ὑβρίζω

From the study of 1 Thessalonians 2:2

Range of meaning

To treat someone with hybris: insolent, degrading outrage that dishonours the victim. It covers physical assault, sexual violation and public humiliation. The point is not mainly the pain but the shaming: treating a person as of no worth.

Against the English

KJV "shamefully entreated," WEB "shamefully treated," BSB "shameful treatment," YLT "injuriously treated." "Shamefully" is the right instinct because the word is about honour. Modern English "hubris" (arrogant pride) points the other way: here the missionaries are the victims of someone else's hybris, not proud themselves.

How it drifted

English "hubris" came in through Greek tragedy criticism and narrowed to overweening pride. The verb in Greek law and everyday speech meant actively outraging someone else.

Used elsewhere in the period

Aristotle (Rhetoric 2.2.5) defines hybris as doing or saying things that bring shame on the victim, for the pleasure of feeling superior. Athens had a public prosecution for it (the graphē hybreōs; see Demosthenes, Against Meidias). In the NT Jesus predicts he will be "outraged" (hubristhēsetai, Luke 18:32). In Matthew 22:6 the king's servants are seized, mistreated and killed. In Acts 14:5 there is a plot "to mistreat (hubrisai) and stone" Paul.

From the study of Acts 14:5

Range of meaning

To treat someone with hybris: arrogant, insulting, degrading conduct that strips them of honor, often with physical violence. It covers insults, assault, rough handling and sexual outrage, all of it meant to shame.

Against the English

'Mistreat' (BSB, WEB, ESV, NASB) is accurate but flat. The KJV/YLT 'use despitefully' (treat with contempt) is closer to the honor-shame sense but sounds archaic now. NLT's 'attack' keeps the violence and loses the humiliation.

How it drifted

Modern English 'mistreat' is a broad, neutral word for bad treatment. The Greek word points specifically at public degradation.

Used elsewhere in the period

Aristotle (Rhetoric 2.2) defines hybris as doing and saying things that bring shame on the victim, for the doer's own gratification. Athenian law allowed a public prosecution for hybris (as in Demosthenes, Against Meidias). In the NT: Matthew 22:6 (the king's servants mistreated and killed); Luke 18:32 (the Son of Man 'will be insulted'); 1 Thessalonians 2:2, where Paul recalls being 'shamefully treated' (hybristhentes) at Philippi. In 1 Timothy 1:13 Paul calls his former self a hybristēs, an 'insolent man'.

From the study of Luke 18:32

Range of meaning

To treat with hybris: insolent, arrogant outrage against someone's person and honor. It covers insulting speech, but centrally it means degrading physical abuse such as assault, beating, or sexual violation, done to shame the victim. Athenian law had a formal charge of hybris (graphē hybreōs) for assault that dishonored a person.

Against the English

BSB and YLT 'insulted', WEB 'treated shamefully', KJV 'spitefully entreated' (archaic 'entreat' = 'treat'), NASB 'mistreated'. 'Insulted' is too narrow for modern ears, which hear only rude words. 'Treated shamefully' or 'outrageously abused' carries both the violence and the dishonor.

How it drifted

The modern English 'insult' has narrowed to verbal offense. 'Hubris' entered English as a word for a person's own arrogant pride, so the Greek verb's main sense, doing degrading violence to someone else, drops out of view.

Used elsewhere in the period

Aristotle (Rhetoric 2.2, 1378b) defines hybris as doing and saying things that bring shame on the victim, not for any gain but for the pleasure of it. In 2 Maccabees 14:42 Razis chooses death rather than fall into the hands of sinners and 'be outraged' (hybristhēnai) in a way unworthy of his noble birth. In the NT: Matthew 22:6 (servants seized, 'mistreated', killed); Acts 14:5 (a plot to 'mistreat' and stone Paul); 1 Thessalonians 2:2 (Paul 'shamefully treated' at Philippi, where he was beaten with rods and jailed).