παράδεισος, παραδείσου, ὁ (thought by most to be of Persian orion, by others of Armenian, cf. Gesenius, Thesaurus, ii., p. 1124; (B. D., under the word; especially Fried. Delitzsch, We lag das Paradies? Leipzig 1881, pp. 95-97; cf. Max Müller, Selected Essays, i., 129f)), 1. among the Persians a grand enclosure or preserve, hunting-ground, park, shady and well-watered, in which wild animals were kept for the hunt; it was enclosed by walls and furnished with towers for the hunters: Xenophon, Cyril 1, 3, 14; (1, 4, 5); 8, 1, 38; oec. 4, 13 and 14; anab. 1, 2, 7, 9; Theophrastus, h. pl. 5, 8, 1; Diodorus 16, 41; 14, 80; Pint. Artax. 25, cf. Curt; 8, 1, 11. 2. universally, a garden, pleasure-ground; grove, park: Lucian, v. h. 2, 23; Aelian v. h. 1, 33; Josephus, Antiquities 7, 14, 4; 8, 7, 3; 9, 10, 4; 10, 3, 2 and 11, 1; b. j. 6, 1, 1; (c. Apion. 1, 19, 9 (where cf. Müller)); Susanna 4, 7, 15, etc.; Sir_24:30; and so it passed into the Hebrew language, τΗΜψΐγΕΜρ, Neh_2:8; Ecc_2:5; Son_4:13; besides in the Sept. mostly for βΗΜο; thus, for that delightful region, 'the garden of Eden,' in which our first parents dwelt before the fall: Gen_2:8 ff; Gen_3:1 ff. 3. that part of Hades which was thought by the later Jews to be the abode of the souls of the pious until the resurrection: Luk_23:43; cf. Luk_16:23 f. But some (e. g. Dillmann (as below, p. 379)) understand that passage of the heavenly paradise. 4. an upper region in the heavens: 2Co_12:4 (where some maintain, others deny, that the term is equivalent to ὁ τρίτος οὐρανός in 2Co_12:2); with the addition of τοῦ Θεοῦ, genitive of possessor, the abode of God and heavenly beings, to which true Christians will be taken after death, Rev_2:7 (cf. Gen_13:10; Eze_28:13; Eze_31:8). According to the opinion of many of the church Fathers, the paradise in which our first parents dwelt before the fall still exists, neither on earth nor in the heavens, but above and beyond the world; cf. Thilo, Cod. apocr. Nov. Test., on Evang. Nicod. c. xxv., p. 748ff; and Bleek thinks that the word ought to be taken in this sense in Rev_2:7. Cf. Dillmann under the word Paradies in Schenkel iv. 377ff; also Hilgenfeld, Die Clement. Recogn. und Hom., p. 87f; Klöpper on 2Co_12:2-4, p. 507ff ((Göttingen, 1869). See also B. D., under the word; McClintock and Strong's Cyclopaedia, under the word; Hamburger, Real-Encyclopädie, Abtheil. ii, under the word.)

παράδεισος paradeisos 3x a park, a forest where wild beasts were kept for hunting; a pleasure-park, a garden of trees of various kinds; used in the LXX for the Garden of Eden; in NT the celestial paradise, Luk_23:43 ; 2Co_12:4 ; Rev_2:7

παράδεισος , -ου , ὁ (an Oriental word, first used by Xen . of the parks of Persian kings and nobles), [in LXX chiefly for H1588 , Gen_1:8 ff ., al. ; also for H5731 , Isa_51:3 ; H6508 , Neh_2:8 , Ecc_2:5 ;] 1. a park, pleasure-ground, garden ( LXX ), an orchard (in Papyri, v. MM , ii, xviii; Deiss., BS , 148). 2. Paradise , the abode of the blessed dead: Luk_23:43 , 2Co_12:4 , Rev_2:7 .†

παράδεισος [page 482] The essential features of this foreign (Iranian) word cling to it in its wide popular use and pass on into the applications found in the Bible. The modern Persian p ā t̯ z means a garden, as does παράδεισος from the earliest records we have of it in Greek (Xen. Anab. i. 2. 7 etc.). A garden of fruit-trees (protected presumably by a wall) is the general idea of it as seen in the papyri where it is very common. Thus we have P Petr III. 26 .6 (iii/B.C.) εἰς ἀλλότριον κλῆρον ἢ παράδεισον ἢ κῆπον ἢ ἀμπ [ελῶ ]να , bringing together plot or orchard or garden or vineyard, P Tebt I. 5 .53 (B.C. 118) τὰς ἀπομοίρας ἃς ἐλάμ̣β̣α̣ν̣[ο ]ν ἔκ τε τ [ῶν κ ]τηιμάτων καὶ τῶν [π ]αραδεί (σων ), the tithes which they (the temples) used to receive from the holdings and the orchards, and OGIS 90 .15 (Rosetta stone B.C. 196) τὰς καθηκούσας ἀπομοίρας τοῖς θεοῖς ἀπό τε τῆς ἀμπελίτιδος γῆς καὶ τῶν παραδείσων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ὑπαρξάντων τοῖς θεοῖς . In P Lond 933 .12 (A.D. 211) (= III. p. 69) there is a payment on account of an olive-orchard, ἐλαιωνοπαράδ (εισος ). In P Petr I. 16 ii. 7 (B.C. 230) Mahaffy translates τὰ γενήματα τῶν ὑπαρχόντων μοι παραδείσων , the produce of my parks, but the mere mention of produce shows that orchards are meant : see further Grenfell s note in P Rev L p. 94 ff. and Wilcken Ostr . i. p. 157 f. From Genesis to Revelation fruit-trees are an essential part of the imagery connected with Eden. Milton s picture brings in the wall as well. And this part of the word s connotation suits strikingly the thought of that fold of God over whose jasper wall great and high the first grand Thief shall never climb. Deissmann ( BS p. 148) finds the earliest ex. of the word in its technical Biblical meaning in 2Co_12:4 , then Luk_23:43 and Rev_2:7 ; Rev_2:4 Esd. 7:53, 8:52. For the Jewish conception of the garden as the abode of the blessed cf. Enoch lxi. 12, and see Weber JόD. Theol. pp. 341, 344.

παράδεισος παράδεισος, ὁ, "a park", a Persian word brought in by Xen. ; used for "the garden of Eden, Paradise", NTest.

παράδεισος, -ου, ὁ (an Oriental word, first used by Xen. of the parks of Persian kings and nobles) [in LXX chiefly for גַּן, Gen.1:8 ff., al.; also for עֵדֶן, Isa.51:3; פַּרְדֵּס, Neh.2:8, Ecc.2:5 ;] __1. a park, pleasure-ground, garden (LXX), an orchard (in π., see MM, ii, xviii; Deiss., BS, 148). __2. Paradise, the abode of the blessed dead: Luk.23:43, 2Co.12:4, Rev.2:7.† (AS)