What Does Luke 11:50 Mean in the King James?
That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of 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
The blood of every prophet remains an account demanded of the generation standing before it.
THE MEANING
This verse places the reader within the reach of an unclosed account: the prophets’ blood is still being sought from this generation. Violence does not erase the witness or end its claim.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that silencing a truth-teller makes the truth disappear is undone: the blood remains a witness, and the account remains due.
THE ROOT
ἐκζητηθῇ
ekzētēthē
GROWS FROM
ζητ- (zēt-), the stem of ζητέω (zēteō)
To seek or look for; with ἐκ- (ek-, out), to seek out, demand, or require.
The English “required” preserves the demand, while the Greek verb also carries the act of seeking something out. The bloodshed is not lost to time: its account is pursued in this generation.
ALSO GROWS
zēteō: Seek or look for.
ζητέω
The base verb shows that the demand begins as a search: what was done is brought into view.
ekzēteō: Seek out, demand, or require.
ἐκζητέω
This compounded form names the pursuit of the prophets’ blood and echoes the demand for an account in Genesis 9:5.
zētēsis: Inquiry or dispute.
ζήτησις
This noun carries the same seeking stem into an active inquiry, underscoring that the blood’s claim is not settled by silence.
THE PATTERN
The blood of the slain is not silenced by death; it remains a testimony that is heard and answered.
And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.THE THREAD
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.Genesis places blood within an account demanded from the hand responsible for it. In the Septuagint, both verses use ἐκζητέω (ekzēteō, seek out or demand): Luke brings the same pursuit to the prophets’ blood and this generation.
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