What does κάμπτω (kámptō) mean in the Bible?
κάμπτω (kámptō): To bend the knee in submission or worship, often metonymically representing the bender themselves.
Greek · G2578
κάμπτω
To bend
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κάμπτω G2578
Pronunciation kámptō
What does κάμπτω (kámptō) mean in the Bible?
κάμπτω (kámptō): To bend the knee in submission or worship, often metonymically representing the bender themselves.
Full entry for κάμπτω (G2578) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2578?
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include bowed (1), I bow (1), should bow (1), will bow (1).
Where does κάμπτω (kámptō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Romans 11:4. Its strongest book concentrations include Romans (2), Ephesians (1), Philippians (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It bowed 1× Romans 11:4
I bow 1× Ephesians 3:14
should bow 1× Philippians 2:10
will bow 1× Romans 14:11
Show sample aligned rows
Romans 11:4 ἔκαμψαν to bowed Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural Romans 14:11 κάμψει to will bow Verb - Future Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular Ephesians 3:14 κάμπτω to I bow Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular Philippians 2:10 κάμψῃ to should bow Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Romans 11:4
Aligned rows 4
Books represented 3
Romans 2 Ephesians 1 Philippians 1
Source forms
ἔκαμψαν 1x ekampsan Romans 11:4
κάμπτω 1x kamptō Ephesians 3:14
κάμψει 1x kampsei Romans 14:11
κάμψῃ 1x kampsē Philippians 2:10
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural 1x Romans 11:4
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x Philippians 2:10
Verb - Future Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x Romans 14:11
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular 1x Ephesians 3:14
Evidence Summary
Greek word. To bend the knee in submission or worship, often metonymically representing the bender themselves.
Strong's G2578
Lexical occurrences 4 verses Greek text appearances 4 times Word forms 2 forms 4 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Ephesians 3:14-21 Source Gloss
to bend
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
To bend the knee in submission or worship, often metonymically representing the bender themselves.
to bend, bow: with accusative of thing(s), γόνυ, τὰ γ.; with dative of person(s), τῇ Βάαλ, Rom.11:4 (LXX); πρὸς τ. πατέρα, Eph.3:14; by meton., πᾶν γόνυ for πᾶς, Rom.14:11 (LXX) Php.2:10 (cf. ἀνα-, συν-κάμπτω).
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
4 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Romans 11:4 Verb Third Person Plural Aorist Active Indicative
ἔκαμψαν ekamyan
I bend, bow
Read verse Romans 14:11 Verb Third Person Singular Future Active Indicative
κάμψει kamyei
I bend, bow
Read verse Ephesians 3:14 Verb First Person Singular Present Active Indicative
κάμπτω kamptw
I bend, bow
Read verse Philippians 2:10 Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Active Subjunctive
κάμψῃ kamyh
I bend, bow
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.
Grammatical Forms
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.
Form groups 2 Aligned forms 4 Tenses Aorist, Future, Present Voices Active
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Indicative states a fact or reality 3×
Aorist Active Rom 11:4 1×
Future Active Rom 14:11 1×
Present Active Eph 3:14 1×
Subjunctive possibility, probability, or purpose 1×
Aorist Active Phil 2:10 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 4 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist 2 present 1 future 1
Voice
active 4
Mood
indicative 3 subjunctive 1
NT Occurrences
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)
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Paul bows his knees before God the Father in prayer and worship
Metaphorical bending of the knee in submission to Baal, showing religious allegiance
Every knee will bow at the name of Jesus in universal submission and worship
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 4 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
κάμπτω is a primary verb - no further derivation.
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Sources
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