What Does 1 Corinthians 16:2 Mean in the King James?
Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The gift is already being gathered before anyone arrives: each person turns a portion into a stored treasure.
THE MEANING
Shared need is met through portions set aside in advance, each measured by what has come that person’s way. The collection is already taking shape in the ordinary week, before anyone’s arrival calls attention to it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that generosity begins only when someone asks: here, the provision is set aside before the arrival.
THE ROOT
θησαυρίζων
thēsaurizōn
GROWS FROM
θησαυρ-
thēsaur-
Treasure or storehouse; in the verb, to store up or treasure.
The English spreads the action across “lay by him in store,” while the Greek uses a compact verb meaning to store up or treasure. The regular setting aside is itself an act of treasuring, though its immediate purpose here is the shared collection.
ALSO GROWS
thēsauros: Treasure; storehouse.
θησαυρός
The noun makes the image behind the verb visible: what is set aside becomes a reserve held in store.
thēsaurizō: To store up; to treasure.
θησαυρίζω
This is the verb’s dictionary form, also used for laying up treasure in Matthew 6:20.
THE PATTERN
Shared provision takes shape through regular, proportionate setting aside before the moment of need.
Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.THE THREAD
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:Matthew uses the same treasure-word as 1 Corinthians: setting something aside is described as treasuring. The destination differs, heaven there, the collection here, but both make deliberate storing visible as an act of placement.
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