G863 — ἀφίημι (aphiēmi)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G863
Original: ἀφίημι
Transliteration: aphíēmi
Pronunciation: af-ee'-ay-mee
Part of Speech: Verb
Root: ἀπό (apo, "from") + ἵημι (hiēmi, "to send") — literally "to send away from"
Occurrences: 174 tokens across 133 unique NT verses
Books: 11 (Synoptics dominant; strong in Johannine literature)
First Occurrence: Mat 3:15 — "Suffer [it to be so] now" (Jesus to John at baptism)
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From ἀπό (apo) + ἵημι (hiēmi, "to send"; an intensive form of εἶμι, "to go"); literally "to send away / dismiss / let go." The verb's meaning spans a wide arc from physical release (dismiss a crowd, leave a place, let go of an object) through social/legal release (remit a debt, divorce a wife, permit an action) into the theological climax of releasing a person from sin — forgiveness. The semantic thread is consistent: something that was held is released.

Louw-Nida Semantic Domains¶

ἀφίημι is exceptionally wide-ranging — Louw-Nida assigns it to 24 domain codes across 12 top-level domains. Principal domains:

Domain	Label	Sense
40.002	Reconciliation, Forgiveness — Forgiveness	Forgive (sins, debts)
57.018	Possess, Transfer, Exchange — Owe, Debt, Cancel	Cancel a debt
15.004	Linear Movement — Leave, Depart, Flee, Escape, Send	Leave, depart from, abandon
85.002 / 85.003	Existence in Space — Put, Place / Remain, Stay	Leave behind, let remain
68.004	Aspect — Cease, Stop	Cease, let go of
34.010	Association — Marriage, Divorce	Divorce, put away (wife)
13.004	Be, Become — Happen	Permit, allow (passive causative)
33.010	Communication — Interpret, Mean	Let/permit a saying to stand
23.007	Physiological — Live, Die	"Yield up" (the spirit) — Mat 27:50

Domain 40.002 neighbors (forgiveness cluster): ἀπολύω (apolyō, "release, dismiss"), ἄφεσις (aphesis, "pardon, release" — the cognate noun), ἐπικαλύπτω (epikalyptō, "to cover"), ἱλάσκομαι (hilaskomai, "to show mercy"), ἱλασμός (hilasmos, "expiation"), χαρίζομαι (charizomai, "to grant graciously").

UBS Semantic Domains¶

[015] Linear Movement — leaving, departing, and sending away.
[085] Existence in Space — leaving behind or letting something remain.
[034] Association — separation from a person or relationship, including divorce contexts.
[040] Reconciliation, Forgiveness — forgiving sins or canceling debts.
[057] Possess, Transfer, Exchange — remitting or releasing an obligation.
[031] Hold a View, Believe, Trust — secondary permissive/judgment uses where a matter is let stand.
[068] Aspect — ceasing, stopping, or letting go.
[013] Be, Become, Exist, Happen — permissive "let it happen" usage.
[090] Case — legal or situational release framing.
[033] Communication — speech-act settings where forgiveness or permission is verbally granted.
[023] Physiological Processes and States — "yield up" uses such as giving up the spirit.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

The KJV uses ~80 distinct English renderings — symptomatic of the verb's semantic breadth. Grouped families:

Sense Family	Verses	%
forgive / be forgiven / remit (all tenses)	~55	41%
leave / left / leaving / forsake / forsook	~45	34%
let / Let / suffer / permit (imperatives, concessives)	~22	17%
send away, put away, yield up, lay aside, other	~11	8%

Raw top renderings: left (16), forgive (12), be forgiven (8), Let (7), alone (5), are forgiven (5), leave (5), let (5), Suffer (4), he left (4).

