to take the covering off something hidden so it can be known: to reveal, disclose, or bring to light
TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled
The word is built from a verb meaning "to cover" or "to veil," with a prefix that reverses it. So at its root it means "to take the covering off." Whatever was screened from view is now brought into the open where it can be seen or known.
In the New Testament the one doing the uncovering is almost always God. He pulls back the veil on truth that people could never reach by their own effort, he brings a hidden person or reality into the open at exactly the right moment, and he exposes what has been kept secret. The three shades below are held together by this single idea: something that was concealed is made known.
Because the uncovering is usually God's own act, the word carries more weight than ordinary "telling." It is the verb behind the title of the last book of the Bible, Revelation, and it often points to the great unveiling still to come, when what faith now holds out of sight will finally be seen by everyone.
Nuances
1aGod brings to light what people could not otherwise know: hidden truth, his saving purpose, even his own righteousness and wrath
the Greek pictures lifting a veil off something deliberately hidden, so the weight falls on God pulling back a covering, not merely on passing along informationMat 16:171Co 2:10
it carries the freight of an end-time unveiling, the same word family behind the book of Revelation, which plain "reveal" does not signal2Th 2:8Rom 8:18
Both
both name the making-known of something that was not known or seen beforeMat 10:26
Only reveal
in everyday English "reveal" fits any casual sharing (revealing a recipe, a plot twist, a surprise), losing the sense of a hidden reality being uncovered at God's own initiative
“disclose”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“make known”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“bring to light”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“uncover”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How apokaluptō differs from similar Greek words
φανερόωto make something openly visible or evident to the senses; this word instead pictures lifting a veil off what was deliberately hidden
Uncovers something that was deliberately hidden or kept secret, lifting a veil off what was concealed.Mat 10:26Luk 12:2
Names God's act of disclosing truth to a particular person that flesh and blood could not have worked out on its own.Mat 11:25Mat 16:17Gal 1:16
Carries a future, end-time unveiling: a reality now hidden that will be thrown open at the appointed moment.Luk 17:30Rom 8:182Th 2:81Pe 1:5
Both
Both can name the bringing to light of something formerly hidden, so the two overlap when a long-kept secret is brought out into the open.Luk 12:2Col 1:26
Both are used of God making the gospel and his saving purpose known to people who could not have discovered it themselves.Rom 1:17Rom 3:21
Carries the picture of lifting a cover off something hidden, so that secret or concealed things come to light. It is the word for uncovering, not merely informing.Mat 10:26Luk 2:35Mat 16:17
Used for the great disclosure still to come at the end of the age: the day when the Son of Man appears, the glory yet to be shown, the lawless one brought into the open.Luk 17:30Rom 8:182Th 2:81Pe 1:5
Both
Both describe God bringing his once hidden saving purpose, the mystery of Christ, out into the open so his people can finally know it.Eph 3:51Co 2:10Eph 1:9
Covers plain, everyday communication: passing along news or one's own circumstances and simply letting someone know, with no sense of a veil being lifted.Eph 6:21Col 4:9Php 4:6
Names the act of handing a message over to particular hearers, a teacher or messenger telling an audience what they need to grasp.1Co 15:1Gal 1:112Pe 1:16
Uncovers something that was hidden, so the essence is disclosure of what was previously concealed, not merely presenting what is already in view.Mat 10:26Luk 12:2
Regularly names God unveiling truth to a person that they could not have reached on their own, such as insight given by the Father or the Spirit.Mat 11:27Mat 16:171Co 2:10
Carries an end-time weight: the future public unveiling of Christ, of glory, or of the lawless one at the appointed time.Luk 17:30Rom 8:182Th 2:8
Both
Both bring something into a person's knowledge or view, so English can render either as making something known.Mat 11:25Jhn 5:20
Points to something you can look at, physically indicating a place or object so another person sees it.Mat 4:8Mrk 14:15Luk 22:12
Means to demonstrate or make plain by evidence, whether presenting oneself, proving a point by works, or displaying wounds.Luk 24:40Jhn 20:20Jas 2:18
Is the standard word for a guiding figure showing a visionary what to see, as an angel walks John through the scenes of Revelation.Rev 1:1Rev 22:1Rev 22:8
It works against a covering. The word keeps company with talk of what is hidden or covered over, so the picture is of a wrap being pulled off something that was deliberately kept out of sight.Mat 10:26Luk 12:2Mat 11:25
