Greek word · G1692
ἐμέω
emeō
to vomit
To vomit or throw up. It is a crude, bodily word, the root of English 'emetic'. Its only NT use is here.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
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 Revelation 3:16
- Range of meaning
To vomit or throw up. It is a crude, bodily word, the root of English 'emetic'. Its only NT use is here.
- Against the English
KJV 'spue', BSB/WEB/YLT 'vomit'. NIV, ESV, NASB and NLT say 'spit you out', which sounds like a mild reaction to a bad sip and is much softer than the Greek.
- How it drifted
Translators may have softened it for public reading. 'Spit' is not wrong about the motion of expelling something, but it loses the disgust.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Common in Greek medical writing for vomiting. The idea of being 'vomited out' as rejection has a strong Old Testament background: the land 'vomits out' its inhabitants for their defilement (Lev 18:25, 28; 20:22, Hebrew qîʾ). The LXX there uses a different verb, so this is a conceptual echo rather than a quotation.
Where it appears
Revelation · 1
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Revelation 3:16 ἐμέσαι to spit
So because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to vomit you out of My mouth!
Here: Aorist infinitive of emeō, the ordinary word for vomiting (it gives us 'emetic'). It means throwing up, not politely spitting out a sip, and it is meant to sound crude and physical.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.