To observe fully
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G2657, katanoeō, is a Greek verb for directing attention toward a person, object, circumstance, or question so as to observe, notice, recognize, or consider it. Its uses include Moses approaching to look more closely, Peter examining his vision, sailors sighting a bay, Jesus seeing through duplicity, Abraham acknowledging bodily weakness, a person observing a face in a mirror, and believers being told to focus on.
Reader summary
Full entry for κατανοέω (G2657) · Open the biblical lexicon
G2657, katanoeō, is a Greek verb for directing attention toward a person, object, circumstance, or question so as to observe, notice, recognize, or consider it. Its uses include Moses approaching to look more closely, Peter examining his vision, sailors sighting a bay, Jesus seeing through duplicity, Abraham acknowledging bodily weakness, a person observing.
The BSB source-word alignment has 14 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Consider (2), to notice (2), [and] saw (1), [Jesus] saw through (1), after observing (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 7:3. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (4), Luke (4), Hebrews (2), James (2).
G2657, katanoeō, is a Greek verb for directing attention toward a person, object, circumstance, or question so as to observe, notice, recognize, or consider it. Its uses include Moses approaching to look more closely, Peter examining his vision, sailors sighting a bay, Jesus seeing through duplicity, Abraham acknowledging bodily weakness, a person observing a face in a mirror, and believers being told to focus on Jesus or consider one another.
The word's pastoral value lies in purposeful attention, but attention is not automatically faithful. Jesus exposes someone who notices a speck in another person while failing to face the beam in his own eye. James describes a hearer who observes himself and then forgets. By contrast, Jesus directs anxious disciples to consider the ravens, Hebrews directs holy brothers to set their focus on Jesus, and the congregation is told to consider how to stir one another toward love and good works.
The object, motive, duration, and resulting action determine whether observation becomes trust, self-examination, mutual care, manipulation, or forgetfulness. Katanoeō does not authorize surveillance, amateur diagnosis, or scrutiny of another person without equal attention to oneself.
G2657 gathers purposeful looking, noticing, and consideration. Its contexts direct attention toward creation, Jesus, oneself, another believer, a vision, or a practical circumstance. The response and moral quality come from the surrounding command and outcome.
Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storehouse or barn; yet God feeds them. How much more valuable you are than the birds!
Jesus directs attention to ravens as part of His argument about the Father's care, human value, and the priority of seeking God's kingdom.
Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, set your focus on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.
The imperative directs the confessing community's sustained attention to Jesus within Hebrews' presentation of Him as apostle and high priest.
And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds.
Consideration is relational and purposeful, immediately joined to gathering, encouragement, love, and good deeds rather than control of another person.
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. Mental perception requiring deliberate, sustained attention; more thorough than simple noticing or understanding.
Mental perception requiring deliberate, sustained attention; more thorough than simple noticing or understanding.
to take note of, perceive, consider carefully: Act.7:31-32; with accusative of thing(s), Mat.7:3, Luk.6:41 12:24, 27 20:23, Act.11:6 27:39, Rom.4:19; with accusative of person(s), Heb.3:1 10:24, Jas.1:23-24 (on the distinction bet. κ. and νοέω simplex, see M, Pr., 117).
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
14 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I understand, perceive, consider
Read verseI understand, perceive, consider
Read verseI understand, perceive, consider
Read verseI understand, perceive, consider
Read verseI understand, perceive, consider
Read verseI understand, perceive, consider
Read verseI understand, perceive, consider
Read verseI understand, perceive, consider
Read verseI understand, perceive, consider
Read verseI understand, perceive, consider
Read verseI understand, perceive, consider
Read verseI understand, perceive, consider
Read verseI understand, perceive, consider
Read verseI understand, perceive, consider
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 14 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 3 selected witnesses from 14 lexical occurrence verses.
κατανοέω 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.
Luke 12:24 asks anxious disciples to consider the ravens within Jesus' teaching about the Father's care, the value of His children, and seeking the kingdom. Observation serves trust, but the passage does not shame anxiety, deny material hardship, or replace practical care. Hebrews 3:1 directs holy brothers who share a heavenly calling to set their focus on Jesus, the apostle and high priest they confess.
The command is sustained Christ-centered attention within the letter's warning and encouragement, not a brief mental technique. Hebrews 10:24 turns careful consideration toward one another so believers can spur love and good deeds while gathering and encouraging. The goal rules out manipulation that seeks compliance for a leader's benefit. Matthew 7:3 shows the danger of selective attention: a person notices a speck in another's eye while ignoring a beam in his own.
James 1 likewise pictures observation that is quickly forgotten when hearing does not continue into action. Together these uses call communities to patient, self-aware attention. Faithful observation notices creation, Christ, one's own condition, and neighbors' needs without becoming surveillance. It leads to trust, repentance, encouragement, and practical love while respecting privacy, consent, disability, and the limits of one's knowledge.
Heb.3.1
G2657 is a compound Greek verb used for noticing, observing, recognizing, or considering. The compound form can suggest directed attention, but no automatic intensive meaning should be assigned apart from syntax and context.
Wisdom literature calls readers to observe creation and consider their ways, while prophets expose eyes that see without faithful response. New Testament uses of G2657 direct attention toward Jesus, creation, self-examination, and mutual care. This canonical pattern honors purposeful attention without making every Hebrew observation verb lexically identical.