Encyclopedia of The Bible – Devout
Resources chevron-right Encyclopedia of The Bible chevron-right D chevron-right Devout
Devout

DEVOUT di vout’ (εὐλαβής, G2327; εὐσεβής, G2356; σέβομαι). These words are variously tr. “pious,” “reverent,” “religious,” and “to worship,” and with few exceptions are peculiar to Luke from whose writings alone they are tr. “devout” in the RSV. He applied the description to Simeon (Luke 2:25), to Cornelius and his “devout soldier” (Acts 10:2, 7), and to Ananias through whom Paul recovered his sight (Acts 22:12). Others collectively were “Devout men [who] buried Stephen” (8:2); “devout converts to Judaism” (13:43); “devout women of high standing” in Antioch of Pisidia (13:50); “devout Greeks” in Thessalonica (17:4); and “devout persons,” prob. proselytes, in the synagogue at Athens (17:17). Beside Luke’s ten uses, Isaiah speaks of “devout men” in his oracles (Isa 57:1).