Greek word · G1710

ἐμπορεύομαι

emporeuomai

to traffic in

To travel for trade, to do business as an ἔμπορος: a wholesale merchant who moved goods between cities by sea or caravan, as opposed to a local shopkeeper (κάπηλος). With a direct object it can also mean “to exploit, make merchandise of” someone (2 Peter 2:3).

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 23, 2026

What it means

ἐμ-πορεύομαι depon.

(ἔμπορος), [in LXX chiefly for סָחַר ;]

1. to travel, esp. for business.

2. to traffc, trade: James 4:13.

3. C. accusative of thing(s)

(a) to traffic in;

(b) to import: (Hosea 12:1, for יָבַל hoph.).

4. C. accusative of person(s), to make a gain of: 2 Peter 2:3.†

(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 James 4:13

Range of meaning: To travel for trade, to do business as an ἔμπορος: a wholesale merchant who moved goods between cities by sea or caravan, as opposed to a local shopkeeper (κάπηλος). With a direct object it can also mean “to exploit, make merchandise of” someone (2 Peter 2:3).
Against the English: BSB “carry on business”, NIV “carry on business”, ESV “trade”, NASB “engage in business”, KJV “buy and sell”. All are fine. YLT “traffic” was neutral in older English but now suggests drug or human trafficking, which is not meant here.
How it drifted: “Traffic” narrowed in modern English to illegal trade. The Greek here is neutral commerce.
Used elsewhere in the period: LXX Genesis 34:10, 21 and 42:34 (“trade in the land”). Proverbs 3:14 LXX uses it for “trading in” wisdom. Ezekiel 27 lists Tyre’s ἔμποροι. In the NT the related ἔμπορος appears in Matthew 13:45 (merchant seeking pearls) and Revelation 18:3, 11, 15, 23 (the “merchants of the earth”).

From the study of 2 Peter 2:3

Range of meaning: To travel as a merchant, to trade or do business (Jas 4:13). With a direct object, to trade in something, to deal in it as merchandise. With a person as object it means to exploit someone for profit or cheat them.
Against the English: KJV/YLT 'make merchandise of you' keeps the commercial picture. BSB/WEB/ESV/NASB/NIV 'exploit' gives the sense but loses the marketplace. NLT turns it into getting 'your money', which is too narrow.
Used elsewhere in the period: A common verb in papyri and literature for commerce. The related noun emporion, 'market', appears in John 2:16, 'a house of trade'. Didache 12.5 warns against a so-called believer who is a christemporos, a 'Christ-merchant', who uses the faith to live off the community. Compare also 2 Cor 2:17, 'peddling the word of God'.

Where it appears

James · 1

James 4:13 ἐμπορευσόμεθα will trade

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”

Here: To do business as a travelling merchant (an emporos), buying in one place and selling in another. It echoes “we will go” (poreusometha): their travel and their trade are one enterprise.

2 Peter · 1

2 Peter 2:3 ἐμπορεύσονται, they will exploit,

In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.

Here: Merchant language. With a person as its object it means to treat people as merchandise, as a source of profit. The future tense fits the letter's 'farewell prediction' framing (2:1, 'there will be').

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