What Does Luke 13:3 Mean in the King James?
I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
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
Here, repentance is a turn that changes the course toward perishing.
THE MEANING
This warning speaks to you now: the fate you see in others can also meet you if your course remains unchanged. “Repent” names a turn, not regret that leaves the direction intact. Perishing is real, and the verse holds open the possibility of turning.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The people who suffered must have been worse than I am, so their fate tells me nothing about my own.
THE ROOT
μετανοῆτε
metanoēte
GROWS FROM
μετανοέω
metanoeō
To reconsider or change one’s mind; here, to turn.
English “repent” can sound like feeling sorry, but this word calls for a change of direction. The verse sets that turn against a course that ends in perishing.
ALSO GROWS
metanoia: turning; a changed mind
μετάνοια
This related noun names the same change of orientation called for here.
noeō: perceive, consider
νοέω
The verb’s word family connects turning with a changed way of perceiving.
ἀπολεῖσθε
apoleisthe
GROWS FROM
ἀπόλλυμι
apollymi
To destroy, lose, or perish.
“perish” in this verse is apoleisthe. The word carries both the force of destruction and the sense of being lost. That makes the warning about more than an abstract end: it names a life reaching loss.
ALSO GROWS
apōleia: destruction, loss
ἀπώλεια
This related noun makes the destructive force of perishing explicit.
apolōlōs: lost
ἀπολωλώς
This form from the same verb family describes the son who is lost and then found in Luke 15:24.
THE PATTERN
The call to turn warns where an unchanged course leads and holds open a different direction.
Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.THE THREAD
For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.The word translated “perish” in Luke 13:3 comes from the same Greek verb family as “was lost” here. The story holds loss and return together: what is lost can be found.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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