Greek word · G347

ἀνακλίνω

anaklinō

to recline

To lay down or lean back, and especially, in the passive, to recline at table. Greco-Roman banquets and formal Jewish meals (including, by the first century, the Passover meal) were eaten lying on the left elbow. Everyday meals were often eaten sitting.

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 31, 2026

What it means

ἀνα-κλίνω

[in LXX: 3Ma.5:16 * ;]

to lay upon, lean against, hence,

(a) to lay down: Luke 2:7;

(b) to make to recline: Mark 6:39, WH, mg., Luke 12:37. Pass., to lie back, recline: Matthew 8:11 14:19, Luke 13:29.†

SYN.: ἀνάκειμαι (which see), ἀναπίπτω (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 Matthew 14:19

Range of meaning: To lay down or lean back, and especially, in the passive, to recline at table. Greco-Roman banquets and formal Jewish meals (including, by the first century, the Passover meal) were eaten lying on the left elbow. Everyday meals were often eaten sitting.
Against the English: KJV, WEB, BSB and most modern versions say 'sit down'. YLT keeps 'recline'. 'Sit' is not wrong about what people physically did on a hillside, but it loses the sense of a banquet.
How it drifted: English has no ordinary word for reclining to eat, so translators use 'sit'.
Used elsewhere in the period: Used for dining in Matt 8:11 ('many will come from east and west and recline with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven'), Luke 12:37, Luke 13:29. Mark's parallel (6:39–40) uses ἀνακλῖναι and says the groups were arranged like 'garden beds' (πρασιαί) and 'in companies' (συμπόσια, the word for drinking or dining parties).

From the study of Matthew 8:11

Range of meaning: Active: "to lay down, cause to recline" (Luke 2:7, laying the baby in a manger). Passive or middle: "to lie back, recline", especially "to recline at table" for a formal meal (BDAG). It belongs with the related words anakeimai and katakeimai, the standard vocabulary for banquet posture.
Against the English: KJV and WEB say "sit down". Modern readers picture chairs at a table, and the sense of a feast drops out. ESV and NASB keep "recline at table". BSB has "share the banquet" and NIV "take their places at the feast", which drop the posture but keep the feast.
How it drifted: When the KJV was made in 1611, English "sit down" was the normal way to say "take your place at a meal". English readers no longer know reclining banquets, so the special overtone of a feast has faded.
Used elsewhere in the period: In the Greco-Roman world, and among Jews of the period, people reclined at banquets, festive meals and the Passover. The Mishnah (m. Pesahim 10:1) requires even the poorest Israelite to recline at Passover as a sign of freedom. Reclining marked a feast, not ordinary food. Where you reclined at a dinner also showed your rank and who belonged.

From the study of Luke 12:37

Range of meaning: Active: 'to lay down, make (someone) recline'. At meals: 'to seat (have someone lie) at table'. Passive/middle: 'to recline at table'.
Against the English: KJV 'make them to sit down to meat' implies chairs and meat. In fact, at a formal meal guests lay on couches, propped on the left elbow, and 'meat' in 1611 meant food in general. Modern versions' 'recline at the table' is accurate.
How it drifted: Western dining moved to chairs, and English 'meat' narrowed from 'food' to 'animal flesh', so the KJV phrase now gives a misleading picture.
Used elsewhere in the period: In Luke 2:7 it is used of laying the infant in a manger. 'Many will come from east and west and recline at table in the kingdom of God' (Luke 13:29; Matt 8:11). In the feeding of the 5,000 the crowds are made to recline (Luke 9:14–15, related verb κατακλίνω).

Where it appears

Matthew · 2

Matthew 8:11 ἀνακλιθήσονται they will recline

I say to you that many will come from the east and the west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

Here: The word for lying on a couch at a formal meal, propped on the left elbow. That was how people ate at a feast, not at an everyday meal. The picture is a banquet, and sharing that table means full acceptance.
Matthew 14:19 ἀνακλιθῆναι to sit down

And He directed the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He spoke a blessing. Then He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

Here: Literally 'to be made to recline'. People reclined to eat at a proper meal or banquet, so this does more than tell people to sit. It turns a hungry crowd in the wilderness into guests at a meal.

Mark · 1

Mark 6:39 ἀνακλῖναι to recline

Then Jesus directed them to have the people sit in groups on the green grass.

Here: In the active voice this verb takes an object, so it means 'to make (people) recline'. This is the posture of a proper meal or banquet: lying propped on one elbow, not sitting cross-legged. The disciples are to seat the crowd the way guests are seated at a feast.

Luke · 3

Luke 2:7 ἀνέκλινεν she laid

And she gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. She wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Here: 'Laid him down', to lie or rest. Elsewhere the verb is used of reclining at a meal. Here it simply means putting the baby down to rest.
Luke 12:37 ἀνακλινεῖ he will make recline

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds on watch when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve and will have them recline at the table, and he himself will come and wait on them.

Here: He has them lie down on the dining couches as honored guests at a feast, the position he himself had just held at the wedding.
Luke 13:29 ἀνακλιθήσονται will recline

People will come from east and west and north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.

Here: 'They will recline at table.' This is banquet language. Guests at a festive meal lay on couches propped on one elbow. The form is passive, but it is normally used simply to mean 'lie down to eat'. A host may be hinted at, since Luke 12:37 uses the active form of the master who 'will make them recline'.

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