What Does Luke 6:21 Mean in the King James?
Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
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
Flourishing is spoken over you while hunger and grief still press, so lack is not the measure of your whole life.
THE MEANING
You are flourishing even while hunger or grief is present; the ache is real, but it does not define the whole of what is coming to you. You will be satisfied, and your tears will give way to laughter.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that you can flourish only after your needs are met and your grief has ended.
THE ROOT
χορτασθήσεσθε
chortasthēsesthe
GROWS FROM
χορτ-
chort-
The word-family grows from χόρτος (chortos), grass or fodder; χορτάζω (chortazō) means to feed or satisfy.
“filled” in this verse is chortasthēsesthe. The promise is more concrete than an abstract sense of completion: the hungry are fed until satisfied. The verse holds hunger and filling together as bodily realities, with nourishment answering what is missing now.
ALSO GROWS
chortos: Grass or fodder.
χόρτος
It preserves the feeding image inside the promise of being filled.
chortazō: To feed or satisfy.
χορτάζω
This is the verb behind “ye shall be filled”: the promise is nourishment that satisfies.
μακάριοι
makarioi
GROWS FROM
μακαρ-
makar-
The word-family carries the sense of fortunate, flourishing, or blessed.
“Blessed” in this verse is makarioi. The adjective is spoken over people who are hungry and weeping, so flourishing cannot mean that life already feels easy. The word names a condition that can coexist with present need, while the verse promises that need does not remain unanswered.
ALSO GROWS
makarizō: To call or count someone blessed.
μακαρίζω
It shows that the word-family can name a person as flourishing, as this verse does.
makarismos: Blessedness or the state of being called blessed.
μακαρισμός
It carries the same description of flourishing beyond a momentary feeling of happiness.
THE PATTERN
Scripture speaks of flourishing amid present need while holding open a coming answer of nourishment and joy.
For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.THE THREAD
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.Matthew uses the same Greek word-family as Luke for “flourishing” and “be filled,” so the connection rests in the shared wording as well as the theme. Matthew adds thirst for righteousness, alignment, showing that the image of being fed reaches beyond food to the longing for life set right.
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