What does φλόξ (phlóx) mean in the Bible?
The Greek noun phlóx names a flame or blaze. Its seven New Testament occurrences belong to several distinct settings.
Greek · G5395
φλόξ
A blaze
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φλόξG5395
Pronunciationphlóx
What does φλόξ (phlóx) mean in the Bible?
The Greek noun phlóx names a flame or blaze. Its seven New Testament occurrences belong to several distinct settings.
Reader summary
Full entry for φλόξ (G5395) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G5395?
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include a blazing (2), blazing (2), [the] flames (1), fire (1), flames (1).
Where does φλόξ (phlóx) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 16:24. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (3), 2 Thessalonians (1), Acts (1), Hebrews (1).
What This Word Actually Means
The Greek noun phlóx names a flame or blaze. Its seven New Testament occurrences belong to several distinct settings. Stephen recounts the angel appearing to Moses in the flame of the burning bush. Hebrews quotes a psalm about God's servants as flames of fire. Jesus' story of the rich man and Lazarus places the rich man in agony in a flame, while Second Thessalonians speaks of the Lord Jesus revealed in blazing fire as He brings judgment.
Revelation repeatedly compares the exalted Christ's eyes to a flame of fire, conveying penetrating and royal judgment within apocalyptic visions. The noun itself does not make every flame a manifestation of God, prove that a disaster is divine punishment, or supply a complete map of final judgment. Literal, parabolic, poetic, and visionary uses must remain distinct.
Responsible teaching takes divine holiness and judgment seriously while refusing terror-based manipulation, speculative imagery, or claims about an individual's fate. It also treats people affected by fire, war, burns, displacement, or traumatic preaching with care rather than turning their suffering into an illustration.
How the Bible Uses It
Phlóx appears in burning-bush history, poetic angel language, Jesus' rich-man narrative, apostolic judgment proclamation, and Revelation's vision of Christ's fiery eyes. Genre governs how the flame functions.
- Acts.7.30
After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.
Stephen recounts the wilderness appearance that summons Moses, locating the flame within Israel's deliverance history and God's call.
- Heb.1.7
Now about the angels He says: “He makes His angels winds, His servants flames of fire.”
Hebrews quotes Psalm 104 while contrasting created angelic servants with the superior identity and throne of the Son.
- Luke.16.24
So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in agony in this fire.’
In Jesus' rich-man and Lazarus narrative, the formerly privileged man experiences agony while the poor man he ignored is comforted.
- 2Thess.1.8
In blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
Paul places blazing fire within Christ's revelation, relief for afflicted believers, righteous judgment, and final accountability.
- Rev.1.14
The hair of His head was white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like a blazing fire.
John's opening vision uses comparison language for the exalted Son of Man whose presence searches, commissions, and rules the churches.
- Rev.2.18
To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like a blazing fire and whose feet are like polished bronze.
The fiery-eye image introduces Christ's message to Thyatira concerning love, service, corrupt teaching, exploitation, repentance, and judgment.
- Rev.19.12
He has eyes like blazing fire, and many royal crowns on His head. He has a name written on Him that only He Himself knows.
The returning rider's fiery eyes and many crowns present penetrating judgment and unrivaled kingship within Revelation's final victory vision.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Ita blazing2×Revelation 1:14, Revelation 2:18
blazing2×2 Thessalonians 1:8, Revelation 19:12
[the] flames1×Acts 7:30
fire1×Luke 16:24
flames1×Hebrews 1:7
Show sample aligned rows
Luke 16:24φλογὶtofireNoun - Dative Feminine SingularActs 7:30φλογὶto[the] flamesNoun - Dative Feminine Singular2 Thessalonians 1:8φλογόςtoblazingNoun - Genitive Feminine SingularHebrews 1:7φλόγαtoflamesNoun - Accusative Feminine SingularRevelation 1:14φλὸξtoa blazingNoun - Nominative Feminine SingularRevelation 2:18φλόγαtoa blazingNoun - Accusative Feminine SingularRevelation 19:12φλὸξtoblazingNoun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowLuke 16:24
Aligned rows7
Books represented5
Luke1Acts12 Thessalonians1Hebrews1Revelation3
Source forms
φλόγα2xphlogaHebrews 1:7, Revelation 2:18
φλογὶ2xphlogiLuke 16:24, Acts 7:30
φλὸξ2xphloxRevelation 1:14, Revelation 19:12
φλογός1xphlogos2 Thessalonians 1:8
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular2xHebrews 1:7, Revelation 2:18
Noun - Dative Feminine Singular2xLuke 16:24, Acts 7:30
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular2xRevelation 1:14, Revelation 19:12
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular1x2 Thessalonians 1:8
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Receive the passages' calls to repentance and endurance without manufacturing terror or claiming certainty about the eternal state of named individuals.
