StrongerBible

pempō

πέμπω

GreekG3992send

Appears 79 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 2:8Mat 11:2Mat 14:10Mat 22:7Mrk 5:12Luk 4:26Luk 7:6Luk 7:10Luk 7:19Luk 15:15Luk 16:24Luk 16:27Luk 20:11Luk 20:12Luk 20:13Jhn 1:22Jhn 1:33Jhn 4:34Jhn 5:23Jhn 5:24Jhn 5:30Jhn 5:37Jhn 6:38Jhn 6:39Jhn 6:44Jhn 7:16Jhn 7:18Jhn 7:28Jhn 7:33Jhn 8:16Jhn 8:18Jhn 8:26Jhn 8:29Jhn 9:4Jhn 12:44Jhn 12:45Jhn 13:16Jhn 13:20 (2×)Jhn 14:24Jhn 14:26Jhn 15:21Jhn 15:26Jhn 16:5Jhn 16:7Jhn 20:21Act 10:5Act 10:32Act 10:33Act 11:29Act 15:22
Names & words formed with this
Word studyPEM-pohverb

What pempō means

to send: to dispatch a person, messenger, or thing toward a destination or purpose

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

The basic act of causing someone or something to go from the sender to a recipient or destination. The sender initiates the movement and stands behind what or whom is sent, but the sender does not necessarily accompany the one sent. The word covers the full range: a king sending soldiers, friends sending greetings, a church sending a delegate, angels sent on divine missions.

In John's Gospel, pempo carries a distinctive theological weight. Jesus speaks repeatedly of "the Father who sent me," a fixed phrase that appears more than a dozen times. The repetition is deliberate: Jesus traces every word he speaks, every work he does, and his very authority back to the Father who dispatched him. Being sent in this sense means acting under the sender's mandate and representing the sender's will completely. John 20:21 draws the line forward: "As the Father has sent me, I also send you."

Paul uses the word practically and affectionately. He sends Timothy to Corinth, Epaphroditus back to Philippi, Tychicus to Ephesus and Colossae, all to serve as his representatives and to strengthen the communities he cannot visit in person. In Revelation, the word governs divine commands ("send your sickle") and the circulation of the book itself ("send it to the seven churches").

Mat 2:8Luk 7:19Luk 15:15Jhn 5:37Jhn 14:26Jhn 20:21Act 10:5Act 20:17Rom 8:3Php 2:28Php 4:161Th 3:2

What scholars say about pempō

Lexica consistently treat πέμπω as a simple verb of sending without technical specialization. BDAG lists it as "to send" with no semantic subdivisions, noting its broad range of subjects and objects across the NT corpus. The theological concentration in John's Gospel (the Father-sends-the-Son formula) is widely discussed in Johannine scholarship: Raymond Brown's commentary on John treats the sending formula as central to Johannine Christology, with the sender-sent relationship expressing both derivation and complete representation. The proposed semantic distinction between πέμπω and ἀποστέλλω: that the former denotes mere dispatching while the latter denotes authorized commissioning, was popularized in older word-study literature but has been largely abandoned. LSJ gives the classical range without any technical sense. The interchangeability in John is noted in EDNT, which concludes no consistent theological distinction can be pressed.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. πέμπωlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. πέμπωlexicon
  • EDNT, s.v. πέμπωdictionary
  • Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John, Anchor Bible 29 (1966), Introduction and commentary on Johannine sending languagecommentary

All attested forms of πέμπω

aorist active participle nominative m s

πέμψας

Mat 2:8, Mat 11:2, Mat 14:10, Mat 22:7, Jhn 1:33, Jhn 5:37, Jhn 6:44, Jhn 7:28

aorist active indicative 1s

ἔπεμψα

Act 10:33, Act 23:30, 1Co 4:17, 2Co 9:3, Eph 6:22, Php 2:28, Col 4:8, 1Th 3:5

aorist active participle genitive m s

πέμψαντός, πέμψαντος

Jhn 4:34, Jhn 5:30, Jhn 6:38, Jhn 6:39, Jhn 7:16, Jhn 9:4, Jhn 14:24, Jhn 7:18

aorist active infinitive

πέμψαι

Luk 20:11, Luk 20:12, Act 11:29, Act 15:22, Act 15:25, Php 2:19, Php 2:23, Php 2:25

aorist active imperative 2s

πέμψον

Mrk 5:12, Luk 16:24, Act 10:5, Act 10:32, Rev 1:11, Rev 14:15, Rev 14:18

aorist active participle accusative m s

πέμψαντά, πέμψαντα

Jhn 7:33, Jhn 12:44, Jhn 12:45, Jhn 13:20, Jhn 15:21, Jhn 16:5, Jhn 5:23

future active indicative 1s

πέμψω

Luk 20:13, Jhn 15:26, Jhn 16:7, 1Co 16:3

aorist active indicative 3s

ἔπεμψεν

Luk 7:6, Luk 7:19, Luk 15:15

aorist active subjunctive 1s

πέμψω

Jhn 13:20, Tit 3:12

aorist active indicative 1p

ἐπέμψαμεν

1Th 3:2

aorist active indicative 2p

ἐπέμψατε

Php 4:16

aorist active participle dative m p

πέμψασιν

Jhn 1:22

aorist active participle dative m s

πέμψαντί

Jhn 5:24

aorist active participle nominative m p

πέμψαντες

Act 19:31

aorist active subjunctive 2s

πέμψῃς

Luk 16:27

aorist passive indicative 3s

ἐπέμφθη

Luk 4:26

aorist passive participle nominative m p

πεμφθέντες

Luk 7:10

future active indicative 3p

πέμψουσιν

Rev 11:10

future active indicative 3s

πέμψει

Jhn 14:26

present active indicative 1s

πέμπω

Jhn 20:21

present active indicative 3s

πέμπει

2Th 2:11

present active infinitive

πέμπειν

Act 25:25

present active participle accusative m s

πέμποντα

Act 25:27

present passive participle dative m p

πεμπομένοις

1Pe 2:14