Greek word · G5246
ὑπέρογκος
hyperonkos
boastful
Literally "of excessive bulk, swollen." Of matters it means too big or too difficult; of words it means inflated, pompous, arrogant, presumptuous.
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
ὑπέρ-ογκος, -ον
[in LXX: Deuteronomy 30:11 (פָּלָא), etc. ;]
of excessive weight or size; metaphorically, excessive, immoderate, in late writers, of arrogant speech (see Mayor on Ju, l.with): n. pl., 2 Peter 2:18, Jude 1:16.†
(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
Literally "of excessive bulk, swollen." Of matters it means too big or too difficult; of words it means inflated, pompous, arrogant, presumptuous.
- Against the English
KJV's "great swelling words" keeps the image well. NIV and NLT have them boasting "about themselves." That is one possible reading, but "about themselves" is an interpretation; the Greek does not say who the arrogant talk is about. BSB's "spew arrogance" adds a vividness ("spew") that is not in the plain verb "speaks."
- How it drifted
Some modern versions narrow it to self-promotion and lose the note of defying God.
- Used elsewhere in the period
In the Greek translation of Daniel attributed to Theodotion, the arrogant king "will speak hyperonka against the God of gods" (Dan 11:36). Compare Dan 7:8, 20, the horn with "a mouth speaking great things." In LXX Exod 18:22, 26 the word means the "hard cases" too big for lower judges. 2 Pet 2:18 reuses Jude's phrase: "uttering swelling words of emptiness." 1 Enoch, which Jude has just quoted, accuses sinners of speaking "proud and hard words" against God's majesty (1 En 5:4; compare 101:3).
From the study of 2 Peter 2:18
- Range of meaning
From ὑπέρ ('over, beyond') and ὄγκος ('bulk, mass, swelling'; also 'pomp, self-importance'). The basic sense is 'oversized, swollen beyond proper measure'. Things can be ὑπέρογκος in the sense of 'too great or too hard'. Speech that is ὑπέρογκος is inflated, bombastic, grandiose, often with arrogance against God or other people.
- Against the English
KJV/WEB 'great swelling words' and YLT 'overswellings' keep the picture of something puffed up. BSB 'lofty', NASB 'arrogant' and NIV 'boastful' give the meaning but lose the image of inflation, which pairs with 'emptiness' (a swollen thing with nothing inside).
- Used elsewhere in the period
In the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) it describes legal cases 'too hard' for lower judges (Exod 18:22, 26; Deut 17:8) and God's command, which is 'not too hard' (Deut 30:11). In Daniel 11:36 (Theodotion's Greek) the arrogant king 'will speak ὑπέρογκα against the God of gods'. Jude 16, which 2 Peter closely follows, says of the same kind of teachers: 'their mouth speaks ὑπέρογκα'. Greek writers on style used the ὄγκος-family for bombastic, pompous rhetoric.
Similar words
Where it appears
2 Peter · 1
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2 Peter 2:18 Ὑπέρογκα Arrogant
With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.
Here: A neuter plural used as a noun: 'over-swollen things', speech puffed up past its real size. It comes first in the sentence for emphasis: big talk is the first thing the reader meets.
Jude · 1
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Jude 1:16 ὑπέρογκα, great swelling [words],
These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.
Here: Literally "over-bulked" words: inflated, high-flown, presumptuous talk. Biblical Greek uses the same phrase for the arrogant king who speaks against God (Dan 11:36), so the word carries a note of defying God, not just showing off.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.