StrongerBible

kleptō

κλέπτω

GreekG2813steal

Appears 13 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 6:19Mat 6:20Mat 19:18Mat 27:64Mat 28:13Mrk 10:19Luk 18:20Jhn 10:10Rom 2:21 (2×)Rom 13:9Eph 4:28 (2×)
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Word studyKLEP-tohverb

What kleptō means

to steal: to take by stealth what belongs to someone else

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This is the ordinary word for stealing, the quiet kind of theft: taking what is not yours in a way that hopes to go unnoticed. It sits behind the flat command "You shall not steal," quoted from the Ten Commandments across the Gospels and Paul's letters, and it names both petty pilfering and a planned cover-up, such as the plot to steal Jesus' body from the tomb.

What marks this word is the manner, not the size, of the crime. It points to secrecy and deceit rather than open force. Greek keeps that distinction sharp: to snatch something away by force is a different word (ἁρπάζω), and the violent highway robber is named by yet another (λῃστής). The one who does this stealing is the "thief" (κλέπτης), built from the same root, who in John's Gospel slips in to steal and kill.

The range of things stolen is wide. It covers treasure a burglar digs through a wall to reach, a body carried off by night, and, in the case of the man told to "steal no more" and work with his hands instead, whatever he had been quietly taking before.

Mat 6:19Mat 6:20Mat 19:18Mat 27:64Mat 28:13Mrk 10:19Luk 18:20Jhn 10:10Rom 2:21 (2×)Rom 13:9Eph 4:28 (2×)

What scholars say about kleptō

The lexica are unanimous that κλέπτω denotes theft by stealth, in contrast to open seizure (ἁρπάζω) and violent robbery (the λῃστής). BDAG glosses it simply "steal," as does LSJ for the classical usage, where the verb already carries overtones of doing something secretly or by cunning. Louw-Nida places it in the domain of taking property that belongs to another without consent. Preisker's TDNT article on the κλέπτω/κλέπτης group notes that the New Testament use is dominated by the Decalogue prohibition (Exodus 20:15; Deuteronomy 5:19), cited at Matthew 19:18, Mark 10:19, Luke 18:20, and Romans 13:9, and by the recurring figure of the thief who comes unannounced. Spicq observes that Ephesians 4:28 turns the prohibition into a positive ethic, replacing theft with honest labor that produces a surplus to share.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. κλέπτωlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. κλέπτωlexicon
  • Louw & Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, 57.230lexicon
  • H. Preisker, "κλέπτω, κλέπτης," TDNT 3:754-756dictionary
  • C. Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. κλέπτωdictionary

All attested forms of κλέπτω

aorist active subjunctive 2s

κλέψῃς

Mrk 10:19, Luk 18:20

future active indicative 2s

κλέψεις

Mat 19:18, Rom 13:9

present active indicative 3p

κλέπτουσιν

Mat 6:19, Mat 6:20

aorist active indicative 3p

ἔκλεψαν

Mat 28:13

aorist active subjunctive 3p

κλέψωσιν

Mat 27:64

aorist active subjunctive 3s

κλέψῃ

Jhn 10:10

present active imperative 3s

κλεπτέτω

Eph 4:28

present active indicative 2s

κλέπτεις

Rom 2:21

present active infinitive

κλέπτειν

Rom 2:21

present active participle nominative m s

κλέπτων

Eph 4:28