καιρός

καιρός — kairós

καιρός, καιροῦ, ὁ (derived by some from κάρα or κάρη, τό, the head, summit (others besides; cf. Vanicek, p. 118)); the Sept. for עֵת and מועֵד; in Greek writings (from Hesiod down):

1. due measure; nowhere so in the Biblical writings.

2. a measure of time; a larger or smaller portion of time; hence,

a. universally, a fixed and definite time: Rom 13:11; 2Co 6:2; ὕστεροι καιροί, 1Ti 4:1; ἄχρι καιροῦ, up to a certain time, for a season, Luk 4:13 (but in ἄχρι, 1 b. referred apparently to b. below; cf. Fritzsche, Romans, i., p. 309f); Act 13:11; πρός καιρόν, for a certain time only, for a season, Luk 8:13; 1Co 7:5; πρός καιρόν ὥρας, for the season of an hour, i. e. for a short season, 1Th 2:17; κατά καιρόν, at certain seasons (from time to time), Joh 5:4 (R G L); at the (divinely) appointed time, Rom 5:6 (others bring this under b.); before the time appointed, Mat 8:29; 1Co 4:5; ἔσται καιρός, ὅτε etc. 2Ti 4:3; ὀλίγον καιρόν ἔχει, a short time (in which to exercise his power) has been granted him, Rev 12:12; ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ, Mat 11:25; Mat 12:1; Mat 14:1; Eph 2:12; κατ' ἐκεῖνον τῷ καιρῷ, Act 12:1; Act 19:23; κατά τῷ καιρῷ τοῦτον, Rom 9:9; ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ καιρῷ Luk 13:1; ἐν ᾧ καιρῷ, Act 7:20; ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ, Rom 3:26; Rom 11:5; 2Co 8:14 (13); ἐν παντί καιρῷ always, at every season (Aristotle, top. 3, 2, 4, p. 117{a}, 35), Luk 21:36; Eph 6:18; εἰς τινα καιρόν, 1Pe 1:11. with the genitive of a thing, the time of etc. i. e. at which it will occur: τῆς ἐμῆς ἀναλύσεώς, 2Ti 4:6; τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς, 1Pe 5:6 Lachmann; Luk 19:44; περιασμου, Luk 8:13; τοῦ ἄρξασθαι τό κρίμα, for judgment to begin, 1Pe 4:17; καιροί τῶν λόγων, of the time when they shall be proved by the event, Luk 1:20; — or when a thing usually comes to pass: τοῦ θερισμοῦ, Mat 13:30; τῶν καρπῶν, when the fruits ripen, Mat 21:34; Mat 21:41; σύκων, Mar 11:13. with the genitive of a person: καιποι ἐθνῶν, the time granted to the Gentiles, until God shall take vengeance on them, Luk 21:24; ὁ ἑαυτοῦ (T Tr WH αὐτοῦ) καιρῷ, the time when antichrist shall show himself openly, 2Th 2:6; ὁ καιρός μου, the time appointed for my death, Mat 26:18; τῶν νεκρῶν κριθῆναι, the time appointed for the dead to be recalled to life and judged, Rev 11:18 (Buttmann, 260 (224)); ὁ ἐμός, ὁ ὑμέτερος, the time for appearing in public, appointed (by God) for me, for you, Joh 7:6; Joh 7:8; καιρῷ ἰδίῳ, the time suited to the thing under consideration, at its proper time, Gal 6:9; plural, 1Ti 2:6; 1Ti 6:15; Tit 1:3. ὁ καιρός alone, the time when things are brought to a crisis, the decisive epoch waited for: so of the time when the Messiah will visibly return from heaven, Mar 13:33; ὁ καιρός ἤγγικεν, Luk 21:8; ἐγγύς ἐστιν, Rev 1:3; Rev 22:10.

b. opportune or seasonable time: with verbs suggestive of the idea of advantage, καιρόν μεταλαμβάνειν, Act 24:25; ἔχειν, Gal 6:10 (Plutarch, Luk 16:1-31); ἐξαγοράζεσθαι, Eph 5:16; Col 4:5, see ἐξαγοράζω, 2; followed by an infinitive, opportunity to do something, Heb 11:15; παρά καιρόν ἡλικίας, past the opportunity of life (A. V. past age), Heb 11:11 (simply παρά καιρόν, Pindar Ol. 8, 32; several times in Plato, cf. Ast, Platonic Lexicon, ii., p. 126).

