ἐκπνέω

From the study of Luke 23:46

Range of meaning

"To breathe out", and so "to breathe one's last, expire, die." In Greek writers from Sophocles and Euripides to Plutarch it is a common, dignified word for death.

Against the English

"Breathed his last" (BSB, WEB, NIV, ESV) is exact. KJV's "gave up the ghost" was accurate in 1611, when "ghost" (Old English gāst) meant spirit or breath. Today it suggests a phantom, or else giving up. YLT's "breathed forth the spirit" spells out the link with pneuma, but adds a word the Greek verb does not have.

How it drifted

After the 1600s, "ghost" narrowed to mean an apparition (except in "Holy Ghost"), and "give up" picked up the sense of quitting.

Used elsewhere in the period

Mark 15:37, 39 uses the same verb for Jesus' death. Matthew 27:50 has "he let go the spirit" (ἀφῆκεν τὸ πνεῦμα) and John 19:30 "he handed over the spirit" (παρέδωκεν τὸ πνεῦμα). Luke keeps Mark's plain verb but puts the prayer before it, so the handing over is said in the prayer rather than in the verb.

From the study of Mark 15:37

Range of meaning

'To breathe out, blow out.' Used of a person it means to exhale for the last time, that is, to die (BDAG; LSJ). Writers could use it alone ('he expired') or with an object ('breathed out his life/soul'). Mark uses it alone. It is a plain description of death, neither crude nor elevated.

Against the English

BSB, NIV, ESV and NASB use 'breathed his last', which is close to the Greek. KJV 'gave up the ghost', WEB 'gave up the spirit' and YLT 'yielded the spirit' instead echo the different wording of Matthew 27:50 ('let go the spirit') and John 19:30 ('handed over the spirit'). Mark has no word for 'spirit' and no word for 'give up'.

How it drifted

The KJV wording comes from the Tyndale tradition ('gave up the gost'), which used one stock English idiom for dying across the Gospels. In 1611 'ghost' meant spirit or breath, as in 'Holy Ghost'. It later narrowed to 'phantom', and 'give up the ghost' became a joking idiom for something breaking down.

Used elsewhere in the period

Common in classical and later Greek for dying: Sophocles uses it with 'life' as object (Ajax 1026, 'you breathed out your life'), and later prose writers such as Plutarch use it alone for 'expire'. In the New Testament it appears only at Mark 15:37, 15:39 and Luke 23:46, where Luke follows Mark's verb after adding the saying 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit'. It is rare or absent in the Septuagint.

From the study of Mark 15:39

Range of meaning

'To breathe out', a common and dignified way to say 'die, expire'. It is related to pneō ('blow, breathe') and pneuma ('breath, wind, spirit').

Against the English

BSB/WEB 'breathed his last' is accurate. KJV 'gave up the ghost' was accurate in 1611, when 'ghost' meant 'spirit, breath'. Today 'ghost' suggests a haunting spirit (see drift). NIV's 'saw how he died' is clear but loses the picture of breath.

How it drifted

Only in the KJV's 'ghost', whose sense has narrowed since the 17th century.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used for dying in classical writers (e.g. Sophocles) and in Plutarch. In the NT only in Mark 15:37, 39 and Luke 23:46.