To dwell
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κατοικέω (katoikeō) means to dwell, reside, inhabit, or settle in a place. The verb can describe ordinary human residence, as when Jesus’ family lives in Nazareth, and it can carry major theological weight when its subject is God, divine fullness, or Christ.
Reader summary
Full entry for κατοικέω (G2730) · Open the biblical lexicon
κατοικέω (katoikeō) means to dwell, reside, inhabit, or settle in a place. The verb can describe ordinary human residence, as when Jesus’ family lives in Nazareth, and it can carry major theological weight when its subject is God, divine fullness, or Christ.
The BSB source-word alignment has 45 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include dwell (12), living (6), dwells (3), [and] dwell (2), [and] lived (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 2:23. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (20), Revelation (13), Matthew (4), Colossians (2).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
κατοικέω (katoikeō) means to dwell, reside, inhabit, or settle in a place. The verb can describe ordinary human residence, as when Jesus’ family lives in Nazareth, and it can carry major theological weight when its subject is God, divine fullness, or Christ. Paul tells the Athenians that the Creator does not live in temples made by human hands, guarding divine transcendence against confinement.
Colossians says that all fullness was pleased to dwell in Christ and that the fullness of deity dwells in Him bodily, locating God’s saving self-disclosure in the incarnate Son rather than in an abstract spiritual realm. Ephesians prays that Christ may dwell in believers’ hearts through faith, describing an experienced, strengthening presence within a prayer for mature love.
The verb itself does not make every residence permanent, mystical, or saving. Subject, location, tense, aspect, and argument determine the force. Its pastoral value is to ask who dwells where, by whose action, and with what transforming consequence.
κατοικέω describes residence or settled dwelling, from ordinary life in Nazareth to the Creator’s transcendence, the fullness of deity dwelling bodily in Christ, and Christ dwelling in believers’ hearts through faith.
And he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
The verb describes ordinary residence in a real town within Matthew’s fulfillment narrative. This concrete use prevents every occurrence from being spiritualized into an inward or mystical dwelling.
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands.
Paul denies that the Creator can be confined or sustained by human sanctuaries. The statement guards divine transcendence while the speech continues toward God’s nearness and the call to repent.
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,
Within the presentation of the Son’s supremacy and reconciling work, fullness dwelling in Him grounds Christ’s sufficiency. The verse’s subject and context, not the dwelling verb alone, carry the high christological claim.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.
Paul places the fullness of deity in Christ bodily and uses that reality against teaching that would draw believers away from Him. Dwelling here serves incarnation and sufficiency, not a contrast that despises physical existence.
So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love,
In Paul’s prayer, Christ’s dwelling is joined to faith, inner strengthening by the Spirit, rootedness in love, and growing comprehension with all the saints. It describes formative presence, not a technique for self-induced experience.
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.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. To settle permanently and establish residence, not merely passing through; divine indwelling emphasis.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 47 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I dwell in, settle in, inhabit
Read verseI dwell in, settle in, inhabit
Read verseI dwell in, settle in, inhabit
Read verseI dwell in, settle in, inhabit
Read verseI dwell in, settle in, inhabit
Read verseI dwell in, settle in, inhabit
Read verseI dwell in, settle in, inhabit
Read verseI dwell in, settle in, inhabit
Read verseI dwell in, settle in, inhabit
Read verseI dwell in, settle in, inhabit
Read verseI dwell in, settle in, inhabit
Read verseI dwell in, settle in, inhabit
Read verseI dwell in, settle in, inhabit
Read verseI dwell in, settle in, inhabit
Read verseI dwell in, settle in, inhabit
Read verseI dwell in, settle in, inhabit
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.
How this verb appears across 44 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 4 selected witnesses from 44 lexical occurrence verses.
κατοικέω 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.
Biblical dwelling language holds together concreteness, transcendence, incarnation, and communion. Jesus truly lived in Nazareth; the verb can be as ordinary as a family taking up residence in a town. Paul then refuses to place the Creator inside a structure that human hands can manage. God is Lord of heaven and earth, not a local deity sustained by worshipers.
Yet divine transcendence does not mean divine remoteness. Colossians declares that all fullness dwells in the Son and, more sharply, that the fullness of deity dwells in Christ bodily. God’s saving self-disclosure is not found by escaping the material world but in the incarnate Christ, in whom believers are made complete. Ephesians brings this truth into pastoral prayer: strengthened by the Spirit, believers are to know Christ’s dwelling presence through faith and become rooted in love with all the saints.
Teachers should not make the verb itself prove permanence, incarnation, or conversion. Those claims arise from the sentences and arguments. Handled carefully, κατοικέω helps the church worship the uncontainable Creator, rest in the sufficient incarnate Son, and seek a life increasingly shaped by Christ’s faithful presence.
Col.2.9
The verb can describe residence in a town, habitation in a place, or a subject’s dwelling in a person. Lexical range alone does not decide duration or theological significance. Verbal form, subject, complement, discourse, and paired terms such as fullness, deity, bodily, heart, and faith supply the force in each passage.
The Old Testament holds together God’s dwelling among His people in tabernacle and temple with repeated insistence that heaven cannot contain Him. The New Testament does not solve that tension by shrinking God. It centers divine fullness in the incarnate Son and describes Christ’s gracious presence forming a Spirit-strengthened people.
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