To RANSOM, to redeem by paying a price — from lytron, 'a ransom', the sum paid to free a slave or a prisoner of war. ⚠ At 1 Peter 1:18-19 the metaphor is pressed hard: 'you were ransomed (elytrōthēte)… not with perishable things, silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish' — the two metals that measure every other ransom are set aside for blood. The Exodus stands behind it: God 'redeemed' Israel out of Egypt (the same verb throughout the Greek Old Testament), and Christ is read as the true Passover lamb, the exiles' redemption a new Exodus. It is the root of apolytrōsis, 'redemption' (see that entry), and of Jesus' own 'to give his life a ransom for many' (Mark 10:45). → first discussed at 1 Peter 1:18