What does ἀποφέρω (apophérō) mean in the Bible?
To carry or lead away describes movement of a person or object, with the surrounding account determining its purpose. Mark records Jesus being bound, led away and handed to Pilate.
Greek · G667
ἀποφέρω
To carry or lead away describes movement of a person or object, with the surrounding account determining its purpose. Mark records Jesus being bound, led away and handed to Pilate.
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ἀποφέρωG667
Pronunciationapophérō
What does ἀποφέρω (apophérō) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀποφέρω (G667) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G667?
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [the angel] carried me away (1), he carried me away (1), led [Him] away (1), to carry (1), was carried (1).
Where does ἀποφέρω (apophérō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 15:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (2), 1 Corinthians (1), Acts (1), Luke (1).
What This Word Actually Means
To carry or lead away describes movement of a person or object, with the surrounding account determining its purpose. Mark records Jesus being bound, led away and handed to Pilate. First Corinthians describes recommended messengers carrying the collection to Jerusalem with letters. Acts reports cloths taken to sick people within its statement that God did extraordinary miracles through Paul.
The verb describes the movement in each setting; it does not approve every act of coercion or give transported objects an inherent power. Readers should identify what is carried, who acts and what the paragraph attributes to God or explains about responsibility. A narrated extraordinary event is not a promise that copying an object or movement will produce the same result for a present sufferer.
How the Bible Uses It
Jesus' forced transfer, the accountable carrying of a gift and cloths taken during extraordinary miracles have different purposes. The movement verb does not settle their moral or theological evaluation.
- Mark.15.1
Early in the morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrin devised a plan. They bound Jesus, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate.
The leaders bind Jesus, lead Him away and hand Him to Pilate, followed by questioning and accusations rather than approval of coercion.
- 1Cor.16.3
Then, on my arrival, I will send letters with those you recommend to carry your gift to Jerusalem.
Those the community recommends carry its gift to Jerusalem with Paul's letters, with his own possible accompaniment considered separately.
- Acts.19.12
So that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them.
Cloths are taken to sick people within the explicit statement that God does extraordinary miracles through Paul, before the account of attempted imitation.
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[the angel] carried me away1×Revelation 17:3
he carried me away1×Revelation 21:10
led [Him] away1×Mark 15:1
to carry1×1 Corinthians 16:3
was carried1×Luke 16:22
were taken1×Acts 19:12
Show sample aligned rows
Mark 15:1ἀπήνεγκανtoled [Him] awayVerb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person PluralLuke 16:22ἀπενεχθῆναιtowas carriedVerb - Aorist Infinitive PassiveActs 19:12ἀποφέρεσθαιtowere takenVerb - Present Infinitive Middle or Passive1 Corinthians 16:3ἀπενεγκεῖνtoto carryVerb - Aorist Infinitive ActiveRevelation 17:3ἀπήνεγκένto[the angel] carried me awayVerb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person SingularRevelation 21:10ἀπήνεγκένtohe carried me awayVerb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMark 15:1
Aligned rows6
Books represented5
Mark1Luke1Acts11 Corinthians1Revelation2
Source forms
ἀπήνεγκέν2xapēnenkenRevelation 17:3, Revelation 21:10
ἀπενεγκεῖν1xapenenkein1 Corinthians 16:3
ἀπενεχθῆναι1xapenechthēnaiLuke 16:22
ἀπήνεγκαν1xapēnenkanMark 15:1
ἀποφέρεσθαι1xapopheresthaiActs 19:12
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular2xRevelation 17:3, Revelation 21:10
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural1xMark 15:1
Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active1x1 Corinthians 16:3
Verb - Aorist Infinitive Passive1xLuke 16:22
Verb - Present Infinitive Middle or Passive1xActs 19:12
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Preserve practical accountability when arranging the delivery of gifts entrusted by others.
- Do not sell or promise a healing object technique to suffering people.
Avoid claiming...
- The carrying verb does not certify every transfer as righteous or divinely commissioned.
- Acts' extraordinary event does not guarantee healing from copying its transported objects.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. to bear off (literally or relatively)
Strong'sG667
Lexical occurrences6 versesGreek text appearances5 timesWord forms2 forms6 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Source Gloss
to bear off (literally or relatively)
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Mark 15:1Verb Third Person Plural Aorist Active Indicative
ἀπήνεγκανaphnegkan
I carry, bear away
Read verseLuke 16:22Verb Aorist Passive Infinitive
ἀπενεχθῆναιapenecqhnai
I carry, bear away
Read verse1 Corinthians 16:3Verb Second Aorist Active Infinitive
ἀπενεγκεῖνapenegkein
I carry, bear away
Read verseRevelation 17:3Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Active Indicative
ἀπήνεγκέaphnegken
I carry, bear away
Read verseRevelation 21:10Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Active Indicative
ἀπήνεγκέaphnegken
I carry, bear away
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 groups2Aligned forms6TensesAorist, PresentVoicesActive, Passive
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Indicativestates a fact or reality3×
Aorist ActiveRev 17:3 · Rev 21:10 · Mark 15:13×
Infinitiveverbal noun — the action in abstract3×
Aorist PassiveLuke 16:221×
Present PassiveActs 19:121×
Aorist Active1 Cor 16:31×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 6 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist5present1
Voice
active4passive2
Mood
infinitive3indicative3
NT Occurrences
Mark 15:1ἀπήνεγκανaorist active indicativecompletedLuke 16:22ἀπενεχθῆναιaorist passive infinitiveinfinitiveActs 19:12ἀποφέρεσθαιpresent passive infinitiveinfinitive1 Corinthians 16:3ἀπενεγκεῖνaorist active infinitiveinfinitiveRevelation 17:3ἀπήνεγκένaorist active indicativecompletedRevelation 21:10ἀπήνεγκένaorist active indicativecompleted
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
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.
For the Preacher and Teacher
First Corinthians gives the carrying of a gift an accountable setting. The community recommends the messengers, Paul supplies letters and his own travel with them remains a separate possibility. The movement verb does not remove those practical details. Mark narrates a forced transfer of Jesus under accusation, while Acts describes cloths being taken within God's extraordinary miracles through Paul.
These actions cannot receive one moral or spiritual evaluation simply because something is carried away. In particular, the Acts account's divine agency and extraordinary character must not become a promise attached to an object. Teaching can attend to responsibility in moving gifts, truthfulness about coercive action and the particular testimony of narrated miracles without supplying a repeatable healing method or a verdict about present sufferers.
Anchor passage
1Cor.16.3
Doctrinal connections
- Mark 15:1-3 narrates Jesus' binding and transfer alongside questioning and accusations.
- First Corinthians 16:1-4 connects the carried collection with preparation, recommendations and letters.
- Acts 19:11-12 explicitly attributes the extraordinary miracles to God through Paul.
- Luke 16:22 places the beggar's carrying within Jesus' account about the rich man and Lazarus.
- Revelation 17:3 describes being carried away in the Spirit within a reported vision.
- Revelation 21:10 describes another visionary carrying before the holy city's appearance.
The licensed Greek verb names carrying, bearing or leading away. Agent, object and setting distinguish physical transport, forced transfer and visionary descriptions; its movement sense alone does not confer moral approval or an object's spiritual power.
From Old to New Testament
Genesis 45:19-23 describes wagons and provisions sent for a family's journey. This is a thematic comparison of practical transport and provision, rather than a shared Greek identity. The collection in First Corinthians retains its own recommendation and letter arrangements instead of inheriting every detail of Joseph's account.