View All Biblical Expressions

Lay/put a hand on someone

Here’s what it means

A person seized, harmed, commissioned, blessed, identified with, or transferred authority to another, depending on context.

Why the Bible says it this way

An idiom is a familiar phrase whose meaning comes from the whole expression, not from reading each word by itself.

A helpful detail: Because the gesture has several real uses, the surrounding action must define it.

Where it appears