to withdraw: to leave a place and pull back, often as a deliberate retreat from a threat
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
The verb pictures moving back and away from where one has been. It is built from a prefix meaning "back" or "away" and a verb meaning "to go" or "to make room," so at its core it simply means to leave a place. Depending on the situation it can be an ordinary departure or a pointed, deliberate retreat.
Matthew makes the most of this word. Again and again he uses it for Jesus and his family pulling back from a threat:
the family escapes to Egypt and later to Galilee to avoid Herod and his son
Jesus pulls back to Galilee when John the Baptist is arrested
Jesus slips away once the religious leaders begin plotting to destroy him
Jesus retreats to a deserted place, and later to foreign territory, as the pressure grows
These retreats are never panic. Each withdrawal keeps Jesus a step ahead of his enemies and quietly moves the story toward its appointed end.
Elsewhere the word is plainer. The magi head home another way, Judas leaves the temple, and Jesus tells a crowd of mourners to make room. In Acts it narrows to stepping aside for a private word. Luke prefers a close relative of this verb, ὑποχωρέω, for the same kind of quiet withdrawal, while ἀποχωρέω is the flatter "go away."
Nuances
1ato depart, go away: simply to leave one place for another
TranslatabilityDirect
Mat 2:12Mat 2:13Mat 9:24Mat 27:5
1bto withdraw, retreat: to pull back deliberately from a threat, plot, or mounting pressure
Mat 2:14Mat 2:22Mat 4:12Mat 12:15Mat 14:13Mat 15:21Mrk 3:7Jhn 6:15
1cto draw aside: to step away from a group into privacy
Carries a motive of retreat: the person pulls back to slip away from a threat or danger. Joseph flees to Egypt to escape Herod, and later steers to Galilee because he is afraid.Mat 2:14Mat 2:22
Often marks Jesus deliberately withdrawing from hostile pressure, stepping out of reach when opponents plot against him or a crowd wants to force his hand.Mat 12:15Jhn 6:15
Used for retiring into solitude or drawing quietly aside, away from the crowd or into a private conversation.Mat 14:13Act 23:19
Both
Both can simply mean to leave one place and go to another, describing an ordinary change of location.Mat 4:12Mat 12:9
Plain relocation with no sense of retreat: simply moving on from one place to the next to continue the work at hand, as Jesus leaves to teach or crosses over to the lakeside.Mat 11:1Mat 15:29
Reaches beyond physical travel to passing over from one state or condition into another, most strikingly crossing from death into life.Jhn 5:241Jn 3:14
Names a departure requested or announced without any note of danger, whether a crowd asks Jesus to leave their region or he tells his brothers he will move on to Judea.Mat 8:34Jhn 7:3
anachōreō in the other biblical languages
סוּרHebrew“to turn aside: remove”the common Hebrew verb for turning aside or departing; broader and more everyday, without the specific idea of retreat from danger.
בָּרַחHebrew“to flee”the Hebrew verb for outright flight in fear or escape; stronger and more urgent than a measured withdrawal.
What scholars say about anachōreō
ἀναχωρέω is a compound of ἀνά and χωρέω, attested from classical Greek onward with the sense "go back, withdraw, retire" (LSJ; BDAG). Of its 14 New Testament occurrences the great majority stand in Matthew, where commentators have long noted a deliberate motif of withdrawal: the infancy narrative and the opening of the Galilean ministry are structured around Jesus and the holy family retreating from successive threats, frequently paired with a fulfillment citation (Davies and Allison, Matthew, ICC, vol. 1). The nuance of retreat from danger is well documented in the standard lexica; the plainer sense of simple departure and the usage in Acts of drawing aside privately fall within the same semantic range. There is no substantive lexical dispute about the verb's meaning.
Sources
BDAG, s.v. ἀναχωρέωlexicon
LSJ, s.v. ἀναχωρέωlexicon
H. Balz and G. Schneider, eds., Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (EDNT), s.v. ἀναχωρέωlexicon
W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew (ICC), vol. 1commentary