What Does Luke 21:15 Mean in the King James?
For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
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 answer that withstands opposition is given as a pair: a mouth to speak and wisdom to fill it.
THE MEANING
When your words are contested, the capacity to answer and the wisdom within that answer are given together. Opposition may rise, but it cannot overturn what is given.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Your voice is only as strong as your preparation or the strength of the person opposing you.
THE ROOT
ἀντιστῆναι
antistēnai
GROWS FROM
ἵστημι
histēmi
To stand or set in place.
“resist” in this verse is antistēnai. The word for resisting pictures someone trying to stand against what is given. The verse does not say opposition disappears; it says opposition cannot hold its ground against the given mouth and wisdom.
ALSO GROWS
anistēmi: Rise, stand up.
ἀνίστημι
The same root can describe rising to stand; resistance is also framed through the image of standing.
kathistēmi: Set in place, appoint.
καθίστημι
This branch carries the sense of establishing something in place, illuminating the contrast between opposition and what is given to stand.
δώσω
dōsō
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι (didōmi), δω-/δο- (dō-/do-)
To give, grant, or place into someone’s hands.
“give” in this verse is dōsō. The mouth and wisdom arrive through giving: speech and its substance are received together. The verse locates the answer in what is supplied, not only in the speaker’s own capacity.
ALSO GROWS
dōron: Gift.
δῶρον
The word family makes the given answer legible as a gift placed in the speaker’s hands.
dōrea: Gift, freely given gift.
δωρεά
This branch keeps attention on the source of the capacity to answer: it is granted.
dosis: Giving, gift.
δόσις
The noun preserves the act of giving itself, the movement by which mouth and wisdom are supplied.
THE PATTERN
When speech is contested, the capacity and wisdom to answer are given.
Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.THE THREAD
And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.Acts 6:10 uses the same verb, ἀντιστῆναι (antistēnai), meaning “to stand against,” and says the hearers cannot resist wisdom. The repeated root makes Luke’s promise recognizable: opposition cannot hold its ground against wisdom given for speech.
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