"to render useless or unproductive, occupy unprofitable, Lk. 13:7; to render powerless, Rom. 6:6; to make empty and unmeaning, Rom. 4:14; to render null, to abrogate, cancel, Rom. 3:3, 31; Eph. 2:15; to bring to an end, 1 Cor. 2:6; 13:8; 15:24, 26; 2 Cor. 3:7; to destroy, annihila..."
Definition and meaning
to render useless or unproductive, occupy unprofitable, Lk. 13:7; to render powerless, Rom. 6:6; to make empty and unmeaning, Rom. 4:14; to render null, to abrogate, cancel, Rom. 3:3, 31; Eph. 2:15; to bring to an end, 1 Cor. 2:6; 13:8; 15:24, 26; 2 Cor. 3:7; to destroy, annihilate, 2 Thess. 2:8; Heb. 2:14; to free from, dissever from, Rom. 7:2, 6; Gal. 5:4
In the original Greek the word is written: καταργέω
Historical context
Luke wrote as a historian addressing a Greek audience. He carefully interviewed eyewitnesses and arranged events in order. The social and economic realities he describes — Roman taxation, Jewish religious hierarchy, the marginalization of women and the poor — are consistent with first-century Judea under Roman administration.
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 katargeo (G2673) across the King James Bible.
Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?
For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
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Common questions
Strong's G2673 (katargeo) is a Greek word that means: to render useless or unproductive, occupy unprofitable, Lk. 13:7; to render powerless, Rom. 6:6; to make empty and unmeaning, Rom. 4:14; to render null, to abrogate, cancel, Rom. 3:3, 31; Eph. 2:15; t... It appears 25 times in the King James Bible.
The word katargeo (G2673) appears 25 times in the original Greek text.
Strong's G2673 is katargeo, a Greek word defined as: to render useless or unproductive, occupy unprofitable, Lk. 13:7; to render powerless, Rom. 6:6; to make empty and unmeaning, Rom. 4:14; to render nul. James Strong catalogued this in his 1890 concordance to help English readers study the original languages of the Bible.
katargeo is a Greek word found in the New Testament.