παροικία

From the study of 1 Peter 1:17

Range of meaning

Residence in a place as a foreigner, the status of a paroikos (resident alien). In the Greek city this was a recognized legal and social category: people who lived and worked locally without citizenship, with limited rights, and often under suspicion. By extension it meant a temporary stay or sojourn.

Against the English

KJV 'sojourning [here]', BSB 'your stay as foreigners', WEB 'living as foreigners here', ESV 'exile', NASB 'stay on earth'. 'Exile' suggests forced removal from a homeland, which is not exactly this word's sense. 'On earth' and the added 'here' frame the contrast as earth against heaven. The Greek word itself names a social status, resident foreigner. The time limit comes from 'time' (χρόνον) and the wider letter.

How it drifted

Translators add 'here' or 'on earth' to make the contrast clear, which steers readers toward a 'this world is not my home' reading that the word itself does not specify.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the LXX: Abraham calls himself 'a resident alien and sojourner (paroikos kai parepidēmos) among you' (Gen 23:4). The psalmist says 'I am a sojourner with you, a foreigner, like all my fathers' (Ps 38:13 LXX, 39:12 English). Exiles returning to the land are 'sons of the paroikia' (Ezra 8:35 LXX). Israel's stay in Egypt is 'the paroikia in the land of Egypt' (Acts 13:17; Wis 19:10). Peter pairs the same two words in 2:11 and calls his readers 'sojourners of the dispersion' in 1:1.

From the study of Acts 13:17

Range of meaning

A stay in a place as a paroikos, a resident alien: someone who lives somewhere long-term without citizenship or the right to own land. The word covers both the time of the stay and the condition of being a foreigner.

Against the English

BSB/ESV/NIV/NASB 'stay' and NLT 'stay' are accurate but weak. KJV 'dwelt as strangers', WEB 'stayed as aliens' and YLT 'sojourning' keep the sense of legal foreignness, which is the point.

How it drifted

'Stay' sounds like a visit. Separately, this Greek word (through Latin parochia) is the source of the English word 'parish'. Readers should not import the church-district sense; here it means living abroad as an outsider.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Septuagint: Ps 118(119):54; 119(120):5 'woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged'; Wisdom 19:10 of Israel in Egypt; Ezra 8:35 and 1 Esdras 5:7 of the exile in Babylon; Sirach prologue. The related noun paroikos is used for Abraham and Moses as aliens (Gen 23:4; Acts 7:6, 29). 1 Pet 1:17 uses paroikia for Christians' life in the world.