Real Bible Translation

And one, a certain one from out of themselves, Depression ("Caiaphas"),⁹⁵ an arch priest, he who is being of that Self-Cycle,^95b said to themselves, "You, yourselves have not seen anything!

Julia Smith Literal 1876 Translation:
And a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being chief priest that year, said to them, Ye know nothing,

LITV Translation:
But a certain one of them, Caiaphas being high priest of that year, said to them, You know nothing,

Footnotes

Joh 11:49

Strongs NT #2533 Καϊάφα. Caiaphas. The Depressed One

"supposed by many to be the same as כֵּפָא, a stone, a rock; others more correctly equivalent to כָּיְפָא, depression, Targ. on Proverbs 16:26 (according to Delitzsch (Brief and. Röm. ins Hebrew etc., p. 28) קַיָפָא)"

Thayers Greek Lexicon

In the Targum, specifically on Proverbs 16:26, the word appears to be associated with the latter meaning, signifying a "depression, low place, hollow."

Proverbs 16:26 says "for he has pressed/drove down upon himself the mouth." The Hebrew for "pressing/driving" is אכף (akaph). The verb אכף is only found in this verse. In Arabic it came to mean "saddle". Cf. Strongs Hebrew #404. A saddle is a concave "depression."

The Targumim are ancient Aramaic translations and interpretations of the Hebrew Bible, originating during the Second Temple period to provide explanations and translations for Aramaic-speaking Jewish communities. These oral traditions were eventually codified into written texts, with Targum Onkelos and Targum Jonathan among the most well-known, believed to have been standardized around the early centuries CE but reflecting much earlier origins.

95b

Joh 11:49

Self Cycle

Initially, ἐνιαυτός referred to an object with a circular shape, such as a ring-shaped item or specific cup (Ath. 783c), later “the completed cycle of a year."
It is not just “year” in a calendar sense, but literally the returning / recurring period that closes upon itself.

Homeric and archaic examples preserve this cyclic sense:

ἐνιαυτῷ = “at the completion of the annual cycle”
περιπλομένων ἐνιαυτῶν (Od. 1.16) = “as the years rolled around (completed their orbits).”

Hence the semantic extension:
ἐνιαυτός → any full cycle / period that returns into itself.

In inscriptions (e.g., Delphi, Crete):

πρὸ τῶ ἐνιαυτοῦ = “before the year has completed its cycle.”
ἐνιαυτῷ = “when the yearly cycle expires.”

The term marks a closed temporal loop, not simply the number 12 months.

Because the base meaning is “a completed cycle,” Greeks extended it to any recurring temporal pattern, especially astronomical ones. Thus:

a. The Metonic Cycle

19 years = period after which lunar and solar calendars realign.
DS 12.36:
ὁ μέγας ἐνιαυτός used of the 19-year Metonic cycle.

b. The 600-year cycle

Josephus (AJ 1.3.9) mentions a 600-year ἐνιαυτός for a long astronomical period.

c. “ἀΐδιος ἐνιαυτός” (Apollodorus)

The “eternal cycle” = an unending cosmic recurrence.

Pythagorean usage — ὁ μέγας ἐνιαυτός

Eudemus (ap. Theon Smyrnaeus 198H) gives the Pythagorean doctrine:

μέγας ἐνιαυτός =

the cosmic cycle after which the entire configuration of the heavens returns to the same starting-point
(all planets, sun, moon in identical relative positions).

Characteristics:

A determinable but immense number of years.
Not a simple solar year; it is a harmonic / astronomical cycle.
Based on numerical ratios of planetary periods.
When completed, all phenomena recur exactly (Pythagorean “eternal recurrence” doctrine).

Thus for the Pythagoreans:
ἐνιαυτός = cycle of recurrence.
μέγας ἐνιαυτός = total cosmic recurrence.

This turns “year” into a metaphysical notion:
a closed, resonant period determined by the harmonic ratios (λόγοι) of celestial motions.

The root of ἐνιαυτός is transparently cyclic:

ἐν (in) + αὐτός (self) → originally “the time that returns into itself.”
(cf. ancient etymologists: ἐν αὑτῷ γιγνόμενος χρόνος = “the time that becomes what it was.”)

Hence:

ἐνιαυτός = a completed, self-returning period.

The Pythagorean cycle (μέγας ἐνιαυτός) is the extension of the basic meaning of ἐνιαυτός—a completed, self-returning temporal loop—to the largest possible astronomical recurrence. The term naturally expands because its core sense is cyclic completion, not merely “year.”

(cf. ἐνιαυτός LSJ, Bailly 2024)