What Does Luke 2:23 Mean in the King James?
(As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)
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 womb’s first opening is not merely the start of a life; it is the moment that life is named as belonging to the LORD.
THE MEANING
This verse names the first male to open the womb as set apart to the Lord. It places belonging at life’s first threshold, before achievement or self-definition.
THE ROOT
διανοῖγον
dianoigon
GROWS FROM
διανοίγω
To open through or open fully; to make accessible.
English “openeth” can sound like a physical event only, but Luke uses this same verb later when eyes and understanding are opened. The root joins bodily beginning with perception: what opens becomes a threshold through which life or recognition comes.
ALSO GROWS
diēnoichthēsan: Were opened; a passive form of διανοίγω.
διηνοίχθησαν
Luke uses this form for the disciples’ eyes opening into recognition, carrying the verb from the body’s threshold into perception.
diēnoixen: Opened; an aorist form of διανοίγω.
διήνοιξεν
Luke uses this form when Jesus opens the disciples’ understanding, showing the same opening at work in perception.
ἅγιον
hagion
GROWS FROM
ἁγ-
Set apart; consecrated.
The verse does not leave the firstborn as simply holy in isolation: ἅγιον names being set apart to the Lord. Its word-family also names the act of consecrating, so “called holy” marks belonging.
ALSO GROWS
hagiazō: Set apart; consecrate.
ἁγιάζω
This verb makes explicit the act contained in the verse’s designation of the firstborn.
hagiasmos: Setting apart; consecration.
ἁγιασμός
This noun names the state or process that the firstborn’s designation expresses.
μήτρα
mētra
GROWS FROM
μητρ-
The mother-family: womb, mother, maternal.
μήτρα belongs to the same word-family as μήτηρ, “mother,” so the womb is linguistically tied to the one who bears life rather than treated as anonymous space. The verse places the first opening of that life at a threshold of belonging to the Lord.
ALSO GROWS
mētēr: Mother.
μήτηρ
Its shared stem makes the link between the womb and the life-bearing mother visible in Greek.
mētrōios: Maternal; of a mother.
μητρῷος
This related form extends the same family from the womb to what belongs to the mother.
THE PATTERN
Across Scripture, openings mark thresholds where what begins is claimed and what is hidden becomes perceptible.
Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.THE THREAD
And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.Luke uses the same verb, διανοίγω, for the first male opening the womb here and for the disciples’ eyes opening there. The word carries the physical threshold into perception: in both verses, an opening reveals what enters the life that follows.
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