Greek word · G793

ἀστήρικτος

astēriktos

unstable

"Not made firm, unsupported, unsteady". It is the negative of stērizō, "to set fast, to prop up, to strengthen". In the New Testament it appears only here and in 3:16.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἀ-στήρικτος, -ον

(στηρίζω),

unstable, unsettled: 2 Peter 2:14 3:16.†

(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 Peter 2:14

Range of meaning

"Not made firm, unsupported, unsteady". It is the negative of stērizō, "to set fast, to prop up, to strengthen". In the New Testament it appears only here and in 3:16.

Against the English

"Unstable" (KJV, BSB, YLT) can sound like a personality or mental-health trait. The Greek describes people who have not yet been made firm, which is about their grounding rather than their temperament.

How it drifted

Modern "unstable" tends to suggest emotional or psychological volatility.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word family runs through the letter: the readers are "established" (ἐστηριγμένους) in the truth (1:12). The ignorant and "unstable" twist Paul's letters (3:16). The readers must not fall from their own "stability" (στηριγμός, 3:17). Compare Jesus' charge to Peter, "strengthen (στήρισον) your brothers" (Luke 22:32).

Where it appears

2 Peter · 2

  1. 2 Peter 2:14 ἀστηρίκτους, unestablished,

    Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.

    Here: "Not made firm, not propped up." These are believers who have not yet been grounded in the teaching, which makes them easy prey. Peter uses the same family of words in 1:12 and 3:16–17.

  2. 2 Peter 3:16 ἀστήρικτοι unestablished

    He writes this way in all his letters, speaking in them about such matters. Some parts of his letters are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

    Here: 'Not made firm', with no fixed footing. It is the opposite of the readers, who are 'established' (1:12) and must not lose their 'firm footing' (3:17).

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