Greek word · G2795

κινέω

kineō

to move

To move, set in motion, shift, stir up; with 'out of its place' it means to displace or remove.

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 24, 2026

What it means

κινέω, -ῶ

[in LXX for נוּעַ hi., רָמַשׂ, etc. ;]

1. to set in motion, move: Matthew 23:4; τ. κεφαλήν (Psalms 22:8, al.), Matthew 27:39, Mark 15:29; pass. (cf. Genesis 7:21), Acts 17:28.

3. to excite, stir up: Acts 24:5; pass., Acts 21:30 (cf. μετα-, συν-κινέω).†

(AS)

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

Range of meaning: To move, set in motion, shift, stir up; with 'out of its place' it means to displace or remove.
Against the English: 'Remove' (KJV, BSB, ESV) is a fair rendering. WEB's 'move' keeps the literal picture of displacement.
Used elsewhere in the period: Revelation 6:14 uses the same verb, 'every mountain and island was moved out of its place' (ἐκ τῶν τόπων αὐτῶν ἐκινήθησαν), for cosmic upheaval. The two phrases are closely parallel.

Range of meaning: To move, shift, or set in motion. Also to stir up or disturb (Acts 21:30, "the whole city was stirred"), to wag the head (Matthew 27:39), and to remove something from its place (Revelation 2:5; 6:14).
Against the English: "Move" (KJV, ESV, BSB, YLT) keeps it open. WEB's "lift a finger to help them" and NLT's "to ease the burden" each pick one interpretation. "Not lift a finger" is a good English idiom, but it can suggest general laziness rather than refusing to touch these particular loads.
Used elsewhere in the period: Luke's parallel says something slightly different: "you yourselves do not touch (prospsauete) the burdens with one of your fingers" (Luke 11:46). That suggests the shared tradition behind both was about not touching the load at all. Revelation 2:5 uses kineō for removing a lampstand from its place.

Range of meaning: κινέω means to set in motion, move, shake or stir. In the passive or middle it means to be moved or to move oneself. It can also mean to stir up or disturb (Acts 21:30) or to remove (Rev 2:5).
Against the English: 'Move' is accurate. English loses the fact that the Greek form leaves open whether we move ourselves or are moved, and it loses the philosophical weight 'motion' had for Greek listeners.
Used elsewhere in the period: Motion (κίνησις) was a central idea in Greek philosophy. Plato defined the soul as 'self-moving motion' (Phaedrus 245c–e), and Aristotle traced all motion back to a first 'unmoved mover' (Metaphysics Λ). Stoics taught that divine reason or breath moves and holds everything together.

Matthew · 2

Matthew 23:4 κινῆσαι to move

They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

Here: To shift or budge something. Whether this means helping to carry the loads, lightening or removing them, or bearing them themselves is debated (see debates). The core picture: they will not touch the loads at all.
Matthew 27:39 κινοῦντες wagging

And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads

Here: Present participle running alongside the insults: while they spoke, they were also moving their heads. The verb is the same one the Greek Psalm 22 (21:8) uses for the mockers of the suffering righteous man.

Mark · 1

Mark 15:29 κινοῦντες shaking

And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,

Here: Shaking or wagging the head. This was a stock gesture of scorn and gloating over someone ruined, not a sign of disagreement. It is the very verb of Psalm 22:7 in its Greek version (Psalm 21:8 there).

Acts · 3

Acts 17:28 κινούμεθα move

‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’

Here: In Greek the same form can mean 'we move' or 'we are moved'. It covers every movement and activity of a living creature. Greek philosophy treated motion as a basic mark of life, so this word would have caught the attention of the philosophers listening.
Acts 21:30 ἐκινήθη Was thrown into commotion

The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.
Acts 24:5 κινοῦντα stirring

We have found this man to be a pestilence, stirring up dissension among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes,

Here: 'Setting in motion, stirring up'. The present tense presents this as Paul's ongoing habit, not a single incident.

Revelation · 2

Revelation 2:5 κινήσω I will remove

Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Here: Literally 'I will move.' With 'out of its place' it means displace or remove. The basic picture is a lampstand moved off its spot in the row where Christ walks (1:13).
Revelation 6:14 ἐκινήθησαν, were moved,

The sky receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place.

Here: 'Were moved / were removed.' The verb is plural even though 'every mountain and island' is grammatically singular, because John thinks of them as many. Like 'was split' earlier in the verse, it is passive: they are moved by a power not their own.

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