δῆμος

From the study of Acts 12:22

Range of meaning

In classical and Hellenistic Greek, (1) the common people or populace of a city; (2) more technically, the citizen body gathered as a political assembly. In Greek city inscriptions it is the standard word for the civic body that passed decrees ("the council and the people," hē boulē kai ho dēmos). In the New Testament it appears only four times, all in Acts (12:22; 17:5; 19:30, 33), and every time of a public crowd in a Greek-style city.

Against the English

English "the people" is accurate but colourless. Most readers of Acts meet "the people" mainly as Luke's word laos, the people of Israel. Here the word is different, and it marks a civic, largely Gentile crowd in Caesarea, the Roman administrative capital.

How it drifted

Not drift in the word itself. The issue is that English uses one word, "people," for two Greek terms that Luke keeps apart.

Used elsewhere in the period

Common in Greek civic inscriptions and in Josephus for city populations. Josephus' account of the same event (Antiquities 19.343–350) also places it in Caesarea, at a festival with a large crowd of the province's leading men and ordinary people, and he attributes the flattery to "flatterers" (kolakes) in the crowd.

From the study of 1 Maccabees 12:6

Range of meaning

The people of a Greek city as a political body: the citizen assembly, or the community as a whole. It is also used more loosely for the populace or the crowd.

Against the English

KJV: 'the other of the Jews', with no word for 'people'. Brenton: 'the other people'. WEB: 'the rest of the people'. None of them can easily convey the civic flavour of the word, the sense of a people with a recognised political voice.

Used elsewhere in the period

Greek civic decrees and letters were routinely issued in the name of 'the council and the people' (hē boulē kai ho dēmos). In the Septuagint, dēmos is rarer than laos, the usual word for 'the people (of God)'. In the New Testament it appears in Acts (12:22; 17:5; 19:30, 33) for the town assembly or crowd.

From the study of Acts 17:5

Range of meaning

The people as a political body: the citizenry of a Greek city, and often its formal assembly (ekklēsia) in session. It is distinct from ochlos, the unorganised crowd.

Against the English

KJV, BSB, NASB and WEB have 'the people'. ESV and NIV have 'the crowd'. NRSV has 'the assembly'. 'Crowd' blurs the civic sense, which Luke may have intended.

How it drifted

Modern 'the people' sounds vague and populist. In a Greek free city, dēmos was a constitutional term.

Used elsewhere in the period

Inscriptions from Greek cities regularly open their decrees with 'the council and the dēmos'. Luke uses dēmos in Acts 12:22 (Herod and the people of Caesarea) and in Acts 19:30, 33 (the Ephesian assembly in the theatre). Thessalonica, as a free city, had its own council and assembly.