StrongerBible

diatribō

διατρίβω

GreekG1304stayed, spent, ...

Appears 9 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Jhn 3:22Act 12:19Act 14:3Act 14:28Act 15:35Act 16:12Act 20:6Act 25:6Act 25:14
Compound of
Names & words formed with this
Word studydee-ah-TREE-bohverb

What diatribō means

to stay somewhere for a stretch of time: to settle into a place for days or weeks instead of passing through

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

Luke writes like a travel narrator, and this is one of his markers for a real stop. Set against the bare verbs for arriving and sailing on, this word says the travelers did not simply pass through: they settled in and put in time. Twice he names what filled that time, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord at Antioch, or speaking boldly at Iconium, so the length of a stay doubles as a measure of the work done there.

The one verb tilts two ways. Sometimes the weight falls on the place: Jesus went into the Judean countryside and stayed there with his disciples (John 3:22), and Herod went down to Caesarea and stayed (Acts 12:19). Sometimes it falls on the clock: seven days at Troas, some days at Philippi, eight or ten days before a hearing, and once simply a long while. Greek holds both with the same verb, while English usually reaches for "stayed" in the first case and "spent" in the second.

It sits close to the ordinary verb for remaining (μένω), but it is narrower. That general verb can mean to stay anywhere, to keep on being something, or, in John, to stay joined to a person. This one keeps its feet on the ground: a person, a place, and a stretch of days.

Nuances

1ato stay in a place: to stop somewhere and remain there rather than move on
TranslatabilityDirect
Jhn 3:22Act 12:19Act 15:35
1bto spend a measured stretch of time: to put in so many days, or a long while, in one place
Act 14:3Act 14:28Act 16:12Act 20:6Act 25:6Act 25:14

What scholars say about diatribō

BDAG treats this as a single New Testament lexeme, "to remain or stay in a place," subdivided only by whether an accusative of time accompanies the verb; Louw and Nida file it in the domain of existence in space, among the verbs for remaining and staying. LSJ preserves the fuller classical range: as a compound of διά with τρίβω, "to rub," it runs from "to rub through, wear away" to "to consume, spend" of time, and in the Attic schools to "spend time in study," the usage behind the noun διατριβή for a lecture or a school. Only the temporal and locative branch is attested in the New Testament, and Moulton and Milligan document the same everyday usage in the documentary papyri. The distribution is markedly Lukan: eight of the nine occurrences stand in Acts, where the verb belongs to the itinerary vocabulary of the missionary journeys, and the ninth is John 3:22.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. διατρίβωlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. διατρίβωlexicon
  • Louw and Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, domain 85 (Existence in Space), Remain, Staylexicon
  • Moulton and Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, s.v. διατρίβωlexicon

All attested forms of διατρίβω

imperfect active indicative 3p

διέτριβον

Act 14:28, Act 15:35, Act 25:14

imperfect active indicative 3s

διέτριβεν

Jhn 3:22, Act 12:19

aorist active indicative 1p

διετρίψαμεν

Act 20:6

aorist active indicative 3p

διέτριψαν

Act 14:3

aorist active participle nominative m s

διατρίψας

Act 25:6

present active participle nominative m p

διατρίβοντες

Act 16:12