What Does Luke 12:15 Mean in the King James?
And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
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
Covetousness is more than wanting things: it treats having more as the substance of life.
THE MEANING
Your life does not consist in how much you possess. What you gather cannot become the source or measure of your being alive; the verse speaks to you now, amid whatever you have or lack.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that having enough, and then more, can make your life secure or complete.
THE ROOT
πλεονεξία
pleonexia
GROWS FROM
πλέον + ἔχω
More + have: having or grasping for more.
“covetousness” in this verse is pleonexia. The word carries the idea of wanting to have more, so the warning reaches beyond a particular object to the appetite for increase itself. Its related words can describe both a greedy person and taking advantage of someone to gain more.
ALSO GROWS
pleonektēs: a greedy or covetous person
πλεονέκτης
It names the person shaped by the same more-having appetite.
pleonekteō: to take advantage of or defraud
πλεονεκτέω
It shows how grasping for more can become getting more at another person’s expense.
ζωή
zōē
GROWS FROM
ζάω
To live; to be alive.
The Greek word for life belongs to a family about living and being made alive. The verse places that living reality apart from possessions: goods may be held, but they do not constitute life.
ALSO GROWS
zaō: to live, be alive
ζάω
This verb makes the living sense within zōē visible.
zōopoieō: to make alive, give life
ζωοποιέω
It carries the same life-root into the act of making alive.
THE PATTERN
Life is not made secure or complete by accumulating possessions; material goods cannot become its source or measure.
He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.THE THREAD
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?Both verses use ζωή (zōē), “life,” and place it beyond material goods. Matthew makes the connection explicit: life exceeds even the food and clothing that possessions can secure.
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