What does καθαίρω (kathaírō) mean in the Bible?
G2508 has one direct occurrence in the governed current-edition witness. In John 15:2, Jesus says that the Father, the vinedresser, prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it may bear more fruit.
Greek · G2508
καθαίρω
To prune
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καθαίρω G2508
Pronunciation kathaírō
What does καθαίρω (kathaírō) mean in the Bible?
G2508 has one direct occurrence in the governed current-edition witness. In John 15:2, Jesus says that the Father, the vinedresser, prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it may bear more fruit.
Reader summary
Full entry for καθαίρω (G2508) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2508?
The BSB source-word alignment has 1 aligned row for this entry. Common renderings include He prunes (1).
Where does καθαίρω (kathaírō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 15:2. Its strongest book concentrations include John (1).
What This Word Actually Means
G2508 has one direct occurrence in the governed current-edition witness. In John 15:2, Jesus says that the Father, the vinedresser, prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it may bear more fruit. The verb describes purposeful care within the vine-and-branches image. The passage does not make pain itself holy, identify every hardship as pruning, or give a teacher permission to explain another person's suffering with certainty. Its direct claim is narrower: the Father actively tends fruitful branches in relation to Christ.
The following verses keep this pruning from becoming a program of independent moral improvement. Jesus tells His disciples that they are clean because of His word and commands them to abide in Him, because a branch cannot bear fruit by itself. G2508 is distinct from the nearby adjective G2513 and from the more frequent cleansing verb G2511. A traditional-manuscript reading in Hebrews 10:2 also uses a G2508 form where current editions read a G2511 form, but that variant is textual evidence rather than a second undisputed occurrence.
How the Bible Uses It
The direct G2508 corpus is John 15:2. The Father prunes a fruitful branch within Jesus' teaching about abiding and fruitfulness; a Hebrews 10:2 traditional-manuscript form remains separately labeled variant evidence.
- Jhn.15.2
He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.
The sole direct use belongs to the Father's cultivation of a fruit-bearing branch.
Passage context
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It He prunes 1× John 15:2
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row John 15:2
Aligned rows 1
Books represented 1
John 1
Source forms
καθαίρει 1x kathairei John 15:2
Parsing patterns
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x John 15:2
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Use the pruning image to encourage trust and responsiveness without claiming certainty about the purpose of a particular sorrow.
- Keep the Father's care, Jesus' word, and abiding in Christ together when applying the term.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim G2508 has more than one direct occurrence in the governed current-edition witness.
- Do not claim every painful event is a specific act of pruning.
- Do not claim pruning itself produces fruit apart from abiding in Christ.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. To cleanse by removing excess growth; pruning that promotes fruitfulness through strategic removal.
Strong's G2508
Lexical occurrences 1 verse Greek text appearances 2 times Word forms 1 form 1 reference Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
to prune
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
2 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
John 15:2 Verb Third Person Singular Present Active Indicative
καθαίρει kaqairei
I cleanse, purify, prune
Read verse Hebrews 10:2 Verb Perfect Passive Participle Accusative Plural Masculine
κεκαθαρμένους; kekaqarmenouv
I cleanse, purify, prune
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.
Grammatical Forms
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.
Form groups 1 Aligned forms 1 Tenses Present Voices Active
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Indicative states a fact or reality 1×
Present Active John 15:2 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 1 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
present 1
Voice
active 1
Mood
indicative 1
NT Occurrences
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)
Where It Appears in Scripture
Where this word appears in Scripture: passage, original form, and sense in context.
Witnesses
John 15:1-11 καθαίω kathaírō
to prune, cleanse
Word Origins
καθαίρω is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
Divine discipline producing fruitfulness.
For the Preacher and Teacher
G2508 gives teachers a focused image of the Father's purposeful care, but only when the word remains inside John 15. The branch is not autonomous, the fruit does not arise from pain itself, and pruning is not a diagnosis that believers may confidently impose on every sorrow. Jesus places the action between the Father's work as vinedresser and the disciples' continuing dependence on the true vine.
That order matters pastorally. It allows a suffering believer to trust the Father's wise care without pretending that another person can decode every providence. It also resists a performance reading, because the branch bears fruit only by abiding in Christ. The rare occurrence and the Hebrews textual variant call for precision rather than for a large theory built from the verb alone.
Anchor passage
Jhn.15.2
Doctrinal connections
- Jhn.15.1-2 - Jesus is the true vine, the Father is the vinedresser, and pruning serves more fruit.
- Jhn.15.3 - Jesus distinguishes the disciples' clean state through His word from the pruning verb in the preceding verse.
- Jhn.15.4-5 - abiding in Christ, not independent exertion, is the source of fruitfulness.
- Jhn.15.8 - much fruit glorifies the Father and marks discipleship.
- Jhn.15.9-12 - abiding fruitfulness remains joined to Jesus' love and command to love one another.
- Heb.10.1-4 - the traditional-manuscript G2508 variant belongs to an argument about repeated sacrifices and conscience, not to John's vine image.
The direct John form is a present active indicative. It describes the vinedresser's action as part of the vine image. The G2508 form reported in the Hebrews 10:2 traditional reading is a perfect passive participle and must not be silently merged into the direct current-edition count.
From Old to New Testament
Scripture often uses vine and vineyard imagery for God's people, but John 15 identifies Jesus as the true vine and directly governs this occurrence. Wider vineyard texts may supply canonical background only when their distinct judgments and covenant settings are preserved.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain