ὑπομένω, ὑπομονη
hypomenō, to endure; to wait expectantly; hypomonē, endurance
hypomenō, S 5278; TDNT 4.581–588; EDNT 3.404–405; NIDNTT 2.764, 772–774, 776; MM 658; L&N 25.175, 39.20, 68.17, 85.57; BDF §§148(1), 414(2); BAGD 845–846 | hypomonē, S 5281; TDNT 4.581–588; EDNT 3.405–406; NIDNTT 2.772–776; MM 659; L&N 25.174; BDF §163; BAGD 846
Plato and Aristotle analyzed hypomonē and established the conception of it that would hold for the entire Greek tradition. Plato asked, “In what does courage (andreia) consist?” and answered that it is “a certain endurance of soul (karteria tēs psychēs) … one of the noblest things.… It is endurance (karteria) accompanied by wisdom that is noble” (Lach. 192 b–d). Regarding this, Socrates observes, “In war, a man endures (karterounta andra) and is ready to fight because he calculates reasonably that others will help him, that the enemy is less numerous … that he has a positional advantage. Would you say that this man, whose endurance of soul relies so much on reason and preparation, is more courageous than the man on the other side who sustains his attack and endures (hypomenein te kai karterein)?”—to which Laches replies that the latter is braver.1 To be courageous, V 3, p 415 then, is to be manly, to face difficulties without expecting help or putting one’s confidence in others; one endures alone, as Aristotle notes.2 He makes hypomonē a virtue, because it is a noble thing to keep to the mean in difficult circumstances: “one endures (hypomenōn) despite the fear that one feels … for the beauty of the deed.”3
Stoicism4 emphasizes this will to resist all evils, disease, death: “Constancy is the bearing of pain and distress on account of the good” (karteria: hypomonē lypēs, ponōn heneka tou kalou, Ps.-Plato, Def. 412 c); “one must bear, resist, hold fast, fortify one’s resolution and barricade it with firmness and endurance (karteria kai hypomonē) drawn from within, the most potent of virtues” (Philo, Cherub. 78); in the pancratium, the athlete “by the constancy and vigor of his endurance (tō karterikō kai pagiō tēs hypomonēs) breaks the strength of his adversary until the victory is complete” (Good Man Free 26); between prudence and temperance on the one hand and justice and piety on the other, Philo locates “andreia, which permits endurance (hypomonēs axion),” (Change of Names 197; cf. Zeno: andreia peri tas hypomonas, in Stobaeus, Ecl. 2.7.52; vol. 2, p. 60, 14; Josephus, Ant. 3.16); “the courageous man (ho andreios) has learned to endure (ha dei hypomenein)” (Change of Names 153); constancy or perseverance is an athletic virtue (Sacr. Abel and Cain 46; Good Man Free 26) personified in Rebekah.5 For V 3, p 416 Plutarch, “to flee death is not blameworthy if one wishes to live for noble reasons, and to meet it head-on is not praiseworthy (outh’ hypomonē kalon) if one does so through being tired of life” (Pel. 1.8).
The book of 4 Macc illustrates the extreme of this virtue, since its “philosophy demands of us courage (andreian) that will cause us to endure (hypomenein) willingly all sorts of woes” (4 Macc 5:23), whether these be the most diverse tortures6 or the pains of childbirth (16:8). The seven martyred brothers “by their courage and their endurance (tē andreia kai hypomonē) won the admiration of the whole world and of their own executioners.”7 Already in Philo we find this endurance of death,8 of a surgical operation (Unchang. God 66), of torture (Dreams 2.84), of the punishment of Tantalus (Heir 269), of captivity (Unchang. God 115), of slavery,9 of exile (Cherub. 2), of mistreatment.10 It is always a matter of bearing up with courage (andreiōs hypomenōn, Moses 2.184), of enduring V 3, p 417 what is hard to bear; this hypomonē guides the ascetic (Flight 38) who is moving toward beatitude; but it also has to do with enduring privations or minor nuisances,11 fatigue (Migr. Abr. 144), an affront (Flacc. 104; To Gaius 369), unmerited poverty (Flacc. 132), the vicissitudes of fortune (Menander, Dysk. 768), harm (P.Oxy. 904, 5), familial woes (P.Hamb. 22, 2; P.Oxy. 1186, 4).
