Bible Lexicons

Berry's Synonyms of the New TestamentBerry's NT Synonyms

Tribe, Family, Household

φυλή, πατριά, οἶκος.

These words form a series. φυλή is sometime a race, nation, but usually a tribe, such as one of the twelve tribes of Israel, descended from the twelve sons of Jacob. πατριά is a smaller division within the tribe, it is an association of families closely related, in the N.T. generally used of those descended from a particular one of the sons of Jacob's sons. οἶκος is yet narrower, household, including all the inmates of a single house, being the unit of organization.