What Does Luke 21:21 Mean?
Then let those in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those in its midst withdraw from it, and let not those in the fields enter into it.
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 let them which are in Judæa flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.THE KEY
The verse makes safety a matter of direction: flee outward from the threatened center, and do not cross back into it.
THE MEANING
The verse sets a stark map of movement: those within the threatened region flee toward the mountains and leave its center, while those outside do not enter. Here, returning toward danger is not safety; the life-preserving movement is away.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that staying put or returning to familiar ground is always the safest choice.
THE ROOT
φευγέτωσαν
pheugetōsan
GROWS FROM
φευγ-/φυγ-
The Greek root family means to flee or escape.
The command uses φεύγω (pheugō, flee or escape), whose noun φυγή (phygē, flight) names the movement itself. Here fleeing is part of a three-direction map: move toward the mountains, leave the middle, and do not enter from outside.
ALSO GROWS
phygē: Flight; a fleeing or escape.
φυγή
Matthew uses this noun for the flight from danger, showing that the root names a concrete movement away, not merely a feeling of alarm.
apopheugō: Escape or flee away.
ἀποφεύγω
This compound uses the same root for getting clear of danger, echoing the verse’s urgent movement out.
THE PATTERN
When danger is recognized, the life-preserving movement is away from its reach.
And it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, Escape for your living soul. Do not look behind you, and do not stand still anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest you be swept away.The shrewd one sees evil and hides himself; the open ones cross over and are punished.But they will never follow a stranger. They will flee from him, for they do not perceive the voice of strangers.THE THREAD
Then let those in Judea flee to the mountains.Matthew repeats the same Greek verb, φεύγω (pheugō, flee), and the same movement from Judea toward the mountains. The shared root makes the physical direction central to both commands.
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