What Does Luke 14:23 Mean in the King James?
And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
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 house becomes full when the summons crosses the boundary and presses those outside to enter.
THE MEANING
The summons reaches you beyond the first circle, even when you stand among those at the roadsides and boundaries. Its language carries pressure: the servant is told to compel people to enter, and the stated aim is a house filled.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that the invitation reaches only those already near the house.
THE ROOT
ἀνάγκασον
anankason
GROWS FROM
ἀναγκ-
anank-
Necessity, constraint, or pressure that makes something unavoidable.
“compel” in this verse is anankason. The command comes from a word family centered on necessity and constraint, so it carries more force than a casual invitation. The house is filled through an insistence that crosses the boundary to reach people outside; the pressure in the command remains part of the verse.
ALSO GROWS
anankē: necessity, constraint, distress
ἀνάγκη
The related noun makes the force within “compel” visible: the invitation presses with urgency.
anankaios: necessary, needful
ἀναγκαῖος
This related adjective shares the sense of necessity, showing the word family’s movement from what is needed to the pressure that brings it about.
THE PATTERN
The call toward fullness keeps moving outward until people beyond the expected circle can enter.
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.THE THREAD
And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.The same Greek verb translated “compel” here appears as “constrained” when Jesus directs the disciples into a boat. The shared root preserves the word’s pressure: it describes an insistence that moves people onward, whether toward the filled house or across the water.
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