What does ἀποκόπτω (apokóptō) mean in the Bible?
Apokopto means to cut off, sever, or remove by cutting. Acts uses it for ropes, and John uses it for Peter cutting off Malchus's ear.
Greek · G609
ἀποκόπτω
To amputate; reflexively (by irony) to mutilate (the privy parts)
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through the Connect page. Screenshots are helpful.
ἀποκόπτω G609
Pronunciation apokóptō
What does ἀποκόπτω (apokóptō) mean in the Bible?
Apokopto means to cut off, sever, or remove by cutting. Acts uses it for ropes, and John uses it for Peter cutting off Malchus's ear.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀποκόπτω (G609) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G609?
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include cut it off (2), cut (1), cutting off (1), had cut off (1), they would proceed to emasculate themselves (1).
Where does ἀποκόπτω (apokóptō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 9:43. Its strongest book concentrations include John (2), Mark (2), Acts (1), Galatians (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Apokopto means to cut off, sever, or remove by cutting. Acts uses it for ropes, and John uses it for Peter cutting off Malchus's ear. Mark 9 places the verb in Jesus' deliberately severe imagery about resisting sin, while Galatians 5 uses shocking rhetoric against agitators who distort the gospel through circumcision demands. The lexical action is forceful, but these passages do not authorize self-harm, mutilation, or religious violence.
Mark's bodily images press the urgency of repentance and the seriousness of judgment. Galatians' sentence belongs to Paul's polemic for gospel freedom. Teachers and counselors must preserve that force while making the genre and rhetorical function explicit, offering direct safety clarification, and keeping application centered on repentance, faith, and concrete removal of occasions for sin.
How the Bible Uses It
Apokopto means to cut off or sever and appears in literal actions, severe rhetoric, and forceful warning imagery that requires careful pastoral handling.
- Acts.27.32
So the soldiers cut the ropes to the lifeboat and set it adrift.
The verb describes the literal severing of ropes during the crisis at sea.
- Gal.5.12
As for those who are agitating you, I wish they would proceed to emasculate themselves!
Paul uses severe, shocking rhetoric against teachers who unsettle the churches over circumcision.
- John.18.10
Then Simon Peter drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.
The verb names the violent result of Peter's sword stroke during Jesus' arrest.
- John.18.26
One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Didn’t I see you with Him in the garden?”
The later reference recalls Peter's violent act while his denial is being exposed.
- Mark.9.43
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two hands and go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.
Jesus uses deliberately severe bodily imagery to command radical resistance to sin.
- Mark.9.45
If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.
The repeated image intensifies the warning about sin and judgment without authorizing self-injury.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It cut it off 2× Mark 9:43, Mark 9:45
cut 1× Acts 27:32
cutting off 1× John 18:10
had cut off 1× John 18:26
they would proceed to emasculate themselves 1× Galatians 5:12
Show sample aligned rows
Mark 9:43 ἀπόκοψον to cut it off Verb - Aorist Imperative Active - 2nd Person Singular Mark 9:45 ἀπόκοψον to cut it off Verb - Aorist Imperative Active - 2nd Person Singular John 18:10 ἀπέκοψεν to cutting off Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular John 18:26 ἀπέκοψεν to had cut off Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular Acts 27:32 ἀπέκοψαν to cut Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural Galatians 5:12 ἀποκόψονται to they would proceed to emasculate themselves Verb - Future Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Mark 9:43
Aligned rows 6
Books represented 4
Mark 2 John 2 Acts 1 Galatians 1
Source forms
ἀπέκοψεν 2x apekopsen John 18:10, John 18:26
ἀπόκοψον 2x apokopson Mark 9:43, Mark 9:45
ἀπέκοψαν 1x apekopsan Acts 27:32
ἀποκόψονται 1x apokopsontai Galatians 5:12
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Imperative Active - 2nd Person Singular 2x Mark 9:43, Mark 9:45
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 2x John 18:10, John 18:26
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural 1x Acts 27:32
Verb - Future Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Plural 1x Galatians 5:12
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Explicitly state that Mark 9 does not command self-harm or bodily mutilation.
