What does κατέρχομαι (katérchomai) mean in the Bible?
κατέρχομαι (katérchomai) is a Greek word meaning "to come (or go) down (literally or figuratively)".
Greek · G2718
κατέρχομαι
To come (or go) down (literally or figuratively)
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κατέρχομαι G2718
Pronunciation katérchomai
What does κατέρχομαι (katérchomai) mean in the Bible?
κατέρχομαι (katérchomai) is a Greek word meaning "to come (or go) down (literally or figuratively)".
Full entry for κατέρχομαι (G2718) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2718?
The BSB source-word alignment has 15 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include came down (4), He went down (2), went down (2), [and] went down (1), come (1).
Where does κατέρχομαι (katérchomai) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 4:31. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (12), Luke (2), James (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 came down 4× Acts 11:27, Acts 15:1, Acts 18:5, Acts 21:10
He went down 2× Luke 4:31, Acts 12:19
went down 2× Acts 8:5, Acts 13:4
[and] went down 1× Acts 15:30
come 1× James 3:15
had landed 1× Acts 18:22
he went to [visit] 1× Acts 9:32
landed 1× Acts 21:3
they came down 1× Luke 9:37
we came 1× Acts 27:5
Show sample aligned rows
Luke 4:31 κατῆλθεν to He went down Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular Luke 9:37 κατελθόντων to they came down Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Genitive Masculine Plural Acts 8:5 κατελθὼν to went down Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular Acts 9:32 κατελθεῖν to he went to [visit] Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active Acts 11:27 κατῆλθον to came down Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural Acts 12:19 κατελθὼν to he went down Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular Acts 13:4 κατῆλθον to went down Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural Acts 15:1 κατελθόντες to came down Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural Acts 15:30 κατῆλθον to [and] went down Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural Acts 18:5 κατῆλθον to came down Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Luke 4:31
Aligned rows 15
Books represented 3
Luke 2 Acts 12 James 1
Source forms
κατῆλθον 4x katēlthon Acts 11:27, Acts 13:4, Acts 15:30, Acts 18:5
κατελθὼν 3x katelthōn Acts 8:5, Acts 12:19, Acts 18:22
κατελθεῖν 1x katelthein Acts 9:32
κατελθόντες 1x katelthontes Acts 15:1
κατελθόντων 1x katelthontōn Luke 9:37
κατερχομένη 1x katerchomenē James 3:15
κατῆλθεν 1x katēlthen Luke 4:31
κατῆλθέν 1x katēlthen Acts 21:10
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural 4x Acts 11:27, Acts 13:4, Acts 15:30, Acts 18:5
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular 3x Acts 8:5, Acts 12:19, Acts 18:22
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 1st Person Plural 2x Acts 21:3, Acts 27:5
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 2x Luke 4:31, Acts 21:10
Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active 1x Acts 9:32
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Genitive Masculine Plural 1x Luke 9:37
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural 1x Acts 15:1
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Feminine Singular 1x James 3:15
Evidence Summary
Greek word. to come (or go) down (literally or figuratively)
Strong's G2718
Lexical occurrences 15 verses Greek text appearances 13 times Word forms 3 forms 15 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
to come (or go) down (literally or figuratively)
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
to come down, go down: before εἰς, Luk.4:31, Act.8:5 13:4 15:30 19:1, Τ; ἀπό, Luk.9:37, Act.15:1 18:5 21:10; ἀπό and εἰς, Act.11:27 12:10; of coming to port by ship, Act.18:22 21:3 27:5; before πρός, with accusative of person(s), Act.9:32; metaphorically, of gifts from God, Jas.3:15.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
13 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Luke 4:31 Verb Third Person Singular Second Aorist Active Indicative
κατῆλθεν kathlqen
I come down
Read verse Luke 9:37 Verb Second Aorist Active Participle Genitive Plural Masculine
κατελθόντων katelqontwn
I come down
Read verse Acts 8:5 Verb Second Aorist Active Participle Nominative Singular Masculine
κατελθὼν katelqwn
I come down
Read verse Acts 9:32 Verb Second Aorist Active Infinitive
κατελθεῖν katelqein
I come down
Read verse Acts 11:27 Verb Third Person Plural Second Aorist Active Indicative
κατῆλθον kathlqon
I come down
Read verse Acts 12:19 Verb Second Aorist Active Participle Nominative Singular Masculine
κατελθὼν katelqwn
I come down
Read verse Acts 13:4 Verb Third Person Plural Second Aorist Active Indicative
κατῆλθον kathlqon
I come down
Read verse Acts 15:1 Verb Second Aorist Active Participle Nominative Plural Masculine
κατελθόντες katelqontev
I come down
Read verse Acts 18:5 Verb Third Person Plural Second Aorist Active Indicative
κατῆλθον kathlqon
I come down
Read verse Acts 18:22 Verb Second Aorist Active Participle Nominative Singular Masculine
κατελθὼν katelqwn
I come down
Read verse Acts 21:10 Verb Third Person Singular Second Aorist Active Indicative
κατῆλθέ kathlqen
I come down
Read verse Acts 27:5 Verb First Person Plural Second Aorist Active Indicative
κατήλθομεν kathlqomen
I come down
Read verse James 3:15 Verb Present Middle or Passive Deponent Participle Nominative Singular Feminine
κατερχομένη, katercomenh
I come down
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 3 Aligned forms 15 Tenses Aorist, Present Voices Active, Middle
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Indicative states a fact or reality 8×
Aorist Active Acts 11:27 · Acts 13:4 · Acts 15:30 · Acts 18:5 · Luke 4:31 · Acts 21:10 · Acts 21:3 · Acts 27:5 8×
Participle verbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality 6×
Aorist Active Acts 8:5 · Acts 12:19 · Acts 18:22 · Luke 9:37 · Acts 15:1 5×
Present Middle Jas 3:15 1×
Infinitive verbal noun — the action in abstract 1×
Aorist Active Acts 9:32 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 15 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist 14 present 1
Voice
active 14 middle 1
Mood
indicative 8 participle 6 infinitive 1
NT Occurrences
Luke 4:31 κατῆλθεν aorist active indicative completed Luke 9:37 κατελθόντων aorist active participle participle Acts 8:5 κατελθὼν aorist active participle participle Acts 9:32 κατελθεῖν aorist active infinitive infinitive Acts 11:27 κατῆλθον aorist active indicative completed Acts 12:19 κατελθὼν aorist active participle participle Acts 13:4 κατῆλθον aorist active indicative completed Acts 15:1 κατελθόντες aorist active participle participle Acts 15:30 κατῆλθον aorist active indicative completed Acts 18:22 κατελθὼν aorist active participle participle Acts 18:5 κατῆλθον aorist active indicative completed Acts 21:10 κατῆλθέν aorist active indicative completed Acts 21:3 κατήλθομεν aorist active indicative completed Acts 27:5 κατήλθομεν aorist active indicative completed James 3:15 κατερχομένη present middle participle participle
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)
Word Origins
κατέρχομαι is built from these roots:
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