To prepare
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G2680, kataskeuázō, describes preparing, making ready, constructing, equipping, or furnishing something for its intended purpose. It can refer to a messenger preparing a way, John making a people ready for the Lord, a builder constructing a house, the tabernacle and its rooms being arranged, or Noah building the ark.
Reader summary
Full entry for κατασκευάζω (G2680) · Open the biblical lexicon
G2680, kataskeuázō, describes preparing, making ready, constructing, equipping, or furnishing something for its intended purpose. It can refer to a messenger preparing a way, John making a people ready for the Lord, a builder constructing a house, the tabernacle and its rooms being arranged, or Noah building the ark.
The BSB source-word alignment has 11 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include will prepare (3), builder (2), built (1), had been prepared (1), is built (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 11:10. Its strongest book concentrations include Hebrews (6), Luke (2), 1 Peter (1), Mark (1).
G2680, kataskeuázō, describes preparing, making ready, constructing, equipping, or furnishing something for its intended purpose. It can refer to a messenger preparing a way, John making a people ready for the Lord, a builder constructing a house, the tabernacle and its rooms being arranged, or Noah building the ark. The exact English rendering changes with the object. A person, route, house, sacred space, and vessel are not prepared in identical ways, so the passage must show what kind of readiness the verb carries.
The Gospel uses of G2680 place purposeful readiness before the Lord's arrival. The promised messenger prepares His way, and John does so by turning hearts and calling the disobedient toward righteous wisdom. This is neither image management nor coercive control. God readies a people through truth, repentance, reconciled relationships, and expectant obedience. Hebrews then develops the constructive side. A house points beyond itself to its builder; Jesus deserves greater glory than Moses, and God is the builder of everything. The tabernacle is prepared for priestly service, yet its repeated rituals also reveal the limits that Christ's better ministry overcomes.
Noah prepares an ark in obedient response to God's warning about what is not yet seen. Hebrews emphasizes faith and reverent action, while 1 Peter recalls God's patience and the few preserved through water. The verb does not mean Noah engineered salvation, that wood possessed saving power, or that every faithful plan guarantees bodily safety. It marks real work ordered by God's word and purpose. Across these passages, preparation is active but dependent: the messenger serves the coming Lord, the house honors its builder, the tabernacle serves worship under God's command, and the ark answers divine warning. Christian readiness therefore resists both passivity and control. Believers prepare faithfully while confessing that God establishes the purpose, provides the way of rescue, and receives the glory.
G2680 traces purposeful readiness from a messenger and prepared people to built houses, an arranged tabernacle, and Noah's ark, always letting the intended use govern the kind of preparation.
And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
John makes a people ready through heart-turning and restored obedience ahead of the Lord's coming. The verse defines preparation relationally and morally, not as outward polish.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way.”
The promised messenger prepares the Lord's way in fulfillment of Scripture. Mark immediately identifies the ministry through John's proclamation, baptism, and announcement of the mightier One.
For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.
The builder-house comparison supports Jesus' greater glory without belittling Moses' faithfulness as a servant. The construction image serves Hebrews' Christological argument.
And every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.
Two forms of G2680 contrast every built house with God as builder of all. The claim locates created order and the household of faith under divine agency and honor.
A tabernacle was prepared. In its first room were the lampstand, the table, and the consecrated bread. This was called the Holy Place.
The prepared tabernacle has a specified arrangement for covenant worship. Hebrews respects that ordered service while moving toward the better sanctuary and ministry of Christ.
When everything had been prepared in this way, the priests entered regularly into the first room to perform their sacred duties.
Preparation makes the priests' regular ministry possible, but the following verses expose restricted access and repeated service. Readiness here serves the old covenant pattern that points beyond itself.
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
Noah's construction is obedient faith responding to divine warning. The ark is prepared as God directs; it is not a monument to autonomous ingenuity or fear-driven control.
Who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In the ark a few people, only eight souls, were saved through water.
Peter remembers the ark's construction within God's patience, human disobedience, judgment, and preservation. The passage directs readers toward Christ and baptism's appeal, not an allegory for every construction detail.
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. Prepare by constructing or building something with deliberate arrangement; implies thorough, purposeful preparation.
Prepare by constructing or building something with deliberate arrangement; implies thorough, purposeful preparation.
to prepare, make ready: τ. ὁδόν, Mat.11:10, Mrk.1:2, Luk.7:27; οἶκον, Heb.3:3-4; σκηνήν, Heb.9:2, 6; κιβωτόν, Heb.11:7, 1Pe.3:20; pass. pf. ptcp., λαον κ., Luk.1:17.
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.
I build, prepare, make
Read verseI build, prepare, make
Read verseI build, prepare, make
Read verseI build, prepare, make
Read verseI build, prepare, make
Read verseI build, prepare, make
Read verseI build, prepare, make
Read verseI build, prepare, make
Read verseI build, prepare, make
Read verseI build, prepare, make
Read verseI build, prepare, make
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 11 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 1 selected witness from 11 lexical occurrence verses.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G2680 describes work ordered toward an appointed use. Luke applies it to a people made ready for the Lord as John turns hearts and calls the disobedient toward righteous wisdom. Mark applies it to the messenger who prepares the Lord's way through his scripturally promised ministry. Hebrews uses construction language to distinguish Jesus' greater glory from Moses' honored service: the house is real, the servant is faithful, but the builder receives greater honor, and God is the builder of all.
The same letter describes the tabernacle prepared for priestly ministry, then shows why its restricted and repeated arrangements could not provide the final access Christ supplies. Noah's ark adds faith under warning. He builds because God has spoken about things not yet seen, and 1 Peter remembers that building within divine patience, judgment, and preservation.
These scenes keep preparation from becoming either self-reliance or passivity. Biblical readiness has an object, a word, an appointed purpose, and an accountable response. It can involve repentance, reconciliation, proclamation, ordered service, craftsmanship, endurance, and reverent action. Yet the prepared way belongs to the Lord, the house belongs to its builder, worship follows God's instruction, and rescue rests in God's provision.
Wise teaching therefore invites concrete obedience without promising control.
Luke.1.17
G2680 is a compound verb whose uses range from readiness to construction and furnishing. The governed witness contains eleven tokens in ten verses, with two forms in Hebrews 3:4. Context controls whether the object is a way, a people, a house, a tabernacle arrangement, or an ark. It overlaps semantically with G2090, a broader verb for making ready, but G2680 often foregrounds concrete formation, arrangement, or construction for use.
The Gospel messenger sayings combine Exodus 23:20 and Malachi 3:1, with Luke also drawing on Malachi's promise of turned hearts. Hebrews' house language recalls Moses' faithfulness in Numbers 12, its tabernacle discussion draws on the covenant worship pattern, and its Noah account develops Genesis 6 through 9. These connections arise from quotation and argument, not from assuming one Hebrew construction verb behind every use of G2680.