Exploring the Meaning of Deipnon in Greek

δεῖπνον refers to a dinner or supper—a shared meal setting that can mark honor, hospitality, and decisive moments. In the Gospels it appears in scenes ranging from public banquets and social status-seeking to intimate table fellowship and betrayal.

Occurrences

Matthew 23:6: “and love the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,”

Here δεῖπνον belongs to a public setting of eating among others, where seating communicates rank. The meal is not portrayed as mere nourishment but as a social arena: the “place of honor” at a feast is something desired and pursued, so the dinner setting becomes a visible stage for public recognition.

Mark 6:21: “Then a convenient day came, that Herod on his birthday made a supper for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee.”

In this scene δεῖπνον is a formal supper hosted by a ruler, defined by its guest list: “nobles,” “high officers,” and “chief men.” The word contributes the sense of an arranged, occasion-marking meal—here tied to a birthday and political presence—where the gathering itself signals prestige and influence.

Mark 12:39: “and the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts:”

As in Matthew, δεῖπνον frames the banquet as a social map. “Best places” suggests that the dinner has structured seating and recognized status within it. The word evokes a meal event where honor can be assigned, claimed, or displayed.

Luke 14:12: “He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, don’t call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back.”

δεῖπνον here is the kind of meal a host “make[s]” for others, with the guest list deliberately chosen. The contrast between inviting close relations and “rich neighbors” highlights a dinner as a social act that can create obligations and reciprocal repayment. The word sits inside teaching about how hospitality can be practiced without aiming at return.

Luke 14:16: “But he said to him, “A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people.”

In this brief narrative, δεῖπνον is enlarged into “a great supper,” an event of scale and preparation. The dinner functions as an invitation-based gathering: it is something a man “made,” then extended outward through invitations, emphasizing the hosted character of the meal.

Luke 14:17: “He sent out his servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, for everything is ready now.’”

δεῖπνον contributes timing and readiness: “at supper time” the moment arrives when invitations move from potential to actual participation. The line “everything is ready now” draws the dinner as a prepared feast awaiting guests, making the meal the focal point of the servant’s summons.

Luke 14:24: “For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper.’ ”

The dinner becomes personal—“my supper”—and the act of eating (“taste”) stands for sharing in what the host has prepared. δεῖπνον thus supports the idea of inclusion and exclusion: some are invited yet end up not tasting, so the supper marks a boundary between those who participate and those who do not.

Luke 20:46: ““Beware of those scribes who like to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts;”

δεῖπνον again appears in a list of public honor-markers. Within the same breath as prominent clothing, public greetings, and preferred seating in synagogues, the “best places at feasts” show the dinner setting as one more place where reputation is cultivated. The meal serves as a social venue in which status is pursued and displayed.

John 12:2: “So they made him a supper there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.”

This occurrence places δεῖπνον in a domestic, welcoming context: “they made him a supper.” The verse sketches the meal’s roles—Martha serving, Lazarus seated at the table—so the dinner is concretely portrayed as a hosted meal with service and table fellowship, centering Jesus as the honored guest.

John 13:2: “During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,”

δεῖπνον provides the temporal frame: the betrayal decision is set “during supper.” The ordinary setting of a shared meal is the immediate environment in which a grave inward resolve is already present. The dinner here is not described for its menu or guests, but for the way its intimacy heightens the tension of what is forming within Judas.

John 13:4: “arose from supper, and laid aside his outer garments. He took a towel and wrapped a towel around his waist.”

Here δεῖπνον is the scene from which Jesus “arose.” The dinner is a settled table moment interrupted by deliberate action: leaving the meal long enough to lay aside garments and take up a towel. The word anchors the action in the middle of shared dining, emphasizing that what follows occurs in the context of table fellowship rather than apart from it.

John 21:20: “Then Peter, turning around, saw a disciple following. This was the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one who had also leaned on Jesus’ breast at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is going to betray you?””

δεῖπνον here functions as a remembered reference point. The disciple is identified by a particular closeness at the meal—leaning on Jesus’ breast—and by a question asked at that supper about betrayal. The dinner is thus recalled as an intimate setting where proximity, trust, and inquiry occurred together.

Sense and Usage

Across these passages δεῖπνον consistently denotes a shared evening meal, but the narratives show that a dinner can carry different social weight depending on who hosts, who attends, and how the setting is used. In several sayings (Matthew 23:6; Mark 12:39; Luke 20:46), the meal is a public forum for honor: seating is ranked (“place of honor,” “best places”), and the desire for prominence turns a dinner into a tool for self-display. The repeated pairing with “best seats in the synagogues” places the dinner alongside other public contexts where recognition is sought; the meal is one more setting where social hierarchy becomes visible.

Luke 14 shifts the focus from rank to hospitality and response. The host “make[s] a dinner or a supper” (Luke 14:12), so δεῖπνον implies preparation, cost, and intention, not spontaneity. The instruction about whom to invite highlights how a dinner can create a cycle of repayment—inviting those who can “return the favor.” In the short parable (Luke 14:16–17, 24), δεῖπνον becomes a planned banquet with invitations, a set time (“at supper time”), and readiness (“everything is ready now”). The meal is treated as a concrete event that people can accept or refuse; “taste of my supper” (Luke 14:24) uses the act of eating as the simplest expression of participation in the host’s provision.

John uses δεῖπνον to portray table fellowship at a more personal level. In John 12:2 the supper is a setting of honoring Jesus: others prepare the meal, Martha serves, Lazarus shares the table. In John 13, the supper frames pivotal inner and outer actions: betrayal is already purposed “during supper” (John 13:2), and Jesus’ rising “from supper” (John 13:4) marks a purposeful interruption of the meal’s normal flow. John 21:20 treats the supper as a defining memory for relationships at the table—who was close enough to lean near Jesus, and which question emerged there—so δεῖπνον becomes a timestamp for a remembered moment of intimacy and disclosure.

Imagery

The imagery surrounding δεῖπνον in these texts is consistently concrete: a prepared meal, invited guests, a table with seats and places, and a moment in the day marked as “supper time.” Yet the dinner also becomes a revealing space. In some scenes it exposes craving for prominence through “best places at feasts” (Mark 12:39; Luke 20:46; cf. Matthew 23:6). In others it spotlights the dynamics of hospitality and belonging: invitations sent, readiness announced, and the striking line that some will not “taste of my supper” (Luke 14:24). In John, the same meal-setting holds service (John 12:2), proximity (John 21:20), and the shadow of betrayal (John 13:2), showing how a dinner can be the ordinary place where decisive things unfold.

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).