StrongerBible

bathos

βάθος

GreekG0899depth, depths, ...

Appears 8 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 13:5Mrk 4:5Luk 5:4Rom 8:39Rom 11:331Co 2:102Co 8:2Eph 3:18
Word studyBAH-thosnoun

What bathos means

depth: how far something reaches down, and so how far anything goes past the point where it can be measured

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

At its root this word is a measurement. It is the depth of soil lying over rock, too thin to keep a seedling alive once the sun comes up, and it is the deep water a fisherman rows out to when the shallows have nothing left to give. The related adjective βαθύς describes a thing as deep; this word names the depth itself.

From there it becomes the natural way to speak about anything a person cannot get to the bottom of. Paul sets it beside height, length, and breadth when he wants to name the whole reach of space, or the whole reach of Christ's love. He cries out at the "depth" of God's riches and wisdom, meaning that no one will ever finish measuring them. And he speaks of the "depths" of God in the plural: the things that lie far below the surface, which no one could dig out and which God's own Spirit alone knows.

One last use runs down a scale rather than down into space. A church in Macedonia gave generously out of poverty that went all the way to the bottom. It is still the same picture. What is deep is what you cannot see the end of, whether that is water under a boat, wealth in God's hands, or need in a poor congregation's life.

Nuances

1ahow far something reaches down: the depth of soil over rock, or the deep water out from the shore
TranslatabilityDirect
Mat 13:5Mrk 4:5Luk 5:4
1bdepth as one of the dimensions of space, listed alongside height, length, and breadth
Rom 8:39Eph 3:18
1cthe measureless fullness of God: riches and wisdom no one can ever reach the bottom of
Rom 11:33
1dthe deep things of God: what lies hidden below the surface and is known only to his own Spirit
1Co 2:10
1ethe far end of a scale: something pushed all the way down to the bottom
2Co 8:2

What scholars say about bathos

The standard lexica treat βάθος as one semantic field with three areas: extent downward (the thin soil of Matthew 13:5 and Mark 4:5, and the deep water of Luke 5:4); the inexhaustible or hidden character of a transcendent reality (Romans 11:33; 1 Corinthians 2:10); and an extreme point on a scale (the κατὰ βάθους poverty of 2 Corinthians 8:2). Two passages carry live exegetical discussion. In Romans 8:39 ὕψωμα and βάθος have been read either as ordinary spatial extremes or as technical astronomical vocabulary, the high point of a heavenly body's course and the region below the horizon, which would make the pair personified cosmic powers; Cranfield surveys the proposal and prefers the spatial reading. In Ephesians 3:18 the referent of the four measurements is disputed, whether the love of Christ named in the following verse or the wider divine mystery Paul has been expounding. The plural τὰ βάθη τοῦ θεοῦ in 1 Corinthians 2:10 stands in a Septuagint idiom for what is hidden, and commentators including Thiselton weigh whether Paul is taking up and correcting language already current at Corinth; the parallel plural of the adjective appears in the phrase "the deep things of Satan" (Revelation 2:24).

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. βάθοςlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. βάθοςlexicon
  • TDNT, s.v. βάθοςtheological-dictionary
  • C. E. B. Cranfield, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, ICC (Edinburgh: T&T Clark), on Romans 8:38-39commentary
  • Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), on 1 Corinthians 2:10commentary
  • Andrew T. Lincoln, Ephesians, WBC 42 (Dallas: Word, 1990), on Ephesians 3:18commentary

All attested forms of βάθος

accusative n s

βάθος

Mat 13:5, Mrk 4:5, Luk 5:4

nominative n s

βάθος

Rom 8:39, Rom 11:33, Eph 3:18

accusative n p

βάθη

1Co 2:10

genitive n s

βάθους

2Co 8:2