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πόλις, εως, ἡ (Hom.+. Gener. a population center in contrast to a relatively uninhabited or rural area. In the Gr-Rom. world the term gener. implied strong political associations, esp. in the sense ‘city-state’).

① population center of varying size, city, town, lit. Mt 5:14; Lk 10:8, 10. Pl. Mt 11:20; Lk 5:12; 19:17, 19. ἡ πόλις the city or the town designated in the context Mt 8:33; 21:17f; 26:18; Mk 11:19; 14:13, 16; Lk 4:29a; 7:12ab; J 4:8, 28, 30; Ac 8:9; 14:4; Rv 11:13; B 16:5; AcPl Ha 4, 18; 5, 17. Likew. αἱ πόλεις Ac 16:4. ἡ πόλις the city can also be the capital city, the main city (Mayser II/2 p. 28; Jos., C. Ap. 2, 125) Ac 8:5; cp. Mk 5:14 (s. vs. 1); Lk 8:27 (s. vs. 26). ἡ πόλις ἐκείνη Mt 10:14f; Lk 9:5; 10:12; 18:3; J 4:39; Ac 8:8; Hs 9, 12, 5b. ἡ πόλ. αὕτη Mt 10:23a; Ac 4:27; 18:10; 22:3; Hs 1:3. ἔν τινι πόλει in a certain city Lk 18:2; cp. Hs 9, 12, 5a. εἰς τήνδε τὴν πόλιν Js 4:13 (s. ὅδε 2). πᾶσα πόλις Lk 10:1. αἱ πόλεις πᾶσαι Mt 9:35; Ac 8:40; cp. Mk 6:33.—πόλις (πόλεις) beside κώμη (κῶμαι) Mt 9:35; 10:11; Lk 8:1; 13:22. W. κῶμαι and ἀγροί Mk 6:56. ἡ πόλις καὶ οἱ ἀγροί 5:14; Lk 8:34. W. τόπος 10:1. In contrast to the open plain or the desert, where no cities are found Mt 14:13; Mk 1:45; 2 Cor 11:26; to the interior of a building Ac 12:10.—Used w. the gen.: to denote the region in which it is located πόλ. τῆς Γαλιλαίας Lk 1:26; 4:31. πόλ. Ἰούδα (Ἰούδας 1c) 1:39. Cp. J 4:5; Ac 14:6; 21:39; to denote the inhabitants (Diod S 34 and 35 Fgm. 23 ἡ τῶν Γαλατῶν πόλις; Jos., Ant. 1, 200) ἡ πόλ. Δαμασκηνῶν 2 Cor 11:32. π. Σαμαριτῶν Mt 10:5; Lk 9:52 v.l. Cp. 23:51; Ac 19:35; EpilMosq 4; AcPl Ox 6, 20 (=Aa I 242, 1). αἱ πόλεις τοῦ Ἰσραήλ the cities in which the people of Israel live Mt 10:23b (Ἰσραήλ 2).—Rv 16:19b. ἡ πόλ. αὐτῶν Mt 22:7; Lk 4:29b.—2:39. Also w. the gen. sg. πόλ. Δαυίδ city of David 2:4b, 11; ἡ ἑαυτοῦ πολ. the person’s own town (=ancestral locale; but 2:39 Nazareth = their place of residence) 2:3.—J 1:44. Also ἡ ἰδία πόλ. (s. ἴδιος 1b) Mt 9:1; Lk 2:3 v.l.; Hs 1:2b (in imagery, s. 2 below). Pl. 1 Cl 55:1. The πόλεις ἴδιαι of the Christians Dg 5:2 are those inhabited by them alone; they are contrasted w. πόλεις Ἑλληνίδες Greek cities (cp. SIG 761, 15 [48/47 B.C.]; 909, 2), π. βάρβαροι Dg 5:4.—π. μεγάλαι great cities 1 Cl 6:4; AcPl Ha 2, 25f. In Rv ἡ πόλ. ἡ. μεγάλη (Tat. 19, 1; 29, 1 Rome) is almost always ‘Babylon’ (s. Βαβυλών) 16:19a; 17:18; 18:16, 18f, 21; ἡ πόλις ἡ μεγάλη, Βαβυλὼν ἡ πόλις ἡ ἰσχυρά 18:10. On the other hand ἡ πόλ. ἡ μεγάλη 11:8 is clearly Jerusalem (as SibOr 5, 154; 226). Elsewh. Jerus. is called ἡ πόλ. ἡ ἠγαπημένη 20:9 (cp. ApcSed 8:3 πρῶτον ἠγάπησας … εἰς τὰς πόλεις τὴν Ἰερουσαλήμ); ἡ ἁγία πόλ. Mt 4:5; 27:53; Rv 11:2 (ἅγιος 1aα); πόλ. τοῦ μεγάλου βασιλέως the city of the Great King Mt 5:35 (βασιλεύς 2b). εἰς πόλιν ἄρχουσαν ὀπύσεως in the city that sponsors fornication ApcPt Rainer 4, 1 (Ja. p. 278; s. also ὄπυσις).—The name of the town or city that goes w. πόλις stands either in the epexegetic gen. (Aeschyl. et al.; also Demetr.: 722 Fgm. 1, 8 Jac. πόλιν Σικίμων) πόλεις Σοδόμων καὶ Γομόρρας 2 Pt 2:6 or in the case in which πόλις itself is found, ἐν πόλει Ἰόππῃ Ac 11:5; πόλις Λασαία 27:8. From the construction πόλεως Θυατίρων Ac 16:14 no determination of the nom. of Θυ-can be made: either πόλις Θυατίρων or πόλις Θυάτιρα (B-D-R §167, 3). W. indecl. place names Lk 2:4a, 39. πόλις λεγομένη or καλουμένη w. the name following Mt 2:23; Lk 7:11; 9:10. Cp. J 11:54.—ἀπὸ πόλεως εἰς πόλιν (Aesop, Fab. 228 P./421 H./354 Ch./H-H. 256 μεταβαίνουσιν ἀπὸ πόλεως εἰς πόλιν) Mt 23:34. κατὰ τὴν πόλιν anywhere in the city Ac 24:12. Cp. Lk 8:39 (κατά B1a). κατὰ πόλιν from city to city IRo 9:3; pl. Lk 13:22; in every city (Appian, Bell. Civ. 1. 39 §177) Ac 15:21, 36 (κατὰ πόλιν πᾶσαν); 20:23; Tit 1:5 (Diod S 5, 78, 2 Crete has, indeed, ‘not a few’ cities). Cp. Lk 8:1, 4 (κατά B1d). αἱ ἔξω πόλεις Ac 26:11 (ἔξω 1aβ). αἱ πέριξ πόλεις 5:16 (s. πέριξ). αἱ περὶ αὐτὰς (i.e. Sodom and Gomorrah) πόλεις Jd 7. πρὸ τ. πόλεως (Jos., Bell. 1, 234, Ant. 10, 44) Ac 14:13.

