[Below represents a condensed version of this link which is worth reading in full]
Definition: Harpazo
v.
1. to seize, carry off by force
2. to seize on, claim for one’s self eagerly
3. to snatch out or away
~ from Thayer’s (New Testament Greek-English Lexicon)
In the Greek New Testament, the word harpazo is found a total of 17 times in 13 different verses. Each time harpazo is used this verb refers to a quick or sudden often violently physical “snatching away” or “catching away” of a person, a thing, or an idea. More important is the fact that in 5 of these 17 times harpazo is used in the New Testament harpazo ALWAYS refers to the literal physical (bodily) removal of a faithfully righteous human being from one place to another, or from one sphere of existence to another. The 5 times harpazo is used involving faithfully righteous people are when:
1. Philip is harpazo’d from the presence of the Ethiopian eunuch to a different location miles away (see Acts 8:39, AKJV)
2. Paul is harpazo’d from the Earth to the Third Heaven (see 2 Corinthians 12:2, AKJV)
3. Paul is harpazo’d from the Earth to the Third Heaven; second reference (see 2 Corinthians 12:4, AKJV)
4. Bride of Christ is harpazo’d from the Earth to the clouds to meet Her Groom (Christ Jesus) in the air (see 1 Thessalonians 4:17, AKJV); the understanding here is that the Bride will be taken to Heaven to be with Her Groom
5. Christ Jesus is harpazo’d from Bethany near the Mount of Olives to His Throne in Heaven (see Revelation 12:5; cf. Luke 24:50-51; Acts 1:9; AKJV)
Each one of the above five supernaturally powerful acts of the Holy Spirit by which literal bodily removals of humans either from one place to another on Earth or from off of this Earth to Heaven proves that the Rapture is a biblically sound doctrine. In fact, the English words Rapture and Raptured actually are derived from the Latin verb rapio (catch up or take away), and rapio is used in the Latin Vulgate Bible (also referred to as The Vulgate).
The point here is that many of America’s English words, like Rapture and Raptured, and etc., are derived from words found in the Latin Vulgate Bible—the most commonly used translation of the Holy Bible. St Jerome’s late 4th-century A.D. revised Latintranslation of the old Latin Biblical Texts became The Vulgate, and The Vulgate was used over 1,000 years before the Protestant Reformation started! In essence, no other Holy Bible translation has been used longer than the Latin Vulgate Bible, and that includes the highly promoted Authorized King James Version (AKJV)!
So then, believers who doubt that the idea of a Rapture is in their English translations of the Holy Bible need to understand that it is from the Greek New Testament manuscripts that St. Jerome, scholar/translator, originally renders the Latin rapiemur(the first person plural future passive indicative tense of rapio) from the Greek harpagesometha (the first person plural future passive indicative tense of harpazo). Furthermore, in the English versions of 1 Thessalonians 4:17, rapiemur has been translated from Latin into English as either “we shall be snatched,” or “we shall be grabbed,” or “we shall be carried off,” and so forth. Similarly, harpagesometha has been translated from Greek into English as “we shall be caught up” or “we shall be taken away,” and etc. Moreover, as already mentioned, with every Latin and English translation of harpagesometha the meaning of this Greek verb always connotes a catching or taking that will be a violent, sudden event!
The point to this brief grammar lesson is that, as far as the meaning and tense of the Latin word rapiemur are concerned, this word is in agreement with the Greek word harpagesometha, since rapiemur and harpagesometha are the same tense and they both mean the same thing—a sudden and physical withdrawal; a seizing; a snatching...
Thus, language in this case shouldn’t be used as a barrier to understanding a concept that most definitely is found in the Word of God—that concept being the Rapture. Put differently, the Greek, Latin, and English words used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 all describe exactly how quickly the living Bride of Christ’s fleshly Body will be removed from this Earth and how fast that fleshly Body will be changed into a spirit Body, so it doesn’t matter if one particular English word is or isn’t in the English version of the Holy Bible someone is using. What should matter most is whether the concept of a Rapture is in the Word of God. Based on the words used in the ORIGINAL language of the New Testament, which is Greek, the concept of a Rapture most definitely is in the Word of God.
These verses are interesting in that, first off, Jesus Christ is saying that He is the ONE who will “pluck” (pull, take by force, or snatch/catch up) His Body of Believers or Bride out of harm’s way (the Tribulation Period) so that His Bride will be with Him in Heaven. The Power (force) He will use to “pluck” (pull, take, snatch, or catch up) His Body of Believers or Bride is the Power of Almighty God, which means the Power of God’s Holy Spirit.
...being harpazo’d is indeed a quick or sudden often violently physical “plucking,” “pulling,” “taking,” “snatching away,” “catching away,” or rapturing of a person, a thing, or an idea. It should be evident now how the connotation (meaning) of harpazo remains consistently the same!
Although there is no form of harpazo in 1 Corinthians 15:52, based on the meaning of harpazo the apostle Paul no doubt is telling the Corinthians, and all members in the Body of Christ, that just as supernaturally, suddenly, and forcibly the individual bodies of the dead in Christ will be “raised” from their graves this too will be exactly how supernaturally, suddenly, and forcibly the alive Bride of Christ, at the time the Lord comes on a cloud to meet Her in the air, will be Raptured. Everyone will be harpazo’d in “a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” speed. In other words, the apostle Paul is NOT saying that the we “shall not all sleep” Rapture reference in 1 Corinthians15:51 and the we “shall be caught up” together Rapture reference in 1 Thessalonians4:17 will happen at the same time as the Bride’s miraculous glorification or the “changing” of Her Body as a whole from mortal to immortal, but he definitely is saying that both events (the Bride’s Rapture and Her Body’s glorification) supernaturally will happen unimaginably fast!
In summary, harpazo is in 13 New Testament verses for a total of 17 times, and this verb’s connotation always is understood to mean a catching up/catching away or taking up/taking away or snatching up/snatching away, and so forth, that ALWAYS is violent, sudden, nonconsensual yet supernatural! In other words, the Divine Truth is that God has more than established the concept of being suddenly, forcibly, and supernaturally “caught up” or “taken away” (Raptured), and this concept pertains to people, things, and other related ideas. Thus, just because the English word Rapture is not in any particular English translation of the Holy Bible that doesn’t mean that the concept of a Rapture is not in the Holy Bible, because it most definitely is there, and this concept begins with Enoch’s Translation.
Therefore, those people who argue that neither the word Rapture nor the concept of a Rapture is in the Word of God have to remember that the ORIGINAL texts of the New Testament, in which the Rapture concept is found, are Greek NOT English. These same people also have to remember that the Latin Vulgate Bible, which is St. Jerome’s Latin translation of both the Hebrew Tanakh and the Greek New Testament manuscripts, has been around and read way longer than any American English versions of the New Testament Scriptures. Additionally, these same people need to remember that in The Vulgate is the Latin equivalent of the Greek word harpagesometha, which is a form of the Greek verb harpazo. That Latin equivalent is rapiemur, which is a form of the Latin verb rapio, from which Americans get the word Rapture!
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