Greek word · G786

ἄσπονδος

aspondos

irreconcilable

From the alpha-privative plus spondē, a libation or drink-offering. In Greek practice a truce or peace treaty was sealed by pouring wine to the gods, so spondai (plural) simply came to mean 'a truce'.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἄσπονδος, -ον

(σπονδή, a libation);

1. without truce (Thuc.).

2. admitting of no truce, implacable (Dem., al.): 2 Timothy 3:3.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 2 Timothy 3:3

Range of meaning

From the alpha-privative plus spondē, a libation or drink-offering. In Greek practice a truce or peace treaty was sealed by pouring wine to the gods, so spondai (plural) simply came to mean 'a truce'. Aspondos means (1) without a truce, as in a 'truceless war' with no rules and no end, and (2) of a person, one who will not agree to a truce: irreconcilable, implacable.

Against the English

KJV 'trucebreakers' suggests someone who makes truces and then breaks them. The Greek more naturally means someone who will not make one. YLT 'implacable', NASB 'irreconcilable' and ESV 'unappeasable' are closer. BSB, NIV and WEB 'unforgiving' move the idea into private emotion. The Greek describes the outward state of refusing settlement and keeping the feud alive.

How it drifted

'Trucebreakers' comes from the Tyndale/Geneva tradition. 'Unforgiving' is a modern simplification that loses the picture of a treaty.

Used elsewhere in the period

'A truceless war' (aspondos polemos) is a stock phrase in classical Greek historians and orators for total, merciless hostility. The word also appears in some manuscripts of Romans 1:31 (see textual notes).

Where it appears

2 Timothy · 1

  1. 2 Timothy 3:3 ἄσπονδοι, implacable,

    unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good,

    Here: Literally 'without a libation'. A spondē was the drink-offering poured out to seal a truce. These are people who will not come to terms: once in a quarrel, they keep it going and refuse any settlement.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.