Greek word · G1840

ἐξισχύω

exischyō

to have power

To be fully strong, to have enough strength or ability to do something, to be equal to a task. The prefix ex- intensifies the simple verb ischyō ('be strong, be able'): this is not just being able but being fully able.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἐξ-ισχύω

[in LXX: Sirach 7:6 * ;]

to have strength enough, to be quite able: with inf., Ephesians 3:18.†

(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 Ephesians 3:18

Range of meaning

To be fully strong, to have enough strength or ability to do something, to be equal to a task. The prefix ex- intensifies the simple verb ischyō ('be strong, be able'): this is not just being able but being fully able.

Against the English

KJV and NASB's 'may be able' turns it into simple possibility and loses the note of strength. ESV's 'have strength', BSB's 'have power', WEB's 'be strengthened' and YLT's 'be in strength' keep the idea of power given for the task.

How it drifted

Not a drift in the English word. It is a flattening in some translations: 'be able' sounds like ordinary capacity, whereas the Greek implies a capacity people do not have by nature and must be strengthened into.

Used elsewhere in the period

Only here in the New Testament. It is rare in Greek generally. It appears in the Greek Old Testament at Sirach 7:6 (being strong enough to root out injustice) and in a few later Greek writers, always in the sense of 'having the strength to accomplish'. (BDAG s.v.)

Where it appears

Ephesians · 1

  1. Ephesians 3:18 ἐξισχύσητε you may be fully able

    will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth

    Here: A rare compound found only here in the New Testament. The prefix ex- strengthens ischyō (be strong): 'have strength enough', 'be fully up to it'. It is aorist subjunctive, so it pictures the ability actually being given, and it is plural, addressed to the whole group.

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