What does φιάλη (phiálē) mean in the Bible?
G5357 names a shallow bowl, and every New Testament occurrence is in Revelation. The vision interprets the contents and use rather than assigning the vessel one fixed meaning.
Greek · G5357
φιάλη
A broad shallow cup ("phial")
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φιάληG5357
Pronunciationphiálē
What does φιάλη (phiálē) mean in the Bible?
G5357 names a shallow bowl, and every New Testament occurrence is in Revelation. The vision interprets the contents and use rather than assigning the vessel one fixed meaning.
Reader summary
Full entry for φιάλη (G5357) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G5357?
The BSB source-word alignment has 12 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include bowl (7), bowls (5).
Where does φιάλη (phiálē) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Revelation 5:8. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (12).
What This Word Actually Means
G5357 names a shallow bowl, and every New Testament occurrence is in Revelation. The vision interprets the contents and use rather than assigning the vessel one fixed meaning. In Rev. 5. 8, golden bowls full of incense are identified as the prayers of the saints, placing their cries within heavenly worship before the Lamb. In Rev. 15. 7, seven angels receive golden bowls full of the wrath of the eternal God.
In Rev. 21. 9, one of those bowl-bearing angels later shows John the bride, the wife of the Lamb. G5357 opens teaching on heard prayer, holy judgment, and the movement from Babylon's fall to the bride's glory. It does not mean every bowl is prayer, authorize believers to invoke harm, or make Revelation's plagues a timetable for labeling current disasters.
How the Bible Uses It
G5357 is concentrated in Revelation, where golden bowls hold incense identified as prayer or contain the final plagues of divine wrath. Bowl-bearing angels also guide John in contrasting the prostitute and the bride.
- Rev.5.8
When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
The elders hold golden bowls of incense that the vision explicitly identifies as the prayers of the saints before the Lamb.
- Rev.15.7
Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever.
A living creature gives seven angels golden bowls filled with the wrath of the God who lives forever.
- Rev.21.9
Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
A bowl-bearing angel invites John to see the bride, the Lamb's wife, after the visions of judgment and Babylon's fall.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itbowl7×Revelation 16:2, Revelation 16:3, Revelation 16:4, Revelation 16:8
bowls5×Revelation 5:8, Revelation 15:7, Revelation 16:1, Revelation 17:1
Show sample aligned rows
Revelation 5:8φιάλαςtobowlsNoun - Accusative Feminine PluralRevelation 15:7φιάλαςtobowlsNoun - Accusative Feminine PluralRevelation 16:1φιάλαςtobowlsNoun - Accusative Feminine PluralRevelation 16:2φιάληνtobowlNoun - Accusative Feminine SingularRevelation 16:3φιάληνtobowlNoun - Accusative Feminine SingularRevelation 16:4φιάληνtobowlNoun - Accusative Feminine SingularRevelation 16:8φιάληνtobowlNoun - Accusative Feminine SingularRevelation 16:10φιάληνtobowlNoun - Accusative Feminine SingularRevelation 16:12φιάληνtobowlNoun - Accusative Feminine SingularRevelation 16:17φιάληνtobowlNoun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowRevelation 5:8
Aligned rows12
Books represented1
Revelation12
Source forms
φιάλην7xphialēnRevelation 16:2, Revelation 16:3, Revelation 16:4, Revelation 16:8
φιάλας5xphialasRevelation 5:8, Revelation 15:7, Revelation 16:1, Revelation 17:1
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular7xRevelation 16:2, Revelation 16:3, Revelation 16:4, Revelation 16:8
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural5xRevelation 5:8, Revelation 15:7, Revelation 16:1, Revelation 17:1
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Do not encourage Christians to pray vindictively for personal enemies as though their anger filled the bowls of God's wrath.
- Do not identify a disease, war, environmental disaster, or political change as a particular bowl judgment without textual warrant.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that G5357 inherently means prayer or wrath; the bowl's stated contents differ by scene.
- Do not claim that believers can pour, redirect, accelerate, or schedule the bowls through spiritual practices.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. a broad shallow cup ("phial")
Strong'sG5357
Lexical occurrences12 versesGreek text appearances12 timesWord forms2 forms12 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Source Gloss
a broad shallow cup ("phial")
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
12 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Revelation 5:8Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
φιάλαςfialav
a shallow and flat bowl
Read verseRevelation 15:7Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
φιάλαςfialav
a shallow and flat bowl
Read verseRevelation 16:1Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
φιάλαςfialav
a shallow and flat bowl
Read verseRevelation 16:2Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
φιάληνfialhn
a shallow and flat bowl
Read verseRevelation 16:3Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
φιάληνfialhn
a shallow and flat bowl
Read verseRevelation 16:4Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
φιάληνfialhn
a shallow and flat bowl
Read verseRevelation 16:8Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
φιάληνfialhn
a shallow and flat bowl
Read verseRevelation 16:10Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
φιάληνfialhn
a shallow and flat bowl
Read verseRevelation 16:12Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
φιάληνfialhn
a shallow and flat bowl
Read verseRevelation 16:17Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
φιάληνfialhn
a shallow and flat bowl
Read verseRevelation 17:1Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
φιάλας,fialav
a shallow and flat bowl
Read verseRevelation 21:9Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
φιάλαςfialav
a shallow and flat bowl
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 patterns2Aligned forms12Case patternAccusative (12)Number patternSingular (7)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Accusative · Singular · FeminineRev 16:2 · Rev 16:3 · Rev 16:4 · Rev 16:8 · Rev 16:10 · Rev 16:12 · Rev 16:177×
Accusative · Plural · FeminineRev 5:8 · Rev 15:7 · Rev 16:1 · Rev 17:1 · Rev 21:95×
Word Origins
φιάλη is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
G5357 is an ordinary vessel placed inside an extraordinary vision. Golden bowls hold the prayers of the saints before the Lamb, assuring suffering churches that faithful cries are neither discarded nor beneath heaven's notice. Later bowls hold God's wrath and are poured at divine command. The movement is not a technique by which worshipers weaponize prayer; judgment belongs to the holy and eternal God.
A bowl-bearing angel can then show John Babylon's punishment and the Lamb's bride, linking the visions into a moral contrast between violent luxury and faithful holiness. The vessel serves what heaven assigns to it. Responsible teaching lets persecuted believers find comfort that God hears, lets oppressors hear warning, and refuses voyeuristic excitement over suffering.
Revelation's imagery calls churches to endurance and worship under the Lamb, not to identify every calamity as a poured bowl. Prayer, judgment, and final beauty remain governed by God's justice and redemptive purpose.
Anchor passage
Rev.5.8
Doctrinal connections
- G5357: the prayers of suffering saints are present and honored in heavenly worship before the Lamb.
- G5357: prayer is received by God but does not place divine judgment under human control.
- G5357: God's wrath proceeds from His holy authority against persistent evil and beastly worship.
- G5357: repeated refusal to repent during the bowl visions exposes moral hardness rather than a lack of information.
- G5357: the angelic guide connects Babylon's judgment with the bride's unveiling, sharpening the church's choice of allegiance.
- G5357: final hope is communion with God in the holy city, not fascination with catastrophe.
G5357 is a feminine Greek noun for a broad, shallow bowl associated with pouring. Revelation's genitives and explanatory clauses specify what fills each bowl, while the same noun links judgment scenes and their angelic interpreters.
From Old to New Testament
Temple bowls, incense, prophetic cups of wrath, and priestly service provide Old Testament background. Revelation centers these images on the Lamb, the heavenly temple, God's just judgment, and the promised new Jerusalem.