To summon
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The Greek verb metapempo means to send for someone or summon that person. Acts uses it for Cornelius sending for Peter, church or civic leaders sending for Paul, and legal requests that would move Paul from one place to another.
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Full entry for μεταπέμπω (G3343) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Greek verb metapempo means to send for someone or summon that person. Acts uses it for Cornelius sending for Peter, church or civic leaders sending for Paul, and legal requests that would move Paul from one place to another.
The BSB source-word alignment has 9 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include He sent for (2), [for] (1), have you sent for (1), sent for (1), summoning (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Acts 10:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (9).
The Greek verb metapempo means to send for someone or summon that person. Acts uses it for Cornelius sending for Peter, church or civic leaders sending for Paul, and legal requests that would move Paul from one place to another. The verb describes the act of requesting or arranging someone's presence; it does not by itself approve the summoner's motive, establish spiritual authority, or require the summoned person to ignore danger and due process.
Cornelius acts in response to an angelic message, while Peter later explains that he came without objection after God corrected his understanding. Elsewhere Felix repeatedly summons Paul while hoping for money, and Paul's opponents ask for his transfer while planning an ambush. The same verb can therefore serve hospitality, ministry, inquiry, manipulation, or legal danger.
Responsible teaching examines who holds power, what information the summoned person receives, whether consent and lawful procedure are preserved, and what the narrative says about the motive. A call from a leader is not automatically a call from God.
Metapempo describes sending for a person across mission, pastoral, custodial, and judicial scenes in Acts. Narrative motive and power relations determine whether the summons serves welcome, communication, corruption, or danger.
Now send men to Joppa to call for a man named Simon who is called Peter.
Cornelius is instructed to send men to Joppa and summon Simon Peter.
“Cornelius the centurion has sent us,” they said. “He is a righteous and God-fearing man with a good reputation among the whole Jewish nation. A holy angel instructed him to request your presence in his home so he could hear a message from you.”
Cornelius's messengers explain that he was directed to summon Peter and hear his message.
So when I was invited, I came without objection. I ask, then, why have you sent for me?”
Peter says that he came without objection when summoned and asks why Cornelius sent for him.
When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples. And after encouraging them, he said goodbye to them and left for Macedonia.
After the uproar in Ephesus, Paul sends for the disciples, encourages them, and departs for Macedonia.
At the same time, he was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe. So he sent for Paul frequently and talked with him.
Felix repeatedly sends for Paul while hoping that Paul will offer him money.
To grant them a concession against Paul by summoning him to Jerusalem, because they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way.
Paul's opponents request that he be summoned to Jerusalem while preparing an ambush on the road.
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 summon
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
8 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I send for, summon
Read verseI send for, summon
Read verseI send for, summon
Read verseI send for, summon
Read verseI send for, summon
Read verseI send for, summon
Read verseI send for, summon
Read verseI send for, summon
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 this verb appears across 9 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)
μεταπέμπω is built from these roots:
Metapempo is a movement-and-communication verb, not a moral verdict. Cornelius sends for Peter within God's work of bringing Gentiles into the gospel community. Peter's willing arrival matters, but Acts also shows that God prepared Peter, messengers explained the request, and Peter could ask why he had been summoned. The episode should not be reduced to a rule that believers must accept every invitation labeled divine.
Paul sends for disciples after the Ephesian uproar so he can encourage them before leaving, showing summons in a pastoral relationship. Legal settings reveal the darker range. Felix summons Paul repeatedly while hoping for a bribe, and Paul's opponents seek a transfer while planning murder. The requested presence may therefore expose someone to manipulation or danger.
Faithful application welcomes clear communication, truthful purpose, reasonable notice, safe travel, and freedom to ask questions. Churches and ministries should not hide the purpose of meetings, isolate vulnerable people, or use titles to compel attendance. In legal or disciplinary matters, documented process, advocates, safeguarding, and appropriate authorities matter.
Acts shows God directing particular events, but metapempo itself does not tell readers whether a modern summons is wise, lawful, safe, or from God.
Acts.10.29
Metapempo is a Greek compound verb built around sending and commonly means to send for or summon. Active, middle, or passive wording identifies who initiates the request and who is being brought, while the surrounding purpose clause supplies the motive.
Hebrew Scripture includes many calls, messengers, royal summonses, and requested meetings through other vocabulary. Canonical comparison can illuminate hospitality and power without treating those terms as direct lexical equivalents of metapempo.