Greek word · G4767
στυγητός
stygētos
hated
Passive adjective from stygeō, 'to hate, abhor': 'hated, loathed, detestable'. Related to the Styx, the 'hateful' river of the underworld in Greek myth.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
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
Passive adjective from stygeō, 'to hate, abhor': 'hated, loathed, detestable'. Related to the Styx, the 'hateful' river of the underworld in Greek myth.
- Against the English
KJV 'hateful' and NASB-style 'hateful' now suggest 'full of hate' to modern readers. The Greek means 'hated by others, odious'. BSB 'being hated' and ESV-style 'hated by others' keep the passive meaning.
- How it drifted
In 1611 'hateful' commonly meant 'deserving or receiving hate, odious'. Modern usage has shifted mainly toward 'full of hate, spiteful', which reverses the direction.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Found in classical poetry (e.g. Aeschylus) and in Philo. 1 Clement 35:6, closely following Romans 1, says those who do such things are 'stygētoi to God'. Titus 1:16 calls the false teachers bdelyktoi, a near-synonym meaning 'detestable'.
Where it appears
Titus · 1
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Titus 3:3 στυγητοί, hateful,
For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
Here: The word appears only here in the New Testament. Its sense is passive: 'hated, loathed by others', and so 'odious'. It does not mean 'full of hate'; the next phrase supplies the active side.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.