G4642 σκληρός (sklērós)

σκληρός, -d, -όν, (σκέλλω, σκλῆναι, [to dry up, be dry]), fr. [Hes., Theogn.], Pind., Aeschyl. down; Sept. for TWP, hard, harsh, rough, stiff, (ra σκληρὰ x. τὰ μαλακά, Xen. mem. 3,10, 1); of men, metaph., harsh, stern, hard: Mt. xxv. 24 (1S. xxv. 3; Is. xix. 4; xlviii. 4; many exx. fr. prof. auth. are given by Passow s. v.2b.; [L. and S. 8. ν. Il. 2; esp. Trench §xiv.]); of things: ἄνεμος, violent, rough, Jas. iii. 4; ὁ λόγος, offensive and intolerable, Jn. vi. 60, equiv. to ds σκανδαλίζει, 61; σκληρὰ λαλεῖν κατά τινος, to speak hard and bitter things against one, Jude 15 (σκληρὰ λαλεῖν τινι is also used of one who speaks roughly, Gen. xlii. 7, 30; ἀποκρίνεσθαι σκληρά, to reply with threats, 1 K. xii. 13); σκληρόν ἐστι foll. by an inf., it is dangerous, turns out badly, [A. V. it is hard], Acts ix. 5 Rec.; xxvi. 14.

σκληρός sklēros 5x

dry, hard to the touch; met. harsh, severe, stern, Mt. 25:24; vehement, violent, fierce, Jas. 3:4; grievous, painful, Acts 26:14; grating to the mind, repulsive, offensive, Jn. 6:60; stubborn, resistance to authority, Jude 15*

σκληρός, -ά, -όν

(< σκέλλω, to dry), [in LXX chiefly for קָשָׁה ;]

hard to the touch, rough, harsh, (opp. to μαλακός); metaph., in various uses;

of men, hard, stern, severe: Mt 25:24;

of things, hard, rough, violent: σκληρόν σοι (ἐστι), Ac 26:14; λόγος, Jo 6:60; ἄνεμος, Ja 3:4; σκληρὰ λαλεῖν, Ju 15.†

SYN.: αὐστηρός, q.v

In the parable of the Talents (Matt. xxv.), the slothful servant charges his master with being σκληρός, “an hard man’’ (ver. 24); while in the corresponding parable of St. Luke it is αὐστηρός, ‘an austere man” (xix. 21), which he accuses him of being. It follows that the words must be nearly allied in meaning ; but not that they are identical in this. Σκληρός, derived from σκέλλω, σκλῆναι (= ‘ arefacio’), is properly an epithet applied to that which through lack of moisture is hard and dry, and thus rough and disagreeable to the touch ; or more than this, warped and intractable, the ‘asper’ and ‘durus’ in one. It is then transferred to the Sxl SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 4, region of ethics, in which it chiefly moves, expressing there roughness, harshness, and intractability in the moral nature of a man. Thus Nabal (1 Sam. xxv. 3) is σκληρός, and no epithet could better express the evil conditions of the churl. For other company which the word keeps, we find it associated with αὐχμηρός (Plato, Symp. 195 d) ; ἀντίτυπος (Theat. 155 a; Plutarch, De Pyth. Orac. 26) ; ἀμετάστροφος (Plato, Crat. 407 d) ; ἄγριος (Aristotle, Hth. Nic. iv. 8.8; Plutarch, Cons. ad Apoll. 3); ἀνήδυντος (Prac. Ger. Reip. 8); ἀπηνής (De Vit. Pud.) ; avépaatos (De Adul. et Am. 19) ; τραχύς (De Lib. Ed. 18); ἀπαίδευτος (Alex. Virt. sew Fort. Or. i. 5); ἄτρεπτος (Diogenes Laértius, vii. 1. 64, 117); ἀφηνιαστής (Philo, De Septen. 1); αὐθάδης (Gen. xlix. 8) ; πονηρός (1 Sam. xxv. 8). It is set over against εὐηθικός (Plato, Charm. 175 d) ; μαλακός (Protag. 881 d); μαλθακός (Symp. 195 d; Sophocles, (idip. Col. 771). Αὐστηρός, which in the N. T. appears but once (Luke xix. 21), and never in the Septuagint, is in its primary meaning applied to such things as draw together and contract the tongue, are harsh and stringent to the palate, as new wine not yet mellowed by age, unripe fruit, and the like. Thus Cowper, describing himself, when a boy, as gathering from the hedgerows ‘sloes austere,’ uses ‘austere’ with exactest propriety. But just as we have transferred ‘strict’ (from ‘stringo’) to the region of ethics, so the Greeks transferred αὐστηρός, with an image borrowed from the taste, as in σκληρός from the touch. Neither does this word set out anything amiable or attractive in him to whom it is applied. It keeps company with ἀηδής (Plato, Rep. 111. 898 a); ἄκρατος and. ἀνήδυντος (Plutarch, Prec. Cony. 29) ; ἀνήδυστος (Phoc. 5) ; αὐθέκαστος | (De Adul. et Am. 14) ; πικρός (aid. 2) ; ἀγέλαστος and ἀνέντευκτος (De Cup. Div. 7); αὐχμηρός (Philo, De Prem. 1 In Plutarch this word is used in an ill sense, as self-willed, joined by him to ἄτεγκτος, that is, not to be moulded and fashioned like moist clay, in the hands of another, ‘ eigensinnig ;’ being one of the many which, in all languages, beginning with a good sense (Aristotle, Hthic. Nic. iv. 7. 4), have ended with a bad. 46 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT ξ χιν et Pen. 5); while Kudemus (Ethic. Eudem. vii. 5) contrasts the αὐστηρός with the εὐτράπελος, using the latter word in a good sense. At the same time none of the epithets with which αὐστηρός is associated imply that deep moral perversity which lies in many with which σκληρός is linked; and, moreover, it is met not seldom in more honorable company; thus it is joined with σώφρων continually (Plutarch, Prec. Conj.7, 29; Quest. Gr. 40); with μουσικός (Symp. v. 2); with σωφρονικός (Clement of Alexandria, Pedag. ii. 4); one, otherwise γενναῖος καὶ μέγας, is αὐστηρός as not sacrificing to the Graces (Plutarch, Amat. 28); while the Stoics affirmed all good men to be ‘austere’ (Diogenes Laértius, vii. 1. 64,117): καὶ αὐστηροὺς δέ φασιν εἶναι πάντας τοὺς σπουδαίους, TO μήτε αὐτοὺς πρὸς ἡδονὴν ὁμιλεῖν, μήτε παρ᾽ ἄλλων τὰ πρὸς ἡδονὴν προσδέχεσθαι : οἷ. Plutarch, Prec. Conj. 27. In Latin, ‘austerus ’ is predominantly an epithet of honour (Déderlein, Lat. Synon. vol. iii. p. 232) ; he to whom it is applied is earnest and severe, opposed to all levity ; needing, it may very well be, to watch against harshness, rigour, or moroseness, into which he might easily lapse —(‘non austeritas ejus tristis, non dissoluta sit comitas,’ Quintilian, ii. 2. 5)—but as yet not chargeable with these. We may distinguish, then, between them thus: σκληρός conveys always a reproach and a grave one, indicates a character harsh, inhuman, and in the earlier use of that word) uncivil; in the words of Hesiod, ἀδάμαντος ἔχων κρατερόφρονα θυμόν. It is not so with αὐστηρός. This epithet does not of necessity convey a reproach at all, any more than the German ‘streng,’ which is very different from ‘hart ;’ and even where it does convey a reproof, it is one of far less opprobrious a kind; rather the exaggeration of a virtue pushed too far, than an absolute vice. SV SY VON YES OF Tie NEW TESTAMENT ἢ tA «ε lA

