What Does Luke 2:28 Mean?
And he received him into his arms, and spoke good of God, and said,
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
Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,THE KEY
The verb translated “took him up” means “received”: the blessing begins in welcome, before it becomes speech.
THE MEANING
Receiving is already a form of blessing: a child is welcomed close, and praise rises toward God. The arms make welcome tangible; the mouth gives it voice. The verse speaks now wherever acceptance opens into praise.
THE ROOT
ἐδέξατο
edexato
GROWS FROM
δεχ- (dech-), in δέχομαι (dechomai)
To receive, accept, or welcome.
The English can make this sound like a simple lifting, but the Greek verb means “received” or “welcomed.” His arms make that welcome visible: receiving the child is the first movement in the verse, before he speaks blessing.
ALSO GROWS
apodechomai: Receive or welcome.
ἀποδέχομαι
This compound keeps the same receiving root, making the welcome in the verse part of a wider Greek word family.
dektos: Accepted or welcome.
δεκτός
This related form names what is received as welcome, illuminating the embrace as acceptance.
εὐλόγησεν
eulogēsen
GROWS FROM
λέγω (legō), within εὐλογέω (eulogeō)
λέγω (legō) means “say” or “speak”; εὐλογέω (eulogeō) combines εὖ (eu, “well”) with speaking, and means “bless” or “praise.”
“spoke good of” in this verse is eulogēsen. The same Greek verb can describe praising God and blessing a person. English often separates those acts, but the word family holds spoken praise and blessing together: welcome gives rise to words directed toward God.
ALSO GROWS
logos: Word, saying, or account.
λόγος
It belongs to the same Greek speaking word family, drawing attention to how the verse moves from an embrace into spoken words.
eulogia: Blessing or praise.
εὐλογία
This related noun carries the blessing and praise contained in the verb spoken here.
THE PATTERN
What is welcomed close becomes the occasion for blessing.
And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me here. And he said, Bring them to me, please, and I will bless them.He took them into his arms, laid his hands on them, and spoke good over them.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
Truly, I tell you, whoever does not receive the governance of God as a little child will by no means go into it.The same Greek receive-word links the welcome into arms here with receiving the kingdom as a child there. Luke uses one word for bodily welcome and receptive entry, making the embrace a visible form of that openness.
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