What Does Luke 16:22 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
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 verse places the beggar in Abraham’s closeness and the rich man in a grave, showing that visible wealth does not determine who is received.
THE MEANING
Visible standing does not settle belonging. The beggar dies and is carried into Abraham’s intimate nearness; the rich man dies and is buried. The verse holds their shared mortality beside a sharply different reception.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that poverty means abandonment while wealth proves security is overturned: the beggar is received, while the rich man’s possessions do not appear in his final line.
THE ROOT
ἀπενέχθηναι
apenenekhthēnai
GROWS FROM
φέρω (pherō), appearing in ἀποφέρω (apopherō)
To bear, carry, or bring; ἀποφέρω means to carry away or convey.
The Greek verb describes the beggar being borne away, and the sentence gives that movement a destination: Abraham’s bosom. He is not merely taken from one place; he is carried into closeness.
ALSO GROWS
anapherō: Carry up, bring up
ἀναφέρω
This compound shares φέρω, the root for bearing or carrying; here angels bear the beggar into a named place of welcome.
prospherō: Bring to, bring near, offer
προσφέρω
The same root can express bringing something toward someone; the beggar’s movement ends in intimate nearness.
πλούσιος
plousios
GROWS FROM
πλουτ-
plout-
Wealth and riches.
The Greek keeps the man within the πλουτ- family of wealth: he is rich, but the sentence names only his death and burial. Wealth supplies no verb of being carried into the closeness named for the beggar.
ALSO GROWS
ploutos: Wealth, riches
πλοῦτος
The noun names the substance behind the rich man’s identity, yet it has no place in the destination the verse gives the beggar.
plouteō: Be rich, possess wealth
πλουτέω
This verb describes the condition implied by “rich”; the verse places that condition beside death and burial without treating it as lasting security.
ploutizō: Make rich, enrich
πλουτίζω
The same family can describe wealth being gained or bestowed, while this scene locates the beggar’s welcome in being carried, not in possessing.
THE PATTERN
God’s ordering can raise those low in human measure into a place of honor.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and he hath set the world upon them.He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?THE THREAD
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.“Bosom” translates the same Greek word, κόλπος (kolpos), used for Abraham’s bosom in Luke 16:22. In both verses it pictures intimate nearness, linking the beggar’s reception with the Son’s closeness to the Father.
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