What Does Luke 10:28 Mean in the King James?
And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
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
Here, the right answer reaches its full meaning as love enacted in the life you are living.
THE MEANING
The words immediately before this verse hold love of God with the whole self and love of neighbor as oneself. That love takes form in what you do now, and Jesus joins that enacted life to the promise, “thou shalt live.”
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A correct answer by itself is already the same as living it.
THE ROOT
ποίει
poiei
GROWS FROM
ποι-
do, make, bring about
English can make “do” sound like a bare task, while this verb also carries the force of making or bringing about. Its word family includes the doer and the thing made, placing love where it takes shape in action.
ALSO GROWS
poiētēs: doer, maker
ποιητής
The doer is named by the same word family, showing action as the embodied form of what is understood.
poiēma: thing made, workmanship
ποίημα
This branch names what has taken shape through doing, echoing how love becomes visible in lived action.
ζήσῃ
zēsē
GROWS FROM
ζα-/ζη-
live, be alive
The future form says “you will live,” binding the line’s movement to life ahead. Its word family also names life itself and living creatures, holding the promise close to lived aliveness.
ALSO GROWS
zōē: life
ζωή
The related noun names life itself, the reality joined here to enacted love.
zōon: living creature
ζῷον
This related word names a being that is alive, keeping the root’s sense close to living existence.
THE PATTERN
Understanding reaches its full form when it becomes enacted life.
Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.THE THREAD
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.“Doers” is ποιηταί (poiētai), from ποιέω (poieō), the same word family as “do” here: doer/maker, from do/make. Luke joins doing to life; James shows why the word must take shape in action.
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