Greek word · G640
ἀπορία
aporia
perplexity
Literally 'lack of a way through' (from poros, a ford or passage). It covers being at a loss, helplessness and anxious uncertainty: the state of having no resources, no exit and no answer.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
ἀπορία, -ας, ἡ
(ἀπορέω), [in LXX for בֶּהָלָה, etc. ;]
perplexity: Luke 21:25 (MM, see word; on the construction, see Field, Notes, 74 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
Literally 'lack of a way through' (from poros, a ford or passage). It covers being at a loss, helplessness and anxious uncertainty: the state of having no resources, no exit and no answer.
- Against the English
'Perplexity' (KJV, ESV, NASB, NIV) now sounds intellectual and mild, like being puzzled by a riddle. 'Bewildered' (BSB) comes closer. The Greek means people who cannot see what to do or where to go.
- How it drifted
English 'perplexity' once had a stronger sense of entanglement and distress. In modern use it has softened to 'confusion'.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Classical and Hellenistic Greek use it for having no means or way out. The related verb aporeō describes the women at the empty tomb in Luke 24:4, who 'did not know what to make of it', and Herod's quandary about John in Mark 6:20.
Where it appears
Luke · 1
-
Luke 21:25 ἀπορίᾳ perplexity
There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among the nations, bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the surging of the waves.
Here: Literally 'having no way through' (a- 'no' + poros 'passage, ford'). It is the helplessness of people who do not know what to do. It is far stronger than mild puzzlement.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.