Exploring the Meaning of Ekbasis in Greek

ἔκβασις refers to a “way out.” It appears in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 10:13 and Hebrews 13:7, each time contributing the idea of an outcome that brings a situation to its exit.

Root and Related Words

ἔκβασις (Ekbasis) is connected with ἐκ (ek), “out from” (Strong’s G1537), and with βάσις (basis), “foot” (Strong’s G939). These related words set the term within the sphere of movement and departure: a coming “out from” a circumstance, pictured with the concreteness of a “foot” making its way.

Occurrences

“No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

In this sentence, ἔκβασις names what God “will…also make” in the very moment of “temptation.” The verse frames temptation as something that “has taken you,” and then places a limit on it: God “will not allow” it to exceed what a person “is able.” Within that bounded trial, ἔκβασις is the divinely provided exit-route, paired directly with the endurance it enables—“that you may be able to endure it.” The “way out” is not presented as a denial that temptation is real, nor as a claim that it never presses hard; rather, the verse builds a tightly linked chain: temptation comes, God remains faithful, God limits what is allowed, and God provides an ἔκβασις alongside the temptation. In that setting, the word contributes a practical, concrete notion: temptation is not an inescapable enclosure, because God actively makes a “way of escape.”

The verse also locates the “way out” with the temptation (“with the temptation also make”), so ἔκβασις is not postponed to some undefined future; it is presented as something present and available within the experience itself. At the same time, it is connected to the ability “to endure it,” which keeps the focus on continued faithfulness under pressure rather than on simply avoiding the circumstance. The “way out” here functions as God’s provision that makes endurance possible when the trial is already underway.

“Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith.” (Hebrews 13:7)

In Hebrews 13:7, ἔκβασις appears within a call to mindful remembrance and careful evaluation. The readers are to “Remember your leaders,” specifically those who “spoke to you the word of God.” The instruction is not limited to recalling their teaching; it extends to observation and reflection: “considering the results of their conduct.” In that evaluative phrase, ἔκβασις denotes the “way out” as the tangible outcome that their pattern of life produced—the point where their manner of conduct arrives, the exit it reaches, and the end-point that can be weighed. The verse then moves from consideration to action: “imitate their faith.”

Here the term supports a moral and communal logic. The readers are not urged to imitate blindly; they are urged to imitate in light of what can be “considered”—the “results” issuing from a leader’s “conduct.” By contributing the idea of an outcome that comes out of a lived path, ἔκβασις helps anchor imitation in observable consequence. The verse treats faith not as a private claim but as something that takes shape through conduct and comes to a discernible “result” that others can examine.

Sense and Usage

Across these two settings, ἔκβασις (“way out”) works in two complementary directions: one looks for the exit God provides from within a pressing situation, and the other looks at the exit a person’s conduct reaches over time. In 1 Corinthians 10:13, the word is placed inside a struggle—temptation that “has taken” someone—and it names God’s faithful provision that opens a way through. The emphasis falls on divine agency (“God…will…make”) and on real-time relief sufficient for endurance (“that you may be able to endure it”). The “way out” is not abstract; it is framed as something made, given, and effective.

In Hebrews 13:7, the word is tied to reflection on a completed or at least visible trajectory—“considering the results of their conduct.” The “way out” is what emerges from sustained behavior; it is the exit-point, outcome, or resultant end that can be assessed and that then informs imitation (“imitate their faith”). In that usage, ἔκβασις belongs to practical discernment: faith is imitated with attention to where a life goes, what it produces, and how it comes out.

Together these uses show that the “way out” can be spoken of both as immediate provision in a crisis and as the observable outcome of a life-pattern. The first stresses the availability of an exit amid pressure; the second stresses the assessable exit reached by steady conduct. In both, the term remains concrete: it concerns what comes out of a circumstance—either what God makes alongside temptation, or what conduct yields as its result.

Imagery

The imagery carried by ἔκβασις in these passages is movement toward an opening. In 1 Corinthians 10:13, the “way of escape” suggests a path that appears within confinement—an opening made by God that allows endurance under pressure rather than collapse. In Hebrews 13:7, the “results” of conduct suggest a road that has been walked far enough to see where it comes out, so that others can look at the exit it reaches and let that shape what they imitate.

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).