It names a public unveiling still ahead, a set moment when a person or a glory now out of sight steps into full view.Luk 17:30Rom 8:182Th 2:81Pe 1:5
What comes to light is often a person or a saving reality itself, God or his Son or his standing verdict, and not merely a piece of information about them.Mat 11:27Mat 16:17Gal 1:16Rom 1:17
Both
Both can name the moment when hidden work is brought out into the open, and Paul sets them side by side for one and the same event: the Day will make each builder's work clear because it comes to light in fire.1Co 3:13
With either word God or his Spirit can be the one who lets people in on what they could never have worked out for themselves.1Co 2:10Eph 3:5Heb 9:81Pe 1:11
It covers plain human news carried from one person to another, with nothing hidden or secret about it.1Co 1:11Col 1:8
It can mean pointing out what something already in plain sight actually signifies, drawing the sense out of a text or an arrangement everyone can see.Heb 9:8Heb 12:27
It is the word for supplying the specifics, which person and which moment, when the general picture is already known.1Pe 1:112Pe 1:14
uncovers what was hidden or kept secret, especially God disclosing his own truth, his saving righteousness, or the events of the last day; this is the word of divine revelation.Rom 1:171Co 2:10Luk 17:30
names knowledge granted from above rather than worked out from below: what the Father alone can unveil to a person.Mat 16:17Mat 11:27Gal 1:16
Both
both bring into the open something not previously seen or known, moving it from hidden to disclosed.Mat 10:26Jhn 14:22
carries a legal sense with no counterpart in the other word: to lay information or present a formal case before an authority, as the chief priests do against Paul before the governor.Act 24:1Act 25:2Act 25:15
a person presenting himself to be seen face to face, whether Jesus showing himself to the one who loves him or Christ appearing before God on our behalf.Jhn 14:21Heb 9:24
The one doing the uncovering is God, or the Son acting for him, so what comes to light is something no one could have worked out on their own.Mat 11:25Mat 16:171Co 2:10Gal 1:16
Points ahead to a public unveiling still to come, when a person or a glory that is already real but out of sight finally steps into the open.Luk 17:302Th 2:8Rom 8:181Pe 1:5
Brings out into the open what is inside a person, so that thoughts and the real quality of a life can be seen and tested.Luk 2:351Co 3:13
Describes a message being made plain in the present, whether announced to everyone or given to one person in a meeting, so that people can act on it now.Rom 1:17Eph 3:51Co 14:30
Both
Both words work the same line between what is out of sight and what is in plain view, and one saying sets them back to back: nothing has been covered that will not be uncovered.Mat 10:26
Works at the level of ordinary physical things: water washing over a boat, a jar set over a lamp, hills falling on people who want to disappear under them.Mat 8:24Luk 8:16Luk 23:30
Names wrongs being covered so that they are no longer held against the person who did them, which the letters treat as a mercy rather than a hiding of the truth.Jas 5:201Pe 4:8
Can describe good news that stays out of view for the very people who need it, where the trouble is not the message itself but the covering laid over their sight.2Co 4:3
Pictures pulling back a veil or covering so that something hidden is uncovered, whether a person, a secret truth, or a plan kept out of sight.Mat 11:27Eph 3:5
Names the future unveiling of persons and events, when someone or something now concealed is finally brought into full view at the end.Luk 17:302Th 2:31Pe 1:5
Both
Both describe making known what was hidden, so that a truth once concealed comes out into the open.1Co 2:101Co 4:5
It covers any hidden thing coming to light, with no message spoken and nobody addressed: a secret simply stops being a secret.Mat 10:26Luk 2:351Co 3:13
It is the standard word for what God will finally bring into the open at the end, whether glory, salvation, a person, or judgment.Rom 8:181Pe 1:5Luk 17:302Th 2:8
What becomes visible can be God's own character or action on public display in the preaching of the good news, rather than private information handed to one person.Rom 1:17Rom 1:18Jhn 12:38
Both
Both describe God letting one particular person know something they could never have worked out for themselves.Mat 16:17Gal 1:16Luk 2:26Mat 2:22
Both are used of knowledge arriving through the Spirit or a heavenly messenger, which is why English Bibles can render either one "revealed".1Co 2:10Eph 3:5Luk 2:26Act 10:22
It is a message delivered to a named person telling them what to do or avoid, so it usually comes out in English as "warned" or "instructed" rather than as new information for its own sake.Mat 2:12Act 10:22Heb 8:5Heb 11:7
It carries a second, quite separate use with nothing to do with revelation: to go by a name, to be publicly called something.Act 11:26Rom 7:3
