Usage in Greek literature [footnote text=”Meyer, Rudolf. "Κόλπος." Ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich. <i>Theological dictionary of the New Testament</i> 1964– : 824. Print.”]
“Bosom,” “lap”
Mother’s womb
At a meal the place of the guest of honour, hence figurative to express an inward relationship.
The kolpos, κόλπος of mother earth is the grave.
E.g. the kolpos, κόλπος of the sea
E.g. The kolpos, κόλπος of the underworld
The “fold” of a loose garment used as a pocket
Generally any “arch” or “hollow,”
E.g. the bosom of the sea
E.g. the bosom of the floor of a valley
Medically, “fistula”
Usage in LXX [footnote text=”Organization based mostly on Meyer, Rudolf 824 but with additional material”]
Loving relationship
Marital relationship
[bible text=”Deut 13:7, LXX” ref=”Deut 13:7” version=”LXX”] – "If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which neither you nor your fathers have known.
Deut 28:54 – The man who is the most tender and refined among you will begrudge food to his brother, to the wife he embraces, and to the last of the children whom he has left,
Sir 9:1, LXX – Be not jealous over the wife of thy bosom, and teach her not an evil lesson against thyself. (Brenton LXX)
The fact that the wife belongs and gives herself to her husband
Gen 16:5 – And Sarai said to Abram, "May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!"
2 Sam 12:8 – And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.
The fact that the husband belongs to the wife
Deut 28:56 – The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces, to her son and to her daughter,
Loving concern for a child
Num 11:12 – Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,' to the land that you swore to give their fathers?
Ruth 4:16 – Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse.
1 Kgs 3:20 – And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast.
1 Kgs 17:19 – And he said to her, "Give me your son." And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed.
Isa 49:22 – Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
Loving concern for a lamb
2 Sam 12:3 – but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him.
Fold of a garment
Ex 4:6 – Again, the LORD said to him, "Put your hand inside your cloak." And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.
Ex 4:7 – Then God said, "Put your hand back inside your cloak." So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.
Job 31:34 – for I did not stand in awe of a great multitude, so as not to declare boldly before them: and if too I permitted a poor man to go out of my door with an empty bosom: (Brenton, LXX)
[bible text=”Ps 73:11, LXX” ref=”Ps 73:11” version=”LXX”] – Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!
[bible text=”Ps 128:7, LXX” ref=”Ps 128:7” version=”LXX”] – with which the reaper does not fill his hand nor the binder of sheaves his arms,
Prov 6:27 – Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?
Prov 16:33 – The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.
Prov 17:23 – The wicked accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice.
Prov 19:24 – He that unjustly hides his hands in his bosom, will not even bring them up to his mouth. (Brenton, LXX)
Prov 30:4 – Who has gone up to heaven, and come down? who has gathered the winds in his bosom? who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? who has dominion of all the ends of the earth? what is his name? or what is the name of his children? (Brenton, LXX)
The place of retribution
[bible text=”Ps 78:12, LXX” ref=”Ps 78:12” version=”LXX”] – Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!
Isa 65:6 – Behold, it is written before me: "I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their bosom
Isa 65:7 – both your iniquities and your fathers' iniquities together, says the LORD; because they made offerings on the mountains and insulted me on the hills, I will measure into their bosom payment for their former deeds."
Jer 39:18 – For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have put your trust in me, declares the LORD.'"
Chest, lap
[bible text=”Ps 34:13, LXX” ref=”Ps 34:13” version=”LXX”] – But I, when they were sick–I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
Prov 30:4 – Who has gone up to heaven, and come down? who has gathered the winds in his bosom? who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? who has dominion of all the ends of the earth? what is his name? or what is the name of his children? (Brenton, LXX)
Hollow part
Of a chariot
1 Kgs 22:35 – And the battle continued that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians, until at evening he died. And the blood of the wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot.
Of the altar
Ezek 43:13 – "These are the measurements of the altar by cubits (the cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth): its base shall be one cubit high and one cubit broad, with a rim of one span around its edge. And this shall be the height of the altar: [footnote text=“The word for "base" is <i>kolpōma</i>, κόλπωμα, a cognate of <i>kolpos</i>, κόλπος.”]
Seat of the reins, feelings
Job 19:27 – whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!
Job 23:12 – neither shall I transgress; but I have hid his words in my bosom. (Brenton, LXX)
[bible text=”Ps 88:51, LXX” ref=”Ps 88:51” version=”LXX”] – Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations,
Eccl 7:9 – Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.
Midst
Hosea 8:1 – He shall come into their midst as the land, as an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant, and have sinned against my law. (Brenton LXX)
Usage in the New Testament
Loving relationship
Lk 16:22 – The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried,
Lk 16:23 – and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
Jn 1:18 – No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
Jn 13:23 – One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table close to Jesus,
Lap
Lk 6:38 – give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you."
