be weak: weak
astheneo describes being ill or physically unwell, and also being weak in faith or strength.
The predominant use identifies people who are ill or physically unwell, including those brought for healing and those near death. Other verses apply the term to a person’s weakness in faith or to a lack of strength or effectiveness set against power.
Senses in use
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Being ill or physically unwell · dominant
Present participles identify afflicted people in John 5:3, where the APB renders a multitude lying there as “weak—blind, lame, and withered,” and in Matthew 10:8, where they are the people to be healed. In Philippians 2:27 the aorist form occurs in the report that a man was ill and nearly died; John 11:3 likewise reports that the person loved by Jesus was weak.
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Weakness in faith and communal conduct · common
In Romans 14:1 the present participle identifies the person to be received without disputes over opinions, and Romans 14:2 places that person in the contrast over eating all things or vegetables. Romans 4:19 uses an aorist participle in the clause that he did not weaken in faith, while 1 Corinthians 8:11 describes a weak brother harmed by another’s knowledge.
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Lacking strength or effectiveness · occasional
In 2 Corinthians 13:3 the form is contrasted with being powerful among the readers, and 2 Corinthians 13:4 contrasts weakness with life by God’s power. Romans 8:3 places the imperfect form in the clause about what was impossible for the law because it was weak through the flesh; 2 Corinthians 12:10 joins being weak to mistreatments, necessities, persecutions, and hardships.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB variously presents the term with “weak,” “sick,” “ill,” and “weaken,” according to the verse’s wider clause. These renderings confirm the contexts but do not by themselves fix a separate meaning for each English expression.