To touch
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ἅπτω (haptō), as indexed under G681 in the local BSB witness set, means to light or kindle. Jesus twice uses the act of lighting a lamp to teach that light is placed where people can see it rather than hidden.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἅπτω (G681) · Open the biblical lexicon
ἅπτω (haptō), as indexed under G681 in the local BSB witness set, means to light or kindle. Jesus twice uses the act of lighting a lamp to teach that light is placed where people can see it rather than hidden.
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include lights (2), [those present] had kindled (1), light (1), They kindled (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 8:16. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (4), Acts (1).
ἅπτω (haptō), as indexed under G681 in the local BSB witness set, means to light or kindle. Jesus twice uses the act of lighting a lamp to teach that light is placed where people can see it rather than hidden. In the parable of the lost coin, a woman lights a lamp so she can search her house carefully until the coin is found. Luke’s Passion narrative reports people kindling a courtyard fire where Peter sits before denying Jesus.
Acts describes the people of Malta kindling a fire to welcome shipwrecked travelers in cold rain. These five direct witnesses concern flame and illumination, not bodily touch. The local word table assigns middle-form touch, cling, and handle occurrences to G680, so they must not be used as direct G681 evidence. The verb itself does not make every fire symbolic, holy, or dangerous.
Passage context decides whether kindled light serves disclosure, diligent searching, a setting for failure, or practical hospitality.
G681 ἅπτω names lighting or kindling in the five direct local BSB witnesses. Lamps are lit for visibility and searching, while fires are kindled in the courtyard of Peter’s denial and for Maltese hospitality.
No one lights a lamp and covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he sets it on a stand, so those who enter can see the light.
Lighting has the practical purpose of visibility. In Luke’s discourse, the lamp image supports faithful hearing and disclosure, but that teaching force comes from the parable’s context rather than from the verb alone.
No one lights a lamp and puts it in a cellar or under a basket. Instead, he sets it on a stand, so those who enter can see the light.
The repeated lamp action introduces Jesus’ teaching about the eye and the body’s reception of light. A kindled lamp is meant to illuminate, yet the moral application depends on the sayings that follow.
Or what woman who has ten silver coins and loses one of them does not light a lamp, sweep her house, and search carefully until she finds it?
The woman lights a lamp as one deliberate step in a thorough search. Jesus’ parable uses her action and joy to illuminate heaven’s joy over one sinner who repents.
When those present had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them.
The kindled fire is a concrete narrative setting for Peter’s three denials. Luke does not identify the fire itself as evil; its light and gathering place locate the scene in which fear exposes Peter’s failure.
The islanders showed us extraordinary kindness. They kindled a fire and welcomed all of us because it was raining and cold.
Kindling a fire becomes practical hospitality for soaked and cold survivors. Luke explicitly interprets the islanders’ action as extraordinary kindness, giving the fire its pastoral significance.
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. Touch with power to fasten or grip; stronger than mere contact, implies significant connection or restraint.
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.
I kindle, light
Read verseI kindle, light
Read verseI kindle, light
Read verseI kindle, light
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 6 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 39 lexical occurrence verses.
ἅπτω is a primary verb - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
A flame has no single moral meaning in these passages. A lamp is lit because light is meant to be seen and because careful searching requires illumination. A courtyard fire gathers people around warmth, yet Peter’s proximity to that fire becomes the setting where fear and denial are exposed. On Malta, another kindled fire serves extraordinary kindness as local people welcome shipwrecked strangers in rain and cold.
The contrast is not produced by a secret lexical symbolism. It comes from what people do around the light and why the narrator includes it. Jesus’ lamp sayings call hearers to receive and display light faithfully. The lost-coin parable pictures determined seeking that ends in joy over repentance. Acts gives a modest but memorable act of hospitality. Teachers should preserve these concrete actions before moving to application.
G681 does not name touch in the direct local witness set; confusing it with G680 obscures both studies. Correct lexical boundaries allow the ordinary flame to illuminate the actual text.
Luke.15.8
The active verb ἅπτω in the direct local G681 rows means to light or kindle. The local BSB word table separately assigns middle-form touch, cling, or handle occurrences to G680. Similar spelling and historical lexical relationship do not authorize combining their occurrence counts or using G680 verses as direct G681 witnesses.
Lamps and fires serve worship, household life, guidance, judgment, and hospitality throughout Scripture. Those canonical associations can enrich a passage only after its own purpose is established. Luke’s lamps emphasize visibility and searching, while the two kindled fires belong to denial and welcome in their respective narratives.
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
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Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain