίην᾽, ὑπερῴην δ᾽ οὐκ ἐδίηνε wetted the lips, but not the palate, i.e. drank sparingly,Refs 5th c.BC+; πειθώ τις ἐπεκάθιζεν ἐπὶ τοῖς χ., of Pericles, Refs 5th c.BC+; χείλεσιν ἀμφιλάλοις, of…