StrongerBible

apostellō

ἀποστέλλω

GreekG0649“send, put forth”

Appears 134 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 2:16Mat 8:31Mat 10:5Mat 10:16Mat 10:40Mat 11:10Mat 13:41Mat 14:35Mat 15:24Mat 20:2Mat 21:1Mat 21:3Mat 21:34Mat 21:36Mat 21:37Mat 22:3Mat 22:4Mat 22:16Mat 23:34Mat 23:37Mat 24:31Mat 27:19Mrk 1:2Mrk 3:14Mrk 3:31Mrk 4:29Mrk 5:10Mrk 6:7Mrk 6:17Mrk 6:27Mrk 8:26Mrk 9:37Mrk 11:1Mrk 11:3Mrk 12:2Mrk 12:3Mrk 12:4 (2×)Mrk 12:13Mrk 13:27Mrk 14:13Luk 1:19Luk 1:26Luk 4:18 (2×)Luk 4:43Luk 7:27Luk 9:48Luk 10:3Luk 10:16Luk 11:49Luk 13:34
Compound of
apoἀπόaway from684G575
stellōστέλλωto avoid2G4724
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studyah-poh-STEL-lohverb

What apostellō means

to send someone or something off with a commission, on behalf of and under the authority of the one who sends.

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

At its core this verb is more than getting a person from one place to another. It carries the idea of sending with a charge: the one sent goes as a representative, on a mission, backed by the authority of the sender. The messenger's words and acts count as the sender's own. That is why the New Testament leans on it so heavily for prophets, for the disciples Jesus commissions, and above all for the Father sending the Son.

The same verb covers the whole range of that sending. Most often it sends a person: a king's servants, a delegation, an angel, a prophet, an apostle. But it also dispatches things and sets actions in motion, and one old idiom uses it for putting a sickle to the harvest. These are not different words; they are the same act of sending applied to a person, an object, or a moment.

The weightiest use is in John's Gospel, where Jesus repeatedly speaks of the Father who sent him. There the verb is doing real work: it grounds Jesus' authority in the One who commissioned him, so that to receive Jesus is to receive the Father who sent him, and the mission passes on to the disciples in turn.

Nuances

1ato send a person off on a commission, as a messenger, agent, or representative carrying the sender's authority.
Mat 2:16Mat 10:5Mat 10:16Mat 10:40Mat 11:10Mat 21:34Mat 21:36Mat 21:37Mat 22:3Mat 22:16Mat 23:34Mat 23:37
1bto send angels or heavenly agents out to carry out a task.
Mat 13:41Mat 24:31Mrk 13:27Luk 1:19Luk 1:26Heb 1:14Rev 5:6
1cto set something in motion or dispatch it, used of a thing or an action rather than a person; in the harvest image, to put in the sickle.
Mat 14:35Mat 21:3Mat 27:19Mrk 3:31Mrk 4:29Mrk 11:3Jhn 9:7Act 10:36Act 16:36Act 28:28
1dto send someone away from a place, dismissing or redirecting them rather than commissioning them as a representative.
Mat 8:31Mrk 5:10Mrk 8:26Mrk 12:3Jhn 18:24

What scholars say about apostellō

The standard lexica (BDAG) treat the verb as essentially one word meaning "to send," distinguishing principally between sending persons (with or without a stated commission) and sending or dispatching things, plus the idiomatic use of putting in the sickle at harvest. The theological dictionaries (TDNT, EDNT) emphasize that, against the plainer synonym πέμπω, this verb characteristically stresses the authorization and mission of the one sent, the sense that underlies the cognate noun ἀπόστολος. Karl Heinrich Rengstorf's classic TDNT treatment, which read a strong fixed nuance of authoritative commissioning into the word, has been qualified by later work (notably Jan-Adolf Bühner and the EDNT) that warns against overloading the lexeme itself and locates much of the sending-with-authority sense in the contexts, especially the Johannine Father-Son sayings. The Septuagint regularly uses the verb to render Hebrew שׁלח.

