To devour
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Katesthio means to eat up, consume, devour, or exhaust what belongs to another. Its New Testament range moves from birds eating seed and a son consuming an inheritance to leaders devouring widows' houses, people consuming one another through conflict, zeal consuming the Messiah, and John eating the prophetic scroll.
Reader summary
Full entry for κατεσθίω (G2719) · Open the biblical lexicon
Katesthio means to eat up, consume, devour, or exhaust what belongs to another. Its New Testament range moves from birds eating seed and a son consuming an inheritance to leaders devouring widows' houses, people consuming one another through conflict, zeal consuming the Messiah, and John eating the prophetic scroll.
The BSB source-word alignment has 14 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include defraud (2), devoured (2), [and] devoured (1), ate (1), consumed (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 13:4. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (5), Luke (3), Mark (2), 2 Corinthians (1).
Katesthio means to eat up, consume, devour, or exhaust what belongs to another. Its New Testament range moves from birds eating seed and a son consuming an inheritance to leaders devouring widows' houses, people consuming one another through conflict, zeal consuming the Messiah, and John eating the prophetic scroll. The image often stresses thorough consumption: what is devoured is not merely touched but used up.
Yet the object and passage determine whether the action is ordinary eating, waste, exploitation, destructive speech, costly zeal, or prophetic reception. The verb does not make every occurrence violent, nor does it excuse religious aggression. Especially where vulnerable people are exploited, teachers should name the injustice plainly and keep responsibility on those who consume rather than on those who suffer loss.
Katesthio gives concrete force to complete consumption. Scripture uses it for seed eaten away, resources squandered, vulnerable households exploited, conflict that destroys a community, messianic zeal, and a prophetic scroll received into the body.
And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.
In the sower parable, birds consume exposed seed before it takes root, picturing the evil one's removal of the kingdom word from an uncomprehending hearer.
They defraud widows of their houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will receive greater condemnation.”
Jesus condemns scribes who consume widows' households while displaying public piety; the image exposes predatory religion.
But when this son of yours returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
The older brother describes the younger son's destructive consumption of the father's property, while the parable also exposes his refusal to share the father's joy.
His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”
After Jesus cleanses the temple, the disciples remember Scripture that presents His zeal for the Father's house as costly and consuming.
But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.
Paul warns that a community abandoning love for mutual attack can consume itself from within.
So I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach turned bitter.
John's eating of the scroll portrays prophetic reception as both sweet and bitter before he is told to prophesy again.
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. Intensified consumption that completely destroys or consumes entirely, often used metaphorically for destructive behavior.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
15 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I eat till it is finished
Read verseI eat till it is finished
Read verseI eat till it is finished
Read verseI eat till it is finished
Read verseI eat till it is finished
Read verseI eat till it is finished
Read verseI eat till it is finished
Read verseI eat till it is finished
Read verseI eat till it is finished
Read verseI eat till it is finished
Read verseI eat till it is finished
Read verseI eat till it is finished
Read verseI eat till it is finished
Read verseI eat till it is finished
Read verseI eat till it is finished
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 13 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 2 selected witnesses from 14 lexical occurrence verses.
κατεσθίω 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.
Katesthio asks what is being consumed and by whom. Birds devour exposed seed in Jesus' parable, while religious leaders devour widows' households under the cover of long prayers. The younger son's consumption of property shows waste, and Galatians turns the image toward a church tearing itself apart through mutual attack. John 2 is distinct: Scripture says zeal for the Father's house will consume Jesus, directing attention to His unique mission rather than giving believers permission for aggressive temperament.
Revelation 10 uses literal eating symbolically as John receives a message that is sweet in his mouth and bitter within. Across these passages, the verb exposes totalizing appetite and costly reception. Faithful teaching protects the vulnerable, confronts predation, calls churches away from mutual destruction, and keeps Christ's zeal governed by His identity and redemptive mission.
John.2.17
Katesthio intensifies the ordinary idea of eating toward eating up, consuming, or exhausting. English translations may render the same Greek verb as devour, consume, defraud, squander, exploit, or eat because the object and figurative setting determine the natural expression. The lexical image should remain visible without forcing one English gloss into every passage.
The Old Testament frequently uses consuming imagery for animals, enemies, fire, judgment, and zeal, while the prophets repeatedly condemn those who prey on the vulnerable. The New Testament gathers these strands without collapsing them. Jesus confronts religious exploitation and fulfills Scripture's zeal for God's house; Paul warns churches against mutual destruction; Revelation portrays both receiving God's message and judgment that consumes opposition.