What Does Luke 1:31 Mean?
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.THE KEY
The child is named before his life unfolds because this name tells you the nature of his life: deliverance.
THE MEANING
Conceiving in the womb, bringing forth a son, and calling his name are one unfolding movement: hidden life emerges with its identity already spoken. Jesus echoes Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ (Yēshūaʿ, “deliverance”), from יָשַׁע (yāshaʿ, “to deliver, bring out”); the name makes deliverance the nature carried by this life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A name is only a label added after someone is known; here, the name is given before the child’s life unfolds and discloses his nature.
THE ROOT
καλέσεις
kaléseis
GROWS FROM
καλε-
To call, invite, summon, or give someone a name.
The verse’s καλέσεις (kaléseis, “you will call”) comes from καλέω (kaléō, “to call, invite, summon, name”); its word family reaches from naming to gathering. English “call” can sound like assigning a label, while this Greek verb also holds the force of summons.
ALSO GROWS
kaléō: Call, summon, invite, name.
καλέω
This is the verb’s dictionary form; its range makes the act both identifying and summoning.
klētós: Called, invited.
κλητός
The same k-l family describes one who has received a call, joining the act of naming to being summoned.
ekklēsía: Assembly.
ἐκκλησία
This related form denotes a gathering, extending the sense of calling toward people brought together.
ὄνομα
ónoma
GROWS FROM
ὀνομ-
Name or designation: the identifying word by which someone is known.
The name is given before the child acts or speaks, so it discloses identity in advance rather than serving only as a later label. Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ (Yēshūaʿ, “deliverance”) carries the nature this name announces.
ALSO GROWS
onomázō: To name, mention.
ὀνομάζω
This verb turns the noun into an act, showing naming as something actively spoken.
onomastós: Named, renowned.
ὀνομαστός
The descriptor carries recognition as well as identification, widening “name” beyond a tag.
THE PATTERN
Across scripture, a bestowed name discloses the nature or calling carried by the one who bears it.
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but Abraham, father of multitudes, for I have set you as a father of many nations.For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; the governance shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Father of the Ages, Prince of Wholeness.The one who has an ear, let him hear and respond to what the breath says to the assemblies. To the one who overcomes I will give to eat from the hidden manna, and I will give him a white pebble, and upon the pebble a new name written, which no one knows except the one who takes it.THE THREAD
And she will bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus, the LORD's deliverance, for he will deliver his people from their missing.Matthew repeats the same Greek phrase, καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ (kaléseis to ónoma autoû, “you will call his name”). It then states the name’s work: he delivers his people from their missing, making explicit the nature Luke’s naming already carries.
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