Thayer's
STRONGS NT 1175: δεισιδαιμονίαδεισιδαιμονία,
δεισιδαιμονίας,
ἡ (
δεισιδαίμων),
fear of the gods;
1. in a good sense, reverence for the gods, piety, religion: Polybius 6, 56, 7; Josephus, Antiquities 10, 3, 2; καί θεοφιλής βίος, Diodorus 1, 70.
2. equivalent to ἡ δειλία πρός τό δαιμόνιον (Theophrastus, char. 16 (22) at the beginning (cf. Jebb, p. 263f)); superstition: (Polybius 12, 24, 5); Plutarch (Sol. 12, 4); Alex. 75, 1; de adulat. et am. 25, and in his Essay περί τῆς δεισιδαιμονίας; Antoninus 6, 30 θεοσεβής χωρίς δεισιδαιμονίας.
3. religion, in an objective sense; in which sense Josephus, Antiquities 19, 5, 3, says Claudius commanded the Jews μή τάς τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν δεισιδαιμονίας ἐξουδενίζειν. Festus in the presence of Agrippa the Jewish king employs the word ambiguously and cautiously, in Acts 25:19, of the Jewish religion, viz. so as to leave his own judgment concerning its truth in suspense. Cf. Zezschwitz, Profangräcität u. Biblical Sprachgeist, p. 59; (K. F. Hermann, Lehrb. d. gottesdienstl. Alterthümer, § 8 note 6; Trench, § xlviii.; (cf. Kenrick, Biblical Essays, 1864, p. 108ff; Field, Otium Norv. iii., p. 80f)).
