UBS Greek Dictionary Article

Notes: In RV LUK 22:31 · LV LUK 22:31 · Read together LUK 22:31 the expression ὑμᾶς τοῦ σινιάσαι ὡς τὸν σῖτον ‘to sift you like wheat’ is semantically complex, for σινιάσαι ὡς τὸν σῖτον ‘to sift like wheat’ must be taken in a literal sense, but when used with the object ὑμᾶς ‘you’ (plural), obviously it is not wheat which is involved, but persons, and therefore the meaning must relate to some type of testing of actions and/or motivations. It is impossible to determine whether the expression σινιάσαι ὡς τὸν σῖτον had actually become an established idiom.

Form 1

Part of speech: verb

Sense 1: to sift

Semantic entry: 46.18

Semantic domains: Household Activities

Definition: to sift by shaking in a sieve

Notes: The expression ὑμᾶς τοῦ σινιάσαι ὡς τὸν σῖτον in RV LUK 22:31 · LV LUK 22:31 · Read together LUK 22:31 is clearly a type of figurative usage and in many languages must be translated as ‘to test you’ or ‘to test you so as to separate the good from the bad.’ In some languages, however, it may be more satisfactory to shift the figure from sifting to winnowing and hence translate ‘to winnow you like a farmer who separates the wheat from the chaff.’

LUK 22:31: RV LUK 22:31 · LV LUK 22:31 · Read together LUK 22:31

Show passage in OET

OET-RV LUK 22:31

31 “Shim’on (Simon), Shim’on, Satan has requested to sift you all like wheat grains,

OET-LV LUK 22:31

31 Simōn, Simōn, see, the Satan/(Sāţān) requested to _sift you _all which as the wheat,

UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament

σινιάζω

Form 1

Sense 1: to sift