Greek word · G2811
κλέος
kleos
credit
Fame, renown, a good report, glory in the sense of what people say about you. Related to the verb kluō, "to hear": kleos is literally what is heard about a person.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
κλέος, -ους, τό
[in LXX: Job 28:22 (שֵׁמַע) Job 30:8 * ;]
1. a rumour, report.
2. good report, fame, glory: 1 Peter 2:20.†
(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 1 Peter 2:20
- Range of meaning
Fame, renown, a good report, glory in the sense of what people say about you. Related to the verb kluō, "to hear": kleos is literally what is heard about a person.
- Against the English
KJV and WEB have "glory", YLT "renown", and BSB, NIV and ESV "credit". "Glory" can mislead because English Bible readers link it with God's radiant glory (Greek doxa). Kleos is reputation among people.
- How it drifted
KJV's "glory" was natural in 1611 English for honour or reputation. Modern church readers mostly hear "glory" in a worship sense, which is not the point here.
- Used elsewhere in the period
This is the classic word of Homeric epic for a hero's undying fame, the kleos aphthiton, "imperishable glory", that Achilles chooses over a long life. It continues in later Greek for public honour and reputation (e.g. Josephus uses it for renown). It appears in the Septuagint only rarely (e.g. Job 28:22, 30:8) and nowhere else in the New Testament.
Where it appears
1 Peter · 1
-
1 Peter 2:20 κλέος credit [is it]
How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
Here: The only time this word appears in the New Testament. It is the old Greek word for a good name and the glory people talk about. Here it is used with irony: a slave who is beaten for real wrongdoing and takes it earns no honour from anyone.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.