What Does Luke 21:28 Mean in the King James?
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
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 lifted head is the body’s response to release drawing near at the very edge of upheaval.
THE MEANING
When upheaval begins, this verse names it as a moment when release is drawing near. Your head rises toward a horizon wider than what is breaking in front of you; deliverance is approaching, not merely imaginable.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that worsening signs prove release is farther away. Here, the beginning of upheaval coincides with redemption drawing near.
THE ROOT
ἀπολύτρωσις
apolýtrōsis
GROWS FROM
λύω
lyō
to loosen, untie, release
English “redemption” can sound like a change of status; this word carries the image of release, a bound thing being let go. Since Luke says it draws near at the first signs, the verse places loosening at the edge of pressure itself.
ALSO GROWS
lyō: to loosen, untie, release
λύω
The seed verb gives redemption its concrete sense: bonds coming undone.
lytron: ransom; means of release
λύτρον
This branch links release with the price or means by which someone is freed.
lytroō: to ransom, redeem, release
λυτρόω
This verb names the act of freeing that stands behind the approaching redemption.
ἀνακύψατε
anakypsate
GROWS FROM
κύπτω
kyptō
to bend, stoop
“look up” in this verse is anakypsate. The verb pictures straightening from a bent posture. Looking up changes the body’s shape as well as its direction of sight, echoed immediately by the command to lift the head.
ALSO GROWS
kyptō: to bend, stoop
κύπτω
This is the lowered posture carried inside the verb.
anakyptō: to straighten up, lift the head
ἀνακύπτω
The upward movement reverses the bend, making the command a visible change in posture.
THE PATTERN
When deliverance draws near, release includes both lifted expectation and the restoration of embodied life.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.THE THREAD
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.Both verses use ἀπολύτρωσις (apolýtrōsis, redemption or release): in Luke it draws near, and in Romans it names the body’s redemption. Romans makes the reach of this release explicit: it touches embodied life.
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