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Greek verb · G337

ἀναιρέω

anaireoan-ahee-reh'-o

to take up; to take away, make an end of, destroy

24 uses in the Greek text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key

Concordance spelling: anairéō

Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's G337is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.

  • 5 of 27
    New Testament books
  • 15
    spellings
  • 2
    meanings

The definition in full

Strong's key (1890) · G337

to take up, i.e. adopt; by implication, to take away (violently), i.e. abolish, murder

The King James renders it: put to death, kill, slay, take away, take up.

James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.

Summary

anaireo is rendered "to take up; to take away, make an end of, destroy". It stands 24 times in the Greek text, across five books.

  • Nineteen of the uses stand in Acts, more than in any other book.
  • The lexicon lists two meanings for it, beginning with "to take up".
  • Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Matthew 2:16When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.
  • The Greek text spells it fifteen different ways.

The first use

When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.

Matthew 2:16ἀνεῖλεν

The first use, in the order of the New Testament's books.

Where the word stands

Nineteen of the word's twenty-four uses are in Acts.

The other 22 New Testament books never use the word.

What the word means

The word carries two meanings: to take up, and to take away, make an end of, destroy.

Each meaning, and the words it is translated by

The English STEP Bible gives each use, word by word, and how many times.
to take upmid., Act.7:21.Tagged as
  • to execute8
  • to be executed2
  • executing1
  • they executed1
  • took up1
  • was executed1
  • when were being executed1
WhereActs 7:21When he was set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.
to take away, make an end of, destroyfor late exx. of various sensesTagged as
  • they may execute3
  • he executed2
  • You executed2
  • He takes away1
  • will execute1
WhereMatthew 2:16When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders…

The words built on the same word-part

Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.

ἀναίτιοςanaitiosinnocentUses2
ἀναίδειαanaideiashamelessnesUses1
ἀναίρεσιςanairesismurderUses1

All 24, in canonical order

Every use, in order

Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.

15 spellings and their grammar

STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.

How it is spelled

  • ἀνελεῖν6
  • ἀνέλωσιν3
  • ἀναιρεθῆναι2
  • ἀνεῖλεν2
  • ἀναιρεῖ1
  • ἀναιρεῖν1
  • ἀναιρεῖσθαι1
  • ἀναιρουμένων1
  • ἀναιρούντων1
  • ἀνεῖλαν1
  • ἀνείλατε1
  • ἀνείλατο1

and 3 more spellings in the ledger below.

The grammar of each form

  • verb · aorist active, infinitive (“to…”)6V-2AAN
  • verb · aorist active, subjunctive · 3rd person plural3V-2AAS-3P
  • verb · aorist active, indicative · 3rd person singular2V-2AAI-3S
  • verb · aorist passive, infinitive (“to…”)2V-APN
  • verb · aorist active, indicative · 2nd person plural1V-2AAI-2P
  • verb · aorist active, indicative · 2nd person singular1V-2AAI-2S
  • verb · aorist active, indicative · 3rd person plural1V-2AAI-3P
  • verb · aorist middle, indicative · 3rd person singular1V-2AMI-3S
  • verb · future active, indicative · 3rd person singular1V-2FAI-3S
  • verb · aorist passive, indicative · 3rd person singular1V-API-3S
  • verb · present active, indicative · 3rd person singular1V-PAI-3S
  • verb · present active, infinitive (“to…”)1V-PAN

Matthew

one use
  • When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.

    Matthew 2:16

    • ἀνεῖλενaneilenverb · aorist active, indicative · 3rd person singulartagged: he executed

Luke

two uses
  • and the chief priests and scribes were looking for a way to put Jesus to death; for they feared the people.

    Luke 22:2

    • ἀνέλωσινanelosinverb · aorist active, subjunctive · 3rd person pluraltagged: they may execute
  • Two others, who were criminals, were also led away to be executed with Jesus.

    Luke 23:32

    • ἀναιρεθῆναιanairethenaiverb · aorist passive, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to be executed

Acts

nineteen uses
  • He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.

