ἀρκέω

From the study of Hebrews 13:5

Range of meaning

Active: to be enough, to suffice ('my grace is sufficient for you', 2 Cor 12:9). Passive: to be satisfied with, to count something as enough.

Against the English

'Content' is accurate. The Greek, though, stresses a judgment that something is enough more than a feeling of calm. You can be ἀρκούμενος while still living in hardship.

Used elsewhere in the period

John the Baptist told soldiers to 'be content with your wages' (Luke 3:14). 'If we have food and clothing, with these we will be content' (1 Tim 6:8). Diotrephes is 'not content with that' (3 John 10). The related idea of αὐτάρκεια, self-sufficiency or contentment, was a prized Stoic and Cynic virtue, and Paul takes it up in Phil 4:11 and 1 Tim 6:6.

From the study of 2 Corinthians 12:9

Range of meaning

To be enough, to be adequate, to meet the need. In the passive it means to be satisfied or content.

Against the English

"Is sufficient" (KJV, BSB, WEB) is accurate, if a little formal. "Is all you need" (NLT) catches the feeling, but it can sound like a slogan and loses the edge of refusal.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Greek Old Testament (Num 11:22) it is used of whether flocks and fish will "suffice" for the people. In the New Testament: John 6:7 (bread not "enough"), 1 Tim 6:8 ("content" with food and clothing). Its relative, αὐτάρκεια ("self-sufficiency, enough-ness"), was a Stoic ideal, and Paul uses it in 2 Cor 9:8 of God giving "all sufficiency in all things."

From the study of 1 Timothy 6:8

Range of meaning

Active: 'to be enough, suffice, be adequate' (e.g. John 14:8, 'show us the Father and it is enough for us'; 2 Cor 12:9, 'my grace is sufficient for you'). Passive/middle: 'to be satisfied with, to count something as enough, to be content with' (Luke 3:14; Heb 13:5; 3 John 10).

Against the English

Most versions say 'content'. YLT's 'we shall suffice ourselves' is clumsy but keeps the root idea of sufficiency. KJV and NLT render it as a call ('let us be content'). BSB, WEB and most others render it as a statement ('we will be content').

How it drifted

English 'content' came in from Latin contentus ('held in, contained'), the word the Vulgate used here. Today it often suggests an inner mood of calm happiness. The Greek is about judging something to be enough and stopping there. A feeling may come with that, but the verb itself is about sufficiency.

Used elsewhere in the period

The family is common in Greek moral writing. Its noun autarkeia (v. 6; also 2 Cor 9:8) and adjective autarkēs (Phil 4:11) were central terms for Cynic and Stoic philosophers, who held that the wise man is 'self-sufficient' and needs almost nothing outside himself. Luke 3:14 ('be content with your wages') and Heb 13:5 ('be content with what you have') use the same passive form in similar warnings about money.