What Does Luke 21:37 Mean?
And by day he was teaching in the temple, and at night he went out and bedded down on the mount that is called the mount of Olives.
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 in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives.THE KEY
The Greek for “abode” means to lodge for the night: the verse sets daytime teaching in the temple beside repeated nights spent on the Mount of Olives.
THE MEANING
Your visible hours and your hidden hours belong to the same life: presence takes the form of teaching among others by day and dwelling apart at night. The verse holds both spaces together without making the quieter one less real.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A meaningful life must stay publicly visible or productive at every hour.
THE ROOT
ηὐλίζετο
ēulizeto
GROWS FROM
αὐλ-
aul-
The word family carries the sense of a courtyard or enclosed place; the verb means to lodge or spend the night.
“bedded down” in this verse is ēulizeto. “Abode” can sound like a settled residence, but this Greek verb points to lodging for the night. The repeated nights place his dwelling on the mountain alongside, not outside, the day’s teaching.
ALSO GROWS
aulē: Courtyard, enclosure, or court
αὐλή
This related noun gives the lodging verb a concrete sense of a place to stay.
aulizomai: Lodge or spend the night
αὐλίζομαι
This is the verb used for his nighttime stay in the verse.
διδάσκων
didaskōn
GROWS FROM
διδασκ-
didask-
Teach or instruct.
The form describes him as teaching, an ongoing activity in the temple by day. Its related words keep the teacher and the act of instruction within one word family.
ALSO GROWS
didaskalos: Teacher
διδάσκαλος
The related noun names the one who teaches.
didachē: Teaching or instruction
διδαχή
This branch names the instruction that the continuing activity conveys.
Ἐλαιῶν
Elaiōn
GROWS FROM
ἐλαι-
elai-
Olive; the word family names the olive tree and its oil.
The mountain’s name keeps the landscape concrete: it is named for olives. The related word for olive oil grows from the same word family, though the verse itself gives no further symbolism.
ALSO GROWS
elaia: Olive tree
ἐλαία
This is the word for the tree named in the mountain’s title.
elaion: Olive oil
ἔλαιον
The oil shares the olive word family and shows what else the named tree yields.
THE PATTERN
The life visible among others also has recurring hours of dwelling apart.
But his delight is in the instruction of the LORD; and over his instruction he murmurs day and night.And in the morning, while it was still dark, rising long before day, he went out and went away to an empty place, and there he prayed.And it came to be in those days that he went out to the mountain to pray, and spent the whole night in prayer to God.THE THREAD
And he came out and went, as was his habit, to the Mount of Olives, and his learners also followed him.Luke names the same Mount of Olives and says going there is his custom. That detail makes the nights in this verse read as a recurring rhythm, not a one-time departure.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us