What Does 2 Corinthians 12:14 Mean?
Look, this is the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not numb you. For I do not seek what is yours, but you. For children do not owe it to store up for their parents, but parents for their children.
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
Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.THE KEY
The person is the treasure being sought, while what is gathered is meant to serve the next generation.
THE MEANING
The care in this verse approaches you without making you carry its cost. You yourself, not what you possess, are sought; provision moves from parent to child. The person remains the purpose, and what is stored is for their sake.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that care comes looking for what you own gives way here: the one seeking you wants you, not your possessions.
THE ROOT
ζητέω
zēteō
GROWS FROM
ζητ-
To seek or inquire.
The verse says, “I seek not yours, but you”: the seeking lands on the person, not their property. English keeps the contrast, but the Greek root makes the act of seeking itself central to the speaker’s desire.
ALSO GROWS
zētēsis: Seeking or inquiry.
ζήτησις
This noun keeps the focus on the act of seeking, the very act the verse directs toward the people themselves.
zētēma: A question or matter being sought.
ζήτημα
The sought matter here is not what belongs to the people; it is the people themselves.
θησαυρίζω
thēsaurizō
GROWS FROM
θησαυρ-
Treasure; a store of value.
“store up for their parents” in this verse is thēsaurizō. The verb means to store up as treasure, so “lay up” carries the sense of gathering and treasuring. The verse directs that stored value toward the children: what is gathered serves the next generation, rather than being the purpose in itself.
ALSO GROWS
thēsauros: Treasure or storehouse.
θησαυρός
This is the related noun behind the idea of what is stored and treasured.
apothēsaurizō: To store up treasure.
ἀποθησαυρίζω
This related verb appears in the image of storing something for the future, echoing the parents’ provision for their children.
THE PATTERN
Provision expresses care when what is gathered or given is directed toward the life of another.
The good one leaves an inheritance to his children's children; the strength of those who miss the mark is stored away for the aligned.Do not tremble, little flock, for your Father delights to give you the governance.So yearning for you, we were pleased to share with you not only the good news of God but also our own living souls, because you became beloved to us.THE THREAD
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.The Greek words θησαυρίζω (thēsaurizō, “store up as treasure”) and θησαυρός (thēsauros, “treasure”) share a word family. Here, what the parent stores is directed toward the children; Matthew’s saying opens the question of where the heart is carried by that treasure.
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