So if hypomenō means “suffer” (Joseph 94), even in its most softened sense,12 it implies self-mastery: one contains oneself,13 bears, endures, and perseveres,14 sometimes with a nuance of expectant waiting or of patience motivated by hope.15 The verb even has the weakened meanings “to consent”16 and “to accept”17 and is frequently used for a responsibility, a leitourgia, expenses that one takes on.18
V 3, p 418 But in reading the LXX, one enters a different semantic world altogether. For one thing, all the occurrences of the substantive hypomonē translate the Hebrew verb qāwâh (in the piel) or one of its derivatives tiqwâh, miqweh, Hebrew terms that signify expectant waiting, intense desire;19 for another, this hope usually has God as its object: “My hope is in you (Yahweh)” (Ps 39:7; 71:5; Jer 14:8; 17:13). Not only is this the first time that hypomonē has a religious meaning; it also contradicts the refusal of the Laches and the Eudemian Ethics to credit this virtue to one who is counting on help from someone else. For the believer, hope comes from God (Ps 62:5; Sir 17:24), “the expectation of the pious will not be disappointed” (Sir 16:13; Ps 9:18). This is not what we today call theological hope, but a constancy in desire that overcomes the trial of waiting, a soul attitude that must struggle to persevere, a waiting that is determined20 and victorious because it trusts in God. As for the verb hypomenō, seven occurrences are conformable to secular usage,21 but thirty-four others express waiting,22 translating the Hebrew qāwâh (in the piel or hiphil) and rarely ḥākâh. One waits on God for everything.23 V 3, p 419 This is a permanent disposition of the soul: “Our souls wait upon Yahweh” (Ps 33:20); “in you do I hope all day long” (Ps 25:5). Strength is required (Ps 27:14; Job 6:11), but there is certainty of never being let down (Ps 25:3; Isa 49:23; Jer 14:22); hence the beatitude of perseverance: “Blessed is the one who abides (makarios ho hypomenōn) and reaches the 1,335 days” (Dan 12:12).
This blessedness of those who endure is taken up by Jas 1:12; 5:11. The NT takes its inspiration both from the secular Greek tradition24 and from the theology of the LXX, especially the synonymous relation between hope and constancy. From his first letter to the last ones, St. Paul links hypomonē with elpis (hope) in the triad of theological virtues: “Remembering the efficiency of your faith, the labor of your love, and the constancy of your hope (tēs hypomonēs tēs elpidos) in our Lord Jesus Christ.”25 The nuance is that of perseverance despite difficulties, assuring salvation: “The one who endures to the end will be saved” (ho de hypomeinas eis telos houtos sōthēsetai, Matt 10:22; 24:13; Mark 13:13); “save your souls by your endurance” (en tē hypomonē, Luke 21:19); “God will give eternal life to those who give themselves over to good works with endurance” (Rom 2:7). Enduring trials with constancy is what makes it possible to bear fruit; this is the last word in the explanation of the parable of the Sower.26 1 Cor 13:7 attributes to love V 3, p 420 this indefatigable capacity to endure despite the ingratitude, vileness, bad conduct, and problems that all communal living involves: “agapē endures everything” without complaining or becoming discouraged. God is the source of this constancy (Rom 15:5), which is the possession of all disciples27 and the authenticating mark of an apostle (2 Cor 6:4; 12:12).
Christ gave the example—“He endured the cross” (hypemeinen stauron, Heb 12:2)—and each disciple must “consider what he endured from sinners.”28 This is why Paul and Revelation set Christian hypomonē in relation with the most serious trials (thlipsis). One endures them and bears them, as the Lord commanded cross-bearing,29 but the very word hypomonē implies that a happy outcome is expected: the resurrection. The Christian theology of patience will retain these data of revelation.30 Moulton-Milligan gives no papyrological reference for the substantive hypomonē; no attestation has since been found.
S J. Strong. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Reprint. Peabody, n.d.
TDNT G. Kittel and G. Friedrich, eds. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Trans. G. W. Bromiley. 10 vols. Grand Rapids, 1964–1976.
EDNT H. Balz and G. Schneider, eds. Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, 1990–1993.
NIDNTT Colin Brown, ed. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Grand Rapids, 1986.
MM J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan. The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament Illustrated from the Papyri and Other Non-literary Sources. 2 vols. London, 1914–30. Reprint. Grand Rapids, 1985.
