Greek word · G1582

ἐκκρεμάννυμι

ekkremannymi

to hang upon

Literally 'to hang something from', and in the middle voice 'to hang from, be suspended from'. Used in a figurative sense, it means to depend wholly on someone or to be absorbed in them, as if your weight rested on them (per BDAG, LSJ).

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἐκ-κρέμαννυμι,

[in LXX for קָשַׁר, Genesis 44:30 * ;]

to hang from or upon; mid., ἐκκρέμαμαι: figuratively, ἐξεκρέματο αὐτοῦ άκούων (Rec.; WH read ἐξεκρέμετο, which implies a Pres. ἐκκρέμομαι, otherwise unknown; cf. Veitch, see word κρέμαμαι), Luke 19:48.†

(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 Luke 19:48

Range of meaning

Literally 'to hang something from', and in the middle voice 'to hang from, be suspended from'. Used in a figurative sense, it means to depend wholly on someone or to be absorbed in them, as if your weight rested on them (per BDAG, LSJ).

Against the English

BSB, NIV, ESV and WEB keep the image with 'hung/hanging on his words'. KJV's 'were very attentive to hear him' gives the sense but drops the picture. YLT, 'hanging on him', is closest to the Greek, which has no word for 'words'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Found only here in the New Testament. In the Greek Old Testament, Genesis 44:30 uses it of Jacob and Benjamin: Jacob's 'soul hangs from the soul' of the boy, so that losing Benjamin would kill him (Hebrew: 'his soul is bound up with his soul'). Latin has the same picture. Vergil's Dido 'hangs again from the lips' of Aeneas as he tells his story (Aeneid 4.79). This shows that being suspended on a speaker's mouth was a familiar way to describe spellbound listening.

Where it appears

Luke · 1

  1. Luke 19:48 ἐξεκρέματο were hanging on

    Yet they could not find a way to do so, because all the people hung on His words.

    Here: A vivid picture found only here in the New Testament. The people 'were hanging from' him, suspended on him, completely absorbed. The tense describes something that went on day after day.

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