βεβηλόω

From the study of Matthew 12:5

Range of meaning

To desecrate or profane: to take something holy (set apart for God) and treat it as common. Related to the adjective bebēlos, 'common, unhallowed', which originally meant ground anyone may walk on, as opposed to a sacred area. In Jewish Greek it belongs to the vocabulary of holiness and pollution (sanctuary, Sabbath, God's name, the covenant, a priest's lineage). It is not general wrongdoing.

Against the English

KJV, WEB, YLT (and ESV) have 'profane'. NIV has 'desecrate'. BSB and NASB have 'break', and NLT turns the clause into permission to 'work'. 'Break' makes it sound like breaking a rule. 'Profane' is accurate, but to modern ears it suggests swearing. Only 'desecrate' and 'profane' (in its older sense) keep the idea of violating something sacred.

How it drifted

In modern English 'profane' mostly means vulgar language. 'Break the Sabbath' sounds like a technical infraction, a parking ticket rather than a sacrilege.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Old Testament (LXX) uses it to translate Hebrew ḥillel, 'to make common, profane'. Exod 31:14: 'whoever profanes it [the Sabbath] shall surely be put to death'. Ezek 20:13, 16, 21, 24 and 22:8: Israel 'profaned my Sabbaths'. Neh 13:17–18: trading on the Sabbath is 'profaning the Sabbath'. 1 Macc 1:43, 45: under Antiochus IV Israelites 'profaned the Sabbath'. In the NT it appears only here and in Acts 24:6, where Paul is accused of trying to 'profane the temple'.

From the study of 1 Maccabees 4:54

Range of meaning

To make bebēlos: common, open to ordinary use, not holy. It covers desecrating, defiling or treating as unholy something set apart. The opposite is hagios, 'holy'. The root image is ground anyone may walk on, as against a set-apart sacred area.

Against the English

'Profaned' is accurate in its older sense. But modern 'profane/profanity' mostly means coarse or blasphemous language, which has nothing to do with this word.

How it drifted

In modern English 'profanity' has narrowed to foul language. The ritual sense of 'taking something out of holy status' has dropped out of everyday use.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the LXX it usually translates Hebrew ḥillel, 'to profane' (Lev 19:8; 21:9; Ezek 22:26, where priests fail to separate holy and common). In 1 Macc it describes the Seleucid desecration of the sanctuary and the Sabbath (1:43, 45, 63; 2:12). In the New Testament, Matt 12:5 says priests 'profane' the Sabbath, and in Acts 24:6 Paul is accused of trying to profane the temple.

From the study of Acts 24:6

Range of meaning

To make bebēlos, meaning common, unconsecrated, open to ordinary use. The adjective first described ground anyone could walk on, as opposed to a sacred precinct. The verb means to strip something of its holy status by treating it as ordinary or by bringing into it what does not belong: to profane, desecrate, violate.

Against the English

BSB and NIV have 'desecrate'; KJV, WEB and ESV have 'profane'. Both are accurate. In everyday modern English, though, 'profane' mostly means bad language ('profanity'), which is far from the sense here.

How it drifted

From the sixteenth century on, English 'profane' moved from 'outside the temple, not sacred' (Latin pro fano, 'in front of the shrine') towards 'irreverent speech'. Today the speech sense dominates.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint) it regularly translates Hebrew ḥillēl, 'to make common, defile': priests who 'profane my holy things' (Ezek 22:26), profaning the Sabbath (Neh 13:17–18; Ezek 20:13), and the Seleucid desecration of the sanctuary (1 Macc 1:43–63; 2 Macc 8:2). Jesus uses it in Matt 12:5 ('the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath'). Josephus applies the same idea to Gentiles entering the forbidden courts.