Greek word · G3911

παραφέρω

parapherō

to take away

To carry or bring aside. In the passive: to be swept aside, carried off course, led astray. It can be used of physical movement (wind pushing clouds) or of the mind being drawn away.

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

What it means

παρα-φέρω

[in LXX: 1 Samuel 21:13 (14) (הָלַל hithpo.), and as seel. 2* ;]

1. to bring to, set before, esp. of food (Hdt., al.).

2. to take or carry away: with accusative of thing(s), before ἀπό, Mark 14:36, Luke 22:42; pass., before ὑπό, Jude 1:12; metaphorically, pass., with dative, Hebrews 13:9.†

(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 Hebrews 13:9

Range of meaning

To carry or bring aside. In the passive: to be swept aside, carried off course, led astray. It can be used of physical movement (wind pushing clouds) or of the mind being drawn away.

Against the English

"Carried away" (BSB, WEB) is close, but in modern English it often means "getting over-excited." The Greek means being moved off course by a force outside yourself. The KJV's "carried about" goes back to a different Greek reading (peripheresthe, "carried around"), which gives a picture of being tossed around in circles (compare Eph 4:14).

How it drifted

Modern English "carried away" has shifted toward emotional excess, which hides the image of drifting off course.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jude 12 uses the same passive participle for "waterless clouds carried along by winds." Classical and Hellenistic Greek uses it for "lead aside, mislead." Hebrews has a whole set of drift-and-anchor images: pararyōmen "drift away" (2:1), hope as an anchor "sure and firm" (bebaian, 6:19).

From the study of Luke 22:42

Range of meaning

Built from 'beside/past' and 'carry': to carry past, bring aside, take away, remove. It can also mean to lead astray (Heb 13:9; Jude 12, of being 'carried away').

Against the English

'Take' (BSB, NIV) or 'remove' (KJV, WEB, ESV, NASB). Both are accurate. Neither keeps the picture of the cup being carried past him. The Latin Vulgate has 'transfer' ('carry across').

Used elsewhere in the period

Mark 14:36 uses the same command form, parenenke. Matthew 26:39 has 'let this cup pass (parelthatō) from me.' So all three Gospels picture the cup going past him.

From the study of Mark 14:36

Range of meaning

'To carry past, carry aside, bring along, remove.' In the passive it can mean 'to be carried away' (Heb 13:9; Jude 12, of being swept along).

Against the English

'Take away' (KJV), 'take' (BSB, NIV), 'remove' (ESV, NASB, WEB), 'make… pass' (YLT). YLT keeps the 'past' movement best. 'Take this cup from me' is clear but loses the picture of the cup being carried by.

Used elsewhere in the period

It is used in ordinary Greek for carrying things along or aside. In this verse it pairs with parerchomai ('pass by') in v. 35, 'that the hour might pass from him,' and both verbs begin with para- ('past').

Where it appears

Mark · 1

  1. Mark 14:36 παρένεγκε do take away

    “Abba, Father,” He said, “all things are possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.”

    Here: A one-time command, 'carry it past / take it aside.' It is said boldly, as a request a son makes to his father. It parallels v. 35, where the hour 'pass[es] by' (parelthē) him: Jesus asks that the cup be carried past him rather than handed to him.

Luke · 1

  1. Luke 22:42 παρένεγκε do take away

    “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.”

    Here: A command in a form that points to one decisive act: 'carry it past / take it aside.' The picture is of a cup carried by without being handed to him to drink.

Hebrews · 1

  1. Hebrews 13:9 παραφέρεσθε· do be taken away;

    Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them.

    Here: A present-tense command in the passive: "don't let yourselves keep being carried off." The picture is of something pushed sideways by an outside force, like clouds blown along by the wind (the same verb in Jude 12). It fits the letter's earlier warning about drifting (2:1) and its image of hope as an anchor (6:19).

Jude · 1

  1. Jude 1:12 παραφερόμεναι, being carried away,

    These men are hidden reefs in your love feasts, shamelessly feasting with you but shepherding only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by the wind; fruitless trees in autumn, twice dead after being uprooted.

    Here: Passive: pushed past and away, never stopping to give rain. Hebrews 13:9 uses the same verb for being carried off by strange teachings.

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