What Does Luke 2:38 Mean in the King James?
And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
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 awaited release is recognized in a person, and recognition of wholeness turns into public speech.
THE MEANING
Those longing for deliverance recognize it in Jesus, and that recognition reaches others who are looking for wholeness. Gratitude becomes speech when release is seen.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that waiting for release is empty: the release they seek is already being recognized in a person.
THE ROOT
λύτρωσιν
lytrōsin
GROWS FROM
λυτρ- (lytr-), within the λύω (lyō) word family
To loosen or release; in this word family, release through a ransom.
The Greek word for redemption carries the sense of release brought about through a ransom. Its word family joins the ransom itself to the act of releasing, so redemption is not only an awaited condition but an action that loosens what binds.
ALSO GROWS
lytron: Ransom; the means of release.
λύτρον
It shows the concrete release contained within the verse’s word for redemption.
lytroō: To release by ransom; to redeem.
λυτρόω
This verb makes redemption an act of bringing someone out of what holds them.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שׁלם
š-l-m
To be whole or complete.
“Jerusalem” in this verse is Yerushalayim. The name Yerushalayim carries the sound-shape of shalom, wholeness, and its -ayim ending is heard as two wholenesses. The verse places the longing for release within that horizon: redemption opens toward wholeness, not merely escape.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness; peace.
שָׁלוֹם
It reveals the wholeness held within Jerusalem’s name.
shalem: Whole; complete.
שָׁלֵם
It echoes the movement from what is bound toward what is made whole.
THE PATTERN
Redemption is God’s work of bringing the bound out, a release first longed for and then recognized.
Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.THE THREAD
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,Luke 1:68 uses the verb ἐλύτρωσεν (elytrōsen), from the same Greek word family as λύτρωσιν (lytrōsin), “redemption,” in Luke 2:38. The shared root links the hope Anna speaks about with God’s act of release.
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