What Does Luke 19:13 Mean in the King James?

And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.

Luke 19:13 · 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 word translated “Occupy” means to conduct business, so the waiting period is itself the time to work with what has been entrusted.

THE MEANING

What is placed in your care remains active in your hands through the interval before the return. The command makes waiting a time of trade: what is entrusted is handled and put to work.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that waiting for the master’s return means staying inactive until it happens; the command places action inside the waiting.

THE ROOT

πραγματεύσασθε

pragmateusasthe

GROWS FROM

πράσσω

prassō

to do, perform, or practice

English “occupy” can sound like holding or filling a place, while ⁨πραγματεύσασθε⁩ instructs the servants to conduct business. Its word family runs through ⁨πρᾶγμα⁩, “deed” or “affair,” and back to ⁨πράσσω⁩, “do”: what is entrusted is actively handled, not merely held.

ALSO GROWS

pragma: deed, matter, or affair

πρᾶγμα

This branch shows the family’s link to something done or dealt with, not simply possessed.

pragmateuomai: to conduct business or trade

πραγματεύομαι

This is the verb family behind the command: the entrusted money is to be put into active use.

THE PATTERN

What is entrusted becomes fruitful through active tending and service.

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Genesis 2:15 · KJVThe garden is placed in the man’s care to be tended, making entrusted responsibility active from the start.

Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.

Matthew 25:16 · KJVThe servant puts the entrusted money to work during the master’s absence, as in the present verse.

As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

1 Peter 4:10 · KJVWhat each person receives becomes fruitful as it is put into service for others.

THE THREAD

No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

2 Timothy 2:4 · KJV

“Affairs” translates ⁨πραγματείαις⁩, from the same word family as the command to conduct business here. The shared root connects active engagement with the entrusted task to the danger of becoming entangled in other affairs.

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