To LIFT, or to TAKE AWAY — and the two senses are not always separable. ⚠ At John 1:29 it is 'the Lamb of God who TAKES AWAY the sin of the world'; at John 15:2 the vinedresser airei the branch that bears no fruit, and some argue for the other sense — that a first-century vine-worker LIFTED trailing shoots off the ground so they could fruit, which would make the verse a rescue rather than a removal. The horticulture is real; the argument is real; the word will carry both. Note that 15:2 pairs it with kathairō, a near-identical sound, and 15:3 with katharos: airei / kathairei / katharoi, three words in two verses. → first discussed at John 15:2