The Meaning of Luke 21:16 Explained

Luke 21:16

KJV: And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.

YLT: 'And ye shall be delivered up also by parents, and brothers, and kindred, and friends, and they shall put of you to death;

Darby: But ye will be delivered up even by parents and brethren and relations and friends, and they shall put to death some from among you,

ASV: But ye shall be delivered up even by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends; and'some of you shall they cause to be put to death.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  ye shall be betrayed  both  by  parents,  and  brethren,  and  kinsfolks,  and  friends;  and  [some] of  you  shall they cause to be put to death. 

What does Luke 21:16 Mean?

Context Summary

Luke 21:5-19 - Days That Try Men's Souls
When we ask speculative questions, the Master bids us take heed to ourselves. His predictions in this passage were literally fulfilled in the events which culminated in the siege and fall of Jerusalem, forty years afterward. "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together," and through these throes and agonies mankind steps up to a new level of experience. The devil will not surrender his kingdom, any more than the bodies of men, without a grievous rending first: but there is a mightier than he.
The Church is called to follow her Lord. No easier path than His may she choose. Where there is no outward suffering there may be the inner cross and the death to all that the soul had once prized. Jesus has always stood beside His own wherever they have been called to witness for the truth; and the testimony given by His witnesses has reached the great ones of the earth and reverberated through courts and palaces. In suffering our souls become searched as by fire. We learn to know ourselves and to come into possession of an experience and a self-knowledge with which only suffering could have endowed us. [source]

Chapter Summary: Luke 21

1  Jesus commends the poor widow
5  He foretells the destruction of the temple, and of the city Jerusalem;
25  the signs also which shall be before the last day
34  He exhorts them to be watchful

Greek Commentary for Luke 21:16

Shall they cause to be put to death [τανατωσουσιν]
Future active of τανατοω — thanatoō to put to death or to make to die (causative). Either makes sense here. Old and common verb. [source]

What do the individual words in Luke 21:16 mean?

You will be betrayed then even by parents and brothers relatives friends they will put to death [some] from among you
Παραδοθήσεσθε δὲ καὶ ὑπὸ γονέων καὶ ἀδελφῶν συγγενῶν φίλων θανατώσουσιν ἐξ ὑμῶν

Παραδοθήσεσθε  You  will  be  betrayed 
Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Passive, 2nd Person Plural
Root: παραδίδωμι  
Sense: to give into the hands (of another).
καὶ  even 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: καί  
Sense: and, also, even, indeed, but.
γονέων  parents 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root: γονεύς  
Sense: fathers, parent, the parents.
ἀδελφῶν  brothers 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root: ἀδελφός  
Sense: a brother, whether born of the same two parents or only of the same father or mother.
συγγενῶν  relatives 
Parse: Adjective, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root: συγγενής 
Sense: of the same kin, akin to, related by blood.
φίλων  friends 
Parse: Adjective, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root: φίλος  
Sense: friend, to be friendly to one, wish him well.
θανατώσουσιν  they  will  put  to  death 
Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: θανατόω  
Sense: to put to death.
ἐξ  [some]  from  among 
Parse: Preposition
Root: ἐκ 
Sense: out of, from, by, away from.