What Does Luke 5:31 Mean in the King James?
And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.
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 physician is not reserved for the already whole; sickness is exactly what makes care necessary.
THE MEANING
You are not outside care because you are unwell; the verse places the physician’s purpose precisely where illness is present. Its contrast also reaches anyone who sees no need: perceived wholeness leaves the physician with no stated work to do.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that needing help makes you unworthy of it dissolves here: illness is precisely the condition that brings the physician’s care into view.
THE ROOT
ὑγιαίνοντες
hygiainontes
GROWS FROM
ὑγι-
Health, soundness; being well.
The word rendered “whole” is ὑγιαίνοντες (hygiainontes, those in health), from ὑγιαίνω (hygiainō, be healthy or sound). Its family gives “whole” the concrete sense of sound health in this physician’s image.
ALSO GROWS
hygiēs: Healthy, sound.
ὑγιής
This related form names the quality of being in good health that the verse describes.
hygeia: Health, soundness.
ὑγίεια
This noun names the state expressed by the verse’s word for those who are whole.
κακῶς ἔχοντες
kakōs echontes
GROWS FROM
κακ-
Bad, harmful, ill.
The phrase for “sick” is κακῶς ἔχοντες (kakōs echontes, literally “having badly”); the adverb describes a person’s condition. The same word family can describe moral badness elsewhere, but here the phrase speaks of ill health, so need itself is not a verdict on character.
ALSO GROWS
kakos: Bad, harmful, ill.
κακός
This adjective shares the κακ- stem behind κακῶς, the word describing how the sick are “having.”
kakia: Badness, malice.
κακία
This related noun shows how the same family can describe badness, sharpening the distinction between moral fault and the illness described here.
יֵשׁוּעַ
Yēšūaʿ
GROWS FROM
י־שׁ־ע
Deliver; bring into spaciousness from distress.
The name Jesus represents Hebrew Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ, Yēšūaʿ, deliverance), from י־שׁ־ע (y-sh-ʿ, deliver). His name carries deliverance into this scene, where those who need a physician are named as the ones for whom care matters.
ALSO GROWS
yāšaʿ: Deliver, bring into spaciousness.
יָשַׁע
This verb is the root’s action of bringing someone out of distress.
yeshuʿah: Deliverance.
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun shares the name’s root and expresses the deliverance carried in Yeshua.
THE PATTERN
Need is the condition that brings healing and care into view.
He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:THE THREAD
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.“Be in health” translates ὑγιαίνειν (hygiainien, to be healthy or sound), from the same Greek word family as “they that are whole” in Luke. One verse names those who are in health; the other uses that same root for health itself.
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