Greek word · G1114

γόης

goēs

imposter

The word is usually traced to γοάω, 'to wail', for the moaning chant of spells and laments. In classical Greek it means (1) a sorcerer or enchanter. In the first century sense 3 dominates, but the shade of magic and spellbinding is still there.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

γόης, -ητος, ὁ (γοάω, to wail),

1. a wailer.

2. a wizard.

3. an impostor (cf. γοητεία, trickery, 2Ma.12:24): 2 Timothy 3:13.

† (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 2 Timothy 3:13

Range of meaning

The word is usually traced to γοάω, 'to wail', for the moaning chant of spells and laments. In classical Greek it means (1) a sorcerer or enchanter. It then broadened to (2) a juggler or trickster who fools people with appearances, and (3) a charlatan, impostor or swindler, especially a fake holy man or a slick teacher who 'bewitches' an audience. In the first century sense 3 dominates, but the shade of magic and spellbinding is still there.

Against the English

Modern versions say 'impostors', which is accurate but loses the spellbinding, wonder-working colour. KJV's 'seducers' meant 'those who lead aside' in 1611, but today it suggests sexual seduction, which is not in the word.

How it drifted

'Seducer' (Latin seducere, 'to lead aside', via the Vulgate's seductores) once meant someone who leads people away from the truth. In modern English it has narrowed to sexual enticement.

Used elsewhere in the period

Herodotus 4.105 says the Neuri were reputed to be γόητες who could turn into wolves. In Plato, Republic 380d asks whether God is a γόης who deceives by changing shape, Symposium 203d calls Eros 'a clever γόης, sorcerer and sophist', and Sophist 235a classes the sophist as a γόης and imitator. Josephus uses the word for the wonder-promising pretend prophets of first-century Judea: Theudas (Antiquities 20.97), 'impostors and deceivers' who led crowds into the desert (Ant. 20.167), and the Egyptian false prophet (Jewish War 2.261). It occurs only here in the New Testament and not at all in the canonical LXX.

Where it appears

2 Timothy · 1

  1. 2 Timothy 3:13 γόητες imposters

    while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

    Here: A word that began with sorcerers chanting spells and came to mean a con man who dazzles people into believing him. It looks back to Jannes and Jambres, Pharaoh's magicians, in verse 8.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.