Greek word · G4376

προσφορά

prosphora

offering

θυσία: a sacrifice, usually a slaughtered animal offered on an altar, or the act of sacrificing (BDAG). προσφορά: the act of bringing something to God, or the thing offered. In the Greek Old Testament it often translates minḥāh (grain or tribute offering) or qorbān (offering).

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

προσ-φορά, -ᾶς, ἡ

(προσφέρω), [in LXX: 1 Kings 7:48 (פָּנִים) Psalms 40:6 (מִנְחָה), I Est.5:52, Sirach 14:11, al. ;]

1. a bringing to, offering (Plat., al.).

2. (Less frequently in cl.), a present, an offering; in NT, of sacrificial offerings: Acts 21:26 24:17, Ephesians 5:2, Hebrews 10:5, 8 10:14; περί ἀμαρτίας, Hebrews 10:18; with genitive obj., Romans 15:16, Hebrews 10:10.†

(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 5:2

Range of meaning

θυσία: a sacrifice, usually a slaughtered animal offered on an altar, or the act of sacrificing (BDAG). προσφορά: the act of bringing something to God, or the thing offered. In the Greek Old Testament it often translates minḥāh (grain or tribute offering) or qorbān (offering).

Against the English

KJV, WEB, YLT and the 1995 NASB keep both nouns ("an offering and a sacrifice"). ESV and NIV keep both but join them to "fragrant". BSB merges them into one phrase ("a fragrant sacrificial offering"), which reads smoothly but loses the paired formula.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 40:6 (LXX 39:7) has the same pair: "sacrifice and offering (θυσίαν καὶ προσφοράν) you did not desire". There it translates Hebrew zevaḥ (animal sacrifice) and minḥāh (grain or tribute offering), and together they stand for the whole sacrificial system. Hebrews 10:5–10 quotes this psalm about Christ's self-offering. Whether Ephesians means to echo the psalm is uncertain.

From the study of Acts 24:17

Range of meaning

From prospherō ("bring to, offer"). It means (1) the act of offering and (2) the thing offered, especially a sacrifice brought to God: animal, grain or drink offerings.

Against the English

KJV, BSB and WEB have "offerings". NLT makes it explicit as "sacrifices". In modern churches "offering" usually means the money collected in a service. Here it means temple sacrifices.

How it drifted

In church English, "the offering" has come to mean the weekly money collection, so readers may merge it with the "alms".

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Septuagint it is used for sacrifices (e.g. Ps 40:6 LXX [39:7]; Sir 14:11; 34:18–19). In the NT: Acts 21:26 ("until the offering was brought for each of them", the Nazirite vow sacrifices Paul paid for); Heb 10:5–18; Eph 5:2. In Rom 15:16 Paul calls the Gentiles themselves a priestly prosphora to God, a metaphor.

From the study of Hebrews 10:10

Range of meaning

The act of offering or presenting something (especially to a deity), or the thing offered: a gift or sacrifice. It is broader than thysia ('slaughtered sacrifice'), though the two are often paired.

Against the English

BSB and NIV render it 'sacrifice'; KJV, ESV, NASB and WEB have 'offering.' 'Sacrifice' is not wrong, since it was a death. But Hebrews has just quoted Psalm 40, 'sacrifice (thysia) and offering (prosphora) you did not desire' (vv. 5, 8), and here deliberately picks up the second word. 'Offering' keeps that echo.

Used elsewhere in the period

Septuagint Ps 39:7 (= Ps 40:6), translating Hebrew minchah ('grain-offering, gift'); Sir 14:11; 34:18–19 (LXX numbering); Dan 3:38 LXX. In the NT: Acts 21:26; 24:17; Rom 15:16; Eph 5:2 ('an offering and sacrifice to God'); Heb 10:5, 8, 10, 14, 18.

Similar words

Where it appears

Acts · 2

  1. Acts 21:26 προσφορά. sacrifice.

    So the next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he entered the temple to give notice of the date when their purification would be complete and the offering would be made for each of them.

  2. Acts 24:17 προσφοράς, offerings,

    After several years, then, I returned to Jerusalem to bring alms to my people and to present offerings.

    Here: Offerings brought to the temple, most likely the sacrifices tied to the purification and Nazirite vows of Acts 21:23–26. The relative pronoun in v. 18 ("in which") picks them up: he was found doing exactly this, purified, in the temple.

Romans · 1

  1. Romans 15:16 προσφορὰ offering

    to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

    Here: A gift brought to the altar. Here the gift is the Gentile peoples themselves, presented to God.

Ephesians · 1

  1. Ephesians 5:2 προσφορὰν [as] an offering

    and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.

    Here: Something brought to God, a gift-offering. It describes what Christ made of himself: he gave himself as an offering.

Hebrews · 5

  1. Hebrews 10:5 προσφορὰν offering

    Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me.

    Here: Here it renders Hebrew minchah, the grain or gift offering. So 'sacrifice and offering' means animal and non-animal offerings, the whole altar system. Hebrews picks the word up again in 10:10, 14 and 18 for Christ's one 'offering' of his body.

  2. Hebrews 10:8 προσφορὰς offerings

    In the passage above He says, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor did You delight in them” (although they are offered according to the law).

  3. Hebrews 10:10 προσφορᾶς offering

    And by that will, we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

    Here: The act of bringing something to God as an offering, and the offering itself. The word repeats the psalm's 'offering you did not desire' (v. 5, 8). The kind of offering God refused in animals, he now receives in the Son's body.

  4. Hebrews 10:14 προσφορᾷ offering

    because by a single offering He has made perfect for all time those who are being sanctified.

    Here: Points back to 10:10, "the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all", and to Psalm 40 (quoted in 10:5, 8), where God did not want "sacrifice and offering". It means both the act of presenting and the thing presented. Here that is Jesus' own body given in death.

  5. Hebrews 10:18 προσφορὰ an offering

    And where these have been forgiven, an offering for sin is no longer needed.

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