Greek word · G1560

ἔκδοτος

ekdotos

handed over

Given up, surrendered, handed over into someone else's power. It is used especially of a person given up to enemies or to punishment, and occasionally of a daughter given in marriage.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἔκ-δοτος, -ον

(ἐκδίδωμι), [in LXX: Da TH Bel 1:22 * ;]

given up, delivered over: Acts 2:23 (for construction, see Field, Notes, 111 f.).†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Acts 2:23

Range of meaning

Given up, surrendered, handed over into someone else's power. It is used especially of a person given up to enemies or to punishment, and occasionally of a daughter given in marriage.

Against the English

'Delivered up' (BSB, WEB) and 'handed over' are right. KJV's bare 'being delivered' can sound to modern ears like 'rescued' or 'brought to a door'. The NLT apparently turns it into a reference to Jesus being betrayed, which narrows it to Judas's act. The Greek points first to God's surrender of Jesus.

How it drifted

Modern English 'deliver' mainly means 'rescue' or 'bring (a package)', not 'surrender into another's power'.

Used elsewhere in the period

A New Testament hapax (a word that appears only once in the NT). Greek Bel and the Dragon 22 (Theodotion's version): the king gave Bel ἔκδοτον, 'over', to Daniel to destroy. BDAG cites classical and Hellenistic examples, including Josephus, for surrendering people to enemies. It echoes the gospel language of Jesus being 'handed over' (παραδίδωμι), e.g. Luke 9:44; 24:7, and Isa 53:6, 12 LXX (the servant 'handed over' for sins).

Where it appears

Acts · 1

  1. Acts 2:23 ἔκδοτον delivered up

    He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.

    Here: An adjective used for someone given up into another's power, especially to enemies. Jesus was surrendered to his killers, and in context God is the one who gave him up.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.