What Does Luke 15:18 Mean in the King James?
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
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 decision to rise and return begins before the apology is spoken, with failure named and relationship still sought.
THE MEANING
When you can name where you have missed, return is already taking shape as a direction toward relationship. The verse holds confession and movement together: the failure is real, and so is the possibility of going back to the one you have hurt.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that if you have failed someone, you can no longer approach them honestly. Here, the speaker names the failure directly while still turning toward his father.
THE ROOT
ἀναστάς
anastas
GROWS FROM
ἵστημι (histēmi), in the compound ἀνίστημι (anistēmi)
Stand; in this compound, stand up or rise.
“arise” in this verse is anastas. The word carries a physical motion: the return begins as standing up, not merely feeling regret. The same word family gives Greek its word for resurrection, ἀνάστασις (anastasis), rising into life.
ALSO GROWS
histēmi: Stand, set in place.
ἵστημι
This is the core action inside “arise”: the speaker moves from being down to standing.
anastasis: Rising, resurrection.
ἀνάστασις
The shared word family connects this small decision to the larger image of rising into life.
ἥμαρτον
hēmarton
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτ- (hamart-), from ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō)
Miss, fail, fall short; here, name the missing in relation to heaven and the father.
“have sinned” in this verse is hēmarton. The Greek word family holds the sense of missing within the familiar word “sinned.” The speaker does not hide the miss or turn it into his whole identity: he names it while still facing the father.
ALSO GROWS
hamartia: Missing, failure.
ἁμαρτία
This noun shares the same word family and shows the act as a miss that can be named.
hamartōlos: One described as a sinner, one who misses.
ἁμαρτωλός
The contrast between this label and the speaker’s direct confession reveals that a failure can be acknowledged without becoming the whole story.
THE PATTERN
When a person turns toward God, honest recognition meets a way back marked by mercy and welcome.
I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.THE THREAD
And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.The same Greek word for “arise” appears in both verses: here it names the intended return, and there it becomes embodied movement toward the father. As the son comes, the father sees him from far off and moves to meet him.
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