Five-minute study · Day 136 · Luke 6
Luke 6:38
A word worth stopping on: bosom κόλπος kolpos
'Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.' The word translated 'bosom' is kolpos. It does not mean your chest. It means the fold of fabric above your belt where you carried things. In the ancient marketplace, when a grain merchant measured out your purchase, he poured it into this fold of your garment. Jesus described God using the most generous measuring technique in the ancient economy, filling your garment-pocket until the grain spilled over the edges.
Word study: bosom
- Greek
- κόλπος
- Pronounced
- kolpos
- Strong's
- G2859
- Definition
- The bosom, the chest, the fold of a garment above the belt used as a pocket or pouch. A cavity or hollow, used for carrying objects close to the body.
Kolpos had two primary uses in Greek. Anatomically, it meant the chest or bosom, the space between the arms. John 13:23 places the beloved disciple 'in the kolpos of Jesus' at the Last Supper, leaning against his chest. John 1:18 describes the Son as 'in the kolpos of the Father,' expressing intimate proximity. Abraham's kolpos (Luke 16:22-23) is the place of rest where Lazarus reclines after death.
The second meaning was practical and commercial. The outer garment (himation) was a large rectangular cloth draped over the body and belted at the waist. The fabric above the belt formed a deep fold, a natural pocket that could hold a surprising volume. Merchants, farmers, and travelers used this kolpos to carry grain, bread, coins, and small goods. Ruth 3:15 describes Boaz measuring six measures of barley into Ruth's garment (the Hebrew equivalent of the kolpos). The image was familiar to everyone in an agrarian economy.
Jesus stacks four commercial terms in Luke 6:38. Metron kalon (good measure): a fair, full amount. Pepiesmenon (pressed down): the grain compacted by hand to eliminate air pockets. Sesaleumenon (shaken together): the container jostled so the grain settles into every gap. Hyperekchynnomenon (running over): so much poured in that it overflows the edge. Each term describes a merchant giving more than the minimum. Together, they describe maximum generosity.
Nolland's commentary on Luke notes that the image is the marketplace in reverse. In commerce, the seller had every incentive to measure sparingly, using a small container, filling loosely, scraping the top flat. Jesus describes the opposite: a measuring party who presses, shakes, and overfills. God measures the way the most generous merchant in the market would measure if profit meant nothing to him. The kolpos, the garment-fold, catches the overflow. You carry it home pressed against your body.
Historical context · First century AD, Galilee
How Grain Was Measured in the Marketplace
Marketplace transactions in first-century Palestine operated on a combination of weight and volume measures, with significant room for variation. Dry goods like grain, flour, and lentils were measured by volume using standardized containers: the seah (approximately 7 liters), the hin (approximately 6 liters), and the omer (approximately 2.3 liters). The Mishnah devotes an entire tractate (Bava Batra, chapter 5) to marketplace regulations, including how measures should be leveled, how much overflow constitutes fair practice, and penalties for fraudulent measuring.
Mishnah Bava Batra 5:10 specifies that liquid measures should be tilted to drain, while dry measures should be leveled with a straight edge (machak). A seller who heaped the measure was giving more than required. The four verbs Jesus uses, good measure, pressed, shaken, running over, describe a seller who goes progressively further beyond the legal minimum at each step. This would have been instantly recognizable to his audience as extravagant generosity.
The practice of carrying goods in the garment fold was universal in the ancient world. Egyptian tomb paintings show workers carrying grain in the folds of their linen garments. Mesopotamian cylinder seals depict similar scenes. The garment-pocket was the shopping bag of the ancient Mediterranean. Its capacity depended on the size and quality of the garment. A wealthy person's himation made a deeper, larger kolpos than a laborer's short tunic. Jesus' image democratizes the measurement: the grain is poured into your kolpos regardless of how large or fine your garment is.
Joel Green's commentary observes that Luke 6:38 sits within the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17-49), Luke's version of the ethical teaching Matthew places in the Sermon on the Mount. The surrounding context addresses loving enemies, not judging, and forgiving. The giving Jesus describes is embedded in relational generosity, giving to people who may not deserve it, measured by a God whose generosity has no bottom. The kolpos catches what overflows from a divine merchant who has never once scraped the measure flat.
For reflection
Four words describe how God measures what he gives you: full, pressed, shaken, overflowing. Each one goes beyond the previous. Picture a grain merchant filling the fold of your garment until the grain pours over the edges and falls to the ground. Now look at how you measure what you give to others. Are you scraping the top flat, or pressing it down?
The kolpos was as close to the body as a pocket gets. What God gives does not arrive at a distance. It presses against your chest. You carry it home.
Sources: BDAG Lexicon; Nolland, 'Luke 1-9:20' (WBC); Green, 'The Gospel of Luke' (NICNT)