What Does Luke 10:2 Mean in the King James?
Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
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 Lord is asked to cast workers into the field, because the harvest is already abundant.
THE MEANING
The field can be abundant even when the hands entering it are few. Its need is held before the Lord of the harvest, and the movement sought is outward into what is already his.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A lack of workers does not mean there is little ready to be gathered.
THE ROOT
ἐκβάλῃ
ekbalē
GROWS FROM
βάλλω
ballō
to throw or cast; with ek-, to cast or send out
Under “send forth” sits the concrete image of casting outward: ekballō is built from ek, “out,” and ballō, “throw, cast.” The requested sending has a direction, it moves workers out into a harvest already described as abundant.
ALSO GROWS
ballō: to throw, cast
βάλλω
This basic verb supplies the physical image beneath the sending.
ekballō: to cast out, send out
ἐκβάλλω
This is the compound used in the request, directing workers out into the harvest.
θερισμός
therismos
GROWS FROM
θερίζω
therizō
to reap or gather a standing crop
The word names a crop at the stage of reaping. The harvest’s abundance makes the shortage of workers consequential now.
ALSO GROWS
therizō: to reap
θερίζω
The harvest is the work of reaping made visible as a field ready for gathering.
theristēs: reaper
θεριστής
This related word names the person whose work the verse says is in short supply.
δεήθητε
deēthēte
GROWS FROM
δέομαι
deomai
to need or lack; to make a plea or request
“pray” in this verse is deēthēte. The prayer is a plea tied to the shortage: the field is abundant, while the workers are few. The word lets the need be named before the desired sending happens.
ALSO GROWS
deomai: to ask, beseech
δέομαι
This verb gives the prayer its form as a request.
deēsis: petition, supplication
δέησις
This related noun likewise describes a plea arising from need.
THE PATTERN
A harvest in scripture draws people into movement toward what is ready to be gathered.
Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.THE THREAD
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.Matthew uses the same Greek verb, ἐκβάλῃ (ekbalē, from ekballō), with the same harvest-and-laborer image. The parallel makes the sending vivid: the Lord’s answer to the great harvest is to cast workers outward into it.
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