What does μισθωτός (misthōtós) mean in the Bible?
G3411 names a hired worker, especially a hired hand in these passages. Mark 1:20 uses the plural neutrally for the hired men who remain in Zebedee's boat when James and John answer Jesus' call.
Greek · G3411
μισθωτός
A wage-worker (good or bad)
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μισθωτός G3411
Pronunciation misthōtós
What does μισθωτός (misthōtós) mean in the Bible?
G3411 names a hired worker, especially a hired hand in these passages. Mark 1:20 uses the plural neutrally for the hired men who remain in Zebedee's boat when James and John answer Jesus' call.
Reader summary
Full entry for μισθωτός (G3411) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3411?
The BSB source-word alignment has 3 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include a hired servant (1), hired hand (1), hired men (1).
Where does μισθωτός (misthōtós) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 1:20. Its strongest book concentrations include John (2), Mark (1).
What This Word Actually Means
G3411 names a hired worker, especially a hired hand in these passages. Mark 1:20 uses the plural neutrally for the hired men who remain in Zebedee's boat when James and John answer Jesus' call. John 10:12-13 uses the singular as a foil within Jesus' shepherd discourse. The hired hand is not the shepherd, the sheep are not his own, and he flees when the wolf comes.
John then states that he is a hired servant and is unconcerned for the sheep. The noun itself does not make receiving wages sinful, nor does Mark's ordinary employment scene carry John's failed-care judgment. Jesus' contrast exposes care that abandons the flock when its preservation becomes costly, while His own claim as the Good Shepherd uniquely includes laying down His life for the sheep.
Teachers should preserve both settings, refuse blanket accusations against paid workers or ministers, and avoid turning Christ's saving self-gift into a demand that caregivers remain in preventable physical danger.
Lexical sourcePassage contextBook context
How the Bible Uses It
Three governed occurrences move from ordinary hired workers in a fishing household to the hired-hand foil in Jesus' Good Shepherd discourse.
- Mark.1.20
And immediately Jesus called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Him.
This neutral narrative use prevents the noun itself from being treated as a moral verdict.
- John.10.12
The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own.
The surrounding sentence makes the hired hand a failed-care foil when the wolf arrives.
- John.10.13
The man runs away because he is a hired servant and is unconcerned for the sheep.
John supplies the reason for the flight rather than asking readers to infer that all wage-work is faithless.
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 a hired servant 1× John 10:13
hired hand 1× John 10:12
hired men 1× Mark 1:20
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Mark 1:20
Aligned rows 3
Books represented 2
Mark 1 John 2
Source forms
μισθωτός 1x misthōtos John 10:13
μισθωτὸς 1x misthōtos John 10:12
μισθωτῶν 1x misthōtōn Mark 1:20
Parsing patterns
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular 2x John 10:12, John 10:13
Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural 1x Mark 1:20
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Examine whether entrusted care is abandoned when inconvenience or cost appears, while still using wise protection in danger.
- Honor fair employment and do not measure devotion by unpaid labor or unsafe exposure.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that Mark's hired men are unfaithful or spiritually inferior.
- Do not claim that every paid pastor, teacher, or caregiver is a hired hand in John's negative sense.
- Do not claim that faithful care always requires remaining physically present during an active threat.
- Do not claim that a human caregiver can reproduce Jesus' unique saving death.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. A temporary servant hired for wages, lacking personal investment or loyalty to the master.
Strong's G3411
Lexical occurrences 3 verses Greek text appearances 4 times Word forms 2 forms 3 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
a wage-worker (good or bad)
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
A temporary servant hired for wages, lacking personal investment or loyalty to the master.
(μισθόω), [in LXX for שָׂכִיר, Exo.12:45, al. ;] hired; as subst., ὁ μ., a hired servant, hireling: Mrk.1:20, Jhn.10:12-13.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
4 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Mark 1:20 Noun Genitive Plural Masculine
μισθωτῶν misqwtwn
a hired servant
Read verse John 10:12 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
μισθωτὸς misqwtov
a hired servant
Read verse John 10:13 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
μισθωτὸς misqwtov
a hired servant
Read verse John 10:13 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
μισθωτός misqwtov
a hired servant
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 2 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns 2 Aligned forms 3 Case pattern Nominative (2) Number pattern Singular (2)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Masculine John 10:12 · John 10:13 2×
Genitive · Plural · Masculine Mark 1:20 1×
Word Origins
μισθωτός is built from this root:
For the Preacher and Teacher
G3411 does not divide people into holy volunteers and suspect wage-earners. Mark uses the noun without moral criticism, so the employment relation alone cannot carry John's theological force. In John 10, the immediate shepherd scene supplies the judgment: danger comes, the hired hand abandons the sheep, and Jesus names his lack of concern. The Good Shepherd stands over against that response through His knowledge of the sheep and His voluntary laying down of life.
Preaching may therefore examine whether responsibility disappears when service becomes difficult, but it should never use this text to shame fair compensation, demand unpaid labor, or trap a pastor, parent, worker, or survivor in an unsafe setting. Christian care seeks another person's good under Christ's authority, uses wise protection when danger arises, and remembers that Jesus' saving death is His unique work before it becomes a pattern of love.
Anchor passage
John.10.12
Doctrinal connections
- Mark 1:16-20 places hired men inside the ordinary fishing setting from which Jesus calls James and John.
- John 10:11-15 contrasts the hired hand's flight with the Good Shepherd's knowledge and voluntary life-giving.
- John 10:17-18 stresses Jesus' authority and willing action in laying down and taking up His life.
- Ezekiel 34 supplies canonical shepherd background, but John's immediate claims govern the use of G3411.
The governed witness has two nominative masculine singular forms in John and one genitive masculine plural form in Mark. The case and number change with each sentence, while the lexical identity remains a hired worker. Context, not the noun by itself, determines whether the worker is simply present or functions as a negative foil.
From Old to New Testament
Ezekiel 34 condemns shepherds who feed themselves and promises God's care for His flock. John 10 resonates with that larger shepherd witness, but G3411 itself appears only in Mark and John and must not be made to carry every canonical shepherd claim.
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