To lift, literally or figuratively (endure, declare, sustain, receive, etc.)
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Βαστάζω (bastázō) means to lift, carry, bear, support, or endure a burden or consequence. John the Baptist says he is unworthy to carry the coming Messiah's sandals, confessing the vast difference between his ministry and Christ's.
Reader summary
Full entry for βαστάζω (G941) · Open the biblical lexicon
Βαστάζω (bastázō) means to lift, carry, bear, support, or endure a burden or consequence. John the Baptist says he is unworthy to carry the coming Messiah's sandals, confessing the vast difference between his ministry and Christ's.
The BSB source-word alignment has 27 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Carry (3), carrying (3), to carry (2), bear (1), bear [to hear it] (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 3:11. Its strongest book concentrations include John (5), Luke (5), Acts (4), Galatians (4).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
Βαστάζω (bastázō) means to lift, carry, bear, support, or endure a burden or consequence. John the Baptist says he is unworthy to carry the coming Messiah's sandals, confessing the vast difference between his ministry and Christ's. A woman praises the womb that bore Jesus, using the verb for physical childbearing before Jesus redirects blessing toward hearing God's word.
Mary supposes someone has carried Jesus' body away from the tomb. Paul says a teacher who troubles the Galatians will bear judgment, shifting from physical carriage to personal liability. Revelation shows a beast carrying the woman, a supporting relationship within the vision's mystery. The carried object, agent, and consequence determine whether the action expresses service, motherhood, removal, accountability, or symbolic support.
Βαστάζω describes carrying or bearing: sandals in lowly service, a child in the womb, a body removed, judgment personally borne, and a beast supporting the woman in Revelation's vision.
I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come One more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
John declares himself unworthy even to carry the coming One's sandals, placing his baptism under the superior authority of the Spirit-baptizing Messiah.
As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and blessed are the breasts that nursed You!”
The woman's blessing honors the womb that bore Jesus, but He directs hearers toward the greater blessedness of receiving and keeping God's word.
“Woman, why are you weeping?” Jesus asked. “Whom are you seeking?” Thinking He was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried Him off, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him.”
Mary thinks the gardener may have carried Jesus' body away and offers to retrieve it, showing devoted grief before recognition of the risen Lord.
I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is troubling you will bear the judgment, whoever he may be.
The agitator who distorts the gospel will bear judgment personally, regardless of status, while Paul trusts the Lord to preserve the churches.
“Why are you so amazed?” said the angel. “I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and ten horns.
The beast carries the woman, and the angel promises to explain their relationship within a vision of corrupt power, luxury, and opposition to the saints.
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 lift, literally or figuratively (endure, declare, sustain, receive, etc.)
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 27 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I carry, carry away, bear
Read verseI carry, carry away, bear
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Read verseI carry, carry away, bear
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Read verseI carry, carry away, bear
Read verseI carry, carry away, bear
Read verseI carry, carry away, bear
Read verseI carry, carry away, bear
Read verseI carry, carry away, bear
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Read verseI carry, carry away, bear
Read verseI carry, carry away, bear
Read verseI carry, carry away, bear
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 27 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 1 selected witness from 27 lexical occurrence verses.
βαστάζω is built from this root:
Connects healing with the Servant’s substitutionary burden-bearing.Matthew 8:14–17
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Bearing can reveal humility, love, confusion, or guilt. John places himself below the role of a sandal carrier because the Messiah's authority exceeds every comparison with his own. A woman's praise of Jesus' mother recognizes embodied blessing, yet Jesus ensures that family proximity does not displace hearing and keeping God's word. At the tomb, Mary is prepared to carry what she believes is Jesus' displaced body, but resurrection transforms the problem she imagines.
Galatians gives the verb judicial weight: the person destabilizing believers will bear judgment and cannot distribute guilt across the community. Revelation exposes systems of support, as the beast carries a woman whose splendor depends on violent power. Teachers should ask what burdens people assume, what structures they sustain, and which consequences cannot be shifted to another, while keeping Christ's unique lordship central.
Matt.3.11
Βαστάζω is a verb of lifting, carrying, supporting, or bearing. A direct object names the physical or figurative burden. Judicial contexts extend the concrete image to bearing responsibility or punishment.
Priests carry sacred objects, servants bear loads, mothers carry children, and sinners bear consequences. Scripture contrasts idols that must be carried with the Lord who carries His people.