It is God’s rule, come near in Jesus: “the kingdom of God is near.” And we still pray, “Your kingdom come.” In Mark 1:15, the Greek word is basileia (G932): a kingdom, but first a reign: the rule of a king, his royal power, and then the realm where that rule holds.
Get DeepWordWhat the original says
Behind the word “kingdom” in this verse is the Greek word basileia (said bah-see-LAY-ah).
It means a kingdom, but first a reign: the rule of a king, his royal power, and then the realm where that rule holds.
This form, basileia, is the one the sentence is about: it is the kingdom that is near. The verb before it, ēngiken, says it has drawn near and is now close at hand.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘kingdom’ 157 of its 162 times, as when Jesus says to “seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33):
Word by word
| καὶ | ἤγγικεν | ἡ | βασιλεία | τοῦ | θεοῦ | μετανοεῖτε |
| and | has drawn near | the | kingdom | the | of God | do repent |
Original form
What this tells us
John the Baptist has just been arrested, and Jesus begins to preach: “After the arrest of John, Jesus went into Galilee and proclaimed the gospel of God” (Mark 1:14). These are his first recorded words in Mark’s Gospel, and the very first thing he announces is a kingdom. The word for “kingdom” is basileia. Before it means a country with borders, it means a reign: a king actually ruling. So when Jesus says “the kingdom of God is near,” he means that God’s rule has come close, close enough to step into. That is why the next words are “Repent and believe in the gospel!” Israel had long sung that God was king: “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom” (Psalm 145:13). Daniel saw a kingdom “that will never be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14). Jesus says that rule is now arriving in him, and Matthew sums up his work in one line: “preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people” (Matthew 4:23). Christians differ on how much of the kingdom is here now and how much is still to come; most hold both, ‘already’ and ‘not yet’. If God’s rule has come near, the question is not only what it is, but whether you will step into it. That is what Jesus’ first sermon asks.
What the original says
Behind “Your kingdom” in this verse is the Hebrew word malkhut (said mal-KHOOT).
It means royal rule, a reign, and so a kingdom. It comes from malakh, ‘to be king, to reign’.
This form, malkhutekha, has ‘your’ joined to the end: your kingdom. The same word comes again at once, malkhut, ‘a kingdom of’, followed by a word for ages: word for word, ‘a kingdom of all the ages’.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘kingdom’ 48 times, ‘reign’ 20 times, often in the dates of kings, and ‘royal’ 16 times, as when “Esther put on her royal attire” (Esther 5:1):
Word by word
| מַלְכוּתְךָ | מַלְכוּת | כָּל | עֹלָמִים | וּמֶמְשֶׁלְתְּךָ | בְּכָל | דּוֹר |
| kingdom · your | a kingdom of | all | perpetuity | and · dominion · your | in · every | generation |
Original form
What this tells us
Psalm 145 is a song of praise, the last psalm in the book with David’s name over it. It begins, “I will exalt You, my God and King; I will bless Your name forever and ever” (Psalm 145:1). Just before this verse, God’s people “will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your might” (Psalm 145:11). The word for “kingdom” is malkhut: royal rule, a reign. David says it twice in one breath, and adds that it lasts through every age: “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures through all generations.” Kings rose and fell all around Israel. This one does not. And this king is not distant. The very next verse says, “The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down” (Psalm 145:14). Another psalm says it plainly: “His kingdom rules over all” (Psalm 103:19). Think of the difference between a ruler you only hear about in the news and one who stops to pick you up when you fall. The psalm says God is both: over all, and near the one who has fallen. When the powers of this world feel shaky, this verse offers steadier ground. Whose rule are you most counting on right now?
What the original says
Behind “kingdom” in this prayer is basileia again (said bah-see-LAY-ah), the word you met in Mark 1:15.
It is the same word: a reign, God’s rule. Here it is something to pray for.
This form, basileia, goes with a command in the ‘let it’ form, elthetō: word for word, ‘let come the kingdom of you’. The next line uses the same kind of form: ‘let be done the will of you’.
Across the Berean it is ‘kingdom’ 157 times. Later in the same sermon Jesus says to “seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33):
Word by word
| ἐλθέτω | ἡ | βασιλεία | σου | γενηθήτω | τὸ | θέλημά |
| should come | the | kingdom | of You | should be | the | will |
Original form
What this tells us
Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray, in the Sermon on the Mount. The prayer begins, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name” (Matthew 6:9). Before any request for bread or forgiveness, it asks for something much bigger than the one praying. The word for “kingdom” is basileia, God’s rule. The prayer asks for it to come, and the next line explains what that looks like: “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Where God’s will is done, there his kingdom is. The prayer asks for heaven’s way of doing things to reach the ground we stand on. Later in the same sermon Jesus says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Praying this line puts our own wants second, the way a child might begin a request by saying, ‘I want what you want’. Christians of every tradition still pray these words, and they pray them as a request for something that has begun but is not yet fully here. What would change in your day if you prayed this line first, before your own requests?
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Download on the App StoreWhat the original says
Behind “kingdom” in this parable is basileia (said bah-see-LAY-ah).
It is the same word, God’s reign. Matthew usually says ‘kingdom of heaven’ where Mark and Luke say ‘kingdom of God’; most readers take both to mean the same reign.
This form, basileia, is what the comparison is about: word for word, ‘like is the kingdom of the heavens to a grain of mustard’. ‘Heavens’ is plural in the Greek.
