What Does 2 Corinthians 4:18 Mean in the King James?

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:18 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

What is visible has its season; what remains unseen belongs to the ages, so sight cannot measure what endures.

THE MEANING

Your attention stands between what is visible and what is not visible. The visible passes with its season; the unseen belongs to the ages, so appearance does not determine what lasts.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that whatever you can see now is all that is real or lasting.

THE ROOT

αἰώνια

aiōnia

GROWS FROM

αἰών

aiōn

age, era; ages

The word rendered “eternal” grows from ⁨αἰών⁩ (aiōn, age), carrying the sense of what belongs to the ages. Beside ⁨πρόσκαιρα⁩ (proskaira, temporary or for a season), it sets a passing season against the ages.

ALSO GROWS

aiōn: age, era

αἰών

This is the age-word at the root of the verse’s description of what is unseen.

aiōnios: of an age; age-long, belonging to the age or ages

αἰώνιος

This adjective from the same word family gives the unseen its age-spanning horizon.

πρόσκαιρα

proskaira

GROWS FROM

καιρός

kairos

season, fitting or appointed time

The word rendered “temporal” is ⁨πρόσκαιρα⁩ (proskaira, temporary), formed around ⁨καιρός⁩ (kairos, season or appointed time). Its root makes the passing quality of the seen explicit: it occupies a season.

ALSO GROWS

kairos: season; fitting or appointed time

καιρός

This is the time-word within ⁨πρόσκαιρα⁩, showing that the visible has a bounded season.

proskairos: temporary; lasting for a season

πρόσκαιρος

This related adjective carries the same seasonal limit as the word translated “temporal.”

σκοπούντων

skopountōn

GROWS FROM

σκοπ-

skop-

to observe, consider, direct one’s attention

The verb translated “look” is ⁨σκοπέω⁩ (skopeō, observe or consider), a deliberate regard rather than a passing glance. The verse concerns what attention takes as its object, then names which object endures.

ALSO GROWS

skopos: target, mark

σκοπός

This related noun’s sense of a target illuminates the directed attention in “look.”

episkopeō: watch over, inspect

ἐπισκοπέω

This related verb retains the sense of attending to or observing something.

THE PATTERN

Immediate visibility is a poor measure of what lasts.

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Isaiah 40:8 · KJVWhat can be seen fades, while the word endures beyond its season.

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Romans 8:25 · KJVHope reaches toward what sight has not yet disclosed.

(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

2 Corinthians 5:7 · KJVThe way forward is not measured by sight alone.

THE THREAD

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨βλέπω⁩ (blepō, see) for what is seen and what is not seen, with the latter formed by negating the same seeing-word. Hebrews describes trust as substance and evidence in that field, showing that unseen does not mean unreal.

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