To permit
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Epitrepo means to permit, allow, grant leave, or give authorization within a relationship of authority. The word appears in ordinary requests, political permissions, apostolic travel, moral teaching, and statements about what God permits.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἐπιτρέπω (G2010) · Open the biblical lexicon
Epitrepo means to permit, allow, grant leave, or give authorization within a relationship of authority. The word appears in ordinary requests, political permissions, apostolic travel, moral teaching, and statements about what God permits.
The BSB source-word alignment has 18 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include let (4), He gave them permission (2), permits (2), permitted (2), allowing [him] (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 8:21. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (5), Luke (4), 1 Corinthians (2), Mark (2).
Epitrepo means to permit, allow, grant leave, or give authorization within a relationship of authority. The word appears in ordinary requests, political permissions, apostolic travel, moral teaching, and statements about what God permits. It is therefore not a simple endorsement word. Moses permitted divorce because of hardness of heart, but Jesus immediately distinguishes that permission from God's creation design.
Pilate permits Joseph to remove Jesus' body, yet that does not make Pilate spiritually wise. Paul can ask permission to speak, and he can say plans will happen if the Lord permits. The word helps teachers distinguish permission from approval, concession from command, and human authorization from divine will.
Epitrepo marks permission or allowance under an authority structure. The selected witnesses show concession, granted request, public speech, travel plans, burial permission, and dependence on God's permission.
Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hardness of heart. But it was not this way from the beginning.
Jesus says Moses permitted divorce because of hardness of heart, but it was not so from the beginning. Permission is distinguished from creation design.
He gave them permission, and the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the water.
Jesus gives permission to the unclean spirits in the Gerasene scene. The permission is bounded by His authority, not by their control.
Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (but secretly for fear of the Jews), asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, so he came and removed His body.
Pilate gives Joseph permission to remove Jesus' body. Human permission becomes part of burial provision after the crucifixion.
Having received permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. A great hush came over the crowd, and he addressed them in Hebrew:
Paul receives permission to speak to the crowd. The word marks public authorization in a volatile setting.
For I do not want to see you now only in passing; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.
Paul hopes to spend time with the Corinthians if the Lord permits. Plans remain subordinate to God's will.
And this we will do, if God permits.
The writer says, 'And this we will do, if God permits.' Instruction and progress are confessed under divine permission.
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. Permission grounded in delegated authority or entrusted responsibility, not mere allowance.
Permission grounded in delegated authority or entrusted responsibility, not mere allowance.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 19 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I allow, permit
Read verseI allow, permit
Read verseI allow, permit
Read verseI allow, permit
Read verseI allow, permit
Read verseI allow, permit
Read verseI allow, permit
Read verseI allow, permit
Read verseI allow, permit
Read verseI allow, permit
Read verseI allow, permit
Read verseI allow, permit
Read verseI allow, permit
Read verseI allow, permit
Read verseI allow, permit
Read verseI allow, permit
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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
How this verb appears across 18 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 4 selected witnesses from 18 lexical occurrence verses.
ἐπιτρέπω is built from these roots:
Epitrepo is a careful word for a careful theological distinction. Permission may be merciful, administrative, political, concessive, or providential, but it is not automatically approval. Matthew 19:8 is the clearest warning: Moses permitted divorce because of hardness of heart, while Jesus points back to the beginning to recover God's design. Elsewhere, permission enables burial, public speech, travel, and ministry plans, but those settings still require context.
The word helps pastors speak wisely in places where people confuse what God allows, what leaders authorize, what circumstances permit, and what Scripture commands. Faithful teaching asks not only, was this allowed, but why, by whom, and toward what end?
Matt.19.8
The verb belongs to the semantic field of granting leave or allowing. Its theological force depends on the authority relationship and reason for permission rather than on the bare idea of allowance.
Scripture distinguishes divine command, human concession, providential allowance, and wise planning under God's rule. Epitrepo gives the New Testament a compact way to speak of permission while forcing readers to ask whether that permission reveals mercy, concession, order, or dependence.