What Does Luke 2:51 Mean in the King James?
And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
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 verse pairs two forms of holding: Jesus lives under his parents’ care, while his mother keeps his words within her.
THE MEANING
You can be held within another’s care while you grow, and words can remain alive in your heart before their full meaning is clear. What is not yet understood can still be carried inward without being lost.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A significant word must be fully understood in the moment to be worth keeping.
THE ROOT
ὑποτασσόμενος
hypotassomenos
GROWS FROM
τάσσω
tassō
To arrange, set in order, or assign; with hypo, to place or arrange under.
Within “subject,” Greek carries an image of being placed in an order beneath another. The same root appears in τάξις (taxis), “order” or “arrangement,” so Jesus’ posture here belongs to a larger language of ordered relationship.
ALSO GROWS
taxis: Order, arrangement, or rank.
τάξις
It makes visible the root’s sense of being situated within an order.
diatassō: To arrange, direct, or prescribe.
διατάσσω
It shows the same root can describe setting things in order, clarifying the ordered sense within “subject.”
διετήρει
dietērei
GROWS FROM
τηρέω
tēreō
To keep watch over, guard, or preserve.
The verb describes more than a passing memory: these words are kept and guarded within the heart. Its root also appears in the noun for “keeping” or “guarding,” making her inward attention an active preservation.
ALSO GROWS
tēreō: To keep, watch, or guard.
τηρέω
This is the root verb beneath the form translated “kept.”
tērēsis: Keeping, guarding, or preservation.
τήρησις
It reveals the protective quality carried by the root as the sayings remain within her.
THE PATTERN
Words can be held within the heart before their full meaning becomes visible.
And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.THE THREAD
Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.Luke uses ὑποτάσσω (hypotassō) for Jesus being subject to his parents; Hebrews uses the same verb for all things placed under the Son. The shared root holds an intimate household posture beside the larger language of order beneath.
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