Quick Definition
πράκτωρ, ορος, ὁ n.m. an officer employed to execute judicial sentences
Strong's Definition
from a derivative of 4238; a practiser, i.e. (specially), an official collector
KJV Usage: officer
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
πράκτωρ, -opos, ὁ, (πράσσω); 1. one who does anything, a doer, (Soph.). 2. one who does the work of inflicting punishment or taking vengeance; esp. the avenger of a murder (Aeschyl., Soph.) ; the exactor of a pecuniary fine ([Antipho], Dem., al.) ; an officer of justice of the lower order whose business it is to inflict punishment: Lk. xii. 58.
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
πράκτωρ praktōr 2x
an exactor of dues or penalties; an officer who enforced payment of debts by imprisonment, Lk. 12:58*
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
πράκτωρ, -ορος, ὁ
(< πράσσω), [in LXX: Is 3:12 (נֹגֵשׂ)*;]
(poët.) one who does or accomplishes.
In Athens, one who exacts payment, a collector; hence, generally (freq. in π., v. Deiss., BS, 154), a court officer: Lk 12:58.†
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
πράκτωρ is very common in the papyri= “8 collector of revenue.” According to GH (Fayzm Jowns, p. 106) the mpaxtwp in Ptolemaic times was specially concerned with the exaction of fines or payments (ct. Wilcken Osfr. i. p. 564), but during the Roman period he was an ordinary collector of taxes, Exx. are—P Petr II. 13(17)? (B.c. 258-253) παραγέγραμμαι τῶι πράκτορι ws ὀφείλων] πρὸς τὰ ἀμπελικά. . . “1 am returned to the tax-agent (or public accountant) as owing for the vine-tax . . .,” P Magd 41° (iii/B.c.) γράψας τῶι ξενικῶν. πράκτορι πρᾶ[ξαι] καὶ ἀποδοῦναί por, P Fay 14? (B.C. 124) οἱ προκεχιρισμένοι πράκτορες, ‘‘the appointed collectors” of the crown-tax issue a ποιῖςε---προσδιαγράψις ἀργυρίου δραχμὰς τέσσαρας, “you are required to pay in addition four drachmae,”” BGU II. 530% (i/a.p.) (= Selections, p. 62f.) ἄλλως τε kal ἀπαιτῖται ὑπὸ τῶν πρακτόρων ἱκανόν, “ especially security is demanded by the taxgatherers,” and P Oxy IX. 12031! (late i/A.D.) ἐκ Tod καταλογείου ὑπόμνημα πρὸς τὸν ἐνθάδε ξενικῶν πράκτορα, ἐξ ἃ memorandum from the bureau to the collector of external debts here”’ (Ed.: see note ad /.). In P Oxy XVI. 18296f. (c. A.D. 577-9?) the variant πράκτηρ is found: see the editors’ note. ἹΠράκτωρ is still used technically in Lk 1258, the only place where it occurs in Biblical Greek, but the reference is apparently not to a finance official, but to an *‘ officer (usher) of the court.” For the juxtaposition of πράκτωρ and ἀντίδικος, as in the Lukan passage, we may cite P Oxy III. 53313 (ii/iii A.D.). The same papyrus shows *! πρακτοpeta, ‘‘the post of collector.” πρᾶξις. ξ For the concrete plur. “‘ doings,” ‘‘ deeds,” cf. the mantic P Ryl I. 28121 (iv/a.p.) where it is decreed that, if both ‘ πρασσω a ΜΟΠΙΔΠ 5 legs quiver, δηλοῖ πράξεις καὶ ἀποδημίας, ‘it denotes great achievements and travel.” With the title πράξεις (πρᾶξις Π) ἀποστόλων (B) for our NT book, we may compare the title of the Aes gestae Divi Augusti Cagnat IIT. 150, μεθηρμηνευμέναι ὑπεγράφησαν πράξεις τε καὶ δωρεαὶ Σεβαστοῦ Θεοῦ. The Greek text of a iii/a.p. Coptic spell from the great Paris magical papyrus, P Par 574 (= Selections, p. 113), is headed 1°27 πρᾶξις γενναία ἐκβάλλουσα δαίμονας, ‘‘a notable spell for driving out demons”: cf. Ac 1938. IIpagts is common in the papyri in the legal sense of “yight of execution’: e.g. P Eleph 1)? (b.c. 311-10) (= Selections, p. 3) 7 δὲ πρᾶξις ἔστω καθάπερ ἐγ δίκης κατὰ νόμον τέλος ἐχούσης, ‘‘and let the right of execution be as if a formal decree of the court had been obtained,” and P Oxy II. 278% (A.p. 17) τῆς πράξεως [ο]Ἱὔσης [τ]ῶι ᾿Ισιδώρωι ἔκ τε τοῦ μεμισθωμένου Kall] ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτῶι πάντων, ‘Isidorus having the right of execution upon both the person and all the property of the lessee” (Edd.), and 76. VI. 90514 (A.D. 170) (= Selections, p. 87). The adj. πράξιμος, which occurs in Polyb. xxi. 43. 17, is found in P Giss 1. 4819. (a.p. 202-3) ἐν πραξίμ[οις] ἡγηθῆναι.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
πράκτωρ (praktōr) — bailiff. πράκ-τωρ, ορος, ὁ, ={πρακτήρ}, one who does or executes, accomplisher, Ζεὺς ὅτου π. φανῇ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; with feminine substantive, Κύπρις.. τῶνδ᾽ ἐφάνη π. [Refs 5th c.BC+]
II. official who executes a judgment for debt, especially public debt, bailiff, [NT+5th c.BC+]; τῶν ξενικῶν [Refs 2nd c.BC+]
II.2. collector of taxes, π. βαλανήου “Ostr.” in Wilcken Grundzüge [Refs 1st c.AD+]; π. ἀργυρικῶν [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; π. σιτικῶν [Refs 2nd c.AD+]
II.3. in Poets, one who exacts punishment, avenger, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: as adjective, with a feminine substantive, avenging, σὺν δορὶ καὶ χερὶ πράκτορι [Refs 4th c.BC+]