What Does Luke 2:33 Mean?
And Joseph and his mother marveled at the things spoken about him.
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 Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.THE KEY
Even those closest to the child are astonished by the words spoken about him.
THE MEANING
You can stand close to someone and still be astonished by what is spoken about them. Here, nearness does not cancel wonder; the words about the child exceed what those closest to him can take for granted.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Closeness does not mean you already understand the whole meaning of the person before you.
THE ROOT
θαυμάζοντες
thaumazontes
GROWS FROM
θαυμαζ-
thaumaz-
Wonder or astonishment at what exceeds expectation.
“marveled” in this verse is thaumazontes. The Greek word family links the act of marveling with a wonder and with what is wonderful. The word marks a response to something larger than the hearer can simply take in; even those nearest to the child meet the words about him with astonishment.
ALSO GROWS
thauma: Wonder, marvel.
θαῦμα
The noun names what draws a person into the response expressed by “marvelled.”
thaumastos: Wonderful, astonishing.
θαυμαστός
This adjective describes what calls forth wonder, linking the hearers’ response to the striking words about the child.
THE PATTERN
What exceeds ordinary understanding draws listeners into wonder.
Such perceiving is too wonderful for me; it is high, and I cannot reach it.Therefore, behold, I will add again to do a wonder among this people, even a wonder and a marvel; for the wisdom of their wise ones will lose its way, and the discernment of their discerning ones will be hidden.And they were all beside themselves and marveled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these who speak Galilaeans?THE THREAD
And all who heard it marveled at the things spoken to them by the shepherds.Luke uses the same Greek verb, θαυμάζω (thaumazō), for the listeners in both verses. The wonder first belongs to all who hear the shepherds’ report, then also to Joseph and the child’s mother as they hear words spoken about him.
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