What Does 1 Timothy 4:16 Mean in the King James?

Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

1 Timothy 4:16 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Deliverance here travels through a life that stays with the teaching: it reaches both the one who tends it and the one who hears it.

THE MEANING

Your attention to your own life and to the teaching forms one joined practice in this verse. As you remain in both, deliverance reaches you and those who hear you.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse dissolves the belief that personal formation and what you teach are separate: the hearers’ deliverance is tied to the same watchfulness and perseverance that shape you.

THE ROOT

σῴζω

sōzō

GROWS FROM

σωζ

sōz

To deliver, rescue, or preserve.

The word translated “save” carries the sense of being brought out of danger and kept whole. Here that deliverance reaches both you and your hearers through the sustained attention the verse describes.

ALSO GROWS

sōtēria: Deliverance, rescue, or safety.

σωτηρία

It names the deliverance that the verse says reaches both speaker and hearers.

sōtēr: Deliverer or rescuer.

σωτήρ

This branch shows that the root concerns a person being brought through danger, not merely an abstract idea of rescue.

ἐπιμένω

epimenō

GROWS FROM

μένω

menō

To remain or stay.

“Continue” carries the image of remaining within something, not merely passing through it. The teaching becomes a place you stay, and that constancy connects your own life with what reaches those who hear you.

ALSO GROWS

menō: Remain, stay, or abide.

μένω

This is the root beneath “continue,” emphasizing lasting presence within the teaching.

monē: Dwelling or place to stay.

μονή

This related word gives “remain” the feel of inhabiting a place, illuminating the verse’s call to stay within the teaching.

THE PATTERN

Sustained attention keeps truth present in one life and carries its effects to others.

Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;

Deuteronomy 4:9 · KJVAttention to oneself preserves what has been received, and what is kept present is passed on through teaching.

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

John 8:31 · KJVRemaining in the word makes its truth an ongoing reality rather than a passing hearing.

Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

James 5:20 · KJVA person who brings another back from error becomes part of that person’s deliverance.

THE THREAD

To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

1 Corinthians 9:22 · KJV

“Save” here is the same Greek root, sōzō, as in your verse. One verse ties deliverance to staying with the teaching; the other shows that this same deliverance reaches others through a responsive presence.

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