What Does Luke 1:55 Mean in the King James?
As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The promise keeps moving through Abraham’s seed, carrying one spoken word across generations and ages.
THE MEANING
God’s promise is presented as reaching beyond one generation, carried through Abraham and his seed into the age. Its reach continues in the present rather than ending with the moment it is spoken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The promise ended with the generation that first heard it.
THE ROOT
σπέρμα
sperma
GROWS FROM
σπερ
sper
Seed; that which is sown and can grow into further life.
The word for “seed” belongs to the same word family as sowing, so it holds both what is planted and what continues to grow. Here Abraham’s descendants are not only named as a lineage; the word carries the image of life moving forward.
ALSO GROWS
speirō: To sow.
σπείρω
Sowing makes the seed’s movement visible: what is carried forward can take root and continue.
spora: Sowing; seed.
σπορά
This word family keeps the act of sowing and the seed itself together, illuminating how the promise is carried through descendants.
αἰῶνα
aiōna
GROWS FROM
αἰών
aiōn
An age, era, or span of time.
The phrase εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα (eis ton aiōna, into the age) gives “for ever” the image of a promise extending forward through time. The KJV conveys its enduring force, while the Greek also lets the reader hear its movement into the age.
ALSO GROWS
aiōnios: Age-long; belonging to an age.
αἰώνιος
This related word carries the same sense of duration or belonging to an age, echoing the promise’s continuing reach.
aiōnes: Ages.
αἰῶνες
The plural makes the passage of multiple ages explicit, widening the time horizon of the promise.
THE PATTERN
God’s spoken covenant promise continues through generations and across the ages.
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,THE THREAD
Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,Luke and Romans use the same Greek word, σπέρμα (sperma, seed), for the line connected to Abraham. Romans opens the scope of that seed as “all the seed,” extending the promise’s reach.
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