ὁρκίζω
horkízō
G3726 verb
SILEX Entry
Definition
To administer an oath; to cause someone to swear (to take an oath), often with a serious or solemn charge; to bind by a formal declaration or invocation, especially before a deity or witnesses. The term can also extend to strongly adjuring, urging, or solemnly charging someone to do something, with the seriousness of an oath or legal requirement. In certain contexts, it takes on a specific technical sense of requiring a statement or action under oath.
Semantic Range
to administer an oath, to cause to swear, to bind under oath, to solemnly adjure, to solemnly charge, to require or enjoin formally under threat or invocation of divine witness
Root / Etymology
From the noun ὅρκος (horkos, 'oath'), formed with the causative verb ending -ίζω, indicating the act of causing an oath to be sworn or administered. The formation is regular for denominative verbs in Koine Greek.
Historical & Contextual Notes
In Classical Greek, ὁρκίζω refers to the act of administering or imposing an oath, a use maintained into Hellenistic and Koine periods. In the New Testament and other contemporary literature, the verb particularly emphasizes the act of causing someone to swear or solemnly charge, sometimes with an implicit appeal to divine witness or authority. The term appears less frequently than ὁμνύω ('to swear, take an oath'), and specifically designates the act of making someone else swear, rather than swearing oneself. In Jewish and Greco-Roman legal or religious settings, oaths were serious binding acts, often invoking God or the gods as witnesses to the truth or to an undertaking. In translation practice, the word has at times been rendered as 'adjure' or 'charge,' but these may not fully capture the seriousness or formal quality of the oath-administration act indicated by ὁρκίζω. The verb does not carry the connotation of casual urging; it involves a formal binding by oath or solemn charge.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
from ὅρκος; to put on oath, i.e. make swear; by analogy, to solemnly enjoin:--adjure, charge.
Root Family
ὁρκίζω (horkizō) — oath, bind by oath, solemnly charge
Word Forms
1 distinct form
| SIDANCE | Surface | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | SIBI-P2 | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G3726-01 |
ὁρκίζω | orkizo | V PRS ACT IND 1P SG |
I adjure | I bind under oath | I adjure | 2 |
Occurrences in Scripture
2 occurrences
| SIDANCE | Reference | Word | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | SIBI-P2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G3726-01 |
Mark 5:7 | ὁρκίζω | orkizo | V PRS ACT IND 1P SG |
I adjure | I bind under oath | I adjure |
G3726-01 |
Acts 19:13 | ὁρκίζω | orkizo | V PRS ACT IND 1P SG |
I adjure | I bind under oath | I bind under oath |