What Does Luke 16:31 Mean?
But he said to him, If they do not hear and respond to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded, even though one stands up from the dead.
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 he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.THE KEY
The missing thing is not another sign but hearing that opens into trust.
THE MEANING
This verse names the limit of proof: you can encounter truth and still refuse to be persuaded. Even a resurrection does not compel trust when the witness already before you is not received.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that one more spectacular proof must convince anyone: a sign cannot force trust in someone who will not receive the witness already present.
THE ROOT
πεισθήσονται
peisthēsontai
GROWS FROM
πειθ-
To persuade or win over; in the passive, to be convinced or trust.
The verse uses the passive form of πείθω (peithō): they will be persuaded, or won over. The related noun πίστις (pistis) means trust or confidence, so the contrast is between seeing a sign and being moved into trust.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: Trust, confidence
πίστις
This related word shows that persuasion reaches beyond hearing a claim: it can become trust.
apeitheō: Refuse to be persuaded; disobey
ἀπειθέω
This related formation names the refusal that stands opposite to being persuaded.
ἀκούσωσιν
akousōsin
GROWS FROM
ἀκου-
To hear or listen.
“hear and respond” in this verse is akousōsin. The same word-family can name hearing a report, while ὑπακούω (hypakouō) carries listening through to obedience. The verse places the break before persuasion: what is already spoken has not been received.
ALSO GROWS
akoē: Hearing; a report
ἀκοή
It connects hearing with the message received, not only the act of detecting sound.
hypakouō: Listen to; obey
ὑπακούω
It shows how hearing can extend into a response to what is heard.
THE PATTERN
More evidence cannot produce reception where the witness already present is not heard.
Yet the LORD has not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear and respond, to this day.For if you had leaned your full weight on Moses, you would have leaned it on me, for he wrote about me.But though he had done so many signs before them, they did not lean their weight on him.THE THREAD
Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear and respond to them.Luke 16:29 uses the same verb, ἀκούω (akouō), for the response Abraham says is needed: hearing Moses and the prophets. Verse 31 sharpens the point: another sign cannot replace the hearing that opens into trust.
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