What Does Luke 10:30 Mean in the King James?
And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
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
Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ, Yēshūaʿ: deliverance) tells how a man descends from Jerusalem, whose name carries shalom (שָׁלוֹם, shalōm: wholeness), into exposure, blows, and abandonment.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to the moment when a person moves from a place carrying wholeness into exposure, injury, and abandonment near death. It names the violence plainly: the robbers strip away the man’s clothing, strike him, and leave him at death’s edge, while the speaker’s name, Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ, Yēshūaʿ: deliverance), names what the story needs.
THE ROOT
κατέβη
katébē
GROWS FROM
βαίνω
baínō
To go or step.
“went down” in this verse is katébē. The verb pairs the root for going or stepping with a downward direction. The journey is physically a descent; beside Jerusalem’s name carrying shalom (שָׁלוֹם, shalōm: wholeness), it also gives the story a visible movement from wholeness toward exposure.
ALSO GROWS
anabaínō: Go up, ascend.
ἀναβαίνω
Its upward movement makes the direction in katébē clear: this man travels down from Jerusalem.
katábasis: A descent, a going down.
κατάβασις
This noun preserves the same downward movement, keeping the verse’s descent concrete rather than abstract.
πληγάς
plēgás
GROWS FROM
πλήσσω
plḗssō
To strike or deal a blow.
The Greek word behind “wounded” is built from the word for blows, so the violence is an inflicted impact, not an unspecified condition. This word family extends from a bodily strike to being struck with astonishment, keeping the force of impact visible.
ALSO GROWS
plēgḗ: A blow, wound, stroke; in some contexts, a plague.
πληγή
The noun names the bodily result of the striking described in this verse.
ekplḗssō: To strike out of one’s senses; to astonish.
ἐκπλήσσω
Its sense of astonishment preserves the root’s force of impact, extended from the body to perception.
ἀφῆκαν
aphēkan
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι
aphiēmi
To let go or send away; by extension, to leave or remit.
The robbers let the man go from their presence, leaving him behind. The same Greek family can name letting go as release or remission elsewhere; here its human effect is abandonment, not forgiveness.
ALSO GROWS
aphiēmi: To leave, let go, send away, or forgive.
ἀφίημι
This is the verb behind the form translated “leaving” in the verse; its range includes both departure and release.
áphesis: Release, remission, forgiveness.
ἄφεσις
This related noun shows how the same word family can describe letting go in the sense of release.
THE PATTERN
A person’s exposure after violence makes the difference between abandonment and care visible.
They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.THE THREAD
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.Luke’s verb for “leaving” (ἀφῆκαν, aphēkan: they left) belongs to the same Greek family as Matthew’s “forgive” (ἀφήκαμεν, aphēkamen: we forgive). The shared word links abandonment with the wider language of letting go, while the wounded man shows the human cost when those who inflict violence leave without care.
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