What Does 1 Corinthians 16:8 Mean?

But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost.

1 Corinthians 16:8 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.

THE KEY

The Greek word for “tarry” means to remain, and “until Pentecost” gives that staying a clear boundary.

THE MEANING

When staying feels like delay, this verse holds it as a real season with an edge. “Until Pentecost” names the limit: the remaining is not endless.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that waiting has no end meets a clear boundary here: the staying lasts “until Pentecost.”

THE ROOT

ἐπιμενῶ

epimenō

GROWS FROM

μένω

menō

To remain, stay, or continue.

⁨ἐπιμενῶ⁩ (epimenō) means “I will remain” or “I will continue to stay”; it carries the root ⁨μένω⁩ (menō), “remain.” The same root forms ⁨μονή⁩ (monē), “dwelling”: what English can make sound like mere delay also shares a seed with making one’s place of stay.

ALSO GROWS

paramenō: Remain beside; continue.

παραμένω

This compound keeps ⁨μένω⁩, “remain,” and shows the root continuing to describe presence over time.

monē: Dwelling place; abode.

μονή

In John 14:2, KJV “mansions” translates this word; its relation to ⁨μένω⁩ connects remaining with dwelling.

THE PATTERN

A season of staying takes shape when its time or limit is named.

To everything there is an appointed time, and a time for every delight under the heavens.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 · SDVThe verse places each purpose within a season, giving time a shape rather than leaving it undefined.

So when he heard that he was weak, he remained two days still in the same place where he was.

John 11:6 · SDVThe stay is expressed as remaining in place for a named span: two days.

But he answered him, "Lord, let it go this year also, until I dig around it and throw dung on it."

Luke 13:8 · SDVThe request for more time names both its span and its edge: “this year also, till.”

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.

John 15:4 · SDV

“Abide” here is ⁨μένω⁩ (menō), “remain,” the same root carried in ⁨ἐπιμενῶ⁩ (epimenō), “I will remain,” in 1 Corinthians 16:8. The stay in Ephesus and the branch’s remaining in the vine share one verbal seed: continuing presence.

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