to take away or remove something, whether by cutting it off, stripping it from someone, or doing away with it entirely
TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled
This verb pictures separating one thing from another so that it is gone. The physical picture is the sharpest one: in the garden at Jesus' arrest a sword cuts a man's ear clean off. From that concrete act the word stretches naturally to any kind of taking away, whether the thing removed is good or bad.
Two directions of removal run through its uses:
Someone is deprived of something they hold, as Mary is promised her chosen portion will not be taken from her, or the dishonest manager loses his position, or a word is subtracted from a book.
Something unwelcome is lifted off, as when the Lord takes away Elizabeth's public disgrace, or when God promises to take away his people's sins.
The sin passages carry the most weight. Hebrews insists the blood of bulls and goats cannot take sins away, setting up its case that only Christ finally can, while Paul quotes God's covenant promise to take away Israel's sins. Here the word overlaps with the broader αἴρω, used of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and with περιαιρέω, used in the same argument in Hebrews for sacrifices that can never remove sin.
Nuances
1ato cut off: to sever something physically
Mat 26:51Mrk 14:47Luk 22:50
1bto take away or remove a thing, an office, or a condition from someone
Luk 1:25Luk 10:42Luk 16:3Rev 22:19 (2×)
1cto take away or do away with sins
Rom 11:27Heb 10:4
Related words
The English words used to translate aphaireō
“take away”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
the original word is general removal; it becomes "cut off" only because a sword and an ear are in viewLuk 22:50
Both
both name a complete separation that leaves the thing goneMat 26:51
Only cut off
the English "cut off" implies a blade or clean severing, which fits the ear but not the taking away of a portion or of sins
“remove”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“do away with”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How aphaireō differs from similar Greek words
αἴρωthe broader, everyday verb for lifting up or carrying away; it is the word for the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, where this word stresses the separating or stripping off.
Cutting off or severing a part of the body. When one of Jesus' followers strikes the high priest's servant, this is the word for slicing off his ear. It carries a sense of severing that αἴρω, a word for lifting and carrying, never expresses.Mat 26:51Luk 22:50
Both
Both are used for the removal of sin. John calls Jesus the one who "takes away" the sin of the world, and Hebrews says the blood of bulls and goats cannot "take away" sins.Jhn 1:29Heb 10:4
Both can mean taking away something a person holds, whether a possession or a position. The one unprofitable servant has his talent "taken" from him, and the dishonest manager has his stewardship "taken away."Mat 25:28Luk 16:3
Physically lifting or picking something up in order to carry it. The healed man is told to pick up his mat and walk, and the disciples gather up the leftover fragments into baskets. This bearing sense is the heart of the word and is absent from ἀφαιρέω.Mat 9:6Mat 14:20
Raising the voice, the eyes, or the hand upward. The believers together "lifted up" their voice to God, and the angel "lifted up" his hand to heaven. This raising toward something never belongs to ἀφαιρέω, which only ever takes away.Act 4:24Rev 10:5
περιαιρέωa close relative meaning to strip off or take away all around, used in the same Hebrews argument for sacrifices that can never remove sin.
Severing a body part with a blow: this is the word for cutting off the ear of the high priest's servant in the garden. It carries the violent, physical sense of striking something off, which the other verb never does.Mat 26:51Mrk 14:47Luk 22:50
Taking away from someone what they hold or are entitled to, leaving them deprived: a stewardship stripped from a manager, the reproach lifted off Elizabeth, the good portion that will not be taken from Mary, a share in the book of life removed. The loss falls on a person.Luk 16:3Luk 1:25Luk 10:42Rev 22:19
Both
The removal of sins. Both verbs express taking sin away, and the writer of Hebrews uses them almost interchangeably in the same argument that animal sacrifice cannot do it: the blood of bulls and goats cannot "take away" sins either way.Heb 10:4Rom 11:27Heb 10:11
Lifting off something that covers or encircles: the veil taken away from a turned heart, and the anchors let go from around a ship. The idea of removing a surrounding or covering thing is built into this word.2Co 3:16Act 27:40Act 28:13
Something intangible being stripped away completely in a crisis: in the storm at sea all hope of being saved was taken from the sailors, the sense of a thing wholly cut away rather than simply removed.Act 27:20
Names subtraction from a whole, so that less is left than there was: a share of food, a job someone held, or the words of a book.Luk 10:42Luk 16:3Rev 22:19
Is the New Testament word for God taking sins away, lifting guilt off people so that it no longer stands against them.Rom 11:27Heb 10:4
Can describe relief given to a person by removing something shameful from her life, leaving her where she is while the burden is gone.Luk 1:25
Both
Both are used for the forcible loss of a body part, one for the ear struck off at the arrest of Jesus, the other for the eye a person is told to tear out.Mat 26:51Mrk 14:47Mat 5:29Mat 18:9
Means rescue: pulling a person out of the grip of people who mean them harm, whether a king, a mob, or a hostile crowd.Act 12:11Act 23:27Act 26:17
Carries the old story of the exodus, where God sees his people suffering and comes down to bring them out of it.Act 7:34Act 7:10
Reaches beyond an enemy to a whole hostile situation, so that a person can be pulled out of the present age itself.Gal 1:4
aphaireō in the other biblical languages
סוּרHebrew“to turn aside: remove”the common Hebrew verb for turning aside or removing something, which the Greek Old Testament often renders with this word.
