What Does Luke 18:6 Mean in the King James?
And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
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
Jesus tells you to listen to the unjust judge because even his self-serving answer reveals what persistent appeal can move.
THE MEANING
This line directs your attention to words spoken from a place of injustice. The judge’s answer shows that repeated appeal can move even a self-interested authority; the next line turns that admission toward God’s response to those who cry out to him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that an appeal is futile unless the one hearing it is already compassionate: even this unjust judge responds to persistent appeal.
THE ROOT
ἀκούσατε
akousate
GROWS FROM
ἀκου-
akou-
Hear, listen, attend to what is said.
“Hear” in this verse is akousate. The command uses ἀκούω (akouō), a word for hearing and listening: Jesus asks you to register the judge’s reasoning, not just the sound of his words. Its word family links hearing with heeding, so the line calls for attention to what the answer reveals.
ALSO GROWS
akoē: hearing; a report or message
ἀκοή
The shared stem connects receiving words with the report carried by those words.
hypakouō: listen to; heed or obey
ὑπακούω
This compound shows how hearing can extend into heeding, sharpening the force of Jesus’ command to attend.
ἀδικίας
adikias
GROWS FROM
δικ-
dik-
Justice or what is right; with the negative prefix ἀ- (a-), injustice or what is not right.
“Unjust” in this verse is adikias. The Greek describes him as a judge of injustice, making the failure of justice part of his identity in the parable. The justice word family also includes language of being just or aligned, so the contrast with God’s just response is already taking shape.
ALSO GROWS
dikē: justice; what is right
δίκη
This is the justice at the heart of the word family, absent from the judge’s character.
dikaiosynē: justice; alignment with what is right
δικαιοσύνη
Its shared stem gives the contrast a shape: the judge is marked by injustice, while justice describes what is right and aligned.
THE PATTERN
Persistent appeal keeps a need before a closed authority until even reluctance yields a response.
I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.THE THREAD
And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.Both verses use ἀκούω (akouō), hear or listen. Mark’s repeated call to hear makes the force of Luke’s command clearer: attend closely to the words, because they disclose more than the speaker intends.
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