Provocation

prov-o-ka'-shun, pro-vok': "Provoke," literally, "to call forth," hence, to excite or stir up, whether in a good or bad sense, appears frequently in the Old Testament as the translation of Piel, or Hiphil of ka`ac (noun, ka`ac), in the sense of "to make angry" (De 4:25; 9:18; 1Ki 14:9,15, etc.); sometimes of marah (Isa 3:8), and of other words. In the New Testament we have parazeloo, "to make jealous" (Ro 10:19; 11:11,14); parorgizo, "to make angry" (Eph 6:4; compare Col 3:21); with parapikraino, "to embitter" (Heb 3:16; compare in /RAPC 1Es 6:15), and other Greek words. "Provocation" in Heb 3:8,15 (quoting Ps 95:8) is parapikrasmos, the Septuagint for the Hebrew meribhah. An example of the good sense of the word is in Heb 10:24, "Consider one another to provoke (literally, "to the provoking," here paroxusmos) unto love and good works."

For "provoke" the Revised Version (British and American) has "despise" (Nu 14:11; 31:20), "rebel against" (Ps 78:40); for "provoked," "despised" (Nu 14:23; 16:30; Isa 1:4), "moved" (De 32:16; 1Ch 21:1), "rebelled against" (Ps 78:56), "were rebellious" (106:33,43); for "provoking" (Ps 78:17), "to rebel against"; for "provoked" (2Co 9:2), "stirred up"; "provoked within" for "stirred in" (Ac 17:16); "provoked" for "limited" (Ps 78:41 margin, "limited"); "provoketh" for "emboldeneth" (Job 16:3); instead of "Provoke not your children to anger" (Col 3:21), "Provoke not your children."

W. L. Walker