What Does Luke 5:29 Mean in the King James?
And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.
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 Greek word for “feast” carries the root of receiving: Levi’s house becomes a place of welcome where Jesus and a large company gather.
THE MEANING
Levi’s home holds Jesus and a large, mixed company at one table. Welcome gathers them there without making the room uniform first.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that you must first become respectable before you can be received into Jesus’ company.
THE ROOT
δοχή
dochē
GROWS FROM
δέχομαι
to receive, welcome
The word for feast, δοχή, grows from the Greek family of δέχομαι: to receive or welcome. The meal is a reception, making room for Jesus and a large company in Levi’s house.
ALSO GROWS
dechomai: receive, welcome
δέχομαι
The root beneath “feast” points to welcome as part of what the gathering does.
apodechomai: receive, welcome
ἀποδέχομαι
This related form keeps the idea of reception visible: a gathering opens space for those who come.
prosdechomai: receive, welcome
προσδέχομαι
This related form appears when Jesus is described as receiving people who are eating with him.
THE PATTERN
Welcome becomes visible when people who are usually kept apart share a place at the table.
And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.THE THREAD
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.“Receiveth” translates προσδέχομαι (prosdechomai), a word from the same Greek root family as the “feast” in Levi’s house. Luke makes the connection plain: receiving people and eating with them belong together.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us