Greek word · G5327
φάραγξ
pharanx
valley
A ravine, gorge, gully or steep-sided valley, usually cut by running water: a deep cleft rather than a broad lowland (BDAG, LSJ).
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
φάραγξ, -αγγος, ἡ
[in LXX chiefly for נַחַל, also for גַּיְא, etc. ;]
a chasm, ravine: Luke 3:5 (LXX) (see DB, iv, 845 f.).†
(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
A ravine, gorge, gully or steep-sided valley, usually cut by running water: a deep cleft rather than a broad lowland (BDAG, LSJ).
- Against the English
Every English version says "valley". That is not wrong, but modern English "valley" suggests a wide, gentle dale. φάραγξ is the sharp drop a traveler cannot cross without climbing down and up again.
- How it drifted
"Valley" came into the English tradition through Tyndale and the KJV ("Every valley shall be exalted" in Isa 40:4, made famous by Handel's Messiah), and the softer modern picture of the word stuck.
- Used elsewhere in the period
In the Greek Old Testament (LXX) φάραγξ often translates Hebrew gay' (ravine), including the "Valley of Hinnom" (φάραγξ Ενν(ομ), Josh 15:8; Jer 7:31-32). It is the word in Isa 40:4 LXX, which Luke quotes. Bar 5:7 uses a related image: "the valleys (φάραγγας) filled up to make level ground."
Where it appears
Luke · 1
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Luke 3:5 φάραγξ valley
Every valley shall be filled in, and every mountain and hill made low. The crooked ways shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth.
Here: A steep, narrow ravine or gully cut by water, the kind of drop that blocks a road. It appears only here in the New Testament, taken over from the Greek translation of Isaiah 40:4.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.