εὐλάβεια

εὐλάβεια — eulábeia

εὐλάβεια, εὐλαβείας, ἡ, "the character and conduct of one who is εὐλαβής (which see);

1. caution, circumspection, discretion: Sophocles, Euripides, Plato, Demosthenes, following; the Sept. Pro 28:14; joined with πρόνοια, Plutarch, Marcell. 9; used of the prudent delay of Fabius Maximus, Polybius 3, 105, 8; ἡ ἐυλαβεοα σῴζει πάντα, Aristophanes an. 377; equivalent to avoidance, πληγῶν, Plato, legg. 7, p. 815 a., et al. (in which sense Zeno the Stoic contrasts ἡ εὐλάβεια, caution, as a εὔλογος ἐκκλισις, a reasonable shunning, with ὁ φόβος, (Diogenes Laërtius 7, 116, cf. Cicero, Tusc. 4, 6, 13).

2. reverence, veneration: ἡ πρός τό θεῖον εὐλάβεια Diodorus 13, 12; Plutarch, Camill. 21; de ser. hum. vind. c. 4, and elsewhere; πρός τούς νόμους, Plutarch, Ages. 15; Θεοῦ, objec. genitive, Philo, Cherub. § 9; simply reverence toward God, godly fear, piety: Heb 12:28 and, in the opinion of many, also (cf. ἀπό, II. 2 b.; see below).

3. fear, anxiety, dread: Wis 17:8; for דְּאָגָה, Jos 22:24; Josephus, Antiquities 11, 6, 9; Plutarch, Fab. 1 (the εὐβουλία of Fabius seemed to be εὐλάβεια); so, most probably, in Heb 5:7 (see (above and) ἀπό, I. 3 d.), for by using this more select word the writer, skilled as he was in the Greek tongue, speaks more reverently of the Son of God than if he had used φόβος. (Synonym: see δειλία, at the end; cf. Trench, § xlviii.; Delitzsch on Heb 5:7.)