verb
athetamō
Strong’sG114
I annul
stem athet-16 times in the New Testamentin 9 of 27 books9 forms occur
What it means
A plain-English reading of the word, with the lexicons it draws on — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones — right below it, in full.
AI Summary
ἀθετέω means to set aside, disregard, or nullify something that has been established — a law, a covenant, a commandment, or an agreement — treating it as if it had never been laid down 13. In this sense it covers annulling or making void a will, a promise, or faith itself, and can be rendered "disannul," "frustrate," or "bring to nought" 124.
The word also means to reject or deal treacherously with a person, refusing to honor or listen to them, breaking faith with them rather than merely disregarding a rule 13. This covers senses like "despise" or "cast off" when the object is a person rather than a law or promise 2.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-23 — it may still misstate what these say; check them yourself if it matters to you.
The lexicons it was drawn from, in full:
Abbott-Smith — the 1922 lexicon entry, in full
† ἀθετέω, -ῶ
(< τίθημι), [in LXX for seventeen different words, פּשׁע, מרד, בּגד, מעל, etc., often meaning, as I Ki 13:3 (Heb., al.), to revolt; properly, to make ἄθετον, or do away with what has been laid down (v. DCG, i, 453 f.)].
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G114 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidath-et-eh'-o
to set aside, i.e. (by implication) to disesteem, neutralize or violate
Fromfrom a compound of G1 (as a negative particle) and a derivative of G5087;
King Jamescast off, despise, disannul, frustrate, bring to nought, reject.
James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890 — public domain. The numbers in it link to the entries here.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
) set at naught a treaty, promise, etc., πίστινNT+2nd c.BC+; deny, disprove, τἀληθέςRefs 5th c.BC+:—passive, to be struck off a register, Refs 2nd c.BC+; to be rejected, of a petition, Refs 4th c.BC+:—Astrology texts, cancel, render ineffectual, Refs 2nd c.AD+
2 with dative, refuse one's assent, τοῖς ὑπὸ Τιμαίου εἰρημένοιςRefs 2nd c.BC+
3 deal treacherously with, break faith with, τινάNT+2nd c.BC+
II Grammars, reject as spurious, Refs 1st c.BC+
III absolutely, to be unsuitable, unfit, Refs 4th c.BC+
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed., 1925–1940) — digitised by the Perseus Digital Library and corrected and expanded by Tyndale House, Cambridge, via STEPBible-Data's TFLSJ table, CC BY 4.0. Covers all of Greek literature, not just the Bible.
Translated as
Every occurrence, sorted by the English it was actually given — the evidence for what the word means, not a gloss of it.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.
Biblang forms
What the New Testament actually uses, first — the whole system this verb is built from is one click further down.
| Form and the Greek behind it | What it is | Usually | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| athetamōἀθετῶ | happening now · Ipresent active indicative 1st person singular | nullify | 1× |
| athetatōἀθετεῖ | happening now · he/she/itpresent active indicative 3rd person singular | rejects | 4× |
| athetavōἀθετεῖτε | happening now · yepresent active indicative 2nd person plural | setting aside | 1× |
| athetalōἀθετοῦσιν | happening now · theypresent active indicative 3rd person plural | reject | 1× |
| athetamiἀθετήσω | will happen · Ifuture active indicative 1st person singular | set aside | 1× |
| athetalaἠθέτησαν | happened · theyaorist active indicative 3rd person plural | rejected | 2× |
| athetaraἀθετῆσαι | happened · the “to …” formaorist active infinitive | refuse | 1× |
| athetarōntosἀθετῶν | happening now · subjectpresent active participle nominative singular masculine | rejects | 4× |
| athetarantosἀθετήσας | happened · subjectaorist active participle nominative singular masculine | rejected | 1× |
Every form the New Testament uses, in paradigm order. What the system can build beyond them — the whole of this verb, whether the text happens to use it or not — is in the tables below.
