σπένδω

From the study of Philippians 2:17

Range of meaning

To pour out a liquid offering, usually wine but also water, milk, oil or honey, to a god. In the passive it means 'to be poured out as a libation'. The noun σπονδή is the libation itself. Because libations sealed oaths and treaties, the plural σπονδαί also meant 'a truce'. In the New Testament the verb appears only here and in 2 Timothy 4:6 ('I am already being poured out').

Against the English

BSB, NIV, ESV and NASB keep the libation picture ('poured out like/as a drink offering'). WEB and YLT have just 'poured out/forth', which loses the sacrificial setting. KJV's 'offered' keeps the idea of sacrifice but loses the pouring, the liquid, and the sense of a smaller offering that goes with a larger one. NLT turns the image into a plain statement: 'even if I lose my life'.

How it drifted

Modern speakers say 'poured out' for emotional exhaustion or devoted effort ('she poured herself into her work'). In Paul's day the word meant only one thing: a ritual act at an altar. Losing that picture leaves just 'I'm worn out'.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Greek Old Testament, libations go with burnt offerings (Num 15:5–10; Num 28:7: 'in the holy place you shall pour out a drink offering'). Sirach 50:15 has the high priest pouring wine 'at the foot of the altar', and Josephus says the same (Antiquities 3.234). In Greek and Roman religion a libation was part of nearly every sacrifice and meal. Tacitus records that the Stoic Thrasea Paetus, as his veins were opened under Nero's sentence, sprinkled his blood and called it a libation to 'Jupiter the Liberator' (Annals 16.35; compare Seneca, Annals 15.64). So a dying man's blood as a libation was a familiar picture in the Roman world.

From the study of 2 Timothy 4:6

Range of meaning

To pour out a liquid as an offering to a god: wine, water, oil, milk or honey. It is a technical term of worship in both Jewish and Greek practice. The related noun σπονδή means a libation, and in the plural (σπονδαί) a truce or treaty, because treaties were sealed with libations. In the passive, as here, the subject is the thing being poured.

Against the English

KJV "ready to be offered" and WEB "being offered" use a general word. That loses the specific picture of liquid poured out, and KJV's "ready" also loses the sense that it is already happening. BSB, ESV, NASB and NIV, with "poured out like/as a drink offering," keep the image; "like" and "as" are added to make the comparison clear. YLT "being poured out" is closest to the Greek but leaves readers to work out what is being poured.

How it drifted

"Offered" goes back to Tyndale ("I am now ready to be offered") and passed into the KJV. In modern English "offered" mostly means "proposed" or "made available," so the altar picture is gone for most readers.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint), σπένδω translates the Hebrew נָסַךְ (nasak, "pour a drink offering"). Jacob pours a libation on a standing stone (Gen 35:14). A fixed drink offering of fermented drink went with the daily burnt offerings (Num 28:7; compare Num 15:1–10). David pours out the water his men risked their lives to fetch, because it is like "the blood of the men" (2 Sam 23:16–17), so the liquid stands for a life. Sirach 50:15 describes the high priest pouring wine "at the foot of the altar." Paul uses the same verb in Phil 2:17: "even if I am being poured out (σπένδομαι) upon the sacrifice and service of your faith." In Roman literature, Tacitus records that the condemned Seneca (Annals 15.64) and Thrasea Paetus (Annals 16.35) poured out their own blood as a libation "to Jupiter the Liberator" as they died under Nero. This shows that a violent death described as a libation was a known image in exactly this period.