What Does Luke 9:13 Mean?
But he said to them, You, give them to eat. And they said, We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we should go and buy food for all these people.
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
But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people.THE KEY
The command to give arrives before the disciples can see how to provide enough.
THE MEANING
The need is plain, and so is the limited supply: five loaves and two fishes. Jesus says to give; the disciples answer by measuring what they have and imagining a purchase for everyone. The verse holds the reader inside that tension between what is needed and what is at hand.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The assumption that a need can only be met by first buying enough is unsettled by Jesus’ first word: give.
THE ROOT
δότε
dóte
GROWS FROM
δο- (with reduplication in δίδωμι)
Give, grant, or hand something over.
“You, give” in this verse is dóte. The Greek word for “give” belongs to a family that can describe sharing and distributing. The command already points toward provision passing from hand to hand.
ALSO GROWS
metadídōmi: Share, impart.
μεταδίδωμι
This related verb appears in Romans 12:8 as “he that giveth”; it brings out giving as sharing what one has.
diadídōmi: Distribute, pass out.
διαδίδωμι
In John 6:11, a form of this verb describes Jesus distributing the loaves. The same giving root reaches a crowd through distribution.
βρώματα
brṓmata
GROWS FROM
βρω-
brō-
Food; that which is eaten.
The word translated “meat” means food or provisions, not specifically animal flesh. Its root also appears in words for food and eating, keeping the disciples’ concern focused on what the whole crowd can eat.
ALSO GROWS
brṓma: Food, something eaten.
βρῶμα
This singular form names the provisions the disciples propose buying.
brṓsis: Eating or food.
βρῶσις
In John 6:27, this related word is also translated “meat,” showing the broader food-and-eating family behind the English word.
THE PATTERN
A shortage does not settle the question of provision; the text moves from what is lacking toward giving and distribution.
And his attendant said, How shall I place this before a hundred men? He said again, Give to the people, that they may eat. For thus says the LORD, They shall eat, and some shall remain.And Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he handed them out to the disciples, and the disciples to those who were reclining, and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.And God is able to make all favor overflow toward you, so that you, always holding all you need in everything, may overflow into every good work.THE THREAD
And Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he handed them out to the disciples, and the disciples to those who were reclining, and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.Luke’s “give” is δότε (dóte), from δίδωμι (dídōmi), meaning “give.” John uses διέδωκεν (diédōken), from the related διαδίδωμι (diadídōmi), meaning “distributed.” The shared root traces the movement from giving to food passing through the disciples to the crowd.
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