Every form the system can build — all 86, by mood, including the ones the New Testament never uses
Statements — indicative mood, 10 occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | was happening imperfect | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect | had happened pluperfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | athetamō1×ἀθετῶ | athetame | athetami1×ἀθετήσω | athetama | athetamē | athetamelē |
| you 2nd person singular | athetasō | athetase | athetasi | athetasa | athetasē | athetaselē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | athetatō4×ἀθετεῖ | athetate | athetati | athetata | athetatē | athetatelē |
| we 1st person plural | athetanō | athetane | athetani | athetana | athetanē | athetanelē |
| ye 2nd person plural | athetavō1×ἀθετεῖτε | athetave | athetavi | athetava | athetavē | athetavelē |
| they 3rd person plural | athetalō1×ἀθετοῦσιν | athetale | athetali | athetala2×ἠθέτησαν | athetalē | athetalelē |
May, might — subjunctive mood, no occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | athetameiō | athetameia | athetameiē |
| you 2nd person singular | athetaseiō | athetaseia | athetaseiē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | athetateiō | athetateia | athetateiē |
| we 1st person plural | athetaneiō | athetaneia | athetaneiē |
| ye 2nd person plural | athetaveiō | athetaveia | athetaveiē |
| they 3rd person plural | athetaleiō | athetaleia | athetaleiē |
Commands — imperative mood, no occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| you 2nd person singular | athetasōr | athetasar | athetasēr |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | athetatōr | athetatar | athetatēr |
| ye 2nd person plural | athetavōr | athetavar | athetavēr |
| they 3rd person plural | athetalōr | athetalar | athetalēr |
Wishes — optative mood, no occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist |
|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | athetamoiō | athetamoia |
| you 2nd person singular | athetasoiō | athetasoia |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | athetatoiō | athetatoia |
| we 1st person plural | athetanoiō | athetanoia |
| ye 2nd person plural | athetavoiō | athetavoia |
| they 3rd person plural | athetaloiō | athetaloia |
The “to …” form — infinitive, 1 occurrence
| Who is acting voice | happening now present | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the subject acts active voice | athetarō | athetari | athetara1×ἀθετῆσαι | athetarē |
Used as an adjective — participle, 5 occurrences
| Who is acting voice | happening now present | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the subject acts active voice | athetarōntos4×ἀθετῶν | athetarintos | athetarantos1×ἀθετήσας | athetarēntos |
Each is given in the form it takes as a subject. From there a participle carries the ordinary noun endings, in every case, number and gender — so these four columns are the whole of what the verb contributes.
How every form is built — the slots that make them
athet is this word in every one of its forms. The slots after it make all the rest.
same in every form varies — every value shown
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
16 occurrences, every one of them listed
athetamō“nullify”happening now · Ipresent active indicative 1st person singular1×
Galatians 2:21“nullify”ouk athetamō tan charitan tou theou; ei gar …I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes …
athetatō“rejects”happening now · he/she/itpresent active indicative 3rd person singular4×
Luke 10:16… akouatō, kai tos athetarōntos vin min athetatō; tos de min athetarōntos athetatō ton …… rejects you rejects Me; and whoever rejects Me rejects the One who sent …
Luke 10:16… min athetatō; tos de min athetarōntos athetatō ton apostelaranton min.… to you listens to Me; whoever rejects you rejects Me; and whoever rejects …
Galatians 3:15“annuls”… legamō; homōs anthrōpou kurorēntan diathēkan oudenos athetatō ē epidiatassotō.… Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended.
1 Thessalonians 4:8toigaroun tos athetarōntos ouk anthrōpon athetatō alla ton theon ton kai dōarōnton …… who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One …
athetavō“setting aside”happening now · yepresent active indicative 2nd person plural1×
Mark 7:9“setting aside”Kai legate autoi; Kalōs athetavō tan entolan tou theou, hina tan …… set aside the command of God to maintain …
athetalō“reject”happening now · theypresent active indicative 3rd person plural1×
Jude 1:8… enupniazorōntois sarkan men mianalō, kuriotan de athetalō, doxain de blasfēmalō.… way these dreamers defile their bodies, reject authority, and slander glorious beings.
athetami“set aside”will happen · Ifuture active indicative 1st person singular1×
1 Corinthians 1:19“set aside”… sofoiu, kai tan sunesian toiu sunetoiu athetami.… of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will …
athetala“rejected”happened · theyaorist active indicative 3rd person plural2×
Luke 7:30… tois nomikois tan boulan tou theou athetala eis heautoin, mē baptizirantois hupo autou.… Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they …
1 Timothy 5:12“violated”echarōntais krimem hoti tan prōtan pistian athetala;… incur judgment because they are setting aside their first faith.
athetara“refuse”happened · the “to …” formaorist active infinitive1×
Mark 6:26… horkoin kai toin anakeiorōntoin ouk thelata athetara autan;… guests, he did not want to refuse her.
athetarōntos“rejects”happening now · subjectpresent active participle nominative singular masculine4×
Luke 10:16… akouarōntos vu mu akouatō, kai tos athetarōntos vin min athetatō; tos de min …… listens to Me; whoever rejects you rejects Me; and whoever rejects Me rejects …
Luke 10:16… vin min athetatō; tos de min athetarōntos athetatō ton apostelaranton min.… rejects Me; and whoever rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”
John 12:48tos athetarōntos min kai mē labarōntos teim rēmeim …… a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not receive My …
1 Thessalonians 4:8toigaroun tos athetarōntos ouk anthrōpon athetatō alla ton theon …Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man …
athetarantos“rejected”happened · subjectaorist active participle nominative singular masculine1×
Hebrews 10:28athetarantos tinos nomon Mōusou chōris oiktirmoiu epi …Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without …