What Does Luke 18:15 Mean?
And they brought babies to him, that he might touch them. But when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
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 they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.THE KEY
Luke uses the same Greek word for these infants that he uses for John still in the womb, placing unborn and carried babies inside one word for an infant.
THE MEANING
You can be brought close before you can speak or ask for yourself: here, infants are carried to Jesus so he can touch them. The same scene shows others trying to control that access, as the disciples rebuke the people bringing them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You must be able to speak for yourself before someone can bring you near Jesus.
THE ROOT
ἅπτηται
haptētai
GROWS FROM
ἅπτω
haptō
To fasten or attach; in the middle voice, ἅπτομαι (haptomai) means to touch or take hold.
The verb carries the sense of making contact or laying hold, so the infants are brought within actual bodily reach. Luke uses the same verb when crowds seek to touch Jesus and are healed, linking this requested touch with the Gospel’s language of encounter.
ALSO GROWS
haptomai: To touch or take hold of.
ἅπτομαι
Luke 6:19 uses this same verb for the crowds seeking contact with Jesus; touch is a point of encounter, not a decorative gesture.
haphē: Contact, connection, or a joint.
ἁφή
This related noun can describe a body’s points of connection, extending the word family’s sense from touching to joined contact.
προσήνεγκαν
prosēnenkan
GROWS FROM
φέρω
pherō
To carry, bear, or bring; προσφέρω (prospherō) means to bring toward or present.
“brought” in this verse is prosēnenkan. The verb holds together carrying and bringing someone or something forward to another. The infants cannot make this approach for themselves; other people carry them toward Jesus.
ALSO GROWS
pherō: To carry, bear, or bring.
φέρω
This is the verb’s basic root: the people are carrying the infants toward Jesus.
prosphora: A presentation or offering; something brought forward.
προσφορά
This related noun preserves the sense of bringing something near, highlighting the purposeful approach described in the verse.
ἐπετίμησαν
epetimēsan
GROWS FROM
τιμάω (timaō), in the compound ἐπιτιμάω (epitimaō)
τιμάω (timaō) means to value or honor; ἐπιτιμάω (epitimaō) has the established sense of rebuking or censuring.
“rebuked” in this verse is epetimēsan. This is an active censure, not a quiet logistical delay. Luke uses the same rebuke verb when Jesus commands a fever to leave; here it names the disciples’ forceful response to those carrying the infants.
ALSO GROWS
timē: Value or honor.
τιμή
This related noun belongs to the word family behind the rebuke verb, which carries an evaluative sense.
epitimaō: To rebuke, censure, or speak sharply against.
ἐπιτιμάω
Luke uses this verb in Luke 4:39 when Jesus rebukes the fever, showing its forceful quality.
THE PATTERN
Care becomes tangible through bodies brought near and hands laid on them.
And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the little one, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands skillfully; for Manasseh was the firstborn.When she had heard about Jesus, she came into the crowd from behind and touched his garment.And the whole crowd sought to touch him, for strength went out from him and healed them all.THE THREAD
And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb, and Elisabeth was filled with the Set-Apart Breath.Luke uses βρέφος (brephos, infant or babe) for John still in the womb, the same noun behind βρέφη (brephē, infants) here. That shared word stretches the verse’s category of infancy from the womb to babies carried in arms.
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