What Does Ephesians 6:16 Mean in the King James?
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
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 shield is trust itself: what takes the blow and extinguishes its fire.
THE MEANING
Your trust meets the attack as a shield: the darts arrive burning, but their fire is quenched against it. The verse presents the wicked one’s assault as real and targeted while showing trust as protection that keeps its flame from taking hold.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that trust is only an inward opinion with no force against what attacks you; here it is a shield that quenches the assault’s fire.
THE ROOT
πίστις
pistis
GROWS FROM
πείθω (peithō) → πιστ-
To persuade, be persuaded, and come to trust or rely on.
The word translated “faith” belongs to the family of peithō: being persuaded into reliance, not merely agreeing with an idea. Its family includes both trusting and being firm or trustworthy, so the shield is trust with weight behind it, something that meets and holds against impact.
ALSO GROWS
pisteuō: To believe or trust.
πιστεύω
The verb shows pistis as reliance in motion, not a detached opinion.
pistos: Firm, steady, trustworthy.
πιστός
This branch shows the steadiness that lets trust hold when an attack lands.
θυρεόν
thyreon
GROWS FROM
θύρα
thyra
Door or gate.
The Greek word for this large shield is linked to the word for a door. The image is of a portable door held before the body: trust forms a boundary the attack must meet.
ALSO GROWS
thyra: Door or gate.
θύρα
The shield’s word carries the image of a door set between the person and what approaches.
thyrōros: Doorkeeper or guard.
θυρωρός
This related word adds the image of guarding an entrance, echoing the shield’s role as a protective boundary.
σβέσαι
sbesai
GROWS FROM
σβεν-
sbenn-
To quench or extinguish.
“quench” in this verse is sbesai. The verse describes the shield’s effect as putting out the darts’ fire. The same word family appears in ἄσβεστος, “unquenchable,” making the contrast vivid: what seems to keep burning can still be extinguished.
ALSO GROWS
sbennymi: To quench or extinguish.
σβέννυμι
This is the verb’s lexical form and keeps the image focused on a flame being put out.
asbestos: Unquenchable.
ἄσβεστος
This related word names fire that cannot be put out, sharpening the force of the shield’s quenching.
THE PATTERN
Trust becomes protection when it receives what is aimed at it and holds firm against its force.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.THE THREAD
Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.The Greek word translated “faith” here is the same pistis as in Ephesians’ “shield of faith.” Peter shows that trust as steadfast resistance; Ephesians gives that resistance a physical image, as what attacks meets the shield and loses its fire.
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