σκληρός. The original meaning of this adj. was “" hard,’’ as in BGU III. 9521° (ii/iii A.D.) τιμῆς μαρμάρου ξηροῦ σκλ[ηροῦ, and from the inscrr. Sy/7Z 540 (=*%972)98 (B.C. 175), which speaks of the working and building of the ‘‘ hard ” stone from Lebadeia, πέϊτρας σκληρᾶς: so OG/S 194° (B.C. 42) ἐκ σκληροῦ λίθου. But in this last inser. 15 σκληροτέρας kal [μείζονος συμφορᾶς Tov ἀέρος describes (with some doubt from hiatus) a pestilent miasma in the atmosphere. See also P Cairo Zen II. 59275° (B.C. 251) σκ]ληρὰ κρέα, ‘bitter (or pickled) meats.” BGU LI. 140" (time of Hadrian) τ]οῦτο οὐκ ἐδόκει σκληρὸν [el]vat shows the metaph. sense which prevails in the NT: cf. Aaibel 942° (i/B.C.) θερμὸν πνεῦμα φέρων σκληρᾶς παῖς ἀπὸ πυγμαχίας, and Aristeas 289 where kings are described as ἀνήμεροί τε Kal σκληροί, ‘‘inhuman and harsh.” For σκληρουργός, ‘fa mason,” cf. P Ryl II. gro (ii/a.p.), BGU III. 952° (ii/iii A.p.). For the history of σκληρός see an elaborate note by Dieterich in hetnesches Museum N.F. Ix. (1905), p. 236 ff.

σκληρός (sklēros) — hard. σκληρός, ά, όν, also Doric dialect, [Refs 5th c.BC+], hyperdorian mode σκλᾱρός [Refs 5th c.BC+]:— hard, opposed to μαλακός in all senses:

I. hard to the touch, ξύλον σ. ἢ μαλακόν [Refs 6th c.BC+]; ἐλαία Pi.[same place]; γῆ [Refs 5th c.BC+]

I.2. of sound, harsh, σκληρὸν ἐβρόντησε [Refs 8th c.BC+]

I.3. of taste and smell, harsh, bitter, σ. ὕδατα (springing from a rocky soil) [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of wine, dry, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: metaphorically, σ. φράσις [Refs 1st c.BC+]

I.4. stiff, unyielding, opposed to ὑγρός (lithe and supple), τιτθία σ. καὶ κυδώνια [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of the hair (compare σκληρόθριξ), [Refs 4th c.BC+]; σ. δέρμα, σάρξ, [Refs]; of persons, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of dogs, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; οἱ τὸ σῶμα σ. [Refs 4th c.BC+]

I.5. κοιλίη σ. costive, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

I.6. of light, strong, ἐν σ. αὐγῇ ἢ μαλακῇ [Refs]

I.7. of a wind, strong, [NT+2nd c.AD+]

II. metaphorically,

II.1. of things, hard, austere, μὴ τὰ μαλακὰ μῶσο, μὴ τὰ σ. ἔχῃς [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὰ σ. hard words, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τόνος ἀπηνὴς καὶ σ. [Refs 1st c.AD+]; τὸ σ. ={σκληρότης}, ἡ δίαιτα.. ὑπερβάλλει ἐπὶ τὸ σ. [Refs 4th c.BC+]

II.2. of persons, harsh, austere, cruel, stubborn, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; σ. ἀοιδός, of the Sphinx, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἄγροικοι καὶ σ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; σ. θράσος stubborn courage, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

III. adverb, -ρῶς καθῆσθαι, i.e. on a hard seat, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

III.2. hardly, with difficulty, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

III.3. harshly, obstinately, σ. διαμάχεσθαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἀπειλεῖν[Refs 4th c.BC+]