What Does Luke 17:4 Mean in the King James?
And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
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 joins a repeated turn back toward you with repeated release, so the count of past harm does not erase the possibility of return.
THE MEANING
When someone misses against you, returns, and says, “I turn,” the verse names release as your response, even when this happens seven times in one day. The harm, the return, and the release all remain visible in the same moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Repeated harm proves that a person’s next return can no longer count.
THE ROOT
ἀφήσεις
aphēseis
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι (apo + hiēmi)
Send away; let go; release.
The verb translated “forgive” belongs to the same Greek word-family as ἄφεσις (áphesis), which can mean release, remission, or deliverance. That family connects releasing a personal offense with release from captivity, while leaving the harm itself named.
ALSO GROWS
áphesis: Release, remission, deliverance.
ἄφεσις
The noun form shows that release can name a wider freeing, not only the letting go of an offense.
aphiénai: To let go, leave, or release.
ἀφιέναι
This infinitive form makes the concrete action within “forgive” audible: something is let go.
ἐπιστρέψῃ
epistrepsē
GROWS FROM
στρέφω
strephō
Turn; change direction.
The word translated “turn again” means to turn back or toward someone. It names the direction of the return, which is then paired with the speaker’s words, “I turn.”
ALSO GROWS
epistrephō: Turn back, return, turn toward.
ἐπιστρέφω
This is the verb used for the person’s return toward the one they harmed.
apostrephō: Turn away, turn aside.
ἀποστρέφω
Its opposite direction makes the force of the return clear: the person turns toward, rather than away from, the other.
μετανοῶ
metanoō
GROWS FROM
μετανοέω (meta + noéō)
Change one’s mind; turn in thought.
“repent” in this verse is metanoō. The speaker says “I turn” using metanoeō, while the earlier verb describes turning back toward the other person. The Greek places an outward return beside a stated inward turn, then answers both with release.
ALSO GROWS
metanoia: A turning or change of mind.
μετάνοια
The related noun carries the same turning sense as the speaker’s declaration.
noeō: Think, perceive, understand.
νοέω
This verb-family link gives the turn an inward dimension: the speaker’s words concern a changed way of seeing or thinking.
THE PATTERN
A return that includes turning can meet release, even after repeated breaches.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.THE THREAD
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,The Greek word-family behind “forgive” in Luke 17:4 appears here as “deliverance” and “liberty.” The same language of release reaches from a personal offense to people held captive or bruised.
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