foundation
themelios is the base laid for building, used also for a settled basis, a city’s structural supports, and a starting point for instruction.
The term most often identifies the base on which someone builds, whether in construction imagery or in statements about building upon what has been laid. It also denotes a starting or settled basis in teaching and conduct, and plural forms describe the supporting structures of a city.
Senses in use
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A base laid for building · dominant
In 1 Corinthians 3:10, the accusative singular occurs where a master-builder has laid a base and another builds upon it; 1 Corinthians 3:11 states that no other such base can be laid. Luke 6:48 contrasts a house whose base was laid on rock with Luke 6:49, where a house is built without one; Romans 15:20 likewise uses the building-upon-another’s-base image.
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A settled starting basis · occasional
Hebrews 6:1 speaks of not laying again a basis connected with repentance and faith, while 1 Timothy 6:19 describes storing up a good basis toward coming life. In 2 Timothy 2:19, the nominative singular is said to stand firm and to bear a seal.
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Structural supports of a city · occasional
Hebrews 11:10 describes a city having plural supports whose designer and builder is God. Revelation 21:14 places twelve names on the city wall’s supports, and Revelation 21:19 describes those supports as adorned with precious stones.
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the supplied verses, the APB regularly uses “foundation” for the building base and for the city’s supports, including “foundations” in Hebrews 11:10 and Revelation 21:19. It also presents the term in broader clauses about a “good foundation” and building on another’s foundation; these renderings reflect whole-verse translation rather than word alignment.