Exploring the Meaning of Rhonnumi in Greek

ῥώννυμι means “farewell” and appears in two closing lines of official communications in Acts. In both places it functions as the formal last word that dismisses the reader after instructions and legal or administrative details have been set out.

Occurrences

Acts 15:29: “that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality, from which if you keep yourselves, it will be well with you. Farewell.”

Here ῥώννυμι stands at the end of a tightly ordered set of directives: “abstain” is followed by a list of specific matters, and then by the promise-like reassurance, “from which if you keep yourselves, it will be well with you.” The closing “Farewell.” is not an additional command and it does not add another item to the list; it is the concluding formula that seals what has just been written. In this setting it marks the transition from authoritative instruction to the end of the communication. Because the preceding line expresses concern for the recipients’ well-being (“it will be well with you”), the farewell naturally belongs to the same courteous, official tone: the senders end the message once the required guidance has been delivered.

The placement of ῥώννυμι after a complete sentence and immediately after a period gives it the feel of a discrete closing, as though the letter has reached its final word. The result is a clean finish: the readers are left with a clear set of abstentions and a final dismissal that releases them from the correspondence.

Acts 23:30: “When I was told that the Jews lay in wait for the man, I sent him to you immediately, charging his accusers also to bring their accusations against him before you. Farewell.”

In this verse the communication is framed as a report of actions already taken and procedural instructions for what must happen next. The writer explains the reason for urgency (“the Jews lay in wait for the man”) and then states a decisive response (“I sent him to you immediately”). The sentence continues with a further administrative measure: the accusers are “charging … to bring their accusations against him before you.” Only after these situational facts and judicial directions are stated does ῥώννυμι appear as the final word.

In this scene ῥώννυμι again functions as the formal closure of a message that has legal and protective weight. The farewell does not soften the seriousness of the danger described, nor does it modify the directives about accusations; it simply signals that the writer has finished setting the matter before the recipient. Its effect is to close the correspondence cleanly, leaving the recipient with the essential information: a threat, a rapid transfer, and the requirement that accusers present their case.

Sense and Usage

Across both occurrences, ῥώννυμι is used as a conventional ending to written communication. It carries the sense of a leave-taking, the final verbal act by which the sender dismisses the reader and ends the exchange. Because it appears after complete statements and at the very end of each quotation, it functions less like a conversational parting spoken between two people in mid-interaction and more like an epistolary closing—brief, self-contained, and positioned as the last element in a structured message.

The two contexts show that the word can close different kinds of content without changing its role. In Acts 15:29 it concludes practical moral instruction (“that you abstain …”), capped with a statement about the recipients’ welfare (“it will be well with you”). The farewell here sits naturally after counsel and encouragement; it ends a message intended to guide conduct and promote well-being. In Acts 23:30 it concludes a report and a procedural directive in a charged situation (“the Jews lay in wait … I sent him … charging his accusers”). The farewell here sits after a chain of cause, response, and legal instruction; it ends a message designed to transfer responsibility and ensure due process. In both cases, ῥώννυμι does the same communicative work: it marks that nothing more is to be added, and that the reader should now act on what has been written.

Because the farewell is appended after the main content has been completed, it also provides a boundary to the document’s authority. The commands (“abstain”) and the charges (“bring their accusations”) belong to the body of the message; “Farewell.” belongs to the act of closing. This separation helps the reader hear the difference between what is required and what is simply the sender’s final sign-off. The word is therefore small but structurally important: it indicates completion, signals a respectful dismissal, and leaves the preceding instructions or report intact and undiluted.

In both verses the farewell follows material addressed to an audience that is expected to respond: the recipients of Acts 15:29 are told what to avoid and promised well-being if they keep themselves from those things; the recipient of Acts 23:30 is informed of an ambush threat, given the reason for an immediate transfer, and directed to receive accusations in a formal setting. In each case, the farewell is the point at which the sender’s responsibility, as writer, is discharged: the information has been given and the rest lies with the recipient.

Closing Imagery

Though ῥώννυμι is a brief word, in these passages it evokes the decisive moment when a written message is finished and released. After a list of abstentions and a promise of well-being, “Farewell.” sounds like the final stroke that ends instruction (Acts 15:29). After a warning of danger, a swift transfer, and directions for accusations, “Farewell.” sounds like the administrative seal that ends the report (Acts 23:30). In both scenes the word stands at the edge of action: once it is spoken, the reader is no longer being addressed but is expected to proceed.

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).