- When teaching fire imagery, consider hearers affected by burns, disaster, war, displacement, anxiety, or religious trauma and avoid graphic embellishment.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that every flame signifies God's presence, demonic activity, final judgment, or a prophetic message for current events.
- Do not claim authority to inflict the vengeance assigned to Christ or to declare particular disaster victims objects of divine wrath.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. a blaze
Strong'sG5395
Lexical occurrences7 versesGreek text appearances7 timesWord forms3 forms7 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Source Gloss
a blaze
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Luke 16:24Noun Dative Singular Feminine
φλογὶflogi
a flame
Read verseActs 7:30Noun Dative Singular Feminine
φλογὶflogi
a flame
Read verse2 Thessalonians 1:8Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
φλογός,flogov
a flame
Read verseHebrews 1:7Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
φλόγα·floga
a flame
Read verseRevelation 1:14Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
φλὸξflox
a flame
Read verseRevelation 2:18Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
φλόγαfloga
a flame
Read verseRevelation 19:12Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
φλὸξflox
a flame
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 3 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 patterns3Aligned forms7Case patternDative (3)Number patternSingular (7)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · FeminineRev 1:14 · Rev 19:122×
Dative · Singular · FeminineLuke 16:24 · Acts 7:30 · 2 Thess 1:83×
Accusative · Singular · FeminineHeb 1:7 · Rev 2:182×
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
Phlóx carries brightness, danger, heat, and consuming force, but Scripture does not use every flame in the same way. Acts 7 recounts the burning bush as the setting of God's summons to Moses in the history of deliverance. Hebrews 1 quotes poetic language about angels as flames while insisting that the Son is greater than those servants, so the image cannot support angel worship.
Luke 16 uses flame within Jesus' reversal narrative, where a rich man who ignored Lazarus cries for mercy; the story confronts hard-hearted privilege without giving teachers permission to satisfy curiosity with invented geography. Second Thessalonians speaks to afflicted believers of Christ's righteous revelation and judgment, not of private vengeance they may enact.
Revelation's fiery eyes are similes within visions of the Son of God and returning King. They communicate His penetrating knowledge, moral authority, and royal judgment over compromised churches and hostile powers. Faithful preaching should neither domesticate these warnings nor weaponize them. It calls for repentance, endurance, and hope while refusing to label particular fire victims as judged, frighten children or trauma survivors for effect, or assign oneself Christ's final authority.
Anchor passage
Acts.7.30
Doctrinal connections
- Acts 7 places the flame at the burning bush within God's call of Moses and the history of Israel's deliverance from oppression.
- Hebrews 1 uses flame language for angelic servants while emphasizing the Son's unique superiority, throne, and divine identity.
- Luke 16 uses flame in a reversal story that exposes indifference to a suffering poor man at the rich man's gate.
- Second Thessalonians 1 joins blazing fire to Christ's revelation, relief for afflicted saints, and judgment that belongs to Him.
- Revelation 1 and 2 use fiery eyes for the risen Christ who knows His churches and confronts corrupt teaching and exploitation.
- Revelation 19 joins fiery eyes to many crowns and the victory of the faithful and true King over violent opposition.
Phlóx is a feminine Greek noun for flame or blaze. It appears alone and in phrases commonly rendered flame of fire or blazing fire. Simile markers in Revelation and literary genre prevent a woodenly identical reading of every occurrence.
From Old to New Testament