Greek word · G3202
μεμψίμοιρος
mempsimoiros
malcontent
A compound of memphomai ("to blame, find fault") and moira ("portion, share, lot in life"). It describes someone who habitually complains about their lot: always dissatisfied with what life or the gods have handed them.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
μεμψίμοιρος, -ον
(μέμφομαι, + μοῖρα, fate, lot),
complaining of one's fate, querulous: Jude 1:16 †
(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
A compound of memphomai ("to blame, find fault") and moira ("portion, share, lot in life"). It describes someone who habitually complains about their lot: always dissatisfied with what life or the gods have handed them.
- Against the English
BSB's "discontented" and ESV's "malcontents" capture the attitude. KJV's "complainers" and NASB's "finding fault" make it sound as if they complain about other people. The Greek points rather to complaining about one's own portion.
- Used elsewhere in the period
A known type in Greek moral writing. Theophrastus' Characters (4th century BC) has a sketch, no. 17, titled Mempsimoiria, "The Grumbler about his Lot": a man who sulks even when given a gift because it wasn't more. Later moral writers such as Lucian use the word the same way. It appears only here in the New Testament.
Where it appears
Jude · 1
-
Jude 1:16 μεμψίμοιροι, discontented,
These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.
Here: Literally "blaming one's portion": people who are never satisfied with what they have been given. Here that means resenting what God has assigned them.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.