Greek word · G3950

παροργισμός

parorgismos

anger

Built from παρά plus ὀργίζω, it means provocation to anger, or the provoked and exasperated state that results. Here, with "your", it means your stirred-up anger, the irritation someone has caused in you. BDAG gives "state of being intensely provoked, angry mood".

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

παρ-οργισμός, -οῦ, ὁ

(παροργίζω), [in LXX: 3Ki.15:30, 2 Kings 23:26 (כַּעַס); 4Ki.19:3, Nehemiah 9:18, 26 (נְאָצָה); Jeremiah 21:5 A (קֶצֶף) * ;]

irritation ("distinguished from ὀργή as implying a less permanent state"; ICC, Eph., 140; and see Tr., Syn., § xxxvii) : Ephesians 4:26.†

(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 Ephesians 4:26

Range of meaning

Built from παρά plus ὀργίζω, it means provocation to anger, or the provoked and exasperated state that results. Here, with "your", it means your stirred-up anger, the irritation someone has caused in you. BDAG gives "state of being intensely provoked, angry mood". It appears only here in the New Testament.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT have "wrath", which today sounds like towering fury or divine punishment. BSB, ESV and NASB have "anger", which is closer but loses the sense of being provoked by someone.

How it drifted

"Wrath" was an ordinary word for anger in 1611. It has since become a formal, almost theological word, linked mainly with God's judgment or with rage.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Greek Old Testament it mostly describes Israel provoking God to anger (for example 1 Kings 15:30; 2 Kings 23:26; Nehemiah 9:18). In 2 Kings 19:3 it is a day of "provocation". The related verb παροργίζω appears in Ephesians 6:4: "fathers, do not provoke (exasperate) your children."

Similar words

Where it appears

Ephesians · 1

  1. Ephesians 4:26 παροργισμῷ anger

    “Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger,

    Here: This is a different word from the verb at the start of the verse. It means the anger stirred up in you when someone provokes you: irritation, exasperation, a sore spot. It is the kind of anger that can be carried overnight and harden into a grudge.

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