What Does Luke 22:18 Mean in the King James?

For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.

Luke 22:18 · 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 cup waits for God’s governance to arrive, making the kingdom a coming event.

THE MEANING

Jesus withholds the vine’s fruit until God’s governance comes. The waiting holds the promise of that arrival in the reader’s present: the cup is still ahead.

THE ROOT

βασιλεία

basileia

GROWS FROM

βασιλ-

basil-

Kingly rule, royal authority, governance.

The Greek word points to the exercise of a ruler’s authority, so God’s kingdom carries the sense of God’s governance arriving. Paired with “shall come,” it is pictured as an event still awaited, not merely a place.

ALSO GROWS

basileus: king; ruler

βασιλεύς

The related title names the authority behind the kingdom and keeps its focus on governance.

basileuō: to reign; to rule

βασιλεύω

This verb makes the word family active: the kingdom is rule being exercised, not only territory.

THE PATTERN

God’s promised reign is pictured as arrival into a shared feast.

And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

Isaiah 25:6 · KJVGod’s promised abundance takes the form of a feast with wine shared among all peoples.

And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

Luke 14:15 · KJVThe kingdom of God is pictured as a table where people eat together.

And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Revelation 19:9 · KJVThe promised marriage supper pictures the reign’s arrival as a shared celebration.

THE THREAD

And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

Mark 9:1 · KJV

Mark uses the same Greek word for God’s kingdom and the same verb of coming, then describes that arrival as “with power.” The shared wording lets Luke’s withheld cup be heard within the same expectation of God’s reign arriving.

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