Words repeated thrice in the GNT

There are many places in the GNT (Greek New Testament) where words are repeated twice. There are many fewer places where words are repeated thrice (three times).

Matthew 26:34 Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. [kjv]

… τρις … [gnt]

… ter … [v]

… þreowe… [wes]

The word "thrice" appears in the KJV (King James Version) and comes from the Middle English word "thries" ≈ "thrice, three times".

The Latin word "ter" ≈ "three times".
The Old English word "þreowe" (thra-o-ve) ≈ "three times" from which the English phrase "three over" comes.

Matthew 26:34

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KJV: Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

Greek: εφη αυτω ο ιησους αμην λεγω σοι οτι εν ταυτη τη νυκτι πριν αλεκτορα φωνησαι τρις απαρνηση με

Latin: ait illi Iesus amen dico tibi quia in hac nocte antequam gallus cantet ter me negabis

Wessex: Ða cwaeð se haelend. Soð ic segge þe. þt on þisse nihte aer þam þe coc craewe þreowe. þu wið-saecst me.

Wycliffe: Jhesus seide to him, Treuli Y seie to thee, for in this nyyt bifor the cok crowe, thries thou schalt denye me.

Tyndale: Iesus sayde vnto him. Verely I saye vnto ye that this same night before the cocke crowe thou shalt denye me thryse.

Luther: Jesus sprach zu ihm: Wahrlich, ich sage dir, in dieser Nacht, ehe der Hahn krähet, wirst du mich dreimal verleugnen.

Here are some details on the analysis used.

Since chapter and verse divisions were added in the Middle Ages, those boundaries are not used.
Greek words have endings to indicate a part of speech. For this analysis, the word had to match exactly.

The results are below.

The text used is from the Constantin Tischendorf (1815-1874) GNT from https://crosswire.org. There are some missing verses (that appear in other Greek versions) and a part in Luke that appears to have some character and verse encoding integrity issues, so those were omitted from the analysis.

Wikipedia makes the following statement about Tischendorf.

In 1844, he discovered the world's oldest and most complete Bible, dated to around the mid-4th century and called Codex Sinaiticus, after the St. Catherine's Monastery at Mt. Sinai, where Tischendorf discovered it Wikipedia (as of 2021-01-19).

Here are some aggregate details of the Greek text.

Books: 27
Chapters: 260
Verses: 7,895
Words: 137,098
Letters: 685,227 (not punctuation or spaces)

The individual letter distributions and counts are below.

Here are the number of times each letter in the Greek alphabet appears in a word:

"only" : as the only letter in a word.
"first" : as the first letter in a word (not the only letter).
"middle" : as a middle letter in a word.
"last" : as the last letter in a word (not the only letter).

Tischendorf Greek letter distribution
Letter	Only	First	Middle	Last	All
α	115	16,089	50,027	9,488	75,719
β	0	1,179	2,300	34	3,513
γ	0	2,961	8,066	2	11,029
δ	22	6,804	5,807	77	12,710
ε	0	21,937	38,067	7,050	67,054
ζ	0	530	1,037	2	1,569
η	1,412	3,254	17,022	5,148	26,836
θ	0	2,440	8,157	126	10,723
ι	202	3,532	37,423	30,772	71,929
κ	0	14,040	8,298	1,526	23,864
λ	0	2,620	15,332	336	18,288
μ	0	5,639	13,667	247	19,553
ν	0	1,042	20,352	34,915	56,309
ξ	0	58	1,847	322	2,227
ο	3,128	9,376	49,655	3,887	66,046
π	0	10,570	10,601	285	21,456
ρ	0	232	21,172	1,657	23,061
σ	0	4,114	20,382	26,986	51,482
τ	0	18,431	32,230	254	50,915
υ	0	3,338	25,993	10,085	39,416
φ	0	1,259	2,607	171	4,037
χ	0	1,583	3,528	114	5,225
ψ	0	206	734	4	944
ω	143	1,125	14,407	5,646	21,321
Ϛ	0	0	0	1	1

From the above table, note the following.

The digamma or stigma (end of table) appears exactly one time, as the ending 6 in 666 in Revelation 13:18.

The letters that are combinations of sounds appear the least frequently. These are the following.

"ζ" as "τς" as in English "ts".
"ξ" as "κς" as in English "ks".
"ψ" as "πς" as in English "ps".

There are three places in the GNT where the same word is repeated three times in a row.

"Jerusalem Jerusalem Jerusalem" in Luke 13:33-34 (end of verse 33, beginning of verse 34)
"Holy Holy Holy" in Revelation 4:8
"Woe Woe Woe" in Revelation 8:13

The only such three-peat to have a hymn is that of "Holy, Holy, Holy".

More: Song: Holy, Holy, Holy

There is as of yet no hymn for "Woe, Woe, Woe".

Luke 13:33 Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. [kjv]

… ιερουσαλημ [gnt]

13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! [kjv]

ιερουσαλημ ιερουσαλημ … [gnt]

The verse in Luke 13:33 ends with "Jerusalem" and then repeats that word twice more at the start of the next verse.

