What Does 1 Timothy 6:8 Mean in the King James?

And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

1 Timothy 6:8 · 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 word translated “content” carries the sense of “enough”: this verse measures a settled life by sufficiency, not accumulation.

THE MEANING

Your life can be sufficient when food sustains you and covering protects you. Contentment recognizes that what meets your real need is enough for this moment; it does not depend on adding possessions.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie this undoes is that life cannot be enough until you own more.

THE ROOT

ἀρκέω

arkeō

GROWS FROM

ἀρκ-

ark-

Be enough; suffice.

The verb behind “be content” carries the sense of sufficiency: what sustains life can be enough. Its related words keep that same measure visible, so contentment is tied to enoughness rather than to an ever-growing store of things.

ALSO GROWS

autarkeia: Sufficiency; contentment.

αὐτάρκεια

This related noun is translated “contentment” in 1 Timothy 6:6, linking contentment to having enough.

arketos: Enough; sufficient.

ἀρκετός

This related adjective appears in “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:34), keeping the measure close to what is present.

διατροφή

diatrophē

GROWS FROM

τρέφω

trephō

Feed, nourish, bring up.

The word for food belongs to a family of words for feeding and nourishment. It points to what sustains a living body, making the verse’s measure concrete: food is what nourishes, not a symbol for everything one might acquire.

ALSO GROWS

trophē: Food; nourishment.

τροφή

This related noun names the nourishment that sustains the body.

trophos: A nurse; one who nourishes.

τροφός

This related word shows the same root extending from food to the one who feeds and nurtures.

σκέπασμα

skepasma

GROWS FROM

σκεπ-

skep-

Covering; shelter.

The word for raiment belongs to a family carrying the sense of covering and shelter. The verse names not status or display, but the covering that protects the body alongside the food that sustains it.

ALSO GROWS

skepē: Shelter; covering.

σκέπη

This related word makes the protective sense of raiment clear: it covers and shelters.

skepazō: To cover; shelter.

σκεπάζω

This related verb shows the action contained in the image of raiment: covering the body.

THE PATTERN

Life’s sufficiency is measured by provision for actual need, loosening the demand for more.

Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:

Proverbs 30:8 · KJVThe request centers on food that meets need, holding both deprivation and excess outside the measure of sufficiency.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Matthew 6:11 · KJVDaily bread names provision for the present day as enough to ask for and receive.

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Hebrews 13:5 · KJVContentment is joined to what is already at hand and to the assurance of presence.

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.

2 Corinthians 12:9 · KJV

The same Greek verb translated “be content” here is translated “is sufficient” in this verse. That shared root opens contentment beyond a mood: sufficiency can hold even in weakness.

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