What Does Luke 11:23 Mean in the King James?
He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.
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
In this verse, being with Jesus takes shape as gathering people together; refusing that work scatters them.
THE MEANING
Your relation to Jesus appears here in a concrete action: gathering with him or scattering. The verse names not gathering with him as dispersion, not as an empty middle.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that staying uninvolved is neutral: in this work, not gathering with Jesus is itself scattering.
THE ROOT
συνάγων
synagōn
GROWS FROM
συνάγω (synagō), from συν- (syn-, together) + ἄγω (agō, bring or lead)
ἄγω means to bring or lead; συν- gives it the sense of bringing together.
“gathereth” in this verse is synagōn. The word makes gathering an active movement of bringing together alongside Jesus. It gives “with me” a visible shape: not just association, but participation in gathering.
ALSO GROWS
agō: bring, lead
ἄγω
This is the bringing at the heart of gathering: people are drawn into a shared movement.
synagōgē: assembly, gathering
συναγωγή
The same compound names a gathered assembly, showing how the verb’s action can form a people together.
σκορπίζει
skorpizei
GROWS FROM
σκορπίζω
skorpizō
Scatter, disperse, strew.
“scattereth” in this verse is skorpizei. The verb gives the contrast an active force: the one who does not gather with Jesus scatters. Elsewhere this verb family describes both goods wasted and people dispersed, so scattering breaks apart what had been held together.
ALSO GROWS
dieskorpisen: scattered, squandered
διεσκόρπισεν
In Luke 16:1 the same verb family describes a steward as having “wasted” his goods, revealing dispersion as a form of waste.
skorpisthēte: be scattered
σκορπισθῆτε
In John 16:32 the passive form describes people dispersing, giving the verb’s image of a shared group breaking apart.
THE PATTERN
The work that gathers scattered people into one exposes dispersion as its opposite.
The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.THE THREAD
And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.John makes the same gathering explicit as a movement “into one.” Read beside Luke, that phrase sharpens the contrast: gathering moves people toward unity, while scattering carries them apart.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us