What Does 2 Corinthians 11:20 Mean in the King James?
For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.
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 verse’s startling word is “suffer”: it frames enslavement, consumption, taking, self-exaltation, and a blow as things you endure.
THE MEANING
You are pictured enduring a sequence that strips away freedom and dignity: another makes you captive, consumes you, takes from you, raises himself above you, and strikes your face. The verse names this sequence as domination even as you bear it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that what you can endure must be harmless; the list names tolerated treatment as enslavement, consumption, appropriation, and bodily violence.
THE ROOT
ἀνέχεσθε
anechesthe
GROWS FROM
ἔχω (echō), in ἀνέχομαι (anechomai)
ἔχω (echō) means “have” or “hold”; ἀνέχομαι (anechomai) means “bear,” “endure,” or “put up with.”
“Suffer” here carries the sense of bearing with or tolerating what follows. That makes the verse’s tension plain: the conditions are degrading and violent, yet they are endured.
ALSO GROWS
echō: have, hold
ἔχω
This basic verb gives the image of holding or bearing that remains inside “endure.”
anochē: forbearance, tolerance
ἀνοχή
This related noun names the state of bearing with something, echoing the verse’s focus on what is tolerated.
καταδουλοῖ
katadouloi
GROWS FROM
δοῦλος (doulos) / δουλόω (douloō)
δοῦλος (doulos) means “servant”; δουλόω (douloō) means “make a servant” or “enslave.” The compound καταδουλόω (katadouloō) means “enslave” or “bring into bondage.”
“bring you into bondage” in this verse is katadouloi. The word describes a person being brought under another’s control, reduced to the status of a servant. Its same compound appears in Galatians 2:4, where people seek to bring others into bondage.
ALSO GROWS
doulos: servant
δοῦλος
The noun names the person whom the verb’s action makes subject to another.
douleuō: serve, be a servant
δουλεύω
This related verb carries the same root into the ongoing condition of service.
katadouloō: enslave, bring into bondage
καταδουλόω
This compound names the coercive condition the verse places first in its list.
THE PATTERN
Domination reduces people to objects for service, control, consumption, or harm.
And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.THE THREAD
And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:“Bring us into bondage” uses the same Greek compound καταδουλόω (katadouloō, “enslave” or “bring into bondage”) as “bring you into bondage” here. In both verses, bondage names an attempt to pull people under another’s control.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us