This is one of three places in the GNT where a word is repeated three times.

Luke 13:33

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KJV: Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.

Greek: πλην δει με σημερον και αυριον και τη εχομενη πορευεσθαι οτι ουκ ενδεχεται προφητην απολεσθαι εξω ιερουσαλημ

Latin: verumtamen oportet me hodie et cras et sequenti ambulare quia non capit prophetam perire extra Hierusalem

Wessex: Þeah-hwaeðere me ge-bereð to-daig & to-morgen. & þy aeftere daige gan. forþan ne bëreð þaet se witega for-wurðe buton ierusalem.

Wycliffe: Netheles it bihoueth me to dai, and to morewe, and the dai that sueth, to walke; for it fallith not a profete to perische out of Jerusalem.

Tyndale: Neverthelesse I must walke todaye and tomorowe and the daye folowinge: For it cannot be that a Prophet perishe eny other where save at Ierusalem.

Luther: Doch muß ich heute und morgen und am Tage danach wandeln; denn es tut's nicht, daß ein Prophet umkomme außer Jerusalem.

Luke 13:34

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KJV: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

Greek: ιερουσαλημ ιερουσαλημ η αποκτεινουσα τους προφητας και λιθοβολουσα τους απεσταλμενους προς αυτην ποσακις ηθελησα επισυναξαι τα τεκνα σου ον τροπον ορνις την εαυτης νοσσιαν υπο τας πτερυγας και ουκ ηθελησατε

Latin: Hierusalem Hierusalem quae occidis prophetas et lapidas eos qui mittuntur ad te quotiens volui congregare filios tuos quemadmodum avis nidum suum sub pinnis et noluisti

Wessex: Eale ierusalem ierusalem. þu þe þa witegen of-sleahst. & haenst þa þe to þe asent synden. hu ofte ic wolde þine bearn ge-gaderian. swa se fugel doð his nyst under his fyðeren & þu noldest.

Wycliffe: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that sleest profetis, and stonest hem that ben sent to thee, hou ofte wolde Y gadre togider thi sones, as a brid gaderith his nest vndur fethris, and thou woldist not.

Tyndale: O Ierusalem Ierusalem which kyllest prophetes and stonest them that are sent to ye: how often wolde I have gadered thy childre to gedder as the hen gathereth her nest vnder her wynges but ye wolde not.

Luther: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, die du tötest die Propheten und steinigest, die zu dir gesandt werden, wie oft habe ich wollen deine Kinder versammeln wie eine Henne ihr Nest unter ihre Flügel; und ihr habt nicht gewollt!

Revelation 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. [kjv]

… ζωα … αγιος αγιος αγιος … [gnt]

The word repeated three times in Revelation 4:7 is "holy". A popular hymn is based on this word repeated three times is the hymn "Holy, holy holy".

More: Song: Holy, Holy, Holy

Revelation 4:8

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KJV: And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

Greek: και τα τεσσαρα ζωα εν καθ εαυτο ειχον εν αυτων εχων ανα πτερυγας εξ κυκλοθεν και εσωθεν γεμοντα γεμουσιν οφθαλμων και αναπαυσιν ουκ εχουσιν ημερας και νυκτος λεγοντα λεγοντες αγιος αγιος αγιος κυριος ο θεος ο παντοκρατωρ ο ην και ο ων και ο ερχομενος

Latin: et quattuor animalia singula eorum habebant alas senas et in circuitu et intus plena sunt oculis et requiem non habent die et nocte dicentia sanctus sanctus sanctus Dominus Deus omnipotens qui erat et qui est et qui venturus est

Wycliffe: And the foure beestis hadden euery of hem sixe wyngis; and al aboute and with ynne thei weren ful of iyen; and thei hadden not reste dai and nyyt, seiynge, Hooli, hooli, hooli, the Lord God almyyti, that was, and that is, and that is to comynge.

Tyndale: And the iiii. bestes had eche one of them vi. wynges aboute him and they were full of eyes with in. And they had noo reste daye nether nyght sayinge: holy holy holy lorde god almyghty which was and is and is to come.

Luther: Und ein jegliches der vier Tiere hatte sechs Flügel umher, und waren inwendig voll Augen; und hatten keine Ruhe Tag und Nacht und sprachen: Heilig, heilig, heilig ist Gott, der Herr, der Allmächtige, der da war, und der da ist, und der da kommt!

Revelation 8:13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound! [kjv]

… ουαι ουαι ουαι… [gnt]

The word repeated three times in Revelation 8:13 the ancient Greek word "οὐαί" ≈ "woe, alas". The Greek word, and the English word to some extent, is onomatopoeic in that, if one thinks of eagles (or vultures) lurking overhead ready to feast making a screeching sound as they swoop one gets an idea of the meaning. Unlike "Holy, holy, holy", there does not appear to be any popular hymn with the title "woe, woe, woe".

What is a song that uses "woe" three times? Hint: Sung by a cartoon character.

Elmer Fudd: Row, row, row your boat.

More: Song: Holy, Holy, Holy

More: Eagles and woeful eagle sounds