What Does 2 Corinthians 3:16 Mean?
But whenever it turns to the LORD, the covering is lifted off.
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
Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.THE KEY
The decisive change is a turn of orientation: as the heart turns toward the Lord, the covering is taken away.
THE MEANING
When the heart turns toward the Lord, the covering is taken away. What was hidden becomes visible; the verse presents perception as something uncovered, not something constructed by effort.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that the covering makes sight impossible dissolves: the verse says the veil is removed when the heart turns toward the Lord.
THE ROOT
κάλυμμα
kalymma
GROWS FROM
καλυπτ-
kalypt-
Cover, conceal.
“vail” in this verse is kalymma. The word for “veil” belongs to the same Greek word family as ἀποκαλύπτω (apokalyptō), “uncover, reveal.” Concealment and revelation are opposite movements of one root: when the covering is removed, what was hidden can be seen.
ALSO GROWS
apokalyptō: Uncover, reveal.
ἀποκαλύπτω
The veil’s removal opens into the same root family as revelation: what is concealed becomes visible.
epikalyptō: Cover over.
ἐπικαλύπτω
This branch makes the covering action explicit, sharpening the verse’s image of an obstruction being taken away.
ἐπιστρέψῃ
epistrepsē
GROWS FROM
στρεφ-
streph-
Turn, redirect.
“turns” in this verse is epistrepsē. The verb carries the root sense of turning, while ἐπί (epi) gives this turn its direction: toward the Lord. The verse links that reorientation with the veil’s removal.
ALSO GROWS
epistrophē: Turning, return.
ἐπιστροφή
This noun shares the turn-toward sense and echoes the verse’s movement of reorientation.
apostrephō: Turn away.
ἀποστρέφω
The same turn-root can describe turning away; here the direction is toward the Lord.
THE PATTERN
As attention turns toward God, what obscures perception is lifted and sight opens.
And in this mountain he will swallow up the face of the covering wrapped over all peoples, and the veil poured out over all nations.They gaze upon him and flow with light, and their faces are never exposed.And their eyes were thrown open, and they recognized him, and he became unseen to them.THE THREAD
But their thoughts were hardened, for until today the same covering remains in the reading of the old covenant, not being uncovered, which is made idle in the Anointed One.The “vail” in both verses is the same Greek word, κάλυμμα (kalymma), the covering. Verse 14 names the veil that remains; verse 16 shows its removal as the heart turns toward the Lord.
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