Greek word · G973

βιαστής

biastēs

forceful person

'Violent people, men who use force.' It is a rare noun from the same bia root. Words from this root are about coercion and violent force, and the noun does not naturally mean 'eager, earnest, zealous'.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

βιαστής, -οῦ, ὁ (βιάζω), late form of βιατάς;

1. strong, forceful.

2. violent (Philo): Matthew 11:12 (see: βιάζω).

† (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 Matthew 11:12

Range of meaning

'Violent people, men who use force.' It is a rare noun from the same bia root. Words from this root are about coercion and violent force, and the noun does not naturally mean 'eager, earnest, zealous'.

Against the English

KJV, WEB, ESV: 'the violent'. NASB: 'violent men'. NIV 2011 and NLT: 'violent people'. NIV 1984: 'forceful men', a deliberate softening to fit a positive reading. BSB: 'the violent'.

How it drifted

In some modern preaching 'the violent' is reheard as 'spiritually intense people'. That is a metaphor imported from the positive reading, not the normal sense of the Greek word.

Used elsewhere in the period

Found nowhere else in the New Testament and nowhere in the LXX. It is rare in surviving Greek before Matthew. Related words in the bia family consistently describe compulsion, violence and outrage.

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

  1. Matthew 11:12 βιασταὶ violent

    From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subject to violence, and the violent lay claim to it.

    Here: The noun from the same root as biazetai, with no article: 'violent men', people who use force. It is a rare word, found only here in the New Testament, and its natural tone is hostile.

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