Pasture
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G3542 appears only twice in the governed witness and takes a different contextual sense in each verse. In John 10:9, Jesus says that the person who enters through Him, the gate, will be saved, come in and go out, and find pasture.
Reader summary
Full entry for νομή (G3542) · Open the biblical lexicon
G3542 appears only twice in the governed witness and takes a different contextual sense in each verse. In John 10:9, Jesus says that the person who enters through Him, the gate, will be saved, come in and go out, and find pasture.
The BSB source-word alignment has 2 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include pasture (1), spread (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 10:9. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Timothy (1), John (1).
G3542 appears only twice in the governed witness and takes a different contextual sense in each verse. In John 10:9, Jesus says that the person who enters through Him, the gate, will be saved, come in and go out, and find pasture. The noun contributes a shepherding image of feeding and provision, but it does not independently promise wealth, freedom from danger, or unrestricted movement.
In 2 Timothy 2:17, Paul says the irreverent teaching he has just described will spread like gangrene, and he names Hymenaeus and Philetus as examples. Here the noun concerns advancing growth or spread rather than a feeding place. The disease comparison stresses the damaging propagation of teaching that says the resurrection has already occurred. It must not be used to stigmatize illness, disability, a person who asks questions, or an entire group as contamination.
Nor does it authorize violence or physical removal. Together the two occurrences show why context governs translation: the same noun can evoke beneficial feeding ground or destructive expansion, and the surrounding clause supplies the evaluation.
Two governed occurrences use the noun for pasture found through Jesus and for the damaging spread of irreverent teaching.
He will come in and go out and find pasture.
The pasture image belongs to Jesus' promise as the gate and should remain connected to the sentence's salvation and shepherding frame.
Their talk will spread like gangrene.
The noun depicts propagation, while the next sentence identifies the teachers and content under correction.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Pasture as provision for sustenance; metaphorically extends to any spreading consumption or corrosive growth
Pasture as provision for sustenance; metaphorically extends to any spreading consumption or corrosive growth
(νέμω, to pasture), [in LXX chiefly for מִרְעֶה, also for נָוֶה, etc. ;]
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
2 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
pasturage, growth
Read versepasturage, growth
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.
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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
νομή is built from this root:
G3542 demonstrates how dramatically context can direct one noun. John 10:9 offers pasture within Jesus' gate promise, giving sheep a place of provision under His care. Second Timothy 2:17 uses spreading growth for an error that damages hearers and overturns some people's faith. Churches should neither minimize harmful teaching nor imitate its harm through humiliation, panic, or violence.
Paul names responsible teachers and the content of their resurrection claim, which supports specific, evidence-based correction rather than rumor about vague contaminating people. Protective action may include limiting a teacher's platform, correcting the record, caring for affected people, and following fair discipline. It should also leave room for questions, repentance, restoration where possible, and humane treatment.
Physical disease carries no moral guilt, and ill or disabled people must never bear the shame of the metaphor.
John.10.9
Both governed forms are accusative feminine singular nouns spelled νομὴν. John renders the form pasture, while 2 Timothy renders it spread because the clauses invoke feeding ground and advancing growth. Identical morphology does not require identical English wording or application.
Psalm 23 and Ezekiel 34 provide canonical shepherd-and-feeding background for John 10, while wisdom and prophetic texts repeatedly warn that corrupt words harm communities. Those parallels illuminate the passages but must not merge pasture and spreading error into one symbolic system.
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