Greek word · G2039

ἐργασία

ergasia

work

Work, business, trade, and the profit or income that comes from it.

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἐργασία, -ας, ἡ

(ἔργον), [in LXX for מְלָאכָה, עֲבֹדָה, etc. ;]

1. work, business: Acts 16:16, 19 19:24-25; δὸς ἐ. (Lat. da operam), Luke 12:58.

2. working, performance: Ephesians 4:19.†

(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 Acts 16:16

Range of meaning

Work, business, trade, and the profit or income that comes from it.

Against the English

BSB 'a large income', KJV/WEB 'much gain', YLT 'much employment'. All of these are fair. What English cannot show is that the identical word comes back in v. 19 and in 19:24–25, so the link is lost.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used in the papyri for trade and earnings. In Acts 19:24–25, Demetrius the silversmith gathers the craftsmen and says 'from this ergasia we have our wealth' when Paul's preaching threatens the shrine trade of Artemis in Ephesus.

From the study of Ephesians 4:19

Range of meaning

Work, activity, practice. It can also mean trade or business, and the profit from it.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'to work'. YLT 'the working'. BSB/NASB 'the practice'. NIV 'so as to indulge'. 'Indulge' sounds passive and pleasurable, while ergasia is active and laborious.

Used elsewhere in the period

Acts 16:16, 19 (the slave girl's owners' 'profit'), Acts 19:24–25 (the silversmiths' 'business' at Ephesus), Luke 12:58 ('make an effort').

From the study of Acts 16:19

Range of meaning

Work or labor. It also means a business or trade, and the profit or income a trade produces. In Luke 12:58 it means 'make an effort'.

Against the English

KJV 'gains', WEB 'gain', BSB 'making money', YLT 'employment'. YLT's 'employment' is too literal and suggests a job the owners held. The sense here is the revenue the girl's 'trade' produced.

Used elsewhere in the period

Acts 16:16 says she 'brought her masters much ergasia'. Acts 19:24–25 uses the same word for the silversmiths' trade in Ephesus: Demetrius 'brought no little business (ergasia) to the craftsmen', 'from this business (ergasia) we have our prosperity'. It is ordinary commercial language in Greek sources.

Where it appears

Luke · 1

  1. Luke 12:58 ἐργασίαν earnestness

    Make every effort to reconcile with your adversary while you are on your way to the magistrate. Otherwise, he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and the officer may throw you into prison.

    Here: Literally 'work'. 'Give work' copies the Latin business phrase da operam, 'take pains, see to it', so it means active labour rather than a kindly attitude.

Acts · 4

  1. Acts 16:16 ἐργασίαν gain

    One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl with a spirit of divination, who earned a large income for her masters by fortune-telling.

    Here: 'Business' or 'trade': the money her divining produced. Luke uses the same word in v. 19, when her owners see their 'hope of profit' disappear. That repetition sets up the lawsuit that follows.

  2. Acts 16:19 ἐργασίας profit

    When the girl’s owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities in the marketplace.

    Here: The income produced by her fortune-telling. Verse 16 uses the same word: she 'brought her masters much ergasia'. This is commercial language for a trade and what it earns.

  3. Acts 19:24 ἐργασίαν, business

    It began with a silversmith named Demetrius who made silver shrines of Artemis, bringing much business to the craftsmen.

  4. Acts 19:25 ἐργασίας business

    Demetrius assembled the craftsmen, along with the workmen in related trades. “Men,” he said, “you know that this business is our source of prosperity.

Ephesians · 1

  1. Ephesians 4:19 ἐργασίαν [the] working

    Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more.

    Here: An active 'working' of impurity, done as a regular practice. Elsewhere in the New Testament the word can mean a business or its income (Acts 16:19; 19:25), so 'making a trade of it' may be heard alongside.

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