What Does Luke 20:6 Mean in the King James?
But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a prophet.
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 leaders’ fear of the crowd exposes whose authority is governing their answer.
THE MEANING
Fear of the crowd governs the answer before it is spoken. The people are so convinced John was a prophet that the leaders anticipate being stoned for saying otherwise. In that calculation, public force, not the truth at stake, sets the limits of what they can say.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A guarded answer is not necessarily a neutral one: when it is chosen to avoid retaliation, fear is already shaping what can be said.
THE ROOT
πεπεισμένος
pepeisménos
GROWS FROM
πείθω (peithō), πειθ-
To persuade or convince; in passive forms, to be persuaded or convinced.
“persuaded” in this verse is pepeisménos. The people are not merely hearing that John was a prophet; they are settled in that conviction. The leaders anticipate that conviction becoming physical force, so public danger shapes their answer.
ALSO GROWS
peithō: Persuade or convince
πείθω
This active sense shows the movement into conviction that the verse describes in its passive form.
pépoitha: Trust or be confident
πέποιθα
This related form shows how conviction can become something a person leans on, as the crowd’s settled belief becomes a force the leaders fear.
καταλιθάσει
katalithásei
GROWS FROM
λίθος (líthos), λιθ-
Stone; the concrete noun gives the verb its physical force.
The Greek verb names stoning, not an abstract rejection. The same stone-word can also become a witness that speaks when people are silenced, linking the threat here with the image in Luke 19:40.
ALSO GROWS
líthos: Stone
λίθος
This is the concrete noun beneath the verb and keeps the threat literal.
litházō: Stone someone
λιθάζω
This verb names the violent action the leaders expect the crowd to take.
THE PATTERN
When public retaliation governs speech, a person’s answer can follow self-protection instead of the question of truth.
And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.THE THREAD
And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.The same stone-word appears just before this scene: Jesus says that if the disciples are silenced, the stones will cry out; here the leaders fear the crowd’s stones. In one scene stone becomes an unstoppable witness, and in the next it is the violence the leaders anticipate.
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