Exploring the Meaning of Cheir in Greek

χείρ means “hand,” and in these passages it appears in sayings, quotations, and narratives that focus on action, touch, help, and bodily responsibility. The word’s concrete sense anchors images ranging from agricultural work to healing gestures and everyday table practice.

Occurrences

Matthew 3:12 — “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”

Here “hand” places the coming work in immediate readiness: the winnowing fork is already held. The scene is physical and forceful—an implement gripped for sorting—so χείρ marks the agent’s active control over the process that “thoroughly” cleanses the threshing floor and separates wheat from chaff.

Matthew 4:6 — “and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

In the quotation, “hands” belong to angels and describe how support would be given: they “bear you up.” χείρ contributes the image of careful lifting and protection from impact—hands positioned beneath someone so that the foot does not strike a stone. The emphasis is not on strength alone but on preventing harm through close, personal support.

Matthew 5:30 — “If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.”

“Right hand” identifies a specific bodily member and makes the warning concrete. χείρ functions as a representative site of action—something that can be implicated in “stumble”—and the drastic language (“cut it off,” “throw it away”) presses the point by attaching moral peril to a tangible part of the body.

Matthew 8:3 — “Jesus stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”

Here χείρ is the means of contact: Jesus “stretched out his hand” and “touched him.” The hand is the instrument of a deliberate, initiating gesture that bridges distance, and the narrative ties that touch closely to the immediate change described (“Immediately his leprosy was cleansed”).

Matthew 8:15 — “He touched her hand, and the fever left her. She got up and served him.”

The “hand” is the point touched, and the touch is followed by the fever’s departure. χείρ highlights a direct, personal interaction rather than a distant command: contact is made with her hand, and the outcome is visible in her restored activity—she “got up and served him.”

Matthew 9:18 — “While he told these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.””

The ruler requests a specific action: “lay your hand on her.” χείρ here expresses a hoped-for transfer of help through touch. The hand is not merely a body part but the expected means by which life would return, as the plea links the laying on of the hand with the outcome “she will live.”

Matthew 9:25 — “But when the crowd was put out, he entered in, took her by the hand, and the girl arose.”

In the fulfillment scene, χείρ again marks physical contact: he “took her by the hand.” The hand becomes the point of grasp by which she is engaged and lifted into the ensuing action, and the narration places the taking of the hand right next to the result: “the girl arose.”

Matthew 12:10 — “And behold there was a man with a withered hand. They asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?” that they might accuse him.”

“Withered hand” introduces the concrete condition at issue and frames the controversy. χείρ names the visible impairment that draws attention and becomes the occasion for the question about healing on the Sabbath. The hand’s withered state makes the need plain and sets the stage for what “heal” would mean in this case.

Matthew 12:13 — “Then he told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out; and it was restored whole, just like the other.”

The command focuses on the hand as the object to be displayed and acted upon: “Stretch out your hand.” χείρ is central to the moment of obedience (“He stretched it out”) and to the observable result—restoration described in comparative, bodily terms (“whole, just like the other”).

Matthew 12:49 — “He stretched out his hand toward his disciples, and said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers!”

Here the hand is used for indicating and drawing attention: he “stretched out his hand toward his disciples.” χείρ functions as a demonstrative gesture that accompanies speech, physically directing the audience’s gaze to the group he is identifying with the words that follow.

Matthew 14:31 — “Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?””

In this rescue moment, χείρ is the means of rapid help: Jesus “stretched out his hand” and “took hold of him.” The hand is portrayed as reaching across danger and securing someone who is failing, and the immediacy (“Immediately”) underscores the hand’s role as the decisive point of contact before the spoken rebuke.

Matthew 15:2 — ““Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat bread.””

“Hands” here are the focus of a dispute about customary practice: washing before eating bread. χείρ identifies the part of the body involved in eating and handling food, and the complaint treats unwashed hands as a visible sign of “disobey[ing] the tradition of the elders.”

Sense and Usage

Across these passages, χείρ consistently denotes the literal hand, yet the scenes show how much narrative and rhetorical weight a hand can carry. In Matthew 3:12, the hand is associated with holding a tool: a winnowing fork in hand pictures readiness and control over a sorting task. In Matthew 4:6, hands are pictured as a supportive surface: they “bear you up,” preventing a fall’s consequences. These uses stay concrete—holding, bearing—yet they imply agency and care through ordinary bodily action.

The healing narratives make χείρ the focal point for touch and restoration. Jesus’ hand is extended and used to touch (Matthew 8:3), and another person’s hand is itself the point touched (Matthew 8:15). The ruler’s request in Matthew 9:18 and the subsequent act in Matthew 9:25 keep the hand at the center as the chosen mode of contact: “lay your hand on her” and “took her by the hand.” The episodes do not treat the hand as incidental; instead, χείρ marks the precise physical interface by which help is given and received.

In Matthew 12, χείρ becomes the named locus of disability and then of visible change. The “withered hand” (12:10) is the concrete condition everyone can see; the instruction “Stretch out your hand” (12:13) requires presenting that condition openly, and the restoration is described in bodily comparison (“just like the other”). χείρ thereby anchors the public nature of the event: what is debated (“Is it lawful to heal…?”) is tied to a hand that can be stretched out and inspected.

In other contexts, χείρ marks gesture and responsibility. Stretching out the hand toward the disciples (Matthew 12:49) uses the hand as an index—an embodied pointer that underlines the spoken declaration. By contrast, the “right hand” in Matthew 5:30 places the hand within the body’s moral vulnerability: it is one “member” whose actions can be implicated in stumbling, making the warning vivid by attaching it to something everyone has and uses. Finally, Matthew 15:2 places hands within everyday table life: washing hands is about what one does before eating bread, and the hands become the contested point where tradition and behavior meet.

Imagery in Context

These passages repeatedly picture hands in motion: holding a fork, bearing someone up, being stretched out, touching, grasping, and being washed. The recurring imagery is ordinary and bodily, yet it serves striking moments—separating wheat from chaff (Matthew 3:12), preventing injury (Matthew 4:6), restoring the sick and raising the dead (Matthew 8:3; 8:15; 9:25), and seizing someone in danger (Matthew 14:31). Even when the setting is dispute or instruction, the hand keeps the language grounded in what can be seen and done: a withered hand restored (Matthew 12:10, 13), a hand extended toward disciples (Matthew 12:49), and hands washed before bread (Matthew 15:2).

Sources: Lexical data from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Translators Brief Lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (STEPBible, CC BY). Occurrence data from the Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).