almsgiving: mercy put into action as a gift to the poor
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
The word names mercy made concrete. It is built on the ordinary Greek word for compassion or pity (ἔλεος), but in the New Testament it has narrowed almost entirely to one thing: giving to people in need. Where the parent word is a feeling, this word is that feeling turned into a gift.
It works at two levels that share one idea. Sometimes it points to the act or practice of giving, as when Jesus warns against sounding a trumpet when you do your charity (Matthew 6:2). Sometimes it points to the gift itself, as when a lame man at the temple gate asks passersby for a handout (Acts 3:2). The same word covers both the doing and the thing done.
In its Jewish setting, giving to the poor was not just kindness but righteousness. When Cornelius prays, an angel tells him his gifts have risen like an offering before God (Acts 10:4). This is why the Greek Old Testament often used this very word to translate the Hebrew word for righteousness (צְדָקָה): to give to the needy was to do what is right.
Nuances
1aa merciful deed of giving to the poor; the practice of charity
Mat 6:2Mat 6:3Mat 6:4Luk 11:41Luk 12:33Act 9:36Act 10:2
1bthe alms itself: the concrete gift given to or received by the poor
Names mercy made concrete as a gift handed to the poor, the act of almsgiving itself rather than the feeling behind it.Mat 6:3Act 10:4
Belongs to settings of practical charity: coins asked at the temple gate, food and clothing for the needy, a collection carried back to a poor community.Act 3:3Act 24:17
Both
Both grow from the same root and both name mercy toward those in need, so the surrounding words alone tell whether the compassion or the concrete gift is in view.Luk 12:33Luk 1:50
Both can describe mercy actually put into action for a suffering person, whether as compassion shown or as alms given.Act 9:36Luk 10:37
Names the inward compassion a person carries, the disposition of a merciful heart rather than any single gift.Mat 9:13Luk 1:78
Most often describes God's own mercy toward his people, the faithful kindness on which salvation rests.Eph 2:4Tit 3:5
eleēmosunē in the other biblical languages
צְדָקָהHebrew“righteousness”righteousness put into action; in later Hebrew and the Greek Old Testament this word for right-doing came to include almsgiving, and it is what this Greek word most often renders
Names the concrete act of giving to the poor as its core meaning, the gift of money or goods itself: in the New Testament the word has narrowed almost entirely to "alms" or "almsgiving."Mat 6:2Mat 6:3Act 3:2Act 3:3
Treats charity as a personal devotional practice God takes notice of, a habit of generosity that marks a life and is "remembered" before God, rather than a quality or standing.Act 9:36Act 10:2Act 10:4Act 24:17
Both
Both name righteousness shown by giving to the poor: the Greek word for almsgiving is the regular Greek rendering of the Hebrew word in this exact use, where being righteous means open-handed care for the needy and the gift itself is counted as righteousness.Psa 112:9Deu 24:13Mat 6:2Act 10:2
Carries God's own saving justice, His action to set things right and deliver His people, often standing alongside His salvation, a sense the Greek almsgiving word never bears.Psa 98:2Isa 46:13Isa 51:8Psa 103:6
Means being in the right or being credited as right before God, a verdict of right standing rather than a charitable gift.Gen 15:6Deu 6:25
Names the broad covenant standard of just and upright living and the social justice God requires, regularly paired with judgment and justice.Amo 5:24Isa 5:7Jer 22:3Pro 21:3
חֶסֶדHebrew“kindness”loyal, faithful love shown within a committed bond; the Greek Old Testament sometimes rendered it with this same word for a merciful gift
Belongs to a standing relationship, kindness owed and kept between parties bound to each other.Gen 21:231Sa 20:82Sa 9:1
Often runs both ways, loyalty asked for and repaid rather than given to a stranger.Gen 24:49Jos 2:12Rut 1:8
Names God's own faithful covenant love toward his people, which lasts to a thousand generations.Exo 34:6Deu 7:91Ch 16:34
What scholars say about eleēmosunē
In classical Greek ἐλεημοσύνη denotes pity or compassion (LSJ). In the Septuagint it becomes a standard rendering of both צְדָקָה "righteousness" and חֶסֶד "covenant loyalty", reflecting the Second Temple convergence of righteousness and care for the poor; by the New Testament the word has specialized to concrete charitable giving (BDAG distinguishes the activity of giving from the gift given). Bultmann traces this development in the ἔλεος word group (TDNT 2:477-487), and Anderson documents the emergence of almsgiving as the paradigmatic act of righteousness in early Judaism and Christianity.
Sources
BDAG, s.v. ἐλεημοσύνηlexicon
LSJ, s.v. ἐλεημοσύνηlexicon
Rudolf Bultmann, "ἔλεος, ἐλεέω, ἐλεήμων, ἐλεημοσύνη," TDNT 2:477-487dictionary
Gary A. Anderson, Charity: The Place of the Poor in the Biblical Tradition (Yale University Press, 2013)monograph