L&N J. P. Louw and E. A. Nida, eds. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. 2 d ed. New York, 1989.
BDF F. Blass and A. Debrunner. A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Trans. and rev. of the 9 th–10th German edition incorporating supplementary notes of A. Debrunner by R. W. Funk. Chicago, 1961.
BAGD W. Bauer. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 2 d ed. Trans. W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich. Revised and edited F. W. Danker. Chicago, 1979.
S J. Strong. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Reprint. Peabody, n.d.
TDNT G. Kittel and G. Friedrich, eds. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Trans. G. W. Bromiley. 10 vols. Grand Rapids, 1964–1976.
EDNT H. Balz and G. Schneider, eds. Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, 1990–1993.
NIDNTT Colin Brown, ed. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Grand Rapids, 1986.
MM J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan. The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament Illustrated from the Papyri and Other Non-literary Sources. 2 vols. London, 1914–30. Reprint. Grand Rapids, 1985.
L&N J. P. Louw and E. A. Nida, eds. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. 2 d ed. New York, 1989.
BDF F. Blass and A. Debrunner. A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Trans. and rev. of the 9 th–10th German edition incorporating supplementary notes of A. Debrunner by R. W. Funk. Chicago, 1961.
BAGD W. Bauer. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 2 d ed. Trans. W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich. Revised and edited F. W. Danker. Chicago, 1979.
Lach. Laches
1 Lach. 193 a. Cf. Grg. 507 b: “to observe justice and piety is also to be courageous (ἀνδρεῖον) … the wise man knows how to bear what his duty orders him to bear (ὑπομένοντα καρτερεῖν ὅπου δεῖ)”; Plato, Resp. 4.440 c–d: “If a person believes that he is victim of an injustice … let him become indignant and fight for what appears to him to be justice, let him steadfastly endure (ὑπομένων) hunger, cold, and other similar things until he has triumphed, and let him not cease his generous efforts before either obtaining satisfaction or dying … he takes up arms on behalf of reason”; Tht. 177 b: “to endure for a long time rather than flee like a coward” (πολὺν χρόνον ὑπομεῖναι καὶ μὴ ἀνάνδρως φυγεῖν); Hecataeus of Abdera: “The lawgiver forced young people by practice to acquire courage, endurance, and the wherewithal (ἀνδρείαν καὶ καρτερίαν καὶ τὸ σύνολον) to endure all evils (ὑπομονὴν πάσης κακοπαθείας)” (frag. 13.7); according to Musonius, the body is trained to endure suffering and privation (ὑπομονὴ τῶν ἐπιπονῶν), but the soul strives for ὑπομονή τῶν ἐπιπονῶν πρὸς ἀνδρείαν (Stobaeus, Ecl. 4.29.78; vol. 3, p. 650, ed. C. E. Lutz, frag. 6, p. 54, 14–17; cf. frag. 7, p. 56, 17 and 20). Polybius 4.51.1: hypomonē in war; Demetrius Phalereus, in Stobaeus, Ecl. 8.20 (vol. 3, p. 345). Plutarch, Apoph. lac. 2; Ps.-Plutarch, De plac. philos. 4.23; A. J. Festugière, “ΥΠΟΜΟΝΗ dans la tradition grecque,” in RSR, 1931, pp. 477, 486; P. Ortiz Valdisieso, “ΥΠΟΜΟΝΗ en el Nuevo Testamento,” in Ecclesiastica Xavieriana (Bogotá), 1967, pp. 51–161; 1969, pp. 115–205; Hauck, “ὑπομένω,” in TDNT, vol. 4, pp. 581–588.
