StrongerBible

anagō

ἀνάγω

GreekG0321set sail, brought up, ...

Appears 23 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 4:1Luk 2:22Luk 4:5Luk 8:22Act 7:41Act 9:39Act 12:4Act 13:13Act 16:11Act 16:34Act 18:21Act 20:3Act 20:13Act 21:1Act 21:2Act 27:2Act 27:4Act 27:12Act 27:21Act 28:10Act 28:11Rom 10:7Heb 13:20
Compound of
Names & words formed with this
Word studyah-NAH-gohverb

What anagō means

to bring or lead someone or something up, from a lower place to a higher one

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

At its core this verb simply joins the idea of "up" to the ordinary verb "lead" or "bring." Someone is taken from a lower spot to a higher one: up to Jerusalem, up to an upper room, up into the hills. That plain sense covers most of its everyday uses.

From there the same verb stretches to cover several more specific kinds of bringing up. A sacrifice is brought up onto the altar, so it comes to mean "to offer." A prisoner is brought up before a crowd for public trial. And, most strikingly, God brings his Son back up from the dead, using this everyday word rather than a special term for resurrection. The unifying thread is always the upward motion of bringing something or someone up.

By far its most common use in the New Testament is at sea. Ancient sailors pictured leaving the shore as heading up onto the open water, so this verb became the standard way to say a ship "put out to sea" or "set sail." The return trip, coming back down to land, used the opposite verb (κατάγω). Almost all of these sailing uses appear in the travel accounts of Acts.

It is worth keeping this verb apart from a close relative that means simply "to go up" on one's own (ἀναβαίνω): this word is about bringing someone or something else up, not about the subject rising by itself.

Nuances

1ato bring or lead a person or thing up to a higher place
TranslatabilityDirect
Mat 4:1Luk 2:22Luk 4:5Act 9:39Act 16:34
1bto bring a prisoner up before an assembly for public display or trial
Act 12:4
1cto bring a sacrifice up onto the altar; to offer
Act 7:41
1dto bring someone back up from the dead
Rom 10:7Heb 13:20
1eof a ship or its crew: to put out to sea; to set sail
Luk 8:22Act 13:13Act 16:11Act 18:21Act 20:3Act 20:13Act 21:1Act 21:2Act 27:2Act 27:4Act 27:12Act 27:21

What scholars say about anagō

The compound joins ἀνά ("up") to ἄγω ("lead, bring"), giving the transitive sense "lead/bring up," which BDAG and LSJ organize into a literal spatial use plus several specialized applications: bringing a prisoner up before an assembly (Acts 12:4), offering a sacrifice up (Acts 7:41), and bringing up from the realm of the dead (Rom 10:7; Heb 13:20). The dominant New Testament use is the intransitive-sounding middle/passive ἀνάγομαι, "to put out to sea," a fixed nautical idiom well documented outside the New Testament (LSJ; Moulton-Milligan) and correlated with its antonym κατάγομαι, "to come to land." Luke concentrates this maritime usage in the "we" passages of Acts.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. ἀνάγωlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. ἀνάγωlexicon
  • Moulton and Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, s.v. ἀνάγωlexicon

All attested forms of ἀνάγω

aorist passive indicative 1p

ἀνήχθημεν

Act 20:13, Act 21:2, Act 27:2, Act 28:11

aorist passive participle nominative m p

Ἀναχθέντες, ἀναχθέντες

Act 13:13, Act 16:11, Act 27:4

second-aorist active indicative 3p

ἀνήγαγον

Luk 2:22, Act 7:41, Act 9:39

second-aorist active participle nominative m s

ἀναγαγὼν, ἀναγαγών

Luk 4:5, Heb 13:20, Act 16:34

aorist passive indicative 3s

ἀνήχθη

Mat 4:1, Act 18:21

aorist passive infinitive

ἀναχθῆναι

Act 21:1, Act 27:12

present passive infinitive

ἀνάγεσθαι

Act 20:3, Act 27:21

second-aorist active infinitive

ἀναγαγεῖν

Act 12:4, Rom 10:7

aorist passive indicative 3p

ἀνήχθησαν

Luk 8:22

present passive participle dative m p

ἀναγομένοις

Act 28:10