σύρω; impf. ἔσυρον ; fr. [Aeschyl. and Hat. (in comp.), Aristot.], Theocr. down; [Sept. 2S. xvii. 13]; to draw, drag: τί, Jn. xxi. 8; Rev. xii. 4; τινά, one (before the judge, to prison, to punishment; ἐπὶ ra βασανιστήρια, εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον, Epict. diss. 1, 29, 22; al.), Acts viii. 3; ἔξω τῆς πόλεως, Acts xiv. 19; ἐπὶ τοὺς πολιτάρχας, Acts xvii. 6. [Comp.: κατασύρω.]

σύρω syrō 5x

to draw, drag, Jn. 21:8; Rev. 12:4; to force away, hale before magistrates, etc., Acts 8:3; 14:19; 17:6*

σύρω

[in LXX: IV Ki 17:13 (סחב), IV Mac 6:1, al. ;]

to draw, drag: c. acc. rei, Jo 21:8, Re 12:4; c. acc. pers., of taking to trial or punish­ment, Ac 8:3; ἔξω τ. πόλεως, Ac 14:19; ἐπὶ τ. πολιτάρχας (cf. IV Mac, l.c.), Ac 17:6 (cf. κατα-σύρω).†

Turse words differ, and the difference between them is not theologically unimportant. We best represent this difference in English, when we render σύρειν, ‘to drag,” ἕλκειν, ‘to draw.’ In σύρειν, as in our ‘drag,’ there lies always the notion of force, as when Plutarch (De Lib. Ed. 8) speaks of the headlong course of a river, πάντα σύρων καὶ πάντα παραφέρων : and it will follow, that where persons, and not merely things, are in question, σύρειν will involve the notion of violence (Acts viii. 3 ; xiv. 19; xvii. 6; ef. κατασύρειν, Luke xii. 58). But in ἕλκειν this notion of force or violence does not of necessity lie. It may be there (Acts xvi. 19; xxi. 30; Jam. ii. 6; cf. Homer, JI. xi. 258; xxiv. 52,417; Aristophanes, Hquit. 710; Euripides, Troad. 70: Aias εἷλκε ἹΚασάνδραν Bia) ; but not of necessity (thus Plato, Rep. vi. 494e: ἐὰν ἕλκηται πρὸς φιλοσοφίαν : ef. vii. 538 d), any more than in our ‘ draw,’ which we use of a mental and moral attraction, or in the Latin ‘traho’ (‘ trahit sua quemque voluptas ἢ). Only by keeping in mind the difference which thus to run to the surface, to leave us ethically a far poorer word. It is inexcusable that all modern reprints of the Authorized Version should have given in to thiscorruption. So long as the spelling does not affect the life of a word, this may very well fall in with modern use; we do not want ‘sonne’ or ‘marveile,’ when everybody now spells ‘son’ and ‘ marvel.’ But where this life is assailed by later alterations, corruptions in fact of the spelling, and the word in fact changed into another, there the edition of 1611 should be exactly adhered to, and considered authoritative and exemplary for all that followed. exists between these, can we vindicate from erroneous interpretation two doctrinally important passages in the Gospel of St. John. The first is xii. 32: “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men [πάντας ἑλκύσω] unto Me.” But how does a crucified, and thus an exalted, Saviour draw all men unto Him? Not by force, for the will is incapable of force, but by the divine attractions of his love. Again (vi. 44): “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him” (ἑλκύσῃ αὐτόν). Now as many as feel bound to deny any such ‘gratia irresistibilis ᾿ as turns man into a machine, and by which, willing or unwilling, he is dragged to God, must at once allow, must indeed assert, that this ἑλκύσῃ can mean no more than the potent allurements, the allective force of love, the attracting of men by the Father to the Son; compare Jer. xxxi. 3, “ With loving-kindness have I drawn thee” (εἵλκυσά σε), and Cant. i. 3,4. Did we find σύρειν on either of these occasions (not that this would be possible), the assertors of a ‘ gratia irresistibilis’! might then urge the declarations of our Lord as leaving no room for any other meaning but theirs; but not as they now stand. In agreement with all this, in ἕλκειν is predominantly the sense of a drawing to a certain point, in σύρειν merely of dragging after one; thus Lucian (De Merc. Cond. 3), likening a man to a fish already hooked and dragged ? The excellent words of Augustine on this last passage, himself sometimes adduced as an upholder of this, may be here quoted (In Ev. Joh. Tract. xxvi. 4): ‘Nemo venit ad me, nisi quem Pater adtraxerit. Noli te cogitare invitum trahi; trahitur animus et amore. Nec timere debemus ne ab hominibus qui verba perpendunt, et a rebus maxime divinis intelligendis longe remoti sunt, in hoc Scripturarum sanctarum evangelico verbo forsitan reprehendamur, et dicatur nobis, Quomodo yoluntate credo, sitrahor? Ego dico: Parum est voluntate, etiam voluptate traheris. Porro si poétee dicere licuit, Trahit saa quemque voluptas; non necessitas, sed yoluptas; non obligatio, sed delectatio; quanto fortius nos dicere debemus, trahi hominem ad Christum, qui delectatur veritate, delectatur beatitudine, delectatur justitia, delectatur sempiterna vita, quod totum Christus est ὃ ἢ 74 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. § xxu. through the water, describes him as συρόμενον καὶ πρὸς ἀνάγκην ἀγόμενον. Not seldom there will lie in cvpew the notion of this dragging being upon the ground, inasmuch as that will trail upon the ground (cf. σύρμα, σύρδην, and Isai. iii. 16), which is forcibly dragged along with no will of its own; a dead body, for example (Philo, In Flac. 21). We may compare John xxi. 6, 11 with ver. 8 of the same chapter, in confirmation of what has just been affirmed. At ver. 6 and 11 ἕλκειν is used; for there a drawing of the net to a certain point is intended; by the disciples to themselves in the ship, by Peter to himself upon the shore. But at ver. 8 ἕλκειν gives place to cvpew: for nothing is there intended but the dragging of the net, which had been fastened to the ship, after it through the water. Our Version has maintained the distinction; so too the German of De Wette, by aid of ‘ziehen’ (ξεἕλκειν) and ‘nachschleppen’ (=cvpew) ; but neither the Vulgate, nor Beza, both employing ‘ traho’ throughout.

