What Does Luke 11:27 Mean in the King James?

And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.

Luke 11:27 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Here, flourishing is recognized through the body’s two acts of sustaining life: carrying it and feeding it.

THE MEANING

You hear a woman call flourishing the womb that bears life and the breasts that nourish it. Her words give gestation and nursing a public voice, naming bodily care as part of what is worthy of praise.

THE ROOT

μακαρία

makaria

GROWS FROM

μακαρ-

makar-

Flourishing; a state of well-being.

“Blessed” in this verse is makaria. The woman’s word names the body that carried and nourished Jesus as flourishing. In this Greek word-family, flourishing can be spoken aloud as recognition.

ALSO GROWS

makarios: Flourishing

μακάριος

This is the related adjective behind the woman’s declaration.

makarizō: To call flourishing or pronounce blessed

μακαρίζω

This related verb shows how flourishing becomes something spoken over another.

κοιλία

koilia

GROWS FROM

κοῖλος

koilos

Hollow; an interior or cavity.

The Greek word ⁨κοιλία⁩ can mean both “womb” and “belly,” joining the place that carries life with the body’s inner space. Here, the woman’s praise makes that hidden interior part of what she sees as flourishing.

ALSO GROWS

koilos: Hollow

κοῖλος

This related word carries the sense of an inward space beneath the more specific meaning “womb.”

koilia: Belly or womb

κοιλία

The same Greek word can name the belly in one setting and the womb in another, meanings English renders with separate words.

ἐθήλασας

ethēlasas

GROWS FROM

θηλ-

thēl-

Breast or nipple; nursing from the breast.

The verb translated “sucked” belongs to a breast-related word-family, tying the act of nursing to the body that feeds. The verse names the breasts and the feeding together, keeping nourishment visible rather than implied.

ALSO GROWS

thēlē: Breast or nipple

θηλή

This related noun names the bodily source of the nursing action.

thēlazō: To nurse or suckle

θηλάζω

This is the verb-family behind the verse’s word for being nursed.

THE PATTERN

Scripture makes the body that carries and nourishes life a visible place where flourishing is spoken.

Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

Genesis 49:25 · KJVThe blessing names both breasts and womb as places where life and provision are received.

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

Psalm 127:3 · KJVThe womb’s fruit is named as a gift within the life of the reader.

And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

Luke 1:42 · KJVThe same Gospel speaks flourishing over Mary and the fruit of her womb.

THE THREAD

And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.

Luke 1:45 · KJV

Luke uses the same Greek word, ⁨μακαρία⁩ (makaria, flourishing), here and in the woman’s declaration in Luke 11:27. One verse locates Mary’s flourishing in the body that carried and fed Jesus; the other names her trust, holding both recognitions together.

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