What Does Jude 1:20 Mean in the King James?
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
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 strengthening Jude describes is a structure raised on trust, with prayer lived within the Set-Apart Breath.
THE MEANING
Your life is being built on trust set apart for God, and your prayer takes place in the Set-Apart Breath. Jude joins the foundation and the prayer: strengthening is a life taking shape within that Breath.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the idea that spiritual strength is self-made: the construction rests on trust and takes place in the Set-Apart Breath.
THE ROOT
ἐποικοδομοῦντες
epoikodomountes
GROWS FROM
οἰκοδομ- (oikodom-) + ἐπί (epi, upon)
Build a house; with epi, build upon.
“building up” in this verse is epoikodomountes. The verb carries the sense of building upon, and Jude names what bears the structure: trust. The image is a life taking shape on a foundation.
ALSO GROWS
oikos: house, household
οἶκος
The house-building word gives Jude’s image a concrete structure.
oikodomē: building, edification
οἰκοδομή
This related noun carries the same movement from construction to strengthening.
πίστις
pistis
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
pist-
Trust, confidence, reliability.
“faith” in this verse is pistis. Pistis carries trust: leaning your full weight on what is trusted. That makes it the ground on which the self is built in Jude’s image.
ALSO GROWS
pisteuō: trust, entrust, believe
πιστεύω
The verb shows pistis as an act of trust, not merely agreement with a claim.
pistos: firm, steady, reliable
πιστός
This related word connects trust with steadiness, the quality of a structure that holds.
πνεῦμα ἅγιον
pneuma hagion
GROWS FROM
πνευ-
pneu-
Breathe, blow; the source of words for breath, wind, and spirit.
“Holy Ghost” in this verse is pneuma hagion. The Greek phrase names the Set-Apart Breath. Alongside the familiar rendering, pneuma keeps breath and wind within view, so prayer is located in a living, moving presence.
ALSO GROWS
pneō: breathe, blow
πνέω
This verb makes the breath-and-wind sense of pneuma audible.
pnoē: breath, wind
πνοή
This related noun shows the same breath-word family at work.
THE PATTERN
The life built on trust draws strength from God and is sustained through prayer in God’s Spirit.
A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;THE THREAD
Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.Colossians repeats Jude’s building-and-faith language: being built up is grounded in him and established in trust. Jude then names prayer in the Set-Apart Breath as the living posture within that construction.
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