c. the right time: ἐν καιρῷ (often in classical Greek), in due season, Mat 24:45; Luk 12:42; Luk 20:10 R G L ((stereotype edition only)); 1Pe 5:6; also καιρῷ, Luk 20:10 L T Tr WH; τό καιρῷ, Mar 12:2.

d. a (limited) period of time: (1Co 7:29); plural the periods prescribed by God to the nations, and bounded by their rise and fall, Act 17:26; καιροί καρποφοροι, the seasons of the year in which the fruits grow and ripen, Act 14:17 (cf. Gen 1:14, the Sept.); καιρόν καί καιρούς καί ἥμισυ καιροῦ, a year and two years and six months (A. V. a time, and times, and half a time; cf. Winer's Grammar, § 27, 4), Rev 12:14 (cf. 6; from Dan 7:25; Dan 12:7); stated seasons of the year solemnly kept by the Jews, and comprising several days, as the passover, pentecost, feast of tabernacles, Gal 4:10 (2Ch 8:13; cf. Bar 1:14). in the divine arrangement of time adjusted to the economy of salvation: καιρός (πεπλήρωται), the preappointed period which according to the purpose of God must elapse before the divine kingdom could be founded by Christ, Mar 1:15; plural, the several parts of this period, Eph 1:10; ὁ καιρός ὁ ἐνεστως, the present period, equivalent to ὁ αἰών οὗτος (see αἰών, 3), Heb 9:9, opposed to καιρός διορθώσεως, the time when the whole order of things will be reformed (equivalent to αἰών μέλλων), Heb 9:10; ὁ καιρός οὗτος, equivalent to ὁ αἰών οὗτος (see αἰών, 3), Mar 10:30; Luk 18:30; ὁ νῦν καιρός, Rom 8:18; ἐν καιρῷ ἐσχάτῳ, the last period of the present age, the time just before the return of Christ from heaven (see ἔσχατος, 1 under the end, etc.), 1Pe 1:5; καιροί ἀναψύξεως ἀπό προσώπου τοῦ κυρίου, denotes the time from the return of Christ on, the times of the consummated divine kingdom, Act 3:20 (19).

e. as often in Greek writings, and like the Latintempus, καιρός; is equivalent to what time brings, the state of the times, the things and events of time: Luk 12:56; δουλεύειν τῷ καιρῷ, Latintempori servire (see δουλεύω, 2 a.), Rom 12:11 Rec.st; τά σημεῖα τῶν καιρῶν, equivalent to ἅ οἱ καιροί σημαινουσι, Mat 16:3 (here T brackets WH reject the passage); καιροί χαλεποί, 2Ti 3:1; χρονοι ἤ καιροί (times or seasons, German Zeitumstände), Act 1:7; οἱ χρονοι καί οἱ καιροί 1Th 5:1; and in the opposite order, Dan 2:21 the Sept.; Wis 8:8. [SYNONYMS: καιρός, χρόνος: χρόνος time, in general; καιρός a definitely limited portion of time, with the added notion of suitableness. Yet while, on the one hand, its meaning may be so sharply marked as to permit such a combination as χρόνου καιρός 'the nick of time,' on the other, its distinctive sense may so far recede as to allow it to be used as nearly equivalent to χρόνος; cf. Thomas Magister, Ritschl edition, p. 206, 15ff (after Ammonius under the word); p. 215, 10ff καιρός οὐ μόνον ἐπί χρόνου ἁπλῶς τίθεται, ἀλλά καί ἐπί τοῦ ἁρμοδιου καί πρεποντος, κτλ.; Schmidt, chapter 44; Trench, § lvii.; Tittmann i. 41ff; Cope on Aristotle, rhet. l, 7, 32. "In modern Greek καιρός means weather, χρόνος year. In both words the kernel of meaning has remained unaltered; this in the case of καιρός is changeableness, of χρόνος duration." Curtius, Etym., p. 110f]