What Does Luke 17:29 Mean?
But on the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven, and made them all perish.
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
But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.THE KEY
Lot’s departure and Sodom’s destruction happen on the same day: one moment holds escape and total loss side by side.
THE MEANING
Lot goes out, and fire and brimstone fall on those remaining in Sodom. The verse holds departure and catastrophe within a single day, with no pause between them. It speaks now as a stark image of how abruptly a settled world can end.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A settled routine does not guarantee that everything will continue as it is; the verse places total loss on the very day that begins with Lot’s exit.
THE ROOT
ἀπώλεσεν
apōlesen
GROWS FROM
ἀπόλλυμι
apollymi
To destroy, perish, or lose.
“made them all perish” in this verse is apōlesen. The Greek verb translated “destroyed” also carries the meanings “perish” and “be lost,” holding destruction and loss within one word. Here, “them all” makes that loss total.
ALSO GROWS
apōleia: destruction, ruin, or loss
ἀπώλεια
This noun from the same word family keeps the verse’s catastrophe connected to the broader idea of loss.
apolōlos: lost or perished
ἀπολωλός
This form shows the same root describing a state of being lost, not only an act that destroys.
THE PATTERN
A moment of rupture can place ordinary life and sudden loss within the same day.
Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of the heavens.and they did not know until the flood came and lifted them all away, so is the presence of the Son of Man.Even so it will be in the day when the Son of Man is uncovered.THE THREAD
For God so loved the world that he gave his only-born Son, that everyone who leans their full weight into him should not perish, but have the life of the ages.The Greek word translated “perish” in John 3:16 comes from the same verb family as “destroyed” here. John sets that loss against life, revealing how the word in Luke names more than damage: it speaks of perishing.
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