Greek word · G3179

μεθίστημι

methistēmi

to move

To change the position of something: to move, transfer or remove. Used of removing someone from office (Luke 16:4; Acts 13:22, God "removed" Saul; 1 Macc 8:13, the Romans depose kings as they wish), of moving mountains (1 Cor 13:2), and in historical writers of relocating populations.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

μεθ-ίστημι and (late form, 1 Corinthians 13:2) μεθιστάνω,

[in LXX for סוּר hi., etc. ;]

trans. in Pres., impf., fut. and aor. 1,

to change, remove: with accusative of thing(s), ὄρη, 1 Corinthians 13:2 (cf. Isaiah 54:10); with accusative of person(s): before εἰς, Colossians 1:13; before ἐκ, pass., Luke 16:4; of causing death (cf. similar intrans. sense, Eur., Alc., 21, al.), Acts 13:22. Metaphorical (cf. τ. καρδίαν μ., Joshua 14:8), with accusative of person(s), to pervert: Acts 19:26.†

(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 Colossians 1:13

Range of meaning

To change the position of something: to move, transfer or remove. Used of removing someone from office (Luke 16:4; Acts 13:22, God "removed" Saul; 1 Macc 8:13, the Romans depose kings as they wish), of moving mountains (1 Cor 13:2), and in historical writers of relocating populations.

Against the English

KJV "translated" and WEB/YLT "translate" use the older English sense of moving from one place to another (from Latin transtulit). Modern readers hear translating languages. ESV/NASB/NLT "transferred" is closest. BSB/NIV "brought" is clear but loses the sense of relocation from one jurisdiction to another.

How it drifted

"Translate" once meant to carry across, as when Enoch was "translated" (Heb 11:5 KJV) or a bishop was moved to a new see. Its everyday meaning has narrowed to language.

Used elsewhere in the period

Since Lightfoot, commentators have noted that Josephus uses the verb for an Assyrian king's deportation of a conquered people (Antiquities 9.235). Ancient rulers often resettled populations to secure loyalty. Antiochus III moved two thousand Jewish families from Babylonia into Lydia and Phrygia, the region of Colossae (Josephus, Antiquities 12.147–153).

From the study of Acts 13:22

Range of meaning

To move from one place to another. Of an official, to remove from office or depose. Occasionally used of departing life.

Against the English

'Removing' or 'removed' (BSB, KJV, WEB, YLT) is accurate. It does not say whether Saul's removal came by rejection (1 Sam 15:23–28) or by death (1 Sam 31). The word fits both.

Used elsewhere in the period

Daniel 2:21 (Theodotion's Greek): God 'sets up kings and removes (methista) them'. Luke 16:4: the steward fears being 'removed from the stewardship'.

From the study of Acts 19:26

Range of meaning

To move something from one place to another, to remove, to transfer. Used figuratively, it means to change someone's loyalty or way of thinking, or to win someone away from one side to another. In contexts of loyalty it can carry a negative sense ('lead away, cause to defect'), depending on who is speaking.

Against the English

KJV, ESV and NASB render 'turned away,' which is close. NIV's 'led astray' adds a moral judgment: that is Demetrius's attitude, but more than the word itself says.

Used elsewhere in the period

Luke 16:4 (the steward 'removed' from his post); Col 1:13 (God 'transferred' believers into the kingdom of his Son); 1 Cor 13:2 ('remove mountains'). In the Septuagint, 1 Kgdms (1 Sam) 18:13 uses it for Saul removing David. Josephus uses it for transferring allegiance or position.

Where it appears

Luke · 1

  1. Luke 16:4 μετασταθῶ I may have been removed

    I know what I will do so that after my removal from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’

Acts · 2

  1. Acts 13:22 μεταστήσας having removed

    After removing Saul, He raised up David as their king and testified about him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after My own heart; he will carry out My will in its entirety.’

    Here: 'Having removed' Saul, meaning taken off the throne. It is the usual word for deposing someone from office. God is the one acting: he set Saul in place, and he took him out.

  2. Acts 19:26 μετέστησεν he has turned away

    And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, this Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.

    Here: 'He moved them over': people changed their loyalty and stopped worshipping (and stopped buying) as before. The word describes the move without itself judging it, though Demetrius means it as a complaint.

1 Corinthians · 1

  1. 1 Corinthians 13:2 μεθιστάναι, to remove,

    If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

    Here: 'To shift from one place to another'. Faith that could relocate mountains: a vivid, proverbial overstatement for doing what is humanly impossible.

Colossians · 1

  1. Colossians 1:13 μετέστησεν transferred [us]

    He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son,

    Here: "Relocated" or "transferred." It means moving something or someone from one place or position to another. The word was used for deporting or resettling whole populations and for removing officials from office. The rescued are resettled under a new king.

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