What Does Luke 13:2 Mean?
Jesus answered them, "Do you think these Galileans were those who miss the mark more than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things?"
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 Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilæans were sinners above all the Galilæans, because they suffered such things?THE KEY
A person’s suffering does not prove they were more deeply missing the mark than those who escaped it.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you wherever another person’s catastrophe becomes an accusation against them. Jesus exposes the leap from “they suffered” to “they must have been worse than everyone else”: the event does not establish that comparison. Their suffering is real; the extra verdict is not contained in it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that suffering proves its victims were more guilty than those who escaped it.
THE ROOT
ἁμαρτωλοὶ
hamartōloi
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτ-
hamart-
Missing; failure or error.
“those who miss the mark” in this verse is hamartōloi. The noun labels these people as sinners, while its word-family keeps the sense of missing. Jesus’ question exposes the added judgment hidden in the comparison: their suffering does not mean they were missing more than everyone else.
ALSO GROWS
hamartia: Missing; wrongdoing.
ἁμαρτία
This related noun carries the same sense of missing, clarifying the kind of moral comparison Jesus is questioning.
hamartanō: To miss; to do wrong.
ἁμαρτάνω
The verb makes the word-family’s sense of missing visible as an action, rather than a measure of how much suffering someone deserves.
πεπόνθασιν
peponthasin
GROWS FROM
πάσχω
paschō
To undergo or experience; here, to have suffered.
“suffered” in this verse is peponthasin. The verb states what these people have undergone without giving a reason for it. Jesus separates the fact of their suffering from the moral verdict others attach to it.
ALSO GROWS
pathos: Experience or suffering.
πάθος
This related noun keeps attention on what is undergone, not on a judgment about the sufferer.
pathēma: Suffering; what is endured.
πάθημα
It likewise names the experience itself, without turning that experience into proof of greater guilt.
THE PATTERN
An affliction does not, by itself, rank its sufferer’s guilt above that of others.
Jesus answered, Neither has this man missed the mark, nor his parents, but that the works of God might be brought into the light in him.I turn back and see under the sun that the running is not to the light of foot, nor the battle to the mighty, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the discerning, nor favor to those who perceive; for time and the striking meet them all.And it was so, after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, The burning of my anger is against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken to me the steady thing, as my servant Job has.THE THREAD
For all have missed the mark, and fall short of the weight of God.Luke’s ἁμαρτωλοί (hamartōloi, “those who miss”) and Romans’ ἥμαρτον (hēmarton, “missed”) share the hamart- word family. Romans names a shared human condition; Luke blocks the leap from catastrophe to the claim that its victims are more deeply missing than everyone else.
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