What Does Luke 3:13 Mean?
And he said to them, Collect no more than what has been set for you.
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 said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.THE KEY
The measure entrusted to you is a boundary, not a license to enlarge your share.
THE MEANING
When you hold authority to collect, the verse sets its limit at the amount assigned to you. The power to demand an amount does not make anything beyond that measure yours.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Having the power to demand more does not make the excess yours.
THE ROOT
διατεταγμένον
diatetagmenon
GROWS FROM
τάσσω
tassō
To put in order, arrange, or assign.
“set” in this verse is diatetagmenon. The word translated “appointed” is a form of διατάσσω (diatassō, to arrange or assign), built on τάσσω (tassō, to put in order or assign). The root makes the amount a placed boundary: what is assigned defines the charge, and taking more crosses that boundary.
ALSO GROWS
taxis: Order, arrangement, or rank.
τάξις
The amount belongs to an ordered measure that can be checked; it is not for the collector to enlarge at will.
epitassō: To order or command.
ἐπιτάσσω
An order can assign a charge, but it does not make the collector owner of anything beyond what is assigned.
THE PATTERN
An assigned measure protects those under another’s authority from having that authority turned into private excess.
And when they measured it with an omer, the one who gathered much had nothing over, and the one who gathered little had no lack. Each one gathered according to his eating.Scales of deceit are an abomination to the LORD, but a whole stone is his delight.So also the Lord has arranged that those who proclaim the good news should live from the good news.THE THREAD
So also the Lord has arranged that those who proclaim the good news should live from the good news.The word translated “ordained” is διατάσσω (diatassō, to arrange or assign), from the same τάσσω (tassō, to put in order or assign) root as “appointed” here. One verse bounds what may be collected; the other shows provision itself can be assigned.
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