What Does Luke 5:33 Mean in the King James?
And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?
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 verse names both sides as learners before contrasting their practices, so practice alone cannot explain their difference.
THE MEANING
You see learners gathered around different rhythms: some fast and make petitions, while others eat and drink. The verse holds both groups in view without declaring one practice the measure of every learner. Its next line shows that the difference turns on what is present in the moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that every sincere learner must show devotion through the same visible practice does not hold here.
THE ROOT
μαθηταί
mathētai
GROWS FROM
μαθ-
learn
“disciples” in this verse is mathētai. The same word names John’s learners, the Pharisees’ learners, and Jesus’ learners. Their practices differ, but the verse first places them all in the posture of learning.
ALSO GROWS
mathētēs: learner, disciple
μαθητής
This is the singular form behind “disciples,” naming someone by learning rather than by a particular discipline.
mathēma: lesson, what is learned
μάθημα
Its shared stem links the learners in the verse to what they take in; their different habits do not erase that shared root.
νηστεύουσιν
nēsteuousin
GROWS FROM
νηστ-
fast, abstain from food
“fast” in this verse is nēsteuousin. Fasting is set directly beside eating and drinking, making the contrast visible in the body as well as in religious practice. The same verb returns in the next verse, where fasting belongs to a different moment.
ALSO GROWS
nēsteia: fasting
νηστεία
The noun names the practice that the verb describes in this verse.
nēsteuōn: one who is fasting
νηστεύων
This participle keeps the same root for the person undergoing the practice, showing fasting as a state within a particular time.
δεήσεις
deēseis
GROWS FROM
δεη-
need, request, plea
The word translated “prayers” specifically carries the sense of petitions or pleas. It presents the fasting group’s practice as an expression of need, not simply a general marker of religious identity.
ALSO GROWS
deēsis: petition, plea, supplication
δέησις
This is the singular form of the word used for “prayers” here.
deomai: need, ask, plead
δέομαι
The related verb brings the sense of need beneath the petition named in the verse.
THE PATTERN
The fitting form of a practice can change with the season and what is present.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.THE THREAD
But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.The Greek verb for “fast” here returns in the next verse: νηστεύουσιν becomes νηστεύσουσιν. The next line names what changes, the bridegroom is taken away, so the contrast is tied to presence and time, not to a ranking of learners.
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