What Does Luke 23:18 Mean in the King James?

And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas:

Luke 23:18 · 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 crowd uses the language of freedom to release the guilty and demand the removal of the innocent.

THE MEANING

A crowd can demand freedom for the guilty while insisting that the innocent be taken away. The two commands reveal how a public demand can turn release into a choice about whom justice serves.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Agreement does not make a demand just: a crowd can call for a guilty man’s release while rejecting the innocent.

THE ROOT

ἀπόλυσον

apolýson

GROWS FROM

λύω

lyō

to loosen, untie, or unbind

The request to release Barabbas carries the sense of loosening someone from restraint. Set beside the command to take Jesus away, release is not an abstract idea here: one man is let go while the other is rejected.

ALSO GROWS

apolýō: to release, dismiss, or set free

ἀπολύω

This is the verb behind the crowd’s request; it names the loosening Barabbas is to receive.

katalýō: to loosen down, dismantle, or destroy

καταλύω

The same root can describe something being taken apart, echoing the verse’s paired movement of release for one and removal for another.

THE PATTERN

When judgment is driven by collective desire, the guilty can be released as the just are rejected.

He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.

Proverbs 17:15 · KJVThe verse names the reversal of justice that occurs when the wicked are cleared and the just are condemned.

Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

Isaiah 5:23 · KJVIt shows the guilty being justified while the righteous are stripped of what is due to them.

But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;

Acts 3:14 · KJVThe desire for a murderer to be granted echoes the demand for Barabbas, while the just one is denied.

THE THREAD

And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.

Luke 23:25 · KJV

The crowd asks for Barabbas to be released, and this verse repeats the same Greek release verb as the demand is carried out. The shared root frames the exchange: Barabbas is let go, while Jesus is handed over.

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