What does ἀποσπάω (apospáō) mean in the Bible?
ἀποσπάω (apospáō): To forcibly separate or withdraw, often implying sudden or violent action in physical contexts.
Greek · G645
ἀποσπάω
To draw away
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ἀποσπάω G645
Pronunciation apospáō
What does ἀποσπάω (apospáō) mean in the Bible?
ἀποσπάω (apospáō): To forcibly separate or withdraw, often implying sudden or violent action in physical contexts.
Full entry for ἀποσπάω (G645) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G645?
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include drew (1), to draw away (1), we had torn ourselves away (1), withdrew (1).
Where does ἀποσπάω (apospáō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 26:51. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (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 drew 1× Matthew 26:51
to draw away 1× Acts 20:30
we had torn ourselves away 1× Acts 21:1
withdrew 1× Luke 22:41
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 26:51 ἀπέσπασεν to drew Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular Luke 22:41 ἀπεσπάσθη to withdrew Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Singular Acts 20:30 ἀποσπᾶν to to draw away Verb - Present Infinitive Active Acts 21:1 ἀποσπασθέντας to we had torn ourselves away Verb - Aorist Participle Passive - Accusative Masculine Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 26:51
Aligned rows 4
Books represented 3
Matthew 1 Luke 1 Acts 2
Source forms
ἀπέσπασεν 1x apespasen Matthew 26:51
ἀπεσπάσθη 1x apespasthē Luke 22:41
ἀποσπᾶν 1x apospan Acts 20:30
ἀποσπασθέντας 1x apospasthentas Acts 21:1
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x Matthew 26:51
Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Singular 1x Luke 22:41
Verb - Aorist Participle Passive - Accusative Masculine Plural 1x Acts 21:1
Verb - Present Infinitive Active 1x Acts 20:30
Evidence Summary
Greek word. To forcibly separate or withdraw, often implying sudden or violent action in physical contexts.
Strong's G645
Lexical occurrences 5 verses Greek text appearances 4 times Word forms 3 forms 5 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
to draw away
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
To forcibly separate or withdraw, often implying sudden or violent action in physical contexts.
to draw off or away, tear away (MM, see word): Act.20:30; μάχαιραν, draw a sword, Mat.26:51; pass., to be parted or withdrawn (Field, Notes, 134; but see Thayer, see word), Luk.22:41, Act.21:1.
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 26:51 Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Active Indicative
ἀπέσπασε apespasen
I wrench away from, drag away, withdraw
Read verse Luke 22:41 Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Passive Indicative
ἀπεσπάσθη apespasqh
I wrench away from, drag away, withdraw
Read verse Acts 20:30 Verb Present Active Infinitive
ἀποσπᾷν apospan
I wrench away from, drag away, withdraw
Read verse Acts 21:1 Verb Aorist Passive Participle Accusative Plural Masculine
ἀποσπασθέντας apospasqentav
I wrench away from, drag away, withdraw
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 3 Aligned forms 5 Tenses Aorist, Present Voices Active, Passive, Middle
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Indicative states a fact or reality 3×
Aorist Active Matt 26:51 1×
Aorist Passive Luke 22:41 1×
Aorist Middle Acts 21:6 1×
Infinitive verbal noun — the action in abstract 1×
Present Active Acts 20:30 1×
Participle verbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality 1×
Aorist Passive Acts 21:1 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 5 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist 4 present 1
Voice
active 2 passive 2 middle 1
Mood
indicative 3 infinitive 1 participle 1
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)
Word Origins
ἀποσπάω is built from these roots:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
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