Greek word · G560
ἀπελπίζω
apelpizō
to despair
Across Greek literature, from classical writers and Polybius to the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament), the word means 'to give up hope, despair' (literally 'hope away from').
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
ἀπ-ελπίζω
[in LXX: Isaiah 29:19 (אֶבְיוֹן), Judith 9:11, Esther 4:17, Sirach 22:21 27:21, 2Ma.9:18 * ;]
1. to give up in despair, despair of (Polyb., Diod., LXX).
2. to hope to receive from or in return (Field, Notes, 59; Cremer, 712; Soph., Lex., see word): with accusative (M; Pr., 65; MM, see word), Luke 6:35.†
(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
Across Greek literature, from classical writers and Polybius to the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament), the word means 'to give up hope, despair' (literally 'hope away from'). The meaning 'hope for something back' or 'expect in return' is not clearly found anywhere before this verse. It is the meaning the context here seems to require, and it was read this way from early on (the Latin nihil inde sperantes, 'hoping for nothing from it').
- Against the English
Almost all modern translations give 'expecting nothing in return/back' (ESV, NASB, NRSV, BSB, WEB) or a paraphrase of it (NIV, NLT). The KJV's 'hoping for nothing again' follows the Latin. The English Revised Version (1881) put 'never despairing' in its main text and noted the 'despairing of no man' reading in the margin.
- How it drifted
No drift has happened in English. The issue is that the usual rendering rests on context rather than on how the word was normally used, so it is less certain than it looks. Medieval readers took the Latin 'hoping for nothing from it' to mean 'take no interest' (see textual notes).
- Used elsewhere in the period
In the Septuagint it means despair: Isaiah 29:19 ('the despairing among men'); Judith 9:11 ('saviour of the despairing'); Sirach 22:21 and 27:21 (when a friend or a secret is lost, one should 'despair'); 2 Maccabees 9:18. Polybius uses it for giving up hope of survival. BDAG gives 'despair' as the general meaning, and for Luke 6:35 gives 'expecting nothing in return', citing the contrast with v. 34.
Where it appears
Luke · 1
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Luke 6:35 ἀπελπίζοντες· expecting in return;
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
Here: A participle describing how they lend. Elsewhere in Greek the word means 'to despair'. Here it probably means 'expecting nothing back', since it is set against verse 34's 'from whom you hope to receive'. But 'never despairing' is a real possibility (see debates).
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.