Greek word · G4324
προσαπειλέω
prosapeileō
to threaten further
"To threaten in addition" or "to add threats": pros- ("besides") plus apeileō ("to threaten"). It is a rare compound.
Appears once in 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
"To threaten in addition" or "to add threats": pros- ("besides") plus apeileō ("to threaten"). It is a rare compound.
- Against the English
"Further threatened" (KJV, WEB, YLT) and "after further threats" (BSB) are accurate. What English cannot easily show is that this is the only time the word appears in the New Testament, and Luke appears to choose it to stress that threats were piled up because nothing else was available.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Used only here in the New Testament. The simple verb apeileō appears in 4:17 ("let us warn them", literally "threaten them with a threat") and the noun apeilē in 4:29, where the believers pray, "Lord, look upon their threats." Classical writers use the compound occasionally (e.g. Demosthenes).
Where it appears
Acts · 1
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Acts 4:21 προσαπειλησάμενοι having further threatened [them]
After further threats they let them go. They could not find a way to punish them, because all the people were glorifying God for what had happened.
Here: "Having piled on more threats." The prefix pros- ("in addition") looks back to the warning already given in 4:17–18. Threats are all the council can do, and the narrative presents that as weakness.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.