What does χεῖλος (cheîlos) mean in the Bible?
A lip is part of the mouth and, in several New Testament passages, stands within an account of speech. Lips may voice honor, praise, or deceit; the noun itself gives none of these acts their moral value.
Greek · G5491
χεῖλος
A lip (as a pouring place); figuratively, a margin (of water)
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χεῖλοςG5491
Pronunciationcheîlos
What does χεῖλος (cheîlos) mean in the Bible?
A lip is part of the mouth and, in several New Testament passages, stands within an account of speech. Lips may voice honor, praise, or deceit; the noun itself gives none of these acts their moral value.
Reader summary
Full entry for χεῖλος (G5491) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G5491?
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include lips (4), [his] lips (1), of lips (1), seashore (1).
Where does χεῖλος (cheîlos) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 15:8. Its strongest book concentrations include Hebrews (2), 1 Corinthians (1), 1 Peter (1), Mark (1).
Are there verse guides for χεῖλος (cheîlos)?
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
What This Word Actually Means
A lip is part of the mouth and, in several New Testament passages, stands within an account of speech. Lips may voice honor, praise, or deceit; the noun itself gives none of these acts their moral value. Jesus' criticism of lip honor in Matthew 15 concerns a heart far from God, whereas Hebrews 13 welcomes the fruit of lips that confess His name through Jesus. The contrast is between different uses of speech, not between bad spoken worship and good wordless religion.
The same Greek noun can describe an edge, as in the seashore of Hebrews 11:12. That use should remain ordinary geographical imagery rather than being turned into a hidden statement about speaking. For the speech passages, the practical invitation is to bring words into agreement with truth and devotion. First Peter calls for lips free from deceit, and Hebrews places praise beside doing good and sharing. Neither passage makes verbal fluency the measure of a person's worth or permits religious language to cover neglect of neighbors.
source_lexiconPassage contextCanonical parallel
How the Bible Uses It
Matthew exposes honor spoken without a near heart, Hebrews commends praise through Jesus and also uses the noun for a shore, and First Peter urges freedom from deceit. The noun's meaning and moral setting both require attention.
- Matt.15.8
‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.
Jesus quotes Isaiah to expose honor with the lips while the heart remains far away. The surrounding dispute concerns tradition that nullifies God's word, not a rejection of all spoken worship.
- Heb.13.15
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.
Praise is offered through Jesus and described as the fruit of lips confessing His name. The next verse joins this with doing good and sharing, preventing praise from becoming a cover for neglect.
- 1Pet.3.10
For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.
The quoted exhortation names deceitful speech as something lips must avoid. Its surrounding appeal to blessing and pursuit of peace gives the command a concrete relational direction.
- Heb.11.12
And so from one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
The sand on the seashore illustrates the multitude of descendants from Abraham. Here the noun names an edge or shore; it is not a speech metaphor within the promise.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itlips4×Matthew 15:8, Mark 7:6, Romans 3:13, 1 Corinthians 14:21
[his] lips1×1 Peter 3:10
of lips1×Hebrews 13:15
seashore1×Hebrews 11:12
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 15:8χείλεσίνtolipsNoun - Dative Neuter PluralMark 7:6χείλεσίνtolipsNoun - Dative Neuter PluralRomans 3:13χείληtolipsNoun - Accusative Neuter Plural1 Corinthians 14:21χείλεσινtolipsNoun - Dative Neuter PluralHebrews 11:12χεῖλοςtoseashoreNoun - Accusative Neuter SingularHebrews 13:15χειλέωνtoof lipsNoun - Genitive Neuter Plural1 Peter 3:10χείληto[his] lipsNoun - Accusative Neuter Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 15:8
Aligned rows7
Books represented6
Matthew1Mark1Romans11 Corinthians1Hebrews21 Peter1
Source forms
χείλεσίν2xcheilesinMatthew 15:8, Mark 7:6
χείλη2xcheilēRomans 3:13, 1 Peter 3:10
χείλεσιν1xcheilesin1 Corinthians 14:21
χειλέων1xcheileōnHebrews 13:15
χεῖλος1xcheilosHebrews 11:12
Parsing patterns
Noun - Dative Neuter Plural3xMatthew 15:8, Mark 7:6, 1 Corinthians 14:21
Noun - Accusative Neuter Plural2xRomans 3:13, 1 Peter 3:10
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular1xHebrews 11:12
Noun - Genitive Neuter Plural1xHebrews 13:15
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Invite agreement between truthful words and practical care without making polished expression a requirement for belonging.
