To hang
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This Greek verb describes hanging or being suspended, and it can also be used metaphorically for dependence. Acts 5:30 and 10:39 speak of Jesus being put to death by hanging on a tree, while Galatians 3:13 explains His redeeming work through a quotation concerning the one hung on a tree.
Reader summary
Full entry for κρεμάννυμι (G2910) · Open the biblical lexicon
This Greek verb describes hanging or being suspended, and it can also be used metaphorically for dependence. Acts 5:30 and 10:39 speak of Jesus being put to death by hanging on a tree, while Galatians 3:13 explains His redeeming work through a quotation concerning the one hung on a tree.
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include by hanging [Him] (2), hang (1), hanging (1), hung (1), is hung (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 18:6. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (3), Matthew (2), Galatians (1), Luke (1).
This Greek verb describes hanging or being suspended, and it can also be used metaphorically for dependence. Acts 5:30 and 10:39 speak of Jesus being put to death by hanging on a tree, while Galatians 3:13 explains His redeeming work through a quotation concerning the one hung on a tree. Luke 23:39 uses the verb for one of the criminals beside Jesus. These statements belong to the accounts and interpretation of the crucifixion; the verb alone does not supply every detail of the execution.
Other objects and settings change the explanation. A creature hangs from Paul's hand in Acts 28:4, a millstone appears in Jesus' severe warning about causing little ones to stumble in Matthew 18:6, and the Law and the Prophets hang on the two love commandments in Matthew 22:40. The last use is about dependence, not physical suspension. Read the full sentence, distinguishing narrative description, warning and metaphor. Neither a description of death nor a forceful comparison is an instruction for someone to harm themselves or another person.
The crucifixion witnesses, redemption from the curse, a criminal's words, a severe warning, Paul's encounter and the two love commandments distinguish literal suspension from theological interpretation and metaphor.
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree.
The apostles contrast the killing of Jesus with God's raising and exalting Him. The address concerns those being confronted in this scene and leads to repentance and forgiveness for Israel, not collective blame of Jewish people.
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,
Peter places Jesus' death within his witness to His works and resurrection. The following verses stress God's raising Him and the testimony of chosen witnesses, so the verb belongs within the full gospel account.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
Paul explains Christ's redemption from the law's curse through His becoming a curse for us. The following verse names the blessing promised to Abraham and the Spirit received through faith; the passage is not a rule for labeling every sufferer cursed.
One of the criminals who hung there heaped abuse on Him. “Are You not the Christ?” he said. “Save Yourself and us!”
One of the criminals suspended beside Jesus insults Him. The other criminal's response and Jesus' promise later in the scene prevent this taunt from becoming the narrative's final word.
But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
The millstone image gives grave force to Jesus' warning about causing little ones who believe in Him to stumble. It should summon protective responsibility, not be presented as a command to carry out violence or self-harm.
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The Law and the Prophets depend on the commandments to love God and neighbor. The metaphor highlights their organizing importance without making love an excuse to disregard the actual content of Jesus' instruction.
When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”
The creature hanging from Paul's hand prompts the islanders to assume he is a murderer. The following events overturn their expectation, exposing the danger of deriving guilt from an alarming circumstance.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. To hang or suspend; metaphorically, to depend upon or be contingent upon something
To hang or suspend; metaphorically, to depend upon or be contingent upon something
(also κρεμαννύω, κρεμάω; the Pres. is not found in NT), [in LXX (where also κρεμάζω, Job.26:7) chiefly for תָּלָה ;] trans., to hang, suspend: with accusative of person(s), before ἐπὶ ξύλου, Act.5:30 10:39; pass., Luk.23:39; before περί, Mat.18:6. Mid., κρέμαμαι, intrans., to hang: before ἐκ, Act.28:4; ἐπὶ ξύλου, Gal.3:13 (LXX); metaphorically, before ἐν, Mat.22:40.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I hang up, suspend
Read verseI hang up, suspend
Read verseI hang up, suspend
Read verseI hang up, suspend
Read verseI hang up, suspend
Read verseI hang up, suspend
Read verseI hang up, suspend
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
How this verb appears across 7 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
κρεμάννυμι is a primary verb - no further derivation.
Galatians 3:13 does more than name the manner of Christ's death. Paul says that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, and he cites Scripture to explain the claim. Verse 14 immediately states the purpose: the blessing of Abraham comes to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, and the promise of the Spirit is received through faith. Teaching the verb should serve that redemptive argument rather than reduce the passage to a detached image of suffering.
Acts reinforces the gospel movement from Jesus' killing to God's raising and exalting Him, while its account of Paul on Malta exposes the islanders' mistaken inference from danger to guilt. These settings make careless application especially costly. The physical condition of a suffering person does not authorize a teacher to pronounce a curse, and the crucifixion witnesses do not authorize ethnic blame. Matthew's love-commandment metaphor further reminds the reader that the same verb can organize an argument without describing a body at all.
Gal.3.13
The verb's subject, object and construction distinguish hanging something, being suspended and metaphorical dependence. Its presence cannot settle the theological meaning of the cross without the surrounding argument, and its metaphor in Matthew 22 should not be translated into a physical scene.
Galatians 3:13 explicitly cites the curse wording associated with Deuteronomy 21:23, and Paul explains Christ's redemptive action within that connection. Matthew 22's love commands identify the governing relationship of the Law and the Prophets. Neither connection grants readers authority to pronounce a curse on present sufferers or reproduce an ancient execution.