Greek word · G3601
ὀδύνη
odynē
anguish
Pain, at first physical (the pain of a wound or illness in Homer and medical writers), then mental anguish, deep distress. It is more acute and more bodily than lypē.
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
ὀδύνη, -ης, ἡ
[in LXX for יָגוֹן, מַר, etc. (26 words in all) ;]
pain, distress, of body or mind : Romans 9:2, 1 Timothy 6:10.†
(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
Pain, at first physical (the pain of a wound or illness in Homer and medical writers), then mental anguish, deep distress. It is more acute and more bodily than lypē.
- Against the English
"Anguish" (BSB, and some modern versions), "pain" (WEB, YLT), "sorrow" (KJV). KJV's "continual sorrow" blurs it into a second word for sadness. "Pain" and "anguish" keep the sense of something that hurts.
- Used elsewhere in the period
In the New Testament the noun appears only here and in 1 Tim 6:10, where people "pierce themselves with many pangs". The related verb is used of Mary and Joseph searching "in anguish" for the boy Jesus (Luke 2:48), of the rich man "in agony" in the flame (Luke 16:24-25), and of the Ephesian elders grieving at Paul's farewell (Acts 20:38). In the Septuagint it is paired with lypē in Isa 35:10 and 51:11.
Where it appears
Romans · 1
-
Romans 9:2 ὀδύνη sorrow
I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
Here: A sharper and more physical word than lypē. Its root sense is pain you feel in the body, used for mental anguish. The second pair moves from 'sorrow' to 'ache'.
1 Timothy · 1
-
1 Timothy 6:10 ὀδύναις with sorrows
For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
Here: The instrument of the piercing: pains or pangs. The word covers both physical pain and mental anguish (compare Romans 9:2).
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.