What Does Luke 14:29 Mean in the King James?

Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

Luke 14:29 · 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.

THE KEY

“Finish” points to reaching the work’s intended end: the tower’s danger is the public gap between what is begun and what is completed.

THE MEANING

A beginning does not yet show whether the work reaches its end. While the tower stands unfinished, the gap between intention and completion remains visible, and others can make sport of it. The verse holds that exposure in view now.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that laying a foundation alone counts as completion; unfinished work remains visible and open to ridicule.

THE ROOT

ἐκτελέσαι

ek telesai

GROWS FROM

τέλος

telos

End, goal, or intended completion.

“Finish” here carries the sense of bringing a work through to its end, not merely stopping. The unfinished tower is a purpose left short of its intended completion.

ALSO GROWS

teleō: To complete or bring to an end.

τελέω

It names the action the builder cannot carry through in this verse.

tetelestai: It has been completed; “It is finished.”

τετέλεσται

This form from the same word family appears in John 19:30, where completion has been reached.

ἐμπαίζειν

empaizein

GROWS FROM

παίζω

paizō

Play; make sport of.

“mock” in this verse is empaizein. The verb for mocking carries the image of making sport of someone. What the builder cannot complete becomes material for other people’s public amusement.

ALSO GROWS

paizō: To play.

παίζω

This is the verb at the heart of the word for mockery, exposing the playfulness in the observers’ scorn.

empaiktēs: A scoffer; one who mocks.

ἐμπαίκτης

The related noun names the person who turns another’s failure into sport.

THE PATTERN

A work’s beginning becomes visible as its meaning only when it is carried toward completion.

For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

Luke 14:28 · KJVThis verse names the reckoning that comes before a beginning meant to reach its end.

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

Ecclesiastes 7:8 · KJVIt places the completed end above the beginning as the fuller measure of a work.

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 · KJVThe beginning of a good work is joined to its being carried through to completion.

THE THREAD

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 · KJV

The word translated “finished” here belongs to the same completion family as “finish” in Luke 14:29. The tower remains a beginning without its end; John’s phrase speaks from the point where completion has been reached.

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