What Does James 3:18 Mean in the King James?
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
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 makes peace both the ground where alignment’s fruit is sown and the work of the people who cultivate it.
THE MEANING
The fruit of alignment in your life takes root in wholeness among people who make peace. Peace here is active cultivation: what grows becomes visible through the shared work of making peace.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that being right is proved by winning a fight: the fruit of alignment takes root in peace, among people who make it.
THE ROOT
σπείρεται
speiretai
GROWS FROM
σπειρ- (speir-), from σπείρω (speirō)
to sow or scatter seed
English can make “sown” sound like a passive image, but the Greek word carries the act of scattering seed into the world. The verse pictures alignment’s fruit as something planted and growing through peace.
ALSO GROWS
sporos: Seed
σπόρος
The fruit is not detached from its source; it grows from what has been sown.
spora: Sowing or seed scattered
σπορά
This branch emphasizes the act of planting that makes later fruit possible.
diaspeirō: To scatter or disperse
διασπείρω
The shared seed-root carries both planting and spreading, showing how what is sown can extend beyond its starting place.
δικαιοσύνη
dikaiosynē
GROWS FROM
δικαι- (dikai-), from δίκαιος (dikaios)
alignment; what is right or just
“righteousness” in this verse is dikaiosynē. The verse presents alignment as fruit that grows, rather than as a label kept separate from daily life. Its growth is bound to the peace in which it is sown.
ALSO GROWS
dikaios: Just or aligned
δίκαιος
This adjective gives the quality that the fruit of righteousness makes visible.
dikaioō: To set right or declare just
δικαιόω
This related verb echoes the movement toward what is aligned and right.
εἰρήνη
eirēnē
GROWS FROM
εἰρην-
eirēn-
wholeness, peace
Peace appears twice: as the setting where the fruit is sown and in the phrase “them that make peace.” The verse holds wholeness as both a condition and a practiced work.
ALSO GROWS
eirēneuō: To live in peace
εἰρηνεύω
This related verb shows peace as a continuing state of life.
eirēnopoios: One who makes peace
εἰρηνοποιός
This compound names the people whose work matches the ones described here as making peace.
THE PATTERN
Alignment bears the fruit of wholeness where peace is actively cultivated.
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.THE THREAD
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.The Greek word for “peacemakers,” εἰρηνοποιοί (eirēnopoioi), shares its peace-word with James’s εἰρήνη (eirēnē). Matthew names the people; James shows what their work cultivates: the fruit of alignment.
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