Greek word · G206

ἄκρον

akron

end

Akron is the tip, peak, or farthest edge of something (BDAG). In the Septuagint 'from the end of X to the end of X' is a fixed way of saying 'the whole extent'. Ouranos covers both the visible sky and the dwelling of God. Which one is meant depends on context.

Appears 6 times in 4 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἄκρος, -α, -ον

[in LXX for קֶצַח, בֹּהֶן, etc. ;]

highest, extreme; as subst., τὸ ἄ., the top, extremity: Mark 13:27, Luke 16:24, Hebrews 11:21; pl. (cf. MM, VGT, see word), Matthew 24:31.†

(AS)

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 Mark 13:27

Range of meaning

Akron is the tip, peak, or farthest edge of something (BDAG). In the Septuagint 'from the end of X to the end of X' is a fixed way of saying 'the whole extent'. Ouranos covers both the visible sky and the dwelling of God. Which one is meant depends on context.

Against the English

KJV/BSB/ESV 'to the ends of heaven' can sound as if the angels also gather people out of heaven itself. WEB's 'to the ends of the sky' keeps the picture of the horizon. The NLT flattens it to 'from all over the world', which gets the sense right but loses the image.

How it drifted

In modern English 'heaven' mainly means the place where the saved go after death. Readers then take the phrase as a gathering of souls from heaven as well as of the living from earth. Nothing in the idiom points that way.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 30:4 LXX: 'from the end of heaven to the end of heaven'. Deut 13:7 LXX: 'from the end of the earth to the end of the earth'. Mark's wording seems to join the two. Matthew 24:31 keeps only the sky phrase ('from one end of the heavens to the other'). In the ancient picture of the world, the earth was a broad surface under the dome of the sky, and the two met at the far edge.

From the study of Matthew 24:31

Range of meaning

Tip, top, outermost edge. With 'heaven' it means the edge of the sky, the horizon, where in the ancient picture the dome of the sky rested on the far edges of the earth. 'From the end of heaven to the end of heaven' is an idiom for 'the whole world, horizon to horizon'.

Against the English

'From one end of heaven to the other' (KJV, ESV) is literal, but modern readers hear 'heaven' as the afterlife. 'Sky' (WEB) and the BSB's 'heavens' come closer to the original picture.

How it drifted

In English, 'heaven' mostly names the place where God and the dead are, while Greek ouranos was first of all the visible sky. Readers can therefore picture souls brought down from heaven, when the text pictures people gathered from every horizon on earth.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deuteronomy 30:4 LXX: 'if your scattered people are from the end of heaven to the end of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you'. This is the closest parallel, and it combines scattering, the edges of the sky and God's gathering. Deuteronomy 4:32; Psalm 19:6 (the sun's course 'from the end of the heavens'). Zechariah 2:6 LXX: 'from the four winds of heaven I will gather you'. Mark 13:27 has 'from the end of the earth to the end of heaven'.

Where it appears

Matthew · 2

  1. Matthew 24:31 ἄκρων ἄκρων [the] ends, ends

    And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

    Here: The outermost edge. Here it is the edge of the sky, where the sky seems to meet the earth at the horizon.

Mark · 2

  1. Mark 13:27 ἄκρου ἄκρου end

    And He will send out the angels to gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

    Here: The outermost edge. Here it means the farthest boundary of the world.

Luke · 1

  1. Luke 16:24 ἄκρον tip

    So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in agony in this fire.’

    Here: The very end of the finger. He asks for the smallest possible amount of water, a deliberate contrast with his daily feasting in verse 19.

Hebrews · 1

  1. Hebrews 11:21 ἄκρον top

    By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

    Here: The upper end or head of the staff, where the hand grips it. It translates Hebrew rosh, 'head', in Genesis 47:31.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.