ἀναθάλλω

From the study of Philippians 4:10

Range of meaning

To shoot up again, sprout afresh, bloom again (of plants). By extension, to renew or to flourish again (of people, bodies, fortunes). It can be used without an object ("you bloomed again") or with one ("you caused X to bloom again").

Against the English

KJV "hath flourished again" and YLT "flourished again" keep the plant picture. BSB, WEB, ESV and NASB use "revived", and NIV uses "renewed". These carry the general idea but drop the image of a garden and its seasons. "Revived" can also suggest that the concern had died, which Paul explicitly denies in the next clause.

How it drifted

Modern translations prefer an abstract verb because "your concern blossomed again" sounds strange in English. The cost is the image.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word is common in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) for renewed life. Psalm 28:7 (27:7 in the Greek numbering) has "my flesh has bloomed again". Ezekiel 17:24 has God making the dry tree flourish. Sirach 46:12 and 49:10 pray that the bones of the judges and prophets may "sprout again" from their place. Wisdom 4:4 uses it of branches. Paul's readers who knew the Greek scriptures would hear an image of new growth after a dry spell.

From the study of Sirach 46:12

Range of meaning

To sprout again, put out fresh shoots, flourish anew. Transitively, it can mean 'cause to flourish again' or 'revive'. It is a farming and plant word: dry wood greening, a stump re-sprouting, a body regaining vigor.

Against the English

KJV/Brenton and WEB use 'flourish' (WEB adds 'again'). That is accurate, but it can lose the picture of a shoot breaking out of dry ground and the built-in 'again'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Septuagint (the ancient Greek Old Testament): Ps 27:7 (Heb. 28:7) 'my flesh has flourished again' (ἀνέθαλεν ἡ σάρξ μου); Ezek 17:24 God 'makes the dry tree flourish'; Wis 4:4. The same wish is spoken over the bones of the Twelve Prophets in Sir 49:10. NT: Phil 4:10, 'you have revived your concern for me'. The Hebrew underneath is probably pāraḥ ('bud, sprout'), the verb of Isa 66:14: 'your bones shall flourish like the grass'.