Greek word · G674

ἀποψύχω

apopsychō

to faint

Built from apo ('away') and psychō ('breathe, blow'). Its meanings run from (1) breathing out one's last breath, expiring, to (2) swooning or passing out, as if the breath had left, and in some writers (3) cooling off. BDAG gives 'stop breathing, faint, die'.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἀπο-ψύχω

[in LXX: 4Ma.15:18 * ;]

1. to breathe out life, expire (Thue.; LXX, l.with).

2. to leave off breathing, faint (Hom., Od., xxiv, 348): before ἀπό, Luke 21:26.†

(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 Luke 21:26

Range of meaning

Built from apo ('away') and psychō ('breathe, blow'). Its meanings run from (1) breathing out one's last breath, expiring, to (2) swooning or passing out, as if the breath had left, and in some writers (3) cooling off. BDAG gives 'stop breathing, faint, die'.

Against the English

KJV's 'men's hearts failing them' is a free rendering. The Greek has no word for 'heart', and 'heart' in 1611 English meant courage or spirit more than the physical organ. YLT's 'fainting at heart' shows the same habit. Modern versions ('faint', BSB, NIV, ESV, NASB) are closer. NLT's 'terrified' drops the physical collapse.

How it drifted

KJV wording plus modern medical vocabulary ('heart failure') led many to read it as a prediction of cardiac disease. That reading comes from the English and not from the Greek.

Used elsewhere in the period

Homer, Odyssey 24.348, uses it of the aged Laertes swooning when he recognises Odysseus. Thucydides 1.134 uses it of the Spartan Pausanias at the point of death after being starved in a temple. 4 Maccabees 15:18 uses it of martyrs breathing their last. This verse is the only place it appears in the New Testament.

Where it appears

Luke · 1

  1. Luke 21:26 ἀποψυχόντων when are fainting

    Men will faint from fear and anxiety over what is coming upon the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

    Here: Literally 'breathing out' the life-breath (psychē). It pictures people collapsing, losing consciousness, or nearly dying from terror. The present tense shows it happening, and the grammar ties it loosely to verse 25 as a scene: 'while people are fainting…'

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