To lower (as into a void)
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
The Greek verb chalao means to lower, let down, loosen, or slacken something. The New Testament uses it for lowering fishing nets, letting a paralyzed man down through an opened roof, lowering Saul in a basket through a wall, and lowering equipment or a lifeboat during a storm at sea.
Reader summary
Full entry for χαλάω (G5465) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Greek verb chalao means to lower, let down, loosen, or slacken something. The New Testament uses it for lowering fishing nets, letting a paralyzed man down through an opened roof, lowering Saul in a basket through a wall, and lowering equipment or a lifeboat during a storm at sea.
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [and] lowered (1), [and] lowered [him] (1), I was lowered (1), I will let down (1), let down (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 2:4. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (3), Luke (2), 2 Corinthians (1), Mark (1).
The Greek verb chalao means to lower, let down, loosen, or slacken something. The New Testament uses it for lowering fishing nets, letting a paralyzed man down through an opened roof, lowering Saul in a basket through a wall, and lowering equipment or a lifeboat during a storm at sea. The action is concrete, and its moral significance depends on people, purpose, object, and setting.
Friends lower a man toward Jesus when the crowd blocks access. Disciples lower Saul to help him escape a murder plot. Sailors lower gear to protect a ship, then some deceptively lower a lifeboat while trying to abandon others. Paul remembers his basket escape as part of boasting in weakness rather than personal triumph. Chalao does not mean humiliate in these witnesses, does not make every downward action shameful, and does not guarantee healing, safety, or material abundance when someone follows a command.
Readers should attend to agency, consent where the narrative supplies it, danger, cooperation, and consequences rather than turning physical descent into a spiritual rank.
Chalao describes lowering or letting down people, nets, and nautical equipment in scenes of access, work, rescue, weakness, ship safety, and attempted abandonment, with purpose supplying moral force.
Since they were unable to get to Jesus through the crowd, they uncovered the roof above Him, made an opening, and lowered the paralytic on his mat.
Four carriers open the crowded house's roof and lower the paralyzed man on his mat into Jesus' presence.
When Jesus had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
Jesus tells Simon to move into deep water and let down the nets for a catch after teaching from the boat.
One night, however, his disciples took him and lowered him in a basket through a window in the wall.
Saul's disciples lower him through an opening in the wall at night so he can escape a plot to kill him.
But I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his grasp.
Paul recalls being lowered in a basket and escaping arrest while he explains that he will boast in weakness.
After hoisting it up, the crew used ropes to undergird the ship. And fearing that they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and were driven along.
During the violent storm, the crew lowers sea equipment after undergirding the ship and fearing dangerous sandbars.
Meanwhile, the sailors attempted to escape from the ship. Pretending to lower anchors from the bow, they let the lifeboat down into the sea.
Sailors deceptively let the lifeboat down while pretending to lower anchors, attempting to escape the endangered ship.
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.
Greek word. to lower (as into a void)
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I let down, lower
Read verseI let down, lower
Read verseI let down, lower
Read verseI let down, lower
Read verseI let down, lower
Read verseI let down, lower
Read verseI let down, lower
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 this verb appears across 7 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)
χαλάω is built from this root:
Chalao is a practical verb that becomes morally meaningful through its scene. Nets are lowered for fishing. A man on a mat is lowered past a crowd that has blocked access to Jesus. Saul is lowered through a wall because people are watching the gates to kill him. In Paul's retelling, that escape belongs to his account of weakness, not a performance of heroic status.
At sea, lowering equipment can help manage a damaged ship, while lowering a lifeboat under false pretenses can abandon the group to danger. The direction remains the same, but purpose and relationship change everything. These witnesses resist spiritual formulas built from up and down. They also resist careless application. Mark does not say that disability was caused by the man's sin, promise that every disabled person will be healed, or authorize communities to ignore accessibility until extraordinary effort is required.
Luke's catch is not a guaranteed prosperity technique. Acts supports prudent response to credible danger without prescribing one escape plan for everyone. Faithful teaching names concrete help, shared action, honest risk, and God's grace while refusing shame, spectacle, coercion, and mechanical promises.
Acts.9.25
Chalao is a Greek verb for loosening, slackening, lowering, or letting down. The direct object identifies whether the action concerns nets, a person, equipment, or a boat. Active and passive forms can clarify who controls the lowering, but the verb itself does not specify shame, consent, rescue, or moral approval.
Jeremiah also narrates lowering a person into a cistern in the Greek Old Testament background noted by the lexical source, but each textual witness requires its own language and context. Broader biblical descent or humility themes should not be assigned to chalao automatically.