To turn/wander away
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Ektrepo means to turn aside, turn away, deviate, or be diverted from a path. In the Pastoral Epistles, people turn from love's goal into empty talk, turn after Satan, deliberately turn away from profane chatter, or turn from truth toward myths.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἐκτρέπω (G1624) · Open the biblical lexicon
Ektrepo means to turn aside, turn away, deviate, or be diverted from a path. In the Pastoral Epistles, people turn from love's goal into empty talk, turn after Satan, deliberately turn away from profane chatter, or turn from truth toward myths.
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [and] turned aside (1), Avoid (1), be disabled (1), have already turned aside (1), turn aside (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at 1 Timothy 1:6. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Timothy (3), 2 Timothy (1), Hebrews (1).
Ektrepo means to turn aside, turn away, deviate, or be diverted from a path. In the Pastoral Epistles, people turn from love's goal into empty talk, turn after Satan, deliberately turn away from profane chatter, or turn from truth toward myths. The verb can describe culpable wandering or a faithful redirection, depending on what is left and what is embraced.
It does not make every changed opinion evidence of apostasy, nor does it praise avoidance without discernment. Christian shepherding should identify the path, turning point, destination, and fruit. Restoration calls wanderers back toward truth, love, conscience, and faith, while faithful boundaries turn attention away from speech that corrupts godliness or overturns hope.
Ektrepo pictures a path redirected. Its Pastoral uses contrast destructive turns away from love and truth with Timothy's necessary turning away from hollow speech and pseudo-knowledge.
Some have strayed from these ways and turned aside to empty talk.
First Timothy 1:6 says some missed the goal of love from pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith and turned aside into empty talk. The lost destination explains the deviation.
For some have already turned aside to follow Satan.
First Timothy 5:15 says some younger widows have already turned aside after Satan within a difficult pastoral discussion of household and community order.
O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid irreverent, empty chatter and the opposing arguments of so-called “knowledge,”
First Timothy 6:20 commands Timothy to turn away from profane empty chatter and opposing claims falsely called knowledge. This turning is protective and faithful.
So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
Second Timothy 4:4 says hearers turn away from truth and turn aside to myths after gathering teachers suited to their desires.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. To deviate from a correct course or path, especially morally or doctrinally.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I turn aside, wander, forsake
Read verseI turn aside, wander, forsake
Read verseI turn aside, wander, forsake
Read verseI turn aside, wander, forsake
Read verseI turn aside, wander, forsake
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.
How this verb appears across 5 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
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)
ἐκτρέπω is built from these roots:
Ektrepo asks where a life or conversation is headed. In 1 Timothy, teachers do not merely make a technical mistake; they leave love's goal and arrive at empty talk. Elsewhere, desire-driven hearers turn from truth toward myths. Timothy, however, must make a different turn by withdrawing attention from hollow speech and falsely named knowledge. The act of changing direction is therefore not itself faithfulness or failure.
Churches should evaluate movement by Scripture, gospel center, moral fruit, and honest evidence. They should pursue wanderers patiently, distinguish doubt from settled repudiation, and welcome repentance. They should also help members turn away from corrosive systems without demanding continued exposure in the name of unity. Direction matters because paths form people over time.
1Tim.1.6
Ektrepo combines ek, out of, with trepo, to turn. It may be active, turn someone aside, or middle/passive in sense, turn oneself away or be diverted.
Israel repeatedly turns aside from the covenant way, while prophets call the people to return. Wisdom's two paths make direction and destination central moral images.
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