What Does 2 Corinthians 12:5 Mean in the King James?
Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine 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
The remarkable can be named without becoming the self’s claim; the self’s only boast is its weakness.
THE MEANING
You can recognize what is extraordinary without turning it into proof of your own greatness. The verse places boasting in weakness, where strength is no longer something the self can claim as its achievement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that an extraordinary spiritual experience proves the self is superior.
THE ROOT
ἀσθενείαις
astheneiais
GROWS FROM
ἀσθεν-
asthen-
Without strength; weakness. The word is formed with a privative prefix, so infirmity names a lack of strength.
“Infirmities” carries more than illness: it belongs to a word family for being without strength. The verse makes that condition the speaker’s boast, so the claim rests precisely where self-sufficiency fails.
ALSO GROWS
asthenēs: Weak, without strength
ἀσθενής
The related adjective names a person as lacking strength, widening infirmity beyond a single illness.
astheneō: To be weak or ill
ἀσθενέω
The related verb makes weakness a condition one can inhabit, not merely a label for a failing body.
καυχήσομαι
kauchēs omai
GROWS FROM
καυχ-
kauch-
To boast, take pride in, or glory in.
The repeated verb keeps the verse focused on what can be claimed: first another person, then the self, whose only boast is infirmity. Here “glory” is a claim of pride, not an image of radiance.
ALSO GROWS
kauchesis: Boasting, the act of glorying
καύχησις
This noun names the act the verse repeats and redirects toward weakness.
kauchēma: A boast or ground for boasting
καύχημα
This branch points to the basis of a claim, sharpening the verse’s question of what the self can rightly claim.
THE PATTERN
When human strength cannot claim the credit, boasting moves to God or to the weakness that reveals dependence.
My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.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.The Greek family ἀσθεν- (asthen-, “without strength”) appears here as “weakness” and in the current verse as “infirmities.” The next verse names where the boast rests: power reaches its fullness where the self’s strength is absent.
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