The Term μετάνοια in the Old and New Testament

Abstract

The paper discusses and systematically analyses the term μετάνοια (most commonly translated with the word repentance), and the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. The general introductory part of the article explores the etymological and semantic meaning of the term μετάνοια in the original Greek language and classical Greek literature, as well as a brief history of the translation of this term into modern languages. The second part of the paper deals with the Hebrew biblical concepts ≫naham≪ ( נחם ) and ≫šub≪ ( שׁוּב ), which are related to the term metanoia, with an overview of their translation into Greek (LXX) and other modern languages, while the third, last part analyses the use of the term μετάνοια/μετανοεῖν in the New Testament, with particular emphasis on Luke's two-volume work (Gospels and Acts), which mostly uses these terms.

Keywords

• μετάνοια
• repentance
• change of mind
• holy scripture
• septuagint
• translation