What Does Luke 12:46 Mean in the King James?
The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
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 violent cut and the assigned share belong together: judgment divides the servant and places him among the trustless.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks in the shock of an arrival the servant does not anticipate. Its judgment is physically violent: he is cut in two and assigned his share among those without trust. The unseen hour exposes the place given to him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that an unknown hour makes a person’s place secure from judgment.
THE ROOT
διχοτομήσει
dichotomēsei from dichotomeō
GROWS FROM
τεμν-/τομ- (temn-/tom-), with δίχα (dicha)
Cut; joined with δίχα, “in two,” it means to cut in two.
“cut him in sunder” in this verse is dichotomēsei from dichotomeō. The verb names a division into two, giving the judgment a stark physical edge. The sentence then moves from that cut to the servant’s assigned portion, linking bodily division with the place he is given.
ALSO GROWS
tomē: Cutting, incision
τομή
This noun carries the same cut-root, showing the concrete force beneath the verse’s image.
atomos: Uncuttable, indivisible
ἄτομος
The same root, negated by a-, names what cannot be divided, sharpening the force of the servant being cut in two.
ἀπίστων
apistōn from apistos
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
pist-
Trust; being trustworthy or placing trust.
“unbelievers” in this verse is apistōn from apistos. The Greek describes a company marked by absent trust, not merely by missing information. The same root reaches the act of leaning one’s full weight on someone.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: Trust, reliance
πίστις
This is the noun in the same word family, naming the trust absent from the servant’s assigned company.
pisteuō: Trust, entrust oneself
πιστεύω
The verb makes the relational act inside the root visible: placing oneself in another’s hands.
pistos: Trustworthy, steady
πιστός
The adjective shows the other side of the same root: one who can be trusted.
μέρος
meros
GROWS FROM
μερ-
mer-
A part, share, or portion assigned.
“portion” in this verse is meros. The clause pairs the servant’s division with the share appointed to him. The image moves from cutting him apart to placing him within a company.
ALSO GROWS
merizō: Divide, distribute
μερίζω
The verb links a part to the act of dividing or assigning shares.
meris: Share, portion
μερίς
This related noun echoes the servant’s allotted place among the trustless.
THE PATTERN
The Lord’s arrival brings hidden conduct into judgment and makes each person’s place visible.
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.THE THREAD
And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.Matthew uses the same verb διχοτομέω (dichotomeō), “cut in two,” and repeats the assignment of the servant’s “portion.” Luke names his company as the trustless; Matthew names them as hypocrites, pairing lack of trust with a false outward role. The shared image keeps the judgment concrete and the assigned company in view.
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