What does δαπανάω (dapanáō) mean in the Bible?
Dapanao names spending or expending resources. The five direct scenes give that expenditure sharply different purposes and consequences.
Greek · G1159
δαπανάω
Dapanao names spending or expending resources. The five direct scenes give that expenditure sharply different purposes and consequences.
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δαπανάωG1159
Pronunciationdapanáō
What does δαπανάω (dapanáō) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for δαπανάω (G1159) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1159?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include had spent (2), pay their expenses (1), spend my money (1), you may squander [it] (1).
Where does δαπανάω (dapanáō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 5:26. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Corinthians (1), Acts (1), James (1), Luke (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Dapanao names spending or expending resources. The five direct scenes give that expenditure sharply different purposes and consequences. Mark 5:26 describes a suffering woman who has spent all she had while her condition worsened. Luke 15:14 describes the younger son reaching need after spending his resources in the preceding context of wasteful living. Acts 21:24 concerns paying the expenses of a particular purification arrangement, and James 4:3 rebukes requests made with the intention of spending on pleasures.
In Second Corinthians 12:15 Paul gladly offers expenditure for the Corinthians' welfare while insisting that he seeks them rather than their possessions. The verb itself is not a verdict that spending is either holy or wasteful. The purpose, circumstances and surrounding argument govern its moral character.
How the Bible Uses It
Spending appears in unsuccessful treatment, squandered inheritance, a local religious expense, self-serving desire and affectionate apostolic service. Reading their different objects and purposes prevents either blanket condemnation of expenditure or blanket approval of costly ministry.
- Mark.5.26
She had borne much agony under the care of many physicians and had spent all she had, but to no avail. Instead, her condition had only grown worse.
The woman's exhausted resources and worsening illness establish her distress; the narrator does not make seeking care a universal moral failure.
- Luke.15.14
After he had spent all he had, a severe famine swept through that country, and he began to be in need.
Spending everything follows the younger son's wasteful living, and famine compounds his resulting need within the return-to-the-father narrative.
- Acts.21.24
Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is no truth to these rumors about you, but that you also live in obedience to the law.
The proposed payment concerns four men's purification expenses in a local Jerusalem response, not a universal rule for every believer's funding.
- Jas.4.3
And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.
The rebuke identifies wrong asking motives and the intended expenditure on pleasures amid conflicts driven by desires.
- 2Cor.12.15
And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly spend my money and myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?
Paul's glad expenditure serves the Corinthians' welfare and is read with his refusal to exploit them or seek their possessions.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Ithad spent2×Mark 5:26, Luke 15:14
pay their expenses1×Acts 21:24
spend my money1×2 Corinthians 12:15
you may squander [it]1×James 4:3
Show sample aligned rows
Mark 5:26δαπανήσασαtohad spentVerb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Feminine SingularLuke 15:14Δαπανήσαντοςtohad spentVerb - Aorist Participle Active - Genitive Masculine SingularActs 21:24δαπάνησονtopay their expensesVerb - Aorist Imperative Active - 2nd Person Singular2 Corinthians 12:15δαπανήσωtospend my moneyVerb - Future Indicative Active - 1st Person SingularJames 4:3δαπανήσητεtoyou may squander [it]Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 2nd Person Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMark 5:26
Aligned rows5
Books represented5
Mark1Luke1Acts12 Corinthians1James1
Source forms
Δαπανήσαντος1xDapanēsantosLuke 15:14
δαπανήσασα1xdapanēsasaMark 5:26
δαπανήσητε1xdapanēsēteJames 4:3
δαπάνησον1xdapanēsonActs 21:24
δαπανήσω1xdapanēsō2 Corinthians 12:15
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Imperative Active - 2nd Person Singular1xActs 21:24
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Genitive Masculine Singular1xLuke 15:14
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Feminine Singular1xMark 5:26
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 2nd Person Plural1xJames 4:3
Verb - Future Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular1x2 Corinthians 12:15
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Discuss stewardship without assigning hidden guilt to illness, hardship or depleted resources.
- Service should remain free and accountable rather than enforced through demands for complete personal depletion.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim all spending is sinful, because Paul gladly expends resources for the Corinthians' welfare.
- Do not claim costly service licenses exploitation, because Paul explicitly denies seeking possessions or exploiting the people he serves.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. to spend
Strong'sG1159
Lexical occurrences5 versesGreek text appearances5 timesWord forms4 forms5 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Source Gloss
to spend
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Mark 5:26Verb Aorist Active Participle Nominative Singular Feminine
δαπανήσασαdapanhsasa
I spend, bear expense, waste
Read verseLuke 15:14Verb Aorist Active Participle Genitive Singular Masculine
δαπανήσαντοςdapanhsantov
I spend, bear expense, waste
Read verseActs 21:24Verb Second Person Singular Aorist Active Imperative
δαπάνησονdapanhson
I spend, bear expense, waste
Read verse2 Corinthians 12:15Verb First Person Singular Future Active Indicative
δαπανήσωdapanhsw
I spend, bear expense, waste
Read verseJames 4:3Verb Second Person Plural Aorist Active Subjunctive
δαπανήσητε.dapanhshte
I spend, bear expense, waste
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups4Aligned forms5TensesAorist, FutureVoicesActive
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Participleverbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality2×
Aorist ActiveMark 5:26 · Luke 15:142×
Imperativecommand or strong request1×
Aorist ActiveActs 21:241×
Indicativestates a fact or reality1×
Future Active2 Cor 12:151×
Subjunctivepossibility, probability, or purpose1×
Aorist ActiveJas 4:31×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 4 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist4
Voice
active4
Mood
participle2imperative1subjunctive1
NT Occurrences
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Word Origins
δαπανάω is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
A large expense does not explain itself. The woman in Mark spends in a long struggle with illness, while the son in Luke spends after seeking distance from his father and living wastefully. James identifies an intended expense whose aim is self-serving pleasure, and Paul describes willing expenditure for people he refuses to exploit. Those distinctions matter pastorally.
A listener facing medical costs should not be blamed by importing the prodigal's moral setting into the woman's distress, and a ministry leader should not make Paul's freely offered care into a command that others surrender every resource. Teaching can examine motives and stewardship without claiming to know a sufferer's hidden sin or treating every costly act as proof of love.
Anchor passage
2Cor.12.15
Doctrinal connections
- Mark 5:25-34 places exhausted resources within the woman's suffering and Jesus' merciful response.
- Luke 15:12-24 connects wasted inheritance, need, return and the father's welcome.
- Acts 21:23-26 records a particular proposed expense within Paul's Jerusalem encounter.
- James 4:1-3 traces quarrels and wrong asking to the pleasures being pursued.
- Second Corinthians 12:14-18 ties Paul's expenditure to affection and explicit denial of exploitation.
- Proverbs 21:17-20 offers supporting wisdom concerning pleasure-driven consumption and prudent stewardship.
Dapanao is a verb of spending or expending. In Second Corinthians 12:15 the first verb names Paul's expenditure, while the following being-spent expression uses a related compound verb; their distinct forms should not be counted as two occurrences of this root.
From Old to New Testament
Proverbs 21:17-20 contrasts pleasure-driven consumption with prudent stewardship, supporting James' concern about intended spending on pleasures. Wisdom's general pattern does not diagnose every poor or ill person's circumstances, and it must not be used to reinterpret Mark's suffering woman as the prodigal.