σκόλοψ, σκολοπος, ὁ, from Homer down, a pointed piece of wood, a pale, a stake: ἐδόθη μοι σκόλοψ τῇ σαρκί, a sharp stake (others say splinter, A. V. thorn; cf. Num_33:55; Eze_28:24; Hos_2:6 (8); Babrius fab. 122, 1. 10; others (Sir_43:19)), to pierce my flesh, appears to indicate some constant bodily ailment or infirmity, which, even when Paul had been caught up in a trance to the third heaven, sternly admonished him that he still dwelt in a frail and mortal body, 2Co_12:7 (cf. 2Co_12:1-4); (cf. Winers Grammar, § 31, 10 N. 3; Buttmann, § 133, 27. On Paul's thorn in the flesh see Farrar, St. Paul, i. 652ff (Excursus x.); Lightfoot's Commentary on Galatians, p. 186ff; Schaff in his 'Popular Commentary' on Galatians, p. 331f.)

σκόλοψ skolops 1x anything pointed; met. a thorn, a plague, 2Co_12:7

σκόλοψ , -οπος , ὁ , [in LXX : Num_33:55 ( H7899 ), Hos_2:6 (8) ( H5518 ), Eze_28:24 ( H5544 ), Sir_43:19 * ;] anything pointed , esp . 1. in cl ., a stake . 2. In Hellenistic vernacular, a thorn ( cf. LXX , ll . c .): σ . τῇ σαρκί , 2Co_12:7 . ( cf. MM , i,, xxiii; DB , iii, 700 f .; Deiss., St. Paul, 62 f .; Field, Notes , 187).†

σκόλοψ [page 578] The use of this word in BGU II. 380 .9 (iii/A.D.) (= Selections , p. 105), where an anxious mother writes to her son εἶπέ μοι , ὅτι τὸν πόδαν ( l. πόδα ) πονεῖς ἀπὸ σκολάπου ( l. σκόλοπος ), he told me that you had a sore foot owing to a splinter, would seem to support the meaning splinter or thorn rather than stake (RV marg.) in the only occurrence of σκόλοψ in the NT, 2Co_12:7 . So in Syll 802 (= .3 1168) .92 ( c. B.C. 320) a man falling from a tree περὶ σκόλοπάς τινας τοὺς ὀπτίλλους ἀμφέπαισε , and became blind, apparently not at once (κακῶς δὲ διακείμενος καὶ τυφλὸς γεγενημένος ), where again we should think naturally of splinters or thorns. This meaning appears still more clearly in the magical P Osl I. 1 .152 (iv/A.D.), where the sorcerer says of the loved one ἐὰν δὲ θέλῃ κοιμᾶσθαι , ὑ―ποστρώσατε αὐτῇ στοίβἀ̣ ἀκανθίνας , ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν κοτράφων σκόλοπας , if she wants to lie down, strew beneath her prickly branches, and thorns upon her temples (Ed.). See also Artem. p. 181 .11 ἄκανθαι καὶ σκόλοπες ὀδύνας σημαίνουσι διὰ τὸ ὀξύ , and Babrius Fab. cxxii .1 ὄνος πατήσας σκόλοπα χωλὸς εἱστήκει : he appeals to a wolf .6 f. χάριν δέ μοι δὸς ἀβλαβῆ τε καὶ κούφην ,/ ἐκ τοῦ ποδός μου τὴν ἄκανθαν εἰρύσσας (cited by Field, Notes p. 187). It may be added that LXX usage ( Num_33:55 , Eze_28:24 , Hos_2:6 [MT Hos_2:8 ], Sir_43:19 ) strongly confirms the rendering thorn. We are not concerned here with the special metaph. application which Paul gives to the word in 2 Cor l.c. , but for a recent defence of the view that his thorn was epilepsy see Wendland Kultur , p. 125 f.

σκόλοψ, -οπος, ὁ [in LXX: Num.33:55 (שֵׂךְ), Hos.2:6 (8) (סִיר), Eze.28:24 (סִלּוֹן), Sir.43:19 * ;] anything pointed, esp. __1. in cl., a stake __2. In Hellenistic vernacular, a thorn (cf. LXX, ll. with): σ. τῇ σαρκί, 2Co.12:7 (cf. MM, i., xxiii; DB, iii, 700 f.; Deiss., St. Paul, 62 f.; Field, Notes, 187).† (AS)