PAINFULNESS

pan'-fool-nes (mochthos): In the summary of his missionary labors in 2 Corinthians 11:27 the King James Version, Paul uses this word. The Revised Version (British and American) renders it "travail," which probably now expresses its meaning more closely, as in modern usage "painfulness" is usually restricted to the condition of actual soreness or suffering, although we still use "painstaking" in the sense of careful labor. The Greek word is used for toil or excessive anxiety, as in Euripides (Medea, 126), where it refers to that care for her children which she had lost in her madness. Tyndale uses "painfulness" in 1 John 4:18 as the translation of kolasis, which the King James Version renders "torment" and the Revised Version (British and American) "punishment."

Alexander Macalister

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.