What Does Luke 10:35 Mean?
And the next day, as he departed, he took out two denarii and gave them to the one who takes all in, and said, Tend to him. Whatever more you spend, I will give it back to you when I return.
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 on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.THE KEY
The cost of care is left open on purpose: the rescuer entrusts the wounded man’s ongoing need to someone else and promises to answer for whatever more it takes.
THE MEANING
Care continues beyond the first rescue: another person receives responsibility and provision to tend the wounded man. The cost has no stated ceiling, and the one who leaves promises to return and repay whatever more is spent.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that entrusting care to someone else means abandoning it: responsibility travels with provision and a promise to return.
THE ROOT
ἀποδώσω
apodōsō
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give; in this word, to give back or repay.
The word translated “repay” carries “give” inside it: ἀποδίδωμι (apodidōmi) means “give back,” from δίδωμι (didōmi), “give.” The additional spending is treated as provision the departing Samaritan takes responsibility for when he returns.
ALSO GROWS
didōmi: To give.
δίδωμι
The root makes the promised repayment a form of giving, not a separate idea from provision.
paradidōmi: To hand over, deliver, or entrust.
παραδίδωμι
This branch echoes how care and resources are handed to the host to continue the work.
ἐπιμελήθητι
epimelēthēti
GROWS FROM
μέλω
melō
To matter or be a concern; to receive care.
“Take care” in this verse is epimelēthēti. The verb for care belongs to a word family rooted in what matters and draws concern. The wounded man continues to matter after the first rescuer leaves; care takes the form of sustained attention through another person.
ALSO GROWS
melei: It matters; it concerns.
μέλει
This form makes care more than a task: the wounded person’s need remains a matter of concern.
epimeleia: Care or attention.
ἐπιμέλεια
This related noun names the sustained attention the host is entrusted to give.
THE PATTERN
Care becomes durable through material provision, with the giver remaining answerable for what the need costs.
But you shall open your hand wide to him, and you shall surely lend him enough for what he lacks.Whoever lends to the LORD shows favor to the emptied one, and what his hands have done, he makes whole for him.And one of you says to them, Go in wholeness, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them what the body needs. What is the profit?THE THREAD
And he came near to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and lifted him onto his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and tended him.The same care-verb appears in both verses. In this verse care binds wounds, supplies transport, and brings the injured man to shelter; the next verse extends that care through the host and an open-ended promise to repay.
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