Original Word: λειτουργία, ας, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: leitourgia
Phonetic Spelling: (li-toorg-ee'-ah)
Short Definition: a charitable gift, public service
Definition: a charitable gift, public service in the widest sense; service as of priest or Levite ritual.

Cognate: 3009 leitourgía(a feminine noun derived from 3011 /leitourgós, "an official servant," "sacred ministering") – properly, official (technical) service offered by a duly authorized minister; used of believers ministering to the Lord as His duly-commissioned priests – a sacred ministering that always serves (impacts) those who witness it.

3009 /leitourgía ("sacred ministry to the Lord") is the root of the English term "liturgy" and used metaphorically in the NT of the liturgy of life, i.e. when the believer lives in faith ("the Lord's inwrought persuasions," 4102 /pístis).

[Originally, 3009 (leitourgía) was service done by someone in an honorary religious or civic office, leaving a significant impact on the community. 3009 /leitourgía ("sacred ministry, service") later focuses on priestly, Levitical ministration.]

STRONGS NT 3009: λειτουργία

λειτουργία, λειτουργίας, ἡ (from λειτουργέω, which see);

1. properly, a public office which a citizen undertakes to administer at his own expense: Plato, legg. 12, p. 949 c.; Lysias, p. 163, 22; Isocrates, p. 391 d.; Theophrastus, Char. 20 (23), 5; 23 (29), 4, and others.

2. universally, any service: of military service, Polybius; Diodorus 1, 63. 73; of the service of workmen,

c. 21; of that done to nature in the cohabitation of man and wife, Aristotle, oec. 1, 3, p. 1343b, 20.

3. in Biblical Greek a. the service or ministry of the priests relative to the prayers and sacrifices offered to God: Luke 1:23; Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 9:21, (for עֲבודָה, Numbers 8:22; Numbers 16:9; Numbers 18:4; 2 Chronicles 31:2; Diodorus 1, 21; Josephus; (Philo de caritat. § 1 under the end; others; see Sophocles Lex. under the word)); hence, the phrase in Philippians 2:17, explained under the word θυσία, b. at the end ((cf. Lightfoot on Clement of Rome, 1 Cor. 44 [ET])).

b. a gift or benefaction, for the relief of the needy (see λειτουργέω, 2 c.): 2 Corinthians 9:12; Philippians 2:30.

ministry, service.

From leitourgeo; public function (as priest ("liturgy") or almsgiver) -- ministration(-try), service.

see GREEK leitourgeo

λειτουργια λειτουργία λειτουργίᾳ λειτουργίαν λειτουργιας λειτουργίας λειτουργιών leitourgia leitourgíāi leitourgias leitourgíasInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts