What Does Luke 16:26 Mean in the King James?
And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
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 gulf is fixed because the decisive word means made firm: this is separation held in place, not merely distance.
THE MEANING
When you face a separation that has been fixed, longing cannot make a crossing: this verse gives that boundary force in both directions. Neither side can reach the other simply by wanting to pass.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that every divide can be crossed later if the desire is strong enough fails here: the gulf holds in both directions.
THE ROOT
ἐστήρικται
estēriktai
GROWS FROM
στηρίζω
stērizō
To make firm, establish, or support.
“fixed” in this verse is estēriktai. The perfect form presents the gulf as made firm and still standing in that state. The same word family can describe support or strengthening; here what is held firm is the separation, so wanting to cross does not undo it.
ALSO GROWS
epistērizō: To support, strengthen, or confirm.
ἐπιστηρίζω
This related verb shows the family’s sense of giving something firmness; here that firmness belongs to the boundary.
stērigmos: Firmness, steadfastness, or firm footing.
στηριγμός
This noun names the state of being firmly held, echoing the gulf’s established and enduring separation.
δύνανται
dynantai
GROWS FROM
δύναμαι
dynamai
To be able, to have capacity or power.
The word for cannot belongs to the same Greek family as words for power and possibility. Crossing is presented as beyond their capacity under this fixed boundary, not as a choice that effort can reverse.
ALSO GROWS
dynamis: Power, ability, or capacity.
δύναμις
Its shared root makes clear that the barrier concerns what can be done, not simply what someone wants.
dynatos: Able, possible, or capable.
δυνατός
This branch carries the sense of possibility; the people described here are on the other side of what is possible for them.
THE PATTERN
When access is closed by a boundary, longing alone does not create a way across.
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.THE THREAD
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.The Greek verb στηρίζω (stērizō), meaning to make firm or support, appears here as strengthen. The same word family that steadies a person describes the gulf made firm between the two sides.
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