What Does Luke 3:20 Mean in the King James?

Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.

Luke 3:20 · 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

Herod adds custody to his harm: the word translated “prison” carries the sense of guarded keeping.

THE MEANING

The verse names confinement as Herod’s next added act against John. It lets the reader see how authority can answer a voice with custody, while holding the force of that act in plain view.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that imprisonment is only a neutral change of location; this verse names it as Herod’s added act of coercion.

THE ROOT

φυλακή

phylakē

GROWS FROM

φυλακ-

phylak-

Guarding, watching, keeping in custody

English presents prison as a place, while the source word carries the sense of guarded custody. The verse makes Herod’s act one of keeping a living voice under watch, with “added ... above all” marking custody as another deliberate harm.

ALSO GROWS

phylassō: guard, keep, watch

φυλάσσω

This verb names the act behind the noun: a prison is where someone is kept under guard.

phylax: guard, watcher

φύλαξ

The guard is the human agent of that keeping, making the confinement enforced and relational.

THE PATTERN

Power can bind a truth-teller’s body, but it cannot make the message itself captive.

Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.

Jeremiah 20:2 · KJVPashur answers Jeremiah’s prophetic voice with physical confinement.

Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

Acts 12:5 · KJVPeter is held in custody, while the verse shows activity continuing beyond the prison walls.

Where in I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

2 Timothy 2:9 · KJVThe speaker is bound, but the verse states plainly that the word is not.

THE THREAD

Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

Acts 12:5 · KJV

Luke uses ⁨φυλακή⁩ (phylakē, prison or guarded custody) for both John’s and Peter’s confinement. The shared word reveals the same mechanism: a messenger is kept under guard, while what moves beyond that custody remains active.

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