to bring something along: to carry an object with you and deliver it where it is wanted.
TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled
This plain use turns up once in the New Testament. Luke says the woman learned that Jesus was reclining at the Pharisee's table, and she came having brought an alabaster jar of perfume. The word simply tracks the jar from wherever she got it to the room where she broke it open.
Outside the New Testament this was an ordinary way to speak of carrying something along and getting it safely where it belonged: bringing supplies, conveying a letter, escorting a body out to burial. That last use survives in a close relative built on the same verb (ἐκκομίζω), which Luke uses a few lines earlier for the dead man being carried out of the town gate at Nain.
What sets the word apart from a bare "carry" is the note of taking charge. You bring a thing you are responsible for, and you see it through to its destination. That is the seed of the far more common New Testament use, where what a person carries off is what is properly theirs.
Luk 7:37
2
to get what is coming to you: to collect for yourself what is owed, promised, or already yours.
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
Nine of this word's ten New Testament appearances work this way, and they share one shape: a person ends up holding what was already marked out as theirs. English "receive" is too neutral for that. You can receive a surprise gift; this word is closer to collecting something with your name on it.
That single idea stretches across situations that look very different at first:
a master expects to come back and collect his own silver with the interest it earned
Abraham gets his son back from the edge of death
believers who hold out under pressure finally take hold of what God promised them
everyone at the judgment seat collects what their life has earned, whether that turns out well or badly
The tie between them is not the mood of the outcome but the fact that the outcome was owed.
That is why the New Testament writers reach for this word when they talk about how things end. Reward and punishment sound like opposite subjects, and so do wages and inheritance, but this word treats them all as one transaction: what is due gets handed over. It is the matching half of paying out (ἀποδίδωμι), told from the position of the one who collects.
Nuances
2ato be paid what your conduct has earned, whether that is reward or punishment.
the Greek says the thing handed over was already marked out for the person who gets it, whether earned, promised, or previously his own.Col 3:25Heb 11:19
Both
both name the moment a person actually comes into possession of something.Heb 10:36
Only receive
"receive" in English covers any getting at all, including a surprise gift or a piece of news, so it can sound as though the person had no claim on what came to them.
“receive back”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
the Greek adds a note of taking charge of what is carried and seeing it safely to its destination.Luk 7:37
Both
both describe a person carrying an object along to the place where it is wanted.Luk 7:37
Only bring
"bring" in English is a bare direction word and can describe hauling anything anywhere, carelessly or not.
How komizō differs from similar Greek words
ἀπολαμβάνωthe closest match, also used for getting back what is owed or deserved; it pictures taking the thing from the one who owes it, while this word pictures carrying off what has been collected.
Keeps the plain everyday sense of carrying something somewhere, with no payment or return in view: the woman brings in her jar of perfume.Luk 7:37
When it speaks of payment, what comes back can be the conduct itself rather than a separate wage: the wrongdoer is paid back the wrong he did, each person gets back what was done through the body, and whatever good someone does is the very thing he receives.Col 3:252Co 5:10Eph 6:8
Both
Both are ordinary words for collecting the payoff of your own conduct, good or bad, and Paul uses one then the other a single verse apart: the faithful worker will be paid his inheritance, while the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he did.Col 3:24Luk 23:41Col 3:252Co 5:10
Both are used for getting a person back whom you had lost: the father gets his son back safe and well, and Abraham gets Isaac back from the edge of death.Luk 15:27Heb 11:19
Both cover money returning to whoever it belongs to: what is lent comes back in the same amount, and the buried silver should have come back with interest.Luk 6:34Mat 25:27
Both are used for finally taking hold of what God has promised, so this is not only the language of wages earned: being made his sons, a reward in full, the promise itself, the crown of glory.Gal 4:52Jn 1:8Heb 10:361Pe 5:4
Can be about taking a person rather than taking a payment: Jesus draws the deaf man aside, away from the crowd, before healing him.Mrk 7:33
Often pins the collecting to this present life, and says so out loud: the rich man had already had his good things while he was alive, and the disciple who leaves everything gets many times more "in this present time".Luk 16:25Luk 18:30
λαμβάνωthe everyday word for taking or receiving anything at all; it says nothing about whether the thing taken was owed, which is exactly the note this word adds.
