Exploring the Meaning of Ekballo in Greek

ἐκβάλλω expresses the act of expelling—driving something or someone out from a place, condition, or sphere. In the passages quoted here, it ranges from the physical removal of an object to forcible exclusion, the ejection of spirits, and the sending out of workers.

Occurrences

Matthew 7:4 — “Or how will you tell your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye;’ and behold, the beam is in your own eye?”

Here ἐκβάλλω is pictured as a careful but decisive removal: a speck taken out from an eye. The verb frames the action as expulsion from a sensitive space, and the saying’s force depends on the contrast between what one offers to do for another and what still remains lodged in oneself.

Matthew 7:5 — “You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

The same expelling action is repeated, now with a different object: a “beam.” The command “First remove” treats ἐκβάλλω as an urgent first step that clears vision; only after this decisive ejection can a person “see clearly” to perform the smaller removal for someone else.

Matthew 7:22 — “Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’”

In this self-defense speech, ἐκβάλλω is invoked as a notable credential: “cast out demons.” The verb contributes the idea of active expulsion in the spiritual realm, presented alongside prophecy and mighty works as public actions performed “in your name.”

Matthew 8:12 — “but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Here the verb depicts exclusion: people are “thrown out” from a place of belonging into “outer darkness.” ἐκβάλλω conveys more than a simple departure; it is removal imposed from without, resulting in a stark relocation marked by “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 8:16 — “When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick;”

The expelling action is immediate and authoritative: “He cast out the spirits with a word.” ἐκβάλλω is linked to spoken command rather than physical struggle, and the scene pairs this expulsion with restoration—“and healed all who were sick”—so that removal and healing are presented as coordinated acts.

Matthew 8:31 — “The demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of pigs.””

ἐκβάλλω appears in the demons’ own request, acknowledging an expulsion they cannot prevent: “If you cast us out.” The verb underscores that the decisive initiative belongs to the one doing the expelling, while the plea “permit us to go away” highlights that expulsion involves displacement—being driven from one location and seeking another.

Matthew 9:25 — “But when the crowd was put out, he entered in, took her by the hand, and the girl arose.”

In this scene ἐκβάλλω is applied to a group: “the crowd was put out.” The verb marks the clearing of space so that what follows can occur privately and without interruption: after the expulsion, “he entered in” and the action moves to the girl’s restoration.

Matthew 9:33 — “When the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke. The multitudes marveled, saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!””

The verb describes a completed expulsion with observable effect: “When the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke.” ἐκβάλλω functions as the turning point; the removal of the demon is followed immediately by the man’s speech and the crowd’s astonishment.

Matthew 9:34 — “But the Pharisees said, “By the prince of the demons, he casts out demons.””

This statement keeps ἐκβάλλω at the center of dispute. The action “casts out demons” is conceded as real, but its source is challenged. The verb thus carries not only the idea of expulsion but also the public visibility of that expulsion—something observers feel compelled to explain.

Matthew 9:38 — “Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into his harvest.”

Here ἐκβάλλω is used for deployment: “send out laborers into his harvest.” The image is not of removing an intruder but of thrusting workers outward into a field of work. The verb’s expelling force gives the sending a sense of urgency and initiative coming from “the Lord of the harvest.”

Matthew 10:1 — “He called to himself his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every sickness.”

ἐκβάλλω defines a delegated action tied to granted authority: the disciples receive authority “over unclean spirits, to cast them out.” The expulsion is presented as part of a wider ministry that also includes healing, indicating that driving out what afflicts and restoring what is harmed belong together in their commission.

Matthew 10:8 — “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. Freely you received, so freely give.”

The verb appears as a direct imperative within a list of commanded actions. “Cast out demons” stands alongside healing and cleansing, so ἐκβάλλω denotes an expulsion that serves the wider purpose of freeing people from what oppresses them, performed in the same generous posture: “Freely you received, so freely give.”

Sense and Usage

Across these contexts, ἐκβάλλω consistently portrays expulsion as an act that changes boundaries—what was within is driven out, and what was present is removed or excluded. In Matthew 7:4–5 the imagery is surgical: an object is expelled from an eye, and the ethical point depends on the order of removals (first the beam, then the speck). The verb therefore carries a practical sense of clearing an impediment so that perception and action become reliable.

In Matthew 8–9 the verb commonly concerns spirits and crowds, and it presents expulsion as the decisive reversal in a situation. “He cast out the spirits with a word” (Matthew 8:16) portrays expulsion as effective command; “If you cast us out” (Matthew 8:31) shows even the expelled ones treating the action as certain once willed by the one with authority. The crowd “was put out” (Matthew 9:25) applies the same forceful removal to ordinary people: ἐκβάλλω is not limited to exorcism but can describe the clearing of a room to make way for what follows. In each case, the verb signals a transition from disorder or obstruction to a new state: from possession to freedom (Matthew 9:33), from crowding to access (Matthew 9:25), from an assumed place within to banishment “into the outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12).

Matthew 9:38 extends the verb beyond removal and exclusion to mission. The laborers are “send out…into his harvest,” and the choice of ἐκβάλλω paints the sending as energetic and purposeful, not merely an invitation. The same verb that describes throwing out into darkness (Matthew 8:12) can also describe thrusting workers into a field—different outcomes, but a similar sense of decisive movement imposed by the one who directs it. Matthew 10:1 and 10:8 show this expelling action as something given and commanded: authority enables ἐκβάλλω against “unclean spirits,” and the imperative places it alongside healing and cleansing as a concrete work to be carried out.

Imagery

The passages place ἐκβάλλω in vivid scenes of removal: a speck and a beam expelled from eyes (Matthew 7:4–5), spirits driven out by a word (Matthew 8:16), a crowd expelled from a room before a girl is raised (Matthew 9:25), and persons “thrown out into the outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12). Even when it describes sending rather than ejecting, the verb keeps the picture of forceful outward movement—laborers propelled “into his harvest” (Matthew 9:38)—so that expulsion is felt as an action that makes space, establishes separation, and initiates a new situation.

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).