ἐκτρέπω

From the study of 1 Timothy 5:15

Range of meaning

Literally 'turn out of (the way)': to turn aside, divert, or go off course. In the middle and passive it means 'turn oneself aside, stray, swerve' or, with an object, 'avoid, turn away from.' Medical writers used it for a limb being twisted out of joint (a dislocation).

Against the English

'Turned aside' (KJV, BSB, NASB) keeps the road picture well. 'Turned away' (WEB, NIV) can sound like a single act of rejection. 'Strayed' (ESV) can sound like drifting by accident. The Greek is neutral on motive. It marks a change of direction off the proper road.

Used elsewhere in the period

Classical and Hellenistic Greek use it for diverting a river or a road and for turning off a route. Hippocratic medical texts use it of dislocated joints, and Hebrews 12:13 plays on that sense: 'so that what is lame may not be put out of joint.' In the Greek Old Testament (Amos 5:8) God 'turns' deep darkness into morning. Within the New Testament it occurs only in Hebrews 12:13 and the Pastoral Letters (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus): 1 Tim 1:6 (some 'turned aside to empty talk'), 6:20 ('turning away from' godless chatter), and 2 Tim 4:4 ('they will turn aside to myths'). In these letters it is a stock word for leaving sound teaching for something else.

From the study of Hebrews 12:13

Range of meaning

Active: to turn aside or divert. Passive or middle: to turn away, swerve, wander off (1 Tim 1:6; 5:15; 2 Tim 4:4, 'turn aside to myths'). In Greek medical writing it is also a technical term for a joint being turned out of place: dislocated, sprained, wrenched.

Against the English

KJV/YLT 'turned (out of the way / aside)' keep the travel sense. ESV/NRSV/NASB/WEB 'put out of joint / dislocated' take the medical sense. NIV/BSB 'disabled' takes a looser sense of further injury.

How it drifted

'Disabled' in modern English usually names a lasting condition or identity. Here the danger is a temporary weakness getting worse: a bad ankle wrenched, or a stumbling walker veering off the road.

Used elsewhere in the period

LSJ and BDAG both note the medical use for joints. The Pastoral Letters use the word for people turning from the truth. The Latin Vulgate took the 'wander' sense: ut non claudicans quis erret, 'so that no one who limps may stray.'

From the study of 1 Timothy 1:6

Range of meaning

'Turn out of (the way)': to turn aside or wander off. In the middle or passive forms it means to go astray. With a direct object it can mean to turn away from or avoid something (1 Tim 6:20). Medical writers used it for a limb being 'turned out' of its socket, i.e. dislocated, and Hebrews 12:13 likely uses it that way.

Against the English

'Turned aside' (KJV, BSB, NASB) and 'wandered away' keep the path image well. NIV's 'have turned to' loses the sense of leaving the road.

Used elsewhere in the period

Common in classical and Hellenistic Greek for turning off a road. In the Pastorals it is a stock word for defection: 1 Tim 5:15, some young widows 'have turned aside after Satan'; 2 Tim 4:4, people 'will turn aside to myths'; 1 Tim 6:20, Timothy is to 'turn away from' godless chatter.