StrongerBible

aperchomai

ἀπέρχομαι

GreekG0565depart, go away, ...

Appears 120 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 2:22Mat 4:24Mat 5:30Mat 8:18Mat 8:19Mat 8:21Mat 8:32Mat 8:33Mat 9:7Mat 10:5Mat 13:25Mat 13:28Mat 13:46Mat 14:15Mat 14:16Mat 16:4Mat 16:21Mat 18:30Mat 19:22Mat 20:5(4)Mat 21:29Mat 21:30Mat 22:5Mat 22:22Mat 25:10Mat 25:18Mat 25:25Mat 25:46Mat 26:36Mat 26:42Mat 26:44Mat 27:5Mat 27:60Mat 28:8Mat 28:10Mrk 1:20Mrk 1:35Mrk 1:42Mrk 3:13Mrk 5:17Mrk 5:20Mrk 5:24Mrk 6:27Mrk 6:32Mrk 6:36Mrk 6:37Mrk 7:30Mrk 9:43Mrk 11:4Mrk 12:12
Compound of
Word studyap-ER-khom-aheeverb

What aperchomai means

to go away from a place: to leave where one is and move off, often toward somewhere else

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This is the ordinary word for leaving a spot and heading off. It pairs the simple idea of going with a sense of moving away from where you were, so it is used constantly in the Gospels for people who get up and leave: a crowd disperses, a healed man goes home, Jesus withdraws to pray. The same word carries equally well whether the writer is looking back at the place left behind (just departing) or ahead to where the person is headed (setting out to do something).

Because its core idea is simply moving off, it stretches naturally in two directions. In one fixed phrase it means to go off after someone, that is, to attach yourself to them or desert what you had, the way crowds went off after Jesus or men go off after forbidden things. And it can describe not just people but conditions and things that are simply gone: a disease leaves a body, the old order of the world passes away. In every case the picture is the same, something is here and then it moves off and is no longer present.

The choice of which English word fits, leave, depart, go, set out, pass away, follow after, is a matter of what is moving and where the writer is looking, not of different roots. Underneath them all is one plain idea of going away.

Nuances

1ato leave a place and go away; to depart
Mat 9:7Mat 19:22Mrk 1:35Mrk 6:46Mrk 10:22Luk 1:23Luk 1:38Luk 5:25Luk 8:39Jhn 4:3Jhn 4:28Jhn 4:43
1bto go off somewhere to do something; to set out for a destination or errand
Mat 13:46Mat 14:16Mat 18:30Mat 25:18Mrk 6:36Mrk 6:37Mrk 14:12Luk 19:32Luk 22:13Jhn 6:68Act 9:17Rom 15:28
1cto go off after someone or something; to attach oneself to or desert in favor of
Mrk 1:20Luk 17:23Jhn 6:66Jhn 12:19Jud 1:7
1dof a condition or thing: to pass away, disappear, be gone
Mrk 1:42Luk 5:13Jas 1:24Rev 9:12Rev 11:14Rev 18:14Rev 21:1Rev 21:4

Uncategorized

Awaiting AI sense categorization.

2 verses
Mat 4:24Mat 20:5(4)

What scholars say about aperchomai

Standard lexica treat ἀπέρχομαι as a single verb meaning to go away or depart, the prefix apo- adding the note of motion away from a reference point to the base verb erchomai. BDAG organizes it as departure from a place, with a clear sub-use for setting out toward a goal, the fixed idiom go off after (aperchomai opiso), and an extended use of conditions and things passing away. LSJ and EDNT agree on this range and find no evidence of distinct unrelated meanings; the variety in English translations reflects context, not polysemy.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. ἀπέρχομαιlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. ἀπέρχομαιlexicon
  • J. Schneider, EDNT, s.v. ἔρχομαι and compoundsdictionary

All attested forms of ἀπέρχομαι

second-aorist active indicative 3s

ἀπῆλθεν, Ἀπῆλθεν

Mat 4:24, Mat 9:7, Mat 13:25, Mat 16:4, Mat 19:22, Mat 21:29, Mat 21:30, Mat 27:60

second-aorist active indicative 3p

ἀπῆλθον, ἀπῆλθαν, ἀπῆλθόν

Mat 8:32, Mat 20:5, Mat 22:5, Mrk 1:20, Mrk 3:13, Mrk 6:32, Mrk 11:4, Mrk 12:12

second-aorist active participle nominative m s

ἀπελθὼν

Mat 13:46, Mat 18:30, Mat 25:18, Mat 25:25, Mat 26:36, Mat 26:42, Mat 26:44, Mat 27:5

second-aorist active infinitive

ἀπελθεῖν

Mat 2:22, Mat 8:18, Mat 8:21, Mat 14:16, Mat 16:21, Mrk 5:17, Mrk 9:43, Luk 8:31

second-aorist active participle nominative m p

ἀπελθόντες, Ἀπελθόντες

Mat 8:33, Mat 13:28, Mat 14:15, Mrk 6:36, Mrk 6:37, Mrk 14:12, Mrk 16:13, Luk 8:34

present middle-or-passive subjunctive 2s

ἀπέρχῃ

Mat 8:19, Luk 9:57

second-aorist active indicative 1s

ἀπῆλθα, ἀπῆλθον

Rev 10:9, Gal 1:17

second-aorist active participle nominative f p

ἀπελθοῦσαι

Mat 28:8, Jud 1:7

second-aorist active subjunctive 1s

ἀπέλθω

Jhn 16:7, Jhn 16:7

second-aorist active subjunctive 2p

ἀπέλθητε

Mat 10:5, Luk 17:23

future middle indicative 1p

ἀπελευσόμεθα

Jhn 6:68

future middle indicative 1s

ἀπελεύσομαι

Rom 15:28

future middle indicative 3p

ἀπελεύσονται

Mat 25:46

present middle-or-passive infinitive

ἀπέρχεσθαι

Act 23:32

present middle-or-passive participle genitive f p

ἀπερχομένων

Mat 25:10

second-aorist active participle dative m s

ἀπελθόντι

Luk 9:59

second-aorist active participle genitive m p

Ἀπελθόντων

Luk 7:24

second-aorist active participle nominative f s

ἀπελθοῦσα

Mrk 7:30

second-aorist active subjunctive 3p

ἀπέλθωσιν

Mat 28:10

second-aorist active subjunctive 3s

ἀπέλθῃ

Mat 5:30

second-perfect active indicative 3s

ἀπελήλυθεν

Jas 1:24

second-pluperfect active indicative 3p

ἀπεληλύθεισαν

Jhn 4:8