Bible Lexicons

παραλαμβάνω is the usual expression for receiving anything but money, for which ἀπέχω (aor. ἔσχον) is regularly used. Its correlative, as in the NT, is παραδίδωμι : thus Syll 588 (c. B.C. 180), a long account of ἀναθήματα in the Temple of Apollo at Delos, begins τάδε παρελάβομεν ἐν τῶι ναῶι τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος παρὰ ἱεροποιῶν. . . καὶ παρέδομεν τοῖς μεθ᾽ ἑαυτοὺς ἱεροποιοῖς. Cf. also the illiterate P Oxy IV. 742.2 ff. (B.C. 2) (= Witkowski.2, p. 127 f.) παράλαβε παρὰ Πόθου τὸν κάλαμ [ο ]ν πανα [ρ ]ίθμωι. . . ἀπόστειλόν μ [ο ]ι πόσας δέσμας παρείληφες (for form, Proleg. p. 52) . . . παράδος δέ τινι τῶν φίλων ἀριθμῷ αὐτάς, ";receive from Pothus the reeds all together, send me word how many bundles you have received, and deliver a few of them (see s.v. παραδίδωμι) to one of our friends.";

Wilcken Ostr. i. p. 109 quotes a few instances of ἔλαβον in receipts with its correlative παρέλαβον in one place : on the relation of παρέλαβον to ἔλαβον in John 1:12 see Proleg. p. 115.

Other exx. of the verb are P Fay 123.13 (c. A.D. 100) παραλάβωμεν τὸ ἐλάδιον λυ (= οι)πὸν ἐὰν δόξῃ σοι, ";let us get from him the rest of the oil if you agree"; (Edd.), P Tebt II. 309.27 (A.D. 116–7) παρειλήφαμεν τὸ [βιβλίδιον, ";we have received the account,"; and P Strass I. 45.64 (A.D. 312) παρελάβ ̣αμεν τὸ ἐνγεγραμμένον μέτρον τοῦ πυροῦ καὶ κριθῆς ὡς πρόκιται, ";we received the registered amount of wheat and barley as agreed."; With John 14:3 Deissmann (LAE p. 166) compares an ancient epistolary formula : δόξα. . . τῷ. . . θεῷ. . . τὴν ψυχὴν ἡνίκα συμφέρει παραλαμβάνοντι.

The form παρελάβοσαν in 2 Thessalonians 3:6 א* AD* has received increasing attestation since Moulton’s note in Proleg. p. 52, and for the intruded nasal in παραλήμψομαι (John 14:3), see the exx. in Mayser Gr. p. 194 f. P Amh II. 35.15 (B.C. 132) shows ἐπὶ τὴν παράλημψιν τῶν ἐκφορίων, ";for the collection of the rents"; : cf. P Ryl II. 83.3 (A.D. 138–161) π ]ρὸς παράλημψ [ιν καὶ ] καταγωγὴν βιβλί [ων, ";for the receiving and forwarding of the accounts."; For παραλημπτής see Preisigke Fachwörter s.v. : the μ is wanting in the ";badly written and ill-spelled"; receipt issued by ";the receivers of public clothing";—οἱ. . . παραληπταὶ δημοσίο ̣(υ) ἱματισμο ̣υ ̣̑ (P Ryl II. 189.1—A.D. 128).