- Apply warnings about deceit to actual truthfulness, not to silence painful testimony merely because it disrupts a comfortable gathering.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that spoken praise is inherently false; Hebrews expressly commends the fruit of lips offered through Jesus.
- Do not claim that fluency proves a near heart or that hesitant speech proves a distant one; Jesus' contrast concerns devotion, not verbal skill.
Key Verse and Form Guides
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Lip as organ of speech; metaphorically, edge or boundary of physical objects like shorelines.
Source Gloss
a lip (as a pouring place); figuratively, a margin (of water)
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.
Matthew 15:8Noun Dative Plural Neuter
χείλεσίceilesin
a lip, mouth, shore
Read verseMark 7:6Noun Dative Plural Neuter
χείλεσίceilesin
a lip, mouth, shore
Read verseceilh
a lip, mouth, shore
Read verse1 Corinthians 14:21Noun Dative Plural Neuter
χείλεσινceilesin
a lip, mouth, shore
Read verseHebrews 11:12Noun Accusative Singular Neuter
χεῖλοςceilov
a lip, mouth, shore
Read verseHebrews 13:15Noun Genitive Plural Neuter
χειλέωνceilewn
a lip, mouth, shore
Read verse1 Peter 3:10Noun Accusative Plural Neuter
χείληceilh
a lip, mouth, shore
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 4 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 patterns4Aligned forms7Case patternAccusative (3)Number patternPlural (6)
Genitive · Plural · NeuterHeb 13:151×
Dative · Plural · NeuterMatt 15:8 · Mark 7:6 · 1 Cor 14:213×
Accusative · Singular · NeuterHeb 11:121×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Lips as the organ of speech, emphasis on restraint and wisdom
Lips as instrument of speech producing satisfaction and reward
Lips as productive source of consequences, life and death through speech
Lips associated with heart wisdom, making speech persuasive and instructive
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 7 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
χεῖλος is built from this root:
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
Hebrews 13:15 commends praise as something offered to God through Jesus. Its image of fruit from lips gives confession a positive place in worship. Verse 16 immediately adds doing good and sharing, also naming these as sacrifices pleasing to God. The passage therefore refuses to let thankful speech and practical generosity become competing versions of devotion.
This helps a teacher address empty religious language without making every spoken confession suspect. Matthew 15 exposes the distance between lips and heart; Hebrews shows that lips can indeed offer fitting praise. The pastoral aim is truthful, Christ-directed speech accompanied by care, not an impressive vocabulary or a requirement that everyone speak with equal ease. A quiet person with limited verbal capacity is not thereby excluded from the life of worship and generosity described here.
Anchor passage
Heb.13.15
Doctrinal connections
- Hebrews 13:15 locates the sacrifice of praise through Jesus, identifying its mediator rather than making the lips' performance sufficient.
- Hebrews 13:16 joins good works and sharing to the passage's account of pleasing sacrifice, keeping confession connected with care.
- Matthew 15:7-9 explicitly invokes Isaiah's criticism of lip honor and distant hearts, exposing a divided response to God.
- Isaiah 29:13 supplies the cited contrast between mouth or lip honor and the heart, with worship reduced to human rules.
- First Peter 3:9-11 connects truthful lips with blessing instead of retaliation and the active pursuit of peace.
- Hebrews 11:12 uses the shore sense in the comparison of Abraham's descendants with countless sand, preserving a distinct lexical use.
The comparator distinguishes the bodily lip from an edge or brink, including the seashore. Speech-related uses depend on the words and actions described with the lips; a shared noun does not make the shore in Hebrews 11 a concealed speech image.
From Old to New Testament
Matthew 15:7-9 explicitly quotes Isaiah's criticism of outward honor with an estranged heart, whose local context was read in Isaiah 29:13. The connection is textual and specific; it does not authorize assuming that every person using traditional words of worship is insincere.
Passage contextCanonical parallelPastoral application