Names getting back exactly what a person's own conduct has earned, whether that is reward or penalty.2Co 5:10Col 3:25Eph 6:8
Used for recovering something that had been handed over or given up, so that it comes back to the one it belonged to.Mat 25:27Heb 11:19
Points ahead to the promised outcome that arrives only at the end of a long stretch of faithfulness, which is why it carries the weight of a settled account rather than a passing transaction.Heb 10:36Heb 11:391Pe 1:91Pe 5:4
Both
Both are used of a worker or servant getting the pay and reward that is coming to him.Eph 6:81Pe 5:4Mat 20:9Mat 10:41
Both can describe the everyday act of taking an item along or bringing it to where it is wanted, with no question of reward involved.Luk 7:37Mat 16:5
Names the bare moment of taking hold with the hand in order to use what is taken.Mat 26:26Mat 15:36Mat 27:48
Covers seizing by force: laying hands on a person, or picking up a weapon.Mat 21:35Mat 21:39Mat 26:52
Covers plain receiving of what is asked for or freely given, with nothing owed and nothing deserved in view.Mat 7:8Mat 10:8
Appears in set expressions where the word itself carries almost no weight, as when a group takes counsel together and the phrase simply means they made a plan.Mat 12:14Mat 27:1Mat 27:7
ἀπέχωto have something in full already, the account closed; it is used of people who have their reward in hand now, where this word usually points to a payout still to come.
Names a gap of distance, whether physical space or an estranged heart being far from someone.Luk 15:20Mat 15:8Luk 7:6
In the sense of holding oneself back, it means to abstain from or keep away from a practice.Act 15:291Th 4:31Pe 2:11
δέχομαιto accept what is held out to you, often with a note of welcome; the weight falls on taking up an offer, not on collecting something already due.
It is the word for getting what is coming to you, the settling of an account, and it works the same way whether what comes back is reward or punishment.2Co 5:10Eph 6:8Col 3:25
It looks back to something already owed or promised, so it often means getting back what was given up or waiting a long time for what was pledged.Heb 10:36Heb 11:19Heb 11:391Pe 1:9
It keeps an older, plainer sense of carrying something to where it is needed, which has nothing to do with accepting anything at all.Luk 7:37
Both
Both can describe a plain, everyday handover of property with no religious weight, which is why English translations use "receive" for either one.Luk 16:6Php 4:18Mat 25:27
Both describe a person taking hold of what God gives, so the difference is not who gives but whether the gift is welcomed as an offer or collected as something due.2Co 6:1Eph 6:171Pe 5:4
It is the ordinary word for welcoming a person, taking a guest or a messenger into your home, and welcoming the messenger counts as welcoming the one who sent him.Mat 10:40Luk 10:8Luk 16:4Gal 4:14
It is the standard word for taking in a message as true, above all the preached word of God, so the receiving is an act of belief rather than a transfer of goods.Luk 8:13Act 8:14Act 17:111Th 2:13Jas 1:21
The decision belongs to the one receiving, so the word is regularly turned into a refusal: what is offered can be turned away.Mat 10:14Luk 9:531Co 2:142Th 2:10
ἀποδίδωμιthe paying side of the same transaction, handing over what is owed; this word describes that same moment from the position of the one who collects.
It is the receiver's word. The one acting is the person who collects and carries off what is coming to them, so it is regularly rendered "receive" or "obtain": the master who would have collected his money with interest, believers who obtain the crown of glory, and those who obtain the salvation their faith aims at.Mat 25:271Pe 5:41Pe 1:9
It is the word Hebrews uses for taking possession of what God promised, whether the promise is still outstanding or finally handed over. That is a gift received, not a wage collected from a fellow human.Heb 10:36Heb 11:39
It keeps its plain physical sense of carrying something along to where it is needed, as when the woman brought a jar of perfume into the house.Luk 7:37
Both
Both describe the final settling of accounts, when what a person has done comes back to them. They cover the same moment from opposite ends: God repays each according to their works, and each person receives what their deeds have earned.Mat 16:27Rom 2:6Rev 22:122Co 5:10Eph 6:8Col 3:25
Both carry the idea of something going back to the person it belongs to. Jesus hands the scroll back to the attendant and Zacchaeus restores fourfold what he took, while Abraham gets his son back and the servant should have gotten his master's money back.Luk 4:20Luk 19:8Heb 11:19Mat 25:27
It is the payer's word. The one acting is the debtor, the master, or the employer who hands over what is owed, so it is regularly rendered "pay": the prisoner who must pay the last coin, the servant ordered to pay his debt, the owner told to pay the workers their wages.Mat 5:26Mat 18:25Mat 20:8
It covers obligations that are not debts of money at all: the taxes owed to Caesar, the vows a person owes to God, what husband and wife owe each other, and the honor and taxes owed to those in authority.Mat 22:21Mat 5:331Co 7:3Rom 13:7
It stretches to giving over words rather than goods: giving an account of careless speech, of a stewardship, of a life, and giving testimony to the resurrection.Mat 12:36Luk 16:2Heb 13:17Act 4:33
It is also the ordinary word for selling, handing property over in exchange for a price: the land sold by Ananias and Sapphira, Joseph sold into Egypt, Esau selling his birthright for one meal.Act 5:8Act 7:9Heb 12:16
It can describe something simply producing what it should, with no transaction in view: a tree yielding its fruit, and training that yields a harvest of peace.Rev 22:2Heb 12:11
ἐκκομίζωa compound built on this verb, used once for a dead man being carried out of town for burial; it keeps the plain carrying sense that this word has only once in the New Testament.
komizō in the other biblical languages
שָׁלֵםHebrew“to complete”the Hebrew verb for making something whole and so for paying back what is owed; it views the settling of accounts from the payer's side, where this Greek word views it from the side of the one who collects.
Stands with the one who receives, not the one who pays. It watches something come back into a person's own hands: invested money returned with interest, a son given back from the dead, the reward the Lord hands over to a servant.Mat 25:27Heb 11:191Pe 5:4
Covers taking possession of what was promised rather than what was earned by wrongdoing. Believers wait to obtain the promise, and some die without obtaining it, while others carry off the rescue their trust was aiming at.Heb 10:36Heb 11:391Pe 1:9
Can be plain carrying with no notion of payment at all, as when a woman brings a jar of perfume to the house where Jesus is eating.Luk 7:37
Both
Both name the settling of accounts for what a person has done, and both are used of God doing the settling: he gives each one back exactly what their deeds have earned. The Hebrew states it from God's side as the one who pays out, the Greek from the person's side as the one who collects.Deu 7:10Job 34:11Psa 62:122Co 5:10Col 3:25
Both cover the good side of that account as well as the punishing side, so a kindness done can be answered by a repayment from God rather than only a wrong being avenged.Rut 2:12Pro 19:17Eph 6:8
Both belong first to the ordinary world of money owed and money returned, before either is applied to God: one is used of a debt paid off from the sale of oil, the other of entrusted funds handed back with the interest they gained.2Ki 4:7Mat 25:27
Stands with the one who pays, and it is the everyday legal word for making a loss whole again: an owner covers the animal his open pit killed, a thief restores what he stole and often several times over.Exo 21:34Exo 22:1Lev 24:18Pro 6:31
Means bringing a piece of work to its finish, with nothing owed to anyone: the temple work is completed, the wall of Jerusalem is completed.1Ki 7:512Ch 5:1Neh 6:15
Is the standing word for keeping a vow, giving God what a worshipper promised him and must not delay handing over.Deu 23:21Psa 50:14Psa 116:14Jon 2:9
Reaches beyond money and deeds to relationships, describing cities, kings, and even enemies coming to terms and living at peace with another party.Jos 10:1Jos 11:191Ki 22:44Pro 16:7
Carries the settled idea of receiving back what one is owed, the recompense earned by conduct, whether reward or penalty. The subject is a recipient of what is coming to him, not one who reaches out to grasp.2Co 5:10Col 3:25Eph 6:8
Reaches for obtaining the promised thing, carrying off the outcome of faith as a prize or crown at the end of endurance.Heb 10:361Pe 1:91Pe 5:4
Both
Both can mean to receive something into one's own possession and end up holding what one has gained: the Hebrew word does so broadly across the Old Testament, and the Greek word takes up that same idea of coming into possession in the New Testament.Gen 14:21Mat 25:27
The all-purpose word for laying hold of and fetching anything: picking up an object and moving it, taking the initiative to get what is wanted.Gen 2:21Gen 18:7Gen 12:5
Stretches to forceful seizing, capturing a person, or carrying off goods as plunder, a violent taking the Greek word never bears.Gen 14:11Gen 14:12
Serves the marriage idiom "to take a wife", the standard Hebrew way of saying a man marries, which has no place in the Greek word's range.Gen 4:19Gen 11:29
What scholars say about komizō
The verb is well attested from Homer onward. LSJ documents an active sense of taking care of something, carrying it away safely, or conveying it, alongside a middle that regularly means to carry off for oneself, to recover, or to receive what is one's due, covering property, wages, and a body reclaimed for burial. BDAG divides the New Testament evidence along the same line: one active instance (Luke 7:37, κομίσασα with the alabaster jar) and nine middle instances, subdivided into receive or obtain (2 Corinthians 5:10;Ephesians 6:8;Colossians 3:25;Hebrews 10:36; 11:39; 1 Peter 1:9; 5:4) and recover or get back (Matthew 25:27;Hebrews 11:19). Commentators on Hebrews (Attridge; Ellingworth) note the pointed contrast between 11:19, where Abraham does κομίζω his son back, and 11:39, where the whole company of the faithful does not κομίζω the promise, with 10:36 holding out the same verb as still to be fulfilled. On 2 Corinthians 5:10 Harris stresses that the verb is neutral as to outcome, governing ἀγαθόν and φαῦλον alike, so its recompense language is not inherently punitive. Whether 1 Peter 5:4 belongs with the recompense uses or with the promise uses is a matter of contextual judgment rather than lexical disagreement.
Sources
BDAG, s.v. κομίζωlexicon
LSJ, s.v. κομίζωlexicon
Harold W. Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1989)commentary
Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews (NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993)commentary
Murray J. Harris, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005)commentary