What Does 1 Timothy 5:23 Mean in the King James?
Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.
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
“Infirmities” comes from a word for lacking strength, and the verse meets that weakness with a small, concrete provision.
THE MEANING
The verse meets the reader’s recurring bodily weakness with a concrete, modest provision: a little wine for the stomach. Bodily need is spoken of plainly, as part of life, without assigning it a moral verdict.
THE ROOT
ἀσθενείαις
astheneiais
GROWS FROM
ἀσθεν- (a- + σθένος, sthenos)
Lacking strength; weakness.
The word translated “infirmities” grows from the idea of being without strength. Paired with “often,” it names weakness that recurs, while the verse responds to it as a bodily condition with practical care.
ALSO GROWS
astheneō: To be weak or ill.
ἀσθενέω
The same word family can name weakness as something a person experiences, keeping the verse’s concern close to lived bodily condition.
asthenēs: Weak; without strength.
ἀσθενής
This related adjective makes the root’s image plain: the infirmity is a lack of strength, not a judgment about character.
THE PATTERN
Bodily need is met through concrete provisions and acts of care.
And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.THE THREAD
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.“Infirmities” translates the same Greek noun, ἀσθενείαις (astheneiais), in both verses. Here it names recurring bodily trouble; the shared word lets that concrete weakness remain part of the larger language of human weakness.
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