Greek word · G2138
εὐπειθής
eupeithēs
compliant
'Well-persuadable': easily persuaded, open to reason, compliant, obedient, ready to yield. It appears only here in the New Testament.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
'Well-persuadable': easily persuaded, open to reason, compliant, obedient, ready to yield. It appears only here in the New Testament.
- Against the English
KJV 'easy to be intreated' (easy to appeal to or ask something of); YLT 'easily entreated'; ESV 'open to reason'; WEB 'reasonable'; BSB 'accommodating'; NIV 'submissive'; NLT 'willing to yield to others'. NIV's 'submissive' can sound like a social hierarchy is in view. The Greek is about openness to persuasion.
- Used elsewhere in the period
In classical and Hellenistic Greek it describes people who readily comply, such as disciplined soldiers or teachable pupils, and in Jewish-Greek writers it is used of those readily obedient to law or to God. It is the opposite of apeithēs ('disobedient, unpersuadable').
Where it appears
James · 1
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James 3:17 εὐπειθής, reasonable,
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.
Here: Literally 'well-persuadable': open to reason, ready to listen and to give way to a good case or a fair request. It is the opposite of the stubborn, self-promoting 'zeal' of 3:14.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.