Exploring the Meaning of Apaggello in Greek

ἀπαγγέλλω expresses the act of making an announcement—bringing a report from one party to another. In the cited Gospel scenes it is used for messages that move quickly from eyewitnesses to listeners, whether in private commands, public reactions, or formal briefings.

Occurrences

Matthew 2:8: He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him.”

Here the verb frames a delegated mission: the speaker sends others to locate “the young child,” and the requested action is a return-report—“bring me word.” The announcement is not spontaneous; it is an expected relay of information gathered elsewhere, intended to reach the sender so he can act on it.

Matthew 8:33: Those who fed them fled, and went away into the city, and told everything, including what happened to those who were possessed with demons.

The announcement arises out of alarm and urgency: the herdsmen “fled” and then “told everything.” The content of the report is expansive (“everything”) and specific (“what happened” to the demon-possessed), stressing comprehensive narration of an event to an urban audience.

Matthew 11:4: Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:

The announcement is commissioned by Jesus and directed toward an absent recipient (“John”). Its substance is anchored in direct experience—“the things which you hear and see”—so the act of announcing functions as a bridge between witnesses and the one who must receive the account.

Matthew 12:18: “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen; my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit on him. He will proclaim justice to the nations.

In this prophetic citation the verb carries a public, outward-facing force: the servant “will proclaim justice to the nations.” The announcement is not merely reporting a past incident; it is the act of declaring a message with broad scope (“to the nations”) and a defined subject (“justice”).

Matthew 14:12: His disciples came, and took the body, and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

The announcement follows a sequence of solemn actions (“took the body… buried it”), after which the disciples “went and told Jesus.” The verb marks the movement from burial to communication, conveying that the event is carried to Jesus as news requiring his awareness.

Matthew 28:8: They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word.

The announcement is urgent and emotionally charged. The women leave “quickly” and “ran” in order to “bring his disciples word,” so the verb highlights rapid transmission; the report is treated as something that must be delivered without delay.

Matthew 28:9: As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” They came and took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.

The announcement is in progress (“as they went to tell his disciples”) when their course is interrupted by encountering Jesus. The verb provides narrative momentum: it identifies their purpose—announcing to the disciples—and that purpose frames the significance of the meeting and their response of worship.

Matthew 28:10: Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Jesus issues a direct instruction to announce a specific directive. The content is carefully delimited: “tell my brothers” both the destination (“go into Galilee”) and the promise attached (“there they will see me”). The verb thus serves as a vehicle for authoritative guidance passed through messengers.

Matthew 28:11: Now while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city, and told the chief priests all the things that had happened.

The guards’ announcement is a formal report upward to leaders (“the chief priests”). Its scope is exhaustive—“all the things that had happened”—and the setting (“came into the city”) underscores the movement from the site of events to a center of authority where the report is received.

Mark 5:14: Those who fed them fled, and told it in the city and in the country. The people came to see what it was that had happened.

As in Matthew’s parallel scene, the announcement is triggered by fear and flight, but Mark emphasizes geographic spread: the report is told “in the city and in the country.” The announcement expands the circle of awareness so that “the people came to see,” showing the verb’s role in catalyzing public response.

Mark 5:19: He didn’t allow him, but said to him, “Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you.”

The announcement here is personal testimony directed to a defined audience (“your house… your friends”). The content is likewise specified: “what great things the Lord has done for you” and “how he had mercy on you.” The verb frames the spreading of news from an individual recipient of mercy to his relational network.

Mark 6:30: The apostles gathered themselves together to Jesus, and they told him all things, whatever they had done, and whatever they had taught.

This occurrence portrays an organized debriefing: the apostles gather to Jesus and announce “all things,” subdivided into actions (“whatever they had done”) and instruction (“whatever they had taught”). The verb supports accountability and shared understanding, turning experience and teaching into a communicated report.

Sense and Usage

Across these passages ἀπαγγέλλω consistently functions as a transfer of information from those who know to those who need to know. The speakers and recipients vary—rulers dispatching agents, frightened witnesses speaking to a city, disciples reporting to Jesus, guards briefing chief priests—but the core activity remains the same: an announcement that carries the content of events, observations, or directives into a new setting.

The verb often appears with explicit markers of scope. Several texts stress fullness of report: “told everything” (Matthew 8:33), “told the chief priests all the things that had happened” (Matthew 28:11), and “told him all things, whatever they had done, and whatever they had taught” (Mark 6:30). This repeated emphasis on comprehensiveness presents announcing not as a vague hint or partial update, but as an attempt to convey the whole matter as the announcer understands it.

It also regularly appears with verbs of movement, which place announcing within a pathway of transmission. People “went away into the city” and then told (Matthew 8:33); women “departed quickly… and ran” to bring word (Matthew 28:8); guards “came into the city” and told (Matthew 28:11). The announcement is therefore not merely a speech act; it is a narrative hinge linking locations (tomb, countryside, city, Galilee in prospect) and communities (friends, disciples, leaders). The message travels because messengers travel.

In some scenes the announcement is requested or commanded in advance (Matthew 2:8; Matthew 11:4; Matthew 28:10; Mark 5:19). In these, ἀπαγγέλλω is part of an instruction: it sets a goal for the messenger and clarifies the intended audience—Herod, John, “my brothers,” “your friends.” The word thus supports delegated communication: one party cannot or will not address the audience directly, so a messenger is commissioned to carry the announcement.

In other scenes the announcement erupts as immediate reaction to a startling event (Matthew 8:33; Mark 5:14). Fear and flight precede telling, and the telling triggers broader public attention (“The people came to see,” Mark 5:14). Here the verb underscores how news spreads through witness-reporting, producing a ripple effect from a few to many.

Finally, the prophetic line in Matthew 12:18 shows that announcing can have an outward, programmatic direction: “He will proclaim justice to the nations.” In that setting, the verb describes a message with wide public reach rather than a private update, placing proclamation alongside the other, more situational reports as a kind of announcement that addresses whole peoples.

Closing Imagery

The clustered resurrection narratives in Matthew 28 portray announcing as hurried, embodied communication—feet running from a tomb, messengers en route, and competing reports moving into the city. In these scenes, ἀπαγγέλλω evokes news in motion: a message carried by those who have seen something and must bring word to those who have not yet seen.

Sources: Lexical data from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Translators Brief Lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (STEPBible, CC BY). Occurrence data from the Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).