"pr. the soul, mind; hence, a strong passion or emotion of the mind; anger, wrath, Lk. 4:28; Acts 19:28; pl. swellings of anger, 2 Cor. 12:20; Gal. 5:20"
Definition and meaning
pr. the soul, mind; hence, a strong passion or emotion of the mind; anger, wrath, Lk. 4:28; Acts 19:28; pl. swellings of anger, 2 Cor. 12:20; Gal. 5:20
In the original Greek the word is written: θυμός
Historical context
Luke wrote as a historian addressing a Greek audience. He carefully interviewed eyewitnesses and arranged events in order. The social and economic realities he describes — Roman taxation, Jewish religious hierarchy, the marginalization of women and the poor — are consistent with first-century Judea under Roman administration.
The people who first heard this word were not reading a book — they were living through empires, oppression, exile, and covenant. Every word carried the weight of that reality. Understanding it changes how you read Scripture.
Scripture references
These are the most notable occurrences of thumos (G2372) across the King James Bible.
And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:
Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
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Common questions
Strong's G2372 (thumos) is a Greek word that means: pr. the soul, mind; hence, a strong passion or emotion of the mind; anger, wrath, Lk. 4:28; Acts 19:28; pl. swellings of anger, 2 Cor. 12:20; Gal. 5:20 It appears 18 times in the King James Bible.
The word thumos (G2372) appears 18 times in the original Greek text.
Strong's G2372 is thumos, a Greek word defined as: pr. the soul, mind; hence, a strong passion or emotion of the mind; anger, wrath, Lk. 4:28; Acts 19:28; pl. swellings of anger, 2 Cor. 12:20; Gal. 5:2. James Strong catalogued this in his 1890 concordance to help English readers study the original languages of the Bible.
thumos is a Greek word found in the New Testament.