What does καταβολή (katabolḗ) mean in the Bible?
G2602, katabolḗ, names a laying down, foundation, or beginning. In ten of its eleven New Testament occurrences it appears in a phrase rendered by the BSB as the foundation of the world.
Greek · G2602
καταβολή
Beginning
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καταβολήG2602
Pronunciationkatabolḗ
What does καταβολή (katabolḗ) mean in the Bible?
G2602, katabolḗ, names a laying down, foundation, or beginning. In ten of its eleven New Testament occurrences it appears in a phrase rendered by the BSB as the foundation of the world.
Reader summary
Full entry for καταβολή (G2602) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2602?
The BSB source-word alignment has 11 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [the] foundation (10), conceive (1).
Where does καταβολή (katabolḗ) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 13:35. Its strongest book concentrations include Hebrews (3), Matthew (2), Revelation (2), 1 Peter (1).
What This Word Actually Means
G2602, katabolḗ, names a laying down, foundation, or beginning. In ten of its eleven New Testament occurrences it appears in a phrase rendered by the BSB as the foundation of the world. There it gives a temporal horizon at creation's beginning: some realities are said to be before that foundation, others since it, and still others prepared from it. The noun does not by itself explain how the world was made, establish an exact date, or turn every surrounding statement into a philosophical account of origins. Each passage supplies the subject and theological claim.
The phrase lets New Testament writers place God's purpose and Christ's work against the widest created horizon. The Father loved the Son before the world's foundation. God chose a people in Christ before it, and Peter says Christ was known before it. The kingdom is prepared from that foundation, while God's works have stood finished since it. Prophetic blood has been shed since the foundation, and Christ's single sacrifice appears at the culmination of the ages rather than being repeated throughout history. These texts reveal divine purpose, love, judgment, rest, and redemption, but the noun is not a shortcut around the arguments of John, Paul, Hebrews, Peter, or Revelation.
Hebrews 11:11 is the exceptional use. The verse employs G2602 in language associated with conception, and the BSB renders the clause by saying Sarah was enabled to conceive. Because the construction has generated grammatical discussion, preaching should stay close to Hebrews' explicit point: Sarah regarded the Promiser as faithful. The verse does not make fertility a reward for stronger faith, guarantee a child to every believer, or authorize pressure on people carrying infertility or loss. Across the corpus, katabolḗ invites confidence that the gospel is neither an emergency repair nor an impersonal fate. The Father loved the Son, purposed holiness in Christ, and brought the once-for-all sacrifice into history for His people.
source_lexicongrammaticalCanonical parallelBook contextPassage context
How the Bible Uses It
G2602 usually marks the foundation of the world as creation's beginning, while Hebrews 11:11 uses it in a distinct conception context whose main emphasis is God's faithfulness to His promise.
- Matt.25.34
Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
The Son of Man presents the kingdom as the Father's long-prepared gift. The phrase grounds its purpose before human achievement without detaching the promise from the chapter's judgment scene.
- Luke.11.50
As a result, this generation will be charged with the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the foundation of the world,
Jesus measures the history of prophetic rejection from creation's beginning. The temporal phrase magnifies accumulated guilt; it does not assign that guilt indiscriminately to every generation.
- John.17.24
Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
Jesus locates the Father's love for the Son before creation and prays that His people will behold the glory given Him. The passage is relational and doxological, not merely chronological.
- Eph.1.4
For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love
God's choice is in Christ and aims at holiness before Him. The phrase gives the purpose a precreation horizon while the surrounding blessing directs attention to grace, adoption, redemption, and praise.
- Heb.4.3
Now we who have believed enter that rest. As for the others, it is just as God has said: “So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’” And yet His works have been finished since the foundation of the world.
Creation's finished works support Hebrews' exposition of God's enduring rest. The noun sets the temporal horizon, while Psalm 95 and the argument of Hebrews explain the summons to believing obedience.
