BABE

bab:

(1) na`ar; pais of a male infant 3 months old (Exodus 2:6) translated elsewhere "boy" or "lad."

(2) `olel, ta`alulim, in the general sense of "child" (Psalm 8:2; Psalm 17:14 Isaiah 3:4).

(3) brephos an unborn or newborn child (King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) of Luke 1:41, 44; Luke 2:12, 16 1 Peter 2:2 and the Revised Version (British and American) of Luke 18:15 [AV "infants"]; Acts 7:19 [King James Version, "young children"] and 2 Timothy 3:15 [King James Version, "child"]).

(4) nepios = (Latin infans) "a child that cannot speak." (King James and the Revised Version (British and American) of Matthew 11:25; Matthew 21:16 Luke 10:21 Romans 2:20 1 Corinthians 3:1; Hebrews 5:13) the same word is translated "child," plural "children" (in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) of 1 Corinthians 13:11 Galatians 4:1, 3 Ephesians 4:14) the verb nepiazete is translated in the King James Version "be ye children" and in the Revised Version (British and American) "be ye babes" (1 Corinthians 14:20). Nepios is used metaphorically of those who are like children, of simple and single minds, as opposed to the "wise and understanding" (Matthew 11:25 = Luke 10:21; compare 1 Corinthians 14:20). "Babes in Christ" are men of little spiritual growth, carnal as opposed to spiritual (1 Corinthians 3:1; compare Hebrews 5:13 Ephesians 4:14). Nepios is also used of a child as a minor or infant in the eye of the law (Galatians 4:1, 3).

T. Rees