Bible word study

Diakoneo (Strong’s G1247): Meaning in the Bible

Diakoneo (διακονέω) is the Greek word numbered G1247 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as to be an attendant, i.e. wait upon (menially or as a host, friend, or (figuratively) teacher); technically, to act as a Christian deacon. In the King James Bible it is translated (ad-)minister (unto), serve, use the office of a deacon..

• Original wordδιακονέω
• Transliterationdiakonéō
• Pronunciationdee-ak-on-eh'-o
• Strong’s numberG1247
• LanguageGreek

The full Strong’s definition

Derivation. from G1249;

How the King James Bible translates it

Where Diakoneo appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Diakoneo (G1247) stands behind 38 English renderings in 32 verses across 12 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in Luke (8), Matthew (7), Mark (5).

How the King James Bible renders Diakoneo, by count

• ministered11 of 38 (29 percent)
• minister6 of 38 (16 percent)
• serve4 of 38 (11 percent)
• administered2 of 38 (5 percent)
• and serve2 of 38 (5 percent)
• deacon2 of 38 (5 percent)

Three places to read Diakoneo

• Matthew 4:11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
• Luke 8:3 And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.
• 2 Corinthians 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

Counts are made at build time from the King James text tagged with Strong’s numbers (eBible.org, public domain). Verses are read from the stored King James text, never typed.

Why the word matters

Every word the biblical writers chose carries weight. Studying Diakoneo in the original Greek lets you read the passages where it appears more carefully, closer to what the first hearers understood, so the meaning is drawn from the text itself rather than from the English alone.

The lexical data on this page comes from the public-domain Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890), a Hebrew and Greek dictionary keyed to the King James Bible. It is a reference tool, not a settled verdict: no single word decides a doctrine, and meaning is finally shaped by how a word is used in its sentences. Read the passages themselves, prayerfully, and in full.

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