What Does Luke 14:28 Mean in the King James?
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
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 word for counting carries the image of reckoning with pebbles: completion begins when an ambition is made concrete enough to be measured.
THE MEANING
The question reaches you wherever you are building something that asks for time and resources. Wisdom here looks like seeing whether what you have can carry the work through to completion. The measure is not the grandeur of the beginning, but whether the means are sufficient to finish.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a bold beginning proves a project can be completed. Wanting the tower does not itself supply what its completion requires.
THE ROOT
ψηφίζει
psēphízei
GROWS FROM
ψηφ-
psēph-
Pebble or small stone, including a token used for counting or voting.
“counteth” in this verse is psēphízei. The Greek verb for counting belongs to the word family of ψῆφος, a pebble. The calculation is pictured as something tangible: available means are reckoned against the work required to complete the tower.
ALSO GROWS
psēphos: Pebble; voting token.
ψῆφος
The noun behind the counting verb gives the reckoning a physical image: separate units weighed toward a decision.
katapsēphizō: Vote against; condemn.
καταψηφίζω
This related verb carries the pebble-counting family into judgment, showing how a tally can settle a decision.
THE PATTERN
A commitment becomes sound when its means are weighed against its completion before the work begins.
Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?THE THREAD
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.The Greek noun for the white stone, ψῆφος, belongs to the same word family as Luke’s verb for counting. In Luke, the pebble-root makes reckoning tactile: what is available is weighed against what remains before completion.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us