The Berean has it as ‘kingdom’ 157 times. The very next parable begins the same way: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven” (Matthew 13:33):
Word by word
| ὁμοία | ἐστὶν | ἡ | βασιλεία | τῶν | οὐρανῶν | κόκκῳ |
| like | is | the | kingdom | of the | heavens | to a grain |
Original form
What this tells us
Jesus is teaching by the sea, sitting in a boat while the crowd stands on the shore, and he speaks in parables, short stories from fields and kitchens (Matthew 13:1–2). He has just told of a sower and of a field where weeds grow with the wheat. Now “He put before them another parable”. The word is basileia, God’s reign, and Jesus compares it to one of the smallest things a farmer handled: “a mustard seed that a man planted in his field.” The kingdom starts small, almost invisible, like a seed pressed into the ground and covered over. But it grows: “Although it is the smallest of all seeds, yet it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches” (Matthew 13:32). The next parable says the same with yeast: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened” (Matthew 13:33). Small, hidden, and in the end everywhere. What looks small in your life of faith right now? In this parable, small is how God’s kingdom usually begins.
What the original says
Behind “the kingdom of God” in this verse is basileia (said bah-see-LAY-ah).
It is the same word: the reign of God, which the Pharisees in this story were waiting to see arrive.
This form, basileia, is the subject: the kingdom of God ‘is’. The last words, entos humōn, can mean ‘within you’ or ‘among you’; the Berean says “in your midst”.
The Berean says ‘kingdom’ 157 times in all. The verse before has it too: “The kingdom of God will not come with observable signs” (Luke 17:20):
Word by word
| ἰδοὺ | γὰρ | ἡ | βασιλεία | τοῦ | θεοῦ | ἐντὸς |
| behold | for | the | kingdom | the | of God | in the midst |
Original form
What this tells us
Some Pharisees ask Jesus when the kingdom of God will come. He answers, “The kingdom of God will not come with observable signs” (Luke 17:20). They are looking for a date, a sign in the sky, a moment they could point to and say that it had begun. The word is basileia, God’s reign. Jesus says people will not be able to say, ‘Look, here it is’, because “the kingdom of God is in your midst.” The king they were waiting for was standing in front of them, answering their question. The last words of the verse can be read two ways: ‘among you’, because Jesus himself was there, or ‘within you’, the rule of God in a person’s heart. Christians have read it both ways, and many hear both. Either way, the kingdom is not first a place on a map. Jesus says to his followers elsewhere, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). It is a gift before it is a place. Are you waiting for a sign before you take God’s rule seriously? Jesus says it is already closer than you think.
What the original says
Behind “My kingdom” in this verse is basileia (said bah-see-LAY-ah).
It is the same word: royal rule. Here Jesus uses it of his own kingdom, standing before a Roman governor.
This form, basileia, comes with a fuller word for ‘my’, emē, set after it: word for word, ‘the kingdom, the one of mine’. Jesus speaks of it three times in this verse.
In nearly every place, the Berean puts this word as ‘kingdom’, 157 times in all:
Word by word
| ὁ | Ἰησοῦς | ἡ | βασιλεία | ἡ | ἐμὴ | οὐκ |
| the | Jesus | the | kingdom | the | of Mine | not |
Original form
What this tells us
Jesus has been arrested and brought before Pilate, the Roman governor. Pilate asks him straight out, “Are You the King of the Jews?” (John 18:33). It is a dangerous question. The crowd will later shout, “Anyone who declares himself a king is defying Caesar” (John 19:12). Jesus answers with the word basileia, kingdom. He does not deny that he has one. He says where it comes from: “My kingdom is not of this world.” If it were, he says, his servants would fight to keep him from being handed over. This kingdom does not spread by swords. Pilate presses him, and Jesus says, “For this reason I was born and have come into the world, to testify to the truth” (John 18:37). A few hours later the notice on the cross reads, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS” (John 19:19). The king is crowned with thorns. Christians differ on how this kingdom should shape politics and public life, but they agree that it is not won by force. Where are you tempted to fight for God’s cause the way the world fights? This verse points to another way: the way of the king who went to the cross.
What the original says
Behind “the kingdom of God” in this verse is basileia (said bah-see-LAY-ah).
It is the same word: God’s reign, here as it shows itself in the everyday life of a church.
This form, basileia, is the subject of a ‘not … but’ sentence: the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy. The words for eating and drinking, brōsis and posis, are about the act of eating, not the food itself.
Across the Berean it is ‘kingdom’ 157 times. Paul uses it the same way in another letter: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power” (1 Corinthians 4:20):
Word by word
| γάρ | ἐστιν | ἡ | βασιλεία | τοῦ | θεοῦ | βρῶσις |
| for | is | the | kingdom | the | of God | eating |
Original form
What this tells us
The church in Rome is divided over food. “For one person has faith to eat all things, while another, who is weak, eats only vegetables” (Romans 14:2), and each side looks down on the other. Paul says, “let us stop judging one another” (Romans 14:13), and warns, “Do not by your eating destroy your brother, for whom Christ died” (Romans 14:15). Then he names what God’s reign is about. The word is basileia, God’s kingdom: “not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The kingdom is not a list of rules about the table. It is a new way of living together under God. He ends with a practical line: “So then, let us pursue what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (Romans 14:19). Think of a family dinner where everyone is busy correcting each other’s manners: the food is there, but the family is missing. Christians still differ about many practices; Paul’s point is that the kingdom shows itself in how they treat each other while they differ. In your own disagreements with other Christians, do righteousness, peace and joy have the last word? That is where this verse says the kingdom can be seen.
Behind "kingdom" are 8 different words
Your English Bible says "kingdom" 364 times. Behind it stand several Hebrew and Greek words:
Reflect
Read it as yours
Jesus taught his disciples to pray this before anything else. Read it slowly, as your own prayer:
Name it
Where in your life do you most want God’s will to be done? Write one place: a relationship, a habit, a fear.
Carry with you
What is one small seed of God’s kingdom you could plant this week?