A Word-Study Chart · Throughout the Gospels & Acts
One violent verb — for the harvest and the deliverance
ἐκβάλλω
ekballō · ἐκ ("out") + βάλλω ("to throw")
to throw out · to drive out · to thrust forth · to expel · to send out
Ekballō (ἐκβάλλω) is the Greek word the Bible uses for casting out; built from ek (“out”) and ballō (“to throw”), it means to throw out, drive out, thrust forth or expel, and Jesus uses it both for demons and for workers sent into the harvest (Matt 9:38).
It is a forceful word — not a gentle "send" but a throw, a thrust, an expulsion. The same verb that hurls demons out of the captive is the word Jesus chooses when He tells us to beg the Lord to thrust workers into His harvest.
Same verb · two missions
Built from ἐκ ("out") fused to βάλλω ("to throw"), the verb keeps that force in every use. When Jesus says to pray that the Lord would ἐκβάλῃ workers into the harvest (Matt 9:38), it is the identical word He uses to ἐκβάλλω demons (Matt 12:28) — and the word for how the Spirit ἐκβάλλει Him into the wilderness (Mark 1:12). The lemma never changes; only the form does.
From the force first laid on Jesus, to the harvest cry, to delegated authority over demons, to the one Person He will never thrust away — the verb tells a single story when its uses are laid in order.
Before He thrusts anyone out, the Spirit thrusts Him.
τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτὸν ἐκβάλλει εἰς τὴν ἔρημον
to pneuma auton ekballei
Immediately the Spirit drove Him out into the wilderness.
Mark's startling word: the Spirit does not merely lead Jesus — He thrusts Him out. The same force that will expel demons first propels the Son into the testing-place.
Not a polite invitation to go; an urgent expulsion into the field.
δεήθητε … ὅπως ἐκβάλῃ ἐργάτας εἰς τὸν θερισμὸν αὐτοῦ
hopōs ekbalē ergatas
The harvest is plentiful, the workers few — so beg the Lord of the harvest to thrust out workers into His harvest.
The heart of this study. Jesus does not say "send" with a soft word; He uses the exorcism verb. The Lord must almost force laborers out — because we are slow, comfortable, and reluctant to go. Prayer for missions is prayer for holy compulsion.
δεήθητε … ὅπως ἐκβάλῃ ἐργάτας εἰς τὸν θερισμόν
hopōs ekbalē ergatas
Pray the Lord of the harvest to thrust out workers into His harvest.
Luke records the identical command as Jesus sends the seventy. The mission verb and the deliverance verb are one: to advance the gospel is itself to drive back the dark.
Those thrust into the harvest are armed to thrust out the enemy.
ἐποίησεν δώδεκα … ἔχειν ἐξουσίαν ἐκβάλλειν τὰ δαιμόνια
exousian ekballein ta daimonia
He appointed twelve … to be with Him, to be sent out to preach, and to have authority to cast out the demons.
Three things in one breath: be with Him, be sent to preach, cast out demons. Communion, proclamation, and deliverance are not separate ministries.
δαιμόνια ἐκβάλλετε
daimonia ekballete
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.
A plain imperative to the Twelve. What they received freely from Christ they pour out freely — including the casting-out.
Where demons are thrust out, the reign of God has broken in.
εἰ δὲ ἐγὼ ἐν πνεύματι θεοῦ ἐκβάλλω τὰ δαιμόνια
en pneumati theou egō ekballō
If I cast out the demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
The exorcism is not a sideshow. It is the evidence of the Kingdom's arrival — the strong man bound, his house plundered (Matt 12:29). Luke 11:20 says "by the finger of God."
The authority outlives the Twelve; it belongs to His name.
ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου δαιμόνια ἐκβαλοῦσιν
en tō onomati mou … ekbalousin
These signs will follow those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons.
The verb moves to the future and to "those who believe." The casting-out is never in our own strength but always "in His name."
εἴδομέν τινα … ἐκβάλλοντα δαιμόνια
tina … ekballonta daimonia
We saw someone casting out demons in Your name … "Do not stop him," Jesus said.
Jesus refuses to fence the ministry by the disciples' circle. The name is wider than the inner band — do not forbid the one who works in it.
When the disciples failed, the lack was prayer, not method.
ὅτι ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἠδυνήθημεν ἐκβαλεῖν αὐτό;
ouk ēdynēthēmen ekbalein auto
Why could we not cast it out? … "This kind comes out only by prayer."
The same men authorized in stage III now cannot. The deficiency is not a formula but a depleted life of prayer. Power for the thrusting-out is borrowed daily.
The hand that expels demons will never expel the one who comes.
