What Does 1 Corinthians 4:12 Mean in the King James?
And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:
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 insult reaches the ear, but it does not get to choose the mouth’s next word.
THE MEANING
Your speech is not owned by the hostility aimed at you: even under reviling, blessing remains possible. Persecution is met with endurance while the work of your own hands continues; the verse holds vulnerability and agency in the same sentence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that an insult controls what comes out of you, or that persecution leaves retaliation as the only response, loses its grip here.
THE ROOT
εὐλογοῦμεν
eulogoumen
GROWS FROM
εὖ (eu, good) + λόγος (logos, word or speech)
To speak well; to pronounce good.
εὐλογέω (eulogeō, speak well or bless) is built from εὖ (eu, good) and λόγος (logos, word or speech), so the response to reviling is literally good speech. English can make “bless” sound like a set formula; the Greek carries speech itself, answering verbal harm with good words.
ALSO GROWS
eulogia: Blessing; good speaking.
εὐλογία
The related noun keeps the connection between blessing and spoken words visible.
eulogētos: Blessed; worthy of praise.
εὐλογητός
This related form describes someone as spoken well of, extending the same word-family beyond the act of blessing.
ἀνεχόμεθα
anechometha
GROWS FROM
ἔχω (echō, hold or have), compounded in ἀνέχομαι
To hold up, bear, or endure; ἀνέχομαι means to bear something.
“suffer it” in this verse is anechometha. ἀνέχομαι (anechomai, endure or bear) carries ἔχω (echō, hold) within it: persecution is borne, not treated as harmless. Its related form ἀνοχή (anochē, forbearance) names a capacity to hold under pressure; the verse’s endurance does not erase the violence it names.
ALSO GROWS
anochē: Forbearance; endurance.
ἀνοχή
This related form names the capacity to bear or hold back under pressure.
katechō: Hold fast; retain.
κατέχω
This compound shares the ἔχω (echō, hold) core, showing the root’s range from bearing through to holding firmly.
THE PATTERN
Hostility does not determine the response: scripture pairs enemies or persecution with an answer that gives good.
If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.THE THREAD
Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.The Greek verb for “bless” is εὐλογέω (eulogeō, speak well or bless) in both verses. Romans joins that same good-speaking directly to persecution, making the pairing in Corinthians part of a recurring scriptural pattern.
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