Greek word · G1711

ἐμπορία

emporia

trade/business

Trade, commerce, the merchant's business. It is related to emporos ('merchant', originally a traveller by sea or land trading goods) and emporion ('market, trading-post', from which English gets 'emporium').

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἐμπορία, -ας, ἡ

(ἔμπορος), [in LXX for סָחַר, רָכַל etc. ;]

commerce, business, trade: Matthew 22:5.†

(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 Matthew 22:5

Range of meaning

Trade, commerce, the merchant's business. It is related to emporos ('merchant', originally a traveller by sea or land trading goods) and emporion ('market, trading-post', from which English gets 'emporium').

Against the English

KJV and WEB have 'merchandise'. BSB, ESV and NLT have 'business'. YLT has 'merchandise'. In Greek it names the activity of trading, which 'business' captures better than 'merchandise'.

How it drifted

In 1611 'merchandise' could still mean the activity of trading, 'the business of a merchant'. Today it means only the goods on the shelves.

Used elsewhere in the period

This is its only appearance in the New Testament. The Septuagint uses it for commerce in Ezek 27 (the trade of Tyre) and elsewhere. In the papyri and classical Greek it is the normal word for commercial dealings.

Similar words

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

  1. Matthew 22:5 ἐμπορίαν business

    But they paid no attention and went away, one to his field, another to his business.

    Here: Wholesale trading, the merchant's business of buying and selling goods. It means the activity of trading, not the goods. The word appears only here in the New Testament.

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