What Does Luke 19:20 Mean in the King James?
And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:
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 servant returns the pound intact, but the napkin shows that he has kept it out of circulation.
THE MEANING
You can preserve what has been entrusted to you and still keep it withdrawn from its purpose. The pound is returned, while the cloth makes visible how it has been held: covered and set aside.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that keeping something untouched is always the same as being faithful to it.
THE ROOT
ἀποκειμένην
apokeimenēn
GROWS FROM
κεῖμαι
keimai
To lie, be laid, or be placed; with ἀπό (apo), away, it means to be laid away or stored.
The pound is described as lying away, held in a state of withdrawal. English spreads this across “kept laid up,” while the Greek gathers it into one image: what is laid aside remains present, but out of reach and use.
ALSO GROWS
keimai: To lie, be laid, or be placed.
κεῖμαι
This is the base verb inside “laid up”: the pound occupies a place where it has been put.
anakeimai: To recline, especially at a table.
ἀνάκειμαι
This compound uses the same root for lying in a place at a shared meal; the surrounding word tells whether what lies there is set aside or brought into use.
THE PATTERN
What is entrusted can be put to use or hidden away, and its handling reveals what the holder has done with it.
But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:THE THREAD
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.“Lying” here is κείμενον (keimenon), from κεῖμαι (keimai), meaning “to lie” or “be laid”, the same base contained in “laid up.” In one verse the root describes a sign openly lying in a manger; here its compound describes a pound laid away.
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