- Do not repeat Galatians 5:12 as a casual insult or use it to shame vulnerable people.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim Jesus commands physical self-injury in Mark 9.
- Do not claim Galatians 5 authorizes Christians to mutilate, threaten, or verbally abuse opponents.
- Do not present Peter's sword stroke as faithful defense of Jesus.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. to amputate; reflexively (by irony) to mutilate (the privy parts)
Strong's G609
Lexical occurrences 6 verses Greek text appearances 6 times Word forms 2 forms 6 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
to amputate; reflexively (by irony) to mutilate (the privy parts)
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Mark 9:43 Verb Second Person Singular Aorist Active Imperative
ἀπόκοψον apokoyon
I smite, cut off, emasculate
Read verse Mark 9:45 Verb Second Person Singular Aorist Active Imperative
ἀπόκοψον apokoyon
I smite, cut off, emasculate
Read verse John 18:10 Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Active Indicative
ἀπέκοψεν apekoyen
I smite, cut off, emasculate
Read verse John 18:26 Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Active Indicative
ἀπέκοψε apekoyen
I smite, cut off, emasculate
Read verse Acts 27:32 Verb Third Person Plural Aorist Active Indicative
ἀπέκοψαν apekoyan
I smite, cut off, emasculate
Read verse Galatians 5:12 Verb Third Person Plural Future Middle Indicative
ἀποκόψονται apokoyontai
I smite, cut off, emasculate
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.
Grammatical Forms
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.
Form groups 2 Aligned forms 6 Tenses Aorist, Future Voices Active, Middle
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Imperative command or strong request 2×
Aorist Active Mark 9:43 · Mark 9:45 2×
Indicative states a fact or reality 4×
Aorist Active John 18:10 · John 18:26 · Acts 27:32 3×
Future Middle Gal 5:12 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 6 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist 5 future 1
Voice
active 5 middle 1
Mood
indicative 4 imperative 2
NT Occurrences
Mark 9:43 ἀπόκοψον aorist active imperative imperative Mark 9:45 ἀπόκοψον aorist active imperative imperative John 18:10 ἀπέκοψεν aorist active indicative completed John 18:26 ἀπέκοψεν aorist active indicative completed Acts 27:32 ἀπέκοψαν aorist active indicative completed Galatians 5:12 ἀποκόψονται future middle indicative prospective
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)
Word Origins
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
Apokopto requires unusually careful preaching because its concrete action is violent and some contexts use that violence rhetorically. Peter literally cuts off an ear, an act that belongs to his misguided use of the sword during Jesus' arrest. Soldiers literally cut ropes in a maritime emergency. Jesus' repeated command in Mark 9 uses shocking imagery to expose the deadly seriousness of sin and the surpassing value of entering life.
Paul uses equally sharp language in Galatians against those who trouble the church with a false gospel. Faithful teaching neither domesticates these passages nor copies their images into harmful action. It explains genre, rejects self-injury and coercion, summons hearers to repentance, and directs them toward wise, concrete separation from what leads them into sin.
Anchor passage
Mark.9.43
Doctrinal connections
- Acts.27.32: severed ropes prevent escape and belong to the immediate shipwreck crisis.
- Gal.5.12: Paul's severe rhetoric defends gospel freedom against circumcision agitators.
- John.18.10: Peter's literal violence stands within the arrest scene where Jesus does not advance His mission by the sword.
- John.18.26: the remembered severing of the ear sharpens Peter's exposure during his denial.
- Mark.9.43: severe imagery urges decisive resistance to sin in view of life and judgment.
- Mark.9.45: repetition intensifies the warning while the discourse remains figurative rather than a command to self-injure.
Apokopto is a compound verb of cutting away or severing. Context distinguishes literal cutting from rhetorical or metaphorical force.
From Old to New Testament
Scripture often commands the removal of sin and warns against destructive violence, but those canonical themes must be joined through context rather than by literalizing a single cutting image.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain