What Does Luke 9:2 Mean in the King James?
And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the 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 sent ones do not merely announce God’s reign; their sending makes its care for bodily weakness visible.
THE MEANING
God’s governance reaches you as a word to hear and as care that meets bodily weakness. The announcement and the healing belong to one sending: God’s rule is present in what is proclaimed and what is restored.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that God’s reign can be proclaimed while the sick remain outside its concern.
THE ROOT
θεραπεῦσαι
therapeusai
GROWS FROM
θεραπευ- (therapeu-), from θεραπεύω (therapeuō)
To attend to, serve, or care for; in this verse, to heal.
The Greek word translated “heal” also carries the sense of attending to someone. Healing here is care extended to those whose strength is failing.
ALSO GROWS
therapeia: Healing, treatment, or care.
θεραπεία
The same word family can name healing as an act of care, not only a change in condition.
therapeutēs: An attendant or one who serves.
θεραπευτής
This related word keeps the sense of tending close to the healing in the verse.
ἀπέστειλεν
apesteilen
GROWS FROM
στέλλω (stellō), in ἀποστέλλω (apostellō)
Στέλλω means to prepare or equip; with ἀπό (apo, from or away), ἀποστέλλω means to send or dispatch.
“sent” in this verse is apesteilen. The verb names a sending that carries a purpose. Here, the paired tasks, proclaiming and healing, show what that sending brings with it.
ALSO GROWS
apostolos: A messenger or one who is sent.
ἀπόστολος
The messenger’s identity grows from the same sending verb used here.
apostolē: A sending, commission, or mission.
ἀποστολή
This noun makes the purpose carried by the sending explicit.
βασιλεία
basileia
GROWS FROM
βασιλευ- (basileu-), related to βασιλεύς (basileus)
Rule, kingship, or royal authority; also the realm under that rule.
“kingdom” in this verse is basileia. Βασιλεία can name a king’s reign as well as the realm. Here, God’s governance is proclaimed alongside the care that restores the sick.
ALSO GROWS
basileus: A king.
βασιλεύς
The king’s identity is the source of the rule named by βασιλεία.
basilikos: Royal, belonging to a king.
βασιλικός
This related word keeps the language of kingdom grounded in the authority and character of its ruler.
THE PATTERN
God’s governance is announced in words and made tangible through the restoration of those who suffer.
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.THE THREAD
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,Both verses use forms of ἀποστέλλω (apostellō), “to send or dispatch.” Luke 4:18 opens the sending in Luke 9:2 further: the message and the work of healing travel together.
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