What Does Luke 9:44 Mean?
Place these words in your ears, for the Son of Man will be handed over into the hands of humans.
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
Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.THE KEY
The same “into” that places the words in your ears carries the Son of Man into human hands.
THE MEANING
These words settle in your hearing now: the Son of Man is handed into human hands. “Son of man” and “men” echo the same human designation, joining the one who is delivered to the people who hold him. What enters your ears names the vulnerability he enters.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The Son of Man is not beyond human vulnerability: he is handed into human hands.
THE ROOT
παραδίδοσθαι
paradidosthai
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι (didōmi, to give) + παρά (para, over or across)
The verb’s seed is δίδωμι (didōmi, to give); joined with παρά (para, over or across), it carries the sense of handing someone over.
“handed over” in this verse is paradidosthai. The verb carries a giving-over into another’s power; “hands” makes that custody concrete. The same “into” that places the words in your ears names where the Son of Man is handed.
ALSO GROWS
paradidōmi: Hand over, deliver, or betray.
παραδίδωμι
This is the verb behind “delivered,” giving the line the force of being handed into another’s custody.
paradosis: Tradition; something handed down.
παράδοσις
The related word carries the image of something passed from one person to another, echoing the movement of handing over.
θῆσθε
thēsthe
GROWS FROM
τίθημι
tithēmi
The verb’s basic sense is to put, set, or place something.
The Greek verb gives “sink down” the concrete image of setting these words in the ears. The words take their place in the hearer, while the same “into” points to the Son of Man entering human hands.
ALSO GROWS
thesis: A placing or position.
θέσις
It preserves the root’s image of something being set in a particular place, as these words are set in the ears.
apothesis: A putting away or laying aside.
ἀπόθεσις
This related form shows the same root’s concrete sense of placing something aside, sharpening the contrast with words given a place in the hearing.
THE PATTERN
Words placed in hearing before their hour give the hearer a way to recognize the event when it arrives.
And he said to me, Son of man, take into your heart all my words that I speak to you, and hear and respond with your ears.And while they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, The Son of Man is about to be handed over into human hands.But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes you will remember that I said them to you. And these things I did not say to you from the beginning, because I was with you.THE THREAD
For the Son of Man goes, as it has been marked out, but woe to that man through whom he is handed over!The verb παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi, to hand over or deliver), translated “delivered” here and “betrayed” there, carries the same handover through both verses. Luke 22:22 brings a human agent into view, making the Son of Man’s passage into human hands personal.
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