Bay
Acts 27:39 – Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore.
From μόνος, “only” and γένος, “descendent, kind” [footnote text=”Arndt, William, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer. <i>A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature</i> 2000 : 658. Print.”]
In compounds like διο-γενής, γη-γενής, εὐ-γενής, συγ-γενής the -γενής suggests derivation (γένος) rather than birth. [footnote text=”Büchsel, Friedrich. "Μονογενής." Ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich. <i>Theological dictionary of the New Testament</i> 1964– : 737–738. Print.”]
Definition [footnote text=”Arndt, William, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer. <i>A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature</i> 2000 : 658. Print.”]
Pertaining to being the only one of its kind within a specific relationship, “one and only, only”
Pertaining to being the only one of its kind or class, “unique (in kind)”
Usage
In the LXX [footnote text=”Büchsel, Friedrich. "Μονογενής." Ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich. <i>Theological dictionary of the New Testament</i> 1964– : 737–738. Print.”]
In Judg 11:34, the word means the only child
In [bible text=”Ps 21:21, LXX” ref=”Ps 21:21” version=”LXX”] and [bible text=”Ps 34:17, LXX” ref=”Ps 34:17” version=”LXX”], reference is to the uniqueness of the soul. The translation is possible on the basis of the general use of monogenēs, μονογενής for “unique,” “unparalleled,” “incomparable.”
In the NT
In Luke and Hebrews, the word is used of an only child (son or daughter).
In John, the word expresses Jesus’ unique relationship to the Father.
Occurrences
In the New Testament
Lk 7:12 – As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.
Lk 8:42 – for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.As Jesus went, the people pressed around him.
Lk 9:38 – And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.
Jn 1:14 – And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jn 1:18 – No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
Jn 3:16 – "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Jn 3:18 – Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Heb 11:17 – By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,
1 Jn 4:9 – In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
In the LXX
Judg 11:34 – Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
Ps 22:20 – Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! (ESV)
[bible text=”Ps 21:21, LXX” ref=”Ps 21:21” version=”LXX”] – Deliver my soul from the sword; my only-begotten one from the power of the dog. (Brenton LXX)
[bible text=”Ps 24:16, LXX” ref=”24:16” version=”LXX”] – Look upon me, and have mercy upon me; for I am an only child and poor. (Ps 24:16, Brenton LXX)
Ps 35:17 – How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions! (ESV)
[bible text=”Ps 34:17, LXX” ref=”Ps 34:17” version=”LXX”] – O Lord, when wilt thou look upon me? Deliver my soul from their mischief, mine only-begotten one from the lions. (Brenton LXX)
Tob 3:15 – and that I never polluted my name, nor the name of my father, in the land of my captivity: I am the only daughter of my father, neither hath he any child to be his heir, neither any near kinsman, nor any son of his alive, to whom I may keep myself for a wife: my seven husbands are already dead; and why should I live? but if it please not thee that I should die, command some regard to be had of me, and pity taken of me, that I hear no more reproach. (Brenton LXX)
Tob 6:11 – the angel said to the young man, Brother, to day we shall lodge with Raguel, who is thy cousin; he also hath one only daughter, named Sara; I will speak for her, that she may be given thee for a wife. (Brenton LXX)
Tob 8:17 – Thou art to be praised, because thou hast had mercy of two that were the only begotten children of their fathers: grant them mercy, O Lord, and finish their life in health with joy and mercy. (Brenton LXX)
Wis 7:22 – For wisdom, which is the worker of all things, taught me: for in her is an understanding spirit, holy, one only, manifold, subtil, lively, clear, undefiled, plain, not subject to hurt, loving the thing that is good, quick, which cannot be letted, ready to do good, (Brenton LXX)
Translation as “only begotten” [footnote text=”See Fennema, D. A. "John 1.18: ‘God the Only Son’." New Testament Studies, Vol. 31, 1985, pp. 135-142 and Moody, Dale. “God's Only Son: The Translation of John 3:16 in the Revised Standard Version.” <i>Journal of Biblical Literature</i>, Vol. 72, No. 4, 1953, pp. 213-219”]
The Old Latin translated monogenēs, μονογενής as unicus (only).
Jerome likewise translated the word as unicus where the word was not applied to Jesus.
But to answer the Arian claim that Jesus was not begotten but made, Jerome translated monogenēs, μονογενής as unigenitus, “only begotten” in John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9. As such, his translation of the word in these verses reflects a trinitarian theology.
Subsequently, the influence of the Vulgate on the Authorized Version and later English translations perpetuated this error.
