to lie in a settled position: to be where someone has put it, and to stay there
This verb is the still, finished side of the verb meaning to place or set (τίθημι). It never describes the act of putting something down; it describes the result, an object or person resting where it was laid and remaining there. So it can simply mean to lie:
- an infant lies in a feeding trough
- a body lies in a tomb
- grave-cloths lie on the ground
- water jars stand ready
- a city sits on a hill
The placement may be recent or ancient, but the point is always that the thing is now in position and that position holds.
Because it carries this sense of something fixed in place by an earlier action, the same word reaches naturally beyond physical objects.
- An axe lies poised at the root of a tree, ready for the stroke.
- A foundation has been laid and now stands laid, so that no one can lay another in its place.
- A law is on the books, in force.
And in its weightiest uses the unstated one who did the placing is God: a person is set, appointed, destined for something, or believers are positioned by God for the hardship that comes with following Jesus.
The range looks wide, but it is one idea seen at different distances. Whether the subject is a body, a building, a statute, or a calling, the claim is the same: it was put there, and it remains there. The reader who keeps that single thread in view will not be misled by the variety of English words translators reach for.