What Does Luke 16:12 Mean in the King James?
And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?
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
What is truly yours is measured by the steadiness you bring to what belongs to someone else.
THE MEANING
What is entrusted to you from someone else already reveals the steadiness with which you receive responsibility. The verse links being trusted with another’s things to being entrusted with what is yours, so ownership alone does not define responsibility.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that what belongs to someone else is outside the measure of your own trustworthiness.
THE ROOT
πιστοὶ
pistoi
GROWS FROM
πείθω
peithō
To persuade, trust, or be convinced; this word family carries the sense of being dependable enough to be trusted.
“faithful” in this verse is pistoi. Here, πιστοὶ (pistoi) describes steadiness that makes a person reliable. Its word family connects that firmness with trust: another can entrust something because this person can be relied upon.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: trust, confidence
πίστις
The shared family links the steadiness called “faithful” with the trust that makes entrusting possible.
pepoithēsis: confidence, reliance
πεποίθησις
This branch makes visible the confidence another person places in someone who proves steady.
ἀλλοτρίῳ
allotriō
GROWS FROM
ἄλλος
allos
Other, different; what belongs to someone other than you.
“another man’s” in this verse is allotriō. The Greek word means what is another’s, without specifying a male owner. The verse places what is yours beside what belongs to another, showing responsibility as a measure that crosses the boundary of possession.
ALSO GROWS
allos: other, another
ἄλλος
This root names the otherness at the center of the verse’s contrast.
allotrios: belonging to another, foreign
ἀλλότριος
The branch carries “another’s” from mere difference into the question of what has been entrusted to you.
THE PATTERN
Steady care with what is entrusted is the ground on which wider responsibility rests.
Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.THE THREAD
He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.The same Greek word, πιστός (pistos), appears as “faithful” in both verses. Verse 10 contrasts the least with much; verse 12 contrasts what belongs to another with what is yours, tying scale and ownership to the same steadiness.
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