οἰκουργέω

οἰκουργέω (οἰκουργός) to carry out responsibilities in a household, be domestic, tend to things in the house τὰ κατὰ τὸν οἶκον οἰκ. fulfill one’s household responsibilities 1 Cl 1:3 (Trag., et al. use the verb οἰκουρεῖν, which the Jerus. ms. restores by erasure in Clement’s text). Not to be equated with οἰκοδεσποτέω ‘manage a household’ 1 Ti 5:14 (s. the distinction between οἰκουρός and οἰκονόμος Cass. Dio 56, 3 [s. next entry]). Both the Semitic and Hellenic ideal was for women to remain at home and discharge domestic duties. Appropriate to the role of a respectable woman was observance of οἰκουρίαν καὶ τὸν σέμνον βίον ‘tending to things at home and leading a sedate life’ Alciphron 3, 22 [58]; in the OT, contrast the ‘virtuous’ woman who is busy at home Pr 31 and the ‘loose’ woman who does not remain at home 7:11.—S. DELG s.v. ἔργον I 2 p. 364. M-M. s.v.-ός; Field, Notes, 220–21.