ἀναβαθμός (anabathmos)
anabathmos
stairs
Quick Reference
- Language
- Koine Greek
- Testament
- New Testament
- Occurrences
- 2 verses
- Root
- —
Word Overview
The noun anabathmos refers to a step or a flight of stairs, literally describing a means of ascent. Its root combines the prefix ana ("up") with a term for stepping, creating a word that captures the physical act of climbing higher. In the New Testament, it appears only twice, both within Acts 21.
These occurrences place the reader in a tense scene where Paul is being arrested and carried through the streets of Jerusalem. The text mentions these stairs specifically as the location from which the crowd attempts to throw him off, highlighting the steep drop and the danger inherent in that architectural feature. This usage aligns with the Septuagint tradition, where similar terms describe the ascending steps of the Temple or King Solomon’s throne.
While the word itself is simple, its context carries significant weight. It marks a threshold between safety and peril, serving as a literal barrier in a narrative filled with conflict. Translators consistently render it as "stairs" to convey the immediate physical setting without adding theological interpretation beyond the spatial reality described.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word anabathmos simply means stairs or steps. In Acts 21, it marks the spot where Paul was caught between a violent crowd and Roman soldiers. It is not a metaphor for spiritual growth here, but a real place of danger and tension.
Yet even in that tight space, Paul used the stairs to address the people. He stood there, visible and safe enough to speak, yet exposed to their anger. This reminds us that our current position, however unstable it feels, can still be a place where we are heard by God and others.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 2 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- stairs,1×
- stairs1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- ἀναβαθμῶν1×
- ἀναβαθμούς,1×
Key Verses
-
Acts 21:35
When he came to the stairs, he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd;
This verse shows the stairs as a point of physical danger where the crowd tried to pull Paul down, highlighting the immediate threat he faced.
-
Acts 21:40
When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, beckoned with his hand to the people. When there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying,
Here Paul stands on the stairs to gain the crowd's attention, using the elevated position to speak calmly in Hebrew after a moment of silence.