☀️
← Back to Lexicon
G4506 · Greek · New Testament
ῥύομαι
rhuomai
Verb (deponent)
to rescue, to deliver, to save from danger

Definition

Rhuomai (ῥύομαι) means to rescue, deliver, or draw out from danger. It appears about 17 times in the NT and depicts active, urgent rescue — snatching someone from peril, pulling them out of harm's way. It is stronger and more concrete than general words for salvation (sōzō, G4982) and implies that the person being rescued is in immediate mortal or spiritual danger.

The word connects to the Greek image of pulling a drowning person from the sea — forceful, decisive intervention. It is the deliverer who acts, not the one being rescued.

Usage & Theological Significance

Rhuomai appears in the Lord's Prayer: "Deliver [rhuomai] us from evil/the evil one" (Matt. 6:13). Whether "evil" here is the abstract noun (evil circumstances) or the personal noun (the Evil One, Satan), the petition acknowledges human inability to self-rescue and total dependence on the Father's active deliverance.

Paul's testimony is studded with rhuomai: God "delivered [rhuomai] us from such a deadly peril" (2 Cor. 1:10 — describing his Ephesian crisis); he awaits being "rescued [rhuomai] from unbelieving Judea" (Rom. 15:31); and supremely: "The Lord will rescue [rhuomai] me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom" (2 Tim. 4:18). Peter's experience of miraculous rescue from prison (Acts 12) embodies the word physically. Ultimately, Christ's death is the ultimate rhuomai: "who gave himself for our sins to deliver [exaireomai, but same concept] us from the present evil age" (Gal. 1:4).

Key Bible Verses

Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver [rhuomai] us from evil.
Romans 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver [rhuomai] me from this body of death?
2 Timothy 4:18 The Lord will rescue [rhuomai] me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.
2 Corinthians 1:10 He delivered [rhuomai] us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope.
Romans 11:26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, 'The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.'

Related Words

External Resources

🌙
☀️