What Does Luke 13:27 Mean in the King James?
But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
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 verse joins origin to action: those the speaker cannot recognize by where they come from are named by the injustice their work produces.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks a hard truth now: nearness to the threshold does not itself establish belonging; the speaker links unrecognized origin with the work of injustice. What a person’s work produces becomes part of what reveals where they belong.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Religious claims or nearness alone guarantee recognition, regardless of the injustice my work produces.
THE ROOT
ἀδικίας
adikías
GROWS FROM
δίκη (dikē), with privative ἀ- (a-)
Dikē names what is just or right; the prefix a- marks its absence, so adikia means injustice or what is out of right relation.
“Iniquity” can sound like an invisible stain, but the Greek names injustice made visible in practice: these are workers of it. The word points to justice as the measure their work misses.
ALSO GROWS
dikaios: just, right
δίκαιος
This related word names the quality adikia lacks, sharpening the contrast between just action and injustice.
dikaiosynē: justice, righteousness, alignment
δικαιοσύνη
This word from the same family names the alignment that adikia departs from.
ἀπόστητε
apóstēte
GROWS FROM
ἵστημι (histēmi), with ἀπό (apo, away)
Histēmi means to stand or set; with apo, the command means to stand away or withdraw.
The command to depart carries the sense of separation in its very form: stand away. It follows the naming of injustice with a concrete removal from the speaker’s presence.
ALSO GROWS
histēmi: stand, set
ἵστημι
The base verb gives “depart” the image of a changed stance or position.
apostasis: departure, withdrawal
ἀπόστασις
This related noun names the same movement away that the command enacts.
THE PATTERN
What a life is rooted in becomes visible through what its work repeatedly produces.
Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.THE THREAD
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.Matthew uses the same Greek word, ἀδικία (adikia, injustice), for the work named here. It joins nonrecognition, departure, and practiced injustice in the same sequence, making clear that the work is central to the verdict.
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