What Does Ephesians 5:14 Mean in the King James?
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
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 Greek turns “give thee light” into a living encounter: the Anointed One shines upon you.
THE MEANING
Your sleep and deadness do not place you beyond awakening: the verse addresses you with a call to wake and rise. The Anointed One shines upon you, and his light brings what is hidden into view. Awakening, rising, and illumination meet in one movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what feels dead in you is beyond being awakened into life.
THE ROOT
ἔγειρε
egeire
GROWS FROM
ἐγερ-
eger-
Rouse, wake, or raise from a low or inactive state.
The verb translated “awake” belongs to the same word family as “raise”; Ephesians 2:6 uses it in “raised us up together.” The word itself lets waking open directly into resurrection.
ALSO GROWS
egersis: Rising; resurrection
ἔγερσις
This noun names resurrection as a rising, carrying the verse’s wake-and-raise movement into the language of resurrection.
synegeirō: Raise together
συνεγείρω
Ephesians 2:6 uses this compound for being raised together with Christ, showing that the same word family can describe shared resurrection.
ἀνάστα
anasta
GROWS FROM
στα-/στη- (sta-/stē-)
Stand or set upright.
“Arise” in this verse is anasta. The command carries the sense of standing up. The related noun ἀνάστασις (anastasis), “resurrection,” grows from the same word family, so rising from the dead already holds a resurrection image.
ALSO GROWS
histēmi: Stand; set in place
ἵστημι
The root’s basic image is taking a standing position, giving “arise” a concrete, upright force.
anastasis: Rising; resurrection
ἀνάστασις
This branch names resurrection as a rising up, echoing the command to arise from among the dead.
ἐπιφαύσει
epiphausēi
GROWS FROM
φα-/φαυ- (pha-/phau-)
Shine; bring light into view.
“Give thee light” in this verse is epiphausēi. The Greek verb pictures the Anointed One shining upon you. Light arrives as the action of his presence, bringing what was hidden into view.
ALSO GROWS
phōs: Light
φῶς
This light-word names what shines; here, the verb makes light an action directed toward the reader.
phainō: Shine; appear
φαίνω
The related shine-and-appear family connects light with what becomes visible.
THE PATTERN
Across Scripture, awakening from sleep or death moves into life made visible by divine light.
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.THE THREAD
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:This passage repeats “dead” (nekros) and the egeirō word family in “raised us up together.” It opens the summons in Ephesians 5:14 as part of the same movement from death into risen life with Christ.
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