agōnia

Semantic range

1. 1a struggle for victory in the games (from agōn, a contest)
2. 2severe mental or emotional strain
3. 3anguish

Luke 22:44 alone records that in Gethsemane Jesus "being in an agony... prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." The noun comes from the athletic arena — an agōn is a contest — so the word carries exertion, not merely suffering. Something was being fought and won.

Restoration scripture confirms the physical reality that some manuscripts of Luke omit. "Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore" (D&C 19:18). Mosiah 3:7 says the same: "blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish."

See also

• כָּפַרkāphar
• ὑπομονήhypomonē
• κενόωkenoō