What Does Luke 13:16 Mean in the King James?
And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
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
Jesus treats this woman’s release not as an exception to the Sabbath, but as what the Sabbath is for.
THE MEANING
The woman is seen fully: Abraham’s daughter, and one the Adversary has bound for eighteen years. The length of her bondage does not make it rightful or make release untimely. On the Sabbath, her release is part of the meaning of rest.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This verse undoes the belief that a long-standing affliction must simply be endured, or that Sabbath holiness requires leaving a person bound.
THE ROOT
λυθῆναι
lythēnai
GROWS FROM
λύω
lyō
to loosen, unbind, release
“be loosed” in this verse is lythēnai. The verb for her release names an actual unbinding. Its force becomes vivid beside the repeated language of bonds: the sentence moves from what has held her to the possibility of release.
ALSO GROWS
apolýō: to release or dismiss
ἀπολύω
This compound uses the same verb family and shows release as letting someone go from what holds them.
lýsis: a loosening or release
λύσις
This noun makes explicit the loosening contained in the verb used for the woman’s release.
ἔδησεν
edēsen
GROWS FROM
δέω
déō
to bind, tie, fasten
“bound / bond” in this verse is edēsen. The verb translated “bound” and the noun translated “bond” belong to the same binding word family. That echo makes the contrast with λύω especially clear: the woman is bound into a bond, and the verse asks whether she should be released from it.
ALSO GROWS
déō: to bind or tie
δέω
This is the verb family behind the account of what the Adversary has done to her.
desmṓtēs: a prisoner or one in bonds
δεσμώτης
This related word shows how binding can describe a person held in confinement, giving weight to the passage’s language of bondage.
THE PATTERN
Scripture ties Sabbath and worship to deliverance, naming the release of the burdened as part of their purpose.
And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.THE THREAD
And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.“Loose him” uses the same Greek verb, λύω (lyō), as “be loosed” in Luke. Both verses make the binding visible, then name release as the change that lets a person go.
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