ἀνάθεμα,
-τος,
τό, (equivalent to
τὸ ἀνατεθειμένον);
1. properly,
a thing set up or
laid by in order to be kept; specifically a votive offering, which after being consecrated to a god was hung upon the walls or columns of his temple, or put in some other conspicuous place: 2 Macc. 2:13 (Plutarch, Pelop c. 25);
Luke 21:5 in L T, for
ἀναθήμασι R G Tr WH; for the two forms are sometimes confounded in the manuscripts;
Moeris,
ἀνάθημα ἀττικῶς,
ἀνάθεμα ἑλληνικῶς. Cf.
ἐπίθημα,
ἐπίθεμα, etc., in
Lob. ad Phryn., p. 249 [cf. 445; Paral. 417; see also
Lipsius, Gram. Unters., p. 41].
2. ἀνάθεμα in the
Sept. is generally the translation of the Heb.
חֵרֶם,
a thing devoted to God without hope of being redeemed, and, if an animal, to be slain [
Leviticus 27:28,
29]; therefore a person or thing doomed to destruction,
Joshua 6:17;
Joshua 7:12, etc. [Winer's Grammar, 32]; a thing abominable and detestable, an accursed thing,
Deuteronomy 7:26. Hence, in the
N. T. ἀνάθεμα denotes
a. a curse:
ἀναθέματι ἀναθεματίζειν,
Acts 23:14 [Winers Grammar, 466 (434); Buttmann, 184 (159)].
b. a man accursed, devoted to the direst woes (equivalent to
ἐπικατάρατος):
ἀνάθεμα ἔστω,
Galatians 1:8;
1 Corinthians 16:22;
ἀνάθεμα λέγειν τινά to execrate one,
1 Corinthians 12:3 (R G, but L T Tr WH have restored
ἀνάθεμα Ἰησοῦς, namely,
ἔστω);
ἀνάθεμα εἶναι ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ,
Romans 9:3 (pregnantly equivalent to
doomed and so separated
from Christ). Cf. the full remarks on this word in Fritzsche on Romans, vol. ii., 247ff; Wieseler on Galatians, p. 39ff; [a translation of the latter by Prof.
Riddle in Schaff's Lange on Romans, p. 302ff; see also Trench, § 5; Bp. Lightfoot on Galatians, the passage cited; Ellicott ibid.; Tholuck on Romans, the passage cited;
BB. DD., under the words, Anathema, Excommunication].
THAYER’S GREEK LEXICON, Electronic Database.
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