UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament

Sense 1: to come up, to move upward, to rise

Semantic entry: 15.104

Semantic domains: Linear Movement

Subdomains: Come/Go Up, Ascend

Definition: to move up, especially of the upward movement of the sun, stars, or clouds

Notes: It is also possible to understand ἀνατολή in RV MAT 2:2 · LV MAT 2:2 · Read together MAT 2:2 as meaning ‘the east’ (see ἀνατολή[b], 82.1: ἀνατολή).

Sense 2: east

Semantic entry: 82.1

Semantic domains: Spacial Orientations

Subdomains: North, South, East, West

Definition: east (as the direction of the rising sun).

Notes: In most languages east and west are related to the rising or setting sun, although in some languages there may be some local geographical feature which serves as a marker of direction, for example, the location of a particular mountain, the ocean, or a river. For north, some languages employ ‘to the left of the rising sun,’ that is to say, the direction is oriented in terms of the left hand of a person facing toward the rising sun. Similarly, south would be ‘to the right of the rising sun.’

Sense 3: the dawn from on high

Semantic entry: 14.42

Semantic domains: Physical Events and States

Subdomains: Light

Definition: (an idiom, literally: dawning from on high) the bright dawn of salvation (or possibly to be understood as a title for the Messiah)

Notes: The expression ἀνατολὴ ἐξ ὕψους occurs in a highly poetic liturgical passage in Luke 1, and many translators have preferred to retain the more or less literal rendering. Others, however, have interpreted this as the dawning of salvation and have therefore translated ἐπισκέψεται ἡμᾶς ἀνατολὴ ἐξ ὕψους as ‘salvation will dawn upon us from heaven’ or ‘from heaven salvation will come to us as the dawn does.’ If one wishes to employ ἀνατολὴ ἐξ ὕψους as simply a title for the Messiah, one can translate ‘the Messiah will come to us,’ but it is normally better to preserve the figurative expression and relate it to the coming of the Messiah as ‘the Messiah will come to us even as the dawn does from on high.’ One may also treat the problem of interpretation in a footnote.

Collocations: ἀνατολὴ ἐξ ὕψους