What Does Luke 8:19 Mean in the King James?
Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press.
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 “brethren” are the same-womb kin, yet the crowd keeps even that family bond from reaching Jesus.
THE MEANING
You can be bound to someone by family and still find the press around them blocks contact. The verse holds both facts together: the relationship is real, and the way to him is blocked.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse loosens the belief that closeness guarantees access: even Jesus’ mother and brothers cannot get through the press.
THE ROOT
ἀδελφοί
adelphoi
GROWS FROM
ἀδελφ-
adelph-
Sibling; the word carries the image of people from the same womb.
English “brethren” names the relation, but the Greek word carries the image of people from one womb. Beside “his mother,” that shared origin becomes audible just as the crowd prevents their physical approach.
ALSO GROWS
adelphē: sister
ἀδελφή
The feminine sibling form shares the same word family, keeping the image of a common womb.
adelphotēs: brotherhood or sibling bond
ἀδελφότης
The same family of words can name a wider bond of belonging, not only one sibling relationship.
ὄχλος
ochlos
GROWS FROM
ὀχλ-
ochl-
A crowd or gathered multitude; related words also describe disturbance and the making of a crowd.
The Greek names the crowd itself, the force that blocks their approach. Its word family also reaches into troubling and forming a crowd, bringing the press’s obstructive force into view.
ALSO GROWS
ochleō: to trouble, vex, or disturb
ὀχλέω
This related verb gives the crowd word-family a sense of disturbance as well as gathered bodies.
ochlopoieō: to form or gather a crowd
ὀχλοποιέω
The same stem paired with “make” names the forming of a crowd, the collective barrier around Jesus.
THE PATTERN
A crowd can turn the desire to draw near into a physical barrier.
And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.THE THREAD
And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.The next verse repeats “my mother and my brethren,” then identifies them as the ones who hear and do God’s word. It widens kinship beyond the shared-womb relation named here without denying that bond.
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