What Does 1 Timothy 6:19 Mean in the King James?
Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
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
What you share becomes a foundation from which you take hold of the life of the ages.
THE MEANING
This verse locates lasting security in generosity, good work, and readiness to share. What you give becomes treasure laid up for the time to come, and life is something you grasp rather than something you can secure by keeping wealth to yourself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that only what you keep can secure your future.
THE ROOT
ἀποθησαυρίζοντας
apothēsaurizontas
GROWS FROM
θησαυρ-
thēsaur-
Treasure; a storehouse or stored treasure.
“laying up in store” in this verse is apothēsaurizontas. The word joins the image of storing with the image of treasure: what is laid up is not merely an amount kept back, but something of value being gathered. Here that treasure becomes a foundation, linking what you share now to the life you grasp in the time to come.
ALSO GROWS
thēsauros: Treasure; storehouse.
θησαυρός
This noun names the treasure gathered by the act of laying up, making the verse’s storehouse image concrete.
thēsaurizō: Store up treasure.
θησαυρίζω
This verb is the base for the verse’s wording and recurs in the image of laying up treasure in heaven.
αἰωνίου
aiōniou
GROWS FROM
αἰών
aiōn
An age; a span of time or era.
The phrase points to life belonging to the ages, giving “eternal life” a dimension of age and time. The verse sets present generosity against the coming age, where this life is to be grasped.
ALSO GROWS
aiōn: An age; an era.
αἰών
This is the noun behind the word translated “eternal,” bringing the coming age into view.
aiōnios: Of an age; age-lasting.
αἰώνιος
This adjective describes the life the verse says can be taken hold of.
ἐπιλάβωνται
epilabōntai
GROWS FROM
λαμβάνω
lambanō
Take; receive.
“lay hold” in this verse is epilabōntai. The verse makes life something to take hold of, a concrete act of grasping rather than a distant abstraction. Paired with treasure laid up through sharing, the image links generosity now with a life received and held in the age to come.
ALSO GROWS
katalambanō: Seize; grasp.
καταλαμβάνω
This related form sharpens the physical force of grasping in the verse.
paralambanō: Receive; take along.
παραλαμβάνω
This related form shows the root’s range includes receiving, as well as taking hold.
THE PATTERN
What is given in the present becomes treasure that endures beyond what can be kept for oneself.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.THE THREAD
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:Matthew uses the same treasure-storing word found in this verse. There, what is laid up cannot be undone by moth or theft; here, that treasure becomes a good foundation for grasping the life of the ages.
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