StrongerBible

apangellō

ἀπαγγέλλω

GreekG0518told, reported, ...

Appears 47 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 2:8Mat 8:33Mat 11:4Mat 12:18Mat 14:12Mat 28:8Mat 28:9Mat 28:10Mat 28:11Mrk 5:14Mrk 5:19Mrk 6:30Mrk 16:10Mrk 16:13Luk 7:18Luk 7:22Luk 8:20Luk 8:34Luk 8:36Luk 8:47Luk 9:36Luk 13:1Luk 14:21Luk 18:37Luk 24:9Jhn 16:25Act 5:25Act 11:13Act 12:14Act 12:17Act 15:27Act 16:36Act 22:26Act 23:16Act 23:17Act 23:19Act 26:20Act 28:211Co 14:251Th 1:9Heb 2:121Jn 1:21Jn 1:3
Compound of
Word studyah-pang-GEL-lohverb

What apangellō means

to bring word to someone: to report what has happened or to announce a message, carrying it from its source to a listener

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

At its heart this verb pictures a messenger. Someone has seen, heard, or been handed something, and now they carry that word to another person. The English Bible usually translates it "told," "reported," "announced," or "declared," and all of those catch the same basic motion: word travels from one place to another and reaches an audience.

Most of the time the word is plain news. The herdsmen run to town and tell what happened to the pigs and the men possessed by demons. The women run from the empty tomb and tell the disciples. Officials and soldiers in Acts report back what they have found. Often the person carrying the word was sent or told to do so, so the same verb covers being instructed to "go and tell": the angel sends the women to bring word to the disciples, and the healed man is sent home to tell his household what God has done.

The second shade lifts the same act to a higher key. The thing brought is not just an event but a message worth proclaiming, and the one who brings it stands as an authorized witness. John declares the eternal life he has seen and heard; the new convert in Corinth falls down and announces that God is truly present; the chosen servant of Isaiah will announce justice to the nations. The motion is identical, telling another what one knows, but now it carries the weight of testimony and proclamation rather than mere news.

Nuances

1ato report or bring word: to tell someone what has happened or what one has seen and heard, including being sent to go and tell
Mat 2:8Mat 8:33Mat 11:4Mat 14:12Mat 28:8Mat 28:9Mat 28:10Mat 28:11Mrk 5:14Mrk 5:19Mrk 6:30Mrk 16:10
1bto declare or proclaim: to announce a weighty message as an authorized witness, especially the message about God
Mat 12:18Jhn 16:25Act 15:27Act 26:201Co 14:251Th 1:9Heb 2:121Jn 1:21Jn 1:3

What scholars say about apangellō

BDAG glosses a;ppaggellw under two heads, both within one entry: (1) to give an account of something, report, announce, tell, the overwhelmingly common sense, frequently with an indirect object of the recipient and content expressed by oti, an interrogative clause, or the accusative; and (2) to state something plainly and openly, declare, proclaim, used of testimony and theologically loaded announcement (1 John 1:2-3; Heb 2:12 citing Ps 22:22; the LXX rendering of Isa 42:1 at Matt 12:18). Louw-Nida likewise distinguishes the everyday domain of communication (33.198, to announce or report information) from the proclamatory shade. The compound is apo plus aggellw, with apo marking the word as carried from a source to its destination; the verb is the standard Septuagint equivalent of Hebrew nagad (hiphil), so its sphere overlaps that of the broader Old Testament vocabulary for declaring and telling. The directive uses (go and tell: Matt 11:4; Luke 7:22; Mark 5:19; Matt 28:10; Acts 12:17) are not a separate lexical sense but the report sense governed by an imperative.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. ἀπαγγέλλωlexicon
  • Louw and Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, 33.198lexicon
  • Moulton and Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, s.v. ἀπαγγέλλωlexicon
  • Schniewind, "ἀγγελία, ἀπαγγέλλω," in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 1dictionary

All attested forms of ἀπαγγέλλω

aorist active indicative 3p

ἀπήγγειλαν

Mat 8:33, Mat 14:12, Mat 28:11, Mrk 5:14, Mrk 6:30, Mrk 16:13, Luk 7:18, Luk 8:34

aorist active indicative 3s

ἀπήγγειλεν

Mrk 16:10, Luk 8:47, Luk 14:21, Act 5:25, Act 11:13, Act 12:14, Act 16:36, Act 22:26

aorist active imperative 2p

ἀπαγγείλατε, ἀπαγγείλατέ

Mat 11:4, Mat 28:10, Luk 7:22, Act 12:17, Mat 2:8

aorist active infinitive

ἀπαγγεῖλαι, ἀπαγγεῖλαί

Mat 28:8, Mat 28:9, Act 23:17, Act 23:19

future active indicative 1s

ἀπαγγελῶ

Jhn 16:25, Heb 2:12

present active indicative 1p

ἀπαγγέλλομεν

1Jn 1:2, 1Jn 1:3

aorist active imperative 2s

ἀπάγγειλον

Mrk 5:19

future active indicative 3s

ἀπαγγελεῖ

Mat 12:18

imperfect active indicative 1s

ἀπήγγελλον

Act 26:20

present active indicative 3p

ἀπαγγέλλουσιν

1Th 1:9

present active participle accusative m p

ἀπαγγέλλοντας

Act 15:27

present active participle nominative m p

ἀπαγγέλλοντες

Luk 13:1

present active participle nominative m s

ἀπαγγέλλων

1Co 14:25

second-aorist passive indicative 3s

ἀπηγγέλη

Luk 8:20