To grasp/seize
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κρατέω (kratéō) means to take hold of, seize, keep, or hold fast. It can describe Jesus taking a girl by the hand, someone rescuing a sheep from a pit, Herod's arrest of John, a servant violently grabbing a debtor, or a church holding fast Christ's name amid pressure.
Reader summary
Full entry for κρατέω (G2902) · Open the biblical lexicon
κρατέω (kratéō) means to take hold of, seize, keep, or hold fast. It can describe Jesus taking a girl by the hand, someone rescuing a sheep from a pit, Herod's arrest of John, a servant violently grabbing a debtor, or a church holding fast Christ's name amid pressure.
The BSB source-word alignment has 47 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include arrest (3), to arrest (3), took (3), arrested (2), hold (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 9:25. Its strongest book concentrations include Mark (15), Matthew (12), Revelation (8), Acts (4).
κρατέω (kratéō) means to take hold of, seize, keep, or hold fast. It can describe Jesus taking a girl by the hand, someone rescuing a sheep from a pit, Herod's arrest of John, a servant violently grabbing a debtor, or a church holding fast Christ's name amid pressure. The verb therefore does not automatically praise firmness or condemn physical contact. Its moral force comes from who holds whom, why, and within what relationship.
Matthew uses it for tender healing, merciful rescue, unjust custody, and coercive debt collection. Revelation uses it for persevering allegiance to Christ and His teaching. These contexts give the church a needed distinction: faithful holding fast is not the same as controlling another person, and protective action is not the same as forceful seizure. κρατέω helps teachers speak of endurance and care while naming abuse, captivity, and spiritual manipulation as distortions rather than forms of Christian strength.
This range is pastorally important wherever Christian language about authority, discipline, rescue, or endurance is used. A leader may claim to be holding fast to truth while actually gripping people through fear. A suffering person may be urged to hold fast when the needed pastoral action is protection, disclosure, and help. The biblical scenes refuse that confusion.
Christ's hand restores; Herod's hand imprisons; the merciless servant's grasp chokes; the churches' hold fast remains directed to Christ's name amid real opposition. κρατέω therefore invites self-examination about the purpose and effect of our grasp before it is ever used to praise strength or demand loyalty.
κρατέω ranges from a healing hand and rescue to arrest, violent grasping, and steadfast holding fast. Matthew's narratives expose the difference between care and coercion, while Revelation applies the verb to covenantal perseverance under pressure.
After the crowd had been put outside, Jesus went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.
Jesus takes the girl's hand in a healing scene and she rises. The touch is neither a technique to copy nor a warrant for disregarding consent; it belongs to Christ's compassionate authority over death.
He replied, “If one of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?
Jesus uses taking hold of a sheep to expose a Sabbath ethic that neglects mercy. The verb supports protective action for a creature in danger, not a general claim that good intentions justify overriding another person's agency.
Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,
Herod's seizure of John is unjust custody connected to his moral failure. κρατέω here unmasks coercive power and warns readers not to confuse official force with righteousness.
But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’
The unforgiving servant grabs and chokes a fellow servant after receiving mercy himself. The action dramatizes the contradiction between received forgiveness and coercive treatment of a debtor.
I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits, yet you hold fast to My name. You did not deny your faith in Me, even in the days of My faithful witness Antipas, who was killed among you where Satan dwells.
Christ commends Pergamum for holding fast His name in a hostile setting. This is persevering allegiance to Christ, not a call to cling rigidly to personal preferences or human traditions.
Than to hold fast to what you have until I come.
Thyatira is told to hold fast until Christ comes. The command is eschatological perseverance under Christ's authority, not a mandate to preserve every existing custom or resist needed repentance.
I am coming soon. Hold fast to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
Philadelphia is called to hold fast amid weakness and opposition. The promise strengthens endurance in Christ without promising status, safety from suffering, or a competitive religious crown.
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 seize and hold firm control; often used for grasping persons or maintaining doctrinal traditions.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek 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 lay hold of, obtain
Read verseI lay hold of, obtain
Read verseI lay hold of, obtain
Read verseI lay hold of, obtain
Read verseI lay hold of, obtain
Read verseI lay hold of, obtain
Read verseI lay hold of, obtain
Read verseI lay hold of, obtain
Read verseI lay hold of, obtain
Read verseI lay hold of, obtain
Read verseI lay hold of, obtain
Read verseI lay hold of, obtain
Read verseI lay hold of, obtain
Read verseI lay hold of, obtain
Read verseI lay hold of, obtain
Read verseI lay hold of, obtain
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 47 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 47 lexical occurrence verses.
κρατέω is built from this root:
Indicates forceful attempt to control Jesus’ mission.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
κρατέω teaches the church that holding can heal, rescue, imprison, choke, or persevere. Jesus takes a dead girl's hand and raises her. He speaks of taking hold of a trapped sheep to defend mercy. Herod seizes John, and the unforgiving servant grabs a debtor by the throat. Revelation then calls pressured churches to hold fast Christ's name and what they have received.
These scenes resist a sentimental use of the word. Strength is not measured by how tightly someone can control another person, and steadfastness is not a refusal to repent or seek help. The gospel creates a people who receive Christ's merciful authority, reject coercive power, forgive as those forgiven, and persevere in truth when following Jesus is costly. This word also dignifies faithful endurance where compromise would be easier.
Holding fast to Christ is neither panic nor domination. It is a Spirit-enabled, truth-shaped refusal to deny the Lord while remaining accountable to His mercy and His commands. It does not require a church to be hard toward the weak. Christ's own authority protects, restores, and judges rightly, so faithful perseverance is always joined to truth, mercy, and responsible care for those at risk.
Rev.2.13
κρατέω can describe both a literal grasp and a figurative holding fast. The object and narrative setting show whether the action is protective, coercive, custodial, or persevering; the lexical root alone cannot establish its moral value.
Scripture portrays God's faithful keeping, condemns unjust seizure and oppression, and calls His people to steadfast covenant loyalty. In the Gospels, Christ's touch and mercy expose coercive misuse of power; in Revelation, the risen Christ calls churches to hold fast His name until He comes. The canonical line joins holy perseverance with protection of the vulnerable, never with domination.