Exploring the Meaning of Sunanakeimai in Greek

συνανάκειμαι portrays shared table fellowship—being at table together for a meal. In the Gospels it appears in scenes where people are arranged around a table, and the company present becomes significant for what is said and done there.

Occurrences

Matthew 9:10 — “As he sat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples.”

Here the verb situates Jesus and his disciples in a meal setting inside a house, and it places “many tax collectors and sinners” in the same dining company. The action is not merely that people are present in the same building, but that they take their place together at table. The scene uses shared dining to mark a close social association: the “many” who arrive do not remain on the edges but join the table where Jesus and his disciples are already seated.

Matthew 14:9 — “The king was grieved, but for the sake of his oaths, and of those who sat at the table with him, he commanded it to be given,”

In this banquet setting the verb identifies the king’s companions—those “who sat at the table with him.” Their presence functions as a public audience for the king’s decision. The wording connects the table company to the pressure of the moment: alongside “his oaths,” the people reclining with him form part of the social setting that shapes what he “commanded.” The meal context is thus not background scenery; it frames how the king’s response is carried out before those dining with him.

Mark 2:15 — “He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him.”

Mark emphasizes the posture and setting: Jesus is “reclining at the table” in a house, and the verb gathers “many tax collectors and sinners” into that same table fellowship “with Jesus and his disciples.” The line “for there were many, and they followed him” links the table scene with a wider pattern of attachment to Jesus; those who “followed him” are also those who share his table. The verb thus connects discipleship language (“followed”) with the concrete act of taking a place in the dining group.

Mark 6:22 — “When the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and those sitting with him. The king said to the young lady, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.””

The verb locates a set of diners around Herod—“those sitting with him”—as the immediate audience for the dance and the king’s impulsive offer. The dining companions are not described individually, but they are explicitly included among those who are “pleased.” The scene depends on a group gathered at table: the king’s words, spoken to “the young lady,” occur in the hearing of the people sharing his meal, reinforcing the public character of the promise.

Luke 7:49 — “Those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?””

The verb introduces a circle of fellow diners whose reaction becomes the focus. Their question—“Who is this who even forgives sins?”—arises from within the table group, and the phrasing keeps the meal setting in view: these are not passersby but those who are eating with him. The table becomes the immediate social space where Jesus’ act of forgiveness provokes reflection and controversy, and where that reaction is voiced “to themselves” among the diners.

Luke 14:10 — “But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.”

This occurrence is part of instruction about responding to an invitation. The verb describes the others present as “all who sit at the table with you,” making the dining group the arena in which honor is either gained or lost. The movement “move up higher” and the stated result—being “honored in the presence” of the other diners—depends on visible table arrangement. The shared meal here is a setting for social recognition, and the verb anchors that recognition to the company eating together.

Luke 14:15 — “When one of those who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is he who will feast in God’s Kingdom!””

The verb again marks the speaker as a fellow diner—“one of those who sat at the table with him.” The immediate context is hearing and responding: the man “heard these things” and then spoke. The setting of table fellowship is therefore the conversational setting where teaching is heard and a pronouncement is made about feasting. The verb keeps the exchange grounded in shared dining, not in a detached crowd setting.

Sense and Usage

Across these passages, συνανακεῖμαι functions as a table-setting verb: it places characters into the same meal group and thereby establishes the social and relational closeness implied by eating together. In Matthew 9:10 and Mark 2:15, its narrative force lies in the mix of people who share the table—“tax collectors and sinners” alongside “Jesus and his disciples.” The scenes are constructed so that the dining company itself is a meaningful fact, highlighted by the repetition of “many” and by the explicit grouping (“with Jesus and his disciples”).

In the banquet scenes of Matthew 14:9 and Mark 6:22, the verb marks the presence of those dining with a ruler. The diners are not the central actors, yet the text treats them as a consequential audience: in Matthew they are part of the public context for a grievous command, and in Mark they share in the pleasure that precipitates the king’s extravagant speech. In both, the shared table acts as a stage where words and decisions are made with others looking on.

Luke uses the verb to keep attention on the interpersonal dynamics within a meal. In Luke 7:49 it identifies the group from which a question arises; the reaction is not abstract but the response of table companions who are close enough to witness and to discuss among themselves. In Luke 14:10 it expands from narrative description to a general social scenario: the verb gathers “all” the co-diners as witnesses whose presence defines what “honored” looks like. And in Luke 14:15 it again pinpoints a particular speaker as someone situated at table, linking hearing, speaking, and the theme of feasting within the same dining context.

The common thread is that συνανακεῖμαι is not merely about being in the same room; it is about belonging to the same table company. In these passages that company can represent association (who joins Jesus), audience (who hears a ruler’s words), witness (who observes honor or disgrace), or conversation partners (who react, question, and respond). The verb thus provides a concrete social frame: the meal itself, with its shared space and shared company, becomes the setting in which identity, reputation, and response are displayed.

Table Imagery

These occurrences repeatedly place crucial speech and decisive moments within the ordinary scene of a meal: people arrive and “sit down with” others, a king speaks before his dining companions, guests measure honor “in the presence of all,” and fellow diners weigh the significance of forgiveness. The word’s imagery is consistently communal and visible—people gathered at table, sharing proximity—so that what is said and done is heard, seen, and remembered within the circle of those who dine together.

Sources: Lexical data from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Translators Brief Lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (STEPBible, CC BY). Occurrence data from the Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).