ἀνεξ-ιχνίαστος G0421
unsearchable, inscrutable, beyond tracing out; impossible to track, investigate, or fully comprehend
This compound adjective describes what cannot be searched out or traced. Paul uses it twice to describe divine mysteries. In Romans 11:33, God's judgments and ways are unsearchable—beyond human investigation. In Ephesians 3:8, Paul speaks of preaching Christ's unsearchable riches. The word combines the negative prefix with a verb meaning to track or trace, suggesting something that leaves no footprints to follow. Multilingual translations (Spanish inescrutable/inexplorables, French inscrutable/insondable, German unergründlich) consistently emphasize the impossibility of exhaustive investigation.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Both Pauline uses apply this term to divine realities that exceed human capacity for comprehension. Romans focuses on God's sovereign plans in salvation history, while Ephesians highlights Christ's inexhaustible wealth. The Spanish shift from inescrutable to inexplorables suggests both inscrutability (cannot be scrutinized) and unexplorability (cannot be fully mapped). This isn't obscurantism but acknowledgment of God's transcendence—His ways leave no tracks for human reason to follow completely. 2×
AR["أَعْسَرَ-تَقَفِّياً", "الغَيرَ-مُستَقصى"]·ben["অননুসরণীয়", "অন্বেষণীয়"]·DE["unergründlich"]·EN["unsearchable", "untraceable"]·FR["inscrutable", "insondable"]·heb["הַבִּלְתִּי-נֶחְקָר", "לֹא-נִתְפָּשִׂים"]·HI["अथाह-रहित", "खोज-से-बहर"]·ID["kekayaan-yang-tak-terselami", "tak-terlacak"]·IT["anexichniaston", "insondabile"]·jav["ingkang-boten-saged-dipunkinten", "mboten-saged-dipun-tlisik"]·KO["찾을-수-없도다", "헤아릴-수-없는"]·PT["inescrutavel", "insondáveis"]·RU["-пути", "неисследимое"]·ES["inescrutable", "inexplorables"]·SW["usiopimika", "zisizofuatika"]·TR["-yi-", "izlenemez"]·urd["بے-کھوج", "ناقابل-تعاقب"]
Related Senses
H8033 1. There (locative adverb) (835×)H7760a 1. put, place, set physically (444×)H8064 1. heavens / sky (329×)H5439 1. around, all around (spatial) (319×)H4057b 1. wilderness, desert region (270×)H3220 1. sea, body of water (269×)H0520a 1. cubit (unit of length) (246×)H0127 1. ground, land (territory) (210×)H3383 1. Jordan River (proper noun) (183×)G1093 1. earth, the world (176×)H5800a 1. forsake, abandon (Qal active) (166×)H8121 1. sun (celestial body) (133×)H7126 1. offer, present sacrificially (122×)H6828 1. north, cardinal direction (120×)H2351 1. outside, exterior space (119×)H5104 1. river, stream (119×)H7341 1. width, breadth (101×)G1563 1. there (95×)H7126 2. draw near, approach (95×)G2281 1. sea, large body of water (91×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
ἀνεξ-ιχνίαστος, ον, unsearchable, inscrutable, LXX+NT