to eat
Esthio describes consuming food or a meal and, in one image, corrosion consuming flesh.
The verb most often denotes the ordinary act of consuming food, whether in commands, shared meals, abstinence, or discussion of what is eaten. One occurrence extends the action to corrosion consuming flesh like fire.
Senses in use
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Consuming food or a meal · dominant
The forms describe people taking food: in John 6:26, ἐφάγετε is a 2nd-person aorist active indicative referring to the loaves and resulting satisfaction, while in 1 Corinthians 10:25, ἐσθίετε addresses plural hearers concerning what is sold in the meat market. The same action occurs in a command to sacrifice and eat in Acts 10:13, in eating bread and drinking the cup in 1 Corinthians 11:28, and in the meal and celebration around the fattened calf in Luke 15:23.
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Destructive consumption · rare
In James 5:3, the future middle indicative φάγεται has rust as its subject in the clause that says it will consume flesh like fire. The verb thus describes consuming in a destructive image rather than the taking of food.
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB commonly presents the action with forms of “eat,” including commands, reported meals, and abstinence from eating. In James 5:3 it renders the destructive image as rust that “will eat your flesh like fire”.