UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament

Sense 1: blood

Semantic entry: 8.64

Semantic domains: Body, Body Parts, and Body Products

Subdomains: Parts of the Body

Definition: red liquid that circulates in the arteries and veins of humans and animals

Notes: In RV MRK 5:25 · LV MRK 5:25 · Read together MRK 5:25 it may be important to use a special term for blood, since this passage is a reference to the hemorrhaging of menstruation.|In RV JHN 19:34 · LV JHN 19:34 · Read together JHN 19:34 (ἐξῆλθεν εὐθὺς αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ ‘then blood and water came out’) it may be necessary to use a term which can refer to the lymph fluid rather than to water itself; otherwise the reader might understand the water as being urine (with the spear having pierced the bladder) or even possibly water that Jesus had presumably drunk and was still in his stomach. The real reference of ὕδωρ in RV JHN 19:34 · LV JHN 19:34 · Read together JHN 19:34 is to the lymph fluid and not to water as such. It is simply a colorless fluid which was mixed with blood.|In RV REV 8:8 · LV REV 8:8 · Read together REV 8:8 (καὶ ἐγένετο τὸ τρίτον τῆς θαλάσσης αἷμα ‘and a third of the sea became blood’) and RV REV 11:6 · LV REV 11:6 · Read together REV 11:6 (καὶ ἐξουσίαν ἔχουσιν ἐπὶ τῶν ὑδάτων στρέφειν αὐτὰ εἰς αἷμα ‘and they had power over the waters to turn them into blood’) the reference may not be to blood as a substance but to the blood-like color of the objects in question.

Sense 2: death, violent death

Semantic entry: 23.107

Semantic domains: Physiological Processes and States

Subdomains: Live, Die

Definition: (a figurative extension of meaning of αἷμα[a] ‘blood,’ 8.64: αἷμα) the death of a person, generally as the result of violence or execution

Notes: It is possible to interpret αἷμα in RV ROM 5:9 · LV ROM 5:9 · Read together ROM 5:9 (δικαιωθέντες νῦν ἐν τῷ αἵματι αὐτοῦ ‘by his death we are put right with God’) as primarily a reference to physiological death. But in such contexts in which αἷμα is used in speaking of the death of Christ, there is no doubt an additional component derived from the occurrence of αἷμα in contexts speaking of atoning sacrifice. Therefore, one may analyze the meaning of αἷμα in such contexts as meaning ‘sacrificial death’ and not merely physiological death. In RV ROM 5:9 · LV ROM 5:9 · Read together ROM 5:9 and similar contexts, a number of translators have preferred to preserve an often recurring phrase such as ‘the shedding of his blood.’ However, in English this can be somewhat ambiguous in that ‘the shedding of blood’ normally refers to the killing of someone else and not to experiencing death. See also 23.112: αἷμα / 23.112: ἐκχέω.

Sense 3: to kill, killing, to commit murder

Semantic entry: 20.83

Semantic domains: Violence, Harm, Destroy, Kill

Subdomains: Kill

Definition: (a figurative extension of meaning of αἷμα[a] ‘blood,’ 8.64: αἷμα) to deprive a person of life by violent means

Sense 4: to murder, to kill

Semantic entry: 20.84

Semantic domains: Violence, Harm, Destroy, Kill

Subdomains: Kill

Definition: (an idiom, literally: to pour out blood) to cause the death of someone by violent means

Notes: The phrase πᾶν αἷμα δίκαιον ἐκχυννόμενον in RV MAT 23:35 · LV MAT 23:35 · Read together MAT 23:35 may be literally translated as ‘all innocent blood that is poured out.’

Collocations: αἷμα ἐκχέω; αἷμα ἐκχύννω

Sense 5: to die as a sacrifice, sacrificial death

Semantic entry: 23.112

Semantic domains: Physiological Processes and States

Subdomains: Live, Die

Definition: (an idiom, literally: the blood pours out) to die, with the implication of a sacrificial purpose

Notes: The relations between the various elements in this clause in RV MAT 26:28 · LV MAT 26:28 · Read together MAT 26:28 must in some instances be made somewhat more specific, for example, ‘by my dying, I am like a sacrifice for many for the purpose of their sins being forgiven.’ See also 23.107: αἷμα.

Collocations: ἐκχύννεται τὸ αἷμα

Sense 6: loss of blood, menstrual flow, bleeding

Semantic entry: 23.182

Semantic domains: Physiological Processes and States

Subdomains: Sickness, Disease, Weakness

Definition: (set phrases, literally: fountain of blood, and: flow of blood, respectively) the loss of blood through menstrual bleeding{N:001}

Collocations: πηγὴ αἵματος; ῥύσις αἵματος

Sense 7: person, human being

Semantic entry: 9.14

Semantic domains: People

Subdomains: Human Beings

Definition: (an idiom, literally: flesh and blood) a human being in contrast with a divine being

Collocations: σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα

Sense 8: to be a person, to be a physical being

Semantic entry: 9.15

Semantic domains: People

Subdomains: Human Beings

Definition: (an idiom, literally: to share blood and flesh) to have the characteristics and nature of a human being

Collocations: κοινωνέω αἵματος καὶ σαρκός