Greek word · G2869

κοπάζω

kopazō

to abate

To grow weary, slacken, abate, cease. Used of wind, water, anger or effort running out of force. It is related to kopos, 'toil, weariness'.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

κοπάζω

(κόπος), [in LXX: Genesis 8:1, Esther 2:1 7:10 (שָׁכַךְ), Ruth 1:18, al. (חָדַל), חָדַל), Jonah 1.11-12 (שָׁתַק), al. ;]

to grow weary; of the wind (Hdt., Jh., l.with), to abate, cease raging: Matthew 14:32, Mark 4:39 6:51.†

(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 Mark 4:39

Range of meaning

To grow weary, slacken, abate, cease. Used of wind, water, anger or effort running out of force. It is related to kopos, 'toil, weariness'.

Against the English

KJV and WEB: "ceased". BSB and NIV: "died down". YLT: "did lull". All are fair. None keeps the picture of the wind tiring and going slack. "Died down" might suggest a gradual fading. Mark puts the result directly after the command.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX Gen 8:1: God sends a wind and "the water abated (ekopasen)" after the flood. LXX Jonah 1:11–12: "What shall we do to you, so that the sea will calm (kopasei)?" Sirach 43:23 speaks of God by his counsel stilling the deep. In the New Testament: Mark 6:51 and Matt 14:32 (the wind ceases when Jesus gets into the boat).

From the study of Mark 6:51

Range of meaning

From kopos, 'weariness' or 'toil'. Literally 'to grow tired', and so 'to abate, sink, cease'. It is used of wind, waves, floodwater and anger dying down (BDAG s.v. κοπάζω).

Against the English

'Ceased' (KJV, WEB), 'died down' (BSB, NIV), 'stopped' (NLT) and 'lulled' (YLT) are all accurate. What they lose is the hint that the wind 'grew weary' and spent itself. Fittingly, the rowers had been 'straining' or 'tormented' at the oars all night (v. 48).

Used elsewhere in the period

Septuagint: after the flood 'the water subsided' (ἐκόπασεν, Gen 8:1). In Jonah, the sailors ask what they must do 'so that the sea will quiet down' (κοπάσει, Jonah 1:11–12). In the New Testament it occurs only three times, all for this wind: Mark 4:39, Mark 6:51 and Matt 14:32.

From the study of Sirach 48:10

Range of meaning

κοπάζω: to grow weary, abate, cease, used of wind, waves and floods. ὀργή: anger, often God's anger as judgment. θυμός: the hot surge of passion, fury. When the two nouns stand together, θυμός is often the blaze and ὀργή the anger behind it.

Against the English

KJV/Brenton expand it to 'to pacify the wrath of the Lord's judgment, before it brake forth into fury'. The words 'of the Lord's judgment' are not in the Greek. WEB: 'to pacify anger, before it broke out into wrath'. Modern versions that follow the Hebrew restoration read 'before the day of the LORD'.

How it drifted

'Pacify' is acceptable, but it can suggest appeasing a temperamental god. The Greek picture is of a storm made to drop before it strikes. In context the anger is stilled because the people turn back, not because God is bribed.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Bible uses κοπάζω for the flood waters going down (Genesis 8:1, 8) and for the sea growing calm (Jonah 1:11–12). The Gospels use it for the wind ceasing (Mark 4:39; 6:51). The Hebrew of Sirach has lehashbit 'af, 'to make anger cease', from the same root as 'Sabbath', 'to stop'. Malachi 3:24 ends: 'lest I come and strike the land with a ban (ḥerem).'

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

  1. Matthew 14:32 ἐκόπασεν ceased

    And when they had climbed back into the boat, the wind died down.

Mark · 2

  1. Mark 4:39 ἐκόπασεν abated

    Then Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the sea. “Silence!” He commanded. “Be still!” And the wind died down, and it was perfectly calm.

    Here: "Dropped" or "ceased". The verb comes from the word for weariness, so it has the picture of something tiring and going slack. In the Greek Old Testament it is used of the flood waters going down (Gen 8:1) and of Jonah's sea growing calm (Jonah 1:11–12).

  2. Mark 6:51 ἐκόπασεν ceased

    Then He climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. And the disciples were utterly astounded,

    Here: 'Ceased', literally 'grew tired', as if the wind had worn itself out. Mark used the same words, 'the wind ceased', when Jesus stilled the storm in 4:39.

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