τὸν ἐρχόμενον πρός με οὐ μὴ ἐκβάλω ἔξω
ou mē ekbalō exō
The one who comes to Me I will never, ever cast out.
The most tender use of the verb, sharpened by οὐ μή — the strongest negation in Greek, "by no means, ever." The same force that drives out the unclean is turned into an unbreakable promise of welcome.
The same throwing-out that frees the captive can describe being slandered, driven from the synagogue, or finally shut out. Casting out demons is no proof of belonging — and the verb can run the other way.
τῷ σῷ ὀνόματι δαιμόνια ἐξεβάλομεν;
daimonia exebalomen
"Did we not cast out demons in Your name?" … "I never knew you."
Casting-out is not the same as being known by Christ. Mighty works without relationship are nothing.
οὐκ ἐκβάλλει τὰ δαιμόνια εἰ μὴ ἐν τῷ Βεελζεβούλ
ouk ekballei … Beelzeboul
This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.
The slander that prompts the "blasphemy of the Spirit" warning: attributing Spirit-wrought deliverance to the enemy.
καὶ ἐξέβαλον αὐτὸν ἔξω
kai exebalon auton exō
And they cast him out … Jesus heard, and found him.
The healed man is thrown out of the synagogue — and immediately sought and found by Jesus. Cast out by men, taken in by Christ.
οἱ … υἱοὶ τῆς βασιλείας ἐκβληθήσονται εἰς τὸ σκότος
huioi … ekblēthēsontai
The sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness.
The gravest use: a passive and future form — final exclusion. The whole point of 6:37 is that those who come to Him are exempt from this.
English versions render ἐκβάλῃ in Matt 9:38 as "send out" (NKJV, ESV, NIV) — accurate, but it can mask the force. The word literally means thrust / drive / expel. The reluctance is on our side: the Lord must press laborers out of comfort and into the field.
So the prayer of Matt 9:38 is not merely "raise up volunteers." It is "Lord, exert the kind of force on willing hearts that You exert on demons — and move us out."
In Mark 3:15 the disciples are given ἐξουσία (the right, delegated authority) to ἐκβάλλειν (the act of casting out). The act flows from granted authority, never from the practitioner's own resources — which is exactly why Mark 9:28–29 turns on prayer, and Matt 7:22 warns that the act alone proves nothing.
The verb appears about eighty times across the New Testament. Below are the occurrences gathered in this study, in canonical order — lemma identical down the page, force unchanged.
| Ref. | Form | Lemma | Parsing | Sense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mt 7:22 | ἐξεβάλομεν | ἐκβάλλω | aor act ind 1pl | "did we not cast out…?" (false) |
| Mt 8:12 | ἐκβληθήσονται | ἐκβάλλω | fut pass ind 3pl | cast into outer darkness |
| Mt 9:38 | ἐκβάλῃ | ἐκβάλλω | aor act subj 3sg | thrust workers into the harvest |
| Mt 10:8 | ἐκβάλλετε | ἐκβάλλω | pres act impv 2pl | "cast out demons" |
| Mt 12:24 | ἐκβάλλει | ἐκβάλλω | pres act ind 3sg | "by Beelzebul he casts out" (slander) |
| Mt 12:28 | ἐκβάλλω | ἐκβάλλω | pres act ind 1sg | by the Spirit → Kingdom has come |
| Mk 1:12 | ἐκβάλλει | ἐκβάλλω | pres act ind 3sg | Spirit drives Jesus to wilderness |
| Mk 3:15 | ἐκβάλλειν | ἐκβάλλω | pres act inf | authority to cast out demons |
| Mk 9:28 | ἐκβαλεῖν | ἐκβάλλω | aor act inf | "why could we not cast it out?" |
| Mk 9:38 | ἐκβάλλοντα | ἐκβάλλω | pres act ptc acc sg | another casting out in His name |
| Mk 16:17 | ἐκβαλοῦσιν | ἐκβάλλω | fut act ind 3pl | "in My name they will cast out" |
| Lk 10:2 | ἐκβάλῃ | ἐκβάλλω | aor act subj 3sg | thrust workers into the harvest |
| Lk 11:20 | ἐκβάλλω | ἐκβάλλω | pres act ind 1sg | "by the finger of God I cast out" |
| Jn 6:37 | ἐκβάλω | ἐκβάλλω | aor act subj 1sg | "I will never cast out" the one who comes |
| Jn 9:34 | ἐξέβαλον | ἐκβάλλω | aor act ind 3pl | cast the healed man out of synagogue |
| Gal 4:30 | ἔκβαλε | ἐκβάλλω | aor act impv 2sg | "cast out the slave woman" (quoting Gen) |
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