Epitrepō (ἐπιτρέπω) means to permit or allow — to give someone leave to do something, to entrust. From epi + trepō (to turn). The word appears in discussions of Mosaic law (Moses "permitted" divorce), demonic requests (demons ask permission to enter pigs), and Paul's controversial instructions.
Three notable NT uses: (1) Jesus on divorce — Moses "permitted" (epitrepō) divorce because of hardness of heart, not because God originally designed it (Matt. 19:8). The word reveals the distance between permissive concession and divine ideal. (2) The Gerasene demons beg Jesus to "allow" (epitrepō) them into the pigs — astonishing that the demons request permission from the one they fear. (3) Paul's "I do not permit" (epitrepō) in 1 Tim. 2:12 is the most contested use, requiring contextual nuance. All three uses show that permission operates within sovereign authority.
Epitrepō is the permission verb — it operates within a framework of authority. When Jesus grants the demons permission to enter pigs, the reader sees the reversal: the powers of darkness are not autonomous but petition-dependent, operating within the limits Christ sets. The Mosaic "permission" for divorce that Jesus references shows that not everything permitted is ideal — God accommodates human fallenness while pointing to the original design.