ἄπειρος

From the study of Hebrews 5:13

Range of meaning

From a- ("not") + peira ("trial, attempt, experience"): untried, without experience, unpractised, unskilled in something (taking the genitive of the thing). Not to be confused with a different word spelled the same, from peras ("limit"), meaning "boundless, infinite". In Hebrews only the "inexperienced" sense applies.

Against the English

KJV "unskilful," ESV "unskilled," BSB/WEB "inexperienced" keep the idea of missing practice. NIV "not acquainted with" and NASB "not accustomed to" lean toward familiarity or habit. "Acquainted" can sound like never having heard the teaching, but the Greek points to never having used it.

Used elsewhere in the period

Common in classical and Hellenistic Greek for raw recruits, untrained craftsmen and novices (e.g. "inexperienced in war"). LXX Zechariah 11:15 speaks of the gear of an "inexperienced (apeirou) shepherd." The Greek of Numbers 14:23 has an addition about the children of the wilderness generation: those "who do not know good or evil, every young one without experience (apeiros)". Hebrews has dwelt on that wilderness generation in chapters 3–4, and the pairing of apeiros with knowing good and evil (v. 14) is striking, though whether the author is deliberately echoing it is uncertain.