What Does Luke 13:2 Mean in the King James?

And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilæans were sinners above all the Galilæans, because they suffered such things?

Luke 13:2 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

A person’s suffering does not prove they were more deeply missing the mark than those who escaped it.

THE MEANING

The verse meets you wherever another person’s catastrophe becomes an accusation against them. Jesus exposes the leap from “they suffered” to “they must have been worse than everyone else”: the event does not establish that comparison. Their suffering is real; the extra verdict is not contained in it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie is that suffering proves its victims were more guilty than those who escaped it.

THE ROOT

ἁμαρτωλοὶ

hamartōloi

GROWS FROM

ἁμαρτ-

hamart-

Missing; failure or error.

The noun labels these people as sinners, while its word-family keeps the sense of missing. Jesus’ question exposes the added judgment hidden in the comparison: their suffering does not mean they were missing more than everyone else.

ALSO GROWS

hamartia: Missing; wrongdoing.

ἁμαρτία

This related noun carries the same sense of missing, clarifying the kind of moral comparison Jesus is questioning.

hamartanō: To miss; to do wrong.

ἁμαρτάνω

The verb makes the word-family’s sense of missing visible as an action, rather than a measure of how much suffering someone deserves.

πεπόνθασιν

peponthasin

GROWS FROM

πάσχω

paschō

To undergo or experience; here, to have suffered.

“suffered” in this verse is peponthasin. The verb states what these people have undergone without giving a reason for it. Jesus separates the fact of their suffering from the moral verdict others attach to it.

ALSO GROWS

pathos: Experience or suffering.

πάθος

This related noun keeps attention on what is undergone, not on a judgment about the sufferer.

pathēma: Suffering; what is endured.

πάθημα

It likewise names the experience itself, without turning that experience into proof of greater guilt.

THE PATTERN

An affliction does not, by itself, rank its sufferer’s guilt above that of others.

Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

John 9:3 · KJVJesus rejects the assumption that a bodily affliction diagnoses the greater guilt of the sufferer or his family.

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 · KJVOutcomes overtake the swift, strong, wise, and skilled alike; they do not function as a moral scorecard.

And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.

Job 42:7 · KJVThe LORD rebukes Job’s friends for what they say about him, showing that confident moral explanations of someone’s suffering can be wrong.

THE THREAD

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Romans 3:23 · KJV

Luke’s ⁨ἁμαρτωλοί⁩ (hamartōloi, “those who miss”) and Romans’ ⁨ἥμαρτον⁩ (hēmarton, “missed”) share the hamart- word family. Romans names a shared human condition; Luke blocks the leap from catastrophe to the claim that its victims are more deeply missing than everyone else.

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