- Heb.9.26
Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
The contrast stretches from creation to the culmination of the ages to emphasize that Christ's self-offering is once for all. The foundation phrase serves the argument for sacrifice's finality.
- Heb.11.11
By faith Sarah, even though she was barren and beyond the proper age, was enabled to conceive a child, because she considered Him faithful who had promised.
This exceptional conception use belongs to Hebrews' testimony about trusting the faithful Promiser. It must not be converted into a fertility formula or a measure of another person's faith.
- 1Pet.1.20
He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.
Peter places Christ before creation and His manifestation within history for believers' sake. The verse supports the gospel's prior divine purpose while keeping its focus on the revealed Redeemer.
Passage contextBook contextCanonical parallel
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[the] foundation10×Matthew 13:35, Matthew 25:34, Luke 11:50, John 17:24
conceive1×Hebrews 11:11
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 13:35καταβολῆςto[the] foundationNoun - Genitive Feminine SingularMatthew 25:34καταβολῆςto[the] foundationNoun - Genitive Feminine SingularLuke 11:50καταβολῆςto[the] foundationNoun - Genitive Feminine SingularJohn 17:24καταβολῆςto[the] foundationNoun - Genitive Feminine SingularEphesians 1:4καταβολῆςto[the] foundationNoun - Genitive Feminine SingularHebrews 4:3καταβολῆςto[the] foundationNoun - Genitive Feminine SingularHebrews 9:26καταβολῆςto[the] foundationNoun - Genitive Feminine SingularHebrews 11:11καταβολὴνtoconceiveNoun - Accusative Feminine Singular1 Peter 1:20καταβολῆςto[the] foundationNoun - Genitive Feminine SingularRevelation 13:8καταβολῆςto[the] foundationNoun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 13:35
Aligned rows11
Books represented7
Matthew2Luke1John1Ephesians1Hebrews31 Peter1Revelation2
Source forms
καταβολῆς10xkatabolēsMatthew 13:35, Matthew 25:34, Luke 11:50, John 17:24
καταβολὴν1xkatabolēnHebrews 11:11
Parsing patterns
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular10xMatthew 13:35, Matthew 25:34, Luke 11:50, John 17:24
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular1xHebrews 11:11
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Let the passage identify what God loved, chose, finished, prepared, knew, judged, or accomplished in relation to creation's beginning.
- Receive precreation purpose as a call to worship, holiness, hope, and confidence in Christ, not as permission for speculation or superiority.
- Handle Hebrews 11:11 with compassion toward people living with infertility, pregnancy loss, unanswered prayer, or complicated family histories.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that G2602 proves a precise creation date or describes the physical process by which the world began.
- Do not claim that God's prior purpose makes human obedience, holiness, warning, or perseverance irrelevant; the cited passages preserve these responses.
- Do not claim that Hebrews 11:11 promises biological conception to every person who believes strongly enough.
- Do not claim that every English occurrence of “foundation” represents G2602; structural foundation language commonly uses other Greek words.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Foundation of the world; the primordial laying-down before creation's beginning, emphasizing temporal priority.
