Greek word · G1038
βυρσεύς
byrseus
tanner
'Tanner': someone who turns raw animal hides into leather. It comes from byrsa, 'hide, skin'. The job meant scraping off flesh and hair and soaking the hides in lime, tannin and other liquids, including dung and urine. It was smelly, wet work.
Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
'Tanner': someone who turns raw animal hides into leather. It comes from byrsa, 'hide, skin'. The job meant scraping off flesh and hair and soaking the hides in lime, tannin and other liquids, including dung and urine. It was smelly, wet work.
- Against the English
'Tanner' is an exact equivalent. English readers simply lack the sensory picture of the trade: the stench, the vats of water, and why such workshops were kept away from homes.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The Greek word is common in papyri and literary texts for the trade. In the New Testament it appears only at Acts 9:43, 10:6 and 10:32. Jewish legal sources compiled about 200 AD treat tanning as an offensive trade. The Mishnah (m. Ketubbot 7:10) lists the tanner among men whose wives could ask a court to force a divorce, apparently because of the smell. It also requires tanneries to stand fifty cubits outside a town, together with carcasses and graves (m. Bava Batra 2:9). These texts are later than Acts and tell us about smell and low social standing, not about the tanner being religiously excluded.
- Range of meaning
A hide-worker or tanner, from βύρσα ("hide, skin"). The job was to take skins from slaughtered animals, scrape off flesh and hair, and cure them into leather. Ancient tanning used lime, animal dung, urine, plant tannins such as oak bark or sumac, and a lot of water.
- Against the English
"Tanner" is accurate. What modern readers miss is what the job was like: the smell was strong enough that towns kept tanneries at the edge of settlement. Readers also miss a second point. Some sermons treat the job as a byword for ritual uncleanness, but the evidence for that is weaker than is usually assumed (see debates).
- Used elsewhere in the period
In the New Testament the word appears only in Acts 9:43; 10:6; 10:32. Greek papyri and inscriptions use it as an ordinary trade name. Later Jewish legal texts show that the trade was socially disliked. The Mishnah (compiled c. 200 CE) requires tanneries to be at least fifty cubits from a town, and only on the east side, so that the prevailing wind carries the smell away (m. Bava Batra 2:9). It also lists the tanner among men whose wives may demand a divorce, because of the odour (m. Ketubbot 7:10). These texts are later than Acts and are about smell and social standing, not about a fixed state of impurity.
Where it appears
Acts · 3
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Acts 9:43 βυρσεῖ.¶ a tanner.
And Peter stayed for several days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon.
Here: A tanner: someone who turned raw animal hides (byrsa) into leather. The work was smelly and low in status, and it was usually done at the edge of town and near water. Luke repeats the label three times (9:43; 10:6, 32), mainly to tell the two Simons apart.
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Acts 10:6 βυρσεῖ, a tanner,
He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
Here: His trade, used as a label to tell him apart ('Simon the tanner'), the way people were known by their work. It also tells the messengers where to look: a tannery has its own smell and its own location.
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Acts 10:32 βυρσέως a tanner
Therefore send to Joppa for Simon, who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, by the sea.’
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.