παῖς, genitive 
παιδός, 
ὁ, 
ἡ, from Homer down; in the 
N. T. only in the Gospels and Acts;
1. a child, boy or girl; the 
Sept. for 
נַעַר and 
נַעֲרָה (
Genesis 24:28; 
Deuteronomy 22:15, etc.): 
ὁ παῖς, 
Matthew 17:18; 
Luke 2:43; 
Luke 9:42; 
Acts 20:12; 
ἡ παῖς, 
Luke 8:51, 
54; plural 
infants, children, Matthew 2:16; 
Matthew 21:15; 
ὁ παῖς τίνος, the son of one, 
John 4:51.
2. (Like the Latin 
puer, equivalent to) 
servant, slave (Aeschylus choëph. 652; Aristophanes nub. 18, 132; Xenophon, mem. 3, 13, 6; symp. 1, 11; 2, 23; Plato, Charm., p. 155 a.; Protag., p. 310
c. and often; Diodorus 17, 76; others; so the 
Sept. times without number for 
עֶבֶד (cf. Winers Grammar, p. 30, no. 3); cf. the similar use of German 
Bursch (French 
garcon, English 
boy)): 
Matthew 8:6, 
8, 
13; 
Luke 7:7 cf. 
Luke 7:10; 
Luke 12:45; 
Luke 15:26. 
an attendant, servant, specifically, 
a king's attendant, minister: 
Matthew 14:2 (Diodorus 17:36; hardly so in the earlier Greek writings; 
Genesis 41:37; 
1 Samuel 16:15-17; 
1 Samuel 18:22, 
26; 
Daniel 2:7; 
1 Macc. 1:6, 8; 1 Esdr. 2:16 1 Esdr. 5:33, 35); hence, in imitation of the Hebrew 
יְהוָה עֶבֶד, 
παῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ is used of a devout worshipper of God, one who fulfils God's will (
Psalm 68:18 (
Ps. 69:18); 
Psalm 112:1 (
Ps. 113:1); Wis. 2:13, etc.) thus, the people of Israel, 
Luke 1:54 (
Isaiah 41:8; 
Isaiah 42:19; 
Isaiah 44:1f, 
21, etc.); David, 
Luke 1:69; 
Acts 4:25 (
Psalm 17:1 (
Ps. 18:1); 
Ps 35:1 (
Ps. 36:1) (
Ald., Complutensian), etc.); likewise any upright and godly man whose agency God employs in executing his purposes; thus in the 
N. T. Jesus the Messiah: 
Matthew 12:18 (from 
Isaiah 42:1); 
Acts 3:13, 
26; 
Acts 4:27, 
30 (cf. Harnack on the Epistle of Barnabas 6, 1 and Clement of Rome, 1 Cor. 59, 2 ); in the 
O. T. also Moses, 
Nehemiah 1:7f; the prophets, 1 Esdr. 8:79(81); Baruch 2:20, 24; and others. [Synonym: 
παῖς, παιδάριον, παιδίον, παιδίσκη, τέκνον: The grammarian Aristophanes is quoted by Ammonius (s.v. 
γέρων) as defining thus: 
παιδίον, τὸ τρεφόμενον ὑπὸ τιθηνοῦ· παιδάριον δέ, τὸ ἤδη περιπατοῦν καὶ τῆς λέξεως ἀντεχόμενον· παιδίσκος δʹ͵ ὁ ἐν τῂ ἐχομένῃ ἡλικίᾳ· παῖς δʹ διὰ τῶν ἐγκυκλίων μαθημάτων δυνάμενος ἰέναι· Philo (de mund. opif. §36) quotes the physician Hippocrates as follows; 
ἐν ἀνθρώπου ϕύσει ἑπτά έἰσιν ὧραι κ.τ.λ.· παιδίον μέν ἐστιν ἄχρις ἑπτὰ ἐτῶν͵ ὀδόντων ἐκβολῆς· ταῖς δὲ ἄχρι γονῆς ἐκϕύσεως͵ εἰς τὰ δὶς ἑπτά· μειράκιον δὲ ἄχρι γενείου λαχνώσεως͵ ἐς τὰ τρὶς ἑπτά͵ etc., According to Schmidt, 
παιδίον denotes a child up to its first school years; 
παῖς is a child of any age; (
παιδίσκος and 
παιδίσκη, in which reference to descent quite disappears, cover the years of late childhood and early youth. But usage is untrammelled; 
from a child is expressed either by 
ἐκ παιδός (most frequently). or 
ἐκ παιδίου, or 
ἐκ (ὰπό) παιδαρίου. 
παῖς and 
τέκνον denote a child alike as respects descent and age, reference to the latter being more prominent in the former word, to descent in 
τέκνον; but the period 
παῖς covers is not sharply defined; and, in classic usage as in modern, youthful designations cleave to the female sex longer than to the male. See Schmidt ch. 69; 
Höhne in Luthardt's Zeitschrift u. s. w. for 1882, p. 57 sqq.] On the elasticity of the term 
παῖς as respects age, see Bp. 
Lghtft. Apostolic Fathers, Pt. II. vol. i. p. 432 note. 
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