What Does 1 Corinthians 16:21 Mean in the King James?

The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand.

1 Corinthians 16:21 · KJV

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 greeting is not only Paul’s words; his own hand makes the sender present inside the message.

THE MEANING

Paul’s greeting reaches you through his own hand: the message carries the person who sends it. The verse makes authorship tangible, joining words and the writer’s bodily act in a single line.

THE ROOT

χειρί

cheiri

GROWS FROM

χείρ

cheir

hand

Here, ⁨χείρ⁩ (cheir, hand) ties the greeting to Paul’s own physical act of sending it. Words from the same hand-family describe a handwritten record and something made by hand, giving the greeting the character of a personal trace.

ALSO GROWS

cheirographon: handwritten document or record

χειρόγραφον

The hand is part of the written record itself, making authorship visible.

cheiropoiētos: made by hand

χειροποίητος

This word marks something as the work of a maker; here, the greeting is likewise marked by its sender’s own hand.

THE PATTERN

Care and identity become tangible when a person’s presence is carried through the work of their hands.

And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.

Genesis 48:14 · KJVIsrael’s hands make his act of blessing a personal, embodied gesture.

And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

Mark 10:16 · KJVThe blessing reaches the children through the touch of the one who gives it.

The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write.

2 Thessalonians 3:17 · KJVPaul’s hand makes his greeting a recognizable mark of the person sending it.

THE THREAD

Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.

Galatians 6:11 · KJV

Galatians uses the same ⁨χείρ⁩ (cheir, hand) and the same insistence that Paul writes with his own hand. The shared word makes the hand a signature of presence: the message carries the sender’s own mark.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us