What Does Luke 8:22 Mean?
Now it happened on a certain day that he got into a boat with his learners, and he said to them, Let us cross over to the other side of the lake. And they pushed off.
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
Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth.THE KEY
Jesus names the destination, and the disciples’ launch is voiced as their being put out to sea: the crossing begins as a shared passage into motion.
THE MEANING
Direction and departure belong together here: Jesus names the crossing, and the boat enters the water. The far shore is still ahead, but the movement has begun.
THE ROOT
ἀνήχθησαν
anēchthēsan
GROWS FROM
ἀνάγω / ἄγω (anagō / agō)
ἀνάγω (anagō) means “bring up” and, in sailing, “put out to sea”; its base ἄγω (agō) means “lead” or “bring.”
“pushed off” in this verse is anēchthēsan. The verb is passive in form: the disciples are put out to sea. Beneath “launched forth” is the sense of being brought into the crossing, so the destination spoken aloud becomes an actual passage on the water.
ALSO GROWS
exagō: Lead or bring out.
ἐξάγω
The same bring-and-lead root can mark movement outward, echoing the boat’s departure into a new stretch of water.
synagō: Gather or bring together.
συνάγω
The same root can describe people brought together; here, the disciples move as a company into the crossing.
THE PATTERN
A crossing begins when spoken direction becomes movement before the far side is visible.
So Abram went, as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he went out of Haran.And the LORD said to Moses, Why do you cry out to me? Speak to the children of Israel, and let them journey.And when he had perceived the vision, at once we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to bring them good news.THE THREAD
And stepping into a ship of Adramyttium, we put out, meaning to sail along the shores of Asia, and Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us.The same Greek verb translated “launched” marks a company being put out to sea. Here, as in Luke 8:22, the word names the threshold where a route becomes movement on the water.
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