Greek word · G304

ἀναβαθμός

anabathmos

stairs

A step, a flight of steps, a stairway, from anabainō, "go up".

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated November 01, 2026

What it means

ἀνα-βαθμός, -οῦ, ὁ

1. a going up, an ascent (Pss, ll. with ?).

2. a step (LXX); p1., a flight of stairs: Acts 21:35, 40. (On the formation -θμός, see MM, VGT, see word)†

(AS)

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

Range of meaning: A step, a flight of steps, a stairway, from anabainō, "go up".
Against the English: KJV/WEB/YLT have "stairs" and BSB has "steps". All are accurate, but none says where the steps were.
Used elsewhere in the period: In the NT only Acts 21:35 and 21:40. Josephus (Jewish War 5.238–247) describes the Antonia fortress at the northwest corner of the temple complex. Stairs ran down from it into the temple porticoes so that Roman soldiers could get onto the colonnades quickly and watch the crowds during festivals.

Acts · 2

Acts 21:35 ἀναβαθμούς, stairs,

When Paul reached the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob.
Acts 21:40 ἀναβαθμῶν stairs

Having received permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. A great hush came over the crowd, and he addressed them in Hebrew:

Here: The stairs leading up from the temple's outer courts into the Roman fortress Antonia. The soldiers had carried Paul up these because the mob was so violent (21:35). He now speaks from the boundary between the temple and the Roman barracks.

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