Greek word · G4030

περικεφαλαία

perikephalaia

helmet

Perikephalaia is the standard Greek word for a helmet, built from peri ('around') and kephalē ('head'). In military writing it is the soldier's metal helmet. Used figuratively it means whatever guards a person's life at its most vulnerable point.

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

What it means

περι-κεφαλαία, -ας, ἡ

[in LXX for כּוֹבַע, קוֹבַע ;]

a helmet: figuratively, 1 Thessalonians 5:8; with genitive explic., π. τ. σωτηρίου, Ephesians 6:17 (cf. Isaiah 59:17).†

(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 6:17

Range of meaning

Perikephalaia is the standard Greek word for a helmet, built from peri ('around') and kephalē ('head'). In military writing it is the soldier's metal helmet. Used figuratively it means whatever guards a person's life at its most vulnerable point.

Against the English

'Helmet' is accurate. What English cannot show is that the whole phrase 'helmet of salvation' is a quotation. A first-century reader who knew Greek Isaiah would recognise it at once.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 59:17 (Greek Old Testament): kai perietheto perikephalaian sōtēriou epi tēs kephalēs, 'and he put a helmet of salvation on his head'. Here God himself arms for battle because 'there was no one to intervene' for his oppressed people. Wisdom of Solomon 5:17–20 expands the same picture of God's armour. 1 Thessalonians 5:8 has Paul's earlier version: 'for a helmet, the hope of salvation'. Polybius, Histories 6.23 lists the perikephalaia as standard equipment of the Roman heavy infantryman.

Where it appears

Ephesians · 1

  1. Ephesians 6:17 περικεφαλαίαν helmet

    And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

    Here: Literally 'the thing around the head'. It was the ordinary Greek word for a soldier's helmet, the one Polybius uses for the Roman legionary's bronze helmet. It protected the head, the one wound a soldier could not survive.

1 Thessalonians · 1

  1. 1 Thessalonians 5:8 περικεφαλαίαν [the] helmet

    But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of our hope of salvation.

    Here: Literally 'the thing around the head'. The soldier's helmet, guarding the head.

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