Bible Geek in Greek - Hope #6

Hope #6

 July 6, 2022

If you have been following along with us over the previous few posts, we have been looking at Bible words for “hope”. We profiled the four Hebrew words which translators render as “hope”, and we have just discussed one of two Greek words: ELPIZÓ (ἐλπίζω). Today, we look at the other word: HUPOMENÓ (ὑπομένω)

 

HUPOMENÓ is significantly less common in the New Testament text, generally. And in particular, it is never directly used to mean “hope”. It is most often translated as some form of “wait”, as in “stay behind”, “endure”, and “stand my ground”. 

 

In fact, in the famous love chapter we quoted twice in the previous post, St. Paul asserts that love “hopes all things, ENDURES all things”.

 

So, it is fair to ask: why are we talking about HUPOMENÓ when it really does not ever mean “hope”? Because one cannot “endure” unless one has “hope”. And just as the Hebrew words QAVAH and YACHAL can mean both wait and hope, depending on context (and translator preferences), we assert the same for HUPOMENÓ.

 

It is a compound word, derived from HUPO (ὑπό) and MENÓ (μένω). HUPO is a preposition often being translated as “by, under, about”. Etymologically, it is the origin of our common English prefix “hypo” and as such, it provides with many English words like hypodermic, hypoglycemic, hypochondria, and hypocritical.

 

MENÓ means “stay, abide, remain” (as the Coen Brothers’ famous Jeff Lebowski would say, “The Dude MENEI (μένει)"). In contrast to its comound child, MENÓ makes frequent appearances in the New Testament, occurring 118 times, including that previously cited love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13: “And now these three REMAIN…”

 

In the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Jeiwhs Bible), HUPOMENÓ is found in both the Law and the Prophets. Psalm 69 gives us a fitting coda to this concept of “abide” and “endure” because of our hope in G-d. From verses 6 and 7: 

 

“Lord, the LORD Almighty, may those who HOPE (υπομένοντές) in you not be disgraced because of me; God of Israel, may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me. For I ENDURE (υπήνεγκα) scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face.”