What Does Luke 13:32 Mean in the King James?

And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Luke 13:32 · 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

The Greek ties the healings he brings about to the same goal-root as his own completion: the work already underway belongs to the finish.

THE MEANING

The verse meets you where opposition demands an immediate ending: demons are cast out and healing happens today and tomorrow, while the work continues toward its goal. Wholeness is already moving into the present before the whole path reaches completion.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

An unfinished work is not a failed work; “not complete yet” does not mean “nothing is being healed now.”

THE ROOT

τελειοῦμαι

teleioumai

GROWS FROM

⁨τελ-⁩ (tel-), the family of ⁨τέλος⁩ (telos)

End, goal, the point at which a process reaches its intended completion.

Here “perfected” is ⁨τελειοῦμαι⁩ (teleioumai, “I am brought to completion”); the healing clause says ⁨ἀποτελῶ⁩ (apotelō, “I accomplish” or “bring about”). The shared ⁨τελ-⁩ family makes the healing work itself part of the movement toward the stated goal.

ALSO GROWS

telos: End, goal, intended completion.

τέλος

This is the root’s clearest seed: the third day is the goal toward which the work moves.

apoteleō: Bring about, accomplish, carry through.

ἀποτελέω

Luke uses its form ⁨ἀποτελῶ⁩ (apotelō) for “do” in “I do cures,” echoing the completion-family in “I shall be perfected.”

ἰάσεις

iaseis

GROWS FROM

⁨ἰα-⁩ (ia-), from ⁨ἰάομαι⁩ (iaomai)

Heal, cure.

“cures” in this verse is iaseis. The Greek noun is plural: ⁨ἰάσεις⁩ (iaseis, “healings”). It names specific healings in the present stream of the work, rather than making healing only a future outcome.

ALSO GROWS

iaomai: Heal, cure.

ἰάομαι

The verb behind the noun makes “cures” part of an active process of healing.

iatros: Physician, healer.

ἰατρός

The related word names the one who heals, linking the act of healing with the person carrying it out.

THE PATTERN

A work can be active along its path and still be moving toward a definite completion.

The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.

Psalm 138:8 · KJVThe work concerning a person is spoken of as something brought toward completion, not abandoned mid-course.

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Philippians 1:6 · KJVA work begins and continues toward a defined day, matching Luke’s healing-now, completion-ahead sequence.

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

John 19:30 · KJV⁨τετέλεσται⁩ (tetelestai, “it has been completed”) belongs to the same completion-family, voicing the point at which the course reaches its end.

THE THREAD

For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Hebrews 2:10 · KJV

Hebrews says the captain is made perfect through suffering; the Greek is ⁨τελειῶσαι⁩ (teleiōsai, “to bring to completion”), from the same ⁨τελ-⁩ family. It opens Luke’s line as a passage toward its intended goal, with healing already happening along that path.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us