StrongerBible

apodokimazō

ἀποδοκιμάζω

GreekG0593“reject, disallow, ...”

Appears 9 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 21:42Mrk 8:31Mrk 12:10Luk 9:22Luk 17:25Luk 20:17Heb 12:171Pe 2:41Pe 2:7
Compound of
apoἀπόaway from684G575
dokimazōδοκιμάζωto test22G1381
Word studyah-po-do-kee-MAH-zoverb

What apodokimazō means

to look someone or something over, judge it not good enough, and turn it away

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This word is the negative half of a pair. The ordinary Greek verb behind it means to put something to the proof (δοκιμάζω), the way silver is tested for purity or a man is vetted before he is allowed to hold public office. Add the small piece that means "away" and you get the verdict that goes the other way: examined, and turned down. So a rejection named by this word is not a shrug of personal taste. It reports a decision reached by someone who looked, or claimed to look, and then said no.

In everyday Greek the word belonged to official life. Inspectors used it of animals that would not do for sacrifice, examiners used it of candidates who failed their vetting, and builders used it of stone that would not serve. The Greek Old Testament used it for the Hebrew verb behind the line "the stone the builders rejected" in Psalm 118:22 (מָאַס), and the New Testament writers picked that line up.

All nine New Testament uses keep the official flavor, and eight of them are about Jesus:

  • builders look a stone over and throw it out as useless, the line from Psalm 118 that Matthew, Mark, Luke and 1 Peter all quote
  • the elders, chief priests and scribes, and then the whole generation around Jesus, size up the Son of Man and pronounce him unacceptable
  • Esau, having already traded away his birthright, comes asking for the blessing and is turned away

What holds the uses together is not just the refusal but what happens to it. The stone the experts discarded becomes the cornerstone. The man the leaders condemn is raised on the third day. The word names a real, confident, official judgment, and in the Gospels it names a judgment that God then overturns.

Nuances

1athrown out as unfit for the job, the way builders discard a stone that will not serve the building
Mat 21:42Mrk 12:10Luk 20:171Pe 2:41Pe 2:7
1brefused recognition by those who claim the standing to judge, so that a person is denied his rightful place
Mrk 8:31Luk 9:22Luk 17:25
1cturned down when asking for what one has forfeited, with no way to get the decision reversed
Heb 12:17

What scholars say about apodokimazō

ἀποδοκιμάζω is a compound of ἀπό with δοκιμάζω and belongs to the δοκιμ- group (δόκιμος, δοκιμή, δοκίμιον, ἀδόκιμος), whose semantic center is testing that establishes worth. BDAG glosses it "to regard as unworthy or unfit and therefore reject," and LSJ documents the technical Attic use for candidates rejected at the δοκιμασία, the formal vetting of officeholders, alongside the rejection of unsuitable sacrificial animals and unsound materials. Grundmann's TDNT treatment of the δόκιμος group presents the compound as the express negative counterpart of δοκιμάζω, and Moulton and Milligan note its ordinary documentary use. In the Septuagint it renders מָאַס at Psalm 117:22 (English 118:22) and elsewhere serves the metallurgical picture of silver that fails assay (Jeremiah 6:30), so the Greek Bible fixes both the judicial and the testing imagery that BDAG's gloss combines. New Testament usage falls into two blocks plus one outlier. Four occurrences are the citation of Psalm 118:22 (Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; 1 Peter 2:7), with 1 Peter 2:4 recasting the same tradition as a perfect participle set in antithesis to ἐκλεκτὸν ἔντιμον παρὰ θεῷ; this stone testimonium was already combined with Isaiah 28:16 and Isaiah 8:14 in early Christian collections (Lindars), and the identification of the "builders" with the nation's leadership has a Jewish analogue in the Damascus Document's "builders of the wall" (CD 4:19; 8:12). Three occurrences belong to the passion predictions (Mark 8:31; Luke 9:22; Luke 17:25), where the agents are the elders, chief priests and scribes, or "this generation," and where the verb's forensic coloring suits a formal verdict rather than mere hostility. Hebrews 12:17 is the outlier and the one genuinely discussed instance: the subject of ἀπεδοκιμάσθη is Esau, and the exegetical question is whether μετανοίας τόπον refers to Esau's own repentance or to a reversal of Isaac's decision, treated at length by Attridge and Lane. Modern lexicography registers no disagreement about the core sense; the open questions are contextual.

Sources

  • BDAG, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., s.v. ἀποδοκιμάζωlexicon
  • LSJ, A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed. with Revised Supplement, s.v. ἀποδοκιμάζωlexicon
  • J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, s.v. ἀποδοκιμάζωlexicon
  • T. Muraoka, A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint (2009), s.v. ἀποδοκιμάζωlexicon
  • W. Grundmann, "δόκιμος κτλ.," in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 2, 255-260dictionary
  • M. Silva, ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis (2014), s.v. δόκιμοςdictionary
  • Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 1, s.v. ἀποδοκιμάζωdictionary
  • J. Marcus, Mark 8-16, Anchor Yale Bible 27A (2009), on Mark 8:31 and 12:10-11commentary
  • J. H. Elliott, 1 Peter, Anchor Bible 37B (2000), on 1 Peter 2:4-8commentary
  • H. W. Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Hermeneia (1989), on Hebrews 12:16-17commentary
  • W. L. Lane, Hebrews 9-13, Word Biblical Commentary 47B (1991), on Hebrews 12:17commentary
  • B. Lindars, New Testament Apologetic: The Doctrinal Significance of the Old Testament Quotations (1961)monograph

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of ἀποδοκιμάζω

aorist active indicative 3p

ἀπεδοκίμασαν

Mat 21:42, Mrk 12:10, Luk 20:17, 1Pe 2:7

aorist passive infinitive

ἀποδοκιμασθῆναι

Mrk 8:31, Luk 9:22, Luk 17:25

aorist passive indicative 3s

ἀπεδοκιμάσθη

Heb 12:17

perfect passive participle accusative m s

ἀποδεδοκιμασμένον

1Pe 2:4