2 Aristotle, Rh. 3.9.1410a: “to endure and to follow (ὑπομονή, ἀκολούθησις) are antithetical terms.”
3 Aristotle, Eth. Nic. 3.10.1115b17–23; cf. 1115a6: “the domain within which courage is the medium is that of fear and boldness”; 1115a32: “the person is called courageous who remains fearless in the face of a noble death”; 2.3.1104b20: “It is pleasures and pains that make us bad, whether by seeking the pleasures or avoiding the pains that should not be sought or avoided”; Eth. Eud. 3.1.1230a26ff. Over the centuries, hypomenō and hypomonē take on diverse shades of meaning: “remain” (as opposed to “follow”; Homer, Od. 232, 258; Aristotle, Rh. 3.9.1410a5), “preserve” (Herodotus 4.149; Pindar, Pyth. 2.26), “bear” (Aristotle, HA 3.20.522a8: goats do not bear mounting; Isocrates 8.65; Sophocles, OT 1323), “sustain” (Diodorus Siculus 5.34.5), “endure” (Herodotus 6.12: slavery; Plutarch, Cat. Min. 5.8: illnesses; Ant. 43.3: military campaigning; Caes. 17.2: fatigue), “stand up to, resist” (Homer, Il. 5.498; Plato, Soph. 235 b; Polybius 4.51.2). Patience or endurance is a quality, even a virtue, in Plutarch, Crass. 3.8. The least common denominator of all these meanings is “abide (μένω) … despite the difficulties.”
4 Cf. the references given by A. J. Festugière, RSR, 1931, pp. 482ff. A. SVF, vol. 3, 263–265, 286; Diogenes Laertius 8.24, 53.
Def. Definitiones
Cherub. On the Cherubim (De Cherubim)
Good Man Free Every Good Man Is Free (Quod Omnis Probus Liber Sit)
Change of Names On the Change of Names (Mut. nom.)
Ecl. Ἐκλογαί
Ant. Antiquities of the Jews
Change of Names On the Change of Names (Mut. nom.)
Sacr. Abel and Cain On the Sacrifice of Abel and Cain (De Sacrificiis Abelis et Caini)
Good Man Free Every Good Man Is Free (Quod Omnis Probus Liber Sit)
5 Rebekah is sometimes called ἐπιμονή—tenacity (Flight 24, 45; Cherub. 40, 47) assuring the continued practice of the good (Alleg. Interp. 1.55)—sometimes ὑπομονή—perseverance (Flight 39, 194; Prelim. Stud. 37; Sacr. Abel and Cain 4; Alleg. Interp. 3.88; Worse Attacks Better 45, 51; Plant. 169; Migr. Abr. 208; Dreams 1.46), which restores strength (Unchang. God 13; Cherub. 78; Good Man Free 26). Rebekah is a stable virtue that allows the obtaining of divine wisdom. Philo was perhaps interpreting the name of Rebekah as the Hebrew rb + qwh, “firm hope or confidence”; but cf. V. Nikiprowetzky, “Rebecca, vertu de constance et constance de vertu chez Philon d’Alexandrie,” in Sem, vol. 26, 1976, pp. 109–136.
Pel. Pelopidas
6 4 Macc 6:9; 7:22; 9:6, 22; 15:32; 16:1, 17, 19, 21; 17:7, 10.
7 4 Macc 1:11; 17:23, the tyrant “had noted the courage (τὴν ἀνδρείαν) of their virtue and their endurance in torments (τὴν ἐπὶ ταῖς βασάνοις αὐτῶν ὑπομονήν) and he cited their endurance as an example to his soldiers”; 7:9—“O father (Eleazer), by your glorious constancy (διὰ τῶν ὑπομονῶν εἰς δόξαν) you have strengthened our faithfulness to the law”; 9:8, 30; 17:12, 17. The mother of the Maccabees is “more manly than a man through her endurance” (15:30; 17:4).
8 Worse Attacks Better 178; Husbandry 75; Joseph 226; Moses 2.206; Rewards 70; Good Man Free 146; Etern. World 20; Flacc. 175; To Gaius 192, 209, 307–308.
Unchang. God On the Unchangeableness of God (Quod Deus Immutabilis Sit)
Dreams On Dreams (De Somniis)
Heir Who Is the Heir (Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres)
Unchang. God On the Unchangeableness of God (Quod Deus Immutabilis Sit)
