What Does Mark 10:2 Mean in the King James?
And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting 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
Beneath a legal question about sending a wife away, the verse names the question’s purpose: to test Jesus.
THE MEANING
A question about what is lawful can be a test as well as a request for an answer. The action under scrutiny is a man sending his wife away, and the verse names the questioners’ aim: to test Jesus. The legal frame does not hide the person at the center of the question.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A question framed around what is lawful is always a sincere search for clarity; this verse shows it can be asked to entrap.
THE ROOT
ἀπολῦσαι
apolysai
GROWS FROM
λύω
luō
To loosen or untie; by extension, to release or dismiss.
The Greek verb lets the movement of releasing or dismissing show through the legal phrase “put away.” It keeps in view the person being sent away, inside the question about what a man may do.
ALSO GROWS
luō: Loosen, untie, release.
λύω
The simple verb carries the action beneath the compound used here: loosening or dismissing.
apolysis: Release or dismissal.
ἀπόλυσις
This related noun preserves the sense of release in the word family, making the act in the question more concrete.
THE PATTERN
Testing brings the hidden state beneath words and actions into view.
And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.THE THREAD
The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?Matthew uses the same Greek verb for “put away” and the same word for “tempting.” Its added phrase, “for every cause,” makes explicit how broadly the question asks a man may send his wife away.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us