What Does Luke 22:57 Mean?
And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not.
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 he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not.THE KEY
The Greek makes “know” perception and “deny” an act of disowning, so recognition and refusal occupy one sentence.
THE MEANING
The verse names a present human capacity: the mouth can disown a person it recognizes. Denial is an active refusal of recognition, and the relationship remains legible in the very words that reject it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that saying “I do not know him” is merely a report of ignorance; denial can be an active refusal to acknowledge someone already known.
THE ROOT
ἠρνήσατο
ērnēsato
GROWS FROM
ἀρνέομαι
arneomai
to deny, disown, or refuse acknowledgment
“denied” in this verse is ērnēsato. The verb describes an active disavowal, not simply a lack of information. The sentence makes denial a refusal of relationship spoken aloud.
ALSO GROWS
árnēsis: denial
ἄρνησις
This noun preserves the sense of denial as a distinct act of refusal.
arnētēs: one who denies
ἀρνητής
The related noun names someone by the act of disowning, showing the weight the language gives this refusal.
οἶδα
oida
GROWS FROM
εἴδω
eídō
to see or perceive; οἶδα means to know or perceive
The word for “know” belongs to a Greek word family rooted in seeing and perceiving. That link gives “I know him not” the force of refusing recognition, not merely lacking information.
ALSO GROWS
eîdon: I saw
εἶδον
This form makes the seeing beneath the word for knowing audible.
eîdos: form, appearance
εἶδος
This related word keeps the family’s connection to what is seen or perceived in view.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents denial as a spoken refusal to acknowledge a known relationship, with consequences that extend beyond the moment of speech.
Lest I be filled, and deny you, and say, Who is the LORD? Or lest I be emptied, and steal, and seize the name of my God.But the one who refuses me before humankind will be refused before the messengers of God.If we remain under it, we will also reign together with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us.THE THREAD
But the one who refuses me before humankind will be refused before the messengers of God.Luke uses the same Greek verb, ἀρνέομαι (arneomai), for denying in both verses. Here the denial is shown as an enacted refusal of relationship, not a neutral absence of knowledge.
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