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Mark	35	5.2
Matthew	40	3.7
Luke	30	2.6
1 John	2	1.9
John	14	1.6
James	1	0.9
1 Corinthians	3	0.7
Hebrews	2	0.7
Revelation	2	0.5
Romans	2	0.5
Acts	2	0.2

Overwhelmingly a Gospels word — 115 of 133 unique verses (86%) are Synoptic, with Mark showing the highest density. Paul uses it only 7x total and never as his preferred term for pardon (he prefers χαρίζομαι and δικαιόω for that). Absent from the Pastorals, 2 Peter, Jude.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Forgive Sins / Debts (the theological sense)¶

Mar 2:5 — "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee"
Mar 2:7 — "who can forgive sins but God only?" — the scribes' implicit premise
Mar 2:10 — "the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins"
Mat 6:12 — "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors"
Luk 7:47-48 — "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven... Thy sins are forgiven"
1Jo 1:9 — "he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins"

2. Leave (a Place / Person / Situation)¶

Mat 4:11 — "Then the devil leaveth him"
Joh 4:3 — "He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee"
Joh 16:28 — "I leave the world, and go to the Father"
Heb 6:1 — "leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ"

3. Forsake / Abandon (relational or occupational departure)¶

Mat 4:20 — "they straightway left their nets, and followed him"
Mar 1:18 — "they forsook their nets" (same event, different KJV rendering)
Mat 19:29 — "every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren..."
Rev 2:4 — "thou hast left thy first love"

4. Permit / Suffer / Let (concessive imperatives)¶

Mat 3:15 — "Suffer [it to be so] now" (first occurrence; Jesus to John)
Mat 7:4 — "let me pull out the mote out of thine eye"
Mat 8:22 — "let the dead bury their dead"
Mat 19:14 — "Suffer little children... to come unto me"

5. Release from an Obligation / Condition¶

Mar 1:31 — "the fever left her" (physical release)
Mat 18:27 — "loosed him, and forgave him the debt" (debt release)
1Co 7:11-13 — "let him not put her away" (of divorce — domain 34.010)
Joh 14:27 — "Peace I leave with you" (bequeath/release into possession)

6. Yield Up / Give Up¶

Mat 27:50 — "yielded up the ghost" (the spirit is "released")
Mar 15:37 — "cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost" (same idiom)

7. Leave Desolate / Leave Behind (eschatological / judicial)¶

Mat 23:38 / Luk 13:35 — "your house is left unto you desolate"
Heb 2:8 — "he left nothing [that is] not put under him"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
ἔπω (epō)	G2036	31x	"he said... forgive" / "said, suffer" — speech-act framing
λέγω (legō)	G3004	27x	Same — discourse introducer for the release saying
Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous)	G2424	23x	Jesus as subject of the forgiving/dismissing act
ἁμαρτία (hamartia)	G266	21x	"forgive sins" — the canonical theological collocation
πᾶς (pas)	G3956	18x	"all shall be forgiven" / "all men forsook"
ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos)	G444	16x	"the Son of man hath power to forgive" / "forgive men"
πατήρ (patēr)	G3962	15x	"your Father... will forgive" / "left father"
ἀδελφός (adelphos)	G80	14x	"forgive thy brother"
γυνή (gynē)	G1135	11x	"let not the wife depart" (divorce contexts)
θεός (theos)	G2316	10x	"God only can forgive sins"

The co-occurrence with ἁμαρτία (21x) plus ἁμάρτημα is the densest single theological signature: Jesus' ministry publicly pairs ἀφίημι with sin-objects at a rate no other NT actor does.

Word Family / Cognates¶

ἄφεσις (aphesis) G859 — the cognate noun: "release, pardon, forgiveness"; used for Jubilee release (Luk 4:18) and for "forgiveness of sins" in the Pauline formulas (Eph 1:7; Col 1:14)
ἵημι (hiēmi) — root verb "to send" (itself rare in NT)
ἀπό (apo) G575 — prefix preposition "from, away from"

Synonyms¶

G1813 ἐξαλείφω (exaleiphō) — blot out, wipe away; overlaps with the removal/cancellation side of forgiveness.
G2511 καθαρίζω (katharizō) — cleanse, make clean; adjacent to ἀφίημι where pardon is expressed as cleansing.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G863.

