verb
epitrepamō
Strong’sG2010
I allow, permit
stem epitrep-18 times in the New Testamentin 8 of 27 books8 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
To allow or permit — to give someone leave or license to do something, or to let a situation stand 124. Strong's traces this to a root idea of "turning over" a matter, so that granting permission is pictured as handing something over to another's choice 2.
A related, older sense is to commit or entrust something to another person, turning a matter over into their charge or trust 13. This sense of entrusting appears in the Greek Old Testament 1.
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
ἐπι-τρέπω
[in LXX (usually with v.l. ἐπιστρ-): Ge 39:6 (עָזַב), etc.;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G2010 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
Ionic dialect ἐπιτράπω [ᾰ] Refs 5th c.BC+future -τρέψ; Doric dialect 3rd.pers. plural -τρέψοντιRefs 5th c.BC+; Cretan dialect infinitive -τραψῆνRefs: aorist I -έτρεψαRefs 8th c.BC+aorist 2 -έτραπονRefs: perfect -τέτρᾰφαRefs 2nd c.BC+ —middle, future -τρέψομαι (variant{-τράψ-}) Refs 5th c.BC+: aorist 2 -ετρᾰπόμηνRefs 8th c.BC+ —passive, future -τετράψομαι Pisistr. cited in Refs 3rd c.AD+: aorist I -ετρέφθηνRefs 5th c.BC+; Ionic dialect -ετράφθην, participle -τραφθείςRefs 5th c.BC+: aorist 2 -ετράπην [ᾰ] Refs 5th c.BC+: perfect (see. below Refs:—properly to turn to or towards, used by Hom.in aorist 2 middle, σοὶ.. θυμὸς ἐπετράπετο εἴρεσθαι thy mind inclined itself to ask, Refs 8th c.BC+
b to overturn upon, τινί τι Refs 2nd c.AD+
2 turn over to, transfer, bequeath, παισὶν ἐπιτρέψειεν ἕκαστος κτήματ᾽ ἐνὶ μεγάροισι Refs 8th c.BC+
3 commit, entrust to another as trustee, guardian, or vicegerent, οἱ.. ἐπέτρεπεν οἶκον ἅπαντα Refs 8th c.BC+; θεοῖσι μῦθον ἐπιτρέψαι leave it to them, Refs 8th c.BC+; so κάκοισι θῦμον ἐπιτρέπην (Aeolic dialect infinitive) Refs 7th c.BC+; frequently in Prose, ἐ. τινὶ τὰ πρήγματα Refs 5th c.BC+; also a son for education, Refs 5th c.BC+: with dative et infinitive, τινά τινι γερονταγωγεῖν Refs 5th c.BC+: frequently in Attic dialect, refer a legal issue to any one, τινὶ δίαιταν Refs 5th c.BC+ (for the construction Refs 5th c.BC+
4 with dative only, rely upon, leave to, τοῖσιν γὰρ ἐπετράπομέν γε μάλιστα Refs 8th c.BC+infinitive, σοὶ ἐπέτρεψεν πονέεσθαι he left it to you to work, Refs 8th c.BC+: frequently in Attic dialect, refer the matter to a person, leave it to his arbitration, Refs 5th c.BC+; τινὶ δικαστῇ to one as a judge, Refs 5th c.BC+; Ἀθηναίοις ἐ. περὶ σφῶν αὐτῶν πλὴν θανάτου to leave their case to the Refs 4th c.BC+ save as to the penalty of death, Refs 5th c.BC+:—passive, δίκης Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐπιτραπείσης Refs 5th c.BC+
5 middle, entrust oneself, leave one's case to, τινί Refs 5th c.BC+; also, to entrust what is one's own to another, Refs 5th c.BC+
6 passive, to be entrusted, ᾧ λαοί τ᾽ ἐπιτετράφαται (3rd.pers. plural perfect for ἐπιτετραμμένοι εἰσί) Refs 8th c.BC+; τῇς (i.e. Ὥραις) ἐπιτέτραπται μέγας οὐρανός heaven's gate is committed to them (to open and to shut),Refs 5th c.BC+; ὑπό τινων ἐπιτρεφθῆναι (i.e. ἰατρῷ), of a patient, Refs 5th c.BC+ with accusative _of things_, ἐπιτρέπομαί τι I am entrusted with a thing, ἐπιτραφθέντες τὴν ἀρχήν Refs 5th c.BC+
II give up, yield, Ποσειδάωνι δὲ νίκην πᾶσαν ἐπέτρεψας Refs 8th c.BC+; later ἐ. τινί with infinitive, permit, suffer, Refs 5th c.BC+: with accusative et infinitive, Refs 5th c.BC+: absolutely, give way, Refs 5th c.BC+ — passive, ἄνευ τοῦ ἐπιτραπῆναι without leave, Refs 2nd c.AD+
II.2 intransitive, give way, οὐ μὲν ἐπέτρεπε γήραϊ λυγρῷ Refs 8th c.BC+; indulge, μὴ πάντα ἡλικίῃ καὶ θυμῷ ἐπίτρεπε Refs 5th c.BC+
III command, τὴν μὲν [τάξιν] ἐπὶ τῷ δεξιῷ ἐπέτρεψεν ἐφέπεσθαι Refs 5th c.BC+, etc.:—passive, ἐπετράπην ὑπὸ σοῦ Refs 2nd c.AD+
