What Does Luke 17:32 Mean in the King James?

Remember Lot’s wife.

Luke 17:32 · KJV

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 command makes Lot’s wife a memorial in your mind: her backward turn is held before you as a warning about arrested movement.

THE MEANING

Lot’s wife stands before you as a remembered warning: turning toward what is being left can halt forward movement. Her image is not a distant detail; the command keeps it present as you face what lies ahead.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that looking back is harmless, that you can turn toward what you are leaving without that turn shaping where you can go.

THE ROOT

μνημονεύετε

mnēmoneuete

GROWS FROM

μνη-

mnē-

Memory; keeping something in mind

“Remember” in this verse is mnēmoneuete. This is a present command to keep Lot’s wife in mind, so she does not become a distant anecdote. The same Greek word family gives words for memory and memorial: the command preserves her as a warning held before the living.

ALSO GROWS

mnēmē: Memory, remembrance

μνήμη

It names the act of keeping someone or something in mind, the force of the command here.

mnēmeion: Memorial; tomb

μνημεῖον

A marker that keeps someone present to memory; Lot’s wife becomes a figure the listener is told to keep before the mind.

THE PATTERN

When the way forward is at stake, turning back can fix a person in what they are leaving.

But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

Genesis 19:26 · KJVLot’s wife’s backward look becomes the image Jesus tells you to keep in mind.

And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

Luke 9:62 · KJVLooking back interrupts the forward movement pictured by the hand on the plough.

Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

Hebrews 10:38 · KJVThe same pattern appears as drawing back from the way a person is walking.

THE THREAD

And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

Luke 22:19 · KJV

Luke uses another member of the same ⁨μνη-⁩ memory family: here he commands you to remember Lot’s wife, and at the table he gives remembrance a form you can enact. In both verses, remembering keeps a person present to the mind now.

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