Tag: Greek

Open Door Baptist Church

Acts # 32

20 And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon: but they came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus the king’s chamberlain their friend, desired peace; because their country was nourished by the king’s country. 21 And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. 22 And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. 23 And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.

24 But the word of God grew and multiplied.

25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark.

( Acts 12:20-25 ) KJV

23.

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eaten by worms: σκωληκόβρωτος – skólékobrótos

• eaten by worms.

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There is another place where the word skoleks is used to refer to worms:

42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. 43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: 48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

( Mark 9:42-28 ) KJV

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a worm: σκώληξ – skóléx

• a gnawing worm; gnawing anguish.

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Thanks to my biology background I know that the word scolex is used to refer to part of a worm.

The adult tapeworm has a scolex, or head, a short neck, and a strobila, or segmented body formed of proglottids. Tapeworms anchor themselves to the inside of the intestine of their host using their scolex, which typically has hooks, suckers, or both. They have no mouth, but absorb nutrients directly from the host’s gut. The neck continually produces proglottids, each one containing a reproductive tract; mature proglottids are full of eggs, and fall off to leave the host, either passively in the feces or actively moving. All tapeworms are hermaphrodites, with each individual having both male and female reproductive organs.

Wikipedia

If we connect skolex with scolex then we may conclude that Herod has tapeworms, but what happened to him? The translations are variable but they can be generalized along the following lines:

1. Herod was immediately struck by an angel of the Lord,
2. he later died consumed by worms.

However, we need to look more closely at the Greek and look at how the phrase eaten by worms is placed.

• having been eaten by worms
• genomenos skōlēkobrōtos

Having been is the key.

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to come into being: γενόμενος – ginomai

• to come into being, to happen, to become
• I come into being, am born, become, come about, happen.
• properly, to emerge, become, transitioning from one point (realm, condition) to another. 1096 (gínomai) fundamentally means “become” (becoming, became) so it is not an exact equivalent to the ordinary equative verb “to be” (is, was, will be) as with 1510/eimí (1511/eínai, 2258/ēn).
• “to become, and signifies a change of condition, state or place” (Vine, Unger, White, NT, 109).
• to come into being/manifestation implying motion, movement, or growth” (at 2 Pet 1:4). Thus it is used for God’s actions as emerging from eternity and becoming (showing themselves) in time (physical space).

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Herod may have been infested by tapeworms for quite a while. An angel of the Lord caused the worms to immediately grow so fast that he burst open and they spilled out.