To come (or go) down (literally or figuratively)
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G2718, katérchomai, is a Greek verb for coming or going down. In most New Testament occurrences it reports ordinary movement from a higher place to a lower one, conventional travel from one region to another, arrival at a port, or movement toward a person or community.
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Full entry for κατέρχομαι (G2718) · Open the biblical lexicon
G2718, katérchomai, is a Greek verb for coming or going down. In most New Testament occurrences it reports ordinary movement from a higher place to a lower one, conventional travel from one region to another, arrival at a port, or movement toward a person or community.
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).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 4:31. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (12), Luke (2), James (1).
G2718, katérchomai, is a Greek verb for coming or going down. In most New Testament occurrences it reports ordinary movement from a higher place to a lower one, conventional travel from one region to another, arrival at a port, or movement toward a person or community. The compound form includes kata and erchomai, but readers should not force a theological meaning out of the components when ordinary geography or travel convention explains the clause.
The local morphology confirms a verbal identity: all 15 governed tokens are parsed as verbs, with 14 aorist forms and one present middle or passive participle. Eight are indicatives, six are participles, and one is an infinitive. English renderings such as went down, came down, landed, came, or went to visit reflect the destination and travel setting rather than different hidden senses.
Luke 4:31 describes Jesus going down to Capernaum and teaching with authority. The authority belongs to His word and identity, not to the downward direction. Luke 9:37 reports Jesus and the disciples coming down from the mountain after the transfiguration and meeting a distressed family and crowd. The narrative movement joins revealed glory to compassionate ministry in the valley, but G2718 itself does not establish a rule that every spiritual high must be followed by suffering or service.
Acts frequently uses the verb as connective travel language. Philip goes down to a Samaritan city and proclaims the Christ. Barnabas and Saul go down to Seleucia after the Holy Spirit and the Antioch church send them. The Jerusalem delegation goes down to Antioch with a letter that strengthens the congregation. Paul and his companions land at Tyre during a voyage whose later verses include fellowship, warning, resolve, and danger.
These passages can support teaching on embodied mission, accountable sending, communication, and hospitality, but the verb alone does not sanctify every itinerary, prove divine guidance, or determine whether a warning should be followed. James 3:15 provides the sole clearly figurative occurrence in the governed New Testament set. The disputed wisdom does not come down from above; James identifies it instead as earthly, unspiritual, and demonic, and contrasts it with wisdom from above by its moral fruit.
Here descent concerns source or origin, not elevation, weather, mystical energy, or a spiritual substance entering the body. The surrounding descriptions, not G2718 by itself, distinguish divine wisdom from counterfeit wisdom. G2718 therefore helps readers follow real people through roads, slopes, regions, ports, mission assignments, and congregational relationships.
Its theological usefulness comes from the narratives and arguments in which the travel occurs. Teachers should preserve the ordinary verb, let James's contrast remain exceptional and context governed, and avoid converting geographical descent into an automatic symbol of humility, decline, incarnation, judgment, or divine visitation.
G2718 normally reports coming or going down between places, traveling to another region, approaching people, or arriving by ship. James 3:15 uses the same verb figuratively for what does not come down from above, with the surrounding contrast identifying the source and character of false wisdom.
Then He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath He began to teach the people.
Jesus goes down to Capernaum and teaches there; the following response attributes authority to His message rather than to the journey's direction.
The next day, when they came down from the mountain, Jesus was met by a large crowd.
Jesus and the disciples descend from the mountain into a waiting crowd and a family's distress, linking scenes without making descent a spiritual formula.
Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them.
Philip goes down to a Samaritan city and proclaims the Christ, placing ordinary travel within the gospel's movement across a social boundary.
So Barnabas and Saul, sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus.
Barnabas and Saul go down to Seleucia after the Spirit and the Antioch church send them, so mission travel remains accountable to divine and congregational action.
So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they assembled the congregation and delivered the letter.
The delegation goes down to Antioch and delivers the council's letter to the assembled congregation, making travel serve truthful communication and encouragement.
After sighting Cyprus and passing south of it, we sailed on to Syria and landed at Tyre, where the ship was to unload its cargo.
The BSB renders the shipboard movement as landing at Tyre, showing how destination and travel mode can govern an English rendering of descent.
Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
False wisdom does not come down from above; its earthly, unspiritual, and demonic character is established by James's contrast and its fruit.
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 come (or go) down (literally or figuratively)
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.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
13 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I come down
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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 15 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)
κατέρχομαι is built from these roots:
Acts 13:4 gives G2718 a useful mission center because Barnabas and Saul's movement to Seleucia follows the Holy Spirit's call, the congregation's fasting and prayer, the laying on of hands, and their sending. The verb records one concrete leg of the journey. It does not create the call, validate an independent traveler, or make geography a measure of spiritual authority.
Other occurrences keep that distinction firm. Jesus goes down to Capernaum and teaches with authority; He descends from the mountain into a family's need; Philip travels to Samaria and proclaims Christ; a delegation carries a council letter to Antioch; Paul lands at Tyre amid fellowship and warning. James alone uses the verb figuratively, denying that bitterly ambitious wisdom comes down from above and exposing it by its source and fruit.
G2718 therefore honors the physical routes through which people teach, serve, communicate, and suffer while locating theological weight in God's action and the surrounding message. Faithful mission is embodied and mobile, but travel remains servant rather than proof of calling.
Acts.13.4
G2718 is a verb of downward movement or arrival whose sense is specified by route, subject, and narrative setting. Its New Testament forms are predominantly aorist, with a present middle or passive participle in James 3:15, and they appear as indicatives, participles, and an infinitive across Luke, Acts, and James.
Old Testament journeys and descents use distinct Hebrew verbs and develop their claims within exodus, wilderness, kingship, exile, and return. G2718 can participate in the same canonical attention to embodied movement, but no direct lexical equivalence or universal descent symbolism should be inferred.