What Does Luke 2:33 Mean in the King James?

And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.

Luke 2:33 · 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

Even those closest to the child are astonished by the words spoken about him.

THE MEANING

You can stand close to someone and still be astonished by what is spoken about them. Here, nearness does not cancel wonder; the words about the child exceed what those closest to him can take for granted.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Closeness does not mean you already understand the whole meaning of the person before you.

THE ROOT

θαυμάζοντες

thaumazontes

GROWS FROM

θαυμαζ-

thaumaz-

Wonder or astonishment at what exceeds expectation.

“marvelled” in this verse is thaumazontes. The Greek word family links the act of marveling with a wonder and with what is wonderful. The word marks a response to something larger than the hearer can simply take in; even those nearest to the child meet the words about him with astonishment.

ALSO GROWS

thauma: Wonder, marvel.

θαῦμα

The noun names what draws a person into the response expressed by “marvelled.”

thaumastos: Wonderful, astonishing.

θαυμαστός

This adjective describes what calls forth wonder, linking the hearers’ response to the striking words about the child.

THE PATTERN

What exceeds ordinary understanding draws listeners into wonder.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

Psalm 139:6 · KJVThe speaker encounters knowledge too high to contain and names that limit as wonder.

Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

Isaiah 29:14 · KJVA work beyond familiar wisdom is described as a wonder that unsettles what people think they understand.

And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilæans?

Acts 2:7 · KJVListeners meet what they cannot readily explain with amazement and marveling.

THE THREAD

And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

Luke 2:18 · KJV

Luke uses the same Greek verb, ⁨θαυμάζω⁩ (thaumazō), for the listeners in both verses. The wonder first belongs to all who hear the shepherds’ report, then also to Joseph and the child’s mother as they hear words spoken about him.

This reading is from Selah Verse.

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