To go up (literally or figuratively)
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ἀναβαίνω (anabainō) means to go up, come up, climb, rise, board, or ascend. Many occurrences describe ordinary movement shaped by geography: worshipers go up to the temple, travelers go up to Jerusalem, Jesus climbs a mountain, plants spring up, smoke rises, and people board a boat.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀναβαίνω (G305) · Open the biblical lexicon
ἀναβαίνω (anabainō) means to go up, come up, climb, rise, board, or ascend. Many occurrences describe ordinary movement shaped by geography: worshipers go up to the temple, travelers go up to Jerusalem, Jesus climbs a mountain, plants spring up, smoke rises, and people board a boat.
The BSB source-word alignment has 82 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include went up (13), He went up (4), going up (3), to go up (3), we are going up (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 3:16. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (19), John (16), Revelation (13), Luke (9).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
ἀναβαίνω (anabainō) means to go up, come up, climb, rise, board, or ascend. Many occurrences describe ordinary movement shaped by geography: worshipers go up to the temple, travelers go up to Jerusalem, Jesus climbs a mountain, plants spring up, smoke rises, and people board a boat. The verb also serves decisive Christological claims. Jesus comes up from the baptismal water as the heavens open and the Spirit descends.
He goes up to Jerusalem knowing that the prophets’ words about the Son of Man will be fulfilled in His suffering. John says no one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. After His resurrection, Jesus tells Mary that He is ascending to His Father, and Ephesians proclaims the ascended Christ who gives gifts to His people.
These passages do not make upward direction inherently holy. The Pharisee and tax collector both go up to pray, yet only one goes home justified. Jesus’ upward journey to Jerusalem leads toward rejection, death, and resurrection rather than visible success. His ascent to the Father is unique in identity, accomplishment, and authority; it cannot be reproduced through mystical technique or inferred from every physical climb.
Teachers should attend to destination, purpose, and narrative sequence. Geographic ascent may simply describe elevation. Liturgical ascent may locate worship. Christ’s ascension belongs to His completed saving mission and exalted reign. ἀναβαίνω names the movement, while the Gospel supplies its redemptive meaning.
ἀναβαίνω describes upward movement across water, terrain, temple worship, pilgrimage, and heaven. The selected passages trace Jesus coming up from baptism, going up toward His passion, claiming heavenly origin, and ascending to the Father as the exalted giver of gifts.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him.
Jesus’ coming up from the water is physical movement within the baptism scene. The opened heavens, the Spirit’s descent, and the Father’s voice disclose His identity; the verb alone does not settle every later debate about baptismal mode.
“Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
Both men make the same ascent to the place of prayer, but their postures before God differ. Going up to worship does not establish righteousness; Jesus’ conclusion turns on humble repentance and God’s justifying mercy.
Then Jesus took the Twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything the prophets have written about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.
The geographic climb to Jerusalem is also the deliberate path toward betrayal, suffering, death, and resurrection. Jesus’ ascent is obedient movement into the saving events foretold in Scripture, not a ladder of worldly advancement.
No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.
Jesus grounds heavenly authority in the Son of Man who descended from heaven. The verse rejects autonomous human access to heavenly knowledge and centers revelation in the One who comes from above.
This is why it says: “When He ascended on high, He led captives away, and gave gifts to men.”
Paul applies the victory language of Psalm 68 to the ascended Christ, who gives ministers for the building up of His body. His ascent produces generous equipping, not distance from His church.
“Do not cling to Me,” Jesus said, “for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and tell My brothers, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’”
The risen Jesus redirects Mary from clinging to bearing witness and announces His ascent to the Father. His unique sonship opens a gracious new address to the disciples as brothers without erasing the distinction between His relation to the Father and theirs.
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. Physical ascent or figurative rising; commonly used for journey to Jerusalem or prayers ascending to God.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 81 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I go up, mount, ascend
Read verseI go up, mount, ascend
Read verseI go up, mount, ascend
Read verseI go up, mount, ascend
Read verseI go up, mount, ascend
Read verseI go up, mount, ascend
Read verseI go up, mount, ascend
Read verseI go up, mount, ascend
Read verseI go up, mount, ascend
Read verseI go up, mount, ascend
Read verseI go up, mount, ascend
Read verseI go up, mount, ascend
Read verseI go up, mount, ascend
Read verseI go up, mount, ascend
Read verseI go up, mount, ascend
Read verseI go up, mount, ascend
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 79 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 81 lexical occurrence verses.
ἀναβαίνω is built from these roots:
Resurrection linked to ascension.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
The direction “up” does not interpret itself. The Pharisee and tax collector both ascend to the temple, yet one relies on himself and the other pleads for mercy. Jesus goes up from baptismal water as Father and Spirit identify Him, then goes up to Jerusalem along the road of suffering foretold by the prophets. His path exposes the false equation of ascent with ease or applause.
John places the deepest claim in the identity of the Son of Man who descended from heaven and alone speaks with heavenly authority. After rising from the dead, Jesus ascends to the Father and sends Mary as a witness to His brothers. Ephesians presents the ascended victor as the giver who equips His body for mature service. Christian ascent is therefore not escape from embodied obedience, a technique for secret knowledge, or a ministry career chart.
It is first a narrative word that helps readers follow Jesus from baptism through Jerusalem, resurrection, and exaltation. Churches should value humble prayer over religious elevation, walk with Christ toward costly obedience, receive revelation from the Son, and use His gifts to build up others.
John.20.17
ἀναβαίνω joins ἀνά, up, with βαίνω, go or step. It can describe climbing, traveling to an elevated city, coming up from water, boarding a vessel, rising smoke or plants, and ascending to heaven. Ancient travel language may say “go up” to Jerusalem because of elevation and sacred destination even when a map direction differs.
Israel goes up for worship, priests ascend to serve, Moses climbs Sinai to receive God’s word, and Psalm 68 celebrates God’s victorious ascent. The Gospels trace Jesus going up toward Jerusalem and the cross, then the risen Son ascending to the Father. Ephesians presents that exalted Christ as the giver who equips His people, fulfilling rather than discarding the biblical pattern of God’s victorious presence.