Greek word · G4025
περίθεσις
perithesis
wearing
"A putting around, placing on": from peritithēmi, "to put around". With "gold things" it means hanging jewellery on oneself: necklaces, bracelets, earrings, gold hairnets and chains.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
περί-θεσις, -εως, ἡ
(περιτίθημι), [in Sm.: Psalms 32:9 * ;]
a putting around, putting on: 1 Peter 3:3.†
(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
"A putting around, placing on": from peritithēmi, "to put around". With "gold things" it means hanging jewellery on oneself: necklaces, bracelets, earrings, gold hairnets and chains.
- Against the English
KJV says "wearing of gold", ESV "putting on of gold jewelry", BSB and NIV "gold jewelry", YLT "putting around of things of gold". Only YLT keeps the literal picture. Most versions drop the stress on the act of adorning that Peter builds with his three action nouns (braiding, putting-around, putting-on).
- Used elsewhere in the period
Only here in the New Testament. The verb peritithēmi is used in the Greek Old Testament for putting on crowns and ornaments. Gold was a well-known flashpoint in Roman culture. The Lex Oppia (215 BC) limited women to half an ounce of gold, and its repeal in 195 BC was fiercely debated (Livy 34.1–8).
Where it appears
1 Peter · 1
-
1 Peter 3:3 περιθέσεως putting around
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes,
Here: "Putting-around": the act of hanging things on the body, such as necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Like the other action nouns here it stresses the effort of decking oneself out. It occurs only here in the New Testament.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.