kineō

κινέω is the ordinary Greek verb of causing motion, attested from Homer onward with the sense to set in motion, move, disturb (LSJ, s.v.), and it supplies the technical vocabulary of motion in Greek philosophy (κίνησις). BDAG groups the eight New Testament occurrences under three heads: (1) to cause something to be moved from a position, move, remove, shift (Mt 23:4; Rev 2:5; 6:14), including the idiom κινεῖν τὴν κεφαλήν, to wag the head in derision (Mt 27:39; Mk 15:29); (2) middle and passive, to be in motion, move (Acts 17:28); and (3) to cause a disturbance, stir up, arouse, of persons and crowds (Acts 21:30; 24:5). Louw and Nida distribute the same data across the domains of movement and of causing a state of unrest, and EDNT (s.v.) follows BDAG's division without dissent; the verb's sense is not in dispute at any point. The head-wagging idiom is a Septuagintism: Ps 21:8 LXX (Ps 22:7 in English versification) renders Hebrew נוע with ἐκίνησαν κεφαλήν, and Lam 2:15 does likewise, so the Synoptic passion narratives are reproducing the vocabulary of the lament psalm rather than describing a neutral gesture. On Acts 17:28, ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ ζῶμεν καὶ κινούμεθα καὶ ἐσμέν is widely traced to a hexameter attributed to Epimenides of Crete, although the attribution rests on late Syriac testimony; C. K. Barrett (ICC) reviews the evidence and holds that Luke is drawing on a current commonplace of popular philosophy whether or not the specific ascription stands, and in either case the verb bears its plain sense of bodily motion rather than any philosophical technicality. On Rev 2:5, David Aune (WBC) reads κινήσω τὴν λυχνίαν σου ἐκ τοῦ τόπου αὐτῆς as the removal of the congregation's standing rather than the extinguishing of its light, the imagery of the lampstand vision of Rev 1:12-20 controlling the threat.