What Does Luke 12:21 Mean?
So is the one who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
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
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.THE KEY
The verse measures wealth by its destination: a life can fill its storehouse for itself and still be poor toward God.
THE MEANING
This verse names a life that gathers its reserves around itself yet remains poor in its relation to God. Richness is not only what is held; it is also what one’s resources are turned toward. It speaks now wherever self-protection has become the final destination of everything gathered.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a larger reserve for oneself proves a richer life. Accumulation can secure possessions while leaving a person poor toward God.
THE ROOT
θησαυρίζων
thēsaurizōn
GROWS FROM
θησαυρ-
thēsaur-
To store up or treasure; the word belongs to the same family as the Greek word for a treasure or storehouse.
“stores up” in this verse is thēsaurizōn. The verb is built on the word for treasure or storehouse: it means turning what you have into a reserve. Here that reserve is gathered for the self, making its direction as revealing as its size.
ALSO GROWS
thēsauros: Treasure; storehouse
θησαυρός
The related noun makes the storage image visible: what is gathered becomes a reserve.
apothēsaurizō: Store away; lay up in store
ἀποθησαυρίζω
This related verb appears in 1 Timothy 6:19, where good works are described as laying up a foundation for the future.
πλουτῶν εἰς θεόν
ploutōn eis theon
GROWS FROM
πλουτ-
plout-
To be rich or abound in resources; from πλοῦτος (ploutos), wealth.
The phrase gives wealth a direction: the person is rich “toward God” (εἰς θεόν, eis theon), describing a relation, not merely a tally of property. The contrast is between what gathers around the self and what counts as wealth in relation to God.
ALSO GROWS
ploutos: Wealth; abundance
πλοῦτος
The related noun names the abundance whose direction this verse weighs.
ploutizō: Enrich; make rich
πλουτίζω
This related verb shows that the word family includes both possessing abundance and becoming enriched.
THE PATTERN
A person’s wealth is disclosed by the direction of what is stored and shared, not by the size of the reserve.
One scatters and yet increases, and another keeps back beyond the straight, but only toward lack.But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust gnaws them out of sight, and where thieves do not dig through nor steal.Storing up for themselves a good foundation for what is about to come, that they may take hold of the life that truly is.THE THREAD
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust gnaws them out of sight, and where thieves do not dig through nor steal.Matthew uses the same Greek verb, θησαυρίζω (thēsaurizō), “to store up,” translated here as “lay up.” The shared word makes the direction of the reserve the point: Luke names treasure gathered for the self, while Matthew places the treasure in heaven.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us