Strong’s: to think differently or afterwards, that is, reconsider (morally to feel compunction): – repent.Thayer: (1) To change one’s mind, (2) To change one’s mind for the better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins.Repent is a compound word formed from “meta”, which means “amid” or “with,” and “noeo,” which means “to exercise the mind.” Thus, the word literally means, “accompanied by an exercise of the mind,” or “with understanding.” Any reputable Bible dictionary or Greek-English Lexicon will first define “repent” in this way. King James Dictionary: Available online at Blue Letter Bible. Vines: Available online at Blue Letter Bible. Then look for “Greek and Roman Materials.” This is a fantastic resource on Greek literature and definitely worthy of a bookmark. Liddel and Scott: Available online at at.
Thayers: download with E-sword software at E-sword.Įaston’s: download with E-sword software at E-sword.
Strong’s Bible Dictionary: Available in hard copy, or download with E-sword software at E-sword. I’d like to deal with the etymology before moving on to resources that deal more with interpretation and specific uses of the word. I’m not considering encyclopedias or systematic theologies in this post.
The primary terms we will consider are repent, a translation for the greek verb, μετανοέω, transliterated as metanoeo. At the same time, dictionaries are not the Word of God they are not infallible and so have the possibility of error. Bible Dictionaries and lexicons can give us significant insight into the definition of a word. In this article, we’re going to look at Bible dictionaries and lexicons, and what definitions of repent and repentance they might provide. We’ve also examined how Josephus uses repentance, and how it is often employed in morally negative or morally ambiguous situations that do not result in people reforming their behavior or turning to God.
So far in this series we’ve looked at the occurrences where God repents in the Greek Old Testament, and how this is carried over into several English versions.