Greek word · G3737

ὀρφανός

orphanos

orphan

ὀρφανός: bereaved, especially a child without a father (it could also mean bereft in general; see John 14:18, "I will not leave you orphans"). χήρα: a widow, a woman left without a husband.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ὀρφανός, -ή, -όν

[in LXX for יָתוֹם ;]

1. prop., orphan, fatherless: Mark 12:40, WH, mg, James 1:27.

2. In a general sense (as also in cl.; see LS, see word; and cf. MM, xviii), bereft, friendless, desolate: John 14:18.†

(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 James 1:27

Range of meaning

ὀρφανός: bereaved, especially a child without a father (it could also mean bereft in general; see John 14:18, "I will not leave you orphans"). χήρα: a widow, a woman left without a husband. In Israel's scriptures the pair, often with the resident foreigner, stands for everyone without a male protector or a share of land.

Against the English

English "orphan" now usually means a child with neither parent. Greek ὀρφανός centred on losing the father, which is why KJV says "the fatherless". The pair also works as shorthand for all the defenceless, not only these two categories.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 22:22–24. Deut 10:18 (God "executes justice for the fatherless and the widow"), 14:29, 24:17–21, 27:19. Ps 68:5 (LXX 67:6, "father of orphans and judge of widows"). Isa 1:17, 23. Jer 7:6. Zech 7:10. Mal 3:5. Sirach 4:10: "Be a father to orphans... and you will be like a son of the Most High."

From the study of John 14:18

Range of meaning

Bereft, deprived of a parent (usually the father, sometimes both parents). More broadly, anyone left without a protector, guide or companion: students without their teacher, or a city or people without its leader. The core idea is not mainly a feeling. It is a condition: a person left with no one to protect them, provide for them, or speak for them.

Against the English

Most modern versions say 'orphans'. KJV has 'comfortless' and RSV/ASV have 'desolate'. Those two put the stress on the emotional state, being without consolation, and lose the family picture. YLT's 'bereaved' is close but loses the parent–child picture. Modern English 'orphan' usually means a child with both parents dead. The Greek word is wider and centres on losing the father who protected the household.

How it drifted

The KJV took 'comfortless' from earlier English Bibles (Tyndale and his successors), probably drawn to it by the 'Comforter' of 14:16. Its own margin notes that the Greek says 'orphans'. In 1611 'comfort' still kept some of its older sense of strengthening and support. Today 'comfortless' sounds like 'sad and unconsoled'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament): the orphan sits again and again with the widow and the foreigner as the people with no one to defend them, whom God himself protects (Exod 22:22; Deut 10:18; Ps 68:5 [LXX 67:6], God as 'father of orphans'; Lam 5:3, 'we have become orphans, fatherless'). Greek literature: in Plato's Phaedo (116a), Socrates' followers, as he faces death, feel they will go through the rest of life 'like those bereft of a father, orphans'. That is a teacher–disciple farewell very close to this scene. NT: the word appears only here and in James 1:27 ('to visit orphans and widows').

Where it appears

John · 1

  1. John 14:18 ὀρφανούς, as orphans,

    I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

    Here: It describes what state they would be left in: 'leave you [as] orphans'. The word means children who have lost their father and with him their protector and provider. It was also used of students whose teacher had died. Jesus has just called them 'little children' (13:33).

James · 1

  1. James 1:27 ὀρφανοὺς orphans

    Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

    Here: A child without parents, especially without a father. In that world it meant having no male protector, no provider and no one to speak for you in legal matters.

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