Greek word · G4362
προσπήγνυμι
prospēgnymi
to nail to
προσπήγνυμι: to fix or fasten something to something else, e.g. a pin into a board or a body to a stake. ἀναιρέω: to take up or take away, and so to do away with, kill or execute. It is common in Luke–Acts and is often used of judicial or plotted killing.
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
προσπήγνυμι: to fix or fasten something to something else, e.g. a pin into a board or a body to a stake. ἀναιρέω: to take up or take away, and so to do away with, kill or execute. It is common in Luke–Acts and is often used of judicial or plotted killing.
- Against the English
BSB/NIV 'put him to death by nailing him to the cross' supply 'cross' and 'nailing', which the Greek leaves implied. KJV/WEB 'crucified and slain/killed' turn the participle into a second verb. The Greek has one action ('you killed') carried out by means of another ('having fastened him').
- Used elsewhere in the period
προσπήγνυμι is a New Testament hapax, but common enough in Greek for fastening things. Compare Col 2:14, where God 'nailed' (προσηλώσας) the record of debt to the cross. ἀναιρέω: Luke 22:2 (the leaders seek how they might do away with Jesus); Acts 5:33; 7:28; 9:23, 29.
Where it appears
Acts · 1
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Acts 2:23 προσπήξαντες having crucified
He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.
Here: 'Having fastened [him] to [something]'. The word 'cross' is not stated, but no Jerusalem listener could miss it. It is a blunt, physical word and appears only here in the NT.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.