ἀπειλέω

From the study of 1 Peter 2:23

Range of meaning

To threaten or warn of harm to come, to menace. In the NT it appears only here and in Acts 4:17 (the Sanhedrin threatening the apostles). The noun apeilē, 'threat', appears in Acts 4:29; 9:1 and Eph 6:9, where masters are told to stop threatening their slaves.

Against the English

Translations are fairly uniform: 'made no threats', 'threatened not', 'did not threaten'. NLT's 'threaten revenge' makes explicit that the threat is of retaliation. That is a fair reading.

Used elsewhere in the period

The sharpest background is Jewish martyr literature. In 2 Maccabees 7 the dying brothers warn King Antiochus that God will punish him (7:17, 19, 31–35). In 4 Maccabees the martyrs repeatedly announce divine judgment and fiery torment on the tyrant (e.g. 4 Macc 9:9; 10:11; 12:12). Jeremiah, too, hands his cause to God and asks to see God's vengeance on his persecutors (Jer 11:20). Threatening the oppressor with God's coming judgment was a recognised and honourable way for a righteous sufferer to die.

From the study of Acts 4:17

Range of meaning

To threaten or menace: to state, or hint at, harm that will follow if someone does not comply. Used of rulers, enemies and masters. In the middle voice, as here, the meaning is the same. The related noun ἀπειλή means "a threat".

Against the English

KJV and WEB say "threaten", and YLT "strictly threaten". BSB, NIV, ESV and NASB soften it to "warn". In modern English "warn" can sound like friendly advice. The Greek is a threat backed by the power of the court that had just handed Jesus over to Pilate.

How it drifted

This is a translator's choice rather than a change in the English word. "Warn" probably reflects the view that this was a formal legal caution (see debates), but it loses the menace that Luke puts in the word.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used in Greek from Homer onward. In the New Testament only here and 1 Peter 2:23 (Christ "did not threaten" when he suffered). Luke ties the scene together with this word family: ἀπειλησώμεθα (4:17), προσαπειλησάμενοι, "having threatened them further" (4:21), and τὰς ἀπειλὰς αὐτῶν, "their threats" (4:29), which the community lays before God in prayer.