Greek word · G1693
ἐμμαίνομαι
emmainomai
be enraged
Built from ἐν ('in/against') and μαίνομαι ('to be mad, insane, raving'): 'to rage madly against'. The word carries an idea of lost reason, not just strong anger. It is rare and appears only here in the NT.
Appears once in 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
Built from ἐν ('in/against') and μαίνομαι ('to be mad, insane, raving'): 'to rage madly against'. The word carries an idea of lost reason, not just strong anger. It is rare and appears only here in the NT.
- Against the English
KJV and YLT 'exceedingly mad against them' keeps the link to insanity, though modern readers may hear only 'angry'. BSB 'raging fury', ESV 'raging fury' and WEB 'enraged' keep the intensity but lose the madness root. NIV recasts it as obsession.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The root verb μαίνομαι reappears a few lines later. Festus shouts 'You are mad (μαίνῃ), Paul!' (Acts 26:24), and Paul answers 'I am not mad (οὐ μαίνομαι)' (26:25). Lexicons (BDAG, LSJ) list ἐμμαίνομαι in later Greek, including Josephus, for frenzied rage.
Where it appears
Acts · 1
-
Acts 26:11 ἐμμαινόμενος being furious
I frequently had them punished in the synagogues, and I tried to make them blaspheme. In my raging fury against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.
Here: Literally 'being mad against', built on the verb for insanity. Paul describes his past fury as a kind of madness, and the word sets up Festus's outburst 'You are out of your mind, Paul!' (v. 24).
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.