What Does Luke 20:23 Mean?
But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, Why are you testing me?
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
But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me?THE KEY
The question is already a test: Jesus sees the hidden purpose before answering its wording.
THE MEANING
You can perceive when a question is serving as a test rather than seeking an open answer. Jesus names the act plainly: they are testing him. The words they choose do not erase the intention they carry.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a question’s surface wording guarantees honest inquiry; here, the question is a test.
THE ROOT
πανουργίαν
panourgian
GROWS FROM
πανοῦργος (panourgos), a compound of πᾶν (pan, all) and ἔργον (ergon, deed or work)
Ready for any deed; in use, cunning or unscrupulous craft.
“craftiness” in this verse is panourgian. The word points to cunning put into action, not merely clever thought. Jesus perceives that the question has been shaped as a tactic.
ALSO GROWS
panourgos: Crafty, cunning, or unscrupulous.
πανοῦργος
The related adjective describes someone prepared to use whatever means will serve the aim.
ergon: Deed or work.
ἔργον
This element of the compound gives craftiness an active edge: it is cunning expressed through what someone does.
πειράζετε
peirazete
GROWS FROM
πειραζ- (peiraz-, the stem of πειράζω, peirazō)
To test, try, or put to proof.
The verb names what the question is doing: testing Jesus. Its word family can describe a trial or test, so the action here is clearer than the English word “tempt” may suggest.
ALSO GROWS
peirasmos: A test, trial, or temptation.
πειρασμός
This related noun shows the same family can name the testing itself.
ekpeirazō: To test thoroughly or put to proof.
ἐκπειράζω
The compounded verb sharpens the testing sense carried by the root.
THE PATTERN
Words can conceal intent, while discernment reaches the purpose beneath their surface.
You perceive my sitting and my rising, and from afar you separate out my thought.He who hates makes himself a stranger with his lips, and lays deceit within him.But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why do you test me, you masked ones?THE THREAD
But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why do you test me, you masked ones?Matthew uses the same Greek verb πειράζω (peirazō, to test or put to trial) in the same question. It also names the concealed intent Jesus perceives, making the movement from hidden motive to direct recognition visible.
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