What Does Ephesians 5:16 Mean in the King James?
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
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 pictures an opportune moment as something you can buy back from days marked by evil.
THE MEANING
You live in days marked by evil, yet the present moment still holds an opening that can be reclaimed. Time here is more than hours passing; it is an opportunity with value while it is here.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that time is neutral and replaceable: some openings pass, and harmful days make their value urgent.
THE ROOT
ἐξαγοραζόμενοι
exagorazomenoi
GROWS FROM
ἀγορά
agora
Buying in a marketplace; with the prefix ἐξ- (ex-, out), buying up or buying out.
“Redeeming” carries the image of a purchase: the moment is treated as something valuable that can be claimed. English can make the phrase sound abstract, while the Greek preserves the force of buying up an opportunity.
ALSO GROWS
agora: Marketplace
ἀγορά
The word behind the image places the moment in a field of value and exchange.
agorazō: Buy or purchase
ἀγοράζω
This related verb makes the action concrete: the opportunity is taken up rather than merely watched pass.
καιρόν
kairon
GROWS FROM
καιρ-
kair- word stem
A fitting season or opportune moment, rather than time understood only as clock duration.
The word translated “time” points to an opening whose value belongs to its season. Paired with the marketplace image, it presents the moment as an opportunity to claim before it passes.
ALSO GROWS
eukairos: Seasonable, well-timed
εὔκαιρος
This related form shows how kairos can name a moment that is fitting for what is happening.
akairos: Out of season, untimely
ἄκαιρος
Its opposite shows that the same action can meet a moment either in season or out of season.
THE PATTERN
A moment carries an opportunity that belongs to its season and can pass unused.
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.THE THREAD
And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.Luke uses the same Greek word, καιρός (kairos), for the time of visitation. The connection makes the urgency plain: an opening can be present and still go unrecognized, with real consequences when it passes.
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