What Does Luke 19:6 Mean?
And he hurried and came down, and took him in rejoicing.
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 made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.THE KEY
He does not merely meet Jesus on the road; he welcomes him as a guest, and that welcome is already joy.
THE MEANING
Your encounter with the one who calls you does not remain at the level of seeing; it becomes a welcome that makes room for presence. The welcome itself is marked by joy: receiving him is already a glad response.
THE ROOT
ὑπεδέξατο
hypedexato
GROWS FROM
δέχομαι
dechomai
To receive, accept, or welcome.
“took him in” in this verse is hypedexato. The verb means more than noticing Jesus or meeting him; it describes welcoming him as a guest. Luke uses this same compound when Martha receives Jesus into her house, making the movement from descent to hospitality explicit.
ALSO GROWS
dechomai: Receive, accept, welcome.
δέχομαι
This is the base verb beneath the compound: the action is taking someone in.
apodechomai: Welcome, accept.
ἀποδέχομαι
Luke uses this related form when the people receive Jesus in Luke 8:40, again showing welcome as an active response.
dektos: Acceptable, welcomed.
δεκτός
This related word names someone received favorably; in Luke 4:24 it appears as “accepted.”
χαίρων
chairōn
GROWS FROM
χαίρω
chairō
To rejoice, be glad.
The form describes him rejoicing as he receives Jesus, so joy belongs to the welcome itself. The same word family gives Greek χαρά (chara, “joy”) and χαῖρε (chaire, “rejoice” or a greeting), keeping gladness close to the act of welcome.
ALSO GROWS
chara: Joy, gladness.
χαρά
This noun names the joy that is present in his manner of receiving.
chaire: Rejoice; a greeting meaning “hail” or “greetings.”
χαῖρε
The related greeting carries the sound of rejoicing into an encounter.
THE PATTERN
Welcome is an active opening that makes room for another’s presence.
Let a little water be taken, please, and wash your feet, and lean yourselves under the tree.Now as they went, he entered a certain village, and a woman named Martha took him into her house.Therefore take hold of one another, as the Anointed One also took hold of us, to the end that God is given weight.THE THREAD
Now as they went, he entered a certain village, and a woman named Martha took him into her house.Luke uses the same Greek verb, ὑποδέχομαι (hypodechomai), meaning “welcome as a guest,” for Martha’s reception of Jesus. The shared word shows that Zacchaeus’s joy is expressed as hospitality: he welcomes Jesus into his space.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us