What Does Luke 6:45 Mean?
A good human brings out good from the good treasure of the heart, and an evil human brings out evil from the evil treasure of the heart, for from the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks.
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
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.THE KEY
Your mouth does not invent what it says; it carries outward whatever has filled your heart to overflowing.
THE MEANING
What fills your inner life now spills into your words. The verse pictures speech as the outward carrying of an inner storehouse’s surplus, whether that surplus is good or evil.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that your words are detached from what is filling your inner life.
THE ROOT
περίσσευμα
perisseuma
GROWS FROM
περισσευ-
perisseu-
To exceed, abound, or have more than enough.
“overflow” in this verse is perisseuma. The word translated “abundance” names a surplus: what has accumulated beyond the measure of the heart’s store. Speech appears as that surplus flowing out, not as something made from nothing in the moment.
ALSO GROWS
perisseuō: To abound or exceed.
περισσεύω
It shares the same word family and makes clear that the heart’s speech comes from what has become plentiful within it.
perissos: More than enough; exceeding.
περισσός
This related form reinforces the sense of an overflow that extends beyond what is contained.
προφέρει
propherei
GROWS FROM
φέρω
pherō
To carry, bear, or bring.
“bringeth forth” in this verse is propherei. The verb pictures the heart’s contents being carried outward. The mouth gives voice to what is already there; it is the passageway, not the source.
ALSO GROWS
ekpherō: To carry or bring out.
ἐκφέρω
This compound makes the outward movement explicit, echoing the verse’s picture of inner contents emerging.
anapherō: To carry up or bear.
ἀναφέρω
It shows how the same root can describe bearing something onward, as this verse’s speech bears the heart’s surplus into the open.
θησαυρός
thēsauros
GROWS FROM
θησαυρ-
thēsaur-
Treasure or storehouse; a place where something is kept.
“Treasure” makes the heart more than a passing feeling: it is pictured as a store of what has been kept within. The contrast between good and evil treasure shows that what emerges reflects what has been gathered there.
ALSO GROWS
thēsaurizō: To store up or lay away.
θησαυρίζω
This related verb shows the storing action behind the treasure image: the heart holds what later comes out in speech.
thēsaurophylakion: Treasury; a place where treasure is guarded.
θησαυροφυλάκιον
This related compound keeps the sense of a held store, illuminating the heart as the place from which speech draws.
THE PATTERN
What fills the hidden inner source flows outward into speech and life.
Above every watch you keep, guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life.You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.Does the same spring gush from the same opening, the sweet and the bitter?THE THREAD
But what comes out of the mouth comes forth from the heart, and that makes a person common.Both verses name the heart as the source from which what the mouth says proceeds. Luke shows the heart’s abundance being carried outward; Matthew makes that movement unmistakable.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us