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| epitrepamōἐπιτρέπω | happening now · Ipresent active indicative 1st person singular | permit | 1× |
| epitrepotōἘπιτρέπεταί | happening now · he/she/itpresent middle or passive indicative 3rd person singular | permitted | 2× |
| epitrepataἐπέτρεψεν | happened · he/she/itaorist active indicative 3rd person singular | gave … permission | 6× |
| epitrepitaἐπετράπη | happened · he/she/itaorist passive indicative 3rd person singular | allowed | 1× |
| epitrepateiōἐπιτρέπῃ | happening now · he/she/itpresent active subjunctive 3rd person singular | permits | 1× |
| epitrepateiaἐπιτρέψῃ | happened · he/she/itaorist active subjunctive 3rd person singular | permit | 2× |
| epitrepasarἐπίτρεψόν | happened · youaorist active imperative 2nd person singular | let | 4× |
| epitreparantouἐπιτρέψαντος | happened · of, belonging toaorist active participle genitive singular masculine | given … permission | 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 172, by mood, including the ones the New Testament never uses
Statements — indicative mood, 10 occurrences
the subject acts active voice
| Who person | happening now present | was happening imperfect | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect | had happened pluperfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | epitrepamō1×ἐπιτρέπω | epitrepame | epitrepami | epitrepama | epitrepamē | epitrepamelē |
| you 2nd person singular | epitrepasō | epitrepase | epitrepasi | epitrepasa | epitrepasē | epitrepaselē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epitrepatō | epitrepate | epitrepati | epitrepata6×ἐπέτρεψεν | epitrepatē | epitrepatelē |
| we 1st person plural | epitrepanō | epitrepane | epitrepani | epitrepana | epitrepanē | epitrepanelē |
| ye 2nd person plural | epitrepavō | epitrepave | epitrepavi | epitrepava | epitrepavē | epitrepavelē |
| they 3rd person plural | epitrepalō | epitrepale | epitrepali | epitrepala | epitrepalē | epitrepalelē |
acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice
| Who person | happening now present | was happening imperfect | has happened perfect | had happened pluperfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | epitrepomō | epitrepome | epitrepomē | epitrepomelē |
| you 2nd person singular | epitreposō | epitrepose | epitreposē | epitreposelē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epitrepotō2×Ἐπιτρέπεταί | epitrepote | epitrepotē | epitrepotelē |
| we 1st person plural | epitreponō | epitrepone | epitreponē | epitreponelē |
| ye 2nd person plural | epitrepovō | epitrepove | epitrepovē | epitrepovelē |
| they 3rd person plural | epitrepolō | epitrepole | epitrepolē | epitrepolelē |
acted on passive voice
| Who person | will happen future | happened aorist |
|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | epitrepimi | epitrepima |
| you 2nd person singular | epitrepisi | epitrepisa |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epitrepiti | epitrepita1×ἐπετράπη |
| we 1st person plural | epitrepini | epitrepina |
| ye 2nd person plural | epitrepivi | epitrepiva |
| they 3rd person plural | epitrepili | epitrepila |
May, might — subjunctive mood, 3 occurrences
the subject acts active voice
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | epitrepameiō | epitrepameia | epitrepameiē |
| you 2nd person singular | epitrepaseiō | epitrepaseia | epitrepaseiē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epitrepateiō1×ἐπιτρέπῃ | epitrepateia2×ἐπιτρέψῃ | epitrepateiē |
| we 1st person plural | epitrepaneiō | epitrepaneia | epitrepaneiē |
| ye 2nd person plural | epitrepaveiō | epitrepaveia | epitrepaveiē |
| they 3rd person plural | epitrepaleiō | epitrepaleia | epitrepaleiē |
acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice
| Who person | happening now present | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | epitrepomeiō | epitrepomeiē |
