What Does Luke 17:35 Mean in the King James?
Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
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 Greek frames the split as movement: one is received alongside, while the other is let go.
THE MEANING
Two women share one act, yet the sentence holds two separate outcomes: one is taken, the other remains. The verse speaks into the reader’s present closeness: sharing a place or routine does not make two paths identical when a dividing moment arrives. The destination and cause remain unstated, while the distinction is clear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that sharing a place or routine guarantees sharing the same outcome.
THE ROOT
παραλημφθήσεται
paralēmphthēsetai
GROWS FROM
λαμβάνω
lambanō
to take or receive
The form in the verse comes from παραλαμβάνω, where para adds the sense of beside or alongside to receiving. The same verb can describe receiving someone to oneself, so “taken” carries a shade of being received alongside, while the verse leaves the destination unstated.
ALSO GROWS
lambanō: take, receive
λαμβάνω
The simple verb beneath the compound keeps “taken” tied to receiving.
epilambanomai: take hold of, seize
ἐπιλαμβάνομαι
This related compound shows the same root in the more concrete action of taking hold.
ἀφεθήσεται
aphethēsetai
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι
aphiēmi
to send away, leave, or let go
The word translated “left” is a passive form of ἀφίημι, a word family that can mean leaving, sending away, or releasing. The family also names release and remission, giving “left” an echo of letting go while the verse leaves the woman’s destination unstated.
ALSO GROWS
aphesis: release, remission
ἄφεσις
This related noun uses the same word family for release and remission, linking “left” with the language of letting go.
aphienai: to let go, leave, permit
ἀφιέναι
This infinitive makes visible the broader action behind the verse’s passive form: letting go or leaving.
THE PATTERN
A shared setting does not guarantee a shared outcome when a dividing moment arrives.
I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.THE THREAD
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.“Receive” here is the same παραλαμβάνω verb behind “taken” in Luke 17:35. Jesus uses that word for receiving people to himself, opening a relational shade in Luke’s line while its destination remains unstated.
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