Greek word · G2516

καθέζομαι

kathezomai

to sit down

To sit, be seated, stay sitting somewhere: a teacher seated in the temple (Matt 26:55; John 8:2 in some witnesses with kathizō), Jesus sitting at the well (John 4:6), people seated in an assembly. The imperfect stresses a continuing state.

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

καθ-έζομαι

[in LXX: Leviticus 12:5, al. (יָשַׁב), Job 39:28 (שָׁכַן) ;]

to sit down, sit: John 20:12; before ἐν, Matthew 26:55, Luke 2:46, John 11:20, Acts 6:15; before ἐπί, with genitive, Acts 20:9; id. with dative, John 4:6 (cf. παρα-καθέζ-, κάθημαι).†

καθ ̓ εἷς, see: (εἷς.)

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of John 11:20

Range of meaning

To sit, be seated, stay sitting somewhere: a teacher seated in the temple (Matt 26:55; John 8:2 in some witnesses with kathizō), Jesus sitting at the well (John 4:6), people seated in an assembly. The imperfect stresses a continuing state.

Against the English

BSB, NIV, WEB and NLT turn this into 'stayed at home' or 'stayed in the house'. That is accurate about where she was but loses the posture. The KJV 'sat [still]' keeps the sitting but adds 'still', which is printed in italics because it is not in the Greek and which suggests calm or passivity. YLT's 'kept sitting' is the closest.

How it drifted

The posture word gets flattened into 'stayed', and English readers then supply a motive (reluctance, hurt, serenity). Readers also tend to merge this scene with Luke 10:39, where Mary 'sat at the Lord's feet' (a different verb, parakathezomai).

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Hebrew Bible and Jewish practice, mourners sat, often on the ground, while others came to them: Job's friends 'sat with him on the ground seven days' (Job 2:13); 'the elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence' (Lam 2:10); compare Ezek 8:14 and Neh 1:4 ('I sat down and wept'). Sirach 22:12 speaks of seven days of mourning for the dead. Later rabbinic texts (Mishnah and Talmud, tractate Mo'ed Qatan) describe mourners sitting low while comforters visited. These are later, but they reflect long-standing practice.

From the study of Matthew 26:55

Range of meaning

To sit, to be seated, to settle in a place. The form here describes a past action that was ongoing or repeated: 'I was sitting, I used to sit'.

Against the English

'I sat' (KJV, BSB, WEB) is fine but can read as a single event. YLT 'I was sitting' keeps the repeated, ongoing sense better.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Jewish practice the teacher sat and students sat or stood around him. Matthew shows Jesus sitting to teach (5:1; 13:2; 24:3) and speaks of the scribes sitting 'on Moses' seat' (23:2). Luke 4:20 has Jesus sit down to expound Scripture in the synagogue. Later rabbinic texts also assume a seated teacher.

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

  1. Matthew 26:55 ἐκαθεζόμην I was sitting

    At that time Jesus said to the crowd, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would an outlaw? Every day I sat teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest Me.

    Here: The past tense here describes a repeated, ongoing scene: 'I used to sit, I kept sitting'. Sitting was the posture of a recognised teacher, so he was settled and in plain view, not hiding.

Luke · 1

  1. Luke 2:46 καθεζόμενον sitting

    Finally, after three days they found Him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

John · 3

  1. John 4:6 ἐκαθέζετο was sitting

    Since Jacob’s well was there, Jesus, weary from His journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

    Here: Imperfect tense, 'was sitting'. It paints the scene the woman walks into in v.7, with Jesus already sitting there.

  2. John 11:20 ἐκαθέζετο. was sitting.

    So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him, but Mary stayed at home.

    Here: Imperfect tense, an ongoing state: 'was sitting' or 'kept sitting'. Sitting was the posture of a mourner receiving comforters. It is a description of grief observed in the customary way, not of idleness. Verse 29 says she 'got up quickly' the moment she was called.

  3. John 20:12 καθεζομένους sitting

    and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and the other at the feet.

    Here: 'Sitting', present tense: they are calmly seated when she looks in. They have not just appeared, and they are not standing guard. The calm contrasts with her weeping.

Acts · 2

  1. Acts 6:15 καθεζόμενοι sitting

    All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

    Here: 'Those sitting': the judges' posture. In a Jewish court the members sat and the accused and witnesses stood, so the word itself names them as the court sitting in judgment.

  2. Acts 20:9 καθεζόμενος sitting

    And a certain young man named Eutychus, seated in the window, was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell from the third story and was picked up dead.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.