② the (heavenly) city = the New Jerusalem (Bousset, Rel.³ 283ff; RKnopf, GHeinrici Festschr. 14, 213–19; McQueen, Exp. 9th ser., 2, 1924, 220–26; FDijkema, NThT 15, 1926, 25–43) Hb 11:10, 16 (cp. TestJob 18:8; TestAbr A 2 p. 78, 30 [Stone p. 4] ἀπὸ τῆς μεγάλης πόλεως ἔρχομαι [of Michael]). πόλ. θεοῦ ζῶντος 12:22 (SibOr 5, 250 θεοῦ π. of Jerus.). ἡ μέλλουσα (opp. οὐ … μένουσα πόλις) 13:14. Esp. in Rv: ἡ πόλις ἡ ἁγία Ἰερουσαλὴμ (καινή) 21:2, 10 (CBouma, GereformTT 36, ’36, 91–98). Further vss. 14–16, 18f, 21, 23; 22:14, 19; also 3:12. (Cp. Lucian’s description of the wonder-city in Ver. Hist. 2, 11f: ἡ πόλις πᾶσα χρυσῆ, τὸ τεῖχος σμαράγδινον. πύλαι … ἑπτά, πᾶσαι μονόξυλοι κινναμώμιναι … γῆ ἐλεφαντίνη … ναοὶ βηρύλλου λίθου … βωμοὶ … ἀμεθύστινοι … ποταμὸς μύρου τοῦ καλλίστου … οἶκοι ὑάλινοι … οὐδὲ νὺξ οὐδὲ ἡμέρα.) On the topic s. JMorwood, Aeneas, Augustus, and the Theme of the City: Greece and Rome new ser. 38, ’91, 212–23.—Hs 1:1, 2.

③ inhabitants of a city, city abstr. for concrete (X., Cyr. 1, 4, 25; Herodian 3, 2, 7; Jos., Ant. 5, 357) Lk 4:43; Ac 14:21; 16:20 (cp. Jos., Bell. 7, 41; DWhitehead, MusHelv 53/1, ’96, 1–11 [on identification of citizens and place cp. Thu. 2, 2, 1; X., Hell. 2, 2, 9]). πᾶσα ἡ πόλις (Diod S 18, 70, 2; Appian, Numid. 1) Mt 8:34; 21:10 (w. λέγουσα foll.); Ac 13:44; ὅλη ἡ π. (Diod S 10, 3, 2) Mk 1:33; Ac 21:30. πόλις μερισθεῖσα καθʼ ἑαυτῆς Mt 12:25. ἐθριαμβεύετο ὑπὸ τῆς πόλεως (Paul) was derided by the city AcPl Ha 4, 13 (s. θριαμβεύω 5). HConn, Lucan Perspective and the City: Missiology 13, ’85, 409–28 (Lk-Ac contains half of the 160+ occurrences of π. in the NT).—B. 1308. Schmidt, Syn. II 495–507. DELG. M-M. EDNT. TW.