What Does Luke 15:6 Mean in the King James?
And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
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 shepherd calls it “my sheep” while it is still lost: lostness never cancels belonging.
THE MEANING
The one you experience as lost is still held within the shepherd’s “my sheep.” Lostness is real, but it does not erase belonging; being found becomes joy shared with others.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that being lost means you are no longer someone’s to seek or welcome home.
THE ROOT
ἀπολωλός
apolōlos
GROWS FROM
ἀπόλλυμι
apollymi
To lose, perish, or destroy; here, having been lost.
The Greek form means “having been lost” and comes from a verb whose range also includes perishing. Yet the sentence calls the sheep “my sheep” in the very breath that names its lostness: its condition is real, but it has not lost its belonging.
ALSO GROWS
apōleia: loss, ruin, or destruction
ἀπώλεια
This noun carries the same root into the outcome of loss, giving the sheep’s lostness real weight without making it the final word.
apollymenoi: those perishing or being lost
ἀπολλύμενοι
This participle from the same verb shows the root describing an ongoing condition; here, the shepherd’s finding meets that condition with recovery.
THE PATTERN
Being lost does not erase belonging; when the lost is found, recovery becomes shared joy.
I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.THE THREAD
For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.“That which was lost” uses the same Greek word family as “lost” here: ἀπόλλυμι (apollymi), to lose or perish. Luke 15:6 calls the lost one “my sheep”; Luke 19:10 shows that this lostness is what the seeking comes to meet.
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