Names the physical cutting off of a body part with a blade. When a bystander strikes the high priest's servant, the sword "cut off" his ear.Mat 26:51Mrk 14:47Luk 22:50
Covers taking words away from a written text, with a matching penalty. John warns that anyone who "takes away" from the words of the book will have his own share taken away.Rev 22:19
Both
Both are used for taking away sin, guilt, or disgrace, not only physical objects. The seraph tells Isaiah his iniquity is "taken away"; Hebrews says the blood of bulls and goats cannot "take away" sins.Isa 6:7Heb 10:4Rom 11:27
Both can mean stripping away something a person holds or values, so that it is no longer theirs. God "takes" the crown from Job's head; Jesus says the good portion Mary chose will not be "taken away" from her.Job 19:9Luk 10:42
Can describe a person turning off the road, stepping aside, or going out of the way to look, with no object being removed at all. Lot presses the visitors to "turn in" to his house, and Moses says he will "turn aside" to see the burning bush.Gen 19:2Exo 3:3Rut 4:1
Carries a moral sense of departing or turning away from the LORD and his way, forsaking the covenant. Israel is warned not to "turn aside" to serve other gods, and Hezekiah is praised because he "departed not" from following God.Deu 11:161Sa 12:202Ki 18:6
נָשָׂאHebrew“to lift: bear”the Hebrew verb for lifting or carrying, which in the sense of lifting away guilt lies behind the promise to take away sins.
It can mean to cut something off with a blade, a violent severing that the Hebrew word never carries. In the garden a disciple strikes the high priest's servant and slices off his ear.Mat 26:51Luk 22:50
Its center is subtraction: something a person holds is taken away from them, leaving them with less. A manager loses his position, and a share in the tree of life can be taken away.Luk 16:3Rev 22:19
Both
Both words describe taking sin and guilt away. The Hebrew pictures lifting the burden of sin off a person, which English Bibles render "forgive", while the Greek names the removal of sins directly.Exo 10:17Gen 50:17Rom 11:27Heb 10:4
It means to lift or raise: the eyes to look, the voice to weep, the hands or the face. This upward motion is the word's home sense and has no counterpart in the Greek.Gen 13:10Gen 27:38Gen 29:11
It also means to carry or bear a load, and by extension to bear guilt and its weight. The idea is shouldering something and holding it up, not stripping it away.Gen 44:1Gen 4:13
What scholars say about aphaireō
ἀφαιρέω is a compound of ἀπό ("from") and αἱρέω ("take"), with the base sense "take away, remove." BDAG distinguishes (1) to take away from someone, deprive (the ear in Mt 26:51 par.; the portion in Lk 10:42; the stewardship in Lk 16:3; reproach in Lk 1:25; and the additive/subtractive warning of Rev 22:19), and (2) to cause a condition to cease, do away with, of sins in Heb 10:4 and Rom 11:27 (the latter quoting Isa 27:9 / Jer 31:34 LXX). In the middle voice classical and Hellenistic Greek carry the nuance "take away for oneself." In the Septuagint the verb frequently renders Hebrew סוּר (Hiphil) and stands near נָשָׂא in cultic contexts of lifting away guilt, which frames the New Testament sin usage.
Sources
BDAG, s.v. ἀφαιρέωlexicon
Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (EDNT), s.v. ἀφαιρέωdictionary