Verse explainer

What does Luke 6:38 really mean?

A promise about generosity — but the context is forgiving enemies, not a formula for financial return.

KJV

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

BSB

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

The plain meaning

Luke 6:38 sits in the middle of Jesus' sermon on loving enemies (vv. 27–36) and forgiving without expecting repayment (v. 37). The 'giving' here is not primarily about money — it caps a sequence about mercy, judgment, and forgiveness. The marketplace image (grain pressed down, shaken, heaped until it spills over the fold of a robe) makes vivid how lavishly God returns what we extend to others. Verse 37 sets the frame: 'forgive, and you will be forgiven.' Verse 38 is the positive counterpart. The principle of the final line — the measure you use comes back to you — runs both ways: withhold mercy and you receive measured mercy; give it generously and it returns overflowing. Adam Clarke notes that God, rather than merely commanding generosity, invites it with the promise of extravagant return, imputing to us as merit what he has full sovereign right to simply require.

The common misreading

"Give, and it shall be given unto you" is a promise that financial giving returns financial blessing. This is probably the most widespread misreading of the verse, fueled by prosperity-gospel teaching that treats Luke 6:38 as a divine investment formula: donate money, receive money multiplied. But the verse doesn't mention money. Look at what precedes it: v. 35 says lend without expecting return; v. 36 says be merciful; v. 37 says forgive and you will be forgiven. The entire unit is about how you treat people — enemies, debtors, the difficult. The 'giving' that triggers the promise is giving mercy, forgiveness, and charitable judgment. The grain-market image describes extravagance of return, but the context makes clear the currency is relational and moral. Adam Clarke notes that the same passage calls us simultaneously to give AND to forgive, treating them as a single disposition. Stripping v. 38 from vv. 36–37 and importing a financial meaning inverts the sermon: Jesus is not offering a wealth strategy; he is describing how a merciful character creates a merciful world around itself — and how God himself responds to those who extend grace freely.

What the commentators say

Adam Clarkeearly 19th c. · PD

Clarke emphasizes that God invites rather than merely commands generosity, and that the return promised is wildly disproportionate — 'excessive interest' is his phrase. He also widens the verse beyond money: the 'giving and forgiving spirit' is what holds civil society and the Christian congregation together. Without it, he says, nothing remains but divisions, anger, and the dissolution of the body of Christ.

Matthew Henryearly 18th c. · PD

Henry reads the verse as the positive face of v. 37's call to forgive. The giving Jesus requires is broad — alms, mercy, charitable judgment — and the return is from God working through human instruments ('men shall give into your bosom'). The grain-market imagery underlines that God is no man's debtor: what comes back exceeds what went out.

John Calvin16th c. · PD

Calvin ties the verse firmly to the surrounding call to mercy and forbearance, arguing that Christ is not dangling a commercial bargain but showing that a generous, forgiving disposition toward others is the very disposition God will show toward us. The measure principle is a law of correspondence, not a technique for personal enrichment.

The word behind it

μέτρον metron

'Measure' — a standard vessel used to portion out grain. The word appears in both the positive ('good measure') and the principle ('the measure you use'). It makes the point concrete: you are the one who chooses the size of the container. Use a cramped measure of mercy or forgiveness toward others, and that same cramped container comes back around; use a heaped, overflowing one, and the return matches. The image is commercial but the application in context is relational and moral, not financial.

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