What Does Luke 10:10 Mean?
But into whatever city you enter, and they do not take you in, go out into its wide streets, and say,
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
But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,THE KEY
A city’s refusal does not swallow the message; it sends it out into the open.
THE MEANING
When welcome closes around you, the encounter moves into the city’s shared streets. Rejection is not the last event in this sentence: the messengers go out, and speech is still coming.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that when a community refuses the messenger, nothing remains to be said.
THE ROOT
πλατείας
plateias
GROWS FROM
πλατ-
plat-
Broad, wide; the word for streets carries the sense of broad public space.
“wide streets” in this verse is plateias. The English “streets” gives the location but hides its image of breadth. The speech moves into the city’s wide, shared space, where it can be heard beyond those who refused welcome.
ALSO GROWS
platys: broad, wide
πλατύς
This adjective shares the root behind the word for streets, making their breadth audible beneath the translation.
platynō: to widen, make broad
πλατύνω
This verb shows the same root at work as an opening or enlarging, echoing the move from refusal into public space.
δέχωνται
dechōntai
GROWS FROM
δεχ-
dech-
To receive, welcome, or accept.
“receive” in this verse is dechōntai. The word carries the sense of welcome or acceptance, so the city is withholding its welcome from those who enter. The same root appears in Matthew’s parallel instruction, connecting this refusal to the response that follows.
ALSO GROWS
apodechomai: to accept, welcome
ἀποδέχομαι
This related word makes the welcoming sense of reception explicit.
prosdechomai: to receive, welcome, await
προσδέχομαι
This branch keeps reception tied to openness toward someone arriving.
THE PATTERN
When welcome is refused, the word moves into public space where others can hear it.
Cry aloud, do not hold back, lift your voice like a ram's horn, and declare to my people their rebellion, and the house of Jacob their shortcomings.So he talked it through in the synagogue with the Jews and with the reverent ones, and in the market daily with those who happened upon him.THE THREAD
Whoever will not take you in, nor hear and respond to your words, as you go out from that house or city, shake the dust out from your feet.The word translated “receive” in both verses comes from the same Greek root for welcoming or accepting. Matthew gives a visible counterpart to Luke’s unfinished “and say”: the messengers depart, and the refusal is answered openly.
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