What Does Luke 5:5 Mean?
And Simon answered him, Master, we have toiled through the whole night and taken nothing, but at your word I will loosen the nets.
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 Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.THE KEY
After exhaustion yields nothing, a spoken word makes the next lowering possible.
THE MEANING
Your empty result is real, but it does not decide what the present can hold. When a word you trust gives the next action its direction, the night’s failure remains real without ruling what follows.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief this undoes is that an unfruitful stretch proves nothing more can bear fruit.
THE ROOT
ῥήματι
rhēmati
GROWS FROM
ῥη
rhē
Speech or utterance: something spoken.
ῥῆμα names the spoken thing, an utterance that can be heard and acted on. Simon has no catch to point to, but he has heard a word that sets his next action in motion.
ALSO GROWS
rhēsis: Speech or utterance.
ῥῆσις
This related form keeps the sense of spoken expression visible in the word’s family.
rhētōr: Speaker or orator.
ῥήτωρ
This word names the one who gives speech, bringing the act of speaking into view.
χαλάσω
chalasō
GROWS FROM
χαλα
chala
To loosen or slacken; by extension, to lower or let down.
“loosen the nets” in this verse is chalasō. The verb for lowering the net also carries the sense of loosening or slackening. The next movement is a lowering into the water, not a tightening of effort.
ALSO GROWS
chalaō: To loosen, slacken, or lower.
χαλάω
This is the base verb behind Simon’s form, holding lowering and slackening together.
chalaros: Loose or slack.
χαλαρός
This related adjective makes the looseness in the verb’s word family explicit.
THE PATTERN
A spoken word redirects effort that has reached its limit toward fruit it could not produce alone.
A Song of degrees for Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders toil in emptiness. Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in emptiness.So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall break through in the thing to which I sent it.And he said to them, "Throw the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find." So they threw it, and no longer had the strength to haul it because of the fullness of the fish.THE THREAD
Then the disciples took him by night, and lowered him down along the wall in a basket.The phrase “let him down” uses the same Greek verb, χαλάω, as Simon’s “let down the net.” In both verses, lowering is the physical movement through which an opening becomes possible.
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