Greek word · G1091
γεώργιον
geōrgion
farm field
Cultivated land, a farm or field under tillage. It can also mean the act or result of cultivation. It comes from γεωργός, 'farmer' (literally 'earth-worker').
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
γεώργιον, -ου, τό
(γεωργός), [in LXX, frequently in Pr., for שָׂדֶה, etc. ;]
1. a field (Proverbs 24:5, 30, Strabo).
2. cultivation, husbandry, tillage (Proverbs 6:7 9:12, Jer.28:23, Sirach 27:6): 1 Corinthians 3:9.
† (AS)
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
From the study of 1 Corinthians 3:9
- Range of meaning
Cultivated land, a farm or field under tillage. It can also mean the act or result of cultivation. It comes from γεωργός, 'farmer' (literally 'earth-worker').
- Against the English
BSB/ESV/NIV 'field' is accurate but loses the sense of land that is being worked. WEB 'farming' and YLT 'tillage' keep it. KJV 'husbandry' was accurate in 1611 but now misleads (see drift).
- How it drifted
Only the KJV word has drifted. 'Husbandry' once meant the cultivation of land and now suggests animal breeding, or sounds like it has to do with husbands.
- Used elsewhere in the period
This is the only time it appears in the New Testament. In the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament): Gen 26:14 (Isaac's many farmlands), Prov 24:30 (the field of the lazy man, overgrown with thorns), Sir 27:6 (a tree's cultivation shown by its fruit). Greek papyri from Egypt use it often for parcels of farmland.
Where it appears
1 Corinthians · 1
-
1 Corinthians 3:9 γεώργιον, field,
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Here: A worked piece of land: planted, watered, tended. It finishes the farming picture of vv. 6–8 (Paul planted, Apollos watered, God gave the growth).
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.