To take up
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G353 describes taking something or someone up and can refer to Christs ascension, receiving a person for travel or service, carrying an object, or taking up equipment for a task. The object and setting distinguish divine exaltation from ordinary transport, companionship, idolatrous carrying, or deliberate readiness, so the upward element must not be spiritualized in every occurrence.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀναλαμβάνω (G353) · Open the biblical lexicon
G353 describes taking something or someone up and can refer to Christs ascension, receiving a person for travel or service, carrying an object, or taking up equipment for a task. The object and setting distinguish divine exaltation from ordinary transport, companionship, idolatrous carrying, or deliberate readiness, so the upward element must not be.
The BSB source-word alignment has 13 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include take up (2), [and] brought (1), [Jesus] was taken up (1), Get (1), has been taken (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 16:19. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (8), Ephesians (2), 1 Timothy (1), 2 Timothy (1).
G353 describes taking something or someone up and can refer to Christs ascension, receiving a person for travel or service, carrying an object, or taking up equipment for a task. The object and setting distinguish divine exaltation from ordinary transport, companionship, idolatrous carrying, or deliberate readiness, so the upward element must not be spiritualized in every occurrence.
In Acts. 1. 11, the angels identify the Jesus taken into heaven as the same Jesus who will return, redirecting the disciples from staring upward to expectant witness. In Eph. 6. 13, believers are commanded to take up the full armor God supplies so they can withstand evil and remain standing. G353 opens teaching on Christ taken up in glory and on the faithful responsibility to take up what God provides, receive useful coworkers, and carry no rival object of worship.
It corrects ascension teaching detached from resurrection witness and mission, as well as individualistic readings of spiritual armor that ignore shared dependence and restored service. G353 joins exaltation, readiness, and companionship without confusing them: Acts says Jesus was taken up and will return, Ephesians commands believers to take up Gods full armor in order to stand, and Paul asks Timothy to bring Mark because he is useful for ministry.
The verb names receiving or lifting; the contexts supply glory, resistance, or restored partnership. For G353, responsible teaching keeps lexical meaning, passage context, canonical synthesis, and present application distinguishable. G353 does not explain the mechanics of the ascension, turn armor into a private technique, or guarantee that every former coworker must be restored without evidence, wisdom, and appropriate safeguards.
G353 appears across passages that develop Christs ascension, received coworkers, spiritual readiness, witness, and what people choose to carry. For G353, the immediate setting decides which part of the range is active, so the witnesses must remain distinct rather than being merged into one formula.
“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”
The angels identify the Jesus taken into heaven as the same Jesus who will return, redirecting the disciples from staring upward to expectant witness.
Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand.
Believers are commanded to take up the full armor God supplies so they can withstand evil and remain standing.
Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is useful to me in the ministry.
Near the end of Pauls ministry, he asks Timothy to bring Mark because the once-disputed coworker is now useful to him for service.
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 take up or assume responsibility for something, often with sense of receiving or adopting.
To take up or assume responsibility for something, often with sense of receiving or adopting.
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 take up, raise
Read verseI take up, raise
Read verseI take up, raise
Read verseI take up, raise
Read verseI take up, raise
Read verseI take up, raise
Read verseI take up, raise
Read verseI take up, raise
Read verseI take up, raise
Read verseI take up, raise
Read verseI take up, raise
Read verseI take up, raise
Read verseI take up, raise
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 5 selected witnesses from 13 lexical occurrence verses.
ἀναλαμβάνω is built from these roots:
G353 joins exaltation, readiness, and companionship without confusing them: Acts says Jesus was taken up and will return, Ephesians commands believers to take up Gods full armor in order to stand, and Paul asks Timothy to bring Mark because he is useful for ministry. The verb names receiving or lifting; the contexts supply glory, resistance, or restored partnership.
G353 describes taking something or someone up and can refer to Christs ascension, receiving a person for travel or service, carrying an object, or taking up equipment for a task. The selected witnesses keep the teaching concrete: Acts. 1. 11 shows that the angels identify the Jesus taken into heaven as the same Jesus who will return, redirecting the disciples from staring upward to expectant witness, while Eph.
6. 13 Shows that believers are commanded to take up the full armor God supplies so they can withstand evil and remain standing. 2Tim. 4. 11 adds that near the end of Pauls ministry, he asks Timothy to bring Mark because the once-disputed coworker is now useful to him for service. G353 opens teaching on Christ taken up in glory and on the faithful responsibility to take up what God provides, receive useful coworkers, and carry no rival object of worship.
It corrects ascension teaching detached from resurrection witness and mission, as well as individualistic readings of spiritual armor that ignore shared dependence and restored service. A church teaching G353 faithfully will name both the promise and the boundary carried by these contexts, attend to vulnerable hearers, and refuse to make the lexical item prove more than its passages support.
G353 does not explain the mechanics of the ascension, turn armor into a private technique, or guarantee that every former coworker must be restored without evidence, wisdom, and appropriate safeguards.
Acts.1.11
G353 is a Greek compound verb meaning take up or take to oneself; active and passive forms, the direct object, and the travel or exaltation setting determine whether lifting, receiving, carrying, or bringing is primary.
Old Testament ascent, cloud, enthronement, armor, and journey imagery provides canonical background without becoming a direct lexical equation. The New Testament centers G353 on the risen Jesus taken up, disciples equipped to stand, and coworkers received for faithful service.