It can describe the one who does the speaking, not only the person spoken to, so the sentence can be about the divine speaker being heard or ignored.Heb 12:25
apokaluptō in the other biblical languages
גָּלָהHebrew“to reveal: remove”the main Hebrew verb for uncovering or revealing; it also carries the ordinary sense of laying something bare and the sense of being carried off into exile
Always means to make known what was hidden, and it is the Bible's primary word for God unveiling his saving plan: the gospel and his own righteousness brought to light.Rom 1:17Gal 3:23
Carries a strong end-time edge: it names the future unveiling of glory, of the Son of Man, and of the man of lawlessness at the climax of history.Luk 17:30Rom 8:182Th 2:8
Describes God personally disclosing truth to chosen people, hidden from the wise but given to the humble and to apostles.Mat 11:25Mat 16:17Eph 3:5
Both
Both name God disclosing his message to a prophet or chosen messenger, revelation that would otherwise stay hidden.Amo 3:7Gal 1:16
Both announce the public unveiling of God's salvation and glory before the watching world.Isa 40:51Pe 5:1
Both describe hidden or secret things being brought into the open and exposed.Job 20:27Mat 10:26
Has a concrete, physical range Greek reveal lacks: literally to strip a covering off, most often the set phrase for exposing someone's nakedness as sexual sin or public shame.Lev 18:6Isa 47:3Nam 3:5
Names the bodily organs of perception being opened so a person can receive a message: God uncovers an ear, or opens eyes to see what was unseen.1Sa 9:15Num 22:31
Used flatly for human disclosure of secrets, the betrayal of a confidence or the airing of a private matter between people.Pro 11:13Pro 25:9
גְּלָאAramaic“to reveal”the Aramaic verb used in Daniel for God revealing hidden mysteries and deep secrets, a close match to this word's disclosure of what only God can make known
Carries a strong future, end-time weight: it names the moment God finally unveils what is now hidden, whether the Son of Man appearing in glory, his coming wrath, or the lawless one being exposed.Luk 17:30Rom 1:182Th 2:8
Used for the gospel unveiling God's saving righteousness and the coming glory now kept out of sight, a disclosure tied to salvation history.Rom 1:17Rom 8:181Pe 1:5
Both
Both name God making known what no human could uncover on their own: he unveils deep and hidden things to people he chooses.Dan 2:22Mat 11:25
Both are used for the disclosing of secrets and mysteries, with God as the one who reveals what was concealed.Dan 2:471Co 2:10
Also means to carry a people away into exile, a sense the Greek word never has: it describes the deportation of populations into captivity.Ezr 4:10Ezr 5:12
What it uncovers is usually knowledge rather than a body or a landscape: God brings to light truth that people could never have reached on their own.Mat 11:25Mat 16:171Co 2:10Gal 1:16
It looks forward to an appointed moment when someone or something now out of sight steps into open view, above all at the end of the age.Luk 17:302Th 2:81Pe 1:5
The uncovering is often welcome, even glorious, for the one being uncovered, which is the opposite of a shaming.Rom 1:17Rom 8:181Pe 5:1
Both
Both mean taking the covering off something, so that what was out of sight is suddenly in plain view.Jer 13:26Mat 10:26
Both are used when what someone deliberately kept hidden is laid open against their will, leaving them nowhere to hide.Jer 49:10Luk 12:2
They meet in the picture of the LORD baring his arm: the Hebrew word bares it in Isaiah, and the Greek word is the one the New Testament uses when it asks who has seen that arm.Isa 52:10Jhn 12:38
The covering that comes off is a physical one: clothing pulled away from a body, leaves and bark taken off a tree, the ground opened over a hiding place.Isa 47:2Jol 1:7Jer 49:10
The exposure is usually a public humiliation forced on someone weaker, who has no say in it at all.Jer 13:26Isa 20:4
It also carries a use with nothing to do with disclosure: scooping liquid out of the vessel that holds it.Isa 30:14Hag 2:16
What scholars say about apokaluptō
The verb is a compound of ἀπό with καλύπτω ("to cover, veil"), yielding the sense "to uncover, unveil." BDAG glosses it "to cause something to be fully known, reveal, disclose, bring to light, make fully known," spanning the disclosure of knowledge, the eschatological manifestation of persons and realities, and the exposure of what is hidden (Louw-Nida places these under the domains of making known and of causing to be seen). In Oepke's treatment of the καλύπτω / ἀποκαλύπτω / ἀποκάλυψις word-group (TDNT 3:556-592), the group becomes a technical vehicle for divine self-revelation, both the present disclosure of the mystery (as in the Pauline mystery texts) and the future apokalypsis of Christ, his glory, and the man of lawlessness. EDNT (Balz) likewise distinguishes the present revelatory sense from the eschatological, without positing separate lexemes: the range is contextual, not homonymy.
Sources
BDAG, s.v. ἀποκαλύπτωlexicon
Albrecht Oepke, "καλύπτω, ἀποκαλύπτω, ἀποκάλυψις κτλ.," TDNT 3:556-592dictionary