What Does Luke 10:19 Mean?
Look, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the strength of the enemy, and nothing will by any means injure you.
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
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.THE KEY
The authority given to you and the enemy’s power are different things: one is placed over the other.
THE MEANING
You receive authority to tread upon what threatens you and over the enemy’s full power. The verse does not make the serpents, scorpions, or the enemy’s force imaginary; it declares that nothing will injure you. The authority given to you stands above the threat.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that the enemy’s power is absolute and decides what can happen to you.
THE ROOT
ἐξουσίαν
exousian
GROWS FROM
ἔξεστι
exesti
What is permitted or possible; by extension, the right or authority to act.
The verse says that you are given authority over the enemy’s power. English uses “power” for both, but one is a granted right to act and the other is the force being placed beneath it.
ALSO GROWS
exousia: Authority, right, or jurisdiction.
ἐξουσία
This is the noun used for what is given to you in the verse.
exousiazō: To exercise authority or have power over.
ἐξουσιάζω
This verb shows the root’s movement from having a right to exercising it.
δύναμιν
dynamin
GROWS FROM
δύναμαι
dynamai
To be able or capable; the capacity to act.
The enemy’s force is named plainly, but it is not the highest force in the sentence: its full capacity falls under the authority given to you. The two words translated “power” reveal a relationship of authority over capacity.
ALSO GROWS
dynatos: Able, capable, or powerful.
δυνατός
It names what has the capacity to act, the sense of power attributed to the enemy here.
dynamoō: To strengthen or empower.
δυναμόω
It shows the root as a capacity being strengthened or made effective.
THE PATTERN
What threatens the reader is placed beneath God’s authority, even when it can strike back.
And I will set opposition between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.On the lion and the adder you tread; the young lion and the serpent you trample.And the God of wholeness will crush the Adversary under your feet swiftly. The favor of our Lord Jesus, the anointed one, be with you. Amen.THE THREAD
Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to heal diseases.This verse in Luke also pairs what is given with authority over hostile power. Luke 10:19 sharpens that pairing by naming the enemy’s full power and placing the given authority over it.
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