What Does Luke 14:2 Mean?
And, behold, a certain man was before him, swollen with waters.
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, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.THE KEY
The verse makes the man visible in Jesus’ presence before anyone explains or judges his condition.
THE MEANING
The verse places a person with a visible condition directly before Jesus and holds your attention on him there. Dropsy describes what he has; it does not erase the fact that he is a man. The text gives no cause for the condition and assigns him no blame.
THE ROOT
ὑδρωπικός
hydropikos
GROWS FROM
ὕδωρ / ὑδρο-
Water; ὑδρωπικός belongs to the Greek water-word family and names a person with dropsy.
“swollen with waters” in this verse is hydropikos. Under “dropsy,” the Greek preserves its water association, adding the image of bodily swelling. The verse gives this as a condition carried by a man standing in Jesus’ presence; it supplies no cause or moral meaning.
ALSO GROWS
hydōr: Water.
ὕδωρ
This is the base water-word behind the family used to name the condition.
hydria: A water jar.
ὑδρία
The shared ὑδρ- form keeps the word family concrete and connected to water.
hydrōps: Dropsy; the condition named by the adjective in this verse.
ὕδρωψ
This is the related noun behind ὑδρωπικός.
ἰδού
idou
GROWS FROM
ὁράω
See, look, perceive.
The opening “behold” calls the reader to look; it is not just a decorative transition. Before the scene gives an outcome, it makes the person and his condition visible.
ALSO GROWS
eidon: Saw.
εἶδον
This is an aorist form in the irregular Greek verb family of ὁράω; ἰδού carries the same call to see.
oida: Know, perceive.
οἶδα
This form is historically related to seeing, showing how the word family can move from sight to perception.
THE PATTERN
A bodily condition is brought into Jesus’ sight before its outcome is declared.
When Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said to her, "Woman, you have been unbound from your weakness."And he said to the man whose hand had dried, Rise up into the middle.As Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from his birth.THE THREAD
But they kept still. And he took hold of him, and healed him, and let him go.The man’s condition is first placed before Jesus; this verse then shows Jesus healing him and letting him go. The scene moves from visible condition to healing and release.
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