Greek word · G3351

μετοικίζω

metoikizō

to deport

To make someone change where they live: to resettle, move, transplant. It is usually something done to people by someone else, often a ruler moving a population, so it can mean 'deport'. But it is not always hostile or forced.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

μετ-οικίζω

(μέτοικος, an emigrant), [in LXX chiefly for גָּלָה hi. ;]

to remove to a new abode, cause to migrate: Acts 7:4, 43" (LXX) .†

(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 Acts 7:4

Range of meaning

To make someone change where they live: to resettle, move, transplant. It is usually something done to people by someone else, often a ruler moving a population, so it can mean 'deport'. But it is not always hostile or forced.

Against the English

KJV 'removed', ESV 'removed', NIV 'sent', WEB 'moved', BSB 'brought', YLT 'did remove'. The Strong's gloss 'to deport' is too negative here. God is not exiling Abraham. He is relocating him to the promised land.

How it drifted

'Deport' is a fair gloss for v. 43 and most Septuagint uses. Applied here, it gives the verb a punitive edge that the context does not support. KJV's 'removed' has drifted in modern English toward 'got rid of'.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Septuagint it is used for exile, e.g. Amos 5:27, quoted at Acts 7:43: 'I will resettle (metoikiō) you beyond Babylon'. Related words appear in 1 Chron 5:6 and 8:6–7. In wider Greek it covers founding colonies and moving populations. Its noun relative metoikesia is the standard word for the Babylonian exile (Matt 1:11–12, 17).

From the study of Acts 7:43

Range of meaning

To make someone change their home: to resettle, transplant or deport. Built from meta ('change') and oikos ('house, household').

Against the English

BSB and NIV 'send you into exile,' KJV and WEB 'carry you away,' NASB 'remove you,' YLT 'remove your dwelling.' All are accurate. YLT best preserves the household picture.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Greek Old Testament it is a standard word for deportation (e.g., Amos 5:27; 1 Chr 5:6; 8:6). The related noun μετοικεσία is used in Matthew 1:11–12 for 'the deportation to Babylon.'

Where it appears

Acts · 2

  1. Acts 7:4 μετῴκισεν He removed

    So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God brought him out of that place and into this land where you are now living.

    Here: 'He resettled (him).' The subject quietly changes here. Abraham went out of Ur himself, but it is God who moves him into Canaan. The same verb comes back in v. 43 for God sending Israel into exile 'beyond Babylon'.

  2. Acts 7:43 μετοικιῶ I will remove

    You have taken along the tabernacle of Molech and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

    Here: Future, with God as the speaker: 'I will move your household elsewhere.' It is a standard Greek Old Testament word for forced deportation. Its root idea is changing one's dwelling (oikos), and YLT brings that out.

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