ἐρεθίζω

From the study of 2 Corinthians 9:2

Range of meaning

To stir up, rouse, provoke. Usually negative: to irritate, exasperate, goad into anger. Occasionally positive: to stimulate or spur on.

Against the English

KJV "provoked"; WEB/YLT "stirred up"; BSB/NIV "stirred... to do likewise / to action." Modern "provoked" sounds like angered, which misleads here.

How it drifted

In 1611 "provoke" could freely mean "incite, call forth" (from Latin provocare, "to call out"). Today it mostly means to anger.

Used elsewhere in the period

The only other NT use is Col 3:21: "Fathers, do not provoke your children" (negative). In LXX and classical Greek it is used for rousing animals, people, or emotions, mostly toward anger or strife.

From the study of Colossians 3:21

Range of meaning

To stir up, rouse, excite. Often negative: to irritate, provoke, goad, exasperate. Sometimes positive: to stir someone to action. The core picture is poking at someone until they react.

Against the English

Modern English "provoke" usually means deliberately setting off a reaction, especially anger, often in one incident. The Greek is broader and more about a pattern: needling, nagging, exasperating. NASB's "exasperate" and NLT's "aggravate" come closest. NIV's "embitter" names a result more than the action itself.

How it drifted

The King James Version added "to anger" (printed in italics, meaning the words are not in the Greek), probably shaped by the Latin Vulgate and the parallel in Ephesians 6:4. That pushed English readers to hear the verse as being about making children angry.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Homer's Iliad (1.32) Agamemnon tells the priest Chryses, "Do not provoke me (mē m' erethize), so you may leave safely," which is a threatening use of the same "do not provoke… lest" pattern. Paul uses the word positively in 2 Corinthians 9:2: the Corinthians' eagerness "has stirred up" most of the Macedonians. In the Greek Old Testament it appears in contexts of stirring up hostility (e.g. 1 Maccabees 15:40).