Greek word · G45

ἄγκυρα

ankyra

anchor

A ship's anchor: in the period usually a wooden shank with lead or iron stock and arms, or older stone weights. By extension, anything that holds firm and keeps you from being driven off course; a standard figure for hope and for a last resort in trouble.

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

What it means

ἄγκυρα, -ας, ἡ (ἄγκος, a bend), [in Sm.: Jeremiah 52:18 * ;]

an anchor: Acts 27:29, 30 40 ; figuratively (MM, VGT, see word), Hebrews 6:19.†

(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 6:19

Range of meaning

A ship's anchor: in the period usually a wooden shank with lead or iron stock and arms, or older stone weights. By extension, anything that holds firm and keeps you from being driven off course; a standard figure for hope and for a last resort in trouble.

Against the English

'Anchor' is accurate. What English readers may miss is how ordinary and how emotionally loaded the picture was in a seafaring Mediterranean world, where storms and shipwreck were common (Acts 27; 2 Cor 11:25).

Used elsewhere in the period

Acts 27:29–40 (the only other NT uses): sailors in a storm off Malta drop four anchors from the stern and 'pray for day'. Greek writers used the anchor as a picture of hope; a saying preserved under Epictetus' name warns that one should not moor a ship on a single anchor or a life on a single hope. Greek proverbial language spoke of the 'sacred anchor' (hiera ankyra), the heaviest anchor kept for the final emergency, meaning one's last and surest resource (LSJ). The anchor later became one of the commonest early Christian symbols in the Roman catacombs, very likely inspired partly by this verse.

Where it appears

Acts · 3

  1. Acts 27:29 ἀγκύρας anchors

    Fearing that we would run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daybreak.

  2. Acts 27:30 ἀγκύρας anchors

    Meanwhile, the sailors attempted to escape from the ship. Pretending to lower anchors from the bow, they let the lifeboat down into the sea.

  3. Acts 27:40 ἀγκύρας anchors

    Cutting away the anchors, they left them in the sea as they loosened the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach.

Hebrews · 1

  1. Hebrews 6:19 ἄγκυραν an anchor

    We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,

    Here: A ship's anchor, the thing that stops a vessel being driven onto rocks or swept off in a storm. Greek writers already used it as a picture of hope; the writer takes up a familiar image.

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