Greek word · G74
ἀγωνία
agōnia
a struggle
Related to agōn ('contest, struggle, athletic or military combat'). Agōnia first meant a contest or struggle. By Hellenistic times it most often meant the tense anxiety and anguish of someone facing a decisive ordeal: the nerves before a race, a battle or a trial.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
ἀγωνία, -ας, ἡ
(ἀγών), [in LXX: 2Ma.3:14,16 15:19 * ;]
1. a contest, wrestling (Eur., Xen.).
2. Of the mind, great fear, agony, anguish (Dem., Arist.): Luke 22:44 (cf . Field, Notes, 77 f. ; Abbott, Essays, 101 f. ; MM, VGT, see word).
† (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
Related to agōn ('contest, struggle, athletic or military combat'). Agōnia first meant a contest or struggle. By Hellenistic times it most often meant the tense anxiety and anguish of someone facing a decisive ordeal: the nerves before a race, a battle or a trial. BDAG gives the sense as a state of great mental and emotional strain: anguish, distress.
- Against the English
KJV, ESV and WEB say 'agony'. BSB and NIV say 'anguish'. In modern English 'agony' usually means extreme pain, especially physical pain ('in agony with a broken leg'). The Greek is closer to anguished strain: fear and intense tension as a fight approaches. 'Anguish' comes nearer.
- How it drifted
English 'agony' comes from this very word, through Latin agonia. Over time it moved from 'struggle, mental anguish' to 'intense physical suffering', largely because 'the agony in the garden' and crucifixion piety tied it to bodily pain.
- Used elsewhere in the period
In 2 Maccabees 3:14, 16–17, the city and the high priest Onias are in agōnia as the temple treasury is threatened. In 2 Maccabees 15:19 those left in Jerusalem are in agōnia over the coming battle. Classical orators and Hellenistic writers use it for the tension of combatants before a contest. Jewish martyr literature (4 Maccabees) describes the martyrs' ordeal as an agōn, a contest.
Where it appears
Luke · 1
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Luke 22:44 ἀγωνίᾳ agony
And in His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
Here: Used only here in the New Testament. The word comes from the world of contests (agōn): it is the tense, fearful strain of someone facing a decisive fight. It means intense distress, but distress of a combatant, not simply physical pain.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.