What Does Luke 19:15 Mean?
And when he came back, having taken the governance, he commanded these servants to be called to him, to whom he had given the silver, so that he might know what each had gained by trading.
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 it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.THE KEY
The return turns what was handed over into a question: what did each person do with it?
THE MEANING
What reaches your hands is entrusted, and its use comes into view when the authority behind it returns. The reckoning sees each person’s dealings with what they received, not possession alone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that merely possessing what is entrusted completes the obligation; the verse asks what was done with it.
THE ROOT
διεπραγματεύσατο
diepragmateusato
GROWS FROM
πραγματ-
pragmat-
The root family centers on a matter, deed, or practical affair.
The word translated “gained by trading” belongs to a family about conducting business and dealing with practical matters. The question reaches beyond what each servant possessed to what each actually did with the entrusted sum.
ALSO GROWS
pragma: A matter, deed, or thing done.
πρᾶγμα
It points toward what each person did with the money, not just what was placed in their hands.
pragmateuomai: To conduct business or transact.
πραγματεύομαι
This related verb brings out the active dealings behind the servants’ reported results.
pragmateia: Business, occupation, or practical activity.
πραγματεία
It frames the time between the handover and the return as a period of activity with the entrusted resource.
δεδώκει
dedōkei
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give, grant, or place something into another’s hands.
“had given” in this verse is dedōkei. The money is first placed in the servants’ care, and then their actions are brought into view. The same giving word appears in Luke 12:48: what is given is tied to what is asked of the receiver.
ALSO GROWS
apodidōmi: To give back, render, or repay.
ἀποδίδωμι
The giving family also includes returning or rendering something, echoing the movement from entrustment to account.
paradidōmi: To hand over or entrust.
παραδίδωμι
This compound makes vivid the transfer of something into another person’s care.
dosis: A giving or gift.
δόσις
It names the act of giving that precedes the servants’ dealings with what they receive.
THE PATTERN
What is entrusted becomes visible through what is done with it when the giver calls for an account.
After a long while the lord of those servants comes and settles accounts with them.Moreover, it is sought among portioners that someone be found steady.So then each of us shall give an account of himself to God.THE THREAD
But the one who did not know, and did what deserves blows, will be beaten with few blows. To everyone to whom much is given, much will be sought from him, and to whom much has been placed beside him, they will ask all the more of him.The Greek verb for “had given” in this verse is from the same giving word rendered “is given” in Luke 12:48. The shared root links what is placed in someone’s hands with the measure of what is asked of them.
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