Greek word · G667

ἀποφέρω

apopherō

to carry off

To carry away, take off to another place, deliver. In wider Greek it can also be used of paying over what is due (LSJ).

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated November 01, 2026

What it means

ἀπο-φέρω

[in LXX for הָלַךְ, etc. ;]

to carry off, bear, or lead away: with accusative, Mark 15:1, 1 Corinthians 16:3, Revelation 17:3 21:10. Pass., Luke 16:22, Acts 19:12.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: To carry away, take off to another place, deliver. In wider Greek it can also be used of paying over what is due (LSJ).
Against the English: KJV has 'bring', and most modern versions have 'carry'. NLT has 'deliver'. All are adequate. The Greek prefix adds a sense of taking something away from where it is, so the picture is of the money leaving Corinth.
Used elsewhere in the period: New Testament uses are physical: Jesus led away to Pilate (Mark 15:1), Lazarus carried off by angels (Luke 16:22), cloths carried from Paul to the sick (Acts 19:12), John carried away in the Spirit (Revelation 17:3; 21:10).

Range of meaning: To carry off, take away, lead away. It is used of goods carried off, of a prisoner led away (Mark 15:1), and of a dead man "carried away by the angels" to Abraham's side (Luke 16:22).
Against the English: "Carried away" is accurate, but in modern English the phrase often means "overcome by emotion." Here it means John is literally moved, in vision, from one place to another.
Used elsewhere in the period: In Revelation it appears only at 17:3 and here, and both times it begins a vision guided by one of the bowl-angels. The idea of angels or the spirit transporting a seer has precedents in Ezekiel and in Bel and the Dragon 36, where an angel carries Habakkuk to Babylon.

Range of meaning: To carry away, carry off, bring to another place. It is used of objects, people, and (in a passive form) of being taken somewhere by someone else.
Against the English: "Was carried" (KJV, BSB, WEB) is accurate. YLT's "carried away" keeps the prefix apo- ("away from"), the sense of being taken out of one place into another.
Used elsewhere in the period: Jewish texts of the time picture angels escorting souls after death. In the Testament of Abraham the archangel Michael and angels come for Abraham's soul. Later rabbinic tradition says ministering angels go out to meet the righteous when they die (b. Ketubbot 104a). In Jude 9, Michael disputes over the body of Moses.

Mark · 1

Mark 15:1 ἀπήνεγκαν they led [Him] away

Early in the morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrin devised a plan. They bound Jesus, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate.

Here: 'They took him off.' The verb usually means carrying something away, and here it treats the bound prisoner almost as cargo moved from the high priest's house to the governor.

Luke · 1

Luke 16:22 ἀπενεχθῆναι to be carried away

One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. And the rich man also died and was buried.

Here: A passive verb, "to be carried off." Someone else does the carrying. The man whom others once "laid" at the gate (v.20) is now carried again, this time by angels and to a place of honor.

Acts · 1

Acts 19:12 ἀποφέρεσθαι carrying

so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them.

Here: 'Were being carried off.' The passive does not say who carried them. Nothing says Paul sent them; the picture is of people taking cloths away from him. The present tense suggests this kept happening.

1 Corinthians · 1

1 Corinthians 16:3 ἀπενεγκεῖν to carry

Then, on my arrival, I will send letters with those you recommend to carry your gift to Jerusalem.

Here: States the purpose of the sending: to carry the gift off from Corinth and deliver it at its destination. It is a concrete word for physically transporting something over a distance.

Revelation · 2

Revelation 17:3 ἀπήνεγκέν he carried away

And the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, where I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.

Here: "He carried me away." The subject is the angel of 17:1, one of the seven bowl angels. The verb describes John being moved bodily or in vision to a new vantage point, the way Ezekiel was taken. The same verb appears in 21:10, where John is carried off to see the Bride.
Revelation 21:10 ἀπήνεγκέν he carried away

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,

Here: "He carried me off." The agent is the bowl-angel of v. 9. John doesn't travel himself; he is taken. The same verb opens the matching Babylon vision in 17:3.

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