StrongerBible

ekcheō

ἐκχέω

GreekG1632pour out, shed, ...

Appears 27 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 9:17Mat 23:35Mat 26:28Mrk 14:24Luk 5:37Luk 11:50Luk 22:20Jhn 2:15Act 1:18Act 2:17Act 2:18Act 2:33Act 10:45Act 22:20Rom 3:15Rom 5:5Tit 3:6Jud 1:11Rev 16:1Rev 16:2Rev 16:3Rev 16:4Rev 16:6Rev 16:8Rev 16:10Rev 16:12Rev 16:17
Names & words formed with this
Word studyek-KHEH-ohverb

What ekcheō means

to pour out: to empty something out of its container so it spills freely, whether liquid, contents, blood, or a gift given without stint

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

At its core this is the plain, everyday verb for pouring a liquid out of a vessel, and every use in the New Testament grows from that one picture: something held is tipped out and released completely. Wine spills from a torn wineskin, coins clatter across the floor, a man's insides burst open on the ground.

From that literal action the word stretches in three vivid directions. It becomes the standard way to speak of shedding blood, the violent spilling of a life, and in the Last Supper sayings it names the blood Jesus gives up for many. It pictures God emptying out his bowls of judgment on the earth in Revelation. And it describes God lavishing his Spirit and his love on people, poured out generously and without holding back.

What holds the range together is the image of a full container completely emptied. Whether the thing poured is water, blood, wrath, or the Spirit, the sense is the same: it comes out fully, freely, and often beyond measure. Only in one place does the word turn back on the person doing it, describing people who threw themselves recklessly into someone else's error.

Nuances

1ato pour or spill out a liquid or the contents of something
Mat 9:17Luk 5:37Jhn 2:15Act 1:18
1bto pour out God's wrath as judgment, pictured as emptying a bowl on the earth
Rev 16:1Rev 16:2Rev 16:3Rev 16:4Rev 16:8Rev 16:10Rev 16:12Rev 16:17
1cto shed blood: to kill violently, or to bear guilt for a life taken
Mat 23:35Luk 11:50Act 22:20Rom 3:15Rev 16:6
1dof Jesus' own blood, poured out for many as the blood of the covenant
Mat 26:28Mrk 14:24Luk 22:20
1eof God pouring out his Spirit or his love generously on people
Act 2:17Act 2:18Act 2:33Act 10:45Rom 5:5Tit 3:6
1fto abandon oneself recklessly to something, to rush headlong into it
Jud 1:11

What scholars say about ekcheō

The lexical sense is settled: BDAG and LSJ give the transitive verb as pour out, of liquids, with the extended idiom to shed blood (rendering the Hebrew shaphak) and a figurative use for the outpouring of the Spirit. The New Testament preserves an old byform: the aorist and present passive forms appear as ekchynno / ekchynnomai (for example the eucharistic ekchynnomenon and Acts 22:20 exechynneto) alongside the classical ekcheo, with no difference in meaning. The passive at Jude 11 carries a reflexive force, give oneself up to, noted in BDAG. The Acts 2 outpouring quotes Joel, and TDOT s.v. shaphak documents the same three-way spread (liquid, blood, spirit or wrath) in the Hebrew the Greek is tracking.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. ἐκχέω, ἐκχύννομαιlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. ἐκχέωlexicon
  • H.-J. Fabry, "שָׁפַךְ šāp̄aḵ," TDOT 15theological-dictionary

All attested forms of ἐκχέω

aorist active indicative 3s

ἐξέχεεν

Jhn 2:15, Act 2:33, Tit 3:6, Rev 16:2, Rev 16:3, Rev 16:4, Rev 16:8, Rev 16:10

present passive participle nominative n s

ἐκχυννόμενον

Mat 23:35, Mat 26:28, Mrk 14:24, Luk 22:20

future active indicative 1s

ἐκχεῶ

Act 2:17, Act 2:18

perfect passive indicative 3s

ἐκκέχυται

Act 10:45, Rom 5:5

aorist active indicative 3p

ἐξέχεαν

Rev 16:6

aorist active infinitive

ἐκχέαι

Rom 3:15

aorist passive indicative 3p

ἐξεχύθησαν

Jud 1:11

aorist passive indicative 3s

ἐξεχύθη

Act 1:18

future passive indicative 3s

ἐκχυθήσεται

Luk 5:37

imperfect passive indicative 3s

ἐξεχύννετο

Act 22:20

perfect passive participle nominative n s

ἐκκεχυμένον

Luk 11:50

present active imperative 2p

ἐκχέετε

Rev 16:1

present passive indicative 3s

ἐκχεῖται

Mat 9:17