Luke 6:38
What does Luke 6:38 mean?
“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you.”
The short answer
In Luke 6:38, Jesus makes a promise: "Give, and it will be given to you." But he doesn't stop at the principle — he paints a picture. The image comes straight from the ancient marketplace, where grain was sold by the measure. An honest, generous seller would fill the container, press the grain down to eliminate air pockets, shake it so every gap filled in, and then keep pouring until it spilled over the brim into the fold of the buyer's garment, which served as a kind of pocket or lap. That is how God gives, Jesus says: not a stingy, level scoop, but an extravagant, overflowing one.
The verse names a real spiritual principle — in giving, we receive; in forgiving (see the verse just before), we are forgiven. Generosity opens us to generosity. A closed fist can't receive anything.
But there's a caution built into a careful reading. This is not a transaction, as if God were an employer paying wages for our good behavior, or a vending machine dispensing blessings in exchange for donations. The story of Job makes the point vividly: when Job's fortunes were restored twofold, it wasn't a reward he had earned by enduring suffering — it was God blessing him freely and abundantly, proof of a life-giving God rather than a calculating one. Luke 6:38 works the same way. The "good measure" running over is grace, not a payout. Jesus is describing the character of God — lavish, openhanded, more generous than we are — and inviting us to live in that same spirit. The measure we use with others shapes what we're able to receive, but the abundance itself is always gift, never invoice.
What scholars say
These excerpts answer two questions readers often bring to this verse: whether God's abundance is a reward we earn — Hartley, reading Job's restoration alongside Luke 6:38, says no, it is free and abundant blessing rather than payment for endurance — and why Jesus' language is so vivid, which Willobee explains by pointing to his mastery of metaphor, bridging the known and the unknown.
“After Job had submitted to Yahweh and faithfully carried out his directives, demonstrating a gracious, forgiving spirit in praying for his "comforters," Yahweh restored Job's fortunes. The fundamental spiritual principle that in giving one receives and in forgiving one is forgiven is demonstrated here (cf. Luke 6:38 ). The doubling of Job's estate does not mean that he received a bountiful reward for the endurance of undeserved affliction, but rather that Yahweh freely and abundantly blessed him. The blessing proves that Yahweh is a life-giving God, not a capricious deity who takes pleasure in the suffering of those who fear him. In his sovereign design he may permit a faithful servant to suffer ill-fortune for a season, but in due time he will bring total healing. Moreover, the doubling symbolizes Yahweh's full acceptance of Job.”
“According to Mennonite poet Julia Kasdorf, a metaphor is a bridge between the known and unknown, a “temporary coupling of unlike things” that suggests new meaning. 4 Jesus was a master of metaphor. “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back” (Luke 6:38). Jesus compared the kingdom of God to the growth of a mustard seed, ten bridesmaids with oil lamps, a ruler who summoned his slaves before going on a journey. “The natural object is always the adequate symbol,” Kasdorf said. “It is the quickest way to express inarticulate feelings or confounding experience.”
What it means for you
This verse invites a posture, not a strategy. If you give in order to get, you've missed the point — and probably tightened the very fist that needs to open. Instead, try practicing generosity as a way of trusting God's character: give time, forgiveness, money, and attention with the assumption that God's supply doesn't run out.
When you do, notice what changes. Generous people tend to experience the world as abundant; guarded people experience it as scarce. Luke 6:38 promises that the measure you use becomes the measure you live in. Choose the overflowing one — not to earn a blessing, but because that's what God's generosity looks like when it takes root in a person.
Luke 6 in context
Luke 6:38 sits near the end of what's often called the Sermon on the Plain, Luke's counterpart to Matthew's Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has just pronounced blessings on the poor and woes on the comfortable, then commanded his followers to love their enemies, do good to those who hate them, and lend expecting nothing back. Verse 37 — don't judge, don't condemn, forgive — flows directly into verse 38, forming one thought: the way you treat others is the measure you'll live by. Jesus then continues with warnings about blind guides, trees known by their fruit, and building on rock.