Greek word · G5467

χαλεπός

chalepos

harsh

From Homer onward: hard, difficult, troublesome. Hard to bear: grievous, painful. Hard to deal with: harsh, fierce, savage, dangerous. Used of rough seas and winds, harsh rulers, wild animals and violent men.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

χαλεπός, -ή, -όν

[in LXX: Isaiah 18:2 (יָרֵא), Wisdom of Solomon 3:19, Sirach 3:21, al. ;]

hard;

(a) hard to do or deal with, difficult;

(b) hard to bear, painful, grievous: καιροί, 2 Timothy 3:1;

(with) of persons, hard to deal with, harsh, fierce, savage: Matthew 8:28.†

(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 2 Timothy 3:1

Range of meaning

From Homer onward: hard, difficult, troublesome. Hard to bear: grievous, painful. Hard to deal with: harsh, fierce, savage, dangerous. Used of rough seas and winds, harsh rulers, wild animals and violent men.

Against the English

KJV/YLT "perilous" gets the danger. BSB/NIV "terrible" gets the severity. WEB "grievous" gets the burden. ESV/NASB "difficulty/difficult" is the mildest and can sound like mere inconvenience. No single English word holds the whole range: hard to live through, and dangerous.

How it drifted

Readers often take "perilous times" to mean wars, disasters or outside persecution. The verse explains the peril in social and moral terms, through what people are like.

Used elsewhere in the period

Its only other NT use is Matt 8:28: the demon-possessed men were "exceedingly fierce" (χαλεποὶ λίαν), so that no one could pass that way. In ordinary Greek it describes violent people and dangerous conditions.

From the study of Matthew 8:28

Range of meaning

Hard or difficult. Of people or animals it means harsh, fierce, dangerous, savage. Of situations it means troublesome or perilous. The only other New Testament use is 2 Timothy 3:1, "perilous times".

Against the English

KJV and WEB "exceeding(ly) fierce", YLT "very fierce", BSB "so violent". All are fair. "Violent" stresses physical attacks, "fierce" a savage nature. The Greek covers both: they were dangerous to deal with.

Used elsewhere in the period

Classical and later Greek writers regularly call wild beasts and dangerous men chalepos. It is ordinary descriptive Greek, not a technical term.

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

  1. Matthew 8:28 χαλεποὶ violent

    When Jesus arrived on the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, He was met by two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass that way.

    Here: Dangerous and hard to deal with. Greek writers used it of savage animals and of hard, perilous times. It describes the threat the men posed to others, not just a bad temper.

2 Timothy · 1

  1. 2 Timothy 3:1 χαλεποί. difficult.

    But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come.

    Here: Comes last for emphasis. The word covers what is hard to bear and what is dangerous or fierce. The "for" in verse 2 explains where the danger comes from: what people will be like.

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