Bible Lexicons

Deissmann (BS p. 229 and LAE p. 110 ff.) has already shown how much light is thrown on the NT use of this word (Matthew 6:2; Matthew 6:5; Matthew 6:16, Philippians 4:18) by the papyri and ostraca. There it is constantly found in the sense of ";I have received,"; as a technical expression in drawing up a receipt. Consequently in the Sermon on the Mount we are led to understand ἀπέχουσιν τὸν μισθὸν αὐτῶν, ";they can sign the receipt of their reward : their right to receive the reward is realised, precisely as if they had already given a receipt for it"; (BS p. 229). To the almost contemporary instances of this usage which Deissmann gives, BGU II. 584.5 f. (A.D. 44) καὶ ἀπέχω τὴν συνκεχωρημένην τιμὴν πᾶσαν ἐκ πλήρους, and ib. 612.2 f. (A.D. 57) ἀπέχω παρ᾽ ὑμῶν τὸν φόρον τοῦ ἐλα [ι ]ουργίου, ὧν ἔχετέ [μο ]υ ἐν μισθώσει, we may add a few exx. which might be multiplied almost indefinitely : P Par 52.3 (B.C. 163–2) ἀπέχι παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ τιμῆς ὀθόνια, P Tebt I. 109.17 (B.C. 93) τάλαντον ἕν, ο ̣[ ἀ ̣π ̣έχουσιν οἱ προγεγραμμένοι π [α ]ρὰ Πετεσούχου, BGU III 975.20 ff. (A.D. 45) (= Selections, p. 43) ἀ ]πέχι ἡ Τεσεν [ο ]ῦφις τὴν ὀφιλη [μένην ] ὁ Πα [οῦς ] φερνὴ [ν ἀ ]ργυρίου : we might suggest τὴν ὀφίλη (i.e.—ει) [αὐτῇ ] as a rather simpler emendation than the editor’s ὑπὸ τοῦ Παοῦτος —the substitution of η for (ε)ι has a parallel in l..5 of this illiterate deed of divorce. Also PSI 39.8 (A.D. 148) ἀπέχειν τὴν συμπεφωνημένην τιμὴν ἀργυρίου δραχμὰς ἑκατὸν ὀγδοηκονταοκτώ, etc. For the subst. ἀποχή, which is used exactly in the sense of our ";receipt,"; cf. P Oxy I. 91.25 (A.D. 187) κυρία ἡ ἀποχή, ";the receipt is valid,"; ib. II. 269ii. 8 (A.D. 57) ἐάν σοι δῦ τὸ ἀργύριον δὺς αὐτῷ ἀποχήν, ";if he gives you the money, give him the receipt,"; Ostr 50 (i/A.D.) τὴν προτ (έραν) ἀποχ (ήν), and often. An important note by Albert Thumb (in Neue Jahrbücher f. d. kl. Altertum, 1906, p. 255) shows that the function of the perfectivizing preposition is to supply a present answering to the past ἔσχον. In receipts we find regularly ἀπέχω and ἔσχον, hardly ever (as Ostr 1417, 1430) ἀπέσχον, still less ἀπέσ ̣χ ̣ηκ ̣εν, as in BGU IV. 1058.18 (Augustus). See further Wilcken Ostr. i. p. 85 f. and H. Erman in Archiv i. p. 77 ff.

For the intransitive sense of the verb ";to be away, distant,"; cf. P Strass I. 57.6 (ii/A.D.) μηδὲ μείλιον ἀπεχουσῶν ἀλλη ̣λ ̣[ων ], and Michel 466.9 (iii/B.C.) ἀπέχον ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς [ἐ ]φ᾽ [ὅ ]σον ποδῶν ἑπ [τ ]ά, a vessel ";distant from the shore as much as seven feet,"; P Lille I. 1.5 (B.C. 259–8) χώματα γ ̄ ἀπέχον τα ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων σχοινία κ ̄ε ̄, ib. 2.2 (iii/B.C.) ἀπέχει δὲ ἡ γῆ αὐτὴ [why not αὕτη ?] ἀπὸ τῆς κώμης στάδια ι ̄ε ̄, etc. It may be added that the impersonal sense of ";it is enough,"; ";it is sufficient,"; often given to ἀπέχει in the difficult passage Mark 14:41 is rejected by de Zwaan (Exp. VI. xii. p. 452 ff.), who understands the word in the usual commercial sense referred to above—";He (Judas) did receive (the promised money)";—and refers to P Leid I. p. 97, for similar instances of ἀπέχει with this meaning standing by itself. For the middle, as in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, etc., cf. Syll 350.16, a rescript of Augustus (B.C. 31) τῆς τῶν πολεμίων ὠμότητος οὐδὲ τῶν ναῶν οὐδὲ τῶν ἱερῶν τῶν ἁγιωτάτων ἀποσχομένης.

[Supplemental from 1930 edition]

For ἀπέσχε = ";it is enough,"; see P Strass I. 4.19 (A.D. 550), note.

 

απειχεν ἀπεῖχεν απεχει ἀπέχει απεχεσθαι ἀπέχεσθαι απεχεσθε ἀπέχεσθε απεχετε ἀπέχετε απεχης ἀπέχῃς απεχοντος ἀπέχοντος απεχουσαν ἀπέχουσαν απεχουσιν ἀπέχουσιν απεχω ἀπέχω απηλιώτου απίων apechei apéchei apécheis apéchēis apeches apechēs apechesthai apéchesthai apechesthe apéchesthe apechete apéchete apecho apechō apécho apéchō apechontos apéchontos apechousan apéchousan apechousin apéchousin apeichen apeîchen