What Does Luke 8:45 Mean in the King James?
And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
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 crowd’s pressure surrounds Jesus, but one person’s touch reaches him.
THE MEANING
Jesus distinguishes a touch from the press of the crowd around him. The multitude fills the space, yet its nearness does not erase the singular contact he recognizes. His question brings one person into view within the mass.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that proximity guarantees contact: the crowd presses against Jesus, yet its pressure is not the touch he names.
THE ROOT
ἥψατο
hēpsato
GROWS FROM
ἅπτω (haptō) / ἅπτομαι (haptomai)
To fasten or attach; in the middle voice, to touch or take hold.
“touched” in this verse is hēpsato. The verb Jesus uses carries the sense of taking hold, not simply being nearby. This word family also means to kindle a lamp: contact can be the point through which something catches, making this one touch distinct within the crowd.
ALSO GROWS
haptomai: To touch or fasten oneself to something.
ἅπτομαι
This is the verb for the contact Jesus singles out from the surrounding press.
haptō: To fasten to; also to kindle or light, as a lamp.
ἅπτω
The same word family links contact with the moment something catches light.
ἀποθλίβουσιν
apothlibousin
GROWS FROM
θλίβω
thlibō
To press, squeeze, or afflict.
“press” in this verse is apothlibousin. The crowd’s action belongs to a word family of pressure and affliction, giving Peter’s reply the force of bodies pressing in. Greek sets this surrounding pressure apart from the touch Jesus asks about.
ALSO GROWS
thlibō: To press or squeeze; also to afflict.
θλίβω
This is the pressure Peter points to when he argues that many people are crowding Jesus.
thlipsis: Pressure or distress.
θλῖψις
The related word makes visible the constraining force behind the crowd’s pressing.
THE PATTERN
Being near is not the same as making contact; a person can be recognized within a crowd of bodies.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;THE THREAD
Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.Luke uses ἅπτομαι (haptomai, touch or take hold) for the woman’s reach in verse 44 and again in Jesus’s question here. Peter describes the crowd with ἀποθλίβω (apothlibō, press hard), distinguishing her contact from the crowd’s surrounding force.
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