Greek word · G2182

ἐφευρετής

epheuretēs

inventor

Epheuretēs = inventor, contriver, discoverer. Greek culture celebrated the 'first inventor' (prōtos heuretēs) of arts and crafts. Joined to kakōn ('of evil things'), the phrase names people whose creativity is spent finding new ways to harm.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἐφ-ευρετής, -οῦ, ὁ

(ἐφευρίσκω, to find out)

an inventor, contriver: κακῶν (cf. κακίας εὑρετής, 2Ma.7:31), Romans 1:30.†

(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 Romans 1:30

Range of meaning

Epheuretēs = inventor, contriver, discoverer. Greek culture celebrated the 'first inventor' (prōtos heuretēs) of arts and crafts. Joined to kakōn ('of evil things'), the phrase names people whose creativity is spent finding new ways to harm.

Against the English

KJV, WEB, YLT 'inventors of evil things'; BSB 'they invent new forms of evil'; NIV 'invent ways of doing evil'. All are faithful. The plural 'things' (harms, mischiefs) is concrete and practical, not 'evil' as an abstract force.

Used elsewhere in the period

A close parallel is 2 Maccabees 7:31, where a martyred son calls the tyrant Antiochus IV one who has become a 'contriver (heuretēs) of every evil against the Hebrews'. Similar phrases appear in Hellenistic polemic against tyrants and schemers.

Where it appears

Romans · 1

  1. Romans 1:30 ἐφευρετὰς inventors

    slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent new forms of evil; they disobey their parents.

    Here: One who devises or discovers something new. The word is neutral or even admirable in itself, since Greeks honoured inventors. Here it is turned sour: human ingenuity is put to work producing new harms.

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