συγκρίνω

From the study of 1 Corinthians 2:13

Range of meaning

Literally "judge together". There are three attested senses: (1) bring together, combine, compound, the common classical sense, used of mixing or fitting things together; (2) compare, setting one thing beside another to judge them; (3) interpret, explain, decide, especially in the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint), where it is used for interpreting dreams.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT have "comparing". NASB has "combining". ESV and NRSV have "interpreting". NIV and NLT have "explaining". BSB has "expressing". These are not small differences in wording: each takes a different sense of the verb.

How it drifted

KJV's "comparing" follows the Latin Vulgate's comparantes. Over time readers took it as a description of a Bible-study method (setting passage beside passage), which the Greek does not suggest here.

Used elsewhere in the period

Sense 3: Genesis 40:8, 16, 22 and 41:12–15 in the Septuagint use the verb and its noun synkrisis for Joseph's interpreting of dreams. Daniel's Greek versions use it for interpreting dreams and the writing on the wall (e.g. Dan 5:7, 12). In Numbers 15:34 the sense is "decide" ("it had not been determined what to do"). Sense 2: Wisdom of Solomon 7:29 (wisdom "compared with light"), and Paul's only other use, 2 Corinthians 10:12, "comparing themselves with themselves". Sense 1 is frequent in classical writers (LSJ). BDAG lists all three and treats 1 Cor 2:13 as disputed.

From the study of 2 Corinthians 10:12

Range of meaning

To put things together. From this come to compare or match one thing against another, to combine, and (in the Septuagint) to interpret dreams or riddles.

Against the English

'Compare' is right. Modern readers, though, hear private envy or self-esteem. The Greek setting is public, competitive comparison used to claim status.

How it drifted

In modern English 'comparing yourself' mostly means inner, emotional comparison, as in social-media envy. The first-century sense was a public rhetorical move.

Used elsewhere in the period

Septuagint Genesis 40–41 and Daniel 5 use it for interpreting dreams. Wisdom 7:29 says that wisdom, 'compared with the light, is found superior'. The NT uses it only in 1 Cor 2:13 and twice in this verse. Synkrisis (comparison) was a named exercise in Greek rhetorical handbooks such as Theon's Progymnasmata: you praised someone by setting them beside a famous figure and showing they were equal or better. Plutarch's essay On Praising Oneself Inoffensively shows how touchy such self-display was.