Dictionaries :: Idle

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Idle:

denotes "inactive, idle, unfruitful, barren" (a, negative, and ergon, "work;" cp. the verb katargeo, "to reduce to inactivity:" see ABOLISH); it is used

(a) literally, Mat 20:3, 6; 1Ti 5:13 (twice); Tts 1:12, RV, "idle (gluttons);" 2Pe 1:8, RV, "idle," AV, "barren;"

(b) metaphorically in the sense of "ineffective, worthless," as of a word, Mat 12:36; of faith unaccompanied by works, Jam 2:20 (some mss. have nekra, "dead").