9 Alleg. Interp. 3.199; Moses 1.247; Spec. Laws 2.68; Virtues 111; Good Man Free 45; Joseph 228.
Cherub. On the Cherubim (De Cherubim)
10 Moses 1.72, 90, 102, 106, 146, 164, 222, 281; Decalogue 86; Spec. Laws 1.313; 2.95; Rewards 157, 162; Contemp. Life 42; Flacc. 77, 116, 117; dangers (Spec. Laws 3.43), punishments (Moses 1.237; 2.53; Joseph 104; Spec. Laws 3.39, 98, 146, 182), violence (Joseph 52), toil and fatigue (Spec. Laws 2.69, 207; 4.112, 124), incurable infirmities (4.200), woes (Good Man Free 24, 89, 120; Contemp. Life 19; Flacc. 53, 114; To Gaius 234); P.Oxy. 237, col. VIII, 38; Pap.Lugd.Bat. XIII, 13, 13; Plutarch, De sera 30.566 f, 567d; Epictetus 2.2.13; Octavian bestows the right of Roman citizenship on Seleucus, who “has often greatly suffered and risked his life for us, shrinking at nothing when it comes to enduring evils (τῶν πρὸς ὑπομονὴν δεινῶν), he has shown his faithfulness” (IGLS 718, 13–15). Histria honors three ambassadors who “traveled across enemy territory, facing numberless dangers” (SEG XVIII, 288, 8). Orthagoras of Araxa is honored for “not having ceased to fight at the front rank, taking on all the dangers and all the fatigues” (J. Pouilloux, CIG, Paris, 1960, n. IV, 11).
Moses On the Life of Moses (De Vita Mosis)
Flight On Flight and Finding (De Fuga et Inventione)
11 Post. Cain 9, 49, 87; Joseph 36; Dreams 1.47; Moses 1.224; To Gaius 127; Abraham 136, 193; Spec. Laws 2.88; Virtues 122; P.Panop.Beatty 2, 150; SB 9763, 39
Migr. Abr. On the Migration of Abraham (De Migratione Abrahami)
Flacc. Against Flaccus (In Flaccum)
To Gaius On the Embassy to Gaius (De Legatione ad Gaium)
Flacc. Against Flaccus (In Flaccum)
Dysk. Dyskolos
P.Oxy. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. 51 vols. London, 1898–1984.
P.Hamb. I = Griechische Papyrusurkunden der Hamburger Staats-und Universitatsbibliothek I. 3 parts. Ed. P. M. Meyer. Leipzig-Berlin, 1911–1924. II = Griechische Papyri der Hamburger Staats-und Universitatsbibliothek mit einigen Stucken aus der Sammlung Hugo Ibscher. Ed. B. Snell et al. Hamburg, 1954. III = Griechische Papyri der Staats-und Universitatsbibliothek Hamburg. Ed. B. Kramer and D. Hagedorn. Bonn, 1984.
P.Oxy. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. 51 vols. London, 1898–1984.
Joseph On Joseph (De Iosepho)
12 Menander, Dysk. 269: “Young man, will you suffer that I should speak to you a bit seriously”; 368: “perhaps he will suffer that I should speak a word to him”; Epictetus 1.2.25: not to endure an idea; T. Job 10.1.
13 Alleg. Interp. 3.13: κατέχεται ὑπομένων; Husbandry 173: “they do not endure that God … should be revealed as the cause of their goods.” It is possible for the verb to have no moral meaning at all: “things which can be subject to [one of the two sources of destruction]” (Etern. World 22, LCL; 23, 129); the external sense endures with the help of the mind (Alleg. Interp. 2.41, 104; Virtues 135); “images without consistency” (τὰ μὴ ὑπομένοντα, Spec. Laws 1.26); Joseph 141).
14 Menander, Dysk. 958: “It is perhaps better to endure what awaits me there”; Sam. 144: “I have decided to endure everything”; Josephus, Ant. 2.7; to persevere in a work, 3.53; 12.122: persist in fighting; Pss. Sol. 2.40—invoke God with perseverence (ἐν ὑπομονῇ). Porphyry, Abst. 1.2.1: “resistance appropriate to the efforts that philosophy requires”; Abst. 1.2.3: “they endure the removal of the genitals”; 1.56.2–3. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Comp. 6.4.15: “no one has the patience to read [certain works] to the end.”
15 Cratinus, Dionysalex., ὑπομένει τὸ μέλλον (P.Oxy. 663, 32); Xenophon, An. 4.1.21: “I did not wait for you”; Appian, BCiv. 5.81.343; Ep. Aristides 175: “The king walked while awaiting (ὑπέμενε περιπατῶν) the moment to greet those arriving”; Spec. Laws 1.199: “to wait patiently the necessary time (ὑπομένειν), looking forward to the advantages (χρηστὰ προσδοκῶντες) that would concern the future”; P.Tebt. 747, 11: “You waited until.…” (third century BC); P.Mich. 601, 16.
