Greek word · G5608

ὠνέομαι

ōneomai

to buy

To buy or purchase. It is the standard word in Greek legal and commercial language, common in papyrus contracts of sale. It sits next to the more general ἀγοράζω, 'to buy in the market'.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ὠνέομαι, -οῦραι

to buy: ὠνήσατο (= cl. ἐπρίατο; see Rutherford, NPhr., 210 ff.; Veitch, see word), with genitive pret., Acts 7:16.†

(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 Acts 7:16

Range of meaning

To buy or purchase. It is the standard word in Greek legal and commercial language, common in papyrus contracts of sale. It sits next to the more general ἀγοράζω, 'to buy in the market'.

Against the English

All versions say 'bought' or 'purchased'. That is accurate.

Used elsewhere in the period

Very common in the sale documents found in Egyptian papyri. It occurs in the Septuagint (e.g. Deut 2:6 in some witnesses), and this is its only New Testament use.

Where it appears

Acts · 1

  1. Acts 7:16 ὠνήσατο bought

    Their bones were carried back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a price he paid in silver.

    Here: 'Bought.' This is a formal word for a purchase and appears only here in the New Testament. It stresses that this was a legal sale, not a gift.

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