Greek word · G4156
πνικτός
pniktos
strangled
'Strangled, choked'. Used as a noun it means meat from an animal killed in a way that keeps the blood in the body (strangling, snaring, wringing a bird's neck), not by cutting the throat and draining it.
Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
'Strangled, choked'. Used as a noun it means meat from an animal killed in a way that keeps the blood in the body (strangling, snaring, wringing a bird's neck), not by cutting the throat and draining it.
- Against the English
'Things strangled' (KJV) and 'what is strangled' (ESV, WEB) can leave a modern reader unsure what is meant. BSB and NIV ('the meat of strangled animals') make the food setting clear. The real issue is undrained blood, not strangling as such.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Not used in this sense in the Septuagint. It was probably shorthand among Jews. Philo, a Jewish writer in Alexandria in the first century, condemns people who strangle animals so the blood stays in the meat (Special Laws 4.122–123). The Torah bans eating animals that died on their own or were torn by beasts, and requires a hunter to drain the blood of game, for the foreigner as for the native (Leviticus 17:13–15).
- Range of meaning
'Strangled, choked.' Used of food, it means meat from an animal killed without being bled: strangled, snared, smothered, or dead in a way that left the blood in the carcass. In ordinary Greek cooking, 'choked' could also describe something stewed or smothered in a covered pot.
- Against the English
'Things strangled' (KJV, ESV) suggests a method of killing, while the concern is the result: meat with the blood still in it. The BSB's 'meat of strangled animals' is clearer, and the NLT ties it explicitly to food.
- How it drifted
In English, 'strangled' only describes a manner of death. The ritual-food category behind the Greek is unknown to most modern readers.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Not in the Greek Old Testament. Philo (Special Laws 4.122) condemns people who 'strangle and throttle' animals to keep the blood in the meat for luxury. Leviticus 17:13–15 requires that even hunted game have its blood poured out, and treats meat from an animal that died on its own or was torn by beasts as defiling for the native-born and the stranger alike. Later rabbinic law uses the category nevelah (carcass not properly slaughtered).
Where it appears
Acts · 3
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Acts 15:20 πνικτοῦ which is strangled
Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.
Here: An adjective used as a noun: 'the strangled (thing)'. It means meat from an animal killed without letting its blood drain out, so the blood stays in the flesh.
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Acts 15:29 πνικτῶν from a strangled [one]
You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.
Here: Meat from animals killed in a way that left the blood in the flesh (snared, strangled, choked) rather than slaughtered and drained. It is a food category, not a comment on cruelty.
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Acts 21:25 πνικτὸν what is strangled
As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.