UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament

Sense 1: parable, figure, allegory, figure of speech

Semantic entry: 33.15

Semantic domains: Communication

Subdomains: Discourse Types

Definition: a relatively short narrative with symbolic meaning

Notes: In almost all languages there is some way of speaking about parables or allegories. The equivalent in some languages may be ‘a likeness story’ or ‘a story that teaches’ or ‘a story that points the way’ or ‘words that have another meaning’ or ‘words that are saying something else important.’|Some scholars have insisted that in the NT παραβολή is used only in the sense of a story with one level of symbolic meaning, but in some contexts παραβολή is also used to identify allegories in which each element of the account has a symbolic significance. It is therefore extremely difficult to make a rigid distinction between parables and allegories.

Sense 2: archetype, figure, foreshadow, symbol

Semantic entry: 58.63

Semantic domains: Nature, Class, Example

Subdomains: Archetype, Corresponding Type [Antitype]

Definition: a model or example which anticipates or precedes a later realization

Notes: In a number of languages it may be difficult to find a lexical item equivalent to ‘symbol,’ but one can often employ a relatively close paraphrase. For example, in referring to certain aspects of the tabernacle as being a παραβολή, one may render the first clause of RV HEB 9:9 · LV HEB 9:9 · Read together HEB 9:9 as ‘this says something to us about the present time.’ In other languages one may sometimes use a term which means ‘picture,’ for example, ‘this is a picture for the present time’ or ‘this contains some meaning for the present time.’

Sense 3: to tell a parable, to utter a parable

Semantic entry: 33.16

Semantic domains: Communication

Subdomains: Discourse Types

Definition: an idiom, literally: to place alongside a parable

Collocations: παρατίθημι τὴν παραβολήν

Sense 4: symbolically, allegorically, figuratively, so to speak

Semantic entry: 33.17

Semantic domains: Communication

Subdomains: Discourse Types

Definition: pertaining to expressions which are not to be understood literally, but symbolically or figuratively

Notes: In a number of languages it may be more satisfactory to translate ἐν παραβολῇ and πνευματικῶς[c] by a negative expression, for example, ‘not literally’ or ‘not really.’ The expression in RV REV 11:8 · LV REV 11:8 · Read together REV 11:8 might be translated as ‘that city might be called Sodom, but it isn’t really Sodom.’

Collocations: ἐν παραβολῇ