What Does Luke 1:34 Mean in the King James?

Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

Luke 1:34 · KJV

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

Mary’s “know” names embodied sexual union, so her question begins with the boundary of what she has experienced.

THE MEANING

You meet Mary where bodily experience is real, and her question asks how the announced birth can happen without it. The verse holds open a possibility beyond the familiar conditions without pretending those conditions are absent.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the assumption that conception must always follow sexual union.

THE ROOT

γινώσκω

ginōskō

GROWS FROM

γινωσκ-

ginōsk-

To know, recognize, or become acquainted through encounter.

Here, with “a man” as its object, ⁨γινώσκω⁩ means sexual union. The same verb family elsewhere describes relational recognition, so “know” carries the sense of encounter rather than mere information.

ALSO GROWS

gnōsis: Knowing, knowledge.

γνῶσις

This branch keeps knowledge connected to the verb’s sense of coming to know, rather than only collecting information.

gnōstos: Known, familiar.

γνωστός

What is ⁨γνωστός⁩ is recognized through acquaintance; this echoes the encounter carried by Mary’s word.

THE PATTERN

Scripture uses knowing for encounter, whether bodily or relational.

And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.

Genesis 4:1 · KJV“Knew” names sexual union, making explicit the embodied sense Mary gives the word.

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

John 10:14 · KJVThe same Greek verb family describes the shepherd’s close recognition of those who belong to him.

But if any man love God, the same is known of him.

1 Corinthians 8:3 · KJVBeing “known” is presented as a relation, not simply possession of facts.

THE THREAD

And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.

Genesis 4:1 · KJV

Genesis uses ⁨יָדַע⁩ (yada, know) for Adam’s sexual union with Eve. Its Greek translation uses ⁨ἔγνω⁩ (egnō, knew), from ⁨γινώσκω⁩ (ginōskō, know), the same verb family Mary uses, so her words name sexual union through the language of knowing.

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