What Does James 2:5 Mean in the King James?
Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
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 same people the world counts poor are named rich in trust and heirs of a promise.
THE MEANING
God’s choosing reaches people whose material standing is poor and calls them rich in trust. The promise names those who love God as heirs of God’s governance. The verse does not make deprivation a virtue or a price of entry; it shows that worldly wealth cannot define this inheritance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A low account balance is not evidence that God has overlooked you, and possessions are not proof that you possess what this promise gives.
THE ROOT
πίστει
pistei
GROWS FROM
πειθ-
peith-
Persuade; be persuaded; trust.
“faith” in this verse is pistei. The word points to trust as reliance, not a possession that can be stored up. That makes the verse’s contrast sharper: someone poor by the world’s measure can be rich in trust.
ALSO GROWS
peithō: persuade; be persuaded
πείθω
The related verb shows trust as a response of reliance, not a marker of material status.
pisteuō: trust, entrust oneself, believe
πιστεύω
This cognate verb makes trust an active relation, the wealth the verse places beside worldly poverty.
πτωχούς
ptōchous
GROWS FROM
πτωχ-
ptōch-
Begging, destitute; having little or no means.
“poor” in this verse is ptōchous. This word names actual material need, not merely humility or spiritual poverty. The verse sets that concrete lack beside wealth in trust without turning deprivation itself into a virtue.
ALSO GROWS
ptōcheia: poverty
πτωχεία
The noun uses the same stem for the condition the verse names, keeping its material sense in view.
ptōcheuō: be poor, live in poverty
πτωχεύω
The verb makes poverty a lived condition, so the verse’s contrast is between real lack and trust.
βασιλείας
basileias
GROWS FROM
βασιλ-
basil-
Kingship, rule, reign.
βασιλεία (basileia) can name a reign or rule, as well as a kingdom. The promised inheritance is God’s governance, a share that worldly wealth cannot measure.
ALSO GROWS
basileus: king
βασιλεύς
The related noun identifies the ruler behind the reign promised here.
basileuō: reign, rule as king
βασιλεύω
The verb brings out the active sense of the inheritance: governance, not simply territory.
THE PATTERN
God’s promise overturns worldly status by raising the poor into honor and naming trust as wealth.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.THE THREAD
And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.James calls those who love God heirs of the promised governance; Galatians uses the same Greek heir word, κληρονόμοι (klēronomoi, heirs), and ties that inheritance directly to promise. The shared root presents the inheritance as a received share, not something measured by current wealth.
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