What Does Luke 21:6 Mean in the King James?
As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
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 pairing of “not be left” with “thrown down” makes the image exhaustive: no stone stays within the structure, and the whole arrangement comes apart.
THE MEANING
The verse holds the reader’s gaze on what appears built to last, then names its complete dismantling: not one stone is left upon another. Its verbs picture every stone leaving its place and the whole arrangement coming apart. A structure’s visible scale does not make it permanent.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie it undoes is that a structure’s scale and apparent permanence guarantee that it will remain intact.
THE ROOT
καταλυθήσεται
katalythēsetai
GROWS FROM
λύω (luō), in καταλύω (kataluō)
λύω (luō) means to loosen or untie; καταλύω (kataluō) means to dismantle or tear down.
“thrown down” in this verse is katalythēsetai. The future verb καταλυθήσεται (katalythēsetai, will be dismantled) comes from καταλύω (kataluō, dismantle), built on λύω (luō, loosen). The structure’s arrangement itself is undone, stone by stone.
ALSO GROWS
luō: Loosen, untie, unbind.
λύω
This is the base verb carried into the demolition word; the picture begins with undoing what is held together.
apoluō: Release, dismiss, send away.
ἀπολύω
This compound shares λύω (luō, loosen); elsewhere the word family can name release, while here the loosening is the destruction of a stone structure.
ἀφεθήσεται
aphethēsetai
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι
aphiēmi
ἀφίημι (aphiēmi) means to let go, leave, release, or forgive.
This verb can mean to leave or let go and elsewhere names forgiveness as release; the KJV’s “left” sits inside that wider letting-go family. Paired with “thrown down,” the wording moves from no stone remaining in place to complete disassembly.
ALSO GROWS
aphiēmi: Leave, let go, release; forgive.
ἀφίημι
This is the verb behind “left”: no stone is left in place within the arrangement.
aphesis: Release; forgiveness.
ἄφεσις
The same word family names release from a burden; here its verb form says that no stone remains in position before the full teardown.
THE PATTERN
Visible structures and forms remain subject to being brought low, removed, or dismantled, however fixed they appear.
And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.THE THREAD
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.Luke’s καταλύω (kataluō, dismantle) returns in 2 Corinthians as “dissolved” for an earthly dwelling. The shared verb joins the falling stones to another image of dismantling, then sets that dismantling beside a building from God.
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