ταλαντιαῖος
a talent in weight
Definition
The adjective ταλαντιαῖος describes something 'weighing a talent' or 'of a talent's weight.' In the New Testament, it specifically refers to hailstones of immense size and weight, emphasizing their extraordinary and destructive nature. This usage appears only in Revelation 16:21, where it describes the hail that falls as part of God's final judgment. The talent was the largest standard unit of weight in the ancient world, so this term conveys an object of almost unimaginable mass and impact.
Biblical Usage
This word is used only once in the New Testament, in Revelation 16:21. It is employed in an apocalyptic context to describe the supernatural and catastrophic hailstones of the seventh bowl judgment. The usage is purely descriptive, quantifying the phenomenal weight of the hail to underscore the severity of divine wrath.
Etymology
Derived from the noun τάλαντον (talanton, G5007), meaning 'a balance, a pair of scales,' and by extension, 'a talent' as a specific weight (approx. 75-100 pounds or 34-45 kg). The suffix -ιαῖος forms an adjective meaning 'pertaining to' or 'of the nature of' a talent. Thus, ταλαντιαῖος literally means 'belonging to a talent' in weight.
Semantic Range
This term is theologically significant as it quantifies an element of God's final judgment in Revelation. The immense weight symbolizes the overwhelming, inescapable, and crushing force of divine retribution against evil. Understanding the Greek emphasizes that this is not ordinary hail but a supernatural phenomenon of precise, measured, and devastating magnitude, highlighting God's sovereign power in executing justice.
In the ancient Greco-Roman world, a 'talent' was both a massive unit of weight and a large monetary sum based on that weight. For a contemporary reader, a talent's weight (roughly 75-100 lbs) would be associated with extreme, almost unmovable mass. Describing hailstones this way would immediately communicate an event of catastrophic, unnatural scale, far beyond any ordinary storm, pointing to direct divine intervention.
λίθος (lithos, G3037) — a general word for 'stone,' lacking the specific connotation of immense, measured weight. χάλαζα (chalaza, G5464) — the specific Greek word for 'hail,' which ταλαντιαῖος modifies to describe its extraordinary size.
Word Details
How this works
Definitions are from the Dodson Greek-English Lexicon, a concise public-domain resource suitable for introductory word study. Brief glosses are supplemented by STEPBible TBESG data (CC BY 4.0). For advanced research, standard scholarly references include BDAG (Danker, 3rd ed.) and LSJ.
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