What Does Luke 11:30 Mean in the King James?
For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.
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
Jonah is not only carrying the sign; Jonah himself becomes the visible message.
THE MEANING
A life can make a message visible: Jonah stands as a sign before Nineveh, and the Son of Man stands as a sign before each generation. The verse speaks now wherever someone meets a message embodied in a person; the encounter cannot be reduced to an idea.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A sign must be a spectacle separate from its messenger; here, Jonah himself is the sign.
THE ROOT
σημεῖον
sēmeion
GROWS FROM
σημ-
sēm-
A mark or sign that makes something known.
The Greek word family joins the sign to the act of signifying: a mark makes meaning visible. Here, Jonah is that public mark, so the comparison presents the Son of Man as a message embodied in a person.
ALSO GROWS
sēma: A sign, mark, or token.
σῆμα
It shows the sign as a visible mark through which something becomes recognizable.
sēmainō: To indicate, signal, or signify.
σημαίνω
It reveals the sign’s work: making something known through what is seen.
THE PATTERN
A sign makes its message visible through the person who stands before a community.
And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;THE THREAD
And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;Luke uses the same Greek word σημεῖον (sēmeion, sign) for the child in Simeon’s words. That opens the Jonah comparison further: the sign is a person whose presence makes the message visible and draws a response.
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