Bible Lexicons

The use of this word in BGU II. 380.9 (iii/A.D.) (= Selections, p. 105), where an anxious mother writes to her son—εἶπέ μοι, ὅτι τὸν πόδαν (l. πόδα) πονεῖς ἀπὸ σκολάπου (l. σκόλοπος), ";he told me that you had a sore foot owing to a splinter,"; would seem to support the meaning ";splinter"; or ";thorn"; rather than ";stake"; (RV marg.) in the only occurrence of σκόλοψ in the NT, 2 Corinthians 12:7. So in Syll 802 (= .31168).92 (c. B.C. 320) a man falling from a tree περὶ σκόλοπάς τινας τοὺς ὀπτίλλους ἀμφέπαισε, and became blind, apparently not at once (κακῶς δὲ διακείμενος καὶ τυφλὸς γεγενημένος), where again we should think naturally of ";splinters"; or ";thorns."; This meaning appears still more clearly in the magical P Osl I. 1.152 (iv/A.D.), where the sorcerer says of the loved one—ἐὰν δὲ θέλῃ κοιμᾶσθαι, ὑ ¯ποστρώσατε αὐτῇ στοίβἀ ̣ ἀκανθίνας, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν κοτράφων σκόλοπας, ";if she wants to lie down, strew beneath her prickly branches, and thorns upon her temples"; (Ed.). See also Artem. p. 181.11 ἄκανθαι καὶ σκόλοπες ὀδύνας σημαίνουσι διὰ τὸ ὀξύ, and Babrius Fab. cxxii.1 ὄνος πατήσας σκόλοπα χωλὸς εἱστήκει : he appeals to a wolf .6 f. χάριν δέ μοι δὸς ἀβλαβῆ τε καὶ κούφην,/ ἐκ τοῦ ποδός μου τὴν ἄκανθαν εἰρύσσας (cited by Field, Notes p. 187). It may be added that LXX usage (Numbers 33:55, Ezekiel 28:24, Hosea 2:6 [MT Hosea 2:8], Sirach 43:19) strongly confirms the rendering ";thorn."; We are not concerned here with the special metaph. application which Paul gives to the word in 2 Cor l.c., but for a recent defence of the view that his ";thorn"; was epilepsy see Wendland Kultur, p. 125 f.