What Does Luke 5:12 Mean?
And it happened, while he was in one of the towns, and look, a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell upon his face and begged him, saying, Lord, if you will, you are able to make me clean.
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 it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.THE KEY
He is certain Jesus can make him clean; the only uncertainty he names is whether Jesus wills it.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a person whose body is full of leprosy before Jesus, yet he can still speak and ask directly. He is certain Jesus can make him clean; his uncertainty is whether Jesus wills it. Jesus’ name corresponds to Hebrew Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ, Yēshua, “deliverance”), from yasha (יָשַׁע, yāshaʿ, “bring out from narrowness into spaciousness”), placing this plea before the very nature of deliverance.
THE ROOT
θέλῃς
thelēs
GROWS FROM
θελ-
thel-
to wish, want, or will
“wilt” in this verse is thelēs. The question θέλῃς (thelēs, “you will”) sits beside δύνασαι (dynasai, “you are able”): the speaker grants Jesus’ ability but asks about his willingness. The Greek keeps those two things distinct, exposing the uncertainty that remains even when power is beyond doubt.
ALSO GROWS
thelō: to want, wish, or will
θέλω
This is the verb’s base form, holding together desire and willing.
thelēma: will, desire
θέλημα
This related noun names the will or desire the man asks about.
καθαρίσαι
katharisai
GROWS FROM
καθαρ-
kathar-
clean, pure; to cleanse
The request is for a concrete change: to be made clean. The same Greek family names both the clean state and the act of cleansing, while “full of leprosy” shows the condition occupying the whole scene.
ALSO GROWS
katharos: clean, pure
καθαρός
This adjective names the clean state the man asks Jesus to bring about.
katharismos: cleansing, purification
καθαρισμός
This noun names the process of cleansing that the verb in the verse expresses.
πλήρης
plērēs
GROWS FROM
πληρ-
plēr-
full, filled; to fill
The Greek describes a man as full of leprosy, making the condition sound as if it fills the person. The same word family names filling and fullness, sharpening the contrast between the fullness of affliction and the possibility of becoming clean.
ALSO GROWS
plēroō: to fill, fulfill
πληρόω
This verb carries the same idea of filling, showing the root’s movement from a full state to the act of filling.
plērōma: fullness, that which fills
πλήρωμα
This related noun names fullness itself, echoing how completely the condition seems to occupy the man.
THE PATTERN
Cleansing is pictured as a restoration God can bring about even when uncleanness fills the scene.
Remove my falling short with hyssop, and I am clean; tread me, and I am whiter than snow.Then he went down and immersed himself seven times in Jordan, according to the word of the man of God. And his flesh returned like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.If we speak our shortcomings into the open, he is steady and aligned, to release our shortcomings, and to cleanse us from all crookedness.THE THREAD
And he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will; be made clean. And straightway the leprosy went away from him.Jesus answers with the same Greek verb θέλω (thelō, “will”) that stood behind the man’s question θέλῃς (thelēs, “you will”). The cleansing verb καθαρίζω (katharizō, “cleanse”) answers the request directly: “I will: be thou clean.”
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