What does ἀποκεφαλίζω (apokephalízō) mean in the Bible?
ἀποκεφαλίζω (apokephalízō): Violent severing of the head from body; used exclusively for John Baptist's execution in NT.
Greek · G607
ἀποκεφαλίζω
To decapitate
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ἀποκεφαλίζω G607
Pronunciation apokephalízō
What does ἀποκεφαλίζω (apokephalízō) mean in the Bible?
ἀποκεφαλίζω (apokephalízō): Violent severing of the head from body; used exclusively for John Baptist's execution in NT.
Full entry for ἀποκεφαλίζω (G607) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G607?
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include beheaded (3), [and] beheaded (1).
Where does ἀποκεφαλίζω (apokephalízō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 14:10. Its strongest book concentrations include Mark (2), Luke (1), Matthew (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It beheaded 3× Matthew 14:10, Mark 6:16, Luke 9:9
[and] beheaded 1× Mark 6:27
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 14:10 ἀπεκεφάλισεν to beheaded Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular Mark 6:16 ἀπεκεφάλισα to beheaded Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular Mark 6:27 ἀπεκεφάλισεν to [and] beheaded Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular Luke 9:9 ἀπεκεφάλισα to beheaded Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 14:10
Aligned rows 4
Books represented 3
Matthew 1 Mark 2 Luke 1
Source forms
ἀπεκεφάλισα 2x apekephalisa Mark 6:16, Luke 9:9
ἀπεκεφάλισεν 2x apekephalisen Matthew 14:10, Mark 6:27
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular 2x Mark 6:16, Luke 9:9
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 2x Matthew 14:10, Mark 6:27
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Violent severing of the head from body; used exclusively for John Baptist's execution in NT.
Strong's G607
Lexical occurrences 4 verses Greek text appearances 4 times Word forms 1 form 4 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
to decapitate
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
4 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 14:10 Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Active Indicative
ἀπεκεφάλισε apekefalisen
I behead
Read verse Mark 6:16 Verb First Person Singular Aorist Active Indicative
ἀπεκεφάλισα apekefalisa
I behead
Read verse Mark 6:27 Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Active Indicative
ἀπεκεφάλισεν apekefalisen
I behead
Read verse Luke 9:9 Verb First Person Singular Aorist Active Indicative
ἀπεκεφάλισα· apekefalisa
I behead
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 groups 1 Aligned forms 4 Tenses Aorist Voices Active
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Indicative states a fact or reality 4×
Aorist Active Matt 14:10 · Mark 6:27 · Mark 6:16 · Luke 9:9 4×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 4 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist 4
Voice
active 4
Mood
indicative 4
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)
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Witnesses
Mark 6:14–29 ἀποκεφαλίζω apokephalízō
to behead
Showing 1 selected witness from 4 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain