To determine
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The Greek verb horizō means to determine, appoint, designate, or mark out. Luke and Acts use it for the determined course of Jesus' death, for Jesus as the appointed Judge, for the day God has set for judgment, for nations' appointed times and boundaries, and for disciples deciding on relief for believers in Judea.
Reader summary
Full entry for ὁρίζω (G3724) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Greek verb horizō means to determine, appoint, designate, or mark out. Luke and Acts use it for the determined course of Jesus' death, for Jesus as the appointed Judge, for the day God has set for judgment, for nations' appointed times and boundaries, and for disciples deciding on relief for believers in Judea.
The BSB source-word alignment has 8 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [God] again designated (1), and He determined (1), appointed (1), decided (1), He has appointed (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 22:22. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (5), Hebrews (1), Luke (1), Romans (1).
The Greek verb horizō means to determine, appoint, designate, or mark out. Luke and Acts use it for the determined course of Jesus' death, for Jesus as the appointed Judge, for the day God has set for judgment, for nations' appointed times and boundaries, and for disciples deciding on relief for believers in Judea. Romans uses the verb in proclaiming Jesus Christ as Son of God in power by resurrection, while Hebrews speaks of God designating another day called Today.
The acting subject and object are decisive. Divine determination in redemptive history does not make betrayers, rulers, or violent actors morally innocent, and it does not prove that every tragedy was specifically scripted for a hidden good. Human determination in Acts 11 is a communal relief decision, not sovereign decree. Responsible teaching preserves divine sovereignty, human accountability, genre, and mystery while rejecting fatalism, abuse excuses, nationalist entitlement, date setting, and claims that a leader's decision carries God's unchallengeable appointment.
Horizō describes divine determination or designation in Jesus' death, resurrection identity, judgment, times, boundaries, and renewed Today, as well as a community's practical decision to send relief.
Indeed, the Son of Man will go as it has been determined, but woe to that man who betrays Him.”
Jesus says the Son of Man goes as determined while pronouncing woe on the betrayer.
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.
Peter joins God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge with the audience's culpable action in Jesus' crucifixion.
And He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the One appointed by God to judge the living and the dead.
Peter proclaims that Jesus is the One appointed by God as Judge of the living and dead.
So the disciples, each according to his ability, decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.
The disciples determine according to ability to send relief to believers living in Judea.
From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.
Paul says God made the nations and determined their appointed times and boundaries within a call to seek Him.
For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”
God has set a day to judge the world with justice through the appointed and risen Man.
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 mark boundaries or fix limits; to determine or appoint with decisive authority.
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 define, determine, appoint, decree
Read verseI define, determine, appoint, decree
Read verseI define, determine, appoint, decree
Read verseI define, determine, appoint, decree
Read verseI define, determine, appoint, decree
Read verseI define, determine, appoint, decree
Read verseI define, determine, appoint, decree
Read verseI define, determine, appoint, decree
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 8 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)
ὁρίζω is built from this root:
Horizō does not offer an abstract system of fate; it names particular determinations. Jesus can say His path is determined and still pronounce woe on the betrayer. Peter similarly proclaims God's plan and foreknowledge while accusing human actors of lawless crucifixion. The texts hold divine purpose and human responsibility together without explaining away either.
Acts identifies the risen Jesus as appointed Judge and says God has set a just day of judgment, grounding repentance and hope without revealing a date. Acts 17 also speaks of nations' times and boundaries inside Paul's call for all people to seek the God who made them, not as a charter for ethnic supremacy, conquest, forced removal, or immutable modern borders.
Acts 11 uses the same verb for disciples determining relief according to ability, demonstrating ordinary communal deliberation. Faithful teaching therefore refuses fatalism and inflated authority claims. It does not tell survivors that God appointed their abuse, excuse perpetrators as instruments of providence, or present a leader's plan as unchangeable. It trusts God's revealed purpose in Christ while practicing accountable decisions, generous relief, repentance, and humility about what has not been disclosed.
Acts.2.23
Horizō is a Greek verb related to boundary language and means to determine, appoint, designate, or mark out. Active or passive voice, the determining subject, the appointed person or event, and temporal or spatial complements define each occurrence.
Scripture's wider witness holds God's purpose, human responsibility, just judgment, care for the poor, and the shared origin of peoples together. Those themes guide synthesis without making every decree, boundary, lot, or prophecy lexically identical to horizō.