Sources

  • BDAG (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich), s.v. ἀποστέλλωlexicon
  • Karl Heinrich Rengstorf, "ἀποστέλλω, ἀπόστολος," in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT) 1:398-447dictionary
  • Jan-Adolf Bühner, "ἀποστέλλω," in Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (EDNT) 1:141-142dictionary
  • Colin Brown, ed., "Apostle," in New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (NIDNTT) 1:126-137dictionary
  • Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon (LSJ), s.v. ἀποστέλλωlexicon

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

All attested forms of ἀποστέλλω

aorist active indicative 3s

ἀπέστειλεν, ἀπέστειλέν, Ἀπέστειλεν

Mat 10:5, Mat 20:2, Mat 21:1, Mat 21:34, Mat 21:36, Mat 21:37, Mat 22:3, Mat 22:4

aorist active indicative 3p

ἀπέστειλαν

Mat 14:35, Mrk 3:31, Mrk 12:3, Mrk 12:4, Luk 19:14, Luk 20:20, Jhn 1:19, Jhn 7:32

present active indicative 1s

ἀποστέλλω

Mat 10:16, Mat 11:10, Mat 23:34, Mrk 1:2, Luk 7:27, Luk 10:3, Luk 24:49, Act 26:17

aorist active indicative 2s

ἀπέστειλας

Jhn 11:42, Jhn 17:3, Jhn 17:8, Jhn 17:18, Jhn 17:21, Jhn 17:23, Jhn 17:25

aorist active participle nominative m s

ἀποστείλας

Mat 2:16, Mrk 6:17, Mrk 6:27, Luk 14:32, Act 7:14, Act 19:22, Rev 1:1

perfect active indicative 3s

ἀπέσταλκεν, ἀπέσταλκέν

Jhn 5:36, Act 7:35, 1Jn 4:9, 1Jn 4:14, Luk 4:18, Jhn 20:21, Act 9:17

perfect passive participle nominative m p

ἀπεσταλμένοι

Luk 19:32, Jhn 1:24, Act 10:17, Act 11:11, Rev 5:6

aorist active indicative 1s

ἀπέστειλα

Luk 22:35, Jhn 4:38, Jhn 17:18, 2Ti 4:12

aorist active participle accusative m s

ἀποστείλαντά

Mat 10:40, Mrk 9:37, Luk 9:48, Luk 10:16

future active indicative 3s

ἀποστελεῖ

Mat 13:41, Mat 21:3, Mat 24:31, Mrk 13:27

present active indicative 3s

ἀποστέλλει

Mrk 4:29, Mrk 11:1, Mrk 11:3, Mrk 14:13

perfect passive participle accusative m p

ἀπεσταλμένους, ἀπεσταλμενοῦς

Mat 23:37, Luk 13:34, Act 10:21

perfect passive participle nominative m s

ἀπεσταλμένος

Jhn 1:6, Jhn 3:28, Jhn 9:7

second-aorist passive indicative 1s

ἀπεστάλην

Mat 15:24, Luk 1:19, Luk 4:43

aorist active imperative 2s

ἀπόστειλον

Mat 8:31, Act 11:13

aorist active subjunctive 3s

ἀποστείλῃ

Mrk 5:10, Act 3:20

perfect active indicative 1s

ἀπέσταλκα

Act 10:20, 2Co 12:17

present active indicative 3p

ἀποστέλλουσιν

Mat 22:16, Mrk 12:13

second-aorist passive indicative 3s

ἀπεστάλη

Luk 1:26, Act 28:28

aorist active infinitive

ἀποστεῖλαι

Luk 4:18

aorist active participle accusative m p

ἀποστείλαντας

Act 15:33

aorist active participle nominative m p

ἀποστείλαντες

Act 11:30

aorist active subjunctive 1s

ἀποστείλω

Act 7:34

future active indicative 1s

ἀποστελῶ

Luk 11:49

perfect active indicative 1p

ἀπεστάλκαμεν

Act 15:27

perfect active indicative 2p

ἀπεστάλκατε

Jhn 5:33

perfect active indicative 3p

ἀπέσταλκαν

Act 16:36

present active infinitive

ἀποστέλλειν

Mrk 6:7

present active subjunctive 3s

ἀποστέλλῃ

Mrk 3:14

present passive participle nominative n p

ἀποστελλόμενα

Heb 1:14

second-aorist passive participle dative n s

ἀποσταλέντι

1Pe 1:12

second-aorist passive subjunctive 3p

ἀποσταλῶσιν

Rom 10:15