Strong'sG2602
Lexical occurrences11 versesGreek text appearances11 timesWord forms2 forms11 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study linkMatthew 13:35Source Gloss
beginning
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
11 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 13:35Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
καταβολῆςkatabolhv
a foundation, depositing, sowing
Read verseMatthew 25:34Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
καταβολῆςkatabolhv
a foundation, depositing, sowing
Read verseLuke 11:50Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
καταβολῆςkatabolhv
a foundation, depositing, sowing
Read verseJohn 17:24Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
καταβολῆςkatabolhv
a foundation, depositing, sowing
Read verseEphesians 1:4Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
καταβολῆςkatabolhv
a foundation, depositing, sowing
Read verseHebrews 4:3Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
καταβολῆςkatabolhv
a foundation, depositing, sowing
Read verseHebrews 9:26Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
καταβολῆςkatabolhv
a foundation, depositing, sowing
Read verseHebrews 11:11Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
καταβολὴνkatabolhn
a foundation, depositing, sowing
Read verse1 Peter 1:20Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
καταβολῆςkatabolhv
a foundation, depositing, sowing
Read verseRevelation 13:8Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
καταβολῆςkatabolhv
a foundation, depositing, sowing
Read verseRevelation 17:8Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
καταβολῆςkatabolhv
a foundation, depositing, sowing
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 this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 2 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns2Aligned forms11Case patternGenitive (10)Number patternSingular (11)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Genitive · Singular · FeminineMatt 13:35 · Matt 25:34 · Luke 11:50 · John 17:24 · Eph 1:4 · Heb 4:3 · Heb 9:26 · 1 Pet 1:20 · Rev 13:8 · Rev 17:810×
Accusative · Singular · FeminineHeb 11:111×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Metaphorical foundation of the world, divine mysteries hidden since creation
Kingdom prepared for the elect from the foundation of the world
Christ's glory loved by the Father before the foundation of the world
God's works finished from the foundation of the world
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 11 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
καταβολή is built from this root:
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.
For the Preacher and Teacher
G2602 gives the New Testament a compact way to speak about creation's founding as a decisive horizon. John looks before it to the Father's love for the Son. Paul looks before it to God's choice in Christ, a choice directed toward holiness and praise. Peter looks before it to the Redeemer who was known and then revealed in history. Matthew looks from it to the kingdom prepared by the Father, Hebrews looks since it to God's finished works and Christ's unrepeatable sacrifice, and Luke looks across the tragic history of rejected prophets.
The word therefore does not carry one isolated doctrine; it situates several claims within the whole span of God's purpose and human history. Hebrews 11:11 requires its own careful treatment because the noun appears in a conception expression. The author's explicit commendation is Sarah's confidence in the One who promised. That emphasis protects the passage from becoming a technique, a guarantee, or a verdict against those who suffer infertility.
Preaching katabolḗ well means letting each author name what lies before, since, or from the foundation. The result is humble assurance: before creation, the Father loved the Son and purposed grace in Him; within history, sin and rejection are real; at the appointed time, Christ appeared once for all to remove sin.
Anchor passage
Eph.1.4
Doctrinal connections
- John 17 places the Father's love for the Son before the world's foundation, grounding Christ's glory in eternal personal communion rather than created achievement.
- Ephesians 1 places God's choice in Christ before creation and states its moral end: a holy and blameless people living before Him in love.
- Matthew 25 describes the kingdom as prepared from creation's foundation, presenting inheritance as the Father's purposeful gift within final judgment.
- Hebrews 4 links the foundation horizon to God's finished works and continuing rest, then summons hearers to respond to His voice in faith.
- Hebrews 9 contrasts the entire span since creation with Christ's one appearance and once-for-all self-sacrifice at the culmination of the ages.
- First Peter 1 joins Christ's precreation foreknowledge to His historical revelation and the believers' resulting faith and hope in God.
G2602 is a feminine noun occurring eleven times in the governed Greek witness. Ten forms are genitive singular within foundation-of-the-world expressions; Hebrews 11:11 has the single accusative form in a conception construction. The recurring temporal phrase should be distinguished from G2310, which more often names a structural foundation or foundation stone. Prepositions matter: the passages speak of what is before, since, or from the foundation rather than giving one undifferentiated formula.
From Old to New Testament
Genesis narrates the world's beginning and God's completed works without using this Greek noun. The New Testament uses G2602 to look back to that horizon and, at times, beyond it. Hebrews develops creation rest from Genesis and Psalm 95, while Ephesians and 1 Peter locate redemption in God's purpose before creation. These are canonical connections established by the passages, not proof that every biblical use of “foundation” carries G2602 or the same temporal force.
Canonical parallelBook context