verb
epicheiramō
Strong’sG2021
I take in hand, attempt
stem epicheir-3 times in the New Testamentin 2 of 27 books2 forms occur
What it means
What the word means, in the words of the lexicons out of copyright — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones, wherever each has an entry for it.
ἐπιχειρέω, -ῶ
(< χεῖρ), [in LXX for חָשַׁב, Ex 9:25; גָּמַל, II Ch 20:11, al.;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G2021 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
(χείρ) put one's hand to, οἱ μὲν δείπνῳ ἐπεχείρεον Refs 8th c.BC+
2 put one's hand to a work, set to work at, attempt, τῇ διώρυχι Refs 5th c.BC+; δρησμῷ ἐ. attempt an escape, Refs 5th c.BC+; λόγοις, τέχνῃ, Refs 5th c.BC+
3 less frequently with accusative, μεγάλα ἔργα Refs 6th c.BC+:—passive, to be attempted, Refs 5th c.BC+the thing attempted, Refs 5th c.BC+
4 with infinitive, endeavour, attempt to do, Refs 5th c.BC+: with future infinitive, Refs 1st c.AD+:—passive, ἃ τὸ πρῶτον ἐπεχειρήθη πραχθῆναι Refs 5th c.BC+
5 ἐπειχειρήθη with dative, an operation was performed, τῇσιν αἱμορροΐσι Refs 5th c.BC+
II make an attempt on, attack, τινι Refs 5th c.BC+; κτείνων ἢ ἐπιχειρῶν Legal cited in Refs 5th c.BC+:—passive, Refs 5th c.BC+
II.b obscene meaning, ἐ. μειρακίοις Refs 4th c.AD+
III attempt to prove, argue dialectically, Refs 5th c.BC+; ἔκ τινος from a topic,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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| epicheiraleἐπεχείρουν | was happening · theyimperfect active indicative 3rd person plural | tried | 1× |
| epicheiralaἐπεχείρησαν | happened · theyaorist active indicative 3rd person plural | attempted | 2× |
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, 3 occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | was happening imperfect | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect | had happened pluperfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | epicheiramō | epicheirame | epicheirami | epicheirama | epicheiramē | epicheiramelē |
| you 2nd person singular | epicheirasō | epicheirase | epicheirasi | epicheirasa | epicheirasē | epicheiraselē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epicheiratō | epicheirate | epicheirati | epicheirata | epicheiratē | epicheiratelē |
| we 1st person plural | epicheiranō | epicheirane | epicheirani | epicheirana | epicheiranē | epicheiranelē |
| ye 2nd person plural | epicheiravō | epicheirave | epicheiravi | epicheirava | epicheiravē | epicheiravelē |
| they 3rd person plural | epicheiralō | epicheirale1×ἐπεχείρουν | epicheirali | epicheirala2×ἐπεχείρησαν | epicheiralē | epicheiralelē |
May, might — subjunctive mood, no occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | epicheirameiō | epicheirameia | epicheirameiē |
| you 2nd person singular | epicheiraseiō | epicheiraseia | epicheiraseiē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epicheirateiō | epicheirateia | epicheirateiē |
| we 1st person plural | epicheiraneiō | epicheiraneia | epicheiraneiē |
| ye 2nd person plural | epicheiraveiō | epicheiraveia | epicheiraveiē |
| they 3rd person plural | epicheiraleiō | epicheiraleia | epicheiraleiē |
Commands — imperative mood, no occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| you 2nd person singular | epicheirasōr | epicheirasar | epicheirasēr |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epicheiratōr | epicheiratar | epicheiratēr |
| ye 2nd person plural | epicheiravōr | epicheiravar | epicheiravēr |
| they 3rd person plural | epicheiralōr | epicheiralar | epicheiralēr |
Wishes — optative mood, no occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist |
|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | epicheiramoiō | epicheiramoia |
| you 2nd person singular | epicheirasoiō | epicheirasoia |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epicheiratoiō | epicheiratoia |
| we 1st person plural | epicheiranoiō | epicheiranoia |
| ye 2nd person plural | epicheiravoiō | epicheiravoia |
| they 3rd person plural | epicheiraloiō | epicheiraloia |
The “to …” form — infinitive, no occurrences
| Who is acting voice | happening now present | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the subject acts active voice | epicheirarō | epicheirari | epicheirara | epicheirarē |
Used as an adjective — participle, no occurrences
| Who is acting voice | happening now present | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the subject acts active voice | epicheirarōntos | epicheirarintos | epicheirarantos | epicheirarēntos |
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
epicheir 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.
3 occurrences, every one of them listed
epicheirale“tried”was happening · theyimperfect active indicative 3rd person plural1×
Acts 9:29… suzētate pros toin Hellēnistoin; tois de epicheirale anairara auton.… with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him.
epicheirala“attempted”happened · theyaorist active indicative 3rd person plural2×
Luke 1:1Epeidēper pollois epicheirala anatassera diēgēsian peri teiu plērofororēnteiu en …Many have undertaken to compose an account of the …
Acts 19:13“attempted”epicheirala de tinois kai toiu perierchorōntoiu Ioudaioiu …… there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who tried to invoke the name of …