When I first heard the word laos, I thought of the country Laos in Southeast Asia. I wondered if its name somehow came from the Greek word. The answer is no. So, moving on. The Greek word laos usually means a people, people group, tribe, or nation. Sometimes it can just mean a crowd. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/laos.html)
According to Strong’s it occurs 142 times in the New Testament.
Many times in the New Testament, this word laos refers to the Jewish people. Sometimes it describes Christians. A few times it just refers to a crowd that is gathered. You’ll see ‘my people’, ‘the people’, ‘His people’, and ‘a people’ talked about in the New Testament.
Matthew 1:21 NIV She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Jesus means Jehovah is salvation.)
Luke 2:30-32 NIV For my eyes have see your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel. (The King James reads ‘before the face of all people’ instead of ‘in the sight of all nations’.)
Luke 7:29 NIV All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John.
John 18:14 NIV Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people.
Acts 10:41-42 NIV He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen–by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.
Romans 11:1-2 NIV I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah–how he appealed to God against Israel.
2 Corinthians 6:16 NIV What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
Hebrews 4:9 NIV There remains, then, a Sabbath–rest for the people of God
2 Peter 2:1 NIV But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.
Other verses:
Matthew 4:23, 13:15, 26:47
Mark 7:6, 14:2
Luke 1:68, 3:14-15, 19:47, 23:14
John 8:2, 11:50
Acts 4:2, 5:12-13, 13:24, 26:17
Romans 9:25-26, 15:11
1 Corinthians 14:21
Titus 2:14
Hebrews 5:3, 7:5, 8:10
1 Peter 2:9-10
Jude 1:5
Revelation 5:9, 7:9, 21:3
The G/K number for laos is 3295.
The Strong’s number for laos is 2992.