| you 2nd person singular | epitreposeiō | epitreposeiē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epitrepoteiō | epitrepoteiē |
| we 1st person plural | epitreponeiō | epitreponeiē |
| ye 2nd person plural | epitrepoveiō | epitrepoveiē |
| they 3rd person plural | epitrepoleiō | epitrepoleiē |
acted on passive voice
| Who person | happened aorist |
|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | epitrepimeia |
| you 2nd person singular | epitrepiseia |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epitrepiteia |
| we 1st person plural | epitrepineia |
| ye 2nd person plural | epitrepiveia |
| they 3rd person plural | epitrepileia |
Commands — imperative mood, 4 occurrences
the subject acts active voice
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| you 2nd person singular | epitrepasōr | epitrepasar4×ἐπίτρεψόν | epitrepasēr |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epitrepatōr | epitrepatar | epitrepatēr |
| ye 2nd person plural | epitrepavōr | epitrepavar | epitrepavēr |
| they 3rd person plural | epitrepalōr | epitrepalar | epitrepalēr |
acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice
| Who person | happening now present | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|
| you 2nd person singular | epitreposōr | epitreposēr |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epitrepotōr | epitrepotēr |
| ye 2nd person plural | epitrepovōr | epitrepovēr |
| they 3rd person plural | epitrepolōr | epitrepolēr |
acted on passive voice
| Who person | happened aorist |
|---|---|
| you 2nd person singular | epitrepisar |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epitrepitar |
| ye 2nd person plural | epitrepivar |
| they 3rd person plural | epitrepilar |
Wishes — optative mood, no occurrences
the subject acts active voice
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist |
|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | epitrepamoiō | epitrepamoia |
| you 2nd person singular | epitrepasoiō | epitrepasoia |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epitrepatoiō | epitrepatoia |
| we 1st person plural | epitrepanoiō | epitrepanoia |
| ye 2nd person plural | epitrepavoiō | epitrepavoia |
| they 3rd person plural | epitrepaloiō | epitrepaloia |
acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice
| Who person | happening now present |
|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | epitrepomoiō |
| you 2nd person singular | epitreposoiō |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epitrepotoiō |
| we 1st person plural | epitreponoiō |
| ye 2nd person plural | epitrepovoiō |
| they 3rd person plural | epitrepoloiō |
acted on passive voice
| Who person | happened aorist |
|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | epitrepimoia |
| you 2nd person singular | epitrepisoia |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epitrepitoia |
| we 1st person plural | epitrepinoia |
| ye 2nd person plural | epitrepivoia |
| they 3rd person plural | epitrepiloia |
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 | epitreparō | epitrepari | epitrepara | epitreparē |
| acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice | epitreporō | epitreporē | ||
| acted on passive voice | epitrepiri | epitrepira |
Used as an adjective — participle, 1 occurrence
| Who is acting voice | happening now present | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the subject acts active voice | epitreparōntos | epitreparintos | epitreparantos1× | epitreparēntos |
| acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice | epitreporōntos | epitreporēntos | ||
| acted on passive voice | epitrepirintos | epitrepirantos |
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
epitrep 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.
