To sit down
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through the Connect page. Screenshots are helpful.
G2516 names sitting or being seated. In John it is not a dramatic theological term, but it places people in real scenes: Jesus weary by Jacob's well, Mary at home in grief, and angels seated in the empty tomb.
Reader summary
Full entry for καθέζομαι (G2516) · Open the biblical lexicon
G2516 names sitting or being seated. In John it is not a dramatic theological term, but it places people in real scenes: Jesus weary by Jacob's well, Mary at home in grief, and angels seated in the empty tomb.
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include sitting (2), I sat (1), sat down (1), seated (1), stayed (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 26:55. Its strongest book concentrations include John (3), Acts (2), Luke (1), Matthew (1).
G2516 names sitting or being seated. In John it is not a dramatic theological term, but it places people in real scenes: Jesus weary by Jacob's well, Mary at home in grief, and angels seated in the empty tomb. These ordinary placements matter because John's Gospel is not abstract. The Word made flesh enters tired bodies, delayed conversations, houses of mourning, and burial places. The word helps teachers respect the physical setting of the text. Sitting can mark weariness, waiting, grief, or witness, depending on the passage.
For John-focused use, the safest path is to let the immediate passage set the claim, then let the word clarify how the scene moves toward witness, faith, resistance, or worship.
G2516 functions in John as an embodied placement word. Its uses locate Jesus, Mary, and the angels in scenes where fatigue, grief, and resurrection witness become concrete.
Since Jacob’s well was there, Jesus, weary from His journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
Jesus sits by the well in real weariness. The verb anchors the Samaritan encounter in embodied human fatigue.
So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him, but Mary stayed at home.
Mary remains seated in the house while Martha goes to meet Jesus. The posture supports the grief scene without becoming the main theological point.
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.
Mary sees two angels sitting where Jesus' body had lain. The seated witnesses mark the empty tomb space after the resurrection.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. to sit down
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I am sitting, sit, am seated
Read verseI am sitting, sit, am seated
Read verseI am sitting, sit, am seated
Read verseI am sitting, sit, am seated
Read verseI am sitting, sit, am seated
Read verseI am sitting, sit, am seated
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
How this verb appears across 7 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
καθέζομαι is built from these roots:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
A small posture word can keep a passage from becoming disembodied. John 4 does not begin the Samaritan encounter with Jesus floating above human limits. He is weary and sitting by the well. John 11 lets grief have a house and a posture before Martha and Mary move toward Jesus in different ways. John 20 places angels at the site where the body had lain. None of these details should be over-symbolized, but neither should they be ignored.
The word reminds teachers that John's theology arrives in real places, with bodies, fatigue, mourning, and visible witness.
John.4.6
To sit down or be seated is a reviewed display gloss for G2516. In this John-focused companion, the local discourse foregrounding data shows 3 John use(s), with tense patterns summarized as imperfect 2, present 1. Use these grammar signals as support for reading the passage, not as a replacement for context.
The broader Scripture connection should remain modest: embodied location, waiting, and witness is visible in the cited passages, while the full theological claim must come from each passage's context rather than from the word alone.
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain