What Does 2 Timothy 4:4 Mean?
And they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to myths.
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
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.THE KEY
The ear does not become empty when it rejects truth; it turns toward another story.
THE MEANING
When your hearing turns from what is true, another account receives its attention. The verse names this movement plainly: away from truth and toward fables.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief that rejecting truth leaves the ear neutral; this verse shows that the rejection is already a turn toward something else.
THE ROOT
ἀποστρέψουσιν
apostrepsousin
GROWS FROM
στρέφω
strephō
To turn or turn around.
The verse pairs ἀποστρέφω (apostrephō, “turn away”) with ἐκτρέπω (ektrepō, “turn aside”), a different Greek verb with the same image of turning. English smooths the pair into “turn away” and “turned unto,” while the Greek makes the passage’s central movement unmistakable: hearing is redirected from truth toward fables.
ALSO GROWS
epistrephō: To turn back or return.
ἐπιστρέφω
This related turning verb shows that the same image can describe a change of direction back toward something.
apostrophē: A turning away or departure.
ἀποστροφή
This related noun makes the direction of the first verb vivid: turning one’s ears away is a departure from what they were hearing.
ἀκοήν
akoēn
GROWS FROM
ἀκούω
akouō
To hear or listen; ἀκοή can mean hearing or a report.
The Greek noun ἀκοή (akoē, “hearing” or “report”) can name both the act of hearing and what is heard. The English “ears” can sound like a passive organ, but the word’s range points to hearing as a channel for a message, one the verse says can be turned away from truth.
ALSO GROWS
akoē: Hearing, report, or message.
ἀκοή
The same noun appears in Romans 10:17 as “hearing,” linking this passage’s ears to the message a person receives.
hypakouō: To listen, heed, or obey.
ὑπακούω
This related verb connects hearing with heeding: in Greek, listening can describe a response, not merely sound entering the ear.
THE PATTERN
What a person chooses to hear can steer attention away from truth and toward a preferred account.
Who say to the seers, "Do not see," and to the visionaries, "Do not see for us what is straight. Speak to us what is smooth, see what is slippery."And because I speak the truth to you, you do not lean your weight on me.From which some, having missed the aim, have stepped out into empty talk.THE THREAD
From which some, having missed the aim, have stepped out into empty talk.This verse uses the same Greek verb, ἐκτρέπω (ektrepō, “turn aside”), as “shall be turned unto” in 2 Timothy 4:4. Here the turn leads to vain jangling; there it leads to fables, tracing the same movement by where the hearing goes.
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