ἐπιφανής

From the study of Acts 2:20

Range of meaning

From epi- ('upon') and phainō ('to shine, appear'). Its meanings: (1) clearly visible, conspicuous; (2) well known, notable, distinguished, of people or places; (3) in religious use, a god who 'appears' or shows his power to help or punish. Its noun, epiphaneia, was the normal word for a god appearing or a ruler arriving in state (BDAG; LSJ).

Against the English

KJV has 'notable', YLT 'illustrious', ESV 'magnificent', and BSB, NIV, NASB, NLT and WEB 'glorious'. To modern ears 'glorious' sounds splendid and happy. The Greek stresses that God shows himself openly and beyond doubt. Behind it is Joel's Hebrew nora, 'fearsome, terrible' (Vulgate on Joel: horribilis), which is anything but cheerful.

How it drifted

The Septuagint translators seem to have read the Hebrew נוֹרָא (nora, 'feared, dreadful', from yaraʾ, 'to fear') as if it came from raʾah, 'to see' (nirʾah, 'be seen'). The consonants look alike. The same choice of epiphanēs for nora shows up elsewhere in the Septuagint, for example Mal 3:22 (Eng. 4:5) 'the great and epiphanē day of the Lord' and Hab 1:7. English versions that follow the Greek then made 'manifest' into 'glorious', which loses the dread.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hellenistic kings took it as a title: Antiochus IV 'Epiphanes' ('God Manifest'), the king remembered in Daniel and 1–2 Maccabees as Judea's persecutor. Inscriptions call rulers and gods theos epiphanēs. In 2 Maccabees, epiphaneia means God appearing in power to rescue his people and strike their enemies (2 Macc 2:21; 3:24; 12:22). Later NT books use the noun for Christ's coming appearance (2 Thess 2:8; Titus 2:13).

From the study of 4 Maccabees 4:15

Range of meaning

From ἐπιφαίνω, "to appear, show forth." (1) Visible, coming into view, manifest. It was used especially of gods who showed their presence by appearing or intervening. (2) Conspicuous, notable, illustrious, distinguished (of people, places, days). (3) As a cult title of Hellenistic kings, it claimed the ruler was a god made manifest, or a ruler whose arrival was a divine "appearing."

Against the English

English translations simply carry the name over as "Epiphanes," so its meaning disappears. Readers who connect it with English "epiphany" usually think of a sudden insight, or of the church feast of the Magi. Neither is in view. The title means "the god who has appeared" or "the illustrious one."

How it drifted

English "epiphany" comes from the same Greek root. Through the Christian feast (the manifestation of Christ) and later literary use, it came to mean a moment of sudden realisation. That shift turned a claim about divine appearance into a word about insight.

Used elsewhere in the period

Antiochus IV's coins read ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ, "of King Antiochus, God Manifest." Some issues add ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ, "Victory-bearer." Ptolemy V of Egypt also bore the title Epiphanes (Rosetta Stone). The historian Polybius (26.1, preserved in Athenaeus) reports that people mocked Antiochus as Epimanēs, "the Madman," a one-letter pun. 1 Macc 1:10 and 2 Macc 4:7 also use the title. In 2 Maccabees the related noun ἐπιφάνεια is used for God's own saving "appearances" (2 Macc 2:21; 3:24).