16 Philo, Dreams 1.173: “You consented to be called father”; Abraham 115, 116, 182; Spec. Laws 1.68, 246; 2.87; 3.82; 4.3, 216; Good Man Free 27, 122; To Gaius 355. One submits to an oath (P.Oslo 93, 15; Dittenberger, Or. 484, 38). Not to consent or tolerate is to “refuse” (P.Haun. 9, 6 = SB 9422; P.Tebt. 768, 10; P.Fay. 11, 21; P.Thead. 13, col. II, 12; Dittenberger, Syl. 591, 9).
17 Dreams 2.202; Joseph 69, 167; Spec. Laws 3.164; Virtues 210; To Gaius 31.
18 Spec. Laws 2.222; Good Man Free 6, 36; Plutarch, Arat. 14.2; Rosetta Stone: “He bore great expenses” (Dittenberger, Or. 90, 11 and 21 = SB 8299); Dittenberger, Syl. 1104, 14; C. Michel, Recueil, n. 459, 19; 475, 10; I.Sinur., pp. 32–33, n. 9, 26; L. Robert, Etudes anatoliennes, p. 454, line 5; PSI 435, 11: διότι ὑπομενῶ τὴν λειτουργίαν (third century BC) = SB 6713, 11; P.Panop.Beatty 2, 241: “None of the inhabitants should be submitted to any imposition of that sort”; P.Mich. 524, 14 (AD 98); P.Got. 6, 13: “If he does not accept, we ourselves will fulfill his duty”; P.Tebt. 758, 8; P.Lond. 2006, 8: the shepherds will not be able to continue any longer (μὴ δύνασθαι ὑπομένιν) if they do not receive anything; 2074, 8: they will not stay, if I do not give them something to satisfy them; SEG XII, 100, 13: “Theosebes having defaulted on the judgment” (οὐκ ὑπομείναντος τὴν κρίσιν); SB 9108, 13: οὐχ ὑπομένει τὴν καταγραφήν; cf. P.Lond. 220, col. I, 15.
19 Cf. Sir 38:27—the artist puts his obstinacy, his determination (ὑπομονή) into changing the design of his seals. Cf. W. Meikle, “The Vocabulary of Patience in the Old Testament,” in Expositor, ser. VIII, vol. 19, 1920, pp. 219–225; idem, “The Vocabulary of Patience in the New Testament,” Expositor, pp. 304–313; C. Spicq, “ΥΠΟΜΟΝΗ: Patientia,” in RSPT, 1930, pp. 95–106; P. A. H. de Boer, “Etude sur le sense de la racine QWH,” in OTS, vol. 10, 1954, pp. 225–246; “We note frequently, if not generally, a sense of firmness, cohesion, and consistency. In the language of the translators, it is consistency, solidity that appears to be the basic meaning” (ibid., p. 232); “tqwh abstractly designates a firm hope, that is, a hope bearing on what has consistency” (ibid., p. 241).
20 Death is welcome “for the old man … who is contrary and has lost patience” (Hebrew tiqwâh, Sir 41:2); “Woe to you who have lost patience” (Sir 2:14); 1 Chr 29:15—οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπομονή = there is nothing more to wait for; 2 Esdr 10:2; Job 14:19.
21 Delay (Exod 12:39), remain (Num 22:17), hold fast (Job 8:15; Sir 22:18), bear (Mal 3:2; Sus 57), have courage (2 Macc 6:20).
22 Tob 5:7—“Wait for me (ὑπόμεινόν με); I will speak with my father”; Job 3:9; 6:11; 14:14—“I will wait until my relief comes”; 32:4—“Elihu had waited”; Ps 106:13—“They did not wait for his counsel”; Hab 2:3—“if the vision is delayed, wait for it”; Zeph 3:8.
23 2 Kgs 6:33; Ps 37:9, 34; 40:1; 130:5; Prov 20:22; Sir 51:8; Mic 7:7; Isa 25:9; 40:11; 51:5; 60:9; Lam 3:24–25; Nah 1:7.
24 Luke 2:43—“The child Jesus remained (ὑπέμεινεν) at Jerusalem, and his parents did not know it”; Acts 17:14—after Paul’s departure from Berea, “Silas and Timothy remained there.” Cf. Xenophon, Symp. 9.7: “Socrates and those who had remained went out with Callias”; Josephus, Ant. 18.328; P.Petr. III, 43 (3), 14: ὑπομεῖναι ἕως Παῦνι ιʹ (third century BC); PSI 322, 4.
