To leave behind
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Καταλείπω means to leave, leave behind, abandon, remain, or neglect, with context determining whether the departure is faithful, ordinary, tragic, or blameworthy. Jesus leaves Nazareth and settles in Capernaum within Matthew's fulfillment narrative.
Reader summary
Full entry for καταλείπω (G2641) · Open the biblical lexicon
Καταλείπω means to leave, leave behind, abandon, remain, or neglect, with context determining whether the departure is faithful, ordinary, tragic, or blameworthy. Jesus leaves Nazareth and settles in Capernaum within Matthew's fulfillment narrative.
The BSB source-word alignment has 24 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include left (3), will leave (3), He left (2), Leaving (2), [and] left (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 4:13. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (5), Luke (4), Mark (4), Matthew (4).
Καταλείπω means to leave, leave behind, abandon, remain, or neglect, with context determining whether the departure is faithful, ordinary, tragic, or blameworthy. Jesus leaves Nazareth and settles in Capernaum within Matthew's fulfillment narrative. Marriage language says a man leaves father and mother to be joined to his wife, describing a new primary covenant bond rather than contempt for parents.
Levi leaves everything to follow Jesus, while Acts 6 refuses to leave or neglect the ministry of God's word in order to address another genuine need without proper distribution of service. John can use the passive sense for Jesus left alone after accusers depart. The verb names separation or remainder; it does not declare every act of leaving courageous discipleship or sinful abandonment.
Καταλείπω names leaving behind, remaining, or neglecting. Scripture uses it for relocation, marriage, discipleship, abandonment of accusation, and the protection of assigned ministry.
Leaving Nazareth, He went and lived in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,
Jesus' move from Nazareth to Capernaum belongs to Matthew's geographical fulfillment and the dawning of light in Galilee.
‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,
Leaving parents in marriage establishes a new one-flesh priority without canceling the command to honor and care for family.
And Levi got up, left everything, and followed Him.
Levi's departure from his former life demonstrates decisive response to Jesus' personal call.
When they heard this, they began to go away one by one, beginning with the older ones, until only Jesus was left, with the woman standing there.
The accusers depart and Jesus is left with the woman, preparing His refusal to condemn and His command to leave sin.
So the Twelve summoned all the disciples and said, “It is unacceptable for us to neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.
The Twelve refuse neglect of the word, not service to widows; the church appoints qualified servants so both responsibilities receive attention.
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 leave behind or abandon, often implying deliberate departure from a person, place, or obligation.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 25 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I leave behind, abandon
Read verseI leave behind, abandon
Read verseI leave behind, abandon
Read verseI leave behind, abandon
Read verseI leave behind, abandon
Read verseI leave behind, abandon
Read verseI leave behind, abandon
Read verseI leave behind, abandon
Read verseI leave behind, abandon
Read verseI leave behind, abandon
Read verseI leave behind, abandon
Read verseI leave behind, abandon
Read verseI leave behind, abandon
Read verseI leave behind, abandon
Read verseI leave behind, abandon
Read verseI leave behind, abandon
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 24 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)
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 23 lexical occurrence verses.
καταλείπω 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.
Leaving can express obedience, ordinary transition, covenant reordering, neglect, or abandonment. Levi's decisive departure follows Jesus' call, but not every believer is commanded to copy the same economic details apart from a comparable summons. Marriage creates a new primary bond while preserving duties of honor. Acts 6 is especially instructive: the apostles will not neglect the word, yet they do not dismiss the widows' need.
The church distributes responsibility so Word ministry and equitable care can flourish together. This guards leaders from using “calling” as an excuse to ignore suffering and from abandoning their central stewardship through undisciplined overload. Teachers should ask what faithfulness requires us to leave, what we must not neglect, and whom we remain responsible to love.
Christ's call reorders loyalties without baptizing irresponsibility.
Matt.4.13
Καταλείπω combines leaving with a prefix that can intensify departure or indicate leaving something behind. Active forms foreground the leaver; passive forms may mean being left or remaining. The object and narrative relation determine whether neglect, abandonment, or simple departure is intended.
Abraham leaves homeland under promise, marriage reorders family bonds, and Israel is warned not to abandon the Lord. Jesus calls disciples into new allegiance, while the church learns to distribute service without neglecting either truth or vulnerable people.