Original Word: καπηλεύω
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: kapéleuó
Phonetic Spelling: (kap-ale-yoo'-o)
Short Definition: I hawk, trade in
Definition: I hawk, trade in, deal in for purposes of gain.

2585 kapēleúō – properly, to act as an unscrupulous merchant, i.e. "a huckster" who profits by "peddling the Word of God" for personal gain. 2585 /kapēleúō ("peddler") is only used in 2 Cor 2:17 – of people "marketing the ministry" (the Word of God) for fast gain.

STRONGS NT 2585: καπηλεύω

καπηλεύω; (κάπηλος, i. e.

a. an inn-keeper, especially a vintner;

b. a petty retailer, a huckster, pedler; cf. Sir. 26:29 οὐ δικαιωθήσεται κάπηλος ἀπό ἁμαρτίας);

a. to be a retailer, to peddle;

b. with the accusative of the thing, "to make money by selling anything; to get sordid gain by dealing in anything, to do a thing for base gain" (οἱ τά μαθήματα περιαγοντες κατά πόλεις καί πωλοῦντες καί καπηλεύοντες, Plato, Prot., p. 313 d.; μάχην, Aeschylus the Sept. 551 (545); Latincauponari bellum, i. e. to fight for gain, trade in war, Ennius quoted in Cicero, offic. 1, 12, 38; ἑταιραν τό τῆς ὥρας ἄνθος καπηλευουσαν, Philo de caritat. § 14, cf. leg. ad Gaium § 30, and many other examples in other authors). Hence, some suppose that καπηλεύειν τόν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ in 2 Corinthians 2:17 is equivalent to to trade in the word of God, i. e. to try to get base gain by teaching divine truth. But as pedlers were in the habit of adulterating their commodities for the sake of gain (οἱ κάπηλοί σου μίσγουσι τόν οἶνον ὕδατι, Isaiah 1:22 the Sept.; κάπηλοί, οἱ τόν οἶνον κεραννύντες, Pollux, onomast. 7, 193; οἱ φιλοσοφοι ἀποδιδονται τά μαθήματα, ὥσπερ οἱ κάπηλοί, κερασάμενοι γέ οἱ πολλοί καί δολωσαντες καί κακομετρουντες, Lucian. Hermot. 59), καπηλεύειν τί was also used as synonymous with to corrupt, to adulterate (Themistius, or. 21, p. 247, Hard. edition says that the false philosophers τό θειοτατον τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἀγαθῶν κιβδηλεύειν τέ καί αἰσχύνειν καί καπηλεύειν); and most interpreters rightly decide in favor of this meaning (on account of the context) in 2 Corinthians 2:17, cf. δολουν τόν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ, 2 Corinthians 4:2. (Cf. Trench, § lxii.)

corrupt.

From kapelos (a huckster); to retail, i.e. (by implication) to adulterate (figuratively) -- corrupt.

εκαπνίζετο καπηλευοντες καπηλεύοντες κάπηλοί καπνιζόμενον καπνιζόμενος καπνιζομένων καπνίζον καπνίζονται καπνισθήσονται kapeleuontes kapeleúontes kapēleuontes kapēleúontesInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts