What Does James 5:19 Mean in the King James?
Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert 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 Greek pairs a person’s wandering from truth with another person’s turn toward them, making restoration a change of direction carried through relationship.
THE MEANING
When you wander from truth, the verse places you on a path from which turning back remains possible. Another person can become the means by which that turn happens.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Wandering from truth makes return impossible, or must be accomplished alone.
THE ROOT
πλανηθῇ
planēthē
GROWS FROM
πλαν- (plan-, the stem of πλανάω)
To wander, go astray, or lead astray.
“err” in this verse is planēthē. The Greek pictures a person wandering away from truth, making the following turn a restoration of direction. The verse holds error and return within the same language of movement.
ALSO GROWS
planē: Wandering; error.
πλάνη
This noun shows error as a path one wanders onto, echoing the verse’s image of straying from truth.
planos: Wanderer; deceiver.
πλάνος
This related word can describe the one who wanders or leads another astray, extending the root’s movement beyond a mistaken idea.
ἐπιστρέψῃ
epistrepsē
GROWS FROM
στρεφ- (stref-, the stem of στρέφω)
To turn or turn back; the prefix ἐπι- gives the compound its direction.
“convert” in this verse is epistrepsē. The verb is built on the Greek word for turning. The same turning family can describe return or turning away, so the verse’s hope rests in a change of direction made possible through another person.
ALSO GROWS
epistrophē: Turning; return.
ἐπιστροφή
This noun names the movement toward return that the verse describes when one person turns another back.
apostrephō: Turn away; turn aside.
ἀποστρέφω
This related compound shows how the shared turning root can move in the opposite direction, sharpening the significance of turning someone back.
THE PATTERN
When someone wanders from truth, another person can help turn them back.
I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.THE THREAD
Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.The same Greek turn-word, ἐπιστρέφω (epistrephō, turn or return), appears in both verses. James 5:20 shows the reach of that turning: it delivers a living soul from death.
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