The Meaning of Luke 2:50 Explained

Luke 2:50

KJV: And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.

YLT: and they did not understand the saying that he spake to them,

Darby: And they understood not the thing that he said to them.

ASV: And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  they  understood  not  the saying  which  he spake  unto them. 

What does Luke 2:50 Mean?

Context Summary

Luke 2:40-52 - The Boy Jesus In The Temple
"Solitary floweret," says Stier, referring to this incident, "gathered from the wonderful enclosed garden of the thirty years and plucked precisely when the swollen bud, at the age of twelve years, was about to burst into flower."
The incident is specially valuable as indicating so perfect an understanding between our Lord and His mother. He wondered that, knowing Him as she did, she could have lost Him, or should have failed to seek Him in His Father's house. The stress is on Wist ye not? Here, however, He seemed to pass into a new attitude toward His life-work. May we not say that He caught sight of its absorbing character, to which all else must be subordinated?
Let us never suppose that we are in the company of Jesus, when, in fact, we may have lost Him. Never rest till you and He have found each other! [source]

Chapter Summary: Luke 2

1  Augustus taxes all the Roman empire
6  The nativity of Jesus
8  An angel relates it to the shepherds, and many sing praises to God for it
15  The shepherds glorify God
21  Jesus is circumcised
22  Mary purified
25  Simeon and Anna prophesy of Jesus,
39  who increases in wisdom,
41  questions in the temple with the teachers,
51  and is obedient to his parents

Greek Commentary for Luke 2:50

They understood not [ου συνηκαν]
First aorist active indicative (one of the k aorists). Even Mary with all her previous preparation and brooding was not equal to the dawning of the Messianic consciousness in her boy. “My Father is God,” Jesus had virtually said, “and I must be in His house.” Bruce observes that a new era has come when Jesus calls God “Father,” not Δεσποτες — Despotes “Even we do not yet fully understand” (Bruce) what Jesus the boy here said. [source]
The saying [τὸ ῥῆμα]
See on Luke 1:37. [source]

What do the individual words in Luke 2:50 mean?

And they not understood the word that He spoke to them
καὶ αὐτοὶ οὐ συνῆκαν τὸ ῥῆμα ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς

συνῆκαν  understood 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: συνίημι 
Sense: to set or bring together.
ῥῆμα  word 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: ῥῆμα  
Sense: that which is or has been uttered by the living voice, thing spoken, word.
  that 
Parse: Personal / Relative Pronoun, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: ὅς 
Sense: who, which, what, that.
ἐλάλησεν  He  spoke 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἀπολαλέω 
Sense: to utter a voice or emit a sound.
αὐτοῖς  to  them 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.

What are the major concepts related to Luke 2:50?

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