πόνος

From the study of Revelation 21:4

Range of meaning

Basically toil, hard and exhausting labor (the 'labors' of Heracles were his ponoi). From there it came to mean distress, anguish, and physical pain, the suffering that comes from strain and affliction.

Against the English

'Pain' is correct, but modern readers tend to hear physical hurt only. Ponos also includes grinding labor, exhaustion and anguish of the whole person. It is the suffering of a hard life, not only of an injured body.

Used elsewhere in the period

Septuagint: Gen 41:51, where Joseph names Manasseh because 'God has made me forget all my toil (ponōn)'; Isaiah 53:11, 'the anguish (ponos) of his soul'. New Testament: only four times: Col 4:13 ('hard work'), and Rev 16:10–11, where people under the fifth bowl 'gnawed their tongues from pain'.

From the study of Colossians 4:13

Range of meaning

Hard, exhausting labour; the strain and distress that come with it; by extension, pain or anguish. It is the word for heavy exertion: the labours of Heracles, the hardships of a campaign, an athlete's training.

Against the English

BSB 'goes to great pains' keeps the cost and also echoes 'pain'. NIV/ESV 'working hard' gives the effort but not the strain. NASB 'deep concern' turns it into an inner feeling. KJV/WEB/YLT 'zeal' translate a different, later Greek reading (zēlos).

How it drifted

Not a drift in English vocabulary but a textual one. The Byzantine manuscripts behind the KJV read zēlon ('zeal'), probably because scribes swapped in a more familiar word. Readers of KJV-tradition Bibles therefore meet an emotion where the earliest text has costly toil.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the New Testament it appears elsewhere only in Revelation (16:10, 11; 21:4: 'nor crying nor pain'), where it means pain. In the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) it often means trouble or toil (e.g. Genesis 41:51; Isaiah 53:4 in some forms). In classical and Hellenistic Greek it is standard for the strenuous 'labours' of athletes and soldiers, a field that fits Paul's athletic verb agōnizomai ('wrestling, contending') in v.12 (BDAG s.v. πόνος).

From the study of Revelation 16:10

Range of meaning

First, hard labor or toil. From there it comes to mean the distress, trouble, and pain that toil brings, and then pain or anguish in general.

Against the English

KJV and WEB: "pain". BSB and ESV: "anguish". NIV: "agony". "Pain" is the most literal. "Anguish" and "agony" bring out the intensity but can sound more purely emotional than the Greek, which here clearly includes bodily suffering (v. 11 pairs it with "sores").

Used elsewhere in the period

In the New Testament the word is rare: Col 4:13 ("toil" or "concern" in the critical text), Rev 16:10–11, and Rev 21:4. In the Septuagint it often means toil and hardship. For example, Joseph names Manasseh because "God has made me forget all my toil" (Gen 41:51).