What Does 2 Corinthians 6:17 Mean?
Therefore, go out from their midst, and be marked off, says the LORD, and do not take hold of what is unclean. And I will take you in.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,THE KEY
The Greek word for “touch” can also mean fastening yourself to something, so the verse’s boundary concerns what you attach yourself to.
THE MEANING
This verse names an exit from what defiles and a boundary around what you join. God’s promise meets that movement with welcome: “I will receive you.”
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie it undoes is that leaving what defiles means being cast off; the verse joins the exit to God’s promise to receive you.
THE ROOT
ἅπτεσθε
haptesthe
GROWS FROM
ἁπτ- (hapt-), from ἅπτω / ἅπτομαι (haptō / haptomai)
To fasten to or attach oneself; by extension, to touch or take hold of.
“take hold of” in this verse is haptesthe. The warning reaches beyond what briefly passes under your hand to what you attach yourself to. This word-family can also describe a joint or connection, giving “touch” a sense of contact that joins.
ALSO GROWS
haptō: Fasten, attach, or touch.
ἅπτω
Its fastening sense shows how the verse’s “touch” can include holding on, not only brushing against.
haphē: Touch, connection, or joint.
ἁφή
The same word-family can describe the connections that join parts of a body, revealing the binding quality contact can carry.
ἀφορίσθητε
aphoristhēte
GROWS FROM
ὅρος (horos), via ὁρίζω (horizō)
A boundary; to mark out or set a limit.
To be separate is to be marked off by a boundary. Here that boundary gives shape to belonging: coming out of one sphere opens onto another.
ALSO GROWS
horizō: Mark out, define, or appoint.
ὁρίζω
The verb puts a boundary around something, showing separation as a defined edge rather than mere distance.
horion: Boundary, region, or district.
ὅριον
A boundary can define a sphere or territory, giving separation the sense of a distinct place of belonging.
εἰσδέξομαι
eisdechomai
GROWS FROM
δέχομαι
dechomai
Receive or welcome; with εἰς (eis), receive into or admit.
“take you in” in this verse is eisdechomai. The promise is more than permission to leave: its verb carries the sense of being received in. The verse holds departure and welcome together as one movement.
ALSO GROWS
apodechomai: Receive or welcome.
ἀποδέχομαι
This related verb can describe an open acceptance, bringing warmth to the promise “I will receive you.”
paradechomai: Accept or receive.
παραδέχομαι
The shared receiving-word family reinforces that the movement out is met by acceptance.
THE PATTERN
Leaving what defiles is joined to a newly defined belonging.
Turn aside, turn aside. Go out from there, and touch no unclean thing. Go out from the midst of her. Be clear, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.And I hear another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, so that you do not share in her shortcomings, and that you do not receive from her blows.So let us go out to him, outside the camp, bearing his insult.THE THREAD
Turn aside, turn aside. Go out from there, and touch no unclean thing. Go out from the midst of her. Be clear, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.Isaiah is the source of the “go out” and “touch no unclean thing” sequence, echoed in the Greek wording of this verse. Beside Isaiah, the boundary is part of a movement away from contamination and toward a life set apart for the LORD.
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