What Does Luke 23:31 Mean?
For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry tree?
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
For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?THE KEY
The green wood is already being treated this way; the dry wood is left facing the question of what comes next.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks as a warning sharpened by contrast: if this is what is being done to the still-moist wood, what will happen when the wood is dry? Its force lies in the unanswered comparison: the green does not escape, and the dry faces the question of what follows.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the assumption that visible vitality guarantees immunity from suffering: even the green is exposed to what is happening, so the dry cannot presume safety.
THE ROOT
ὑγρός
hygros
GROWS FROM
ὑγρ-
hygr-
Wet, moist
The Greek word rendered “green” means moist or wet, making this a contrast of moisture rather than color. The word family keeps the living wood’s held moisture in view.
ALSO GROWS
hygrainō: Moisten or become moist
ὑγραίνω
It keeps “green” tied to active wetness, not color alone.
hygrotēs: Moisture, wetness
ὑγρότης
It names the quality that distinguishes the green wood in the image.
ξηρός
xēros
GROWS FROM
ξηρ-
xēr-
Dry
The Greek word for “dry” belongs to the same word family as the verb for drying up or withering. The verse’s final question turns a physical condition into an image of what is coming for wood whose moisture is gone.
ALSO GROWS
xērainō: Dry up, wither
ξηραίνω
It shows that “dry” can describe a process and resulting state, not just a surface quality.
xēra: Dry land or a dry place
ξηρά
The same stem also describes land without water, extending the image beyond wood.
THE PATTERN
Scripture uses green and withered plant life to show that visible vitality cannot shield a life from what is approaching.
And say to the forest of the south, Hear and respond to the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD. Look, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall eat every green tree in you, and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be put out, and every face from the south to the north shall be scorched in it.And already the axe lies at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut out and thrown into the fire.For all flesh is as grass, and all its weight is as the blossom of grass. The grass dries, and the blossom falls.THE THREAD
If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and dries up, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they burn.Luke’s “dry” is ξηρός (xēros); John’s “is withered” comes from ξηραίνω (xērainō), from the same ξηρ- word family. John makes concrete the condition Luke leaves as a question: the withered branch is gathered and burned.
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