Luke 22:31 Meaning and Explanation
“And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Being told in advance that an adversary has asked for you is a strange kind of mercy. Peter receives that news at supper, hours before he denies knowing Jesus. The sentence opens a window on what stands behind human failure, and it shows that the demand had to pass through someone else before it could reach him.
Jesus addresses Peter by his old name twice over and reveals that Satan has demanded to have the disciples, intending to shake them the way grain is shaken in a sieve. The warning arrives before the testing.
The Context of Luke 22:31
This comes during the last supper, right after the dispute about greatness in verse 24 and the promise in verses 28 through 30 that the apostles will eat and drink at his table in his kingdom. Jesus turns from the group to one man. Verse 32 completes the sentence with a prayer for Peter and a commission to strengthen his brethren once he has turned back. Verse 33 records Peter's confident answer about prison and death, and verse 34 gives the specific prediction of three denials before the cock crows that day.
What Does Luke 22:31 Mean?
The doubled address, 'Simon, Simon,' is how Scripture marks a word of unusual weight, and Jesus uses the name this man carried before he was ever called Peter. 'Behold' asks for attention. The King James wording preserves a distinction a modern reader can easily miss, since 'have you' is plural and takes in the whole company, while verse 32 shifts to 'thee' and 'thy' and singles one man out for prayer. 'Desired to have' renders a word for demanding that someone be handed over, which implies a request made and an answer given. 'Sift you as wheat' finishes the picture with a sieve shaken hard until whatever is loose falls through.
Behind this stands the opening of Job, where the adversary appears before God and receives a bounded permission to test a faithful man. The same shape appears here. Satan asks, and the asking implies a limit he does not set for himself. Amos had used the sieve for God's own scattering of Israel among the nations, adding the promise that not one grain would fall to the ground. Luke sets the warning inside a chapter crowded with confident disciples, and the shaking will expose what their confidence was made of. Verse 32 supplies the counterweight, since Jesus has already prayed that this man's faith would hold.
The strongest thing in the sentence is what surrounds it. Peter learns about the demand before it touches him, and he learns it from the one who has already prayed for him. His failure that night was real, and it did not end his calling, because Jesus assigns him work on the far side of it, strengthening brothers who would face shaking of their own. That pairing of honest warning with a secured errand is what makes the verse bearable to read. The adversary sets the shaking in motion; the Lord decides what will still be standing afterward.
Luke 22:31 in the Original Language
exaiteomai (ἐξαιτέομαι), 'desired to have' -- to ask that someone be handed over into one's power. The word describes a formal demand made to a higher authority, so the request had to be granted before any sifting could begin.
Bible Verses Related to Luke 22:31
“And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.”
- Job 1:12
“For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.”
- Amos 9:9
“But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”
- Luke 22:32
“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”
- John 17:15
Where Luke 22:31 Echoes in Scripture
1 Peter 5:8 reads like a man writing from experience. The apostle urges his readers to be sober and vigilant because their adversary walks about seeking whom he may devour, and he adds that the same afflictions are being accomplished in their brethren throughout the world. The man who was told at supper that Satan had asked for him spends part of a letter teaching younger believers to expect that same attention and to stand fast in the faith. A warning he received became a warning he handed on.
How to Apply Luke 22:31 Today
Two habits follow from this verse. The first is to stop treating a season of shaking as proof that God has lost interest in us. Testing can be permitted without being deserved, and this example separates a hard night from a lost vocation. The second is to pray for people we can see heading toward trouble, since Jesus prayed for Peter well before Peter knew he needed it. When our own confidence is running high, the verse invites a sober second look. When someone else has fallen, it points toward the assignment Jesus gave: go strengthen the others.
Reflection & Prayer
Who in my life is being sifted right now, and what would it cost me to pray for them by name today? A prayer: Lord Jesus, you saw the shaking coming for Peter and prayed for him anyway. Pray for me. Hold my faith when I have nothing left to hold it with, and when I have come through, send me to steady someone else.