What Does Luke 20:15 Mean in the King James?

So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them?

Luke 20:15 · 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 tenants’ violence starts with expulsion: before killing the heir, they throw him outside the place he belongs.

THE MEANING

The verse shows stewardship turning into possession: the tenants drive the heir outside the vineyard and kill him. Its question remains alive wherever control treats the rightful heir as disposable: what follows when the owner answers that rejection?

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that excluding the rightful heir secures ownership. The expulsion and killing expose the tenants’ claim as seizure, not stewardship.

THE ROOT

ἐκβαλόντες

ekbalontes

GROWS FROM

⁨βαλλ-⁩ (ball-, the stem of ⁨βάλλω⁩)

To throw or cast; with ⁨ἐκ⁩ (ek), meaning “out of,” ⁨ἐκβάλλω⁩ means “throw out.”

“cast him out” in this verse is ekbalontes. The verb gives the expulsion a forceful direction: the heir is thrown beyond the vineyard’s boundary before he is killed. Prefixes change the direction of the shared throw-stem, into, out, or away, while keeping the act of removal visible.

ALSO GROWS

ballō: Throw, cast

βάλλω

This is the basic action carried by the verb in the verse: the heir is forcibly thrown out, not simply absent.

emballō: Throw in, put into

ἐμβάλλω

The prefix changes the direction to inward; here, ⁨ἐκ⁩ (ek) directs the action out of the vineyard.

apoballō: Throw away, cast off

ἀποβάλλω

This related form makes the treatment of the heir as something to discard especially clear.

THE PATTERN

Rejecting the rightful one does not erase his place; it exposes the conflict over who has authority.

The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.

Psalm 118:22 · KJVThe builders’ rejection does not remove the stone from its central place; it becomes the image of that place.

Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.

Hebrews 13:12 · KJVJesus suffers outside the boundary, echoing the heir’s expulsion from the vineyard.

Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

1 Peter 2:7 · KJVThe rejected one remains the cornerstone, so rejection cannot determine his place.

THE THREAD

And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?

Luke 20:17 · KJV

Jesus immediately interprets the killing through the builders’ rejected stone. The one thrown out is not erased from the structure; the next image makes his central place the point.

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