What Does Luke 12:59 Mean?
I say to you, you will not come out from there until you give back even the last thin coin.
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
I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite.THE KEY
The smallest unpaid remainder is the boundary that holds the door shut until it is returned.
THE MEANING
Your departure stands behind a precise threshold: you do not leave until the final, smallest coin is paid back. Near completion still leaves the remainder owed; the verse makes the boundary exact.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a nearly settled debt leaves you free to go.
THE ROOT
ἀποδῷς
apodōis
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
δίδωμι (didōmi) means give; in ἀποδίδωμι (apodidōmi), with ἀπό (apo, from or back), the sense is give back, render, or pay.
“give back” in this verse is apodōis. The verb translated “paid” carries the idea of giving back what is owed. The verse ties departure to that return, down to the last coin.
ALSO GROWS
apodidōmi: Give back, render, pay.
ἀποδίδωμι
This is the verb behind “paid,” presenting payment as the return of what is owed.
apodosis: Repayment, rendering.
ἀπόδοσις
This related noun names the act of returning what is due, keeping the verse’s focus on the debt being settled.
antapodidōmi: Repay, recompense.
ἀνταποδίδωμι
The same giving root appears in repayment in response, making clear that what remains owed still binds the account.
THE PATTERN
What remains owed continues to govern the boundary of release until it is rendered.
And his lord swelled with anger and handed him over to the tormentors, until he should give back all that was owed to him.Therefore give back to all what is owed; the carried to whom the carrying is owed, the toll to whom the toll is owed, the trembling to whom trembling is owed, the weight to whom weight is owed.The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a servant to the lender.THE THREAD
Truly, I say to you, you shall by no means come out from there until you have given back the last copper coin.Matthew’s parallel uses the same Greek verb for paying back and likewise sets departure after the final coin is paid. The shared give-back root makes the condition precise: the way out follows the return of what is owed.
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