Greek word · G592

ἀποδιορίζω

apodiorizō

to divide

A rare compound: ἀπό ('off') + διορίζω ('to set boundaries, define, distinguish'). It means to mark off by boundaries, to draw distinctions, to classify, and from there to divide. It is a word for analysing and sorting people or things into categories, not a common word for quarrelling.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἀπο-δι-ορίζω

(διορίζω, ἅρος, a limit),

to mark off, hence metaphorically to make separations: Jude 1:19 (Cremer, 806).†

(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 Jude 1:19

Range of meaning

A rare compound: ἀπό ('off') + διορίζω ('to set boundaries, define, distinguish'). It means to mark off by boundaries, to draw distinctions, to classify, and from there to divide. It is a word for analysing and sorting people or things into categories, not a common word for quarrelling.

Against the English

KJV 'separate themselves' makes it reflexive (people withdrawing) on the basis of a later manuscript addition. BSB, WEB, ESV and NASB give 'cause divisions', which is the social result. NIV's 'divide you' supplies an object. None of the English words quite brings out the sense of 'drawing distinctions' or 'classifying'.

How it drifted

The KJV followed the Textus Receptus, which adds 'themselves'. So the familiar English picture became people walking out, when the text describes people inside the community who sort it into ranks.

Used elsewhere in the period

It appears only here in the New Testament and not at all in the Septuagint. The main classical parallel is Aristotle (Politics 4.4, 1290b), where it is used for distinguishing and classifying kinds of constitution. LSJ gives 'mark off by boundaries, distinguish'.

Where it appears

Jude · 1

  1. Jude 1:19 ἀποδιορίζοντες, causing divisions,

    These are the ones who cause divisions, who are worldly and devoid of the Spirit.

    Here: Present active participle: people who habitually divide, sorting and marking off. In the best text it has no object, so it can mean splitting the community, classifying people into higher and lower ranks, or both. It does not say 'separate themselves'.

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