G2226 ζῶον (zōon)

ζῶον [or ζῷον (so L WH uniformly, Treg. in Heb. and Rey.; see Etym. Magn. 413, 24, and reff. s. v. I, ) ], του, τό, (ζωός alive) ; 1. a living being. 2. an animal, brute, beast: Heb. xiii. 11; 2 Pet. ii. 12; Jude 10; Rev. iv. 6-9 [on vs. 8 ef. Β. 130 (114)], ete. [Syn.: ζῶον differs from θηρίον (at least ety mologically; but cf. Schmidt as below) in giving prominence to the vital element, while θηρίον emphasizes the bestial element. Hence in Rey. as above ¢ is fitly rendered living creature in contradistinction to the θηρίον beast, cf. xi. 7; xiii. 1, ete. See Trench § lxxxi.; Schmidt ii. ch. 70.] two-roréw, -@; fut. ζωοποιήσω; 1 aor. inf. ζωοποιῆσαι; Pass., pres. ζωοποιοῦμαι; 1 fut. ζωοποιηθήσομαι; 1 aor. ptep. ζωοποιηθείς ; (ζωοποιός making alive) ; 1. to produce alive, beget or bear living young, (Aristot., Theophr.). 2. to cause to live, make alive, give life: τὰ πάντα, of God, 1 Tim. vi. 13 RG [ef. Neh. ix. 6; 2K. ν. 7; Diogn. ep. 5 fin.]; by spiritual power to arouse and invigorate, 2 Co. iii. 6; Gal. iii. 21; to give ζωὴ αἰώνιος (in the Johannean sense), Jn. vi. 63; of the dead, fo reanimate, restore to life: 1 Co. xv. 45; twa, Jn. v. 21; Ro. iv. 17; viii. 11; pass. 1 Co. xv. 22; i. q. to give increase of life: thus of physical life, πρῶτον τὸ παιδίον μέλιτι, εἶτα γάλακτι ζωοποιεῖται, Barn. ep. c. 6,17; of the spirit, ζωοποιηθεὶς πνεύματι, quickened as respects the spirit, endued with new and greater powers of life, 1 Pet. iii. 18, on which ef. Lechler, Das apost. u. nachapost. Zeitalter, p- 182 ed. 2; [Zezschwitz, De Christi ad inferos descensu (Lips. 1857) p. 207. metaph. (Geop. 9, 11, 7) of seeds quickening into life, i. e. germinating, springing up, growing: 1 Co. xv. 36. [Comp.: cv-(woroéw.]* H n

ζῷον zōon 23x

a living creature, animal, Heb. 13:11; 2 Pet. 2:12

ζῷον (Rec. ζῶον, v. LS, s.v.), -ου, τό

(< ζωός, alive), [in LXX for חַיָּה (chiefly) and cognate forms; freq. in Wi;]

a living creature, an animal: Re 4:6-9 5:6 ff. Re 6:1 ff. Re 7:11 14:3 15:7 19:4; ζῴων τ. αἷμα, He 13:11; ἄλογα ζ., II Pe 2:12, Ju 10.†

SYN.: θηρίον, in which the brutal, bestial element is emphasized, and which is never used of sacrificial animals. On the other hand, ζ. is the more comprehensive, as expressing the vital element common to the whole animal creation (v. Tr., Syn., lxxxi; Cremer, 274).

