What does κειρία (keiría) mean in the Bible?
G2750 names strips or bands of burial linen. Its single New Testament form occurs in John 11:44, where Lazarus comes from the tomb with his hands and feet still bound in the wrappings.
Greek · G2750
κειρία
Graveclothes
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κειρία G2750
Pronunciation keiría
What does κειρία (keiría) mean in the Bible?
G2750 names strips or bands of burial linen. Its single New Testament form occurs in John 11:44, where Lazarus comes from the tomb with his hands and feet still bound in the wrappings.
Reader summary
Full entry for κειρία (G2750) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2750?
The BSB source-word alignment has 1 aligned row for this entry. Common renderings include in strips of linen (1).
Where does κειρία (keiría) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 11:44. Its strongest book concentrations include John (1).
What This Word Actually Means
G2750 names strips or bands of burial linen. Its single New Testament form occurs in John 11:44, where Lazarus comes from the tomb with his hands and feet still bound in the wrappings. Jesus then tells those present to unwrap him and let him go. The noun supplies a concrete burial detail inside the narrated sign and confirms that the people must respond to what has happened before them.
Because the evidence is one verse, the word should not become a general allegory for sin, trauma, discipleship, or the church's ministry. John states what the linen strips bound and records Jesus' command; he does not assign the wrappings an independent symbolic meaning. John 20 mentions Jesus' linen cloths with different vocabulary, so any comparison belongs to broader narrative synthesis rather than to G2750's lexical range.
How the Bible Uses It
G2750 appears only in John 11:44. It identifies the linen strips binding Lazarus's hands and feet as he emerges, after which Jesus commands the bystanders to unwrap him.
- John.11.44
The man who had been dead came out with his hands and feet bound in strips of linen, and his face wrapped in a cloth. “Unwrap him and let him go,” Jesus told them.
John 11:44 describes Lazarus emerging from the tomb 'bound in strips of linen,' prompting Jesus' command to 'unwrap him and let him go.'
- John.11.43
After Jesus had said this, He called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
The detail follows immediately after Jesus' prayer and loud command, 'Lazarus, come out!' (John 11:43), completing the Gospel's most public and dramatic sign before the Passion narrative.
- John.20.6
Simon Peter arrived just after him. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there.
John 20:6-7 later describes Jesus' own burial cloths lying folded in the empty tomb, a resurrection scene often set alongside Lazarus' raising to highlight the difference between resuscitation and Jesus' own resurrection, in which the wrappings are left behind rather than carried out.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It in strips of linen 1× John 11:44
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row John 11:44
Aligned rows 1
Books represented 1
John 1
Source forms
κειρίαις 1x keiriais John 11:44
Parsing patterns
Noun - Dative Feminine Plural 1x John 11:44
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Use the unwrapping detail to teach the church's practical role in supporting people after a decisive work of God, not as a metaphor detached from the narrative.
- Keep the comparison with Jesus' own burial cloths accurate: Lazarus is unwrapped and will die again, while Jesus' wrappings remain behind in a tomb he does not reenter.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not treat the grave clothes as a general symbol for every kind of sin or bondage without clear textual warrant; John's own use is a concrete burial detail.
- Do not equate Lazarus' raising with Jesus' own resurrection as though they were identical events; the grave-cloth details in John 11:44 and John 20:6-7 mark a real difference between resuscitation and resurrection.
Pastoral applicationCanonical parallellexical
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Strips of linen wrapping used to bind a corpse; appears only in Lazarus resurrection account.
Strong's G2750
Lexical occurrences 1 verse Greek text appearances 1 time Word forms 1 form 1 reference Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
graveclothes
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Strips of linen wrapping used to bind a corpse; appears only in Lazarus resurrection account.
a vernacular word,
11, a bed-cord (Aristoph., AV., 816; Pr, l.with).
2In pl., swathings (cf. Field, Notes, 96 f.): Jhn.11:44.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
1 Greek text appearance shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
John 11:44 Noun Dative Plural Feminine
κειρίαις, keiriaiv
a bandage, grave clothes
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 1 case and number pattern. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns 1 Aligned forms 1 Case pattern Dative (1) Number pattern Plural (1)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Dative · Plural · Feminine John 11:44 1×
Word Origins
κειρία is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
For the Preacher and Teacher
G2750 keeps interpretation close to the narrated scene. Lazarus has answered Jesus' call and emerged, yet the burial strips still bind his hands and feet. Jesus commands those present to unwrap him and let him go. A teacher can attend to the sequence, the witnesses, and the concrete result without assigning the linen an unstated symbolic code. The single occurrence supports the reality and visibility of the sign; it does not by itself define regeneration, sanctification, counseling, or the church's mission.
John 20 may be compared at the level of the Gospel's burial narratives, but its different linen vocabulary must remain distinct. The safest teaching use is therefore precise: explain what G2750 names, show how it functions in John 11:44, and let the surrounding passage carry the theological weight.
Anchor passage
John.11.44
Doctrinal connections
- John.11.44 - The single G2750 form names the linen strips binding Lazarus as he comes from the tomb.
- John.11.43 - Jesus's preceding command establishes why Lazarus emerges before the wrappings are removed.
- John.20.6-7 - Jesus's empty-tomb linens use different Greek nouns and belong to narrative comparison, not G2750's lexical range.
- John 11:38-45 - The surrounding sign keeps the linen detail within Jesus's call, Lazarus's emergence, the witnesses' response, and resulting belief.
The sole governed form, κειρίαις, is a dative feminine plural noun used with the statement that Lazarus's hands and feet were bound in strips of linen. The form supports the concrete burial sense but cannot establish a broader metaphorical range.
From Old to New Testament
John 11:44 belongs to the Gospel's witness that Jesus calls Lazarus from the tomb. John 20:6-7 later records linen cloths and a face cloth in Jesus' empty tomb, using other Greek terms. The scenes can be compared narratively, but G2750 itself occurs only with Lazarus.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain