StrongerBible

metalambanō

μεταλαμβάνω

GreekG3335“partake of, share in, ...”

Appears 7 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Act 2:46Act 24:25Act 27:33Act 27:342Ti 2:6Heb 6:7Heb 12:10
Compound of
metaμετάwith/after477G3326
lambanōλαμβάνωto take266G2983
Root family
Word studyResearch-grademeh-tah-lam-BAH-noverb

What metalambanō means

1

to take one's share of something, to partake of it or share in it along with others

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This is the everyday Greek word for taking part in something by receiving a portion of it. The picture is of a larger whole (a meal, a harvest, a blessing) from which a person takes the piece that is theirs, usually alongside other people who are doing the same. It is plain, ordinary language, at home in ancient historians, business documents, and letters, with no built-in religious meaning of its own.

The range runs from the literal to the figurative without changing at its core. At the concrete end it means to eat a share of food. At the figurative end it means to come to share in something given, whether a farmer's crops, a field's blessing, or a share in God's own holiness. In every case the idea is the same: a person receives, and takes part in, a portion of something larger.

Because the word carries this note of a personal share in a shared whole, it lends itself well to describing how people come to participate in what God gives, which is why the letter to the Hebrews reaches for it at its most weighty moments.

Nuances

1ato partake of food, to eat a share of a meal
TranslatabilityDirect
Act 2:46Act 27:33Act 27:34
Act 27:34

Whether the original text of Acts 27:34 has this verb or a near-synonym meaning to take in addition.

  • majorityThe earliest and best manuscripts read this verb, matching verse 33; the alternative is a later smoothing of the text.; B. M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, on Acts 27:34; Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece, 28th ed.
  • minorityThe Received Text reads a near-synonym meaning to take in addition.; Textus Receptus
1bto come to share in a portion of something given, such as a harvest, a blessing, or God's holiness
2Ti 2:6Heb 6:7Heb 12:10
2Ti 2:6

Whether the word first in this verse modifies the farmer's laboring or his partaking of the crops.

  • majorityFirst goes with partaking: the hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.; I. H. Marshall, The Pastoral Epistles (ICC); G. W. Knight, The Pastoral Epistles (NIGTC)
  • minorityFirst goes with laboring: the farmer must work first, and only then partake.; J. D. Quinn and W. C. Wacker, The First and Second Letters to Timothy (Eerdmans Critical Commentary)
Heb 12:10

Whether sharing in God's holiness here means a real participation in God's own life and character or a moral conformity to God completed only in the future.

  • contestedIt means genuine participation in God's holiness, close to sharing in the divine nature, begun now.; P. Ellingworth and E. A. Nida, A Handbook on the Letter to the Hebrews (UBS); D. Peterson, Possessed by God (NSBT); H. W. Attridge, Hebrews (Hermeneia)
  • contestedIt refers to a future conformity to God's character reached through persevering faith.; W. L. Lane, Hebrews 9-13 (WBC)
  • contestedIt is both: an inaugurated sharing now that is consummated in the future.; G. L. Cockerill, The Epistle to the Hebrews (NICNT, rev.); G. H. Guthrie, Hebrews, in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament
2

to get hold of something whole, to come by or find it, as in finding an opportunity

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

The same verb takes on a second, related sense when what is taken is a whole thing rather than a portion of it. Instead of taking a share, the person gets or comes by the whole of something. In the New Testament this shows up in one fixed everyday phrase: to find an opportunity, that is, to get a suitable moment for doing something.

Greek writers of the period used this turn of phrase constantly, and it was as ordinary to them as when I get the chance is to us. The shift from sharing a portion to getting the whole is a natural stretch of the one basic idea of taking, and Greek grammar signals which sense is meant by the form of the object that follows the verb.

Act 24:25

What scholars say about metalambanō

The lexical tradition is unified: this is ordinary, non-technical Koine for sharing or partaking, with the case of the object controlling the nuance. With a genitive of the thing it means to take a share of, partake of; with an accusative it means to get, obtain, find the whole. This case-based distinction, formalized in the grammars of Krueger and Winer, is codified by BDAG, Louw-Nida, and Thayer, and organizes all seven New Testament occurrences. Six use the genitive (Acts 2:46; 27:33-34; 2 Tim 2:6; Heb 6:7; 12:10) and one, Acts 24:25, uses the accusative in the frozen idiom of finding an opportunity paralleled in Polybius and Plutarch. The verb is attested from Pindar and Herodotus, is ubiquitous in Polybius, the documentary papyri (Moulton-Milligan), Philo, and Josephus, and in the Septuagint appears chiefly in the Greek-composed books of 2 Maccabees in the documentary sense of receiving information. TDNT gives it no separate article precisely because there is no distinctive theological development to trace. Scholarly disagreement is confined to the theological weight of particular contexts (possible Eucharistic overtones in Acts 2:46 and 27:33-35; the referent of the crops in 2 Tim 2:6; whether Heb 12:10 encodes real participation in God or future moral conformity), not to the meaning of the verb. Robertson and Winer treat the case alternation as stylistic variation of one meaning, while BDAG, Louw-Nida, Thayer, and Mounce treat it as a genuine two-sense distinction.

Where scholars disagree about metalambanō

Whether this verb is one word whose meaning shifts by context or two distinct case-based senses (partake of a share, with a genitive, versus get or find a whole, with an accusative).

  • majorityThe case of the object marks a genuine two-sense distinction that should be listed separately.; BDAG, s.v. μεταλαμβάνω; Louw and Nida, Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic Domains; Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament
  • minorityThe case alternation is stylistic and aspectual variation of a single meaning.; A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research; G. B. Winer, A Grammar of the Idiom of the New Testament
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. μεταλαμβάνωlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. μεταλαμβάνωlexicon
  • Louw and Nida, Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic Domains, s.v. μεταλαμβάνωlexicon
  • Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. μεταλαμβάνωlexicon
  • Moulton and Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, s.v. μεταλαμβάνωlexicon
  • M. Silva (ed.), New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDNTTE), λαμβάνω word grouptheological-dictionary
  • G. Delling, λαμβάνω, in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT) 4:5-15theological-dictionary
  • I. H. Marshall, The Pastoral Epistles (ICC)commentary
  • H. W. Attridge, Hebrews (Hermeneia)commentary
  • W. L. Lane, Hebrews 9-13 (WBC)commentary
  • C. K. Barrett, Acts (ICC)commentary

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

All attested forms of μεταλαμβάνω

second-aorist active infinitive

μεταλαβεῖν

Act 27:33, Act 27:34, Heb 12:10

imperfect active indicative 3p

μετελάμβανον

Act 2:46

present active indicative 3s

μεταλαμβάνει

Heb 6:7

present active infinitive

μεταλαμβάνειν

2Ti 2:6

second-aorist active participle nominative m s

μεταλαβὼν

Act 24:25