What Does 1 Corinthians 16:7 Mean?
For I do not wish to see you now in passing along the road, but I hope to remain with you a while, if the Lord allows.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For I will not see you now by the way; but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit.THE KEY
The Greek word for “tarry” belongs to the same family as “abide,” opening a passing visit toward sustained presence while leaving its timing in the Lord’s hands.
THE MEANING
You can hope for more time with someone without controlling whether or when it happens. The verse holds that desire alongside the Lord’s permission: the hope is real, and its fulfillment remains open.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that wanting more time together guarantees it will happen on your preferred schedule.
THE ROOT
ἐπιμεῖναι
epimeinai
GROWS FROM
μένω (menō), stem μεν-
Remain, stay, continue.
“remain with you a while” in this verse is epimeinai. The verb translated “tarry” means to remain or continue. It is built on the same verb family as “abide,” so the hoped-for stay carries the language of sustained presence.
ALSO GROWS
menō: Remain, stay, abide.
μένω
This base verb appears in John 15:4 for abiding; it makes the shared root visible.
epimenō: Remain, continue.
ἐπιμένω
This is the verb family used here, expressing a hoped-for continued stay.
paramenō: Remain, continue.
παραμένω
This related form also carries the root’s sense of continuing to stay.
ἐλπίζω
elpizō
GROWS FROM
ἐλπ-
elp-
Hope, expect.
“hope” in this verse is elpizō. The Greek verb carries the sense of hoping or expecting. The verse presents the stay as a real expectation, but not as something already secured.
ALSO GROWS
elpis: Hope, expectation.
ἐλπίς
This related noun names the expectation that underlies the hoped-for stay.
proelpizō: Hope beforehand.
προελπίζω
This compound uses the same hope word family, showing expectation directed toward what is yet to come.
THE PATTERN
A real intention can be held with hope while its timing remains under the Lord’s permission.
A person's heart plans his way, but the LORD sets his steps firm.Instead, you ought to say, "If the LORD wills, we will live, and do this or that."But he bade them farewell and said, I must by all means keep the coming feast in Jerusalem, but I will turn back to you again, if God wills. And he sailed from Ephesus.THE THREAD
Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it stays in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.The verb behind “tarry” is built on the same Greek verb, menō, translated “abide” here. John’s image opens the hoped-for stay into a picture of presence sustained through connection.
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