to watch out
prosecho means to direct careful attention either toward something heard or done, or away from a person, teaching, or danger.
The verb most often marks alert watchfulness in warnings about people, teachings, conduct, or coming danger. It also describes giving sustained attention to a speaker, message, or instruction, and in a few clauses it concerns being devoted or directed toward an activity or object.
Senses in use
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Guarding against a danger or harmful influence · dominant
Present active imperatives introduce direct warnings: in Matthew 7:15 the APB renders a warning about false prophets, and in Luke 21:34 it warns that hearts not be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and life's worries. The same warning pattern concerns men in Matthew 10:17, the Pharisees' and Sadducees' leaven in Matthew 16:6, and the scribes in Luke 20:46.
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Giving heed to a person, message, or instruction · common
In Acts 8:6, Acts 8:10, and Acts 8:11, the imperfect active form describes crowds giving attention to Philip or to another man over time. Present forms likewise concern attention to what Paul spoke in Acts 16:14, to the prophetic word in 2 Peter 1:19, and to things heard so as not to drift away in Hebrews 2:1.
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Devotion or attachment directed toward something · occasional
In 1 Timothy 4:13, a second-person present active command concerns public reading, exhortation, and teaching; the APB renders the clause, "devote yourself to the public reading, to exhortation, and to teaching." In 1 Timothy 3:8 the participial clause is negative in connection with much wine, while Hebrews 7:13 speaks of service at the altar; the translation does not isolate the term's contribution in either clause.
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the verses, the APB uses "Watch out," "Beware," "Take heed," "pay attention," and "devote yourself." These renderings show the translation’s varying presentation of warning, attentiveness, and devotion.