Exploring the Meaning of Eimi in Greek

εἰμί expresses existence or identity (“to be”) and appears widely in the New Testament. In the passages cited here from early Matthew, it supports narration, describes states and circumstances, and anchors quotations that identify roles and locations.

Occurrences

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: After his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:18)

In this opening narrative frame, εἰμί underlies the clause “was like this,” which situates the account as a description of what the birth-event is like. It serves to present the manner or character of the circumstances that follow, preparing the reader for the sequence “After… before… she was found…”

“Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.” (Matthew 1:19)

Here εἰμί supports a participial description (“being a righteous man”), attaching Joseph’s standing to the actions that follow. The verse uses that state (“being…”) as a lens for his intent: his righteousness and his unwillingness to shame Mary are presented as concurrent realities shaping his decision.

“But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:20)

εἰμί anchors the angel’s explanation: “that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” The verb links the pregnancy to its source, presenting a claim about what the conception is “of,” and therefore what sort of reality it is. In the logic of the speech, this “is” functions as the ground for the command “don’t be afraid… take to yourself Mary.”

““Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel;” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”” (Matthew 1:23)

In this quotation and its explanation, εἰμί appears in “which is, being interpreted,” marking an equivalence between the name “Immanuel” and its interpreted sense. The narrative uses “is” to connect a title to an explanatory phrase, presenting the interpretation as what the name amounts to in meaning within the quotation’s framework.

““Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him.”” (Matthew 2:2)

εἰμί stands behind the question “Where is he…?” locating a person whose identity is given by the description “he who is born King of the Jews.” The verb of being enables the search for presence: the visitors are not asking what happened, but where the one they describe is to be found, and their question presumes his existence as the object of worship.

“‘You Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way least among the princes of Judah: for out of you shall come a governor, who shall shepherd my people, Israel.’ ” (Matthew 2:6)

In this citation, εἰμί carries an evaluative statement: Bethlehem “are in no way least.” The verb connects the place to a status among “the princes of Judah,” and that status is immediately tied to what will come “out of you.” The “are” thus provides the footing for the claim that the town’s standing is bound up with its role in the coming ruler.

“They, having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the young child was.” (Matthew 2:9)

εἰμί supports a concrete locating function: the star “stood over where the young child was.” The narrative uses “was” to define a point in space, identifying the child’s location as the terminus of the star’s guidance. The verb here is not argumentative but descriptive, allowing the scene to specify the place the travelers are being led to.

“Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.” (Matthew 2:13)

In “stay there,” εἰμί conveys continued presence in a location. The instruction is not merely to travel to Egypt but to remain—an ongoing “being there”—until further word comes. The verb thus expresses duration and settled location as part of obedience to the warning.

“and was there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”” (Matthew 2:15)

εἰμί again carries sustained location: “was there until the death of Herod.” The narrative uses this “was” to mark an interval, setting a temporal boundary for the family’s presence in Egypt. The clause also links this continued state to fulfillment, showing how a period of “being there” fits within the narrated sequence of events.

““A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; she wouldn’t be comforted, because they are no more.”” (Matthew 2:18)

Two uses of εἰμί shape this lament. First, “A voice was heard” places a sound-event into the scene as an occurring reality. Second, “because they are no more” uses being-language to express the disappearance of the children: the grief is grounded in a stark statement about existence, framed as a reason that comfort is refused.

“For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make the way of the Lord ready! Make his paths straight!”” (Matthew 3:3)

εἰμί supplies identification: “this is he who was spoken of.” The narrator ties John’s role to a prior prophetic utterance by asserting what he is in relation to that speech. The verb thus acts as a hinge between present person and earlier words, marking the connection as a matter of identity rather than mere resemblance.

“Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.” (Matthew 3:4)

In this portrait, εἰμί serves simple description: “His food was locusts and wild honey.” The verb links John to a habitual diet, presenting an ordinary fact that contributes to the overall depiction of his way of life alongside the details of clothing and setting.

Sense and Usage

Across these scenes, εἰμί functions as the basic verbal support for stating what something is, where someone is, and what condition or status holds. In narrative framing (“was like this,” Matthew 1:18), it sets the character of an account. In characterization (“being a righteous man,” Matthew 1:19), it assigns a state that explains subsequent intention. In explanation and identification (“is of the Holy Spirit,” Matthew 1:20; “this is he…,” Matthew 3:3), it links a subject to a defining relation, making the clause carry the weight of justification or recognition.

εἰμί also serves the practical work of location and duration: the star stands over “where the young child was” (Matthew 2:9), Joseph is told to “stay there” (Matthew 2:13), and the family “was there until the death of Herod” (Matthew 2:15). In such lines, “to be” becomes the language of presence—both in the sense of being found in a place and in the sense of continuing in that place through time.

Finally, εἰμί underwrites both celebration and loss. It supports interpreted naming (“which is, being interpreted…,” Matthew 1:23), where a name is connected to an explanatory phrase, and it expresses the reason for unrelieved mourning (“because they are no more,” Matthew 2:18), where the verb of being sharpens the contrast between presence and absence. Even when it appears as a plain copula in description (“His food was…,” Matthew 3:4), it supplies the connective tissue that lets the narrative make clear, stable assertions about persons, events, and conditions.

Imagery

In these passages, εἰμί often sits at the center of scenes of guidance and sheltering—being “there” in Egypt (Matthew 2:13, 2:15) and being located beneath a star (Matthew 2:9). The same verb that fixes a child’s location and sustains a family’s stay also voices the lament that “they are no more” (Matthew 2:18), showing how “to be” language can carry both the steadiness of place and the sharpness of loss within Matthew’s opening narrative.

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).