Greek word · G1688
ἐμβιβάζω
embibazō
to put on board
Literally "cause to go in/on": to put someone on board, to embark passengers or troops. Classical writers use it as a nautical term for loading soldiers or passengers onto ships.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
ἐμ-βιβάζω
[in LXX: 2 Kings 9:23 (רָכַב hi.), Proverbs 4:11 (דָּרַךְ hi.) * ;]
1. to set in, put in.
2. to put on board ship, embark: with accusative of person(s), before εἰς, Acts 27:6.†
(AS)
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
Literally "cause to go in/on": to put someone on board, to embark passengers or troops. Classical writers use it as a nautical term for loading soldiers or passengers onto ships.
- Against the English
"Put us on board" (BSB, WEB) and "put us therein" (KJV) are accurate. The verb is causative. The centurion embarks the prisoners; they do not book passage themselves.
- Used elsewhere in the period
This is the only place the word occurs in the New Testament. Its nautical use is standard in classical and Hellenistic Greek, for example historians describing troops being embarked (see LSJ and BDAG s.v.).
Where it appears
Acts · 1
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Acts 27:6 ἐνεβίβασεν he placed
There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and put us on board.
Here: "He put on board": a technical term for loading people onto a ship. Its subject is the centurion, so the prisoners do not choose their passage; Paul, Luke and Aristarchus are moved as one group under his authority.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.