StrongerBible

praus

πραΰς

GreekG4239“meek, gentle, ...”

πρᾶος G4235 redirects here (merged variant of this lemma)

Appears 4 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 5:5Mat 11:29Mat 21:51Pe 3:4
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradeprah-OOSadjective

What praus means

gentle, meek: a humble, non-self-asserting manner toward others that rests on trust in God rather than on force

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

This is the headword of a small word-family the New Testament uses for one quality: the adjective (the person who is gentle) and its abstract noun (the gentleness itself). It does not mean weak, spineless, or timid. It names a settled humility that leans on God instead of on getting its own way, and that therefore treats other people kindly rather than harshly, even when wronged.

The word is most at home describing someone who actually has power, or a reason to retaliate, and chooses not to use it cruelly. The New Testament reaches for it to portray:

  • Jesus inviting the weary to himself
  • the king riding in on a donkey instead of a warhorse
  • an apostle deciding whether to come with a rod or in gentleness
  • a teacher correcting opponents without crushing them
  • believers bearing with one another

It is named among the things God's Spirit grows in a person.

Its weight comes from the Greek Old Testament, where translators repeatedly used this family of words for the humble and afflicted faithful who put their hope in God. So the gentleness in view is not a mild personality type but a God-trusting disposition, and the same word can name the humble, lowly people themselves, who are promised the earth.

Nuances

1agentleness toward others: a humble, considerate, non-retaliating manner that grows out of dependence on God
Mat 11:29Mat 21:51Co 4:212Co 10:1Gal 5:23Gal 6:1Eph 4:2Col 3:122Ti 2:25Tit 3:2Jas 1:211Pe 3:4
1bthe meek: the humble and lowly who depend on God, often the powerless and afflicted, promised that they will inherit the earth
Mat 5:5
Variants

The same word in another spelling or form.

πραΰς“gentle”πρᾷος is an alternate spelling of πραΰς — the very same adjective, meaning gentle or meek: describing a person who is mild and unassuming rather than harsh or self-asserting. There is no difference in meaning, only in spelling, so everything said about πραΰς applies here unchanged.
πραΰτης“gentleness”πραΰτης is the noun gentleness or meekness — the quality of the person the adjective πραΰς describes. It is the same idea as πραΰς, only named as a quality (a noun, gentleness) rather than as a description of a person (an adjective, gentle). The Bible writes this same noun in a second, rarer spelling as well; both are the one word.
πραΰτης“gentleness”πραότης is the same noun as πραΰτης, gentleness or meekness, in its less common spelling. Like its more frequent spelling, it names the quality of the person the adjective πραΰς describes — the same idea, expressed as a noun rather than an adjective.

What scholars say about praus

Lexicons converge on a single semantic range for this word-family: humble gentleness rooted in trustful dependence on God, frequently exercised by someone with real power or provocation and shown as non-retaliation and considerate forbearance (BDAG; Louw-Nida domain 88; Hauck and Schulz, TDNT 6:645-651; NIDNTTE; Spicq, who adds papyrological evidence that the noun named the clemency of powerful rulers). The decisive shift is that the Greek Old Testament reoriented the word away from Aristotle's ethical mean regarding anger toward the Hebrew humble-and-afflicted worshiper, so first-century usage carries covenantal piety, not Greco-Roman virtue alone. In Matthew the adjective's three uses (5:5, 11:29, 21:5) form a christological pattern defining both Jesus and his disciples; the epistles cluster the noun with humility, forbearance, and patience and tie it to the character of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:1) and to the Spirit's work (Galatians 5:23). The popular "strength under control" phrase captures a real connotation but rests on a warhorse etymology with no textual basis (Carson on illegitimate totality transfer). The live debates are not about the lexical range but about which dimension dominates in a given text.

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, 3rd ed. (2000), s.v. πραΰς, πραΰτηςlexicon
  • Friedrich Hauck and Siegfried Schulz, TDNT 6:645-651, s.v. πραΰς, πραΰτηςlexicon
  • Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic Domains, 88.59-88.66lexicon
  • Moisés Silva, ed., NIDNTTE (2014), s.v. πραΰςlexicon
  • Ceslas Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, 3:160-171lexicon
  • W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, Matthew (ICC), 1:449-451; 2:289-295; 3:120-125commentary
  • Ulrich Luz, Matthew (Hermeneia), 1:194-195; 2:170-177commentary
  • Maarten Menken, Matthew's Bible (BETL 173, 2004)monograph
  • Hans Dieter Betz, Galatians (Hermeneia, 1979), 288, 296-297commentary
  • Margaret Thrall, 2 Corinthians (ICC), 2:598-602commentary
  • Peter Davids, The Epistle of James (NIGTC), 93-94, 150-152commentary
  • D. A. Carson, Exegetical Fallacies (2nd ed., 1996), 27-64monograph

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of πραΰς

nominative m s

πραΰς, πραῢς

Mat 11:29, Mat 21:5

genitive n s

πραέως

1Pe 3:4

nominative m p

πραεῖς

Mat 5:5