What Does 1 Corinthians 16:5 Mean in the King James?

Now I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia.

1 Corinthians 16:5 · 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 same Greek verb-family is translated “come” at the destination and “pass through” on the way there.

THE MEANING

A promised arrival can be held in view while the passage is still underway. The motion toward you and the motion through the place on the way belong to one movement: the route is part of the coming.

THE ROOT

ἔρχομαι

erchomai

GROWS FROM

ἔρχομαι

erchomai

To come or go; to arrive or move toward a place.

“come / pass through” in this verse is erchomai. The Greek uses ⁨ἐλεύσομαι⁩, a future form of ⁨ἔρχομαι⁩, for “I will come,” and ⁨διέρχομαι⁩, formed with dia (“through”), for “I pass through.” English gives these motions different words, while Greek holds them in one family: arrival and passage are parts of the same movement.

ALSO GROWS

dierchomai: Pass through, go through

διέρχομαι

Adding dia (“through”) turns the same coming-and-going motion into the route through Macedonia.

eleusomai: I will come

ἐλεύσομαι

This is the future form used for the promised arrival “unto you,” joining the destination to the passage.

eiserchomai: Enter, go in

εἰσέρχομαι

With eis (“into”), the same verb-family describes movement into a place, extending the pattern from route to arrival within.

THE PATTERN

A promised arrival is held together with the passage that leads to it.

And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

Genesis 12:6 · KJVThe destination at Sichem is reached through a passage the verse names as part of the journey.

And he must needs go through Samaria.

John 4:4 · KJVThe movement toward the next destination includes the passage through Samaria.

And when he had gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece,

Acts 20:2 · KJVThe verse holds passage through a region and arrival in Greece within one unfolding journey.

THE THREAD

And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judaea.

2 Corinthians 1:16 · KJV

This verse uses the same Greek verb-family for passing through and coming, placing Macedonia along the route between encounters. It opens the present verse into a fuller movement: passage, return, and onward travel belong to one journey.

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