Word

ἄφεσις

áphesis · G859 · Greek · 17 occurrences

See all 17 in Search

Meanings

to pardon, to forgive, forgiveness

To remove the guilt resulting from wrongdoing

Examples
Matthew 26:28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.
Mark 1:4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Mark 3:29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—
release, liberty

The process of setting free or liberating

Examples
Luke 4:18 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO BRING GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,

How it’s used In 6 roles

Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.

the word studied the word it goes with

Whose, or of whatGenitive or possessive

13 occurrences in 3 groups

ἁμαρτίαsin 11
οὗτοςthis 1
παράπτωμαtransgression 1

Named alongside itApposition

2 occurrences in 1 groups

ἀπολύτρωσιςredemption, deliverance 2

What it doesIt is the subject

3 occurrences in 3 groups

γίνομαιto become, to happen, to be 1
καταγγέλλωto proclaim 1
κηρύσσωto preach, to proclaim 1

What is done to itIt is the object

4 occurrences in 3 groups

λαμβάνωto receive, to take 2
ἔχωto have 1
κηρύσσωto preach, to proclaim 1

What it is said to bePredicate

1 occurrences in 1 groups

ὅπουwhere, wherever, in which 1

After prepositionsPrepositional phrases

6 occurrences in 2 groups

εἰςto 6
ἐνin 5

When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.

MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.

In the other Testament 3 words

יוֹבֵל yôwbêl · H3104 · ram's horn, jubilee: Hebrew יוֹבֵל refers specifically to the Jubilee year institution (Leviticus 25) when debts were forgiven and slaves freed; Greek ἄφεσις is the broader semantic term for release/freedom/pardon that the LXX uses to translate the liberation effects of that institution, creating a specialized institutional-term → general-concept translation relationship.
דְּרוֹר dᵉrôwr · H1865 · liquid, liberty, freedom: Hebrew דְּרוֹר (dᵉrôwr, H1865) denotes proclamation of liberty/release (especially in Jubilee contexts, Leviticus 25:10), rendered by Greek ἄφεσις (áphesis, G859) in LXX as the standard term for freedom/release/remission — both share core semantics of liberating from bondage or debt, making this a direct cross-linguistic equivalent.
שְׁמִטָּה shᵉmiṭṭâh · H8059 · release: Hebrew שְׁמִטָּה (šᵉmiṭṭâ) denotes the technical seventh-year release of debts and indentured servants prescribed in Deuteronomic law (Deuteronomy 15:1–2, 31:10), a specific cultic-legal institution; Greek ἄφεσις encompasses both that covenantal release concept (when rendering šᵉmiṭṭâ in LXX) and the broader semantic range of pardon, forgiveness, and liberation across multiple registers — the Hebrew term is the narrower, institutionally-bound subset of the Greek term's full sense.

Semantic domains 2 entries

Release, liberty37.132: Used of release from bondage or confinement, drawn from the same broad range of meaning as the forgiveness sense below.
To pardon, to forgive, forgiveness40.8: Used of the forgiveness of sins, as in the repeated phrase 'forgiveness of sins' in Matthew 26:28, Mark 1:4, Luke 1:77, and Luke 3:3.

Word family 2 words

Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.

ἀφίημι aphíēmi · G863 · to let go away, to dismiss, to leave · 143×ἄφεσιςáphesis · G859

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon ἀφέσεως, ἡ (ἀφίημι); 1. release, as from bondage, imprisonment, etc.: Lk 4:18 (19) (Isa…

ἀφέσεως, ἡ (ἀφίημι);
1. release, as from bondage, imprisonment, etc.: Lk 4:18 (19) (Isa 61:1f; Polybius 1, 79, 12, etc.).
2. ἄφεσις ἁμαρτιῶν forgiveness, pardon, of sins (properly, the letting them go, as if they had not been committed (see at length Trench, § xxxiii.)), remission of their penalty: Mt 26:28; Mk 1:4; Lk 1:77; Lk 3:3; Lk 24:47; Acts 2:38; Acts 5:31; Acts 10:43; Acts 13:38; Acts 26:18; Col 1:14; τῶν παραπτωμάτων, Eph 1:7; and simply ἄφεσις: Mk 3:29; Heb 9:22; Heb 10:18 (φόνου, Plato, legg. 9, p. 869 d.; ἐγκληματων, Diodorus 20, 44 (so Dionysius Halicarnassus 50:8 § 50, see also 7, 33; 7, 46; especially 7, 64; ἁμαρτημάτων, Philo, vit. Moys. 3:17; others.)).

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain

Topical studies with this word 2 entries

Release, Set Free2 occurrences Forgiveness15 occurrences

Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.

Sources

eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0