1. burn, be on fire — To burn, be ablaze, or be consumed by fire -- the primary intransitive/passive sense of kaio in the NT. Covers the vast majority of occurrences: lamps burning in Luke 12:35, the Emmaus disciples' hearts 'burning' in Luke 24:32, John the Baptist as a 'burning and shining lamp' in John 5:35, the great mountain 'burning with fire' cast into the sea in Rev 8:8,10, the lake of fire 'burning with sulfur' in Rev 19:20 and 21:8, and seven lamps 'burning' before the throne in Rev 4:5. John 15:6 uses the present passive 'it is burned' of fruitless branches. Heb 12:18 employs the perfect passive participle 'having been burned' of Mount Sinai ablaze. Cross-linguistically consistent: Arabic mushtail/multahib, Hebrew boer, Hindi jalta hua, Korean taneun, Spanish ardiendo/encendido, French bruler, German brennen. All clusters represent the same semantic domain of combustion -- participial, indicative, and perfect forms are inflectional, not sense-level, distinctions. 10×
AR["المُتَّقِدَةِ","تَحْتَرِقُ","مُتَقِّدَةٌ","مُتَّقِدُ","مُشْتَعِلٌ","مُشْتَعِلٍ","مُشْتَعِلَة","مُلْتَهِبًا","مُوقَدَةً"]·ben["জ্বলছে","জ্বলছে,","জ্বলত","জ্বলন্ত","পোড়ে"]·DE["brennen","brennt"]·EN["burning","having-been-burned","it-is-burned"]·FR["brûler"]·heb["בָּעֵר","בֹּעֵר","בּוֹעֲרוֹת","בּוֹעֵר","הַ-בּוֹעֶרֶת","הַבּוֹעֵר","נִשְׂרָף"]·HI["जलता-हुआ","जलती-हुई","जलती-है","जलते-हुए"]·ID["berkobar","menyala","menyala,","terbakar","yang-menyala"]·IT["bruciare"]·jav["ingkang-murub","kaobong","kobong.","murub"]·KO["불타는","타고-있는","타는","타는다","타오르던"]·PT["ardendo","que-arde","queimam"]·RU["горящая","горящая,","горящее","горящем","горящему","горящий","горящими","горящих","сгорают"]·ES["ardiendo","encendidas","encendido","son-quemados"]·SW["ikiwaka","inayowaka","linawaka","liwakalo","ukiwaka,","uliwaka","unaowaka","yanateketea","zikiwa-zinawaka","zinawaka"]·TR["yanan","yananın","yanar","yanıyor"]·urd["جلتا","جلتا ہے","جلتا-ہوا","جلتی-ہوئی","جلتے-ہوئے"]
Luke 12:35, Luke 24:32, John 5:35, John 15:6, Heb 12:18, Rev 4:5, Rev 8:8, Rev 8:10, Rev 19:20, Rev 21:8
▼ 1 more sense below
Senses
2. light, kindle — To light or kindle a flame as a transitive/causative action, attested in Matt 5:15 where Jesus says 'neither do they light (kaiousin) a lamp and put it under a basket.' This is semantically distinct from the intransitive 'burn/be on fire' because the subject is the agent causing fire rather than the entity being consumed. The Hebrew gloss madliqim ('they kindle') and Korean kyeoda ('to light/turn on') confirm the causative meaning, as does Spanish encienden ('they light') and Arabic yuqiduna ('they ignite'). Hindi jalate hain also uses the causative valence. This sense corresponds to the classical Greek active transitive usage of kaio = 'to set on fire, kindle,' versus the middle/passive 'to be burning.' 1×
AR["يُوقِدُونَ"]·ben["জ্বালান"]·DE["brennt"]·EN["do-they-light"]·FR["brûler"]·heb["מַדְלִיקִים"]·HI["जलाते-हैं"]·ID["orang-menyalakan"]·IT["bruciare"]·jav["nyumed"]·KO["켜다"]·PT["acendem"]·RU["зажигают"]·ES["encienden"]·SW["hawashiki"]·TR["yakarlar"]·urd["جلاتے-ہیں"]
BDB / Lexicon Reference
καίω, Attic dialect κάω [ᾱ], imperfect ἔκαιον Refs 8th c.BC+, Epic dialect καῖον Refs 8th c.BC+: future καύσω Refs 5th c.BC+: aorist 1 ἔκαυσα Refs 5th c.BC+; Epic dialect ἔκηα (certain active and middle forms have κει- in codices of Refs 8th c.BC+; 3rd.pers. singular ἔκηε (ν) Refs; unaugm. κῆεν Refs; 3rd.pers. plural ἔκηαν (variant{ἔκειαν}) Refs 8th c.BC+ codices; 1st pers. plural subjunctive…