ὑπάντησις

From the study of John 12:13

Range of meaning

'For a meeting.' In general use it means going out to meet someone. In Hellenistic usage it often refers to the formal civic welcome of a king, general or governor: citizens go out of the city, greet him on the road, and escort him in.

Against the English

'Went out to meet him' is accurate but sounds casual in English. The phrase could suggest an organized public reception of a ruler.

Used elsewhere in the period

Josephus describes Jerusalem's priests and people going out to meet Alexander the Great (Antiquities 11.326–331), and similar civic receptions elsewhere. The related noun apantēsis appears in Matthew 25:6 (the bridegroom) and 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (meeting the Lord 'in the air'). The other Gospels do not use this phrase for the entry.

From the study of Matthew 25:1

Range of meaning

A meeting, a going out to meet someone, usually someone who is arriving. It is closely related to apantēsis (used in v. 6 and in some manuscripts here).

Against the English

'To meet' is accurate. What English leaves out is the custom behind it: going out in a group to receive someone and escort him back.

Used elsewhere in the period

Apantēsis is used for formal receptions of arriving dignitaries, where citizens went out of the city to greet a ruler and accompany him in (Polybius; Josephus). In the NT see Acts 28:15 (believers come out to meet Paul and escort him to Rome) and 1 Thessalonians 4:17. Erik Peterson (1930) argued that it was a semi-technical term for such receptions. Later scholars accept the custom but question whether the word was technical.

From the study of Matthew 8:34

Range of meaning

A going out to meet someone, an encounter. In the phrase eis hypantēsin ('for a meeting') it means going out from a town or house to meet a person who is arriving. It can be friendly, as in welcoming a guest or a bridegroom. In military contexts it can be hostile, as in going out to confront an enemy.

Against the English

'To meet' is accurate, but in English it is a flat word. The Greek phrase brings to mind a whole community streaming out to receive an arriving figure, which English 'meet' does not.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint uses it for going out to meet an arriving person, sometimes in peace and sometimes in battle (e.g. Judges 11:34, where Jephthah's daughter comes out to meet him; 1 Samuel/1 Kingdoms usage). In the New Testament it appears in John 12:13, where the Jerusalem crowd goes out 'to meet' Jesus with palm branches, and in Matthew 25:1, where the bridesmaids go out to meet the bridegroom. The closely related apantēsis was used in Hellenistic Greek for a town's formal delegation going out to receive a visiting dignitary (Peterson's classic study; cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:17).