Greek word · G2261

ἤπιος

ēpios

gentle

Gentle, mild, kindly, soothing. In Greek literature it describes a kindly father, a gentle ruler, and soothing remedies applied to wounds. It is the gentleness of someone who has the power to hurt and uses it to heal or calm.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἤπιος, -α, -ον

mild, gentle: 1 Thessalonians 2:7 (WH, R, mg., νήπιος); before πρός, 2 Timothy 2:24.†

(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 2 Timothy 2:24

Range of meaning

Gentle, mild, kindly, soothing. In Greek literature it describes a kindly father, a gentle ruler, and soothing remedies applied to wounds. It is the gentleness of someone who has the power to hurt and uses it to heal or calm.

Against the English

KJV and WEB say "gentle"; BSB, NIV, ESV, NASB and NLT say "kind". Both are fair. "Kind" can sound like general niceness, while the Greek suggests a calming, healing manner.

Used elsewhere in the period

Homer: Odysseus was "gentle as a father" (patēr d' hōs ēpios ēen, Odyssey 2.47), and "soothing medicines" (ēpia pharmaka, Iliad 4.218). In the New Testament it occurs only here and, in some manuscripts, in 1 Thess 2:7, where Paul says he was gentle among them "like a nursing mother" (other manuscripts read nēpioi, "infants").

Where it appears

2 Timothy · 1

  1. 2 Timothy 2:24 ἤπιον gentle

    And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.

    Here: Gentle in the way a good father, a nurse or a soothing medicine is gentle. It describes a manner that calms rather than wounds.

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