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
καταλείπω (kataleipō)	G2641	"leave, left, leaving"	Emphasizes leaving-behind as deliberate abandonment of an inferior/prior thing; never used for sin-forgiveness
ἀπολύω (apolyō)	G630	"let go, forgive, put away, send away"	Focuses on dismissal/release from custody or a relationship (divorce, prisoner); rare for sin-release (Luk 6:37 once)
χαρίζομαι (charizomai)	G5483	"forgive, give freely"	Frames forgiveness as gracious gift (charis-rooted); Paul's preferred word (2 Cor 2:7, Eph 4:32, Col 3:13)
ἐπιτρέπω (epitrepō)	G2010	"suffer, permit, leave"	Strictly permissive (grant permission); never carries the sin-release sense
ἐάω (eaō)	G1439	"suffer, let, leave alone"	Allow-to-be; passive permission rather than active release
ἐγκαταλείπω (enkataleipō)	G1459	"forsake"	Abandon-in-place; intensified abandonment (Mat 27:46 "why hast thou forsaken me")
ἱλάσκομαι (hilaskomai)	G2436	"be merciful, make reconciliation"	Propitiation — removing the ground of wrath; complementary but not synonymous

The key distinction relative to the forgiveness cluster: ἀφίημι names the act of releasing/sending-away the sin itself (and thus the sinner from it); χαρίζομαι frames the same act as gift; ἱλάσκομαι / ἱλασμός frames the mechanism (propitiation); ἄφεσις is the noun for the resulting state.

Hebrew Source (LXX back-trace, ranked by PMI)¶

Hebrew	Word	Translit	Co-occ	PMI	Score
H5545	סָלַח	çâlach — to forgive, pardon	14	6.59	17.86
H3240	יָנַח	yânach — to deposit, allow to remain	15	6.00	16.63
H3722	כָּפַר	kâphar — to cover, atone	14	5.55	15.02
H2403	חַטָּאָה	chaṭṭâʼâh — sin, sin-offering	13	3.92	10.36
H5800	עָזַב	ʻâzab — to forsake, abandon	9	3.78	8.70
H817	אָשָׁם	ʼâshâm — guilt, trespass-offering	4	4.92	7.92
H7684	שְׁגָגָה	shᵉgâgâh — error, inadvertent sin	3	5.69	7.89
H2398	חָטָא	châṭâʼ — to sin, miss the mark	7	3.32	6.90
H3548	כֹּהֵן	kôhên — priest	12	2.52	6.47

The LXX maps ἀφίημι primarily onto סָלַח (salach) — the standard priestly-ritual verb for God's pardon in Leviticus/Numbers (e.g., Lev 4:20, 26, 31, 35; Num 14:19-20; 1 Kings 8:30, 34, 36, 39, 50). This is decisive: when Jesus says "thy sins be forgiven" (Mar 2:5), he deploys the Greek word that in the LXX translates the Hebrew verb reserved for divine pardon — never spoken of a human forgiving another's sin against God. The scribes' reaction in Mar 2:7 ("who can forgive sins but God only?") reflects the Hebrew/LXX background: salach has only one subject in Scripture, and he is Yahweh.

The secondary bridge to כָּפַר (kaphar, "cover/atone") ties forgiveness to the sacrificial system; the H2403/H817 bridges tie it to the technical sin-/trespass-offering vocabulary. Together these three Hebrew strands make ἀφίημι the natural Greek word for cultic divine release.

Morphological Notes¶

In the 50 parsed occurrences sampled, ἀφίημι appears most frequently as: - Aorist active imperative 2nd-singular — Ἄφες ("Let!" / "Forgive!" / "Suffer!") — command form, e.g., Mat 6:12 - Present passive indicative 3rd-person — ἀφίενταί ("are forgiven") — the performative declarative in Mat 9:2, 9:5; Mar 2:5, 2:9; Luk 5:20, 7:48 - Future passive indicative — ἀφεθήσεται ("shall be forgiven") — Mat 12:31-32 (blasphemy sayings) - Aorist active participle — ἀφέντες ("having left") — Mat 4:20, 22 (calling narratives)

The present passive construction "thy sins are-being-forgiven" in the healing narratives is grammatically striking: not a prayer ("may they be forgiven") nor a future promise ("shall be forgiven") but a performative declaration that the release is accomplished in the moment of utterance. This is the form that triggers the blasphemy charge in Mar 2:7.