σύρω, “εἄχανν,᾿ ““ατασ᾽ (Jn 218, Ac 88, Rev 124). The word is used of oxen drawing wood in P Flor II. 1587 (iii/A.D.) παράσχες . . TO ταυρικὸν ἵνα᾽ συρῇ els κῶμ[η]ν τὰ ξύλα, / συσσημον 76, 2275 (A.D. 257) σύροντι ξύλα ἀπὸ τῆς διώρυγος. For an incorrect perf. part. = ‘‘attached,”’ see P Lond V. 1686%* (A.D. 565) μετὰ τῆς σεσυρομ(ένης) αὐταῖς συντελείας. The word is read by Rendel Harris in Ἐν. Petr. 3 σύρωμεν (for εὕρωμεν) τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, with which Robinson and James (p. 17) compare Acts of Philip (Tisch. p. 143) σύρατε τοὺς μάγους τούτους. The comp’. παρασύρω occurs in P Oxy III. 48615 cited s.v. παρουσία.

σύρω (surō) — to drag. σύρω [ῡ], [Refs]: future σῠρῶ [LXX]aorist ἔσῡρα (κατ-) [Refs 5th c.BC+]perfect σέσυρκα (δια-) [Refs 4th c.BC+] —middle, aorist ἐσῡράμην (περι-) [Refs 4th c.BC+]:—passive, aorist ἐσύρην [ῠ] [Refs 2nd c.AD+]: perfect σέσυρμαι [Refs 2nd c.BC+]:—draw, drag, trail along, χιτῶνα [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; μέχρι τῶν σφυρῶν τὴν ἐσθῆτα σ. [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; βλαύτας σύρων trailing his torn slippers, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; drag a net, [NT+1st c.AD+]; σ. πηκτίδα, see at {πηκτίς} 1.2; of oxen, ἵνα σύρῃ τὰ ξύλα [Refs 3rd c.AD+]; drag about, τι [Refs 2nd c.AD+]:—passive, hang trailing, trail along, οὐρή, νηδύς, [Refs 1st c.AD+]; of a person, crawl, σύρεσθαι γαστέρι[Refs 6th c.AD+]:—also intransitive in active, of a column of ships compared to a serpent, [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; crawl, συρόντων ἐπὶ γῆν [LXX]

2. drag by force, hale, αἰχμάλωτον [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; ἄνδρας καὶ γυναῖκας [NT]; of waves or rivers, sweep, sweep away, κλύδων ἐπὶ χέρσον ἔσυρεν δελφῖνα [Refs 1st c.AD+]; πόλεμος χειμάρρου δίκην πάντα σ. [Refs 1st c.AD+]. the dough has a cleft made in it, [Refs 4th c.BC+]:— passive, σύρεσθαι κατὰ ῥοῦν [Refs 1st c.AD+]; χρυσὸς οὐ μεταλλεύεται μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ σύρεται, of gold-dust (compare συρτός), [Refs 1st c.BC+]: absolutely in passive, of a stream, flow or run down, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

3. metaphorically in passive, to be dragged, drawn, εἰς οὐκ ἀναγκαῖα πράγματα [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

4. passive, of taxes, to be attached to land, perfect participle σεσυρομένης (sic) [Refs 6th c.AD+]