Greek word · G1477
ἑδραίωμα
hedraiōma
foundation
From hedraios, 'seated, settled, firm' (1 Cor 7:37; 15:58; Col 1:23), and hedraioō, 'to make firm'. The noun means 'that which makes firm': a foundation, base, support, mainstay or buttress.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament.
What it means
ἑδραίωμα, -τος, τό
(ἑδραῖος),
a support, bulwark, stay (Vg. fermamentum): 1 Timothy 3:15 (eccl.).†
(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 Timothy 3:15
- Range of meaning
From hedraios, 'seated, settled, firm' (1 Cor 7:37; 15:58; Col 1:23), and hedraioō, 'to make firm'. The noun means 'that which makes firm': a foundation, base, support, mainstay or buttress. It is not found in any Greek text before this verse, so its exact nuance is inferred from its root and this context.
- Against the English
KJV/WEB 'ground', BSB/NIV/NLT/YLT 'foundation', ESV 'buttress', NASB 'support'. 'Foundation' suggests the base under a building; 'buttress' and 'support' suggest bracing that keeps it standing. The root (firmness, holding steady) suits both, and translators split for that reason.
- How it drifted
KJV 'ground' meant 'foundation, base' in 1611 (as in 'groundwork'). Today it suggests soil or the earth, or the 'grounds' (reasons) for something.
- Used elsewhere in the period
A hapax legomenon: a word occurring only once in the New Testament, and not found earlier in surviving Greek. The Vulgate renders it firmamentum (a support, prop). Later Christian writers take it from here. A close conceptual parallel is the Dead Sea Scrolls Community Rule, which describes the community as laying 'a foundation of truth for Israel' (1QS 5:5) and as 'a house of holiness' and 'house of… truth in Israel' (1QS 8:5–9).
Similar words
Where it appears
1 Timothy · 1
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1 Timothy 3:15 ἑδραίωμα base
in case I am delayed, so that you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
Here: Something that makes firm and holds steady: a base, support or buttress. It comes from a root meaning 'seated, firm, unmoved'. The word appears nowhere else in the New Testament or in earlier Greek.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.