What Does Luke 15:16 Mean in the King James?
And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
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 phrase “would fain” shares its Greek desire-word with Lazarus longing for crumbs, linking two scenes of hunger that English leaves apart.
THE MEANING
Hunger makes even the pigs’ fodder look like enough; the body keeps reaching toward whatever might fill it. Here no one gives, so the emptiness is also relational: need is present, but provision does not arrive.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that visible need automatically draws care is undone: a person can be desperate and still meet silence.
THE ROOT
ἐπεθύμει
epethýmei
GROWS FROM
ἐπιθυμ-
epithym-
To desire or long for something; to set one’s desire upon it.
“would fain” in this verse is epethýmei. Luke 16:21 uses the same Greek verb, ἐπιθυμέω (epithymeō, “to desire”), for Lazarus longing to be fed from the rich man’s crumbs. English phrases them differently, but the shared word joins their hunger for scraps.
ALSO GROWS
epithymeō: To desire or long for.
ἐπιθυμέω
This verb names the active longing in the verse: he wants the food the pigs eat.
epithymia: Desire or longing.
ἐπιθυμία
This related noun names the same inward reach as a thing in itself, whether its object is generous or meager.
κοιλίαν
koilian
GROWS FROM
κοῖλ-
koil-
Hollow; an inner cavity.
The word for “belly” belongs to a Greek word family for hollow space. The same noun can also mean “womb,” so the English “belly” gives the hunger but narrows the image of an inner chamber that receives.
ALSO GROWS
koilia: Belly, inner cavity, or womb.
κοιλία
The verse’s hunger is located in the body’s inward space, the place he longs to fill.
koilos: Hollow or concave.
κοῖλος
This related word preserves the physical image of an emptiness waiting to be filled.
THE PATTERN
Hunger exposes the difference between longing for fullness and receiving provision.
For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.THE THREAD
And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.Luke 16:21 uses the same Greek verb, ἐπιθυμέω (epithymeō, “to desire”), for Lazarus longing to be fed from the rich man’s crumbs. The shared desire-word makes the two scenes echo: both bodies reach toward scraps while human provision is absent.
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