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G1621 · Greek · New Testament
ἐκτινάσσω
Ektinassō
Verb
To Shake Off

Definition

To shake off vigorously. Used in the Gospels and Acts of the symbolic gesture of shaking dust from one's feet or sandals when departing a town that has rejected the gospel — a declaration of completed responsibility and divine judgment to come.

Usage & Theological Significance

The gesture of shaking dust from one's feet is one of the most theologically loaded actions in Jesus' missionary instructions. When a town rejects the gospel, the disciples were to shake off the dust as a testimony against it. In Jewish practice, Jews shook dust off their feet when leaving Gentile territory. Jesus inverts this: the rejecting Jewish town is now as pagan and unclean as Gentile territory. Paul and Barnabas performed this gesture at Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:51). It is not hatred but grief: a final announcement that the gospel has come and been refused.

Key Bible Verses

Matthew 10:14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.
Mark 6:11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.
Acts 13:51 So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium.
Acts 18:6 When they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, 'Your blood be on your own heads!'
Luke 10:11 Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.

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