What Does Ephesians 5:6 Mean in the King James?
Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
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 word for “disobedience” names a state of being unpersuaded, linking refusal to trust with refusal to obey.
THE MEANING
Empty words can make disobedience seem harmless, but they cannot erase its consequence. God’s anger comes upon those marked by refusal to be persuaded. The verse speaks now: a claim does not gain substance just because it sounds convincing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that reassuring words can make disobedience consequence-free.
THE ROOT
ἀπειθείας
apeitheías
GROWS FROM
πειθ
peith
to persuade, convince, or win over; the prefix a- negates this, giving the sense of being unpersuaded
The word rendered “disobedience” carries the sense of not being persuaded. Its root also gives Greek words for trust, bringing refusal to obey close to refusal to rely on what is true.
ALSO GROWS
peíthō: persuade, convince; be persuaded
πείθω
This is the root verb: disobedience is pictured as the state of not being persuaded.
pístis: trust, reliance
πίστις
This related word shows the other side of the root family: trust receives what disobedience resists.
κενοῖς
kenoîs
GROWS FROM
κεν
ken
empty, void of content
“Vain” here is not merely foolish or useless; it describes words with nothing substantial inside them. The root also forms words for emptying and for empty glory, exposing how speech can carry the appearance of weight without substance.
ALSO GROWS
kenóō: empty, make void
κενόω
This branch gives the root a vivid action: what is empty lacks what would make it whole or substantial.
kenodoxía: empty glory, vainglory
κενοδοξία
The compound joins emptiness with glory, echoing how words can seem weighty while carrying no substance.
THE PATTERN
Words that promise security without substance can conceal refusal of truth, but they cannot cancel its consequence.
Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,THE THREAD
And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?Hebrews uses the same Greek root behind “disobedience” here for “believed not.” English separates disbelief from disobedience, while the shared root brings refusal to be persuaded close to refusal to trust, and connects that posture with not entering rest.
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