To requite (good or evil)
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This Greek verb describes giving in return or repaying, whether the context concerns good, gratitude, or judgment. Luke 14:14 promises repayment at the resurrection in the setting of hospitality toward people who cannot return the invitation.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀνταποδίδωμι (G467) · Open the biblical lexicon
This Greek verb describes giving in return or repaying, whether the context concerns good, gratitude, or judgment. Luke 14:14 promises repayment at the resurrection in the setting of hospitality toward people who cannot return the invitation.
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include will repay (2), God should repay (1), repay (1), to repay (1), vvv (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 14:14. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (2), Romans (2), 1 Thessalonians (1), 2 Thessalonians (1).
This Greek verb describes giving in return or repaying, whether the context concerns good, gratitude, or judgment. Luke 14:14 promises repayment at the resurrection in the setting of hospitality toward people who cannot return the invitation. Romans 12:19 assigns repayment of vengeance to the Lord and tells believers not to take revenge. The word does not authorize one uniform transaction or make every relationship a calculation of return.
Romans 11:35 asks who has first given to God so that God should repay, denying that He can be placed in a person's debt. First Thessalonians 3:9 uses repayment language in an overflowing question of thanks to God for joy over the believers. Second Thessalonians 1:6 speaks of God's justice toward those causing affliction. Read these distinct settings together without turning generosity into a way to purchase God's favor or divine judgment into permission for private retaliation.
Resurrection reward, God's freedom from indebtedness, thanksgiving, and divine judgment share repayment language. The identity of the giver, recipient, and promised action determines the passage's practical direction.
Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”
The Lord claims repayment while the hearers are commanded not to avenge themselves. The following commands to feed an enemy and overcome evil with good make the practical direction explicit.
And you will be blessed. Since they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
The promise of repayment at the resurrection follows an invitation to welcome people unable to repay socially. The setting breaks the cycle of reciprocal invitations rather than treating guests as instruments for acquiring status.
“Who has first given to God, that God should repay him?”
The question denies that someone first gives to God and thereby obliges Him to repay. It stands within praise of God's wisdom and the confession that all things are from, through, and to Him.
How can we adequately thank God for you in return for our great joy over you in His presence?
Paul asks how adequate thanks can be returned to God for joy over the believers. The language expresses gratitude rather than a demand that the congregation owe its minister personal repayment.
After all, it is only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,
God's justice is named in relation to those afflicting the believers, with the following verses locating relief and judgment at Jesus' revelation. The promise does not appoint the afflicted as private agents of vengeance.
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 requite (good or evil)
(ἀντί ἀποδίδωμι), [in LXX for שָׁלַם pi., גָּמַל, שׁוּב hi., etc. ;] to give back as an equivalent, recompense, requital (the ἀντί expressing the idea of full, complete return; see Lft., Notes, 46);
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 give in return
Read verseI give in return
Read verseI give in return
Read verseI give in return
Read verseI give in return
Read verseI give in return
Read verseI give in return
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)
ἀνταποδίδωμι is built from these roots:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Romans 12:19 does not leave repayment in the hands of the injured hearer. It commands believers not to avenge themselves and gives the Lord's declaration as the reason. The next verses name an active alternative: provide food and drink to an enemy in need and overcome evil with good. The passage directs action while refusing private vengeance.
That distinction matters when the text is taught to people who have been harmed. Renouncing revenge does not require pretending the wrong was small, withholding truthful reports, or returning someone to unsafe access. Those demands are not stated in the passage. Its call is to refuse becoming governed by retaliation while trusting God's justice and seeking a response consistent with good. A teacher should preserve both the seriousness of the wrong and the limits placed on personal revenge, rather than using the verse to protect the wrongdoer from accountability.
Rom.12.19
The verb can describe a return of good, thanksgiving, or judgment. Its components do not supply an exact timetable, a measurable rate of reward, or permission for the reader to act as the repayer. The subject and surrounding commands determine who is to do what.
Romans 12:19 invokes the Lord's claim to vengeance associated with Deuteronomy 32:35, and Hebrews 10:30 likewise uses the vengeance and judgment witness. These citations assign judgment to God within their respective exhortations. They should not be inverted into a mandate for a reader's personal campaign of retaliation.