Greek word · G2552
κακοπάθεια
kakopatheia
suffering
From kakos ('bad') + paschō ('suffer'): suffering of hardship or misfortune; in some uses also the strenuous effort of bearing hardship (toil, endurance of rigours, as with soldiers or laborers). Only here in the NT; the verb kakopatheō appears in Jas 5:13 and 2 Tim 2:3, 9; 4:5.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament.
What it means
κακοπάθεια (WH, -θία), -ας, ἡ
(κακοπαθής, suffering), [in LXX: Malachi 1:13 (תְּלָאָה), תְּלָאָה), 2Ma.2:26-27, 4Ma.9:8 * ;]
distress, affliction: James 5:10.†
(AS)
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
From kakos ('bad') + paschō ('suffer'): suffering of hardship or misfortune; in some uses also the strenuous effort of bearing hardship (toil, endurance of rigours, as with soldiers or laborers). Only here in the NT; the verb kakopatheō appears in Jas 5:13 and 2 Tim 2:3, 9; 4:5.
- Against the English
KJV 'suffering affliction' and YLT 'the suffering of evil' are close to the word's shape. ESV/WEB 'suffering' is fine. BSB/NIV/NLT turn it into the setting for patience ('patience in affliction/suffering'), which reads smoothly but makes it secondary.
- Used elsewhere in the period
4 Maccabees 9:8: the martyred brothers say that 'through this suffering (kakopatheia) and endurance' they will win the prizes of virtue. The same pairing of hardship and steadfastness appears there. 2 Macc 2:26–27 uses it for laborious toil. Malachi 1:13 LXX uses a form of it for weariness or hardship.
Similar words
Where it appears
James · 1
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James 5:10 κακοπαθείας of suffering evils
Brothers, as an example of patience in affliction, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
Here: Literally 'suffering bad things': hardship and mistreatment, and also the strain of bearing them. Here it means the abuse the prophets took for their message.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.