What Does James 1:14 Mean in the King James?
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
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 traces temptation to a pull already within you: your own desire draws you out and becomes the bait.
THE MEANING
Temptation takes shape when desire that belongs to you draws you toward what it wants. The verse describes that pull as being drawn out and enticed, like a person caught by bait. The desire is part of the movement; it is not yet the outcome named in the next verse.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that temptation begins only as an outside attack: it locates the pull in your own desire.
THE ROOT
ἐπιθυμίας
epithymías
GROWS FROM
ἐπιθυμέω
epithymeō
To desire or long for; a longing directed toward something.
“lust” in this verse is epithymías. The Greek calls this desire the person’s own (ἰδίας, idías: belonging to oneself). The word names longing broadly, while the verse shows how that longing can become the start of temptation.
ALSO GROWS
epithymeō: To desire or long for.
ἐπιθυμέω
The verb from this word family makes the longing active: a person directs desire toward something.
epithymía: Desire or longing.
ἐπιθυμία
The same noun appears in 1 Peter 2:11 as “lusts,” showing that the word names desire beyond this verse’s specific moment.
ἐξελκόμενος
exelkómenos
GROWS FROM
ἕλκω
helkō
To draw, pull, or drag; the compound adds ἐκ (ek), “out.”
“drawn away” in this verse is exelkómenos. The Greek verb pictures more than a passing thought: it gives desire a direction, pulling the person outward. The same verb can describe drawing someone (John 6:44) or hauling in a net (John 21:6), so the image carries the force of a real pull.
ALSO GROWS
helkō: To draw or pull.
ἕλκω
In John 6:44, the same verb describes drawing a person; here the compound describes being drawn out by one’s own desire.
helkō: To haul or draw in.
ἕλκω
In John 21:6, it describes drawing a net full of fish, keeping the physical force of the image visible.
δελεαζόμενος
deleazómenos
GROWS FROM
δέλεαρ
délear
Bait or lure; δελεάζω (deleazō) means to bait or entice.
“Enticed” carries the image of being baited. Beside the verb for being drawn out, it makes desire’s movement feel like a lure taking hold, not simply an idea passing through the mind.
ALSO GROWS
délear: Bait or lure.
δέλεαρ
This noun sits behind the verb and reveals the catching image contained in “enticed.”
deleazō: To bait or entice.
δελεάζω
The same verb appears as “beguiling” in 2 Peter 2:14, where unstable souls are drawn in by a lure.
THE PATTERN
Desire can draw a person toward what appears desirable until the lure becomes a trap.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:THE THREAD
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.The same Greek word for desire (ἐπιθυμία, epithymía) returns here. The next verse opens the movement further: desire is the beginning of a sequence, not its completed outcome.
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