What Does Luke 13:18 Mean in the King James?
Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?
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 asks you to recognize God’s governance by how it unfolds, through a likeness you can perceive.
THE MEANING
God’s governance meets you as something recognizable through a living likeness. The question draws your attention to how that governance works, with the image that follows showing a small beginning opening into expansive life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
God’s governance is too abstract to recognize in ordinary life; Jesus presents it as something grasped through a familiar likeness.
THE ROOT
βασιλεία
basileia
GROWS FROM
βασιλευ-
basileu-
reigning; royal rule or governance
English “kingdom” can suggest a territory, while βασιλεία (basileia, royal rule) points to governance in action. Jesus’ question directs you to notice how God’s governance operates, made concrete by the seed image that follows.
ALSO GROWS
basileus: king
βασιλεύς
The king is the one who exercises the rule; this branch brings the active sense of governance into view.
basileuō: to reign
βασιλεύω
This verb names the action contained in βασιλεία: ruling or governing.
basilikos: royal; belonging to a king
βασιλικός
This branch names what carries the character or authority of royal rule.
ὁμοιώσω
homoiōsō
GROWS FROM
ὁμοιο-
homoio-
like, similar; making a likeness
“resemble” in this verse is homoiōsō. The two questions repeat the Greek likeness-family: ὅμοιος (homoios, like) and ὁμοιόω (homoioō, to liken or compare). The repetition makes likeness the way this hidden governance becomes recognizable.
ALSO GROWS
homoios: like; similar
ὅμοιος
This is the likeness-word behind the first question, “Unto what is it like?”
homoiotēs: likeness; similarity
ὁμοιότης
This noun names the correspondence that makes comparison possible.
homoioō: to make like; compare; resemble
ὁμοιόω
This verb is the word-family behind “shall I resemble it?” and shows Jesus making the likeness visible.
THE PATTERN
God’s governance becomes perceptible through familiar likenesses that uncover its way of unfolding.
I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.THE THREAD
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:Matthew uses the same Greek word βασιλεία (basileia, royal rule or governance) and answers with a mustard seed. The image shows God’s governance unfolding from what first appears small into something that shelters life.
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