Bible Lexicons

In P Petr II. 4 (9).4 (B.C. 255–4) certain quarrymen complain νυνὶ δὲ ἀργοῦμεν διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν σώμ [α ]τα ὥστε ἀνακαθᾶραι τὴν ἄμμον, ";but now we are idle (‘playing’) for want of slaves to clear away the sand"; : cf. ib. 9 (3).7 (B.C. 241–39), ἐὰν ἀργῶσιν, and 14 (1a).9. Later instances of the verb are afforded by P Lond 131* (farm-accounts, A.D. 78) (= I. p. 190 f.), P Oxy IV. 725.35 (A.D. 183), a contract of apprenticeship where provision is made that the apprentice shall have twenty days’ holiday in the year, ἀργήσει δὲ ὁ παῖς εἰς λόγον ἑορτῶν κατ᾽ ἔτος ἡμέρας εἴκοσι : cf. .40 ἐὰν δὲ πλείονας τούτων ἀργήσῃ, if he exceeds this number from idleness he is to make it good afterwards, ib. I. 121.15 f. (iii/A.D.) μὴ ἀφῇς αὐτοὺς ἀργῆσε ὅλους, ";do not let them be wholly idle,"; and P Fay 131.18 (iii/iv A.D.) τὰ ταυρκὰ (l. -ικὰ) μὴ ἀργείτωι. Add P Flor I. 101.9 (late i/A.D.) ἐὰν ἀργήση [ται ?] ε ̣ἷς ἐξ ἡμῶν, P Lond 1170 verso.45 (A.D. 258–9) (= III. p. 194) λόγος ἐργατῶν ἀργησάντων, ib. 1173.10 (A.D. 125) (= III. p. 208) al. For ἀργ in P Lond 131 recto.49 (A.D. 78–9) (= I. p. 171) the editor conjectures ἀργίζει, or some other variant of ἀργεῖ, in the sense of ";taking holiday"; : cf. Mayser, Gr. p. 84. The absence of the suggestion implied in our ";idle"; is well seen in P Oxy VIII. 1160.14 (iii/iv A.D.) διμήνου δὲ ἤργηκα ὧδη, εἰ μή, ἤμελλα ὑμῖν πᾶε ̣ι (i.e. πᾶσι) ἄλλα πέμπιν, where there is no thought of apology for the two months. The word may be used of inanimate things, as of ships in P Petr II. 20ii. 11 (B.C. 252) ὅπως. . . μὴ ἀργῆι τὰ πλοῖα, and of a garden in P Flor II. 262.9 (iii/A.D.) ἐπὶ ὁ κῆπος ἀργεῖ : this is correlate with the use of the causative καταργεῖ in Luke 13:7. In MGr the verb means ";delay, come too late,"; an easy development from the idea of ";idling, dawdling"; : this might indeed be taken as corroborative evidence for the connotation of blameworthy ";idling"; which appears in NT, but not in our vernacular sources, as noted above.