To impose (in a friendly or hostile sense)
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Ἐπιτίθημι (epitíthēmi) means to put, lay, set, or place something upon someone or something. Its objects make the action vivid: hands are placed on the sick, a cross is laid on Simon, an unbearable yoke is imposed on disciples, and threatened plagues are added to anyone who adds to Revelation's prophecy.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἐπιτίθημι (G2007) · Open the biblical lexicon
Ἐπιτίθημι (epitíthēmi) means to put, lay, set, or place something upon someone or something. Its objects make the action vivid: hands are placed on the sick, a cross is laid on Simon, an unbearable yoke is imposed on disciples, and threatened plagues are added to anyone who adds to Revelation's prophecy.
The BSB source-word alignment has 39 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [and] place (2), He placed (2), laid (2), vvv (2), (whom He named (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 9:18. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (14), Mark (8), Matthew (7), Luke (5).
This entry includes 2 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
Ἐπιτίθημι (epitíthēmi) means to put, lay, set, or place something upon someone or something. Its objects make the action vivid: hands are placed on the sick, a cross is laid on Simon, an unbearable yoke is imposed on disciples, and threatened plagues are added to anyone who adds to Revelation's prophecy. The verb therefore spans compassionate touch, assigned burden, oppressive requirement, and judicial consequence.
It does not give one fixed theology to laying on hands or placing a burden. Matthew and Mark show petitioners seeking Jesus' life-giving touch; Luke narrates coercion by soldiers; Acts rejects adding covenant obligations that God has not required for Gentile salvation; Revelation guards the received word from augmentation. Faithful interpretation must name who places what upon whom, by what authority, and toward what end.
Ἐπιτίθημι describes placing something upon another. Hands may be laid on in hope of healing, a cross may be imposed as a burden, a yoke may represent unauthorized demands, and judgment may be added in response to tampering with prophecy.
While Jesus was saying these things, a synagogue leader came and knelt before Him. “My daughter has just died,” he said. “But come and place Your hand on her, and she will live.”
The synagogue leader asks Jesus to place His hand on the dead girl, expressing confidence that Christ's touch can bring life.
And pleaded with Him urgently, “My little daughter is near death. Please come and place Your hands on her, so that she will be healed and live.”
Jairus asks Jesus to place His hands on his daughter so that she may be healed and live; the action belongs to his urgent appeal to Jesus' authority.
As the soldiers led Him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene on his way in from the country, and they put the cross on him to carry behind Jesus.
Soldiers place Jesus' cross on Simon, making him carry an imposed burden behind the condemned Messiah.
Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?
Peter calls circumcision requirements a yoke placed on disciples' necks, opposing a burden neither Israel's ancestors nor the apostles could bear.
I testify to everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.
The closing warning answers anyone who adds to the prophecy: God will add the book's plagues, a measured judgment protecting the received testimony.
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.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. To place upon or impose, often physically; can shift from beneficial (laying on hands) to hostile (inflicting blows).
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 42 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I put, place upon, lay on
Read verseI put, place upon, lay on
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Read verseI put, place upon, lay on
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Read verseI put, place upon, lay on
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Read verseI put, place upon, lay on
Read verseI put, place upon, lay on
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 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.
How this verb appears across 39 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)
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 39 lexical occurrence verses.
ἐπιτίθημι is built from these roots:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
What people place upon others reveals both authority and intent. Desperate parents ask Jesus to lay His hands on dying children because life rests with Him, not because touch operates as an independent technique. Soldiers lay the cross on Simon by coercive power, drawing him physically behind Jesus without making the soldiers models of discipleship. At the Jerusalem council, Peter refuses to place a covenant yoke on Gentile disciples, since salvation comes through the grace of the Lord Jesus rather than an added burden that neither generation could bear.
Revelation's final warning reverses presumptuous addition: the one who adds to the prophecy faces judgment added by God. The verb thus helps teachers contrast Christ's sufficient authority with human compulsion and unauthorized religious demands. Its pastoral force lies in the objects and agents of each passage, not in treating every act of placement as one ceremony.
Matt.9.18
Ἐπιτίθημι combines the idea of placing with a directional prefix. The direct object identifies what is placed, while a person or surface receives it. Figurative uses retain the concrete logic of putting a burden or consequence upon another.
Biblical writers speak of hands placed in blessing or commission, burdens laid on servants, guilt borne by the substitute, and commands protected from addition. Christ's grace forbids making human requirements conditions of salvation.
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Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain