INFANT, BABE — literally 'not-speaking' (nē-, negative + epos, 'word'), the ordinary Greek word for a small child too young to talk, used figuratively of the untaught or the simple. ⚠ Matthew 11:25 sets it directly against sophoi kai synetoi, 'the wise and the understanding' — Jesus thanks the Father for hiding 'these things' from precisely the people equipped to grasp them and revealing them instead to the ones with no equipment at all. Paul uses the same word for immature believers fed only milk, not solid food (1 Corinthians 3:1-2, not yet on these pages); here the immaturity is not a fault to outgrow but the actual qualification for the revelation. At 1 Corinthians 13:11 it runs the other way, and pointedly: nēpios is etymologically the one who does NOT SPEAK, said to a congregation that would not stop talking (ch.14 is about exactly that). The NWT alone says 'babe'; KJV and ASV soften to 'child'. → first discussed at Matt 11:25