18 occurrences, every one of them listed
epitrepamō“permit”happening now · Ipresent active indicative 1st person singular1×
1 Timothy 2:12didaskarō de gunaika ouk epitrepamō, oude authentarō androu, alla arō en …I do not permit a woman to teach or to …
epitrepotō“permitted”happening now · he/she/itpresent middle or passive indicative 3rd person singular2×
Acts 26:1Agrippos de pros ton Paulon fēate; Epitrepotō si huper siautou legarō. tote tos …Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul …
1 Corinthians 14:34… en tai ekklēsai sigalōr, ouk gar epitrepotō autai lalarō; alla hupotassolōr, kathōs kai …… in the churches. They are not permitted to speak, but must be in …
epitrepata“gave … permission”happened · he/she/itaorist active indicative 3rd person singular6×
Matthew 19:8… hoti Mōusos pros tan sklērokardian vu epitrepata vi apoluara tain gunaikain vu, apo …Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because …
Mark 5:13kai epitrepata autei. kai exercharanteim teim pneumeim teim …He gave them permission, and the unclean spirits came out …
Mark 10:4tois de legala; Epitrepata Mōusos bibliem apostasieu grafara kai apoluara.They answered, “Moses permitted a man to write his wife …
Luke 8:32… epitrepateia autei eis ekeinoin eiserchara; kai epitrepata autei.… them enter the pigs, and He gave them permission.
John 19:38… airateia tem sōmem tou Iēsu; kai epitrepata tos Pilatos. erchata oun kai airata …… remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, so he came and removed His …
Acts 27:3“allowed”… tē tos Ioulios to Paulo chrerantos epitrepata pros toin filoin poreuiranto epimeleiau tuchara.… Sidon, and Julius treated Paul with consideration, allowing him to visit his friends and receive their care.
epitrepita“allowed”happened · he/she/itaorist passive indicative 3rd person singular1×
Acts 28:16“allowed”Hote de eiserchana eis Rōman, epitrepita to Paulo menarō kata heauton sun …When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to stay by himself, with a soldier …
epitrepateiō“permits”happening now · he/she/itpresent active subjunctive 3rd person singular1×
Hebrews 6:3kai houtem poiani eanper epitrepateiō tos theos.… this we will do, if God permits.
epitrepateia“permit”happened · he/she/itaorist active subjunctive 3rd person singular2×
Luke 8:32“permit”… te ore; kai parakalala auton hina epitrepateia autei eis ekeinoin eiserchara; kai epitrepata …There on the hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding. So the demons begged Jesus to let them enter the pigs, and He gave them permission.
1 Corinthians 16:7… epimenara pros vin, ean tos kurios epitrepateia.… time with you, if the Lord permits.
epitrepasar“let”happened · youaorist active imperative 2nd person singular4×
Matthew 8:21… de toiu mathētoiu legata auto; Kurior, epitrepasar mi prōtem aperchara kai thaptara ton …… of His disciples requested, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
Luke 9:59… Akolouthasōr mi. tos de legata; Kurior, epitrepasar mi apercharanto prōtem thaptara ton patron …… Me.” The man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
Luke 9:61… heteros; Akolouthami si, kurior; prōtem de epitrepasar mi apotassera toi eis ton oikon …… will follow You, Lord; but first let me bid farewell to my family.”
Acts 21:39“let”… asēmau polau politos; domō de su, epitrepasar mi lalara pros ton laon.… Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Now I beg you to allow me to speak to the people.”
epitreparantou“given … permission”happened · of, belonging toaorist active participle genitive singular masculine1×
Acts 21:40epitreparantou de autou tos Paulos stēarēntos epi …Having received permission, Paul stood on the steps and …