Greek word · G5142
τρέφω
trephō
to feed
To feed, nourish, sustain; to rear (children or animals); to fatten livestock.
Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
τρέφω
[in LXX for חָיָה hi., גָּדַל pi., אָכַל hi., etc. ;]
1. to make to grow, bring up, rear (cl.; 1Ma.3:33 1Mac 11:39): Luke 4:16 (T, WH, mg., ἀνατ-)
2. to nourish, feed: Matthew 6:26 25:37, Luke 12:24, Acts 12:20, Revelation 12:6, 14; of a mother, to give suck, Luke 23:29; of animals, to fatten (Jeremiah 26:21 (Jeremiah 46:21), figuratively, James 5:5 (cf. ἀνα-, ἐκ-, ἐν-τρέφω).†
(AS)
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
To feed, nourish, sustain; to rear (children or animals); to fatten livestock.
- Against the English
KJV, WEB and YLT "nourished" sounds healthy and even admirable to modern ears. BSB and ESV "fattened" better catches the picture of animals fed up for slaughter, which the ending of the verse requires.
- How it drifted
"Nourish" in modern English means wholesome care ("nourish your soul"), so the irony is lost.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Used of God feeding the birds (Matt 6:26) and of rearing children (Luke 4:16). In the Greek Old Testament it is used for feeding herds. Jeremiah pictures soldiers as "fattened calves" heading to their day of disaster (Jer 46:21).
- Range of meaning
To feed, nourish, rear, support. In the passive, 'to be fed, sustained.'
- Against the English
KJV 'was nourished by' keeps the image. BSB, WEB and NLT 'depended on... for food' explain it clearly but lose the picture of one land feeding another.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Common throughout Greek. Phoenicia's dependence on food from the Israelite interior is old: Solomon paid Hiram of Tyre in wheat and oil (1 Kings 5:9–11), Judah and Israel traded wheat and oil to Tyre (Ezekiel 27:17), and Tyre and Sidon were paid in food and oil for cedar after the exile (Ezra 3:7).
From the study of Revelation 12:14
- Range of meaning
To feed or nourish. More broadly, to rear, maintain or support: what a parent, nurse or patron does for a dependent.
- Against the English
'Nourished' (KJV, BSB, WEB) is good. 'Taken care of' (some modern versions) keeps the sense of overall support but loses the specific note of feeding, which carries the manna and Elijah echoes.
- Used elsewhere in the period
In 1 Kings 17:4, 9 (Greek Old Testament) God commands ravens, then a widow, to feed (διατρέφειν) Elijah. Matthew 6:26: 'your heavenly Father feeds (τρέφει) them.' Rev 12:6 uses the same verb: 'so that there they might nourish her'.
Where it appears
Matthew · 2
-
Matthew 6:26 τρέφει feeds
Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Here: Present tense: he keeps on feeding them, day after day. The word is used for parents feeding and raising children, which fits 'Father'.
-
Matthew 25:37 ἐθρέψαμεν fed [You]
Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink?
Here: Aorist, 'we fed'. The object 'you' is understood, not repeated. The verb covers nourishing, keeping alive and even bringing up a child. Matthew uses it for the heavenly Father feeding the birds (6:26).
Luke · 3
-
Luke 4:16 τεθραμμένος, raised,
Then Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath. And when He stood up to read,
Here: 'Reared, raised': he grew up here. The tense points to a finished upbringing that still defines him. In Nazareth he is the local boy, which sets up the question 'Isn't this Joseph's son?' (v.22) and the proverb about a prophet in his hometown (v.24).
-
Luke 12:24 τρέφει feeds
Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storehouse or barn; yet God feeds them. How much more valuable you are than the birds!
Here: Present tense: God keeps on feeding them, day after day. The word is used for raising and keeping living things alive, not for a single meal.
-
Luke 23:29 ἔθρεψαν. they feed.
Look, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed!’
Here: To feed and sustain a child. In a city starved by siege, women with no infant to feed are spared a particular agony.
Acts · 1
-
Acts 12:20 τρέφεσθαι being nourished
Now Herod was in a furious dispute with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they convened before him. Having secured the support of Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their region depended on the king’s country for food.
Here: Their land was fed by Herod's land: they needed its grain and produce. The present tense marks this as an ongoing, everyday dependence.
James · 1
-
James 5:5 ἐθρέψατε You have fattened
You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter.
Here: The ordinary word for feeding or rearing, used also of feeding livestock. Here they have fed themselves up like animals being fattened.
Revelation · 2
-
Revelation 12:6 τρέφωσιν they may feed
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place for her to be nourished for 1,260 days.
Here: 'They may feed her', a present subjunctive for ongoing provision day after day. The unnamed 'they' is a Hebrew-style way of saying 'she will be fed' without naming who does the feeding (behind it is God, perhaps through his agents). Many translations turn it into a passive.
-
Revelation 12:14 τρέφεται she is nourished
But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle to fly from the presence of the serpent to her place in the wilderness, where she was nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.
Here: Present tense, passive: 'she is being fed, cared for'. It describes ongoing provision by an unnamed giver (God), as in 12:6, and recalls manna in the wilderness and Elijah fed there (1 Kgs 17:4–6; 19:5–8).
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.