What Does Luke 9:3 Mean?
And he said to them, Take nothing for the road, neither staff, nor bag, neither bread, neither silver; neither have two tunics each.
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 he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece.THE KEY
The sending begins with the travelers’ usual safeguards removed, so the road cannot be measured by what they carry.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you where the road begins, with ordinary guarantees removed: no staff, travel bag, bread, money, or second tunic. The journey proceeds without the travelers holding provisions in reserve. The lack is concrete, while the sending remains.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You must have every ordinary need secured before a meaningful journey can begin.
THE ROOT
αἴρετε
airete
GROWS FROM
αἰρ-
air-
To lift, carry, or take away.
“Take” in this verse is airete. The verb joins lifting, carrying, and taking away: here, the travelers are told to carry no reserve onto the road. Luke 9:23 uses this same verb for taking up the cross, linking what is carried to the act of lifting it.
ALSO GROWS
aratō: Let him take up or lift.
ἀράτω
The same verb appears when Jesus speaks of taking up the cross in Luke 9:23, later in this chapter.
airōn: Taking away.
αἴρων
The Lamb is described with this form of the verb in John 1:29: “which taketh away the sin of the world.”
ὁδόν
hodon
GROWS FROM
ὁδ-
hod-
Road, path, way.
The Greek word names a road or way, keeping the journey connected to movement along a path. In this same chapter, Jesus’ coming departure is called ἔξοδος (exodos), a “way out” or departure (Luke 9:31); both words carry the road-root.
ALSO GROWS
exodos: Departure, way out.
ἔξοδος
In Luke 9:31, this word names the departure Jesus will accomplish at Jerusalem, using a word built from the same road-root.
hodēgeō: Guide, lead along a way.
ὁδηγέω
In John 16:13, the word means to guide; it keeps the image of a way as a path one can be led along.
THE PATTERN
Provision for the journey is not limited to what can be packed before departure.
And he bent you low, and made you hunger, and fed you with manna, which you had never perceived, nor had your fathers, so that he might make you perceive that humankind does not live by bread alone, but by every word that goes out from the mouth of the LORD does humankind live.And he said to them, When I sent you without purse, bag, or sandals, did you fall short of anything? And they said, Nothing.And my God will fill every need of yours according to his riches of weight, by Jesus the Anointed One.THE THREAD
And he said to them, When I sent you without purse, bag, or sandals, did you fall short of anything? And they said, Nothing.The “scrip” prohibited here and named again in Luke 22:35 is the same Greek word, πήρα (pēra). When Jesus revisits that sending, the travelers say they lacked nothing: the empty pack receives its answer in the passage’s own later voice.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us