ἐξαλείφω

From the study of Acts 3:19

Range of meaning

Made from ex ('out, off') and aleiphō ('smear, anoint'). Basic sense: to wipe off or out. Hence to erase writing, strike a name from a list, cancel a record, and more broadly to obliterate or destroy. It can also mean to plaster or whitewash over (LSJ; BDAG).

Against the English

KJV/WEB/ESV 'blotted out' and BSB/NASB/NLT 'wiped away' both work. 'Blotted out' can sound like covering a stain with ink. The Greek picture is removal: the writing is gone.

Used elsewhere in the period

Classical Greek uses it for erasing a name from an official roll: Xenophon (Hellenica 2.3.51) has Critias strike Theramenes' name from the list of citizens. Ancient carbon ink could be washed off papyrus with a damp sponge. In the Greek Old Testament: Moses asks to be 'blotted out' of God's book (Exod 32:32–33); 'blot out my transgression' (Ps 51:1, 9 [LXX 50:3, 11]); 'I am he who blots out your transgressions… and I will not remember your sins' (Isa 43:25; compare 44:22). In the NT: Col 2:14 (the record of debt 'erased'); Rev 3:5 (names not blotted from the book of life); Rev 7:17; 21:4 (God 'wipes away' every tear).

From the study of Revelation 21:4

Range of meaning

To wipe something off a surface. From that: to erase, blot out, obliterate. It was used for smearing out writing, removing a name from a register, cancelling a record, or destroying something completely.

Against the English

'Wipe away' is accurate and keeps the tender picture. What English does not carry is the other half of the word's use, 'blot out' or 'erase'. Readers of Greek knew the same verb from crossing names out of lists and wiping records clean.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament used by most first-century Christians) it is used for God wiping out living things in the flood (Gen 7:4, 23), for blotting out sins (Ps 51:1, 9 = LXX 50:3, 11), and for blotting a name out of God's book (Exod 32:32–33). In the New Testament: Acts 3:19 (sins wiped out), Col 2:14 (the written record erased), Rev 3:5 ('I will never blot out his name from the book of life'), and Rev 7:17, which has the same promise word for word. It is a natural Greek equivalent of the Hebrew verb in Isaiah 25:8, māḥâ, which also means both 'wipe' (2 Kgs 21:13, wiping a dish) and 'blot out' (Gen 6:7; Exod 32:32).

From the study of Revelation 3:5

Range of meaning

To wipe away, smear out, erase. It was used of erasing writing from a wax tablet or whitewashed board, of striking a name from a list, and of wiping away tears (Rev 7:17; 21:4) or sins (Acts 3:19).

Against the English

KJV/BSB/WEB/ESV 'blot out'; NASB/NLT 'erase'. 'Blot out' is a slightly old-fashioned image (ink blot). 'Erase' or 'strike off' captures the register image better.

Used elsewhere in the period

Septuagint Exod 32:32–33: Moses asks to be 'wiped out of your book', and God answers, 'whoever has sinned against me, I will wipe out of my book'. Ps 68:29 LXX (69:28 in English): 'let them be wiped out of the book of the living'. In Greek civic life names were struck from citizen rolls. Xenophon (Hellenica 2.3.51) describes Critias erasing Theramenes from the list of citizens, which stripped him of his rights and allowed his execution. Jubilees 30:22 speaks of the wicked being 'blotted out of the book of life'.