What Does Luke 6:37 Mean?
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Release, and you will be released.
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
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:THE KEY
The final “forgive” means release: what English sounds like an inward pardon is an act of release that returns to you.
THE MEANING
Your relationship with judgment is not one-way: the verdict you place over someone else becomes the measure returned to you. The final line shifts from holding another under a claim to releasing them, and promises release in return.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that a verdict over another leaves its maker untouched; this verse says judgment returns, while release is met with release.
THE ROOT
ἀπολύετε
apolyete
GROWS FROM
ἀπό + λύω (apó + lýō)
ἀπό means away; λύω means loosen or release.
The verb here means “release,” as in dismissing or setting someone free. English “forgive” can sound like a private feeling, while this word pictures someone no longer held under a claim, and the verse says release returns to the one who extends it.
ALSO GROWS
lýō: loose, unbind, set free
λύω
This verb’s basic sense makes the physical image inside “forgive” visible: something held can be loosened.
apólysis: release, dismissal
ἀπόλυσις
This noun from the same word family makes release a concrete act, not only an inward change.
καταδικάζετε
katadikazete
GROWS FROM
κατά + δικάζω (katá + dikázō)
Against + judge: to pronounce a verdict against someone.
“condemn” in this verse is katadikazete. The verb names a verdict directed against another. Its dik- word family also includes δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosýnē, alignment), placing condemnation among words concerned with how a person is judged or aligned.
ALSO GROWS
díkē: justice, judgment, or a judicial sentence
δίκη
It shows the judicial force behind condemnation: a decision that places someone under a sentence.
dikaiosýnē: alignment
δικαιοσύνη
This related word points to another way the dik- family speaks about a person’s standing: alignment rather than a verdict against.
κρίνετε
krinete
GROWS FROM
κριν-
krin-
To distinguish, decide, or judge.
“judge” in this verse is krinete. The verb carries the sense of making a distinction or decision. The next clause names condemnation separately, so the verse moves from judgment to a verdict against someone, then to release.
ALSO GROWS
krísis: judgment, decision
κρίσις
This noun shows judgment as a decision that can return to the person who makes it.
kritḗs: judge, one who decides
κριτής
It names the one who draws the distinction, making clear that the verse addresses the act of judging itself.
THE PATTERN
The measure used toward another returns as the measure that meets the one using it.
For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you.For judgment will be without faithful love for the one who did not show such love, and faithful love boasts over judgment.Whoever stops up his ear to the cry of the emptied one also cries out, and is not answered.THE THREAD
I will therefore discipline him and release him.The same Greek verb ἀπολύω (apolýō, release) appears in “release him.” That concrete use opens the force of “forgive” here: someone is no longer held, and Luke 6:37 says release returns to the one who extends it.
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