Greek word · G5094

τιμιότης

timiotēs

wealth

"Preciousness, costliness." Concretely it means an abundance of costly things, or expensive living. It is built from τίμιος, "precious, valuable, costly," which is related to τιμή, "price, value, honour."

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

τιμιότης, -ητος, ἡ

(τίμιος),

preciousness, worth: Revelation 18:19 (cf. Hort on τιμή, 1 Peter 2:7).†

(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 Revelation 18:19

Range of meaning

"Preciousness, costliness." Concretely it means an abundance of costly things, or expensive living. It is built from τίμιος, "precious, valuable, costly," which is related to τιμή, "price, value, honour."

Against the English

BSB, NIV, ESV and NASB render it "wealth"; KJV and YLT have "costliness"; WEB has "great wealth." "Wealth" is not wrong. But it suggests a bank balance, while the Greek points to luxury goods and the high prices she paid for them.

Used elsewhere in the period

This is its only New Testament use. BDAG gives "costliness" and, by extension, "abundance of costly things." In the same chapter the cargo list uses τίμιος twice: "precious stones" (v. 12) and "articles of most precious wood" (v. 12). The Tyre lament John is echoing says that Tyre's abundant goods "enriched the kings of the earth" (Ezekiel 27:33).

Where it appears

Revelation · 1

  1. Revelation 18:19 τιμιότητος wealth

    Then they will throw dust on their heads as they weep and mourn and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, where all who had ships on the sea were enriched by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been destroyed.”

    Here: Used only here in the New Testament. It means her expensiveness: her appetite for, and supply of, costly goods. The shippers grew rich off what she paid for luxuries.

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