    Acts 2:23

    • ἀνείλατεaneilateverb · aorist active, indicative · 2nd person pluraltagged: You executed
  • When the Council members heard this, they were enraged, and they resolved to put the apostles to death.

    Acts 5:33

    • ἀνελεῖνaneleinverb · aorist active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to execute
  • Some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.

    Acts 5:36

    • ἀνῃρέθηaneretheverb · aorist passive, indicative · 3rd person singulartagged: was executed
  • When he was set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.

    Acts 7:21

    • ἀνείλατοaneilatoverb · aorist middle, indicative · 3rd person singulartagged: took up
  • Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

    Acts 7:28

    • ἀνελεῖνaneleinverb · aorist active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to execute
    • ἀνεῖλεςaneilesverb · aorist active, indicative · 2nd person singulartagged: you executed
  • After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him,

    Acts 9:23

    • ἀνελεῖνaneleinverb · aorist active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to execute
  • but Saul learned of their plot. Day and night they watched the city gates in order to kill him.

    Acts 9:24

    • ἀνέλωσινanelosinverb · aorist active, subjunctive · 3rd person pluraltagged: they may execute
  • He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him.

    Acts 9:29

    • ἀνελεῖνaneleinverb · aorist active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to execute
  • We are witnesses of all that He did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And although they put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree,

    Acts 10:39

    • ἀνεῖλανaneilanverb · aorist active, indicative · 3rd person pluraltagged: they executed
  • He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.

    Acts 12:2

    • ἀνεῖλενaneilenverb · aorist active, indicative · 3rd person singulartagged: He executed
  • And though they found no ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have Him executed.

    Acts 13:28

    • ἀναιρεθῆναιanairethenaiverb · aorist passive, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to execute
  • When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, presuming that the prisoners had escaped.

    Acts 16:27

    • ἀναιρεῖνanaireinverb · present active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to execute
  • And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’

    Acts 22:20

    • ἀναιρούντωνanairountonverb · present active, participle · genitive (“of”) · masculine pluraltagged: executing
  • Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him down to you on the pretext of examining his case more carefully. We are ready to kill him on the way.”

    Acts 23:15

    • ἀνελεῖνaneleinverb · aorist active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to execute
  • Do not let them persuade you, because more than forty men are waiting to ambush him. They have bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him; they are ready now, awaiting your consent.”

    Acts 23:21

    • ἀνέλωσινanelosinverb · aorist active, subjunctive · 3rd person pluraltagged: they may execute
  • This man was seized by the Jews, and they were about to kill him when I came with my troops to rescue him. For I had learned that he is a Roman citizen,

    Acts 23:27

    • ἀναιρεῖσθαιanaireisthaiverb · present passive, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to be executed
  • to grant them a concession against Paul by summoning him to Jerusalem, because they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way.

    Acts 25:3

    • ἀνελεῖνaneleinverb · aorist active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to execute
  • And that is what I did in Jerusalem. With authority from the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were condemned to death, I cast my vote against them.

    Acts 26:10

    • ἀναιρουμένωνanairoumenonverb · present passive, participle · genitive (“of”) · masculine pluraltagged: when were being executed

2 Thessalonians

one use
  • And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival.

    2 Thessalonians 2:8

    • ἀνελεῖaneleiverb · future active, indicative · 3rd person singulartagged: will execute

Hebrews

one use
  • Then He adds, “Here I am, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second.

    Hebrews 10:9

    • ἀναιρεῖanaireiverb · present active, indicative · 3rd person singulartagged: He takes away

Where it leads

How the numbers are counted

Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.

Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.

The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.

Hebrew and Greek text, word tagging and grammar: STEP Bible (www.STEPBible.org), Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0. Their grammar codes are written out in English here and shown as tagged beside each one.

Meaning and senses: STEP Bible TBESG (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0), the Brief lexicon based on Abbott-Smith (1922).

Dictionary key: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890, public domain). English verse text: Berean Standard Bible (public domain, 2023).

Revised 2026-09-05. Every cited work, the sources registry →