StrongerBible

parorgismos

παροργισμός

GreekG3950wrath, anger, ...

Appears 1 time · tap a cell to see the verses

Eph 4:26
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradepar-org-is-MOSSnoun

What parorgismos means

the lingering state of provoked anger: the exasperated, irritated mood that stays after something has stirred you up

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyContested

This is a rare word. It appears only once in the New Testament (Ephesians 4:26) and only a handful of times in the Greek Old Testament, and it seems not to have existed in ordinary Greek before Jewish translators coined it. That background gives it a distinct feel. It is not the common word for anger, and choosing it signals something more specific than plain temper.

In its Old Testament home the word almost always describes Israel provoking God, usually through idol worship and broken covenant loyalty. There the stress falls on the provocation itself, the act or the thing that stirs God up, more than on the resulting feeling. By the time Paul uses it of a person in Ephesians, the weight has shifted toward the inward state: your provoked, exasperated condition, the sore mood that settles in and refuses to cool.

The single New Testament verse tells you not to let the sun go down on it. That is the whole point of the word choice. Ephesians already commands readers a few lines later to put away anger altogether, so this is not permission to stew. It names the aftermath that must be resolved before nightfall, the bitterness that, left overnight, becomes an opening for evil.

The most debated question is whether the word points to the cause of the anger (the offense that provoked you) or to the resulting angry state itself. Most scholarship leans toward the resulting state, but the older Old Testament pattern and a strong minority read it the other way, so both readings are live.

Eph 4:26

What scholars say about parorgismos

παροργισμός is a Hellenistic-Jewish action-noun formed from παροργίζω with the Koine suffix -ισμός, with no secure pre-LXX attestation in pagan Greek; LSJ lists it only under ὀργή citing biblical sources, and Thayer, Alford, and Moulton-Milligan (no documentary papyri, only a late Christian inscription at Zorava) confirm it as a Septuagintism coined to render the Hebrew כעס family of covenantal vexation. In the LXX it appears about six times, five of them describing Israel provoking YHWH by idolatry (3 Kgdms 15:30; 4 Kgdms 19:3; 23:26; Neh 9:18, 26; Jer 21:5 Alex.), where the dominant nuance is active/causal (so the cognate-accusative of 3 Kgdms 15:30). At Eph 4:26 (its only NT occurrence, a hapax) the debate is twofold: whether the preceding ὀργίζεσθε is concessive (Lincoln WBC, Best ICC, Thielman BECNT, O'Brien, Fowl, Cohick, Bruce, Muddiman, Schnackenburg) or a genuine command (Hoehner, Arnold ZECNT, Barth Anchor, Stott, Wallace CTR 3 [1989]); and whether παροργισμός here is passive/stative ("state of provoked anger, irritation"; so BDAG, Louw-Nida 88.175, Thayer, Abbott-Smith, Trench Synonyms §xxxvii, Abbott ICC) or active/causal ("the source of anger"; so Wallace GGBB n.113, the NET footnote, Westcott, Murray). The verse fuses LXX Psalm 4:5 (ὀργίζεσθε καὶ μὴ ἁμαρτάνετε, itself rendering Hebrew רגזו) with the sunset deadline of Deut 24:15 LXX (ἐπιδύω + ἐπί). A revisionist reading by Seri-Levi (HTR 117.4 [2024]), anticipated by Joo, Schlimm, and Grant, argues כעס denotes wounded jealousy and sorrow rather than rage; older lexica (BDB, HALOT) still gloss the Hiphil "provoke to anger," so the safest summary spans "grieve/vex" to "provoke to wrath," context-shaped and overwhelmingly tied to idolatry.

Where scholars disagree about parorgismos

Whether παροργισμός in Ephesians 4:26 denotes the resulting angry state (passive/stative) or the cause of the anger (active/causal).

  • majorityThe passive/stative sense: the reader's own lingering state of provoked anger, irritation, or exasperation, semantically adjacent to ὀργή but less permanent and more exasperated in tone. This is the better-supported reading in Eph 4:26.; BDAG, s.v. παροργισμός; R. C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, §xxxvii; Louw-Nida 88.175
  • minorityThe active/causal sense: the source or cause of the anger, so the verse forbids letting the sun set on whatever provoked you (resolve the offense before nightfall). This draws on the dominant LXX pattern where the noun names the provocation itself.; Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, n.113

Whether the imperative that precedes the noun (ὀργίζεσθε, "be angry") is a concession or a genuine command, which shapes how the noun is heard.

  • majorityConcessive: "if or when you become angry, do not sin." The strongest argument is that Eph 4:31 soon commands removing all anger, so v. 26 cannot positively enjoin being angry.; Andrew T. Lincoln, Ephesians, WBC 42; Frank Thielman, Ephesians, BECNT
  • minorityA genuine command authorizing righteous indignation, tied for some to discipline against sin.; Harold W. Hoehner, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary, 619-22; Daniel B. Wallace, Criswell Theological Review 3 (1989): 352-72
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. παροργισμόςlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. ὀργή (παροργισμός)lexicon
  • J. H. Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. παροργισμόςlexicon
  • Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic Domains 88.175lexicon
  • R. C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, §xxxviimonograph
  • G. Stählin, ὀργή, θυμός, in TDNT 5:382-447dictionary
  • Andrew T. Lincoln, Ephesians, WBC 42commentary
  • Harold W. Hoehner, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary, 619-22commentary
  • Ernest Best, Ephesians, ICCcommentary
  • Frank Thielman, Ephesians, BECNTcommentary
  • Daniel B. Wallace, Ὀργίζεσθε in Ephesians 4:26: Command or Condition?, Criswell Theological Review 3 (1989): 352-72article
  • Ariel Seri-Levi, Harvard Theological Review 117.4 (2024)article

All attested forms of παροργισμός

dative m s

παροργισμῷ

Eph 4:26