κλινίδιον (klinidion)
klinidion
bed
Quick Reference
- Language
- Koine Greek
- Testament
- New Testament
- Occurrences
- 2 verses
- Root
- —
Word Overview
The diminutive noun klinidion refers to a small bed or couch, specifically one used by someone who is ill. In the Gospel of Luke, this word appears in two closely linked verses describing the healing of a paralytic (Luke 5:19, 24). The term highlights the physical reality of the man’s condition; he is not merely resting but confined to a narrow space, emphasizing his helplessness and the need for intervention.
Its root connects to the larger word for bed or sleeping place, but the diminutive suffix adds a sense of intimacy or smallness. This distinction matters in the narrative: the friends could not bring him in through the door, so they lowered him on this specific, compact litter through the roof tiles. The word grounds the miracle in tangible, bodily reality, showing that Jesus’ power extends into the most constrained and vulnerable spaces of human life.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word klinidion describes a small bed or stretcher, specifically one used by someone who is ill. In Luke’s account, it grounds the miracle of the paralytic in tangible reality. The man was not merely resting; he was confined to a narrow space, emphasizing his helplessness and need for intervention. This physical detail shows that Jesus’ power extends into our most constrained moments.
When friends lowered him through the roof, they brought his brokenness directly before Christ. The small size of the klinidion highlights how tightly packed life can become, yet it also becomes a vehicle for grace. Jesus meets us not in abstract ideals but in our actual, often messy, physical circumstances.
This word reminds us that no situation is too small or too stuck for God’s attention. Whether you feel confined by illness, anxiety, or circumstance, your brokenness does not disqualify you from meeting Jesus. He sees the person on the stretcher and offers both healing and forgiveness.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 2 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- mat2×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- κλινίδιόν1×
- κλινιδίῳ1×
Key Verses
-
Luke 5:19
Not finding a way to bring him in because of the multitude, they went up to the housetop and let him down through the tiles with his cot into the middle before Jesus.
The term klinidion specifies the compact litter through which friends lowered the paralytic, highlighting the physical constraint of his illness and the lengths others went to bring him to Jesus.
-
Luke 5:24
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, arise, take up your cot, and go to your house.”
Jesus commands the man to take up his klinidion as visible proof that the authority to forgive sins has been granted, linking spiritual restoration to physical wholeness.