UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament

Sense 1: to recline, to eat, to be at table, to dine, to sit down to eat

Semantic entry: 17.23

Semantic domains: Stances and Events Related to Stances

Subdomains: Recline [to eat]

Definition: to be in a reclining position as one eats (with the focus either upon the position or the act of eating)

Sense 2: to dine in the place of honor

Semantic entry: 17.25

Semantic domains: Stances and Events Related to Stances

Subdomains: Recline [to eat]

Definition: (an idiom, literally: to recline on the bosom) to take the place of honor at a meal

Notes: These expressions in RV JHN 13:23 · LV JHN 13:23 · Read together JHN 13:23 and RV JHN 13:25 · LV JHN 13:25 · Read together JHN 13:25 would mean that the so-called beloved disciple would be at the right of Jesus, since guests at a meal would be reclining on the left side so as to permit freedom of the right hand in dining. It may, of course, be that the same expression could be used of persons sitting at a table rather than reclining on couches.|Literal translations of ἀνάκειμαι ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ and ἀναπίπτω ἐπὶ τὸ στῆθος can result in serious misunderstanding, since they might imply overt homosexuality. There is no justification for reading into such idioms this type of implication.|This expression (ἀναπεσὼν … ἐπὶ τὸ στῆθος) in RV JHN 13:25 · LV JHN 13:25 · Read together JHN 13:25 (following on ἀνακείμενος … ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ in RV JHN 13:23 · LV JHN 13:23 · Read together JHN 13:23) seems to be typical of the tendency of the Gospel of John to employ relatively close synonyms with essentially the same meaning. It is possible, however, in view of the aorist participle in RV JHN 13:25 · LV JHN 13:25 · Read together JHN 13:25 that the phrase ἀναπεσὼν ἐπὶ τὸ στῆθος could also be understood in a more literal sense to mean ‘to move closer to the side (of Jesus).’

Collocations: ἀναπίπτω ἐπὶ τὸ στῆθος