"Depressed Souls" (1 Thessalonians 5:14)

Greek (SBLGNT):  παρακαλοῦμεν δὲ ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί, νουθετεῖτε τοὺς ἀτάκτους, παραμυθεῖσθε τοὺς ὀλιγοψύχους, ἀντέχεσθε τῶν ἀσθενῶν, μακροθυμεῖτε πρὸς πάντας.

NWT 2013: "On the other hand, we urge you, brothers, to warn the disorderly, speak consolingly to those who are depressed,* support the weak, be patient toward all."

Note: "Or “those who are discouraged.” Lit., 'those of little soul.' ”

NWT Rbi8: "On the other hand, we exhort YOU, brothers, admonish the disorderly, speak consolingly to the depressed souls, support the weak, be long-suffering toward all."

ESV: "And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all."

NET: "And we urge you, brothers and sisters, admonish the undisciplined, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient toward all."

Tyndale: "We desyre you brethre warne them that are vnruly comforte the feble mynded forbeare the weake have continuall pacience towarde all men."

I will make παραμυθεῖσθε τοὺς ὀλιγοψύχους the focus of this entry; morphologically, the verb is from παραμυθέομαι: there are four occurrences of the verb in the GNT and it can mean "to console, comfort, encourage, exhort, soothe." παραμυθεῖσθε is the present middle imperative second person plural form. See 1 Thessalonians 2:12; Compare Iliad 9.417.

With respect to the accusatival noun phrase (masculine and pluralized), τοὺς ὀλιγοψύχους is the direct object of the imperatival verb. ὀλιγοψύχους comes from ὀλιγόψυχος, an adjective that occurs once in the GNT. Bill Mounce supplies the definition "fainthearted" for the word, then translates it "discouraged" like NET does. George Milligan (St. Paul's Epistles to the Thessalonians, page 73) sticks with "fainthearted" too. But just what is Paul trying to say or do in this verse?

George G. Findlay, as many other commentators are wont to do, points out three categories of persons in 1 Thessalonians 5:14, which he calls, "the unruly, the pusillanimous, and the weak" (The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians, page 124). These variant categories call for different responses by spiritual shepherds: admonish, comfort/console, and help. One way to define "pusillanimous" is "showing a lack of courage or determination; timid." See 1 Thessalonians 5:14 in the Latin Vulgate although I'm not sure that this adjective fully captures the sense of Paul's language.

Findlay notes that ὀλιγόψυχος occurs in the LXX and the translators use the adjective to render a number of Hebrew phrases that denote being "broken in spirit." See Proverbs 14:29; 18:14; Isaiah 25:5; 35:4; 54:6; 57:15. Wycliffe seems to get closer to Paul's meaning with his rendition, "men of litil herte." However, where I found some of the most help for this verse is the work done by Jeffrey A.D. Weima (1-2 Thessalonians in BECNT Series).

Weima quotes C. Spicq (TLNT 3.30-35) and cites TDNT 5:816-823. Spicq states that παραμυθέομαι "almost always has affective connotations" and usually bears a meaning like comfort, console, encourage, appease, soothe, and other denotations. The immediate context of Thessalonians likely will tell us more about the potential senses that παραμυθέομαι evidently bears in Paul's correspondences to the congregation. See BDAG 769.

τοὺς ὀλιγοψύχους can mean "those of little soul" (Weima, and see the NWT note for 1 Thessalonians 5:14). But where did Paul get this term? Weima suggests that he possibly became acquainted with the word from the LXX since there are twenty occurrences of the word there, in one form or another, and its contextual use revolves around despondency, discouragement, and the endurance of difficult circumstances. Whether Paul learned the adjective from the LXX or not, it probably influenced his use of the word. Could similar concerns one one finds in the LXX have made the apostle use this term in his correspondence to the Thessalonians? I will take up that question in a separate blog entry.

Further Reading:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3842853/
(Depression and Anxiety in Ancient Babylon)

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/hannah-a-case-of-infertility-and-depression/C67221E15E8DD8A6F6924130D3E2A884
(Hannah: A Case of Infertility and Depression)