Greek word · G173

ἄκανθα

akantha

a thorn

A thorny plant: thornbush, bramble, briar, thistle-type weed. It is a general word for spiny, useless vegetation of uncultivated or abandoned land. The plural is often used collectively.

Appears 14 times in 11 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἄκανθα, -ης, ἡ

(ἀκή, a point), [in LXX chiefly for קוֹץ, also for סִיר, שַׁיִת, etc. ;]

a prickly plant, thorn, brier; in NT always pl.: Matthew 7:16 13:7,22 27:29, Mark 4:7,18, Luke 6:44 8:7,14, John 19:2, Hebrews 6:8 (see MM, VGT, see word).†

(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 7:16

Range of meaning

A thorny plant: thornbush, bramble, briar, thistle-type weed. It is a general word for spiny, useless vegetation of uncultivated or abandoned land. The plural is often used collectively.

Against the English

'Thorns' (KJV, WEB) can make English readers think of single prickles. 'Thornbushes' (BSB, ESV, NIV) better conveys whole plants that one might wrongly harvest from.

Used elsewhere in the period

Greek Genesis 3:18: the ground 'will bring forth thorns and thistles (akanthas kai tribolous) for you', the first time this exact pair appears, as a sign of the curse. Hosea 10:8 (LXX): 'thorns and thistles will come up on their altars'. Isaiah 5:2 (LXX): God's vineyard Israel was expected 'to produce grapes (staphylēn), but it produced thorns (akanthas)'. Hebrews 6:8 uses the same pair of land that is 'near to a curse' and ends in burning. In Matthew 13:7, 22 thorns choke the seed.

From the study of John 19:2

Range of meaning

Any thorny or prickly plant, a thorn bush, or the thorns themselves. It is a general word, not a botanical species.

Against the English

"Thorns" is accurate. Readers may picture a particular plant, or the long spikes of modern artwork, but the text gives no detail beyond "thorny".

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX Gen 3:18 ("thorns and thistles" as part of the curse on the ground); Isa 5:6; Jer 4:3; Hos 10:8. In the Gospels: thorns choking the seed (Matt 13:7); "grapes from thorns" (Matt 7:16). Mark 15:17 uses the related adjective akanthinos ("a thorny wreath"). Candidates proposed by botanists and scholars include Christ's-thorn jujube (Ziziphus spina-christi), thorny burnet (Sarcopoterium spinosum, a common firewood shrub), and the spines of date-palm leaves (H. St. J. Hart, 1952). The house plant sold as "crown of thorns" (Euphorbia milii) comes from Madagascar and can be ruled out.

From the study of Matthew 13:7

Range of meaning

A thorny or prickly plant: thornbush, bramble, thistle, any spiny weed. Sometimes it means a single thorn or prickle, but in agricultural settings it usually means the plants. It covers both woody thornbushes and annual thistles that spring up in cultivated fields.

Against the English

English "thorns" makes many readers picture a rose briar or a thick thorn hedge. In a Galilean grain field the likeliest picture is spiny weeds and thistles that come up from seed and root alongside the wheat or barley and overtop it in spring. The word itself does not name a species, so any precise botanical identification is a guess.

How it drifted

Modern English uses "thorn" mostly for the spike itself, or for hedges and roses. Seventeenth-century English, like the Greek, readily used "thorns" for thorny weeds in general.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint), ἄκανθα translates several Hebrew words for thorny plants. Gen 3:18 has ἀκάνθας καὶ τριβόλους, "thorns and thistles" that the cursed ground will produce. Jer 4:3 has the farmer's proverb "break up your fallow ground and do not sow among thorns" (Septuagint μὴ σπείρητε ἐπ' ἀκάνθαις, very close to Matthew's ἐπὶ τὰς ἀκάνθας). In Isaiah's song of the vineyard (Isa 5:6) thorns "come up" on neglected ground. Thorns were burned as quick fuel (Eccl 7:6; Ps 58:9). Greek writers on plants use the word broadly for spiny plants.

Similar words

Where it appears

Matthew · 5

  1. Matthew 7:16 ἀκανθῶν thorns

    By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

    Here: Thorny scrub that grows on neglected or cursed ground. In Isaiah 5:2 (Greek version) God's vineyard was supposed to produce grapes but 'produced thorns' (akanthas). Grapes and thorns are being set against each other as in that passage.

  2. Matthew 13:7 ἀκάνθας, ἄκανθαι thorns,, thorns

    Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings.

    Here: Thorny or prickly weeds, especially the thistles and spiny plants that infest grain fields. Here it means the plants themselves, possibly still just roots and seeds in the soil when the grain is sown. It does not mean single thorns.

  3. Matthew 13:22 ἀκάνθας thorns

    The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

    Here: Thorny weeds and thistles, the common pests of Palestinian grainfields. To a Jewish ear they also carry an echo of the curse on the ground (Genesis 3:18) and of the warning 'do not sow among thorns' (Jeremiah 4:3).

  4. Matthew 27:29 ἀκανθῶν thorns

    And they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand, knelt down before Him, and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

    Here: A general word for thorny plants or brambles. It is the same word as the thorns that choke the seed in the parable of the sower (13:7). It does not name a particular species.

Mark · 3

  1. Mark 4:7 ἀκάνθας, ἄκανθαι thorns,, thorns

    Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings, and they yielded no crop.

  2. Mark 4:18 ἀκάνθας thorns

    Others are like the seeds sown among the thorns. They hear the word,

Luke · 4

  1. Luke 6:44 ἀκανθῶν thorns

    For each tree is known by its own fruit. Indeed, figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor grapes from brambles.

  2. Luke 8:7 ἀκανθῶν, ἄκανθαι thorns,, thorns

    Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the seedlings.

  3. Luke 8:14 ἀκάνθας thorns

    The seeds that fell among the thorns are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life, and their fruit does not mature.

    Here: Thorny weeds and thistles that took over Palestinian fields. They grow fast and crowd out grain. It is the same word used for the crown of thorns (Matt 27:29).

John · 1

  1. John 19:2 ἀκανθῶν thorns

    The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns, set it on His head, and dressed Him in a purple robe.

    Here: A general word for any thorny or prickly plant. It does not name a species. The material makes the crown both ridiculous and painful.

Hebrews · 1

  1. Hebrews 6:8 ἀκάνθας thorns

    But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless, and its curse is imminent. In the end it will be burned.

    Here: Thorny weeds. Together with the next word it repeats the exact pair from the curse on the ground in Genesis 3:18 (Greek Old Testament).

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