to sit somewhere and keep that seat: the held posture of a person settled in one spot
Greek had a small family of verbs for sitting, and this is the rarest of them in the New Testament, appearing only seven times. Every time, it describes a person seated in a definite place, and it tends to hold the picture still: the sitting lasts a while rather than passing in a moment.
What changes across the seven verses is not the posture but what the posture means in that setting:
- A tired traveler settles beside a well at midday (John 4:6).
- A boy sits among the temple teachers, listening and asking questions (Luke 2:46).
- A council sits in session while every face turns toward the man on trial (Acts 6:15).
- A grieving sister keeps her seat indoors while her sister runs out to meet Jesus (John 11:20).
In that world, sitting was not only rest. A teacher sat while those learning gathered around, and a court sat in session. So when Jesus says he sat day after day in the temple teaching (Matthew 26:55), the seated posture is the picture of a recognized teacher at work, not of someone taking a break.
Two neighboring verbs cover the ground this one leaves. The ordinary word for being seated (κάθημαι) stretches on to living in a place and to sitting enthroned as a ruler, while the verb for taking a seat (καθίζω) can also mean seating or installing another person. This verb keeps to the narrower ground of someone seated in one spot and staying there.