"to lie, be in a recumbent position, be laid down, Mk. 1:30; 2:4; Lk. 5:25; Jn. 5:3, 6; Acts 9:33; 28:8; to recline at table, Mk. 2:15; 14:3; Lk. 5:29; 7:37; 1 Cor. 8:10*"
Definition and meaning
to lie, be in a recumbent position, be laid down, Mk. 1:30; 2:4; Lk. 5:25; Jn. 5:3, 6; Acts 9:33; 28:8; to recline at table, Mk. 2:15; 14:3; Lk. 5:29; 7:37; 1 Cor. 8:10*
In the original Greek the word is written: κατάκειμαι
Historical context
The Gospel of Mark moves urgently — the word "immediately" appears over 40 times. It was written for a Roman audience familiar with power and action. Jesus is portrayed as a man who acts, heals, and commands authority that the Roman world had never seen from a Jewish teacher.
The people who first heard this word were not reading a book — they were living through empires, oppression, exile, and covenant. Every word carried the weight of that reality. Understanding it changes how you read Scripture.
Scripture references
These are the most notable occurrences of katakeimai (G2621) across the King James Bible.
But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell him of her.
And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.
And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.
And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.
And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.
In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
And there he found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy.
And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.
For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols;
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Common questions
Strong's G2621 (katakeimai) is a Greek word that means: to lie, be in a recumbent position, be laid down, Mk. 1:30; 2:4; Lk. 5:25; Jn. 5:3, 6; Acts 9:33; 28:8; to recline at table, Mk. 2:15; 14:3; Lk. 5:29; 7:37; 1 Cor. 8:10* It appears 10 times in the King James Bible.
The word katakeimai (G2621) appears 10 times in the original Greek text.
Strong's G2621 is katakeimai, a Greek word defined as: to lie, be in a recumbent position, be laid down, Mk. 1:30; 2:4; Lk. 5:25; Jn. 5:3, 6; Acts 9:33; 28:8; to recline at table, Mk. 2:15; 14:3; Lk. 5:29;. James Strong catalogued this in his 1890 concordance to help English readers study the original languages of the Bible.
katakeimai is a Greek word found in the New Testament.