To take
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παραλαμβάνω (paralambanō) means to take to oneself, take along, receive, accept, welcome, or receive something handed on. The object and relationship determine whether the action concerns a person, teaching, tradition, responsibility, or future welcome.
Reader summary
Full entry for παραλαμβάνω (G3880) · Open the biblical lexicon
παραλαμβάνω (paralambanō) means to take to oneself, take along, receive, accept, welcome, or receive something handed on. The object and relationship determine whether the action concerns a person, teaching, tradition, responsibility, or future welcome.
The BSB source-word alignment has 49 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include took (7), He took (4), Take (4), will be taken (4), you have received (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 1:20. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (16), Acts (6), Luke (6), Mark (6).
This entry includes 3 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
παραλαμβάνω (paralambanō) means to take to oneself, take along, receive, accept, welcome, or receive something handed on. The object and relationship determine whether the action concerns a person, teaching, tradition, responsibility, or future welcome. Joseph is commanded to receive Mary as his wife and later to take the child and His mother to safety from Herod.
Jesus takes selected disciples with Him at decisive moments. John's prologue says the Word came to His own and His own did not receive Him, exposing rejection of the incarnate Son. Paul uses the verb for authoritative gospel and worship tradition he received and handed on: Christ died for sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, was raised, and gave the Supper on the night He was betrayed.
Colossians joins receiving Christ Jesus as Lord to continuing to walk in Him. Jesus promises to return and welcome His disciples into His presence. These uses resist both passivity and possession. Receiving Christ means trusting and continuing under His lordship, not merely acquiring religious information. Receiving apostolic tradition requires faithful preservation and embodied obedience, not treating every inherited custom as equally authoritative.
Taking a spouse, child, disciple, or messenger along never turns a person into property or removes consent, protection, and accountability. The disputed “one taken” sayings in the Olivet discourse must be interpreted from their Noah context and wider eschatology rather than from the verb alone. παραλαμβάνω helps readers ask what is received, from whom, into what relationship, and toward what faithful action.
παραλαμβάνω describes taking a person along, receiving someone into relationship, accepting apostolic teaching, and being welcomed into Christ's presence. The selected passages move from Joseph's protective obedience through rejection and reception of the Son to gospel transmission, Christian walking, and promised reunion.
But after he had pondered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to embrace Mary as your wife, for the One conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
Joseph is commanded to receive Mary rather than expose her to shame, because her child is conceived by the Holy Spirit. His obedience enters a covenant relationship and protects her dignity within God's saving purpose.
When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”
Taking the child and His mother means urgent protective accompaniment in response to a credible threat. Obedience uses flight and relocation rather than spiritualizing danger or demanding passive exposure.
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
The incarnate Word encounters covenantal rejection among His own, while the next verse contrasts those who receive and believe in His name. Reception is a relational response to the Son, not possession of a concept.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread,
Paul grounds correction of the church's meal in received Lord-given tradition concerning Jesus' betrayal night. Faithful reception leads to proclamation, self-examination, and discerning the body rather than selfish repetition of ritual.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
The gospel Paul received and transmitted begins with Christ's saving death and continues through burial, resurrection, and witnesses. Its authority lies in the apostolic message centered on God's act in Christ, not in novelty.
Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him,
Receiving Christ Jesus as Lord establishes the continuing path of rooted, built-up, thankful life in Him. Initial reception and persevering discipleship belong together against captivating alternatives.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am.
Jesus' promised return includes personally receiving His disciples to Himself. The hope is communion with Christ, grounded in His preparation and return rather than speculation about heavenly architecture.
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 receive or take to oneself from another; correlate of παραδίδωμι (handing over)
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 50 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I take, receive
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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 48 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 1 selected witness from 49 lexical occurrence verses.
παραλαμβάνω 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.
Biblical reception creates accountable relationship. Joseph receives Mary and takes the child and His mother into protective action, showing that obedience may require social cost, relocation, and concrete safeguarding. John's prologue places the decisive reception before every reader: the eternal Word came to His own, and many did not receive Him, while those who receive Him believe in His name.
Paul shows how the church receives truth without inventing it. The Supper and the gospel are handed on as Christ-centered apostolic testimony that corrects practice, proclaims the Lord's death, and announces His resurrection. Colossians refuses to separate a past reception from a present walk: those who received Christ Jesus as Lord continue rooted and built up in Him.
John 14 completes the movement with Christ's promise to receive His disciples to Himself. Churches should welcome people without possessing them, preserve the gospel without elevating every tradition to apostolic authority, and connect profession of Christ to sustained obedience. They should also act protectively when danger is credible. The deepest Christian reception is reciprocal only by grace: sinners receive the Son because He came to them, and they await the Lord who will return to receive them into His presence.
1Cor.15.3
παραλαμβάνω combines παρά with λαμβάνω and can mean take alongside, receive to oneself, accept, or receive what has been transmitted. Person objects often highlight accompaniment or welcome; message and tradition objects highlight reception from a source. The prefix does not automatically imply approval, intimacy, or salvation.
Covenant truth is received and taught from generation to generation, households are charged to protect vulnerable members, and God's people repeatedly face the choice to receive or reject His word and messengers. The New Testament centers reception in the incarnate Son, the apostolic gospel of His death and resurrection, a life walked under His lordship, and the final welcome Christ Himself promises.