What Does Luke 6:7 Mean in the King James?
And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against 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 charge is already in the gaze: they watch for healing so they can turn restoration into evidence.
THE MEANING
A person’s way of seeing can already be shaped by the case they hope to make. Here, healing is watched as potential evidence, placing care itself under suspicion. The verse exposes how a gaze fixed on accusation can rename restoration as wrongdoing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that scrutiny is neutral: someone can claim to be watching for truth while watching only for a charge.
THE ROOT
κατηγορίαν
katēgorian
GROWS FROM
κατηγορ-
katēgor-
A charge or accusation brought against someone.
“accusation” in this verse is katēgorian. The Greek word belongs to the same word family as κατηγορέω (katēgoreō), “to accuse,” and κατήγορος (katēgoros), “an accuser.” The verse makes the motive plain: the watching is already organized around building a case.
ALSO GROWS
katēgoreō: To accuse or bring a charge.
κατηγορέω
The same charge-family names the action the observers hope to take.
katēgoros: An accuser.
κατήγορος
The charge has a person behind it; the gaze is not detached observation.
θεραπεῦσαι
therapeusai
GROWS FROM
θεραπεύω
therapeuō
To attend to, care for, treat, or heal.
The verb translated “heal” also carries the sense of attending to someone; its word-family includes θεραπεία (therapeia), care or healing. What is under scrutiny is attentive care made visible.
ALSO GROWS
therapeia: Care, treatment, or healing.
θεραπεία
Healing belongs to a field of care, not merely a display of power.
therapeutēs: An attendant or caregiver.
θεραπευτής
The related noun keeps the personal, attentive aspect of the healing in view.
παρετηροῦντο
paretērounto
GROWS FROM
τηρέω
tēreō
To keep, guard, or observe.
“watched” in this verse is paretērounto. The verb is a close-watching compound built on τηρέω, “keep, guard, observe.” Since this watching aims at an accusation, attention has become surveillance: the outcome is screened for fault before it can be received as healing.
ALSO GROWS
tēreō: To keep, guard, or observe.
τηρέω
This base verb shows the keeping quality inside the act of watching.
diatēreō: To preserve or keep safe.
διατηρέω
The same root can describe sustained keeping; here, that attention is directed toward finding fault.
THE PATTERN
When attention is fixed on finding fault, an act of restoration can be recast as evidence against the one who restores.
False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.THE THREAD
Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.John uses the same Greek charge-word family, κατηγορ- (katēgor-), as the “accusation” sought here. The connection shows how the gaze that searches for a charge can become part of a larger pattern of accusation.
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