What Does Luke 2:41 Mean in the King James?

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.

Luke 2:41 · 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 feast turns remembrance into a rhythm: the family returns to it year after year.

THE MEANING

You meet a family whose life moves in a returning rhythm: every year they go to Jerusalem for Passover. The feast gathers journey, place, and remembrance into one repeated practice.

THE ROOT

ἑορτῇ

heortē

GROWS FROM

ἑορτ-

The Greek stem ⁨ἑορτ-⁩ (heort-) names a feast or festival.

English “feast” can sound like a single event, while the Greek word family also includes the act of keeping or celebrating a feast. Here the annual journey is repeated participation in a shared observance.

ALSO GROWS

heortazō: to keep or celebrate a feast

ἑορτάζω

This verb shares the ⁨ἑορτ-⁩ stem and makes the feast an enacted celebration, not only a named occasion.

heortasmos: feast observance or celebration

ἑορτασμός

This related noun names the observance itself, echoing the yearly return described in the verse.

THE PATTERN

A shared sacred memory remains present through repeated return and participation.

And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

Exodus 12:14 · KJVThe Passover is kept as a feast and memorial across generations, making remembrance a recurring practice.

Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

Deuteronomy 16:16 · KJVThe calendar repeatedly gathers people to a shared place for appointed feasts.

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

1 Corinthians 11:26 · KJVRepeated participation in a shared meal keeps its meaning present.

THE THREAD

And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

Exodus 12:14 · KJV

The Greek translation of Exodus uses the ⁨ἑορτ-⁩ (heort-, feast) word family in the command to keep Passover as a memorial. The shared root shows the yearly journey as memory carried forward through repeated observance.

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