25 1 Thess 1:3; 2 Thess 1:4—“We are proud of your endurance and of your faith during all your persecutions and in the tribulations that you bear”; 1 Tim 6:11—“As for you, man of God, … pursue righteousness, piety, faith, love, constancy.…”; Titus 2:2—“Let the old men be … wholesome in faith, love, and endurance”; 2 Tim 3:10—“You have followed me in teaching, in conduct, in plans, in faith, in patience, love, and constancy” (this could perhaps be from a liturgical formula, cf. G. Delling, Worship in the New Testament, London, 1962, pp. 60ff. On the triad, cf. C. Spicq, Agapè, vol. 2, pp. 365–378); Rom 5:4—“endurance produces character, character produces hope”; 8:25—“we hope for what we do not see, we wait with constancy”; 15:4—“so that by constancy and the comfort of the Scriptures we may possess hope”; Heb 10:36, hypomonē allows one to obtain what God has promised; Rev 2:19—“I know your works and your love and your faith and your service and your endurance.” Cf. P. Goicoechea, De Conceptu ὑπομονή apud S. Paulum, Rome, 1965.
26 Luke 8:15—“What is in the good soil are those who have heard the word with a good and noble heart and keep it and bear fruit through constancy” (καὶ καρποφοροῦσιν ἐν ὑπομονῇ, cf. L. Cerfaux, “Fructifiez en supportant [l’éprouve],” in Recueil L. Cerfaux, vol. 3, pp. 111–122); Col 1:11—“You will bear fruit … you will acquire all constancy and patience” (εἰς πᾶσαν ὑπομονὴν καὶ μακροθυμίαν).
27 2 Cor 1:6; Heb 10:32; 12:1—“Let us run with endurance (διʼ ὑπομονῆς τρέχωμεν) the trial before us”; 12:7—εἰς παιδείαν ὑπομένετε; the verb can be an imperative (the Peshitta): bear, submit yourself (cf. B. W. Blackwelder, Light from the Greek New Testament, 2 d ed., Grand Rapids, 1976, p. 92), but it is more likely a present indicative; and εἰς has causal value: calamities endured by the community are inflicted by God so as to educate (Hebrew mûsâr, education through correction) souls that are dear to him, as with a father and his children. Filiation and education go together; παιδεία derives from παῖς; Jas 1:3–4: “The trial of your faith produces endurance. Let endurance come to full flower,” as with Job, who bore so many trials (Jas 5:11); Rev 3:10; 13:10—“This is the endurance and the faith of the saints”; 14:12.
28 Heb 12:3. In 2 Thess 3:5, “Let the Lord guide your hearts toward the love of God and the endurance of Christ,” εἰς τὴν ὑπομονὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ can be understood as a call to participate in the sufferings that Christ endured (Rev 1:9). Less probably, this could be the constancy to wait for Christ, or simply hope that has Christ as its object.
29 Rom 5:3—“Tribulation produces endurance” (ἡ θλῖψις ὑπομονὴν κατεργάζεται); 12:12—τῇ θλίψει ὑπομένοντας; 2 Tim 2:10—“I endure everything (πάντα ὑπομένω) for the sake of the elect, so that they also may obtain salvation” (cf. G.H.P. Thompson, “Ephesians III, 13 and II Tim. II, 10 in the Light of Colossians I, 24,” in ExpT, vol. 71, 1960, pp. 187–189; M. Barth, Ephesians, vol. 1, pp. 356ff.); 2 Tim 2:12—“If we endure, we shall also reign with (him)”; Heb 10:32—“You have endured such a great trial of suffering” (πολλὴν ἄθλησιν ὑπεμείνατε παθημάτων); Rev 1:9—“I, John, your brother and associate in the tribulation and the kingdom and the endurance of Jesus”; 2:2–3; 3:10.
30 T. Deman, “La théologie de l’ΥΠΟΜΟΝΗ biblique,” in DivThom (Pl.), 1932, pp. 2–20: An audacious force in the enterprise of salvation (aggredi), patientia is also resistance and endurance (sustinere), which is made immune by its vigor to sorrow and discouragement; it is stimulated by its expectatio of the final end and divine help.
Ceslas Spicq and James D. Ernest, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), 414–420.
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