What Does Luke 21:35 Mean in the King James?

For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

Luke 21:35 · 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 day catches the whole earth while its people are still “dwelling”, a word that pictures them sitting in place, with no settled life beyond the snare’s reach.

THE MEANING

The coming day reaches everyone spread across the earth, catching them like a trap. The image holds both its sudden arrival and its universal reach: no place on earth lies outside it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A settled life or a particular place can put me beyond the day’s reach.

THE ROOT

παγίς

pagis

GROWS FROM

⁨πηγ-⁩/⁨παγ-⁩ (pēg-/pag-)

Fix, fasten, or set firmly in place.

The Greek word-family connects the snare with something fixed or set in place: a trap that catches rather than merely appears. The day comes not just into view; it reaches the whole earth as a snare.

ALSO GROWS

pēgnymi: To fix or fasten.

πήγνυμι

This related verb carries the sense of something made fast, illuminating the snare as a trap set to catch.

pagideuō: To ensnare or entrap.

παγιδεύω

This verb from the same word-family makes explicit what the image does: it catches and holds.

THE PATTERN

The coming day reaches those across the earth with the suddenness and force of a trap.

Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

Isaiah 24:17 · KJVThe inhabitant of the earth faces fear, pit, and snare together, echoing the reach of the day in Luke.

They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

Luke 17:27 · KJVOrdinary life continues until the day arrives and suddenly overtakes those living across the land.

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

1 Thessalonians 5:3 · KJVThe sudden arrival and lack of escape echo the snare that comes upon the whole earth.

THE THREAD

And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

Luke 21:34 · KJV

The preceding verse names what can weigh down the heart as the day approaches. Together, these verses place the snare within the very life that can seem ordinary and settled.

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