an unweighed burden

βάρος, ους, τό (Trag., Hdt.+; ins, pap, LXX [rare]; TestAbr B 11 p. 115, 22 [Stone p. 78]; EpArist 93; Philo, Joseph.) gener. ‘weight, burden’; in our lit. only fig.

① experience of someth. that is particularly oppressive, burden (Diod S 13, 81, 3 τοῦ πολέμου; Jos., Bell. 1, 461; 4, 616) of a day’s work that proves exhausting βαστάζειν τὸ β. τῆς ἡμέρας Mt 20:12 (cp. Babrius 111, 20 βάρος διπλοῦν βαστάσας). Of temptations ἀλλήλων τὰ β. βαστάζετε Gal 6:2. ἀναδέχεσθαι τὸ β. τοῦ πλησίον Dg 10:6. Of the burden of a law (Polyb. 1, 31, 5 τὸ β. τῶν ἐπιταγμάτων) βάλλειν β. ἐπί τινα impose a burden on someone Rv 2:24. For this ἐπιτιθέναι τινὶ β. (X., Oec. 17, 9; Dionys. Hal. 4, 10 ἅπαν ἐπιθεὶς τ. β. τοῖς πλουσίοις; PGiss 19, 18) Ac 15:28; β. ἄστατον an unweighed burden PEg², 62 (s. ἄστατος).

② influence that someone enjoys or claims, claim of importance (cp. our colloq. ‘throw one’s weight around’. Polyb. 4, 32, 7 πρὸς τὸ β. τὸ Λακεδαιμονίων; Diod S 4, 61, 9; Plut., Per. 172 [37, 1]) ἐν β. εἶναι wield authority, insist on one’s importance 1 Th 2:7.

③ a high point in a scale of evaluation, fullness (β. πλούτου Eur., El. 1287, Iph. Taur. 416; Plut., Alex. M. 692 [48, 3]; cp. 3 Macc 5:47) αἰώνιον β. δόξης an everlasting fullness of glory 2 Cor 4:17 (the thing being evaluated is viewed as an accumulated mass that promotes pleasure instead of discomfort [in wordplay, cp. βαρούμενοι 2 Cor 5:4]; s. Rtzst., Mysterienrel.³ 355).—DELG s.v. βαρύς. M-M. TW.