What Does Luke 5:11 Mean in the King James?
And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.
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 word translated “forsook” also means “release”: following begins as their grip opens.
THE MEANING
At the edge of what has filled your hands, this verse shows a crossing: everything is released, and the way forward is with him. Following changes what you hold on to; it does not leave every attachment untouched.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that following him leaves everything you hold on to unchanged.
THE ROOT
ἀφέντες
aphentes
GROWS FROM
ἀπό + ἵημι (apo + hiēmi)
To send away, let go, or release.
“forsook” in this verse is aphentes. The verb can describe leaving something behind, but it also carries the sense of letting go or releasing. Here, release is the hinge between everything they leave at the shore and their movement with him.
ALSO GROWS
aphesis: Release, dismissal, or forgiveness.
ἄφεσις
This related noun names the release proclaimed to captives in Luke 4:18, widening the sense of “forsook” beyond simple abandonment.
aphiēmi: To let go, leave, or forgive.
ἀφίημι
One verb holds together leaving something behind and releasing what is held, illuminating the disciples’ departure as an act of letting go.
THE PATTERN
A new path opens when what once filled or anchored the hands is released.
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,THE THREAD
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,The Greek noun translated “deliverance” and “liberty” here belongs to the same word family as “forsook.” That shared language opens the verse toward release: what is let go can also be what frees a person from captivity.
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