What Does Luke 9:37 Mean?
And it came to pass, that on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him.
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 it came to pass, that on the next day, when they were come down from the hill, much people met him.THE KEY
The descent is where the height meets the crowd.
THE MEANING
The hill is behind him, and a multitude meets him below. The movement down brings what is encountered on the height within reach of many.
THE ROOT
συνήντησεν
synēntēsen
GROWS FROM
ἀντάω
antaō
To meet or encounter; συνήντησεν is a form of συναντάω, “to meet together.”
“met” in this verse is synēntēsen. The crowd is not merely watching from a distance: its path converges with his. This meeting-root can describe many people or one person arriving to meet another, making encounter the scene’s central movement.
ALSO GROWS
apantaō: To meet or come upon someone.
ἀπαντάω
It shares the meeting-root and keeps the focus on a path arriving at another person.
hypantaō: To go out to meet someone or come face to face.
ὑπαντάω
Like the crowd here, the subject moves into a direct encounter.
THE PATTERN
What is encountered on the height moves down into the waiting crowd.
And it came to be, when Moses went down from mount Sinai with the two tablets of testimony in Moses' hand, when he went down from the mountain, that Moses did not perceive that the skin of his face sent out horns while he spoke with him.When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.And he came down with them and stood on level ground, with the company of his disciples and a great crowd of people from all of Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases.THE THREAD
And he said to them, Look, when you enter the city, a man carrying a clay jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house he enters.The Greek verb translated “meet” is the same meeting-root used in Luke 9:37. In both scenes, a path brings someone into an encounter, here, a multitude meets Jesus; there, one man meets the disciples.
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