Understanding the Meaning of Hebdomekontakis in Greek

ἑβδομηκοντάκις means “seventy times” and appears in Jesus’ reply to Peter about forgiveness in Matthew 18:22. In that setting it functions as a forceful numeric expression that presses the conversation beyond ordinary reckoning.

Root and Related Words

ἑβδομηκοντάκις (Hebdomekontakis) is related to hebdomekonta (ἑβδομήκοντα), “seventy” (Strong’s G1440). The relationship is visible in the shared initial element ἑβδομηκοντα-, linking the expression “seventy” to a form that states the idea in terms of repeated instances.

Occurrences

“Jesus said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:22)

In this exchange Jesus answers a numerical proposal with an even larger numerical formulation. The line is structured around a contrast: “not … until seven times” followed by “but … until seventy times seven.” Within that contrast, ἑβδομηκοντάκις supplies the “seventy times” element of the reply, setting the scale of what is being said. The word therefore does not stand alone as a bare number; it is embedded in a pattern of counting and multiplying (“times … times”) that pushes the listener into very large totals.

Because the statement directly counters “seven times,” the role of “seventy times” is to expand the range dramatically. The word carries the weight of escalation: it marks a movement from a manageable threshold (“seven”) to a magnitude that is no longer convenient to track. In that sense, ἑβδομηκοντάκις works rhetorically inside Jesus’ answer as the hinge between the smaller proposal and the far larger requirement he sets out.

The immediate context is personal address (“Jesus said to him”), and the sentence is about what Jesus tells him to do: “I don’t tell you … but ….” The “times” language therefore governs the practical question of repeated action. With ἑβδομηκοντάκις, the response frames forgiveness as something that cannot be safely confined within the limits of ordinary calculation, since the scale of “seventy times seven” outruns what one typically keeps count of in daily relationships.

Sense and Usage

As an adverb meaning “seventy times,” ἑβδομηκοντάκις expresses repetition in a quantified way: it answers a “how many times?” question by specifying a count of occurrences. In Matthew 18:22, that repetition is not presented as an abstract mathematical exercise but as a way of shaping behavior—how often one is to extend forgiveness when confronted with repeated need.

The verse places the word inside a larger numeric expression (“seventy times seven”), so “seventy times” functions as a multiplier rather than a standalone total. That placement highlights a particular use of the adverb: it can participate in compound numerical constructions that intensify magnitude. The result is language that is precise in form (it uses counting terms) while also being intentionally expansive in effect, since the stated scale discourages the listener from treating forgiveness as a ledger that can be closed once a small quota is reached.

Even though the word itself simply states “seventy times,” its force in this saying is shaped by contrast and progression. The sentence begins with a boundary (“until seven times”), then replaces it with a far larger boundary (“until seventy times seven”). This rhetorical movement shows how the adverb can be used not merely to count, but to reframe expectations: the numeric language is deployed to stretch the hearer’s conception of what repeated forgiveness should look like when measured in “times.”

The presence of “until” with both numbers also matters for the way “seventy times” functions. “Until” signals a limit or endpoint, yet the expanded number makes that endpoint practically unreachable in normal practice. Thus, in this usage ἑβδομηκοντάκις contributes to a statement that feels like it sets a limit, while simultaneously pressing beyond the kind of limits that people typically find workable. The effect is a demand that does not encourage careful tallying, even though it is expressed in the language of tallies.

Because ἑβδομηκοντάκις is tied to the related numeral hebdomekonta (ἑβδομήκοντα), “seventy,” it carries the straightforward numeric sense of that base, now cast into an expression of repeated action. In Matthew 18:22, that repeated-action framing is the entire point of the answer: the question is about frequency, and the reply uses a frequency adverb to set the scale.

Imagery

Matthew 18:22 pictures counting in the middle of a personal conversation—numbers spoken aloud as a way to define how many times forgiveness should be extended. The imagery is not of objects being counted but of “times” accumulating: one act after another, potentially reaching “seventy times seven,” until the very act of counting becomes an inadequate way to manage the repeated need the saying addresses.

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).