In passages out of number one of these words might be employed quite as fitly as the other, even as there are many in which they are used interchangeably, as by Plutarch, De Cap. ex Inim. Util. ἃ. This does not however prove that there is no distinction between them, if other passages occur, however few, where one is fit and the other not; or where, though neither would be unfit, one would possess a greater fitness than the other. The distinction, latent in other cases, because there is nothing to evoke it, reveals itself in these. The difference between ζῶον (by Lachmann always more correctly accented ζῷον) and θηρίον is not that between two coordinate terms ; but one, the second, is wholly subordinate to the first, a less included in a greater. All creatures that live on earth, including man himself, λογικὸν καὶ πολιτικὸν ζῶον, as Plutarch (De Am. Prol. 8) so grandly describes him, are Coa (Aristotle, Hist. Anim. i. 5.1); nay, God himself, according to the Definitions of Plato, is ζῶον ἀθάνατον, being indeed the only One to whom life by absolute right belongs (φαμὲν δὲ τὸν Θεὸν εἶναι ζῶον ἀΐδιον ἄριστον, Aristotle, Metaph. xii. 7). It is true that ζῶον is nowhere employed in the N. T. to designate man (but see Plato, Pol. 271 e; Xenophon, Cyrop. i. 1. 8; Wisd. xix. 21); still less to designate God; for whom, as not merely living, but as being absolute Life, the one fountain of life, the αὐτοζῶον, the πηγὴ ζωῆς, the fitter as the more reverent ζωή is retained (John i. 4; 1 John i. 2). In its ordinary use ζῶον covers the same extent of meaning as ‘animal’ with us, having generally, though by no means universally (Plutarch, De Garr. 22; Heb. xiii. 11), ἄλογον or some such epithet attached (2 Pet. 11, 12; Jude 10). §LXxxI SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 289 @npiov looks like a diminutive of 6yp, which in its Molic form φήρ reappears as the Latin ‘fera,’ and in its more usual shape in the German ‘ Thier’ and in our own ‘deer.’ Like χρυσίον, βιβλίον, φορτίον, ἀγγεῖον, and so many other words (see Fischer, Prol. de Vit. Lex. N. T. p. 256), it has quite left behind the force of a diminutive, if it ever possessed it. That it was already without this at the time when the Odyssey was composed is sufficiently attested by the μέγα θηρίον which there occurs (x. 180); compare Xenophon, Cyrop.i. 4.11. It would be a mistake to regard θηρία as exclusively mischievous and ravening beasts, for see Heb. ΧΙ. 20; Exod. xix. 18; however such by this word are generally intended (Mark i. 18; Acts xxviii. 4, 5); θηρία at Acts xi. 6 being distinguished from τετράποδα; while yet Schmidt says rightly: ‘In θηρίον liegt eine sehr starke Nebenbeziehung auf Wildheit und Grausamkeit.’ It is worthy of notice that, numerous as are the passages of the Septuagint where beasts of sacrifice are mentioned, it is never under this name. The reason is evident, namely, that the brutal, bestial element is in θηρίον brought prominently forward, not that wherein the inferior animals are akin to man, not that therefore which gives them a fitness to be offered as substitutes for man, and as his representatives. Here, too, we have an explanation of the frequent transfer of θηρίον and θηριώδης, as in Latin of ‘ bestia’ and “ bellua,’ to fierce and brutal men (Tit. i. 12; 1 Cor. xv. 82; Josephus, Antt. xvii. 5.5; Arrian, in Epict. ii. 9). All this makes us the more regret, and the regret has been often expressed—it was so by Broughton almost as soon as our Version was published—that in the Apocalypse our Translators should have rendered θηρίον and ζῶον by the same word, “ beast’’; and should thus for the English reader have obliterated the distinction between them. Both play important parts in this book; both belong to its higher symbolism ; while at the same time they move in spheres as far removed from one another as heaven is fromhell. The ζῶα or “ living creatures,’ which stand before the throne, and in which dwells U 290 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT §.Lxxxu the fulness of all creaturely life, as it gives praise and glory to God (iv. 6-9; v. 6; vi. 1; and often), constitute a part of the heavenly symbolism; the θηρία, the first beast and the second, which rise up, one from the bottomless pit (xi. 7), the other from the sea (xiii. 1), of whom the one makes war upon the two Witnesses, the other opens his mouth in -blasphemies, these form part of the hellish symbolism. To confound these and those under a common designation, to call those ‘ beasts’ and these ‘ beasts,’ would be an oversight, even granting the name to be suitable to both; it is a more serious one, when the word used, bringing out, as does θηρίον, the predominance of the lower animal life, is applied to glorious creatures in the very court and presence of Heaven. The error is common to all the English translations. That the Rheims should not have escaped it is strange; for the Vulgate renders ζῶα by ‘ animalia’ (‘ animantia’ would have been still better), and only θηρίον by ‘bestia.’ If ζῶα had always been rendered “living creatures,’ this would have had the additional advantage of setting these symbols of the Apocalypse, even for the English reader, in an unmistakeable connexion with Ezek. i. 5, 18, 14, and often ; where “ living creature” is the rendering in our English Version of ΠΡ, as ζῶον is in the Septuagint.

ζῷον. With the use of ζῷον (for form, see Blass-Debrunner ὃ 26) in Rev to denote ‘‘a /iwzng creature,” the symbol of the Divine immanence in Nature, as distinguished from θηρίον, “*a brute beast,” we may compare the frequent reff. to ἱερὰ {Ga in the papyri, e.g. Ρ Tebt I. 578 (B.c. 118), where it is laid down that the expenses of the burial of Apis and Mnevis and τῶν ἄλλων ἱερῶν ζῴν (/. ζῴων) shall be defrayed by the Crown, and 26. 5.713 (B.c. 114), where reference is made to furnishing τὰς τῶν ἱερῶν ζώιων σειταγωγίας, ‘the supplies of food for the sacred animals.’’ Cf. also P Oxy IX. 11884 (A.D. 13) ἐπὶ τῆ(ς) τῶν ἱερῶν ζῴων θήκης, and from the inscrr. OGZS 9051 (the Rosetta stone—B.c. 196) τῶι τε Απει καὶ τῶι Mvever πολλὰ ἐδωρήσατο καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἱεροῖς ζώιοις τοῖς ἐν Αἰγύπτωι. In Aristeas 147 the reference is to “tame birds”—ta τῶν προειρημένων πτηνῶν ἥμερα Loa. MGr ζῶο.

ζῷον (zōon) — living thing. ζῷον, τό, living being, animal, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ζῷα, opposed to φυτά, [Refs]; ζ. θαλάττιον, χερσαῖον, [Refs 1st c.BC+].; contemptuously, ὅπως ἡ χώρα τοῦ τοιούτου ζῴου καθαρὰ γίγνηται may be free from this kind of animal (i.e. beggars), [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ζ. πονηρόν, of women, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

II. in art, figure, image, not necessarily of animals (compare ζῴδιον), ζῷον δέ οἱ ἐνῆν, ἀνὴρ ἱππεύς [Refs 5th c.BC+]: mostly in plural, ζῷα ἐς τὴν ἐσθῆτα ἐγγράφειν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ζῷα γράψασθαι τὴν ζεῦξιν τοῦ Βοσπόρου to have pictures of the bridging of the Bosporus painted, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; compare ζωγραφέω: ζῷα ποιεῖν [Refs 1st c.AD+]

III. sign of the Zodiac, [Refs 8th c.BC+], no generic word used for animal being found till after the middle of the fifth cent. BC [Refs 7th c.BC+] by contraction: ι is found in [Refs 3rd c.BC+]., and in codices optative in the Noun; the adjective ζωός (which see) had no ι: for the compounds (except ζωγλύφος, ζωγράφος) decisive evidence is lacking: ζῳάγρια with ι was read by [Refs 8th c.BC+]