What Does James 1:24 Mean in the King James?
For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
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 mirror gives him a true glimpse, but the seeing does not stay with him once he walks away.
THE MEANING
You can see yourself clearly and still lose sight of what you saw the moment you turn away. The face remains what it is; what fades is your awareness of having seen it. James uses this image for hearing a word and letting its recognition slip from view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that one clear moment of seeing yourself guarantees you will remember what you saw.
THE ROOT
ἐπιλανθάνομαι
epilanthanomai
GROWS FROM
λανθάνω
To escape notice or be hidden from awareness.
“forgetteth” in this verse is epilanthanomai. The Greek word for forgetting grows from a root that carries the sense of something slipping from notice. The verse shows the man leaving the mirror, and what he has seen vanishes from his awareness as he goes.
ALSO GROWS
epilanthanomai: To forget or let slip from awareness.
ἐπιλανθάνομαι
This is the verb used in the verse, giving forgetting the sense of what has escaped notice.
lēthē: Forgetfulness or oblivion.
λήθη
This related word names the obscurity into which what was seen can slip.
THE PATTERN
What is seen lasts when attention remains with it through what follows.
Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.THE THREAD
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.“Forgetful hearer” belongs to the same Greek word family as “forgetteth” here, rooted in the idea of slipping from notice. The next verse shows what happens when the word stays in view: the hearer continues in it.
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